First of all, Happy Halloween!

I arrived in Sydney after my Singapore airport experience and stupidly long airport waits on Thursday 12th. Read up on where to stay and headed for Kings Cross which was described as being the cheapest area with all the bars and clubs. This was true, it was the cheapest area, but for a reason... all the bars were empty and all the clubs were strip clubs! In the day I walked around the city and saw some of the main attractions inlcuding the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and then booked a place to eat for Mat's 18th (the nicest place with the best view I could find!) I tried to cross the road and confused as to which way the trafiic was now coming from looked the wrong way and nearly got run over! And I soon realised half the population of Sydney is actually Asian, didn't really feel like I'd left Bangkok! I went out around the area in the eveving and tried (without success) to find an OK looking bar and also tried to avoid the 60 year old prostitutes. Mat arrived the next day, Friday 13th (unlucky for some?); I waited for him in reception and he finally turned up about an hour late! Checked him in via the ever helpful fat Barry (40 stone man at reception) and we walked through Hyde Park, into the city centre. We decided to go up the Sky Tower as it was the perfect day for it. Enjoyed the 360 degree views and before we knew it it was dark. We walked over to Darling Harbour which is really beautifully lit up at night with all the restaurant's and boats. Had something to eat there and went to bed quite early.

We checked out the next morning and got a train into the centre to find a hostel I had been recommended. We checked in with perfect timing to leave for the free BBQ on Coogee beach. About 30 of us got on the bus to go there, which didn't impress the old lady driver very much who started shouting at people - "GIVE ME THAT" "STAND OVER THERE" but it was funny! Everyone went and bought some beers once we got there and after waiting for a free BBQ we were at the beach drinking beer, eating burgers and playing football in a heat-wave of 37 degrees... what a life! Went for my first Australian sea swim and was shocked by how freezing the water here is. But soon forgot about that as I was hit by the first wave! I walked up the cliff for an endless view out to sea.

That night I went out with three new friends and Mat stayed in (still 17!) We went to the first bar which had free beer from 9-10pm so naturally drank as fast as possible like everyone else there! I lost one friend so stuck with the other two, we stayed in the same place for a while and when we moved to the next bar I found the other friend again. So stayed with him then I lost the other two! I left that place after a while and went down to the harbour but all the bouncers were idiots, not letting me in because my shoes weren't nice enough or because they didn't believe it was my passport - what?!

We slept in the next day and woke to crap weather the complete opposite of the heat-wave just two days ago. We decided to go to Bondi Beach anyway, where we had pies and cake for lunch before heading down to the beach to watch the surfers. The bad weather meant good surf so there were loads out. After that we went up to the skatepark for a while, there was one pretty good guy who did a good job of entertaining us.

The next day was Mat's 18th birthday! I gave him his presents in the morning, and we went sightseeing in the day - he hadn't seen the two main attractions yet. We walked through a park and realised Australian's are fitness freaks; all of them were running, cycling, boxing, doing yoga - anything and everything. Once we got to the end of the park we were able to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together so got some photo's there. We carried on walking round right up to the Opera House and went inside quickly. We went back and got ready to go out, I didn't tell him where we were going to try and make it exciting! Got the bus to the Quay and walked all the way around to the restaurant which had a perfect view of the Opera House. He had steak and I had a burger, probably the best burger I've ever had and the best meal I've had since I left home - well worth the money. More importantly Mat had his first legal beer! Afterwards we went to a bar in town, there was a big queue outside to get in but after some reasoning with the bouncer once or twice I managed to get us to skip the queue. It was too busy really (hence the queue) so we just stayed for a couple of beers.

