Dashing into a travel agent in La Paz at 6pm, we discussed our options and in (considerably) less than 24 hours, we were on a little plane heading off towards the Amazon Basin.

Anyone familiar with the smallest Aurigny Tri-Lander planes in the Channel Islands will have a good idea of the type of aircraft we were on: it seated around 13 people and a pilot. The flight to the bustling town (large village!) of Ruranebaqe took about an hour - soaring over the impressive Amazonian landscape, and brushing the undercarriage over treetops as we came in to land on the short grass landing strip.

Happily, Tom and I love flying so we enjoyed every minute of the flight: noses pushed up against the perspex windows, taking it all in.

We spent the first night in Ruranebaqe (which is connected to “civilisation” by a road - the infamous “world’s most dangerous road”). It certainly felt quite an isolated place, but with a few good bars and restaurants. Pottering around, it became quite disorientating as you walk down one bustling road to find it just come to an abrupt end and the rainforest begin!

The next morning we met the other couple who were heading to Chalalan Eco Lodge with us. A slightly loud Canadian couple who, for some unknown reason, totally disregarded the advice of Yhovane, our local guide.

We readied ourselves for the 5 hour trip up-river by dug-out canoe. The ride was actually more comfortable than you might expect, and the boat did have a little motor on it. We stopped en route for a picnic lunch on a sandy bank…

…so a the boat ride (and a short hike) later, we were at the eco-lodge. Now we definitely felt isolated!

The beautiful lodge was situated on the banks of a small lake, and there were only two other guests staying there at the same time as us. Our guide and the other members of staff (all local - from the village which established, and continue to run Chalalan) were all fabulous!

Our three day (two night) stay was incredible! I can’t really describe it. We went on hikes, took a trip over the lake, did a night walk (sadly cut short by the rain, but not before we saw a HUGE bird-eating tarantula and her young). I was also incredibly sick…

No idea what caused it, but for about 24 hours I was not a pleasant sight (some would argue I’m not a pleasant sight at the best of times…). I had both Yhovane (our by now very worried guide) and Tom (also rather worried, but probably more about the mess…) sitting on the opposite bed watching me violently vomiting… Needless to say, that didn’t help much. The weird tea concoction, however did, and I made a swift(ish) recovery. It did mean I missed out on the evening’s entertainment, which I’m a bit annoyed about.

Still, swinging in my hammock, watching the biggest butterflies I have ever seen float passed, listening to the howler monkeys, and generally relaxing…well, it could have been worse!

Still, we pottered on, and after a quick coca tea (which we were assured would help) and a swift snooze we came over all touristy - time to head to a dinner show then! “Huari” was billed as an “evening of traditional Bolivian dancing and entertainment”. I’m not sure if the dodgy costumes (mainly fru-fru skirts that became shorter as the night wore on) were completely authentic, but we really enjoyed the show - and managed to completely over-order from the extensive llama-tastic menu.

The next day, the tables were turned when we became the entree for a would-be scamster in the centre of La Paz. While sitting on some steps in the Plaza San Francisco a well dressed lady tried to get our attention, telling us we had something on our backs… Mustard… LOTS of Mustard… I think we were supposed to leap to our feet and be distracted while our bags were swiped, but being the people we are, we simply stayed sat there and told the now very shifty looking woman to piss off - which she duly did. Damn. More washing.

Feeling a little less lethargic and acclimatising to the altitude, we cast our net a little wider the following day and headed out to a place of many spellings - Tihuanaco, Tiwanaku, Tiwanako, Tihuanaku, Tiahuanako - I think you get the eyedeer, ideer, idea, aydia, aideur. There has been much debate about this ancient site, but a few things we can confirm… Our guide was crap. It’s pretty big. There are the remains of a “pyramid”, a sunken area and a large platform. Our guide was crap. The “sun gateway” looks suspiciously like someone has concreted the lower half. There are some huge blocks of stone used in the construction of the main platform. The museums hold some interesting artifacts, but I have no idea what they actually were as information about them was very sparse (even the Spanish descriptions were never more than a short sentance), and as mentioned previously, our guide was crap. Not that I’m bitter about the 15USD we paid him before we set off. Hope he gets mustarded.

Anyway… The photo opportunities were pretty cool, and I have found myself wondering how this pre-inca site fits in with the rest of the ancient sites we have seen on our travels - concreted or not.

As we walked through the arrivals gate, we began to contemplate what we actually knew about Easter Island…

…something about some big stone heads, and a mystery?

And that was about it.

We didn’t even know quite how remote the island was until we were on the flight there.

So how did it make it on to the “absolutely have to go there during Phase 3″ list? Well, we didn’t know anyone else who’d been there, it’s not on the usual backpacker trail, it sounded interesting, and…why not?!!

