Aideen's Page

Pets onboard

Indonesia

Singapore

Malaysia

Thailand

The Andamans

Northern Thailand

Laos

Cambodia

Brunei

Pets onboard:

As you know we have a four year old Bitza onboard our 43 ft Cat 'Hard Yakka'. We got Shrek from the pound when we started laying the foundations to build 'Hard Yakka' so he's been around since the beginning of this project. He spent four years sittng under the boat in fibreglass dust, epoxy fumes and more often than not covered in bog or glue. He has a great temperment, very friendly and its deffnitely the case that his bark is worse than his bite. He's never been sailing before and the closest he has got to been out in the water is a swim from the beach or a very odd journey out in the dingy. We were very unsure how to handle having him on board and how to prepare him for a complete lifestyle change. We couldn't find much information on the Internet about dogs onboard so decided to add our bit to help any other cruisers out there who are trying to make that decision whether to bring their pet or not.
Really for us there was no decision to make. There was no way we could leave 'Shrek' behind. He's part of the family now and has been here from the beginning. For the first few weeks that Hard Yakka was in the water Shrek couldn't come onboard as we were in Fremantle Yacht Club(No dogs allowed).. So it was our first taste of the restrictions that pets, especially dogs can bring to your life onboard. The day before we left the Yacht Club we snuck Shrek on board and left the warf straight away. He was scared shitless to say the least. He was crawling around on all fours and his belly never left the ground. His back legs were trembling like I've never seen them tremble before (and you couldn't say that our Shrek is a very brave dog) and his tail couldn't get any further up betwen his legs. So to say he liked his first day onboard would be an understatement. We had got a square metre of artificial grass from some mates thinking we could try to toilet train him onborad from the beginning. The second night the grass blew overboard in a 40knot gale. Apart from that we were always near land so he went onshore a couple of times a day.
As we go further North he is deffinitely getting more confident but the noises as we are sailing along freak him out. When the water hits our bridgedeck (which happens very rarely) he just about jumps out of his skin. The dingy is his new best friend and anytime we go to take it anywhere he is the first one in it. Sailing up from Abrohlas in the middle fo the night he suddenly noticed the black outline of the outboard thinking that someone was coming onboard and he just went troppo at it for about an hour. We had trouble calming him down. As far as the toilet training goes he has only had one pee onboard. During our first overnight from Lancelin to Dongara he started to get very restless at about three in the morning walking around and around the cockpit staring out to sea hoping he would see land. In the end we brought him up to the tramps and he let out a little moan and just let go but that is the last time he's done that. The seas were very calm that night so he would easily walk up to the front of the boat at night but when the seas are up a little he won't leave the cockpit unless someone is with him. So its a little bit of a dilema.

Update 15th September: On our trip from Turtle Island to Broome we were on the water for two nights and one day in which time Shrek did another pee on deck but again he waited until he was bursting. I think he's starting to enjoy life at sea but we're going to have to be a little more careful when we hit the Kimberley's as I fear he would be a nice entree for any of the crocs in that area. During the day we intend to watch him very carefully and at night we will tie him up with enough lead so he can move around comfortably but not near the sides of the boat.

Its now Jan 2006 and Shrek has been on Hard Yakka for 7 months. The Kimberley's went well for Shrek. He didn't become an entree for any of the crocs in that part of the country. He's too clever!!!! He still doesn't enjoy sailing and its becoming a real problem. He gets quite stressed and is constantly walking around in circles and just won't relax. At one stage Ric gave him some valium (vet advise) just to see how he would go. It helped reduce his anxiety however you could see that he still wasn't too comfortable with the whole idea. He nows goes to the toilet on board if we are to sea. However if we are near land and he can see it he will still wait until we bring him ashore. In Queensland this can be a huge problem as most of the islands along this stretch of coastline are National Parks and no dogs are allowed. Legally you can bring your dog to the high water mark, however if its zoned a marine park as well as a national park you can forget it. No dogs whatsoever or you can get a nasty little fine!!!!
Things haven't changed since we've become a stink boat (check out latest news). We actually are convinced that the dog willed the mast and sails over the side thinking that he would like it better but he still doesn't like the movement of the boat or the noise.

Now that we've hit Queensland ticks are a bit of a worry for Shrek. Seeminly there are two types of tick here. The more common tick doesn't really affect animals and then there is a tick that paralizes dogs and eventually they die unless they get some sort of anti venom. These ticks are more previlent around rainforest areas. Todate we have a found a few ticks on Shrek but they have been the more common tick. Every day we run our hands through his fur, look in his ears around his mouth area and take any ticks off that we find. We've only found around 4/5 so far. Otherwise he's in great health.
Now that we are planning to head overseas after the cyclone season next year we are really under pressure to make a decision about Shrek whether to bring him with us or not. We want to, however we also want to do what we think is right for the dog. Since we are now in Cairns we brought him to the local vet to see if there were any tablets we could give him. The vet gave us Acepromazine tablets which they use for dogs that go on planes and that are afraid of thunder and lightening. They didn't seem to work at all he was still terrified but after six hours of sailing and after we anchored Shrek had a very bad reaction to the tablets. His heart looked as if it was going to jump out of his chest and he had difficulty breathing and we seriously though he was going to die. He was in a semi concious state for a few hours. He wouldn't eat anything or drink. He was drooling out of his mouth and you could see his heart beating in his chest. During the night he gradually got better but even by the next morning he wasn't 100%. Needless to say we won't be using these again.

Wow Jan 2007 and Shrek is still alive and living onboard. He's become a brilliant guard dog barking at anything that comes near Hard Yakka.
Since we left Innisfail to make our way down South he has had some really relaxed days during sail. The weather was great and we were going in the right direction which always helps. We are thinking of heading on the Darwin-Kupang rally this year and haven't fully decided whether we can bring Shrek with us. We would love to it just depends on how he fairs on our trip North from the Gold Coast. We have a good friend who would take very good care of him but we are finding the idea of not having Shrek onboard alittle hard. So it will be a big decision for us to make and not one taken lightly.
Its March 2007 and Shrek has suddenly decided to do all his ablutions onboard. It might seem really weird but this is brilliant. It has only taken us nearly two years to get him to do this. In the morning(even if we are near land) we give him a swim and he goes up the front and 'bobs your uncle'. We have entered into the Darwin-Kupang rally for this year and plan to travel right through to Thailand. I've really struggled to find information about bringing pets overseas and the dramas of getting them back into the country. It seems that Australian quarantine has now a 5 to 6 month dealy on quarantine places for pets entering back into the country so you have to book at least 6months in advance to get a spot for your pet. In the end myself and Ric made the very very tough decision to give Shrek(temporarily) to our mate Bernie. He still doesn't like the sailing and I think his quality of life if he came overseas with us would be considerably worse. In alot of places the dog isn't allowed off the boat and thats not good enough for Shrek. I know people say when it gets dark or early in the morning but to bring him all that way and it doesn't work out just wouldn't be fair. Predominatley in alot of these countries its a muslim community and muslims don't like dogs(which is fair enough). It would always be a worry for us. So thanks to Bernie(we couldn't have found him a better home) we placed him in his care in Atherton. We rang a few days after we left and Shrek is doing really well and enjoying bush life in Atherton, lying around by the fire. We're very very sad and really missing him as everything we did on the boat was centred around him. He was deffnitely the boss. But we know we made the right decision in our hearts and it was that little bit easier when Shrek saw Bernie again he was so excited and very very happy and jumped straight into his ute. Thanks Shrek for all the beautiful memories.......