The next day we flew up to Brisbane and checked into a place we had found recommended by the Lonely Planet. We went out for a walk (always the first thing I do when arriving in a new place as I'm sure you've caught on!) and when we got back to the place our one room-mate was there. He was a guy in his 30's, said he was a car salesman and in-between moving houses. He didn't seem to like having room-mates, and suggested a place that he thought would be better for us to stay. I gave them a ring but they were $7 more a night so told him it was too much. He then offered us the $7 a night each to go there, and he would drive us there. We said no, so he said he'd double it and round it up. So he paid us $60 to go and stay somewhere else, and drove us there! We were a bit confused by the whole situation and why he wanted to get rid of us so much, so I put my pen knife in my pocket just in case! Anyway, everything went smoothly and it turned out to be a much better place. I was sat reading my Lonely Planet in the corridor at night and two Irish guys came back to their room, next door to mine, so I chatted with them for a bit.

In the day we went up a mountain to look out over the whole of Brisbane and its surrounds and saw our first bush fire! In the evening we went to a rock climbing club. It was an outdoor natural rock face next to the river; we started off on easy routes then they got more challenging and by the end we were both pretty nackered! We went out in the evening to the bar below the hostel, 'Down and Under' - it was a pretty cool place and we went upstairs to sleep late after the wet t-shirt competition!

Next we got the train and bus down to Surfers Paradise. When we arrived in the transit centre we were picked up by the hostel's courtesy vehicle... a limo! We somehow didn't realise until we were told on the third day that the hostel was a gay one, oops! Spent the first half day walking around, enjoying the atmosphere of the Indy 300 (big car racing festival). There were lots of people around, all drinking beer, and we bought our tickets to go the next day. At 7 that evening a load of the cars from the Indy plus some extras drove through the streets so we went to watch. I went out that night with a big group from the hostel, but Mat stayed in. I drank 'goon' (Australian word for wine in a box) before with a group of Irish and Canadian's, then we all got into a club for free with free drink(s). All the Indy girls were there in their bikini's etc and I had a really good time with the guys from before and two Swedish girls I met in the club.

So, the Indy 300... such an amazing day! The track for the races is on the streets of Surfers Paradise and is about 4km long. The streets are closed for setting up 3 months before the races start!! But despite this and everything else that results from it, the locals like it as much as the 400,000 people who visit just for a day each day! We walked down in time for the second race at 11am; there were about 10 races in the day in total with different cars. There were champ cars, V8 utes (utility pick-ups), V8 supercars and Porsche's, each went a couple of times. There were a couple of crashes, one quite bad one in a Porsch race but luckily no injuries. We watched from different places each time; on a big U-turn, a chicane, a corner, a straight... all were amazing! In the middle of the track are all the food stands, cars set up for show, promotions, and a lot of Indy girls! The track was surrounded by sky-rise hotels, in every one the people sit on their balconies and watch the Indy for free! A lot of them get strippers on their balconies too so every now and then when walking along you see a mass of male heads looking up and you know why! The whole day had such a good atmosphere, and it was the perfect sunny day to go. In the evening was a show with V8's doing burnouts and donuts, motorbike stunts with big wheelies (including no handed, somehow!?), burnouts and stoppies, a motocross ramp, drag motorbikes and the finale was a real dragster which was the loudest thing ever! We went on the right day, it was cheaper than the weekend days, we got more races, it was the sunniest day, and none of the other days had the evening show. If you ever have the chance, go! When I got back to the hostel all my mates were drinking so I joined in and we went in the swimming pool. Security came out after 5 minutes but in stead of making us get out just took their clothes of and jumped in themselves!?

After a nice lie-in we caught a bus to nearby Burleigh Heads which is supposed to be a big surfing spot, but we got there and no-one was surfing. So we walked down to Nobby Beach in stead! When we got back we decided to go for a surfing lesson. We were with a bunch of retards who either didn't understand English or were just plain stupid, which in turn pissed off the instructor quite a bit. At one point just me and Mat were with him and he said "Okay now boys, we're just gonna watch some other people for a minute, see if we can learn anything from it..." at which point 3 Swedish guys tried to catch a wave, cue the instructors reaction... "OH MY GOD BOYS, THAT'S F!?#&*G HORRIBLE!" Me and Mat did okay though, managing to stand up a few times. When we got back I spent some time in the hostel's jacuzzi! Then went out with Mat in the evening to the same place as the first night as we had free entry and drinks again. The Indy girls were there again, doing some kind of dress up competition.