Having done next-to-no research on the island, we were totally unprepared for the striking beauty and fascinating history that was awaiting us. To say our breath was taken away is an understatement. Without a doubt, Easter Island was one of the main highlights of Phase 3.

The island is quite small, and much of it is unpopulated. There is an awful lot to explore - on foot, horse, bike or (to a certain extent, though not fully) by mini-van.

We signed up for a guided tour run by the little guest house we were staying in. The group was small - only four of us - and the tour guide was brilliant! She was a very knowledgable lady, who gave a very balanced view of the theories and known history of the island.

The food was absolutely gorgeous. An abundance of wild guava as well as bananas and avocados (amongst other things) are free for passersby to pick and eat. The restaurants serve beautifully fresh fish, and delicious wine (well, Easter Island is, strictly speaking, part of Chile after all).

As for the Moai (the “giant stone heads”), we had totally underestimated how many there are. Hundreds! Spread around the coast in groups (all looking inland, except for one group looking out to sea), as well as scattered around the old quarries. They are all different, all striking. Some are huge, some just plain massive! There were certainly some excellent photo ops!

We had a fabulous 5 days here, exploring as much of the island as we could (including spending time on the only sandy beach, scattered with palm trees, swiming in the warm sea).

Leaving was very, very difficult!

We prefer to complicate our hours of transit - it generally leads to far more interesting experiences (and more in-flight movies).

Keeping to this theme (and because we are cheapskates who removed the whole Australia and Pacific Isles zone from our ticket for a discount) we took the alternative route via Los Angeles, Lima and Santiago.

The joy that is Cathay Pacific whisked us across the Northern Pacific without a hitch, which was just as well as we needed all our energy to deal with one of the wonders of the modern world - US immigration.

I must make it clear from the outset that I have nothing personal against the individual immigration inspectors we met, who were all professional and efficient. No… My issue is that we shouldn’t have needed to see them AT ALL! We were supposedly IN TRANSIT! Ah… I like a bit of caps lock anger…

Soooo… Origin - Hong Kong (SAR China)… Destination - Rapa Nui (dept. Chile). Um. When did the USA aquire Chile? Why are the baggage scanners and staff in Hong Kong so ineffective that there is a need for the lovely folks at LAX airport to see me clear immigration, collect my checked luggage, re-check my already checked luggage, pass outside the airport, stand in a 100m long queue, pass through security without my shoes on and try and find the gate for a flight that seemingly does not exist?

I can’t quite fathom it… If the flight is deemed safe enough to land at LAX, surely the people and baggage onboard should be safe enough to leave LAX for another country!

As it was, we made it through the finger-printing joy of immigration, found our baggage and eventually found the gate number after asking in the business class lounge (the electronic boards did not have the flight on them at all).

Unfortunately, contrary to the 70s style video we were shown prior to landing, there was no advanced “Check Out” booth in the departure lou.. um… corridor, so although at the time of writing I think I am in Peru, we are actually still in the USA! Hurrah! That should be fun when we attempt to get back in to the country in a few weeks!

At Lima airport we were serenaded by a traditional Peruvian band, then we spent the better part of a day at Santiago airport in a tiny area of the departure lounge looking over a far more interesting looking lounge with many shops and restaurants. It was only after about 5 hours that we realised we could get down there too. Bah!

We finally arrived in Easter Island and walked through the best departure lounge yet… A beautiful little garden area next to the tiny airport building - ahhh… time to relax!

Well, Hong Kong isn’t really China is it?!

Too right! We had a really great couple of days exploring the main island and popping over to Kowloon to potter down the Avenue of Stars.

We took the historic funicular railway up to “The Peak”. The view wasn’t great during the day, because the weather at this time of year tends to be misty. At night, however, with all the lights, the view was quite stunning!

Another highlight was watching the sound & light show of Hong Kong island from Kowloon. It didn’t last as long as I was expecting, but was pretty spectacular!

We did attempt Chinese food again, but only once: it brought back too many grease-filled memories!!!

We stayed another three nights in Bangkok - just enough time to potter round some shops, have another suit fitting and enjoy some more fab Thai food! We then took an overnight train down to Chum Porn (yes, that really IS its name!) on the coast, and caught a ferry across to the little island of Ko Tao, just north of Ko Samui.

Ko Tao wasn’t exactly what we’d been hoping for: too many of the Martini Brigade (you know the type - just too “beautiful”, with too few clothes on, posing all over the place). It’s not exactly that I have a problem with bikinis, but when they are being sported round town, it does get a bit much. There’s only so much tit and thigh I can cope with. And that’s from the men.

Unfortunately, The Martini Brigade were not as beautiful as they seemed to think they were, and seeing virtually naked, lobsteresque tourists with very odd sunburn was not uncommon. As was seeing topless old women…

Resisting the urge to show up the other tourists and strip naked, Tom and I stuck to chilling out in the shade, enjoying evening swims and doing a bit of snorkling. The beach-hut-on-stilts accommodation was lovely, and we managed to find a place with a small beach that was only shared by two guest houses, so wasn’t too busy.

