It seems like there’s always a party on somewhere in Spain. We’ve been here less than a month and already we’ve accidentally found ourselves in the midst of a carnival in Leon and a full-on five-day fiesta in Barcelona. We have been amazed but charmed by the Spanish predilection for a lifestyle filled first and foremost with fun, food, fiestas and friends. This is a life we can definitely see ourselves warming to, even though one of those fiestas ended in me losing a clump of hair while watching some fire dancing.
Even though we're now in Spain, getting ready to move to Madrid next week, it seems like just yesterday that we were whizzing down leafy roads in New England, country music playing on the stereo of our rental car. The three months that we spent travelling on the east coast of the USA made for one of my favourite travel experiences to date. I was so happy in New England, particularly in Vermont, that I often ache to be back there. Whilst reminiscing, we've put together this short USA travel video of our trip highlights.
While we only visited Burma for a short three weeks we still managed to pack a lot into our trip. We saw thousands of temples, from the famous, glittering Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon to the many crumbling, ancient stupas of Bagan. We skimmed over the incredibly vast Lake Inle, explored the historical Mandalay, saw some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises and best of all, we met some of the most friendly people on our travels so far - here are our Burma video highlights.
Although we’d heard mixed reviews of Cambodia we were still keen to see what the country held for us. We certainly weren’t disappointed though. Other than meeting some of the friendliest and most genuine people we managed to explore the ancient temples of Angkor and learn about the more recent gruesome history at the killing fields and Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh. We checked out the circus and took the bamboo train in Battambang and spotted the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin before heading up the Mekong to Laos’s Four Thousand Islands. Here are our Cambodia Video highlights:
Kratie is a small town perched on the banks of the Mekong River about seven hours north of Phnom Penh (10 hours if your bus breaks down); this was our last stop in Cambodia before we headed back into Laos. There’s a sprinkling of guesthouses and restaurants in Kratie, although the food isn’t anywhere near as good as in the other Cambodian towns we visited and there’s also a market complete with pyjama-clad women selling their various wares. What we were really in town for though was the chance to spot some rare Irrawaddy river dolphins.

Battambang ended up being one of those places we couldn’t seem to leave. At first glance, the town doesn’t have much to offer save for a ride on the famous bamboo train, but we had some of our most memorable Cambodian experiences venturing out into the surrounding countryside and catching a breath-taking circus performance. I felt we really caught a glimpse of ‘true’ Cambodia during our stay in Battambang.

We ended our travels in 2013 with a one-month trip to Vietnam. Our journey started in the north of the country, where we discovered our favourite Asian city, Hanoi. During our week-long stay there we spent day after day in museums, palaces and temples and took an overnight boat trip in the beautiful-yet-crowded Halong Bay. We then headed south on the train to Hué to see ancient tombs and the old Citadel, continuing on from there to Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage City which wasn't quite as nice as Laos’ Luang Prabang.
It’s too late to run or hide, all I can do is gasp as yet another pail of icy water slaps my body.  I hear some accompanying whoops and look up to see my Thai attackers perched on a truck that’s now speeding away down the road. I can just make out the neon water pistols they’re armed with and the barrel of water laced with ice that they’re scooping from with buckets. It’s Songkran 2014 in Chiang Mai, Thailand and nowhere is safe.
There’s no doubt about it, I’m a born city rat. I love feeling lost and anonymous amongst teeming crowds, while at the same time feeling like a tiny cog in a complicated, ever-changing machine. Back in London I used to relish strolling along the riverfront and through the city squares, or sitting on packed trains watching millions of lives unfold all around me. The bigger and more hectic the city, the better, I used to think. That was until I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - the craziest place I’ve ever been.
After our three months in Thailand it was time to head across the Mekong into Laos. Altogether we spent about four weeks in the north visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site Luang Prabang, the mysterious Plain of Jars in Phonsavan, tubing in Vang Vieng, cycling around Luang Namtha and learning about the secret war in Laos. We later spent two weeks visiting the south of Laos where we saw the most popular three of the Four Thousand Islands, the unremarkable Pakse and motored around the waterfall-packed freshness of the Bolaven Plateau before returning to Thailand.