Interlaken - 6th to 7th of April 2008

2 hours southwest of Lucerne is Interlaken. The train ride was easily the best train trip we have ever had, going through tiny villages nestled on the side of cool little lakes with snow capped mountains in the background. It snowed the whole trip, we were obvioulsy at high altitude given the depth of the snow. Interlaken is at the base of the Swiss mountain ranges and therefore quite cold! We arrived in the rain and left in the snow! Our seven layers of clothing was almost enough. We wondered around the cute little town although no specific attractions.

We were up early the next day to try and get up to Jungfrau, Europes highest train station, but the weather wasn't looking any good.

Lucerne - 5th to 6th of April 2008

We were told Lucerne is Switzerland's most beautiful city. We would totally agree. It is amazingly beautiful and arguably the best place we have been on our travels to date. Again it is set on the side of a lake with a river through it. We took a 50 minute train west from Zurich and arrived mid afternoon. We followed the city map indicating important places to visit. The place has a lot of history, with the two old bridges across the river and the rampart wall/towers being the highlights. We enjoyed a good pizza sitting in the freezing cold but overlooking the river and mountains - it would have been wrong to sit inside! The following morning we awoke to snow! First time ever, quite exciting, until we had to finish our city walk and visit the dying lion of Lucerne in the snow!

Zurich - 4th to 5th of April 2008

After a 90min plane ride from Heathrow (and a one hour delay at the new terminal 5), we got to Zurich. Our hotel was out by the airport so we had to figure out the trams to make our way into town. Zurich is on the side of a lake with a beautiful river running through it. Very picturesque but still quite cold. Everything is expensive in Zurich (and Switzerland in general) so we ate sausages in bread for dinner (known to the locals at Brotwurst). The next morning was more walking around, seeing the sights, going up one of the towers in a 15th century church, and trying not to spend too many Francs!

London - 2nd to 4th of April 2008

We arrived safely at Heathrow and were met by Carolyn and Glenn (sister and her fiance) for our quick stopover in London. Thankfully we had them with us to help navigate the tube!

We only had one full day in London so we tried to do as much personal admin as possible - washing, internet etc. Also got to catch up with Candice and Nicola and others for a pint and pub meal.

Bangkok - 31st of March to 2nd April 2008

We decided to save time and fly north from Phuket to Bangkok. Arrived late the first night so only really had one full day in Thailand's capital. We set out early via the monorail and ferry to the Grand Palace. Amazing detailing and amount of gold on these buildings/statues. We did come across a nice man in a suit who tried to tell us the palace was closed for the morning and to visit all these other locations for basically free. Lucky we had read about similar scams in the lonely planet and were wise enough to keep walking to the main gate where we had no problem walking straight in!



From the Grand Palace we stopped in at Jim Thompson's house (silk guru who was originally an american architect) before window shopping at some of Bangkok's more upmarket shopping centres. The real shopping however was done at the night markets where we made sure our bags were full for the trip to London. After a full day walking around, we were obliged to get our last Thai foot massage at the end of the night.

Phuket - 30th to 31st of March 2008

After a 2 hour ferry from Phi Phi, we arrived in Phuket, Thailands largest island. We travelled across the island from the ferry building (about an hour by minivan) to Patong Beach. Walked to the main street for some shopping and great dinner before an early night. Awoke to rain, so beaching wasnt really an option - used our time for more shopping!!

Koh Phi Phi - 29th to 30th of March 2008

Our next stop was another 1 1/2 hour ferry west to the Koh Phi Phi islands. We had a nice early start so were able to maximise our day. We decided to get a speed boat tour around the two islands (Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh). Was a great way to see the sights, and we had time to do plenty of snorkelling and swimming. The main attraction of the tour was visiting Maya Bay which is where the movie The Beach was filmed. You can see how amazing the colour of the water is!! We had until lunchtime the following day - time for more beaching!

Koh Lanta - 28th to 29th of March 2008

A two hour ferry south from Ao Nang took us to Koh Lanta, an island about 27km long, again off Thailand's west coast. Was a lot slower pace than many of our other stops as it is coming into the wet season. We only had an afternoon there, so we hired a scooter and drove around the island checking out many cool beaches. After all that hard work, we both got a thai massage looking over the sunset ($12 for an hour - why not?).

Ao Nang - 25th to 27th of March 2008

From Penang we got a minivan to Ao Nang. The minivan picked us up at 5am in Penang and dropped us at our hotel in Ao Nang at 3pm. Not the funnest day ever! Ao Nang is a beach on the west coast of Thailand, so we had to go through border control - the first time we have ever done that outside an airport! We had 2 nights in Ao Nang, and our full day in between was spent at a neighbouring bay, Railay, which you can only get to by boat. We got a long tail boat like the ones in the photo below. Great fun!

Penang - 24th to 25th of March 2008

From KL we got the overnight train north to Penang. Penang is an island off the west coast of Malaysia which is connected to the mainland by a bridge. We arrived at 5.50am off the train (after not much sleep), so after a quick snooze at our hotel we maximised our one day in Penang and went up the Penang Hill and to a beach on the northern side of the island, Batu Ferringhi.