Travel to Bosnia & Herzegovina, East, Sarajevo.

We hadn’t intended to stay more than a night in Sarajevo as we had been to the city in 2009 and we thought we had seen all we had wanted to then.However, when we were looking at accommodation between here and our first stop in Montenegro there wasn’t a lot to choose from on the websites and what there was, was too expensive for the BBA V2.So we opted for another night in Sarajevo to break the journey.

As it turned out there were other things and places for us to see and do and basically fill the day in.
The weather was still grey and overcast this morning but at least there was no rain. We dressed for a daytime high of 10C which at home would have meant thick jerseys and hats if you were going outside.However,here.in the absence of any wind, there was no ‘chill ‘factor and we really didn’t notice the cold.

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Travel to Afghanistan, East, Kabul.

A great start to the day with the first hot shower since Teheran. My first port of call was the Post Office but alas the replacement International Student cards had not arrived - however there were four letters including some sports pages from the local Bournemouth newspaper. Outside the Post Office I was hassled into having a shoeshine by two young urchins but it only cost 2 Afghanis and so no harm to the finances ! I returned to the hotel and sat on the balcony drinking some tea, reading my letters and watching the world. Outside there was a student demonstration protesting against government interference with the University. I was concerned to see a number of riot police but I did not see any trouble. Time for some exercise and so I headed along the river and found one of the bazaars. Obviously I had my directions confused because I soon ended up back at the hotel but conveniently so as Michael and Heather were just leaving. I followed them back to the Post Office where we had a long negotiation over a postage fine, which was eventually reduced from 133 Afghanis to 64 Afghanis - wasted a lot of time though. Heather's watch was broken and we found a repairer who fixed the problem for a princely sum of 35 Afghanis - pretty cheap. Next stop was the Tourist Information centre and then Afghan Airways to check on flights to India - the next stage of the journey might be a problem because the overland border between Pakistan and India was regularly closed due to armed hostilities. During our walk, we passed the Kyber Restaurant which was self service, glass fromted, clean looking and modern - enticing salads and sweets and so we might go there for a treat on another day.

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Travel to Uruguay, East, Punta del Diablo.

This time we drove all the way to Punta Del Diablo which is close to the Brazilian border and about 300 km away from Montevideo. Apparently the Lonely Planet ranked Punta del Diablo among the top 10 cities to visit in 2008, well we have ticked that one off ...

The small and sleepy fisher village is perched on a gentle rise overlooking the ocean with lots of brightly colored buildings, including few shops, restaurants, bars and grocery stores.
Due to strict building restrictions, there are no high rises or luxury resorts. Instead there are small hotels, a hostel, cabanas and vacation houses.
The high season for tourism runs from December to Easter week. During high season, the population of the small fishing village of approximately 400 people grows to approximately 25´000!

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Travel to Cambodia, East, Kratié.

Unlike Lance Armstrong, the only thing we had running through our veins when heading out on our bikes yesterday was excitement about seeing the freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins. We found the bike route through the Mekong Discovery Trail, which is basically just a series of maps outlining different routes that you can bike around the Kratie/Stung Treng area, promoting local tourism.

There are two places where you can easily see dolphins around this area - Kampi Rapids, 15km out of town, and the island of Koh Phdao, 35km away. We thought that Koh Phdao would be less busy with tourists than Kampi, and both wanted the chance to get a bit further out into the countryside, so Koh Phdao it was.

I was a bit nervous about the bike ride up there, seeing as I tend to struggle with anything involving fitness and/or coordination, and also the fact that I've been on a bike about twice since I was at high school, but it worked out fine. The route follows "Highway no. 7", which conjures up images of high speed trucks and buses, but in fact it's a rural, quiet road. The traffic really melts away once you get out
Koh Phdao 3of Kratie, and particularly once you pass Kampi Rapids; for a lot of the trip we found that we only shared the road with a few motos and bicycles from the families that live alongside the road.

It is an epic bike ride, you don't get much better than biking alongside the mighty Mekong River, surrounded by idyllic Cambodian countryside and constantly (and I mean constantly) greeted by the always adorable Cambodian kids, who all rushed out from their houses to wave and shout 'HELLOOOOOOOOO' at us as we went past. Actually, I take that back, it would have been better if we had had some magical bike seats that mean your bum doesn't hurt after the first 5km. Other than that, it's a really lovely ride.

We stopped for lunch in a local cafe, where we met a Kiwi couple on their travels, Caitlin and Sanji. It's been 2 1/2 years since I left New Zealand, so it was so nice to hang out with some Kiwis after such a long time. We got to chatting over lunch and ended up taking the ferry over to Koh Phdao together.

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