Got the bus down to Byron Bay the next morning, a small, really cool surfer town with a little hippy influence. Spend our first half day on the beach wit bodyboards and in the town. The next morning we woke early so Mat could do a skydive! Would have liked to join him but need to save the money and do it in New Zealand. The advantage however was I was able to get some pictures of him parachuting down. Afterwards we walked up a small mountain to a lighthouse, but gave up when reaching a nice viewpoint about 2/3 of the way. We watched some surfing from here, some were quite good and the waves were quite big. Found out that evening we were staying in the same place as the two Swedish girls from Surfers. Then in the evening the Irish guys who were staying in the room next door to us in Brisbane checked into our room - really is a small world! One of them had broken his arm, by falling off the third floor balcony in the place we were staying! Me and Mat couldn't believe it, he was lucky to land on an awning and not the floor otherwise probably would have broken his back or worse :-s In the evening I went out with the Swedish girls to a place called Cheeky Monkey's, think it's fair to say if you've been to Australia you've been to Cheeky Monkey's. Cheap food to start off the evening, then lots of drinking ending with everyone dancing on the tables!

We rented a surfboard on the morning of the next day, but didn't keep it long because the waves were crap and we weren't getting anywhere. We flew to Melbourne in the evening arriving at our hotel at about 2am. We had to catch a bus from the airport to the city centre which was a rip-off and dropped us in the middle of nowhere so we had to walk for over half an hour with our bags.

We started off by doing some cultural stuff, going to the Parliament House, the Town Hall, a cathedral, a photography display... then balanced it out by going to the casino! This is where we spent a bit of time through not being able to find much else to do here! It's also where I both won and lost the most money I've ever won or lost... but I'm still up so it's all good.
One half day trip we did do was the Neighbours tour! On the drive there the guide points out some filming spots, then you pull into 'Pin Oak Court' or Ramsay Street as it's better known. I didn't realise it's a real place that's lived in, filming just takes place 2 days a week for all the outside shots when the residents have to keep their curtains shut! It's all quite clever and a lot of film trickery is used. We took some funny photos with the Ramsay Street sign then I ran away with it :-D After we went to Erinsborough High School, which is also actually a real school but not called that - they just hang up a sign out the front!

That evening we followed some girls to an underground bar, we had to walk down dodgy alleyways to get there. It was a cool place, an old school turned into a bar - they still have school related stuff in there for a theme. Shame it wasn't very busy though, unsuprisingly considering its location.

Mat left the day before yesterday. I walked with him to his bus, then walked around taking some photo's. Yesterday I booked my bus ticket up the East Coast and a couple of tours then spent ages on the internet doing this and some other bits. Went out last night and bumped into the people working here that I'd booked the tour with so hung out with them and their friends. Had a cool night, there was a good live band doing covers. Think I'm leaving Melbourne this afternoon but not sure yet... or where I'm going!

I'll give you a chance to read this then I've got all the Australia photo's ready for uploading... :-)

Not gonna do a proper write up for Bangkok, just pictures with long descriptions...

In Thailand everybody loves their King. He was born on a Monday, so every Monday people wear yellow t-shirts... makes sense, right?! If they say so. Taken in the train station, but everywhere you go all you can see is yellow. Me and my friends joined in too by wearing our yellow!

One night myself and the three Israeli's were in a taxi, we went round a corner and got pulled over. Two policemen waving flashing sticks insisted we all got out the car so they could search us, I guess for drugs. I was a bit concerned about being searched by this guy seeing how gay he looks... tis fear soon became reality. Everything was going okay until he'd searched me and decided to finish off by slapping my ass. We decided to ignore it and joked with them a bit in Thia. Having found the whole situation quite funny we decided to get pictures with them. Straight after this picture was taken the policeman tried to kiss me at which point we jumped back in the taxi and said "drive!"