REFLECTIONS:
(These are our feelings on the places we've been, the people we've met, the services we received and just things in general)

Qeensland is a great state. Very different to the West coast of Australia. Alot more lush vegetation with brilliant hills and moutains with lots of rainforest and greenery. Gorgeous scenery and some fabulour cruising ground and who can forget the Great Barrier Reef. Having cruised through this part of the country about six years ago during the Winter time we're finding cruising Queensland during the Monsoon season is very different and a bit restrictive. You can't just jump over the side and go for a swim or a dive whenever you want to. You have to think about putting on your stinger suit as there is the possiblity of getting stung. We only purchased stinger suits in Townsville having just taken the chance and jumped over the side of the boat for a swim previous to this. However as we moved further South there are signs everywhere on the coastline beaches and on the islands about the possibility of getting stung. So we bought our stinger suits for about $100 each. The good things about them is that they protect you from the sun. Now even though you wear one of these suits your can still get stung on your feet, hand or face as these area's aren't covered. So its a bit of a pain in the ass everytime you just want to jump over the side to cool down(which is alot during the wet season) you've got to think of putting this suit on. The water is alot dirtier due to the rivers pumping out alot more water during the wet season. So we don't always feel as comfortable about going for a snorkel or a swim as there is still the possibility of crocs around.
In the tropics there is the sun and the humidity. We did not have our boat set up adequately to provide us with enough shade outside to protect us from the sun especially in the tropics. So alot of the time you would sit in the saloon but during the midday sun that can get bloody hot. So the first thing we did was get shade for our windows that wrap around the boat. Its black marine shade cloth which is kept in place with press studs. It eliminates alot of the sun getting through and it also makes the boat a little more private during the day if you were stuck in a marina and people are trying to look in your windows. However at night time as we've found out!!! you can see right through them and see everthing thats happening inside especially if you have the light on. We bought a really good tarp in Darwin for the forward deck of the boat. It ties down to the side rails of the boat and you get a great breeze up there during the day. So if we just want to chill out and read you would find us up there. This shade cloth is not however UV protected so we have to be very careful. This still left us a problem with our cockpit. This is probably the area of the boat that you use most on the boat. So its very important that you get good coverage here. Possibly something that you can keep up even when you are sailing as well. We're in the process of getting a bimini made to shade our whole cockpit area and our two back cabins. We are getting this made in Western Australia because after getting a few quotes to get one made here it is just about half price to get it made in WA, same material, same product and shipped to the East coast.

And that brings me on to the next topic the expense of goods and services here. We find that fruit and vegetables are alot more expensive here than they are in Western Australia. This really suprised me as I thought it would be the other way around. However you have a lot more variety which is great.
As for services in North Queensland we have found it very hard to get a good response from tradesmen, very slow to ring you back and very hard to pin them down on a date when the job will get done.

Since we have been cruising I have been suplementing our income teaching in the various places that we have stopped. There is heaps of teaching jobs in Queensland whether they be contract work or full time. There also seems to be plenty of trades work available. In particularly places such as Innisfal where they are crying out for labourers, electricians, carpenters, cabinetmakers etc and there is no accommodation for workers available. This is a perfect opportunity for yachties as you already have your accomodation sorted out (a bit like Gove, NT). If you don't like the sound of any of these then there is always fruitpicking in the season. Top

Darwin-Kupang Rally:

Darwin:
At this time of year Darwin and the Northern Territory are just beautiful. Its peak season for tourists and usually the schools are shut for a month, so the place is in real holiday mode. July 1st is the maddest night of the year. Its the one day of the year when Territorians can buy fireworks and let them off. This year there was a designated area for letting of your fireworks, it was all along the beaches from East Point over to Mindel Beach. This is basically the beach around Fannie Bay. The government have an official set of fireworks which are set of from barges out from Mindel Beach and some on land. The fireworks usually start just as the light starts fading and you have fireworks been let off everywhere for hours. Its amazing! The safest and best spot to see the fireworks is on your boat. If you were on the beach you are liable to get a firework in the head as its completely out of control. Ambulance crews and fireies are on high alert all night. It is a spectacular show and deffinitely worth been here for.

If you are looking for work in Darwin there is plenty. I am a trained teacher but while I was here the schools were on holidays so I applied to a few agencies and within three days I had been offered two jobs. I took one, which was a Monday to Friday job and worked right up to the day before we left on the rally.
Territorians are very friendly people and will always try and help you out if they can. If you are trying to get things done on your boat they won't happen straight away no matter what anyone says. I think Territorians have their own timetable that they run on. Thats what NT stands for not today, not tomorrow. Not this Tuesday, not next Tuesday. Not this Thursday, not next Thursday. Not this train, not that train and not the next train.....
But eventually you'll get it you just have to keep following it up and pestering nicely! But I think its good practice for heading to SE Asia.

Its been a crazy month what with getting the boat ready for heading overseas and with me at work, poor Ric was left pretty much with the lot. One of the first things we did when we arrived in Darwin was taking down the sails. We need to repair the screecher, we had a few small tears in it and we wanted to put a little extra reinforcing into the main. We washed down the boat, as it was covered in salt. To get water we would just beach the boat and borrow hoses from 'Koru' so we could reach the tap at the yacht club. If coming in you have to be careful of the rocks close in shore and make sure you don't end up ontop of them. With the big tides there you have to make sure if you are anchored close into shore that you don't end up banging up and down on the bottom once the tide goes out. If you dingy hasn't got any wheels you could be dragging your dingy for miles so make sure that you work the tides. Holding is very good in Fannie Bay and I didn't know of anyone who had problems. We desalinated water in the bay, we felt it was clear enough.
We bought some USD to take with us and Rupiadh for Indonesia. We also were going to carry some Australian dollars with us as well. So we should be pretty sorted for cash.
We made copious amounts of copies of our crew list, registration papers, passport details for the officials at each port. Seeminly if you have one to give to everyone it speeds things up a little and makes it easier.
We got the following vacinations - typhoid, tetnus, cholera, hep A&B(only because the injection was a 2 in 1). Very expensive business but I guess we'd be sorry if we did get sick we'd be kicking ourselves if we didn't have them.
Lightening is a big problem where we are going and I think a few yachts get hit every year. So we made up a lightening rod which we can attach to the base of our mast if we are in the middle of a lightening storm and the other end goes in the water. It just means that if we do get hit at least the lightening has somewhere else to travel and won't blow a hole in our hull. Thats the theory anyway.

VISA:
The social visa is $60 which is validated for only 60 days when you first arrive in Indonesia. So you need to extend it again for another USD50 five days before it expires. Your visa is then renewed for just another month.

CAIT:
These are valid for a three month period. If you want to stay longer you've got to apply again for another one. If you are in the rally you don't get your CAITS until the day before you leave. The same day that you finally clear customs at Darwin Sailing Club.

Marinas:
If you are wanting to stay in a marina for the duration of your stay whether you are in the rally or not you have got to get in early as they are packed to the max at this time of year. If you are coming in from overseas and you want to get into one of the marinas, you are going to have to wash out your salt water systems with a special solution. You need to leave it in for 14 hours before you are allowed through the lock. But the lockmaster will sort it all out for you.
In my opinion you might as well save your money and anchor out in Fannie Bay. Its a beautiful spot and as I said before great holiding. At the time of year there are alot of fires burning so it is hard to keep your boat clean with all the ash floating around in the air.

