Around The World

The Similans

2006-04-20T05:50:00.000Z

These are just a few pics of the dive trip in the Similan Islands which don't involve fish!!! It really is a very beautiful place.

Another rough, stormy morning on the boat... Yeah right!!! Really does make getting up a 6am each morning bearible.

One of our resting points along the way. Nice views, nice weather, practically no one else around. Perfect way to relax before heading back underwater.

The night time entertainment: Dimitri, JJ and myself keeping our Texas Hold 'Em Poker skills up to date..

Hi Once Again!

2006-04-19T07:44:00.000Z

OK... No more apologies... I admit it... I'm useless at keeping this thing up to date.. Although I do put some of the blame on the extremely poor public internet services in most of the places we've been. Anyway, as you can expect, we've been up to quite a lot since the last post. Well, I can't speak for Jesse and Andy too much, as I've been on my own for quite a bit of the time. But generally we've finished our trip through Thailand. We've also covered bits of Malaysia and Indonesia - In fact as far as I'm aware Jesse is still doing that!! As for Andy and myself we've been tackling the national parks of South West Australia. So anyway, here's a load more piccies to feast your eyes on... Hope you like looking at them as much as I have taking them.

More Dive Piccies

2006-02-19T13:57:00.000Z

For those of you who are bored by the dive pics, I have to add just a couple more. I tried to put these on last time, but the computer wouldn't let it be... So as, in my personal opinion, they are the best animals I've seen so far I think they have to be shown. Hope you agree...

This one is a very friendly green turtle (I think...) He seemed to be very happy to cruise around our boat letting everyone jump in and take a few photos. In fact I saw the same turtle both times I did the liveaboard trip. I think he must get fed a lot, so figures it's an easy way to get a meal...

Now here's one I really couldn't leave out. One of the few sightings of a manta ray, and more importantly the only one caught on camera... Unfortunately I didn't actually see this one as I missed this dive due to a rather painful headache. Oh how it was made so much better by everyone telling me how big it was.. Apparently between 3 and 4 meters.... Which made me soooo much happier to have missed it!!!

Dive Dive Dive!!!!

2006-02-19T13:10:00.000Z

OK, so since Christmas I've spent most of my time looking at fish!! Somehow I've managed to cram nearly 40 dives into the last month so here's a few of the better piccies.. Thanks to Frederic and JJ for the copies of their piccies..

Pretty obvious what this one is!!! One of the bigger octopus we saw on the trip. Very cool animals.

A rather grumpy looking Lionfish. Lots of these on the dives, but they're pretty nice for the photos :-)

A nice looking Moray Eel complete with cleaner fish.

This one's a banded sea snake. Probably one of the most poisonous creatures in the sea, so best to give it a bit of room :-)

This one's me... so not much to say on that one!!!

A Spiny Lobster. Didn't really want its piccie taken so was trying to hide..

W'ere Back Online!!!

2006-02-19T13:07:00.000Z

Ok, so as anyone who's checked lately will realise... There's been a distinct lack of photos on the site! The reason for this was my camera getting destroyed in the sea... However, I've now got a new one and also some other piccies from people I've met along the way. So I hope you enjoy!!!!

Merry Christmas to One and All !!

2005-12-25T11:53:00.000Z

Well, for those who haven't heard.. We're back in Thailand now. To be precise on Koh Phi Phi Island. We've met back up with Jesse and his girlfriend Kirsty. So today is Christmas Day, so here's piccy to Wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !!! Doesn't feel quite the same without British weather, but I'm sure we'll manage somehow :-)

Vietnam

2005-12-14T10:22:00.000Z

These pictures are a quick view of our trip through Vietnam.

This is our boat trip to Halong Bay.

After Hannoi & Halong Bay we took an overnight train to Hue.

These photos are from the old Citadel of Hue and the forbidden Purple Palace.

Phonsavanh

2005-12-14T10:10:00.000Z

This was our last destination in Laos before heading to Vietnam. The photos below are from our day trip out.