Me, Jacqualine and Camilla, my two Danish friends who I met in Nha Trang and stayed there with for a few weeks, then met up again in Bangkok. Taking a tuk-tuk ride home, has to be done in Thailand at least once. But I think this was the only time I did, partly because they always try and rip you off, partly because they drive like complete idiots. Our guy drove into the back of a taxi on our journey home!

"Drink don't drive" - Johnny Walker slogan. My friends stayed here for a few nights because the sign was so cool! That and it's the tallest building in Bangkok/Thailand?

A few nights we went to an area in Bangkok called the RCA. Definately not a backpacker place, all the backpackers hang out on one road (Khao San, near where I was staying). This was an area with really nice nightclubs, where all the rich Thai's go! Each night walking down the avenue you could see them all arriving in their really expensive cars. Here you can see two ferrari's next to each other, then a new BMW! To the left was a new mini cooper, then another ferrari. They're seriously rich. The club's were really cool too, the one we went to most had 4 rooms, North East South and West, mixture of music, live DJ's and live bands.

Lumphini Park. People come here everyday when they finish work and exercise. One person stands at the front to guide the routine, then a few hundred people copy to old school English songs at full volume! Hundred's of people go their too to jog, roller blade, cycle, or play keepy-ups with the little bamboo balls they have there. There's a nice lake too, shown here at sunset. There's catfish in it that you can feed and they go pretty crazy fighting for food, and apparently also turtles though I never saw any.

When the police in Asia aren't trying to sexually harass you they're confiscating anything they can find, bicycle's in this instance, then demanding money for their return. My friend had his motorbike taken in Vietnam for no reason and had to pay to get it back.

A Thai boxing match we went to see. Most things go, a favourite being the kick to the head. It's a pretty hardcore sport though they never seem to bleed?

Is it a bird, is it a plane...? No, it's Eminem!

Other things done in Bangkok: We went go-karting which was really fun! Karts up to 40kmph round a big indoor track. It was a bargain too, 6 pounds with a free game of bowling. You pay that much just for bowling at some places in England! Went bowling 2 or 3 other times too. Went to a couple of random clubs, as well as one with some Thai friends where ladyboys perform, singing as men and women in the same songs and doing backflips and breakdancing! Just about more amusing than disturbing. I went out on Khao San Road twice, but can't stand the ladyboys grabbing your arms, people trying to sell you things all the time, some drunk guy getting really in my face for no reason, a prostitute shouting at the girl I was with etc. Went to quite a few malls, they're big and have everything! Examples with: 21 cinema's, 4 McDonald's, a floor selling only mobile phones, an area selling Ferrari's, Porsche's and Lambo's and one with a rollercoaster on the top floor. Went to the area Patpong one night to see an interesting show... I won't say anymore, go and figure! Whilst there we also accidentally walked down a gay street but didn't realise, until we couldn't spot any girls and saw signs such as "XXX boys" and "Dirty boys" and then we ran away. That's about it!

I tried to upload these photo's with the other photo's from Laos but blogger is gay and wouldn't let me. Only now is it letting me do it, sorry for the delay!

A monk.

View of Luang Prabang.

Phra That Luang in Vietniane.

Big reclining buddha.

View over the buddha park in Vientiane.

Patuxia.

The most important temple in Laos.

School kids on their way home.

Zip wire over the Nam Song river tubing trip.

Our group in a shack at the main stop-off point.

Me doing a gaynor (forward backflip) from the top of the tree.

Ziv, UV and Ido floating down the river through the mountains.

Me and my tube.

Stopping in the fields on our trip to the cave and lagoon.

A local boy jumping off a bridge.

Meee.

When the bridge isn't wide enough, take your motorbike come tractor straight through the river!

Diving in the fresh water lagoon.

Late afternoon in the countryside.

If the tractors can do it so can I!

The most peaceful market in Asia?

The bottom of the waterfall in Luang Prabang.

And the top.

When I arrived in Vientiane (the capital of Laos) almost all the guesthouses I tried had no single rooms, so I ended up having to take a double. Went out for dinner and had a nice and cheao curry. 2 pounds bought me my curry with rice and naan, a beer and an ice cream - I'm gonna miss Asia! I watched people doing their aerobics to really loud music for a while, walked along the riverside where there's lots of places to sit and eat or drink and then SAW A 306! That was enough to send me to sleep pretty early...