Duty Free Grog:
As beer is cheaper in Indonesia we were only concerned with buying some wine. We like De Borteli's four litre cask wine. We bought 50 casks (which brought our water line down considerably). We bought our grog at Liqourland Casaurina, it was the best price and they delivered it for free. They also have clean skin bottles which are really cheap. You get about 25% of what you spend back once you add up the GST and Duty. Top

Indonesia:

The People:
Indonesian people are fantastic. They are very friendly and always smiling. They will help you out in anyway that they can, nothing seems to be a problem or impossible to them. They are very curious people and you will always be asked 'Where are you going'?, 'What are you doing'?, 'Where your from'?, 'Are you married'?, 'What religion are you'? etc etc... Its very normal to be asked these questions. At the start I thought they were just been nosey and they are. Its apart of their culture. There is no such thing as privacy. You will just have anchored and they will want to jump onboard to say hi. And they will jump onboard without been asked. If they come out to you in a dugout they will sit in their dugout at the back of your boat staring at you as you go about your daily business. Sometimes this can be a bit trying but just smile and wave. There is no point getting upset about it because they certainly won't. If we didn't want people onboard we got very good at giving off the right vibe in the nicest possible way. Its easier for people to jump onto our boat than a monohull so this was a huge problem for us finding strange people sitting on our back steps and in our cockpit without so much as an invitation. If we saw people coming we would stand on our bottom step have a chat with them and they would eventually go away. If you are standing there they won't try to get on unless asked. This worked for the police as well. If an Indonesian wears a uniform they suddenly think that they have more rights than the average Joe walking around.
We found Indonesia very safe and didn't feel threatened in anyway anywhere we went. We didn't come across an agressive Indonesian in the whole three months. I think they just don't exsist. And we never had a problem with theft. Mind you we weren't silly. We didn't leave anything out on deck to entice someone. We always locked up and set our alarm.

The Food:
I loved it. You have your Nasi Gorengs(Fried Rice) and your Mie Gorengs(Fried Noodles) which are the meals we know from any asian eatery in Australia. They can differ greatly depending in what type of restaurant you are in. They can be spicy, come with chicken or vegetables or maybe none of the above just rice mixed with soy sauce. They love their soy sauce whether it be sweet soy sauce or salty soy sauce. For Indonesians their stable diet is rice. Rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also like adding chili to their food. Sate is also a popular dish whether its fish sate, goat sate or chicken sate. There's also gado-gado which is a cold dish of cooked vegetables with tempe(soy bean), egg with a peanut sauce drizzled ontop. The main meats are pork, chicken and goat. They also have fish and dog on every menu.
You can either eat in a Restaurant or a Warung. The difference been a 'Warung' is just a place to eat with usually a very small menu. They sell no alcohol and would have no refridgeration. If you want a cold drink they give you a lemon drink with water and ice. Very refreshing. Warungs are usually cheaper than a restaurant. For example on Bali we ate in a Muslim Warang we had two chicken sate's and two cokes and its cost us $3AUD between us.
Whenever we ate out we dined in restaurants or Warungs where the locals went. We never got sick and always enjoyed our meals.

We always shopped for fruit and vegetables at the local markets. You can pretty much find anything you like. From cabbage. potatos, sweet potatos, onions, scallions, beans, tomatos etc. And fruit bannana's, papaya, water melon, passion fruit, mango, oranges etc. All really good and very cheap. There is a market just about in every village and you will never run out of supplies. When going to these markets its best to have smaller rp because in the smaller villages chances are they won't have change. You can also get eggs, chicken, fish and other meat??? at the markets as well. We bought usually only chicken and it was always really good. Sometimes we bought fish of a local fisherman if he was near by and had something good onboard. It was either that or not have fish at all because we certainly weren't catching anything ourselves even though we tried.
Once we hit the Eastern part of Indonesia we could't find a fresh food market. So if Kumai is your last stop before heading in that direction make sure you stock up plenty.

Sailing:
To sail through Indonesia you must always be on watch. For starters our electronic charts throughout Indonesia were all out by at least half a nautical mile. In alot of cases we ended up anchoring on land according to our electronic charts. There are alot of unmarked reef's and also rocks. And then there are the fishing practices. There are fish traps, fishing platforms, fishing boats and dugouts everywhere and in places that you wouldn't even imagine that you would see one. So you must always keep a look out. As for night sailing its a bit of a stress. Nobody has navigation lights. Most boats we found had lights but they were white, no green or red. If its a pitch black night it can be hard to decipher in which direction they are going. Also there is no way that you would see a fish trap at night(there are no lights on these). So you must make sure if you plan to sail at night that you make sure that you are at least 10 miles of the coast before dark. Fishing boats also like to turn their lights on and off to save power. So one minute you see them and the next they are gone. When they turn their lights on again they are maybe a little bit closer. Coming closer to Kalimantan you meet quite a few tug boats towing huge barges. The tug boat usually has a light on it but no lights on the barge. So if you do meet anything give it a wide berth as you don't know whats attached to it. We saw leaving Kalimantan(lucily we had a full moon) a tug towing a barge which was towing another barge. So yes night sailing can be stressful. We tried to do it as little as possible.

As for wind we sailed pretty much the whole way through Indonesia. We were full of fuel before we left Darwin and got about 200litres when we got to Sumbawa and that was just in case of an emergency. We still had plenty of fuel. You cannot predict the winds when you are sailing close to shore. Its very much effected by the land. Only when we left the coast of Bali heading for Kalimantan did we pick up the trade winds again and had steady winds of 15knots the whole way to the islands of Singapore.
The tides are just about impossible to calculate and we just give up in the end. You either were lucky and the tide was going with you or you were unlucky and you ended up pushing a current.
Anchoring is alway very deep as they are volcanic islands and slope away very quickly. Anchoring in 20m is the norm. So make sure you have plenty of chain and rope. Anchoring stern to shore is a good option when the wind is light, which they usually are at night near the islands. Once we got to Kalimantan the waters were much shallower so we were back anchoring in 10m of water again. Which was very strange.
Once we hit Kumai the clear skies were gone. Everyday looked like the start of the build up before Monsoon and it was very humid. The further we went toward Singapore the more humid it got and the worse the visibility.

Money:
To exchange money the best place is the money exchanger on the street and not the bank. The best rate we found was in Kupang, Timor, the first stop we were at. We should have changed more money then but we didn't know then what we know now. The further West you go the worse the exchange rate seemed to get. If you exchanging cash you get a better rate for 100 dollar bills as opposed to a 50 or a 20 dollar bill. They also won't take any notes before 2003 as there was a huge counterfeit racket happening at the time. And if the notes are written on or torn they are not interested.

Health:
Before we left Australia we had HepA/B, cholera, typhoid and tetanus shots. We took one dose of malaria with us for when we went to Kalimantan. There weren't many mosquitos up until that point but we were always careful to spray ourselves and light coils so there was no problem. But in Kalimantan the mossies are huge and there's plenty of them so we took one months dose starting a week before we arrived and ending two weeks after we left. I felt a little sick each time I took a tablet(only once a week) but was glad we had them onboard. It also would have been worth carrying some sort of stomach tablets(anti-diarrohea tablets). We never got really sick but a few people did that were on the rally. Top

Singapore:
We found Singapore to be a very materialistic society. Everything is based around money. Money talks bullshit walks. Singaporeans are only interested in your money. If you walk into a shop the customer service is excellent up to the point where they get a sale from you then you'd be lucky to find a sales person available to talk to you after that.
Singapore has everything you need and is deffinitley worth a stopover. However the only pastimes here are shopping and eating. If you don't like either of these then sail straight past Singapore. After Indonesia if you weren't careful you could go mad spending your money here. As far as prices went I found it the same as Australian prices except in Singapore dollar. Therefore with the exchange rate you were getting it a little cheaper. Still hard to handle after Indo.
Their transport system is brilliant and very easy to travel around. Also easy access into Malaysia via bus or train.
Some of the good things to do around Singapore. The Ancient Civilisations Museum, Clarke Quay, Night Zoo, Botanical Gardens and Orchid Garden and of course Little India and China Town.
Two weeks is by far enough time to spend in Singapore.