This is from one of the areas bombed heavily during the Vietnam War.

This pic is from a nearby village who use all of the bomb casings to build they're houses etc..

After the village we had lunch at this waterfall.

This is the Plain of Jars, one of the main sites to visit in Phonsavanh.

Views from Vang Vieng

2005-12-14T10:04:00.000Z

Here's a couple more pics of Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng

2005-12-14T09:05:00.000Z

After leaving Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng. Basically it's a backpackers town, so pleny of touristy things to do!!!

Here's some pics of Andy & myself on our rock climbing trip:

These pics were from our days tubing on the river. Basically you get given an innertube, get dropped off up river and float your way down. Very good way to cure a hangover :-) or maybe create a new one.....

These are some pics from the rope swings at the bars along the riverside:

Time With Joy

2005-12-14T08:38:00.000Z

During our time in Pai we met up with a guy called Joy, who worked as a DJ in one of the bars. It turned out that he was planning on leaving Pai at the same time as us and was getting a lift to his parents village close to the Laos border. So we hitched a ride in the back of his dads pickup and stayed for a few days with his family before heading to Laos. These are a few pics from the time we spent with Joy and his family.

This was in a small town near Joys parents village. We happened to be there at the time of a festival. Here's Jesse with his new girlfriend....

Which leads on to my new wife!!!! This is Joy with one of his cousins - who his father was constantly trying to set me up with.... Fortunately I managed to escape still single!!!!

These pics are from the Moi Thai or Thai boxing that we went to.

Jesse was aksed to present the fighters with good luck flowers

Us taking a sunset boat cruise along the Mekong River in Vientienne - The Capital of Laos.

This is the Sunset over the Mekong River.

Trekking

2005-12-13T06:00:00.000Z

Here's a few pics from our trekking trip in Pai. It's just Andy & myself on this one, as Jesse went off white water rafting with our new found friend from Denmark - Jeppe (He'll be appearing in a few pics time...)

It was a 2 day trek, staying a night in a little farming village. Really enjoyed this one, would recommend it to anyone going to Thailand. Although maybe time it so the rivers are quite so high... Trust me the river crossings aren't all that easy...

Here's Andy testing out our first river crossing...

This was our accomodation for the night. Very basic, no toilets, pigs kept underneath the house... But all in all very nice - especially the food.

Some of the children from the village we stayed at.

One of the paddy fields we crossed on our trip to the next village.

Another farming village we passed through on our way home.

One of the locals selling clothes.

Travelling North to Pai

2005-12-13T05:36:00.000Z

After Chiang Mai, we decided to head a bit further north to Pai. We heard that the trekking from there was much better, so we figured we'd give it a go. It turned out the Pai was probably one of the best places we visited in Thailand. So a 2-3 day stop turned into a week and even then it was hard to leave...

As well as the trekking we also had a few days on motorbikes (sorry mum..) We met up with the ex-thai motocross champion and he took us out to a local enduro track and then on a days biking off road trough the mountains. Absolutely loved every minute!!!

Here's some pics of Andy & Jesse on the enduro track with the local riders..

These are a few pics from the mountain trip. First one is a pic of our group.

This is our trusty guide and his even more trusty moped...

A quick pic of Jesse & me heading for home after a long day on the bikes..

Thai Cooking Class

2005-12-13T05:19:00.000Z

After the extreme biking me & Jesse figured we'd take it a bit easier and try a spot of Thai cooking.. Pictures are of us making a Chicken & Ginger dish. As you can see even the cooking is a bit extreme over here :-)

Although Jesse had to go that little bit further and burn the kitchen down :-)

All turned out ok in the end though. So we'll be knocking up a Thai banquet when we get home.. Get the fire extinguishers ready!!!!

Mountain Biking (or at least trying to...)

2005-12-13T05:06:00.000Z

So, this was our supposedly "beginners" mountain bike trip...
Unfortunately due to the heavy rain falls it turned into quite a serious ride!! Injuries all round!!! but still good fun :-)

Rainy days!!

