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Northern Laos, Luang Prabang
I had my reservations about taking a minivan for the four hour journey north on hellish roads but there were few other options. Fortunately our driver was pretty good and took things at a safe pace which is extremely rare for an Asian minivan driver. The road snaked up into…
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Laos, Vang Vieng Ballooning and Off-road Biking
Da had her heart set on the sunset hot air balloon trip which was not cheap at $90 per person. I didn’t have much of a choice so we booked it and would be picked up later that afternoon. We were driven to a field on the outskirts of town…
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Laos, Vang Vieng Tubing and Off-road Buggies
A free hotel shuttle took us into Vang Vieng the next morning and I knew I’d miss the Sanctuary as soon as we hit tourist central an hour later. Our accommodation in Vang Vieng was a riverside resort called Simon. Again the permanent miasma partially obscured what would have otherwise…
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Northern Laos, Nam Ngum Lake
It was time to get out of the city and head north but before we got to Vang Vieng we decided to splash out and have a couple of nights on the largest lake in Laos at the Sanctuary Resort at Tha Heua. The three hour minivan ride was taken…
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Northern Laos, Vientiane
It had been around twenty years since I had ventured into Laos. Road trip season was upon us again and now seemed a good time as any to revisit the country and explore some new spots. Getting there was relatively easy with an early flight from Chumphon to Don Meuang,…
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Malaysian MotoGP, Sepang, KL
I’d never been to a MotoGP race before but have been following the sport for years. Thought I’d finally book it up and go before Valentino Rossi retires, which can’t be long now, I’d also promised the kids I would take them. Booked the grandstand tickets through the official motogp.com…
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Six Provinces in South Thailand Part 2
Soon it was time to get on the road again and into our next province. I wanted to head into the relatively unexplored Satun province but democracy overruled me and the majority voted for Krabi since half of our party had never been there. Krabi The first thing you notice…
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Six Provinces in South Thailand Part 1
Following a summer in the UK I was itching to get back on the road in Asia and sniff out some of those undiscovered spots in southern Thailand once again. This was to be a family trip, however, with a group of eight in total with differing agendas, so I…
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A Scottish Reunion
Four pals who met in the late nineties in Hua Hin decided to have a reunion in Scotland this summer. It was a ten hour drive north in Jonny’s silver bat-mobile to a wee village called Laurencekirk halfway between Dundee and Aberdeen. Our base for the next week was a…
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Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi
Our trip was nearing its end so we had to head back south, breaking the journey in Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi on the way. Our accommodation in K-town, the R.S. Hotel, was a standard business type affair but the kids wanted a pool. I was starting to get an ear infection…
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A night on the lake in Sangkhlaburi
Heading north from Sai Yok Yai our destination for the night was Sangkhlaburi, a small Burmese-Thai settlement on the northern tip of the Vajiralongkorn reservoir. The road twisted and turned offering spectacular vistas of the lake around every corner. We were staying on a raft close to the famous wooden…
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Sai Yok Yai river trip
Following an extended stint in the UK it was time for another Asian road trip, I had missed them. We were heading north, past Kanchanaburi and on towards Sai Yok Yai, a National Park on the River Kwae in the western reaches of Thailand. The drive was a long one, seven…
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England’s South Coast
Our trip had reached its most northerly point so it was time to head back south towards the coast once more. After some horsing around with good friends in Oxfordshire we crammed once again into the Silver Citroen Shed that had been our reliable wheels for the whole trip and made…
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Stanage Edge
Another foray into the Peak District took us to Stanage Edge, a gritstone escarpment near the village of Hathersage and mecca for local climbers. Wondering why the car park was empty, we headed through the Stanage Plantation and up to the rock face to be greeted with some house sized…
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Peak District
It was time to get out into the wilderness and take some hikes across the rolling hills of the Peak District. Just 20 miles from Manchester central the sprawling uplands offer an opportunity to get back to nature and take in some stunning vistas across farmlands, moors, villages and outcrops….
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