Check In/Out and Marinas:

If you want to have a look around Singapore there are a few options open to you. You can stop in one of their marinas or tie up to a mooring at Changi Sailing Club(not sure how many they have). Or you can check into Malaysia and travel to Singapore from there. You are not allowed to anchor in Singapore and will be moved on very swiftly if found(which you will be). Singapore is more concerned with the huge tankers and commercial vessels that come in and out of there every day. Yachties to the Singaporeans are a pimple on the arse of humanity. They don't have time for a little boat with two crew. They've got a huge tanker waiting with an enormous amount of cargo and 30/40 crew to check in. You are insignificant. But this usually means that check in is very quick. To check in with immigration you must go to Western Quarantine. You can go directly to your marina and for a nice fee they will do everything for you (this only happens at Raffles because they have a special agreement with Immigration. If you stay at Sentosa you must stop at Western Quarantine). Raffles charged 60SGD for immigration but the more boats that you arrive with the cheaper it is. They only charge the cab fare to get the immigration official out to the marina. Once you've checked in with immigration you proceed to your marina or mooring point in Singapore. Then within 24hours you must finish your port clearance and customs yourself at 'One Stop Document Centre'.

Raffles Marina: This is on the far West Coast of Singapore in the Johor Baru Straits. Its located near the industrial area but a very quiet area. Its about a 30minute MRT ride into the city centre. Raffles provide a free bus service to the nearest MRT centre and to various shopping centres around Singapore. Raffles is pure luxury after a 3 month stint in Indonesia and they had a special rate for yachts in the rally. There was no distinction when it came to berth prices between monohulls and cats. All the one price depending on length. Singapore has a huge pollution problem and because Raffles is situated in the heart of the Industrial area every time it rains it rains pollution. So unless you are careful your boat will be absolutely filthy and I mean completely black. We don't know if this is the same in the other marinas but its terrible at Raffles. The stains are very oily and its very hard to get off. So cover your sails well and wash your both once/twice a week. $100SGD gets you a top side scrub and 150SGD gets you an underside scrub(thats the boat I'm talking about)!

Sentosa Marina/1 degree 15 minutes: We found the staff at this marina to be very friendly and helpful. Sentosa is located pretty much near the centre of Singapore city. Its a little more expensive than Raffles (based on cat prices) but a brand new marina. They are still putting in power and water into some of the berths. There is no breakwater so I believe that swell does enter into the marina. This maybe a problem if you are on an outside berth. We went to have a look at Sentosa and the water is alot cleaner than Raffles but personally I preferred Raffles.

Changi Sailing Club: Located on the North East corner of Singapore. You can moor here but not sure how many moorings they have. I think you might be able to anchor here as well!?

Sebana Cove Marina Malaysia: This is obviously the cheapest option but a fair distance away from Singapore. This marina has all the facilities and would be the best bet if you wanted to leave your yacht for awhile to travel home/elsewhere. There is a ferry service from here into Singapore but it takes about 45minutes and the price of the ferry if you take it a few times starts to add up quickly.

Berthing charges in all of these marinas does not include power or water. This is extra Top

Malaysia:

The People:
Malaysian people are very very friendly. Always smiling and always very helpful. Most speak English but if you've picked up any Indonesian use it in Malaysia as Malay and Indonesian are very similar and they love it if you try to speak their language. One thing we have learnt about Malaysians is they will tell you what you want to hear just to make you happy. For example: Is there a bus in the next ten minutes into town? 'Yep' says the Malaysian. No bus arrives so you ask again. 'Does a bus come at 8.00am'? 'Yes', says the Malaysian and so on. Its very funny and just one of those things. Also asking a Malaysian for directions 9 times out of 10 they'll send you the wrong way. They're just not good with directions or distances or reading maps.
But they're food is fantastic and their hospitality is out of this world. I absolutely love Malaysia!

Mobile phone:
A sim card for you mobile phone is so cheap. It costs about 10mr and 8mr consists of credit for your phone. To phone overseas is very very cheap, that is if you are calling a fixed line not a mobile. If you put 13200 + country code + phone no....cheap cheap cheap. (This is with the provider Maxis). You can also have a sim with Celcom, Digi and Maxis.

Malacca Straits:
The notorious Malacca Straits infamous for pirates and fishing nets. The lather we saw plenty of, as for the pirates not a one only curious fishermen. As you are heading up the Malacca Straits we would recommend not transiting at night with fishing nets, huge logs and debris its pure luck if you don't hit something. There are places to stop everynight so you can easily day hop up the coast. There are plenty of fishing nets but we found them to be well marked usually by a flag. However the net sometimes extends a little further than the flag so give them a wide berth. We were told that the nets are very deep but we never tested this theory.
We stuck to the right handside of the shipping lane as we sailed North (more like motor sailed).
The Malacca Straits is not a very interesting piece of coastline. The skies are usually overcast and stormy looking. Everynight we anchored we got hit by a sumatera or some sort of a squall and every now and then huge lightening storms. But the thunder and lightening is everywhere and provides a show nearly everynight from your boat.

Port Dickson:
This marina is fantastic. The guys that work in this marina are friendly, efficient and will do anything to help you out. Veronica in the office will sort out your visas and clearing in and out of Malaysia if this is the first stop that you make in Malaysia. Otherwise like us you can do it yourself by taking a quick trip into town. The immigration office is on its own but the customs and quarantine office are in one building. No charge if you do it yourself. Like most marinas electricity and water is seperate to waht you pay. Water is pretty cheap but electricity is quiet expensive. Wireless internet is available to you 24/7 which we made great use of. They have a fab pool (Raffles eat your heart out)! and good food if you want to eat at the bar.

Penang:
Penang marina is very cheap and the cheapest marina that we've come across on our travels so far. It worked out about 7/8AUD per night. Its siutated right in the centre of Georgetown so you have easy access to town. There is however one draw back and that is that there is only a floating breakwater and you are situated right beside the ferry terminal that takes cars/motorbikes and pedestrians to Butterworth and other islands such as Langkawai. So the wash that comes in is considerable. You need to be very careful when tying up your boat and try and place the boat in the middle of the pen if you are lucky enough to have one one your own. Therefore when the wash does come in you won't end up hitting the sides.
Again your pay seperately for your water and power. Water is charged on a daily basis at 2RM per day. The crew that work here are again very friendly and you have free access to WiFi in an airconditioned lounge. When we were there they were having trouble with their water supply-they didn't have any. So that was a bit of a worry as we were running low.