2005-12-13T04:55:00.000Z

This may well look like a river, but it's actually the street outside our guesthouse in Chiang Mai... Just wish I'd never looked at what was floating past as we walked back..... Trust me you don't want to know :-)

At last - More Piccies :-)

2005-12-13T04:18:00.000Z

Ok... So at last the site is back up and running... So here's a round up of Thailand.
These first pics are from Chiang Mai. This was us on a trip up into the mountains to llok at one of the temples. We stopped off on the way for a spot of relaxing by one of the waterfalls.

One the way back to town we stopped off at a coffee plantation for a nice fresh brew!!!

Welcome to Thailand!!

2005-11-24T05:38:00.000Z

OK... time for a bit of an update!! It's been a while since the last one, so quite a few things have been going on!! We've had a few weeks travelling in Thailand which was pretty amazing... It's hard to sum it up as so much has been going on!!! Hopefully the pictures will give you a bit of an idea of what it's been like..

On the way to Cape Town

2005-11-03T11:30:00.000Z

One small step for mankind.... but a bloody scary one at that!!!!
The proud owners of 2 new certificates to confirm that we really did jump from a perfectly good 216m bridge for no reason at all!!!!
The more gentle approach at Jeffreys Bay. A nice early morning canoe session with the dolphins. Unfortunately my photography skills are not quite there yet, so you'll have to make do with a picture of Andy..

On Safari

2005-11-03T11:18:00.000Z

No need to too much of an explanation for these ones!!! Think you should all be able to work them out. They were taken in Shushluwee Game Park north of Duraban - forgive the spelling....

Durban

2005-11-03T11:07:00.000Z

Weekend away with Si at Midmar Dam. Hired a speedboat for an attempt at water skiing!! When we could get Sasha off the Doughnut!!

A farewell photo from Durban. Cheers once again Si & Tanya & Sasha... had a great couple of weeks.

Big Aren't They!!!!

2005-10-27T10:51:00.000Z

Until we saw the sharks!! haven't been in the water since :-)

Jeffrey's bay

2005-10-27T10:49:00.000Z

Surf lessons going very well!!!!

Si's back garden!!

2005-10-27T10:45:00.000Z

Quick pic of the Kloof, which is basically Si's back garden.. Very nice!!

Welcome to Durban!

2005-10-27T10:40:00.000Z

Hi everyone.. Appologies yet again for the lack of recent posts.. Have finally managed to get everything sorted out, so time to get the site up to date!! (or at least a bit!!! So the following entries may be a bit short on the text front.. but gotta be quick ;-) This Pic is of Our friend Simon and his son Sasha. cheers once again to Si, Tanya and Sasha for putting up with us.. We had a great couple of weeks and will definately be back :-)

Train From Jo'Burg to Durban...

2005-10-12T17:46:00.000Z

This was Jesse trying to keep fit on the train journey... Although you can clearly see it's not working :-) Check out those abs......

Our First Stop... Johannesburg....

2005-10-12T17:42:00.000Z

This was our first backpacker experience. Not a bad start... Run by a lady called Stella. Great place & good people...

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2005-10-12T17:27:00.000Z

Just a quick Piccy of us before we left... Our tan comparison photo... Definately getting browner!!!

OK... The Trip Begins...

2005-10-12T17:25:00.000Z

Finally, I've managed to get around to posting some pics.... Sorry for the delay but we've basically been having to much fun!!!

Hope you like them, and keep checking as there plenty more to come!!

The First Post!!!!

2005-08-31T14:36:00.000Z

Hi Guys!!!

Unfortunately this post is gonna be pretty short!! The idea was to put up some pics of what we've been up to so far, however me being he unorganised person that I am..... I managed to forget to bring my camera with me to the Internet Cafe......

So you'll all have to wait a few more days before I get round to posting for real...

Bye for now,

The Boys xxx