Hi everyone , well as some of you know i,m back in Perth . Couple of reasons . One my footy team has gone to water since i left and the finals start this week . Thought they could do with my expert help. Second i figured if i thought a ladyboy was looking attractive i needed to take a serious break. Anyway my mate Clive has a 100 ton bus which i was thinking of renting from him , painting it in flower power symbols , adding a speaker to the roof and hit the road playing 60's music. Does anyone have a bandana left over in their wardrobe? Might head for Byron Bay where Diana lives and start up a hippie cult. Anyone want to join me? BYO bong. Spent 17 hours travelling to get back home and has taken days for me to recover and work out where the hell i am and also the local Aussie food is playing havoc . Kathy back to the medical kit . Hope to catch up with everyone in Perth soon so will be in touch. Take care guys Darryl

Hi there guys. Well back in Bangkok for a few days before i decide what next. The news is Chaing Mai is a bit of a good destination so will do some research on it . Well i'm afraid Buddha has come into the 21st century big time. Just saw a new toyota full of orange robed monks with a fake gold Buddha in the back tray and they are making a shit load of money from everyone. Thought these guys were supposed to live in poverty. Maybe their idea of poverty is last years model car. Met two American guys last night so we spent the night having a few beers and a laugh until the place closed at midnight . Anyway we were directed to the in nightclub in Bangkok from there . Bloody huge place , live band and probably 200 /300 people packed in . We got talking to three women and i spent time dancing with the tall one for an hour and a half before her friggin mate told me i was dancing in front of everyone with a lady boy. Apparently i was the only one who didn't notice the adams apple. Was pretty dark though in my defence. Really pissed me off for two reasons. First he was the best dancer in the place and second he was bloody attractive. Went and hid in the toilet from embarrasement for an hour . Hey things are looking up though gone from lesbians to lady boys. Afraid to think what comes next . Got up this morning and looked in mirror and overnight i seem to have developed wrinkles in my face a steam press couldn't remove. There are a lot of poms here and they are taking great delight in sticking it up me about the cricket .Just have to grin and bear it as they are entitled to finally get some back on us after many many years. Well will keep you posted assuming anyone is still reading . Cheers Darryl

Hi everyone , last blog before i leve Phnom Phen tomorrow for Thailand. Have stayed here longer than i planned as i have really taken a shine to this country and it's people. Last place i would have expected but hey lifes like a box of choclates you never know what you are going to get. Asusual i have no definate plans after Thailand although yesterday i started to think about coming home but grabed a cold beer and went to the pool instead and got rid of that thought real quick. Had dinner with a charming French lady who is a friend of the lady i met in Nah Trang. Amazing the people you meet and their stories they have when you travel alone. Jesus i love that french accent , i just let her talk and talk all night. She has applied for a teaching job in Mexico city and said to visit her if she gets it. So far invitations to Byron Bay and Mexico city. Not bad for an old grey wrinkled guy hey. The thing i will miss most about here is "wait for it" BREAD. Must be the french influence but they make the most yummy bread i have ever had. Tried some fried cockroaches and spiders at a street stall and to be honest if you shut your eyes and forget about what you are eating they are not bad . Came wrapped in paper just like fish and chips at home. Well back to the pool again before the rain hits like it does every friggin afternoon .Take care guys and talk again from Thailand Dazza

Hi everyone , well five and a half hour boat trip and i'm in Phnom Phen . Hotel is fantastic but after Faulty Towers a tent in the Sahara desert would look good. For some reason i really love Cambodia and in fact going to extend and stay longer here. Did the temples at Angkor Wat and one of the most amazing places i've seen , way exceeded my expectations. Today went out to the killing fields (remember the movie) bloody depressing place .The killing spree Pol Pot went on is beyond belief. Another near run in with police (this is getting to be a regular event) Tuk Tuk driver on way back from killing fields was also not wearing his helment (shit half the population doesn't)Anyway cop jumps in front of him to make him pull over. No way .Driver just aimed at him and sped up so cop had to jump out of the way and we kept going. I asked driver what the friggin hell happened and apparently it's a bit of a scam they try and pull over tourists as more chance of a pay off. Sending this from a restraunt that has free wi fi and just ordered bbq chicken wings. Well four wings came out and so big i could only eat two. I never saw chicken however based on the wings i calculate it was about five foot eleven inches and somewhere between 200 and 300 hundred pounds. Going to visit chicken farm find out breed and what they feed them then when i come home home Clive and i are opening up a chicken farm . Clive start looking for Kelpies as we will need them to round up the chooks. Two interesting dishes on menu. Lucky dish (don't know what this is or why it's called that but i'm not friggin going there). Also fish with Holy basil. Didn't know the catholics blessed basil. Going to hit the town tonight for a few ales but wont be the same without the lesbians. Kinda had a soft spot for them. (no pun intended) Ok guys take care Cheers