Langkawi:
One of my favourite places to chill out. Langkawi is gorgeous. Very relaxing, easy going and as with the rest of Malaysia the people are just fantastic. There are plenty of places to anchor around Langkawi and the islands off Langkawi but the water here is not clear and not very inviting for a swim.
Telaga Harbour has a marina but unless you really need to go in, there is a perfect anchorage just outside. Two man made islands provide excellent protection here. At Telaga you are a bit isolated from the rest of Langkawi but thats the beauty of it. If you need to go to Kuah or anywhere else you either have to rent a bike, car or get a taxi. There is no public transport. Every Friday the veggie man used to come and sell fruit, veg, meats, cheese, bread, basically anything that you need. There is also a little supermarket and fuel station. For 18RM a week you can get access to WiFi from the marina and for another 20RM they will let you use there dinghy pontoon and showers. If you want a swim the Telaga Tujuh (Seven Wells) are just fanatatic and a great walk. The nearby hotel at the end of the beach also welcomes yachties to use their facilities. They also provide a pontoon where you can tie your dingy off to. The cable car and suspension bridge are a short walk away from here and deffnitely worth a look as the view is amazing. But not recommended in windy or hazy weather for obvious reasons.
Fuel, alcohol and chocolate can be bought very cheap in Langkawi. At Telaga the marina has a fuel pontoon but right beside it is a petrol station which sells diesel 1RM per litre cheaper so if you are getting a few hundred litres it adds up. It might hurt your back carrying all those jerry cans.
If you want a bit more action well Kuah has a great anchorage just off the old ferry terminal. Again you have a dingy pontoon where you can tie off to and you are only a short walk into the centre of Kuah and also to the supermarket.
In Langkawi we got alot of canvas work done by a local guy in Kuah. It was cheaper than any quote in Phuket by quite a bit and the work done was great. We had our cockpit set covers recovered, suncover altered, bbq cover, winch and hatch covers made within 24hours.
Telaga Harbour provides immigration, custom and quarantine facilities as does Kuah so you can make a choice where you want to check in/out from. All very easy.Top

Thailand:

Visas:
Visas for Thailand are easy to come by. You can either get a three month visa before you get there. This means you pay money and get a two month visa, then pay more money to get it extended. I just got a month visa when I arrived (which is free) and if you want it renewed you just to a visa run to Rangon, Myanmar or Langkawi and get another stamp for a month. Regulations change all the time with regard to visas in Thailand so its well worth your while to check it all out before you come. Don't take what other people tell as gospel, you need to check for yourself. If you are going to do a visa run the skipper and crew need to pay a 20,000bh bond which you get back about two weeks after you arrive back in Thailand. The trick is that when you arrive in Thailand that all crew check in as passengers then there is only a bond for the skipper if he leaves the country. The boat gets a six month visa and once thats up its just a matter of bringing the boat out of the country (alot of people do a run to Langkawi) and you are back in action again. If you stay for three months you are supposed to leave for three months but again check this out. There are also retirement visas on offer if you want to stay longer than a few months.

Check In/Out:
This is very easy and is usually takes an hour. You are supposed to check into every province but we didn't. It cost us 300baht(10AUD) to check in and 300baht to check out. But this can vary from boat to boat depending on what day it is and what kind of mood the officials are in. As normal if its the weekend or a holiday you will deffnitely pay more.

Provisioning:
In my opinion Phuket is the best place to provision. You have a choice of some very big supermarkets and you can get anything you want. You have the choice of Tescos, Macros, Big C, Carrefour, Central Festival and many many markets. For bulk buying Macros is the best. Also for meat, fish and vegetables I would go to Macrosas well. If you need anything in particularly special then you would have to try Carrefour or Central Festival as they are more upmarket supermarkets and sell alot of European goods.
Fuel is twice as expensive in Thailand as Langkawi and Malaysia so try and wait to refuel in Malaysia. Top

The Andamans:

Visas:
There are a few ways to get your visa for the Andamans. You can go into your local Indian Embassy where you live in Australia or elsewhere and get it there. Ric got his in Perth, Western Australia and it cost him 120AUD if you waited the 5/7 working days or 180AUD if you wanted it within two days. Unfortunately for Ric he was in Perth only for 6 days so he had to do it the expensive way. I got my visa however through the High Comission in Kuala Lumpur where they say you wait from anyway between 10-14 days. It cost me 220MR(70AUD). If you want it quicker than this, they are always open to bribary!! I sent my passport in express post from Langkawi putting in an express post envelope which they could use to send my passport back with. It all came back in one piece in about 14 days.
The other option is to send your passport to Bangkok to the Indian Embassy there. I'm not sure how much it costs but i'm sure its a cheaper option than getting your visa through the travel agent in Phuket. They charge you over 3,000baht per person(over 100AUD).
Whatever the option don't be in a rush!

Check In/Out at Port Blair:
An email before you leave for your crossing should be sent to the Harbourmaster telling him when you intend to arrive. 48 hours before you arrive at Port Blair you need to contact Port Blair radio on HF(6224 & 8294). If you get through they will take all your particulars. Once in range of Port Blair you need to contact via VHF12 Port Control to get permission to enter the harbour. Once inside the harbour and you've dropped your pick you call them up again and let them know you are anchored and your lat and long. Ask them then to contact Customs and Immigration for you and you just wait. To do the full clearance including the harbour master it can take anything from two days to 5 days. You need to have copious amounts of copies of the following:
List of Electronic equipment
List of Navigation equipment
List of personnel items (computers, dvd's, cd's, clothes, watches, guitars etc)
List of Food store, alcohol and cigarettes.
List of Fuel & Water.
Itinerary of where you intend to go while in the Andamans.
The coast guard is usually the first onboard and they will ask you lots and lots of questions that you've never been asked by any other official from any other country before! Immigration next and then Customs. After that you are clear to go ashore where you must go and meet and greet the harbourmaster where he checks all your documents again particularly your itinerary. After that you can visit the Forrestry dept to learn more about which islands are out of bounds where are the native areas etc. (We didn't).
We didn't hassle Port Control about hurrying up the process of Customs and Immigration coming out to our boat. Maybe twice a day we kindly reminded them that we were sitting in harbour still. We know yachties that hassled them every two hours and they sat there for 5 days. Where we were ashore just over 24 hours and we arrived on a Saturday!
We arrived on a Saturday and got cleared by Coast Guard and Immigration and on Sunday the Customs officials came out to us. I think they only people that don't work on a Sunday is the Harbourmaster. Although the Customs guys said they don't work on a Sunday and came out especially to clear us!!!

Checking out is an easier process. You just about do the whole process again but in reverse and you go to all the officials this time. You go to the Harbour master first and pay your port dues. There will have been a charge for every port that you dropped your pick at. For us it came to 417 ruppee(13AUD). Then you go to customs and fill in a few forms, no charge and you are out. Next immigration where you arrange a time on the day that you want to leave Port Blair and they come down to the wharf and stamp your passport. Then you must leave within the hour. Again call up Port Control tell them you are picking up your anchor and you're on your way. Once you clear the harbour you got to call them again. And that is it.

The People:
Indian people are very friendly and very curious. Most people in the bigger towns such as Port Blair and Rangat speak English, also in the touristy resorts. But outside that the natives Jawa, Onges, Karens don't have much English. In fact the natives that we tried to communicate with had zilch. When shopping for provisions in a local shop and you ask for a specific item. In alot of cases they will automatically say they don't have the item you are looking for, even if they have. I think its because they don't understand the English word. So have a good look around the store yourself to make sure they don't have it.   Indian people are opportunists. If they feel that you are naive and they can make a few extra dollars out of you they will, but if not you'll pay the same price as the locals. (But this is the same probably everywhere in SE Asia).

Beaucreacy is just exactly what you would expect in India. Everything must be done exactly by the book. Officials take their own time you can not hurry them. Everything must be handwritten. No copy machines in the goverment departments so if you forget to copy an extra crew list you have to go down the town to find a xerox. Coast guard flies around the islands everyday so don't be suprised if you get a visit on the VHF to see what you are up to. They are completely paranoid about the Thai's and the Burmese fishing in their waters.

