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In Australia

3 Unfortunate Badges of Honour to Collect in Australia

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Pulling some bluebottle tentacles from my T-shirt

Lets face it Australia has a fair few things that would make it onto anyones bucket list. These things are usually of the more fun, interesting, travel related variety. However there are a few items that whilst they are unlikely to be on many peoples bucket lists, they do give you a few great stories. 1) Get Stung By A Jellyfish Australia is full of critters that bite and sting, so receiving a “gift” from one of these is in essence a quintessential Australian experience, right? Quintessential, possibly, painful, definitely. We spent a few days around Batemans Bay, a beautiful coastal town 4 hours south of Sydney. With stunning beaches its not surprising that there are quite a few decent snorkelling spots. Late one afternoon we headed over to snorkel around the beautiful Guerrilla Bay. Around the rocks along the edges of the beach there was plenty of marine…

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In Myanmar

Myanmar Hacks – Know Before You Go

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Myanmar Hacks – Know Before You Go Myanmar is a country of outstanding beauty and culture. Our trip to Myanmar was fantastic and we would recommend it to everyone, however are a few little pieces of advice that we would like to pass on. Myanmar’s Buses Transport between Myanmar’s major locations is convenient and expansive. Many tourists choose to take night buses to maximise their time and save on accommodation costs. However there is one thing that you should all know. Night buses in Myanmar have an rather strange habit of arriving much earlier than scheduled. For example; we left Yangon around 8:30pm on a bus that was scheduled to arrive in Kalaw at 6:00am. When our bus pulled up in Kalaw at 3am we were rather surprised. At that point we had 2 choices, sit at a little roadside restaurant for 3 hours while we waited for our guest…

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In China

Traveling During China’s National Holidays – A Little Dilema

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Finding inner zen at the White Horse Temple

As September draws to close, China edges closer to its National Day holiday. From October 1st until October 5th, 6th or 7th, depending on ones working schedule, kids are off school and the vast majority of the population are on holiday. Cue absolute bedlam at airports and train stations as middle kingdom goes on the move. The price of flight tickets increases dramatically during this period, sometimes by up to 2 or 3 times. Obviously, this depends on your destination, but its safe to say you will be paying more than you would do usually. When you also factor in that train tickets can sell out almost as soon as they become available you can understand how this can be a pretty miserable time to travel. However for many people in China, this holiday and the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) are the only long holidays (1 week plus)…

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In Myanmar

3 Days in Bagan

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Exploring Pagoda's in Bagan

3 Days in Bagan – Myanmar’s Temple City Without a doubt Bagan is a highlight of any trip to Myanmar, it is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most impressive places we have ever been. However, you will have to share your experience with quite a few other tourists, as you should expect when coming to a place of such cultural and historical significance. However it is very possible to escape the crowds and find yourself a temple with only a few goats for company. The first piece of advice would be to spend a couple of dollars more and rent an e bike, it will get you through the “off piste” sections far easier than a push bike. This will make it much easier to get away from the tourists and into the more secluded areas of this UNESCO world heritage site. Check that the battery…

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In Myanmar

An unconventional route to Pyin Oo Lwin

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Riding alongside the river

An unconventional route to Pyin Oo Lwin Read any travel guide on Mandalay and they will all tell a similar story, “not a lot in the city centre, but a great base to explore the surrounding area.” As dismissive as this sounds, they aren’t wrong. Mandalay is not particularly easy on the eye, and it doesn’t really have cool hip factor of Yangon or other major Asian cities. However, like the guidebooks say it is a fantastic place to base yourself to explore the surrounding area. We rented a motorbike from Mandalay Motorbikes, who we would definitely recommend. The owner Zac does custom tours through Myanmar when he is not Mandalay. When we were renting our bike we got chatting to his wife about where we were headed and she gave us a great tip on a stunning road route from Mandalay to Pyin Oo Lwin. Take route 3…

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In Fiji

Savu Savu – Fiji

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Road trip from Savu Savu to Labassa

Fiji, is rightly considered to be a tropical paradise, and whilst this is completely accurate, it is not all that Fiji has to offer. Back in 2008, I took a rather shaky flight from Nadi on the main island of Viti Levu to a small town called Labassa located on Fiji’s second island of Vanua Levu. From here it was 5-6 hour bus ride down to the costal town of Savu Savu. There were two reasons for coming here, 1 – Great diving, 2- Very few other people do. The latter of these choices was confirmed when I made of 50% of the passengers on my flight. After 3 days of diving I opted for a change of pace and rented a motorbike and decided to spend a day driving around the island. Armed with a bottle of water and a broken camera (the screen didn’t work, but…

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In Laos

Kuang Si Waterfall – Luang Prabang – Laos

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Visiting the Kuang Si Waterfall in Luang Prabang Luang Prabang is without a doubt one of the jewels South East Asia’s travelling crown; spectacular scenery, beautiful temples and great food. Surrounded by rolling hills and winding country roads Luang Prabang is a place where you can easily spend a little more time than you intended. Kuang Si falls is one of many fantastic day trips from the Unesco World Heritage listed town. As its around 30km away you will need to arrange your own transport. This gives you two choices, hire a tuk tuk with a bunch of other people or hire your own scooter (motorbikes are more expensive and harder to come by in the town) and drive there yourself. Bear in mind that the tuk tuks in Laos a larger than any others in South East Asia, so you can cram quite a few people in making the…

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