Ali, writer of the blog On The Road Home, has updated twice since we last checked in (note splendid travel pun).

Her first post is titled Trouble in Paradise and things begin badly when Ali is attacked by the: “tiniest leech in the Universe.”

Despite the diminuitve stature of the beastie, there was blood and band-aid action. Traumatic. This is not where things stopped however, after a tour of Sri Lanka’s Columbo, the airport brought more anguish.

Nevertheless, moving forward, the following entry was a day-by-day account of The Annapurna Sanctuary Trek in Nepal, one of the most popular by all accounts. This is described by Ali just so,

“…11 days of self-inflicted torture that I am in no way physically or psychologicaly prepared for…”

Well, needless to say, each day is detailed here, so to find out how she fared (if indeed she made it to the 11th day) head on through.

After narrowly avoiding plunging himself into what was possibly an over-chlorined pool and causing unpleasant rashes and skin shedding, the potential unpleasantness of the day appeared to have been evaded.

Unfortunately for the Tai Pan does Indonesia, and more so for the poor woman who was hit by the van he was a passenger in, this was not the case. Despite the traumatic nature of the whole situation, the women was fine, well as he states:

“As fine as you could be when getting hit head on by a minibus.”

Then, out of nowhere, in the aftermath of the incident a funeral parade emerged…

To read his thoughts on the incident packed day and see a video of the visual flamboyance that was the funeral festivities be sure to visit his post.

Depending on your knowledge of Buddhism, you may or may not realise: this is a seriously massive deal. A once in a lifetime opportunity, in fact, which thousands of believers come to witness from across the world.

Based in Boudhanath, STA Explorer Isobel is perfectly placed to get an insider’s impression of the 4-day enthronement ceremony of the reincarnated seven year old Rinpoche, whose antecedent built the very monastery where she is studying, and has obviously been profoundly moved:

As for me, although I am billed by those nice STA Explorer people as ‘The Budding Buddhist in Nepal’, I have until now somewhat resisted going on about the inner aspect of what is happening out here in my own life… However, the power of events in the past few days is inescapable and I have to say that I feel myself to be a different person from the one who wrote the last blog

She posts 39 beautiful photos of the event, with promises of more of her impressions in the next few days. This really is a remarkable opportunity to see a seminal event through an ordinary traveller’s eyes so head over to Isobel’s blog and ask her any questions or share your own thoughts on this amazing experience.

STA Explorer Gadget Boy Goes Global has been a busy bee recently; just have a look at his travel blog, Random Projects, to see the full extent of his connected status.

In the first of three posts, Gadget Boy lets his camera do the talking, capturing some excellent jungle activity. The pictures he’s collated come from Cuyabeno National Park in Ecuador’s part of the Amazon Jungle:

“We went for the 5 day trip rather than the normal 4 days it seems that people do. Four days would be enough but the extra day we had just added to the relaxation. It was just the two of us and the guide on the last day so we got a really personal experience on the last trek. We could go slow and stop and look at everything. Not so much ran away either with only two pairs of clod hopping feet to scare them!”

Sadly however, there was a casualty. While taking a picture of a rather ‘fancy-dan’ caterpillar, Gadget Boy’s LX3 camera took a tumble and never recovered. See the photos that add up to its swan song here…

We’ve been following Bebo’s The Gap Year reality show from the start, and in true impartial style, have mostly been cheerleading the UK contestant: Chingford-born, STA Travel-sponsored Dave.

Well, Dave’s travels have come to an end, and Bebo have posted a video showing the higlights of his global adventures, alongside those of the Australian gapper Amy. Amy has some excellent moments, such as when she betrays her Ozzie roots at her first sight of snow; but nothing can beat the brilliant Britishness of Dave, who has a penchant for cross-dressing (a walrus, an alien), looses his passport in the USA, and says the whole experience has made him feel ‘more like an adult… and I don’t like it’.

Their final vid is embedded below but also check out the previous chapters, which includes my favourite, featuring Dave going to ‘this random big rock’ in Uluru, Australia…

It’s always nice to instil a bit of wonder at the end of the week. STA Explorer Tim has hit the Galapagos, and his series of posts (complete with photos) are full of true wonder and delight at these extraordinary islands.

Tim recommends the Angelique, the characterful boat he chose for his 8 day tour, and waxes lyrical about the unique atmosphere of each island and the rare animals that let you come right up close. However, as he says, it is ’so hard to describe this amazing place so some pictures may be better…’ so click through and check out some shots sure to make you feel all tingly on a cold dreary day…

It seems that communication has been a problem for our STA Explorer Alison. Going under the name of The Long Way Home for STA you can read about her travels to date here. As for the sarcasm thing, well, it happens to be Alison’s preferred form of interaction, and when your tour guide doesn’t really get it, problems can arise.

However, such cultural obstacles are obscured by the full on mutiny toward the sarcasm-less Priya (her guide), which occurred after a particularly tricky bus ride experienced by some of Alison’s Sri Lanka traveling counterparts. The group has shrunk somewhat after the uprising, though Karena and Nikki (mutineers who thought better of it) did:

“…stumble into the hotel with their tails between their legs, after being literally left at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere by the others.”

How did the remaining five and Priya cope? By getting drunk on Arrak of course!