Diving:
The water clarity on the East side of the Andamans was quite good. On the West side where there are more mangroves and salt water crocs the water clairity is not great.
The corals are average. There are plenty of colourful reef fish but not alot of big edible fish. We trowled lines the whole way around the islands and caught one Giant Trevaly in a month. Others did better, quite a few yachties caught good size Wahoo. In the mangroves around the islands we caught alot of Mangrove Jack so we were very happy.

Provisioning:
Best advice would be to provision in Phuket before you leave for the Andamans. Port Blair has all the basics that you need in shopping. They don't have any major supermarkets just small local ones and sometimes these can be hard to find. They have a great fruit and veg market in Port Blair but for anything else bring it with you. To buy tinned food and things like that, it is more expensive in the Andamans. Apart from the home grown veggies and fruit we felt everything else was more expensive then Thailand.
Fuel is expensive. It's roughly the same price as Australian prices. Top

Laos:
Laos the country is gorgeous. From huge towering green mountains, steep karst limestone cliffs to never ending green plateaus, the landscape is fantastic and you will never be bored looking at it through a bus window. So make sure you always get a window seat. The people are very friendly and will go out of their way to help you. The local currency is the kip. We travelled in the low season from the end of May to the start of July. The beauty about this was that you could rock up to a guesthouse and know you would get a room or you could book a bus ticket at the last minute and get a seat. There was not many people travelling around. The weather was alot cooler as you are higher up. Everyday was cloudy which we loved. It did rain a little but nothing that stopped our travels. I would suggest investing in two rain ponchos which you can buy cheaply at a local corner shop. People drive on the opposite side of the road. Roads are very good to drive on. Fuel is very expensive at

Visa:
You get a 30 day visa when you enter Laos. If you fly in you get a visa on arrival. If you arrive by foot across the border at Huay Xai from Thailand you also get a visa on arrival. Coming from Cambodia to Laos you must have your visa before you arrive as they don't have the facilities there to provide you with one.
The visa depending on what country you are from approx costs 30USD. Make sure you arrive before 4pm to the checkpoint otherwise you will be charged more money for a visa.

Money:
In July 2008 the conversion rate for kip to AUD was approx 8,000kip to 1AUD. If you still have baht arriving from Thailand into Laos don't change it over you can still use it in alot of the restaurants, guesthouses and you can pay for your visa with it. If you get to Huay Xai and you want to change some money to kip don't do it at the border wait until you go up town and do it in the bank on the mainstreet you will get a far better rate. In all cases the banks give a far better rate in Laos than the blackmarket. They have banks just about in every town with FX facilities. If you rely on the ATM for you funds be careful in Vang Vieng as at the time of writing they only had one ATM which used to breakdown regularly and leave alot of pissed off people with no funds.

Accomodation and Food:
Both of these are very cheap in Laos. The cheapest accomodation we stayed in was 3AUD and the most expensive would have been in Vientiane which was 10AUD(only because it was pissing out of the heavens and we changed to a room that had a TV). We always stayed in a double room with our own bathroom. Food is also cheap. You will find away from the guesthouse food is cheaper. If you want a baguette or some fruit you will find a street vendor floating around and you can buy them very cheap.
You must try a Lao dish called Amok and Lau Lai. Its like a yellow curry and very delicious. We found alot of food in Laos is cooked with copious amounts of MSG so have plenty of water by your bed as you will wake up extremely thirsty in the middle of the night. Its not from the alcohol its the MSG.

Highlights of Laos:
Slow boat ride along the Mekong
Luang Prabang
Vang Vieng
Phonsovan
Bolaven Plateau

Lowlight of Laos:
Vientiane(more of a disapointment than a lowlight)

Slow Boat:
The slow boat is from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. It takes two days stopping the first night at Pak Beng. It cost 220,000 kip per person. You can buy a ticket through
many of the travel agents along the main road in Huay Xai or go directly to the ticket office which is located just where the boats leave from. Its just a walk out of town just ask anyone for directions. Get to the boat early so you can get a good seat. You don't want to be too far down the back as the noise from the engine will drive you nuts. Up the front is better. And it would be wise to invest in a cushion which they sell at the local shops. First stop Pak Beng is a lovely little village on the edge of the Mekong which solely caters to the tourist. They have only electricity for a couple of hours every night. Its surrounded by mountains and would be nice to stay a night or two here and explore around before getting back on the boat. If you want to do this I think you buy a ticket for 110,000 just to there and then buy another ticket for the rest of the way to Luang Prabang. The trip along the river is beautiful and the boat stops in some of the bizarre places to pick passengers up. One of the stops local kids come onboard in droves selling you cokes, chips etc at expensive prices. Haggle like mad they will eventually bring the prices down, especially just before they have to get off. After two days I was glad to get off.

Luang Prabang:
This is a must see, with fantastic French architecture and surrounded by the Mekong on one side and the Nam Khan river on the other. Hire a bike and cycle around to explore the town. Get out of the tourist part on your bike and you will find the town stretches quiet a way. Bike hire for us was 20,000 kip per day for a high nelly with no gears. Accomodation cost us 50,000 kip per day at a guesthouse just back from the river. Very clean and very friendly with free drinking water and green tea. Laos beer should cost approx 10,000kip with the cheapest selling at 8,000kip. While cycling around on your bike it might be worth stopping at the bus station 3km out of town to book your next bus ride as its alot cheaper than booking with any of the guesthouses or tour offices. Some of the sites we took in was the local palace museum, Phu Si(gorgeous view over the town) and the night markets. Travellers told us the waterfall 30km out of town was well worth the trip. For food there is plenty of choice from the expensive to the cheap. If you want to go cheap eat at the nightmarkets. For vegetarians you can fill a plate for 5,000kip at a buffet stall. If you don't like that walk down some of the side streets and you will find what you are looking for. If you want more up market eat at any of the restaurants in town. We splashed out one night(still cheap) and had a fantastic meal at one of the restaurants on the main street. We volunteered for a couple of hours one day to speak English to some of the local students who are trying to improve their English. This was a great experience.

Phonsovan:
115,000kip got us a bus ride to Phonsovan which is the site for the Plain of Jars. But also to our amazment some of the biggest bomb craters you are likely to see. We didn't realise that this province is the most bombed province in Laos and that Laos itself is actually the most bombed country in the world. Well if you haven't seen UXO's before this place will blow your socks off. There is nothing to the town, its a one street town. Tourist come to see the Plain of Jars and leave. We did a days tour here for 150,000kip we saw every Jar site and by the end we had enough. But the highlight was in the MAG centre on the mainstreet where they show to videos at 5pm and 6.30pm everynight about the Secret War and cluster Bombs. Very interesting and sad and a must SEE!!!!!