Hi everyone , last update before i leave Faulty Towers in the morning. Catching a boat to Phnom Phen early. Apparently a five hr trip and i have no idea what sort of boat it is. Hope the next place ibooked today turns out better than this friggin place. Some of my laundry did come back not all but 70% and the girl downstairs who doubles for Manuel seemed so excited i gave up asking about the rest of it. She seemed it was some minor miracle i got any back. I will probably find the rest of it for sale at the night markets when i go in for food later. This place is amazing , there are so many people with only one leg from old people to young children all results of land mines which still today kill or injur 30 people a month. Bloody sad and frustrating seeing helpless children hurt like this. Friggin screwed up world we live in. Have found Cambodians to be lovely people and despite all that has happened to them they remain positive and friendly. Was telling Clive in an email i was having problems with my PC so i went to a guy in a shop about the size of a phone box who fixed it on the spot in 15 miutes and charged $1 US Dollar. Try getting service like that in OZ. Bloody hot and humid every day so yesterday went down to the so called swimming pool and met two german girls who i realised once we got talking they were an item. Typical me met two attractive germans and they are lesbians. The three of us went out for dinner and then hit a few clubs and i tell you hanging around with a couple of lesbians is one hell of a hoot. After we were all quiet pissed i told them the only reason they were lesbians was they had not been with a real man yet. This seemed to absolutely crack them up and both had tears from laughter. (was it something i said?) Not sure where i'm headed after Phnom Phen i'll work it out when i get there as per normal. Been away a month but doesn't seem that long. Anyway take care all and talk again soon. Cheers

Hi everyone , well arrived Siem Reap last night. Because i'm travelling alone i have not as you are probably aware been staying generally in five star hotels. However Diamond bay was an exception.I have come back to earth with a big thud as the place i booked here is a friggin disaster. Faulty Towers has nothing on this place. The photo's i viewed on line were taken somewhere else as they look nothing like reality. I kid you not above the bed is a sign indicating what is not allowed . You know cigarette with a cross through it etc . Well this sign has a picture of a hand gun with a cross through it , a picture of a hand grenade with a cross through it and a picture of a needle with a cross through it. I'm not joking here . Good thing i left all my friggin hand grenades at home. Unbelievable. Wanted to get laundry done so asked girl on the desk when it would come back . Answer was maybe it come back. Not today not tomorrow but maybe it might come back . Worked out the shower as well. You turn it on and sometimes water comes out sometimes not and if your looking for pressure and hot water good friggin luck. Anyway sounds like i;m whinging again but the people here are fantastic and i think i could get to enjoy this a lot more than Nam. Jason reckons he has swapped my cats number plates for bloody Docker plates so somebody go around and check for me . Anyway will not bore you any further today . Take care guys Darryl

Hi everyone , hope i'm not boring you all to death with my stories. Anyway decided to leave Nam for a while so off to Cambodia Friday. Might return to Nam after . Need a rest from this crazy country , why anyone fought wars over it beats me. Was recommended a good restraunt to visit so had name and address written down caught a motorcycle taxi who promptly ignored what i wanted and took me to a massage parlor. (obviously a commission thing) So now i just get off bike tell them to go make love to themselves dont pay and walk off. This tends to cause some angst and interesting conversations but i am sick to death of this happening all the time. So next hailed a cyclo bike. Before i showed him where i wanted to go he said ok ok 20,000 dong. Told him i wanted to go to friggin Hanoi which got his attention. Showed him address and he took me to a friggin pool hall. Same thing told him to make love to himself as well. Never did get to the restraunt. There are going to be a lot of pissed off Vietnamese making love to themselves by the time i leave Friday but hell not my fault. Anyway found a restraunt to eat and met an interesting lady from Byron Bay NSW. All she does is travel throughout Asia so a great wealth of knowledge . Unfortunately she has left for Hoi An but we swapped emails so we can keep track what's happening. She told me she has run into hundreds of lone travellers like me and her.Most common reason marriage breakdown so we agreed we should try and get as many together as we can somewhere and have a bloody big party on a beach somewhere. Ok just joking. Getting on fine with the young backpacker groups. The males see me as an old guy who is no threat to their chances with the girls so they are comfortable and buy me beers(dickheads) and the girls find me safe and interesting to talk to (hey my competition is 20 year old males with a mental capacity of 10 )which the girls tire of after a while. i end up talking to the girls why the macho guys talk bullshit and get pissed. See there are benefits in geting old and wiser. (well maybe just older). Anyway to end may i quote " Edward Abbey" May your trails be crooked ,winding ,lonesome ,dangerous leading to the most amazing views. May your moumtains rise into and above the clouds. Take care guys Love Darryl