The next morning I woke up early and walked to 'Patuxai' - a building/structure similar in shape and size to the Arc De Triomphe in Paris. After that I walked to a market to look for a replacement mobile phone but didn't buy anything and caught a bus to 'Xieng Khoung' - a buddha park. I met an Ozzie guy on the bus who I walked round the park with, then we had some soup, visited a couple of temples and had some beer by the river. It was soon time for dinner where I ended up talking to a German guy for a while and then we went to a bar nearby. We were talking to some Laos girls who we weren't sure if they were ladyboys or not so I remembered something a friend had recently said to me; "If you're not sure, you're sure!" So we left after a while and I went to sleep; there wasn't so much to do in Vientiane. That's why I left the next day, after renting a bicycle and cycling to 'Pha That Luang' - the most important temple in Laos.

On the bus on the way to Vang Vieng - 4 hours north of Vientiane - I met a French Canadian and 3 Israeli guys; Ido, Ziv and UV. When we arrived in Vang Vieng we got dropped at a guesthouse place with little shacks and it was quite nice so we all decided to stay and I shared a room with the Canadian. We walked into town for dinner and to see what was going on there, and discovered as we had been warned by guidebooks and other travellers how sad it is in the centre. The reason being that everyone goes to one of three places where they have 'Friends' DVD's playing non-stop and sits there staring blankly at the screen all night. So we went to a bar round the corner where we could play some pool, talk and meet some people, including one guy who was overly-keen at wanting to win every pool game! Then we went to a local club which was practically empty before going home.

The next day we went tubing down the river, something that everyone who goes to Vang Vieng does (it's the main reason for going there in fact) and something that is now described as being an essential stop for travellers in S-E Asia. And when you do it you find out why - such a fun afternoon and something that I doubt you can do anywhere else in the world. You get taken a few km upstream and dropped on a dirt track, left alone to walk down to the river. A bit unsure about what you're doing whilst looking at the fast-flowing currents you sit in your tube and suddenly you're being carried downstream! After just a few minutes you see the first place possible to stop where there was a zip-wire from up in a tree going down into the river. So we stopped and went on it a few times, then back in the tubes. Then the current starts to take different directions so if you get in the wrong flow you end up in bushes or headed toward rocks but I managed to avoid any problems! All the way down the river there's places to stop and have a beer, and about half way is the main stop-off point where everyone stops - theres a bar with food and drink, a volleyball court, lots of places to sit and the most amazing rope swing from really high up in a tree! You start your swing from about 10m above the water and swing out so far and fast, such an adrenaline rush and cool to do backflips at the end! We stayed here for quite a while and stopped in one more bar before we had to go back before it got dark. We went to the same bar as the night before in the evening and then found an after hours bar on an island where everyone goes, stayed there until late playing guitar, singing and drinking.

For our last day in Vang Vieng we rented two motorbikes between the four of us (just me and the Israeli's by now) and went on a mission through some mountains and countryside to see a cave. The scenery on the way was really beautiful and we had to cross a couple of dodgy wooden bridges on the bikes but it was exciting! Got to the cave which was quite a walk up the hillside and really nothing to write home about, but at the bottom was a lagoon with a couple of ropeswings and a tree to jump from which was really nice. Same bars that evening and didn't get home until 5 or 6 then had to wake up at 8 for the bus which we (kind of) slept on on our way to Luang Prabang, 6 hours North. It's driving through mountains all the way and at speeds that are clearly too fast for the road and bus conditions (you would wet yourself mum). So when you get a flat tyre going round a sharp corner at about 60kmph you feel lucky not to have skidden off the side of the road into certain death!