Vang Vieng:
As its not peak season you might have to wait for a bus that has enough passengers in order to make it viable for it to make the journey to Vang Vieng or Vientiane.
Eventually one will go but it just might not be the one that you booked. VIP doesn't mean anything here so just book normally. If you book VIP you get a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate in a plastic bag. Air conditioning doesn't work you just opent the windows which is fine because its alot cooler up here and when you get into the mountains you end up closing them very quickly as its cold.
Vang Vieng is surrounded by Karst limestone sheer cliffs. Its beautiful. The town is famous for tubing, bars playing reruns of Friends over and over and over again and backpackers getting boloxed. You gotta stop and take a look. We did the tubing thing and had such a laugh. You hire a tube on the mainstreet along with a waterproof bag to put your camera in and money for beer. I think it was 40,000kip for a tub with a 60,000deposit and a bag was 20,000 to hire.
This includes a tuk tuk ride to your destination 4km up the river. Jump into the river on your tube and the current will take you eventually back to town but not before you stop at a few watering holes. Here people will pull you in on long poles. Come in listen to the music have a beer and if you are brave like we were you'll jump off (after a the compulsory Lao whiskey) their swing which is hanging of a tower above the bar. You land in the river and if you are lucky someone will throw a tube out to you on a rope so you can grab onto it before you get swept down river. Once you have had enough jump back on your tube and repeat the process all over again in the next bar. Bars line both sides of the river so it takes a long time to get back to town!
If you get fed up with tubing you can hit bikes/motorbikes and visit the many caves and waterfalls around. Lao people charge for everything so you will pay to see every cave and waterfall you want to see.
Be careful if you are getting a local bus from here to Vientiane which leave every half hour, if they don't have enough people they won't go and you will be stranded until the next bus comes along. We ended up been put in a taxi(the van with the two seats in the back) with 30 other people, luggage and chickens. It was raining like mad and the driver was crazy and kept stopping to put more people in the back. I was just glad that I couldn't see out the front window as I think I would have had a heartattack.

Vientiane:
The capital was a little disapointing to us. We felt that we must have been missing out on something as there is not much to see. Come maybe for a day or two but after that I would move on. Accomodation naturally been the capital is more expensive. Plenty of places to eat and use of internet is about 6000kip/hour, which is pretty standard around Laos. Check out the aerobics at 6pm every evening by the river, you can join in if you like.
If you walk North along the Mekong at the very end you will find all the eateries where the local eat with really loud music. Good food!
From here we booked a bed bus for 150,000 per person for a double. We went directly to the main ticket office which is a few doors up from the phonsovan Bank which on the same street as the National Museum(sorry can't remember the name of the street).

Pakse:
Pakse is town you use as a hop across the border into Cambodia or a base to explore the Bolaven Plateau which is exactly what we did. We hired a motorbike for 80,000kip per day(not cheap) and drove up to the Plateau for a few days. It was beautiful and peaceful. If you want to travel across the border this is where you can ripper off really easily. My advice would be to book a bus from Pakse across the border to as far as Kratie. You can get buses the whole way from Pakse to Siem Reap which take two days and stop the first night in Kompong Cham. We didn't want to do this so stopped at Kratie. From here for 11USD you can get a bus the rest of the way to Siem Reap.

TIPS:
If you are travelling on a bus, boat or just sitting n the park eating a snack. It is rude if there is a Lao person near you not to offer them some of your meal.
You will find that Lao people will always offer you some of their meal even if they don't have much.
If you travel by bus try and book the front seat 1,2,3 or 4. As you get a great view of the countryside for the journey plus you usually have more leg room.
Don't travel by minibus in Laos or you will be travel sick.
If you are travelling from Vientiane to South Laos look up the bed bus. This is a bus with no seats just beds. Mind you the beds are made for Asians but
you do sleep and when you arrive at your destination you feel great.
If you have a mobile phone its very cheap to buy a sim card and phone locally. We used it alot to source out guesthouses before we arrived.
Hire motorbikes wherever you can. We find you get to see alot more of an area. Driving in Laos is very easy. They don't hire motorbikes to tourist in Luang Prabang.
They say because there were too many accidents but realistically I think the tour companies put a stop to it.
Be careful crossing the border from South Laos to Cambodia make sure you book a bus right across the border.
Pick up a small publication called 'Stay Another Day Laos' which promotes sustainable tourism. It gives you ideas of things you can do to help the community by spending some of your tourist dollars.
Go to one of the language centres and volunteer for a couple of hours to help the local students practice their English. Top

Cambodia:
Cambodia is considerably different to Laos in everyway and you notice is it the minute you cross the border. You notice the poverty straight away. People aren't as well off as the Laoations. The roads aren't as good. They drive on the same side of the road as the Laoations and eat plenty of baguettes but the driving is insane. There are no rules to the road. Its every driver for themselves. If you are on a motorbike or a bicycle good luck! Fuel is expensive at 5500 riel per litre.

VISA:
A visa at the border cost us 21USD each plus the mandatory 1USD each for administration fees!!! I wasn't going to put up a fight over 1USD and I know they need it more than I do even if they are wearing a uniform. The visa is for 30 days.

Money:
Riel is the Cambodian currency but USD is used as well which I hated. We used Riel as much as possible. When you cross the border make sure you have some USD on you because the next time you will be able to exchange at a reasonable rate will be Kompong Cham, Phomh Penh or Siem Reap. Kratie does not have any facilities to exchange money only in the guesthouse. The exchange rate of 1USD to 4,000kip is used by everyone. Everything is priced in USD. Stand your ground if someone tries to tell you differently. Exchanging money is better on the black market than the bank but unfortunately you have to count every last riel. We exchange a couple of hundred AUD and didn't count the 100bundles. When we got back to our guesthouse we found that a 5,000 riel note was conviently missing from each pile. Thats over a dollar in each pile. If you are exchanging alot of money that adds up to alot of riel.
Unfortunately we felt that the Cambodians were always trying to rip you off.

Accomodatin and Food:
Accomodation is very cheap. Again you will find everything priced in USD but you can pay riel for everything as well. We paid 30,000 to 50,000 riel for a double room with your own bathroom and in alot of cases you had cable tv as well. Food is more expensive than Laos.

Highlights:
Temples of Angkor
City of Phnom Penh
Killing Fields of Choeung Ek (very very sad)
Museum of Tuol Sleng (very sad)
Kep

Lowlights:
Poverty living right beside insane wealth in Phnom Penh
Amount of landmine victims
Number of orphan children
More so in any other SE Asian country you felt that the Cambodians viewed your white skin as a reason to completely try and rip you off.

Siem Reap:
Home to Angkor Watt. To buy a ticket you can buy a 1day/3day/1 week - 20/40/60USD. There is a checkpoint on the road out to the Temples and you won't get past without a ticket so don't forget it if you go for a few days. You can hire a bike in Siem Reap and cycle out. Its not far and its a spectacular way to see around the perimeter. You can lock your bike near one of the carparks and go inside to have a look as well. If you want to go and look further afield than Angkor Watt or Angkor Thom I would hire a tuk tuk. For a full day it cost us 12USD.
While we were in Siem Reap we wanted to go and see the Land Mine Museum but unfortunately for some reason the museum has moved way out of town so we didn't end up going. They have a good market in Siem Reap but if you are heading to Phnom Penh wait and you can buy the same things cheaper at the Russian market.
There is a good black market here for exchanging money and some lovely restuarants to eat at. Its very touristy so you will pay a little more. There are plenty of guesthouses and we stayed in two seperate ones both clean double rooms with TV and own bathroom for 6USD. We were interested in going to the Museum here but they wanted 12USD per person. We quickly lost interest! For a bus to Phnom Penh you pay anything from 5USD to 10USD. We paid 8USD for a good bus.

