Posting comments help.

Hi everyone.

I have been contacted about users being able to post comments on the blog pages; apparently quite a few have tried and nothing appears!

How to do it:

1. Post your comment in the comment box at the bottom of the page you wish to discuss.
2. Select your profile in the "comment as" drop down box immediately below the comment box. IE Anonymous etc.
3. Next select the publish button. This will refresh the page and normally send you back to the top.
4. Scroll down the page to the comment box and you will see a preview box and a word verification code, for security and to prevent spamming, insert the code an select publish.

Hey Presto and your comment is published. It won't appear immediately as it has to be confirmed by myself or Matt but as long as it's not spam we'll OK it.


I hope this helps. :)

Asia Fantasia Part 4. Laid back Langkawi.

Sam from The Gecko showing off his fire breathing skills

Our flight with Air Asia from Singapore to Pulau Langkawi, Malaysia was smooth, quick and easy. Once again we passed through immigration and collected yet another Malaysian stamp in the passports before getting a taxi straight to The Gecko Guesthouse at Pantai Cenang (all the taxi prices were on fixed rates!). I had emailed ahead to inquire about accommodation and we got a half decent twin chalet with a fan and a usable bathroom (unlike the one at the hovel in Padang!) for a princely £12.00 per night or thereabouts. The Gecko was a cool place with a decent hang-out area and a bar. We liked it immediately.
As usual we dumped our packs in the room and went of to explore. We had a walk down the main street to check it out and a look at the lovely 2km long white sandy beach. Oh yes! That'll do nicely we decided :)
Langkawi is an unusual spot; it has a very laid back feel to it, almost a Caribbean vibe and the locals are as chilled as you can get. Expect to hear the constant humming of Reggae beats everywhere you go if you ever get the chance to visit.
It is a stunningly beautiful place too with long ridges of Karst-like mountains and a lush green interior. Fortunately for us it was also designated a duty-free district by the Malaysian Government in 1986 and this meant that it was also a very cheap place to visit.

Coming soon... :)

Bridge over The Daugava River. Riga, Latvia.

Hi folks.
I hope you have been enjoying my recent posts.
There are a few more to follow in the next week or so.
Asia Fantasia - Part three; should be the final one of that series.
A nice review of my short trip to Riga, Latvia over the weekend Including the Bobsledding! And quite a bit of Mountain Biking stuff - Trails & Tribulations - to write about, oh and a couple of Peak District hikes too. 
I'm also going to try and include a few genuine and honest product/hostel/travel reviews as well, hopefully some of you will find them useful.


Please try and support our charities for the Himalaya Quest if you can spare any change. Just £1/$1/Euro from every reader will add to up to a lot of money! You can use the "Please Sponsor Us" link boxes at the top of the page.

Don't forget that you can follow our progress daily on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/#!/HimalayaQuest

And also view additional stuff and photo's etc on our Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/ChaseTheRainbow  
Feel free to click the "Like" botton if you err... like it!

See you soon q:)

Asia Fantasia! Part 3 - Yeehaw Singapore.

Exchanging bodily fluids with The Merlion at Marina Bay, Singapore.

Singapore is a revelation. There’s nothing like it anywhere else in South-East Asia I’m sure and possibly even the world! Seamlessly efficient in every aspect. We passed through the airport with ease, changed some money, and purchased an electronic ticket for public transport system in no time at all. The only slight hitch came when I realised I’d left my copy of Lonely Planet at the Bureau de Change and had to march back to find it. Fortunately, with this being saccharine-sweet Singapore, the lady at the counter had put it to one side for me. It’s a city taken over by the Stepford Wives! :D

We took the MRT train to the Tanah Merah interchange and then another on the North East Line to Chinatown.

Chinatown rocks again! I love the Chinatown districts of Asia (I may have mentioned that previously). We followed the map to the first hostel from Lonely Planet and discovered it was closed down so we headed north to the next one; The Backpackers Cozy Corner at Bugis Junction. We got ourselves a twin room with aircon for S$50 (£25) per night. We then headed back into Chinatown for a meal at the People’s Park Complex food court. Very nice food at a couple of quid each and cheap Tiger Beer in big bottles for S$5.00. We caught the metro around town and had a look around Little India; which was pretty impressive with all the lights up in preparation for the Deepavali Festival.

Little India preparing for Deepavali

Asia Fantasia! Part 2 - Sumatra, Indonesia.

Even Winnie The Pooh likes Indonesia!

Our flight from KL to Padang, Indonesia was short and simple; in just less than an hour and we touched down in another new country.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said of Indonesia's immigration service which was slow and boring! We filled out the obligatory entry card and parted with $25.00 each for the stamp on our passports before queuing patiently at passport control.
It seemed odd, in a good way, to be the only westerners in the airport, but I did wonder why. I exchanged a few Dollars for Indonesian Rupiah in the terminal and inquired as to the simplest way into town before running the gauntlet outside the airport doors; where we were met with the usual throng of taxi and minibus drivers, not as manic or insistent as some parts of Asia though which was nice. And as we had already taken the advice of the nice lady inside it was just a matter of locating which bus to board for Padang  Town Centre (40,000IR each, about £3.30). They don't like travelling with a half full bus though and we waited a little over an hour for another incoming flight before getting underway. It's no big deal though, you get used to the easier pace of life in Asia and just go with the flow. A few minutes after sitting on the bus we were approached by a couple of giggling girls and fielded all the usual questions about where we were from, where we were going and where we had been, before they asked if we would mind having our photographs taken with them. "Sure, why not!" we laughed; and posed away while they snapped away! I wondered if they thought we were footballers or something? Or perhaps they had been reading my blog! Hahaha.