Thrill-seakers as we are, we hired scooters for the day, and at a massive 15 km per hour we explored the island. (The scooters did actually go much faster than that, but…well…I was hanging on for dear life at 10 km per hour!!!) Actually, we had a really fab time zotting about in the glorious sunshine and avoiding the masses!

All in all we had a good few days in Ko Tao, but I wish we could have seen it before it became over-touristed…

Upon arrival in Siem Reap, the modern town just south of the sites, it didn’t take us long to decide on the 7 day pass to the temples rather than the shorter 3 or quite frankly criminal 1 day passes.

Armed with this handy laminated ticket and our trusty Tuk-Tuk driver Som (who luckily also had a tuk tuk) - we set off along the jungle lined route to the temples.

Day 1: Mini Tour Loop (Transport: Tuk Tuk)
Som is a delightful chap, and he has obviously been doing tours for long enough to know the routes of the larger tour groups pretty well. He was able to get us to sites before the masses reached them, and we didn’t feel rushed at any point - allowing us to explore almost deserted temple complexes at our leisure!

Our first day was the inner loop of temples, including Phnom Bakeng (perched on the top of a hill), the huge walled city of Angkor Thom (containing the Bayon, and numerous other temples), Ta Prohm (still overgrown with mysterious shaped trees, and the site where parts of the Tomb Raider film were shot) and finally Angkor Wat itself for sunset.

Day 2: Mini Tour Remix (Transport: Granny bike)
After our success at the valley of the kings, we decided to hire bikes for the day to explore some of the temples we’d visited the previous day in a little more detail and at different times of day.

Angkor Wat itself is reputed to be the world’s largest religious structure, and I can believe it! The entire structure is magnificent from a distance and the intricate carvings that cover the walls reveal themselves as you get closer. We huffed and puffed through the heat to reach the top of the main tower with a magnificent view of the surrounding jungle and the temple grounds.

We then looped around the southern moat of Angkor Wat, visiting some smaller temples en-route, to reach Ta Prohm just before sunset. This impressive temple is slowly being torn apart by the various trees and bushes that are entwined around the walls. The stones may not be so happy, but it does afford anyone with a camera a golden photo opportunity! In the future the jungle may be allowed to re-claim this site, but I hope the authorities resist the urge to cut the trees back as the atmosphere of the temple in the twilight is simply amazing! Once more we were almost alone at the temple, scrambling over blocks to find deserted courtyards and crumbling walls. An unforgettable experience!

Day 3: Sunrise and Grand Tour Loop (Transport: Tuk Tuk)
We forced poor Som to get up extra early to take us up to Angkor Wat for sunrise. He left us there and headed off to his English lesson, while we found ourselves a spot to watch the show. It turned out to be a little disappointing as sunrises go, but we still enjoyed the experience and watched some cheeky monkeys stealing toothpicks as we ate breakfast nearby.

When our faithful dude rolled back in, we headed back through Angkor Thom to the outer loop of temples. These included Preah Kahn, the watery Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Mebon and Pre Rup. By this point you would think we would be templed out, but the truth is that each temple had unique features and it was wonderful to reach a doorway only to find a new network of passages or another fascinating building just around the corner.

Day 4: Day Off in Siem Reap (Transport: our own little feet)
Tiring a little of the “Three for one dollar” hawkers around the temples and needing a little time to gather our thoughts, we decided to give Som a day off and spend a day in Siem Reap chilling out and writing postcards. We also visited a lovely little bar with a large net covering the grounds. The reason for the netting was to keep the hundreds of butterflies of all shapes and sizes from escaping. There were also many informative signs about the different fruits available in that part of the world.

We really enjoyed relaxing in Siem Reap in the evenings, as good food and drinks are widely available, and the temperature was just about right (as long as a fan was strategically placed somewhere in the vicinity)!

Day 5: Biking Again (Transport: Granny bike)
Once more we pedalled off into the distance on our trusty bikes, visiting Banteay Kdei at the eastern edge of the main temple area. As the day went on, Adele started to feel ill, so we returned to Siem Reap to recharge our batteries and chill out on the balcony of our guesthouse.

Day 6: North, South, East, West, um… UP! (Transport: Balloon and Tuk Tuk)
Having explored almost all of the main temple groups on the ground, we took to the skies in a tethered balloon near Angkor Wat. We timed it to perfection and were ushered on board past a waiting tour group. The views over the temples and the surrounding landscape were magnificent. Of particular interest were the huge Baray (man-made reservoirs) that played a part in the disasters of the Pol Pot regieme because of the mistaken theory that they were the key to the wealth of the Khmer Empire.