We arrived with a bit of a delay due to the tyre-changing and after finding a hotel I went out for a walk on my own. I went to the market there which was so unlike any other market I've ever been to in Asia. The walkways are really wide, there's hardly any people, the locals selling things don't bother you at all and most of them are selling lights or lanterns so the whole street is glowing and peaceful, it was really nice to walk up and down. I then had a pizza and met up with the others (now the 3 Israeli's and 2 Swiss girls) so that we could all go to a bar together. We went to a place called The Hive which was supposedly where all the travellers hang out, we just stayed for one drink after discovering we were the only people there. After that we went to a local disco we had heard about which turned out to be really fun. When we arrived there was a band playing, mostly English songs at which point we were the only people on the dancefloor. But then they played two Laos songs and all the people went crazy and started dancing. But not any old dancing, they had a routine which seemed kind of similar to the Macarena. It was quite funny to watch, they just step backwards and forwards and twist their legs, but they all knew it so we tried to pick it up too! Then a DJ came on and when he played one song - 'Khwap jai lai lai' meaning 'Thank you very much' all the Laos people went crazy again. It's a cover of a song by a Thai guy called 'Ice' and we already knew it so we able to sing the chorus!

The next day we got a tuk-tuk to take us to a waterfall. It was really beautiful , there were different levels to it, the lower ones you could swim in. And you could jump off the top into the freezing water and swim under one part of the fall into a little cave. Then as you followed it up there was the main waterfall, it was quite high. I climbed to the top with Ido for a nice view down and out. We went to the marker early evening and I bought a couple of things, then we had dinner and went to the same disco as the night before, but this time we didn't get to show off our new dance moves. After it closed at dead on 12 we got Ido's guitar and went down by the riverside to sing until about 2am.

Time for my final day in Laos. Ido and UV flew down to Bangkok, Ziv got a morning bus and I was getting an evening bus; I woke up early to do some sight-seeing before I had to go. I climbed a small mountain in the centre of the town, it had a temple on the top, a few buddha's in caves and a 360 degree view. There wasn't too much else to see in the town, just a couple more temples, after that I went to a bakery in town and started talking with a girl working there and she ended up giving me free cookies for the next hour of two which was perfect! Then it was time for my bus, the ride was... average. Cool temperature on the bus and the guy next to me didn't take up any of my space. And I had 2 seats after dropping people off in Vang Vieng. But they played music quite loud all the way, except for about an hour when I asked them not to! And it's a really rough ride through the mountains; a lot of the Laos people were sick. One time we stopped and the strangest thing happened, which I thought maybe I dreamt but it turns out I didn't. When we came to a stop I half woke up, then a couple of minutes later they turned the lights on so I opened my eyes... to see a guy walking down the isle with a machine gun in each arm. He sat behind me and off we went. I was a bit scared at first - had they just killed someone or were they about to kill us?! But then I remembered I was in Asia, so just went back to sleep!

I arrived in Vientiane at 5am and no guesthouses were open. I was really tired so fell asleep on a bench outside a guesthouse and waited for it to open! I just took a bed in a dorm room for about a dollar so that I could get a few hours sleep. I woke up and met up with Ziv, we planned to get the night train down to Bangkok but it was full so in stead we took the night bus. But it was a really nice bus, and I had 4 seats (2 either side of the isle) so was able to lie down. 5am again and we were in Bangkok! laos photo's and Bangkok write up to come next, though I don't know when. Now I'm in Singapore airport taking advantage of the free internet. I had a 5 hour wait before my flight in Bangkok airport because they told me it took 4 times longer to get there than it really did and now I have a 5 hour wait here because my flights been delayed. But this one is a good airport to get stuck in, the aforementioned free internet, free movies, and I've just finished a session in a massage chair! I can't believe I'm leaving Asia after 7 months, it's so weird. But I've got a feeling it won't be long before I'm back; have kind of said I'm gonna be back in 9 months to a year! We'll see... And in about 12 hours going to be in Australia! It'll be weird to be around Westerners again, and to be able to talk my language without any problems, to get what I order, to not be hassled etc etc. But I'll definately miss the Asian way of life and the cheapness of Asia! And Mat is coming in 2 days, haven't seen him for over 7 months!