Phnom Penh:
We loved the capital city. It buzzes 24/7 and there is plenty to do and see. We hired a bike for the whole time we were there which cost us 4USD/day for a good condition 100cc. The driving is crazy so you have to take it slowly. No rules and everyone for themselves. There is quite alot of begging on the streets but its usually people with very bad disfigurement from landmines or orphan children. So we give everytime. It helps to have some small denominations in your pocket when you go out at night.
We stayed in the centre of the city for 6USD/night at TATS guesthouse. It was a walk to the Palace, Museum and River from here. It costs about 1USD to jump on the back of a motorbike taxi at the end of the night to anywhere within the centre of the city. Alot of backpackers stay out at Boeng Kak lake. We were going to stay here to start with but looked at a very run down guesthouse so decided to move. We did come back on the motorbike later and had dinner on the lake which was really nice.
While here we visited the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek which are owned by the Japanese and the Tuol Sleng Museum. Both were extremely sad and I cried my eyes out. For 5USD we jumped on a bus to Kampot and Kep down South for a few days.

Kampot:
This is a small town with not much to do. People use it to travel to Bokor National Park and this was the main reason we came to visit. Unfortunatley we were told that the National park was closed because they were building a new road. This is true however you could still go trekking you couldn't just drive in. Sadly we didn't hear the last bit and never ended up going. We spent one night in Kampot and got devoured by mossies in a guesthouse for 5USD/night. We hired a motorbike to look around which cost us 5USD and we traveled to Kep.

Kep:
This is directly on the ocean front and has huge potential and will eventually boom. We spoiled ourselves while we were here and stayed in a guesthouse with our own huge balcony with fantastic views of the ocean and nearby islands(as if we haven't had enough) for 15USD/night. After a night here we went back to Phnom Penh for a final night before flying back to Malaysia.

TIPS:
Change money on the Black Market for better rates. But count all money before leaving.
Carry small denominations of notes in your poket at all times to give to beggars.
Buy come books of the sales people who have lost limbs in the mines. The book are a good read usually on the Khmer Rouge and S-21 and they money
goes to a very good cause.
Support NGO. Have lunch or dinner at some of the restaurants or cafes that train street kids eg. Friends in Phomh Penh and Veiyo Tonle. All profits go straight back into the community.
If you want to buy shorts, tshirts, dvd, cd's, silk etc buy cheaply in the Russian Market. But you have to haggle prices.
Be careful driving. You will notice that alot of the motorbikes don't have side mirrors so they won't see you coming up behind them.
Go for a massage to the RedCross or Seeing Hands(massage by the blind)
Pick up a small publication called 'Stay Another Day Cambodia' which promotes sustainable tourism. It gives you ideas of things you can do to help the community by spending some of your tourist dollars.Top

Northern Thailand:
Kanchanaburi:
West of Bangkok it is extremely pretty and peaceful. Most famous for 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' and its location to the Tiger Temple. We stayed at VN guesthouse in a raft room for 275baht a night. A great place to chill out. We hired a motorbike for 200baht/day and drove out to the Tiger Temple, The Maesa Elephant Camp and had a look around the countryside. Tiger Temple was amazing just for the fact that you are so close to these magnificent animals. Its very touristy though and feels too staged. But still worth a look. While we were there there was a cultural/music festival underway which was good. The Maesa Elephant camp famous for its painting elephants was amazing. And they put on a fantastic show which should not be missed.

Chiang Mai:
A great city with a very relaxed atmosphere. The walls of the old city give it a great feel. We probably didn't stay here long enough to soak up the atmosphere enough. We hired a motorbike and drove up to the hills to Pai for three nights and on our way back stayed one more night before heading for Laos.

Pai:
This place is fantastic. If you think Chiang Mai is chilled out then you gotta go here. Its located in a mountain valley with a river running through it. Just a gorgeous location and the tempetures are lovely. We stayed at Little Darlings guesthouse which is on the backroad out of Pai. You can rent little bungalows with your own balcony for 200baht/night and the views over the valley are just amazing. Annie the lady who owns the guesthouse is one amazing lady and has one amazing story to tell you if you stay. Its a great location to do some trekking tours from or rafting. When we were there at the beginning of June they were starting up the rafting again but the river didn't look as if it was running fast enough for us so we didn't do it. We did however do a cooking course here which was fantastic Thai guy called Tee. It was just myself, Ric and him for the day.

TIPS:
Visit Pai it was the biggest highlight of our Northern Thailand trip.
Hire motorbikes its a great way to have a good look around.
Go see Maesa elephant camp.
Eat in local restaurants. Top

Brunei:
Brunei is mostly an Islamic country located between Sarawak to the South and Sabah to the North. Brunei in actual fact is split in the middle by Sarawak. It has a population of approx 380,000 Bruneians and is a very wealthy nation from all the oil they are sucking out of the sea on the west coast of Borneo. Its goverment is Islamic Sultanate, with the Sultan been the main man. He is the prime minister, minister for defence and minister for finance. There is a goverment but they are nicely chosen by the Sultan of Swing. So infact its more like a dictatorship than a democracy. The Sultan has promised however that in the next election the people will be able to elect 30% of the government he just hasn't made a date yet for the election.
Official language is Malay and the capital is Bandar Seri Begawan. English is widely spoken and there is a big ex pat community of mostly Bristish and Australians.
The population is made up of Malays, Chinese, Indians, domestic workers from Indonesia and Phillipines, labouers from Thailand and the ex pat community.
The main religion is Muslim(63%) and the rest is made up of Christian, Buddhism and indigineous religions.

Visa:
Now this one is a little tricky especially if you are unfortunate enough to be Australian. The rumour is that the Sultan just paid a visit to his cattle station in Australia but failed to check in to immigration. He flew straight there. They found out and he got a slap on the wrist. The problem is now immigration here seems to have it in for Australian passport holders. I know of a couple who had to pay 20BND just for fours hours in Brunei. They were Australian passport holders. They were pulled out of the queue for immigration and were told to wait in the corner while everyone else was processed!
When we checked in i got a single entry visa for free(Irish passport holder) and Ric had to pay 30BND for a multientry visa(as he was flying out for two weeks).
On leaving Labuan someone did our custom clearance for us and even though we told them we were heading to Brunei and not Miri our custom clearance stated Miri. We left it at that but when we hit customs in Brunei they didn't like it but becuase we had already gone through immigration they let it slide. But they were not happy about it.
Somone told us if you check in at Kuala Belait that its alot easier and you don't get charged.

Money:
Money is the Brunei dollar which is equal to the Singapore dollar and in fact you can use Singapore dollars in certain places.
At the time of writing 1AUD=!.22BND. Everything obviously is more expensive except for rice and fuel both which are subsidised.
Fuel is 0.31cBND for diesel and 0.53BND for petrol. It is ilegal unless you have a Brunei id to buy fuel. Certain fuel stations will sell foreigners fuel but its not at the subsidised price. You are better off purchasing in Malaysia.
If you want you can make an arrangment with Brunei Shell to fuel up at their wharf in Muara but you are looking at nearly Australian prices to do this. We were quoted 1.58BND by shell for this service!

Alcohol:
The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned. So don't go looking for a glass of wine on Royal Brunei Airlines, cos you won't get it. However if you are a foreigner or a non-Muslim then you are allowed to bring into the country 12 cans of beer and 2 bottles of other alcohol(spirits/wine) every 48hours. So don't go looking for a niteclub or pub to get a drink.

Food:
Food is expensive compared to Malaysia so stock up in duty free Labuan for everything before you come. Rice however is cheaper than Malaysia.
Good supermarkets here and you pretty much can find anything.

Mobile Phone:
We bought a sim card here so I could ring Australia while Ric was away. It cost 30BND and that gives you 5BND credit. To make a phone call to a fixed line in Oz was 0.40 and mobile 0.50. International SMS is 0.20.