We decided to return to the Bayon in Angkor Thom for sunset, as we thought the oblique light on the hundreds of huge carved faces would give our cameras a healthy dinner. Som duely chased the sunset down the dirt paths leading to the temple, and we were certainly not disappointed!

Day 7: The Roluos Group (Transport: Tuk Tuk)
Our final day began with a dash along a highway filled with the most random vehicles known to man. After dodging trucks with no cab (some drivers do pop motorcycle helmets on), “motorised mules” towing trailers filled with various goods, motorbikes of all shapes and sizes and the ubiquitos pickup trucks with about three million Khmers piled in the back, we arrived at the Eastern Roluos group of temples that pre-date those at Angkor.

Both Preah Ko and Bakong were impressive temples, and the smaller Lolei, surrounded by a functioning Buddhist monestary was a nice surprise too!

It was then time to say goodbye to our trusty Som, the lovely Millennium Guesthouse,the remarkable Angkor region and the unforgettable Cambodia.

Methinks we’ll be back!

Click here for loads more photos!

That sounds like fun!

Such a shame we had already booked a place in a lovely four star hotel in the Chinatown area…

After the crazy taxi drivers of Cairo and Amman, Bangkok’s tuk-tuk and moto bonanza seemed rather sedate by comparison. They actually leave more than half an inch between vehicles here, and I’m sure the car horns were not exercised nearly enough.

We spent the first few days of our time here eating gorgeous Thai food (and as usual, way too much of it), getting the finest Egyptian dirt out of our clothes (they had to wash everything twice!), planning our next steps in Asia and getting measured up for some tailor made suits!

Now then… where is the train station?

WILL WE EVER SEE OUR BELOVED, WELL-PACKED, RATHER BATTERED BACKPACKS EVER AGAIN???

With this in mind, we made sure we had a spare pair of underwear and our washbags in handluggage.

And off we set.

PART 1: Luxor to Cairo
Apart from being shouted at by the security guard for turning up too early (?!!), the trip was uneventful, and we arrived on time.

PART 2: Cairo to Barcelona to Madrid
Iberia Airways. Couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery. Talk about unimpressed. If I could be bothered (and thought it would make a difference) I’d write and complain.

But I’ll start at the beginning. We landed in Cairo - terminal 1 - at about 5.30pm. Our flight out (from terminal 2) was due to leave at 1.25am. Having loads of time to kill, we decided to walk between the two terminals. Not the nicest walk, but it was good to get some exercise. Any hopes we’d had of chilling out at Terminal 2 were well and truly dashed: there’s really not much there, and…to exacerbate matters…we weren’t allowed to check in and go through to departures until 11pm. Despite waiting since 7.15pm, we still managed to be the last ones through.

The flight was, predictably, delayed. No one told us this, so most people (not our lazy selves) were waiting in a queue for about 2 hours!

Luckily we had enough time before our connecting flight in Madrid that we weren’t too concerned.

That was until it became apparent in Barcelona that the cabin crew had managed to lose one of the passengers. (After being fed dinner at 3.30am, we couldn’t give a damn either way). A mass-hunt ensued in which we all had to identify ourselves no less than FOUR times to three different people, and have our names checked off a list. In an amazing demonstration of incompetence, they STILL couldn’t work out who was missing (though we suspect it was the guy who had his passport taken off him and who was escorted away from the gate at Cairo airport).

PART 3: Madrid to Stockholm to Helsinki
Against all the odds we made it to Madrid in time for our connecting flight, and happily, we didn’t have much time to wait.

Also, happily, this flight was not run by Iberia, but by the wonderful Finnair (complete with gormet food…yes…MORE free food…). (And yes, we did have a bit of a laugh about “flying on fin air”…ahah-ha-ha-hum…but by now we’d been going for over 24 hours, so might be forgiven?)

This flight was completely uneventful, and quite comfortable.

One thing we hadn’t counted on. We’d come from a desert climate, and were heading to the steamy climes of Thailand. In Helsinki it was snowing. A lot. So much so that the planes were being sprayed with anti-freeze.

PART 4: Helsinki Airport
We liked Helsinki Airport. So much so that we want to visit Finland (properly attired) now! We had a 7 hour stopover here - enough time to wash our hair in a sink, scrub up a bit, have a good dinner and an even better bottle of wine, finish a book each, AND get drunk. Quite a busy 7 hours.

PART 5: Helsinki to Bangkok
Again, uneventful. Finnair again (but this time with some horrible food). And (as Tom notices) the cabin attendents weren’t quite so pretty…the films were rubbish, too. But, as we neared the 48 hour mark, I think our tolerance levels had dropped somewhat…!

PART 6: Bangkok
And an hour-long taxi ride later we made it to our hotel. Locked the door. Sorted out all the washing. Went to bed.