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Le Serena, Chile

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:42:33 GMT

Monday 8th March 2010 We arrived in Le Serena at around 16.30pm before going to found our hostel we decided to buy tickets for our next destination as we wanted to get the overnight bus tomorrow night. This turned out to be a bit more difficult than the first time but we got there in the end. From the station the hostel El Punto was only 10 minute walk away and we managed to find it very easily.The hostel was very nice and felt very Spanish even though it is German run. After we had checked in we had a coffee before going into to the town centre to explore and spotting many of the 29 churches that Le Serena is famous for and many other impressive buildings. We had a walk through a market into the main square stopping at the bank and the supermarket before going for dinner at a really nice restaurant we both had pasta tonight. After dinner we walked back to the hostel and had a quick beer before getting snuggled up in bed as it was quite cold tonight. Tuesday 9th March 2010 We got up this morning at around 10am and had breakfast before getting showered and dressed and checked out the hostel at 11am. We then used the internet to sort out accomadation for the next few days. We left the hostel at around 1pm and walked to the beach which was about a half an hour walk away it wasn´t the best beach we had ever seen but it was pleasant enough so we had a 45 minute walk along the beach before stopping for lunch at a beachside cafe which was really nice. After lunch we walked back along the Promanade into to town we came across a very crazy dog on the way that had decided it was a really good idea to chase the cars running in the middle of the road trying to bite there tyres it was very amusing to watch but we were really concerned he was going to get run over but he was having a whale of a time so who are we to stop him!!! Once back into the town centre we went to use the internet to Skype Mum before popping back to the hostel briefly and then we went back into to town to go to the supermarket to get supplies for our 17 hour bus journey tonight. After the supermarket we went back to the same restaurant as the previous night as they had been so nice and the food was really good again. After dinner we returned to the hostel to get a shower before leaving there at 10pm to walk to the bus station to catch our bus at 11pm. The bus came on time we had decided to go Cama which is a bit like buisness class we decided in the bus world anyway - well reclining chairs, blankets, pillows and food so we were very happy and comfy ready for 17 hours of bus journey hell!!!

London, UK

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:39:21 GMT

All our bags are packed and we're ready to go.......................... After a cancelled train from Hull we finally made it down to London (via Donny!) - Then had to carry our bags for the first time accross London - it was at this point I realised I had packed far to much when I couldn't even lift the bag! So made it Eleanor and Johns and tried to half the contents of my rucksack - I am gutted that 50% of my clothes haven't made the final cut but I'm sure the 25+ outfits i'm sure will see me through! Anyway we are getting excited and after booking hotel in delhi we are hitting the hay so we are ready for the start of our adventure tomorrow

Punakaki, New Zealand

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:18:48 GMT

To punakaki-a paradise, perfect tea and pancakes of both kinds!Punakaki, a wee place on the west coast, its wee but has made a big dent in my memories.The first glimpse of the coast,crashing waves and clear to see the power of the sea witch has ripped this coast line. dark rugged sand, small rounded stones and pebbles, inlets, headlands and bays, stacks, and limstone thats been eroded...pancake city! The pancake rocks, wow, the weathering of the limstoe from the rain and wind has created the pancake apperance and from below the waves have crashed in and eroded the limstone creating plunge pools at high tide and the famous blow holes. Ariving on a blue sky afternoon very very lucky, and then very lucky to be staying at the best backpackers i have stayed at yet. Its just like the house i wood like. The main building is clear when you first drive in then down little paths to the small hideaways and other accomodation. Imaculate, friendly, homely and amzing tea! I couldnt be more happyer! Seen as though we are at the punakaki we had to make our own pancakes, so pancakes bacon egss and maple syrup...(i am traveling in style, and the american girl i am with was extremly happy when i said how much i loved that combination). A great evening, saddly the clouds think so not that incredable west coast sunset but still worth standing out until the stars appeared. Now high tide at 12.09am in the morning....its not everyday you can see blow holes in the dark, so we went on a little adevnture!! alot of fun. However yesterday we went to see high tide in the daylight.....the power of those waves clear to see..the fact that you feel like its raining emphasises how the waves pound up through the blow holes.I spent a wee while exploring punakaki cavern, some small calcite deposits the start of stalactites, pitch balck just the head torch as i explored around the cave for a while. Then spending the afternoon exploring the beach, and wrighting my journal. There are numerous tracks to walk at around the area but it was nice to take the shocks and boots of and walk along thebeach for afew hours. Last nyte i drove back to where id walked to try and catch a sunset, better than the previous night and i saw a taste of how amazing a sunset can be hear, alot of cloud but gaps that should the pink/red/orange coloration as i sat on the sand just me the waves and the sun setting. Now this morning, walking up with the trees outside and blue sky, a relaxing morning drinking more of this amazing tea and now catching up on my blogs. I will head to the beach for another walk before heading to arthurs pass, making my way back to christchurch for friday. The west coast is almost finished for me so now through the middle.p.s hundreds of photos to upload they are coming ive not forgot- you have-more mountains, the perfect tree, glaciers at eye level, glaciers and mountains from below, pancake rocks, the west coastline, lakes, and alot more to look forward to!

Santiago, Chile

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:10:40 GMT

Santiago the city of stray dogs and pashing couple (They really are not shy about showing affection here!!) for us was not really about lots of sight seeing but more to do with soaking up the local café culture, people watching, trying to learn Spanish very quickly and taking it all in!! We had been warned before we left for South America that if we didn´t speak Spanish we would struggle but we just thought they were bluffing and that most people would speak a bit of English- - - - How wrong were we??? Hardly anyone speaks English so a challenging but fun 5 weeks ahead of us. Thursday 4th March 2010 (The longest day ever!!!) We arrived in Auckland at around 11.30am very unsure of whether we would be flying to Santiago or not!!! Once through passport control we waited at the baggage carousel and waited and neither of our bags came through so we were a bit worried they were still in Fiji but we spoke to one of the airport staff who said she had just seen them and they were being transferred through to our Santiago flight. Once we had cleared customs we went straight to the Qantas to ask about our flight to Santiago we were told that we would have to wait till 13.30pm to check in and see if we could fly because there was a back log of people who's flights had been cancelled due to the earthquake on the 1st. 2nd and 3rd. So we went to get a coffee and read our books for a bit before joining the queue at about 13.20pm and we waited and waited in this queue being told very little for nearly 3 hours and hardly moved anywhere we were not happy bunnies!!! There was a lady working for the airline running around but only really spoke to the people who spoke Spanish so anyone who didn't speak Spanish didn't have a clue what was going on!!! After 3 hours they finally decided there was no more room on the flight so we were informed we would have to fly on Saturday instead along with around 50 other people who were in the queue also as you can imagine all hell broke loose once this announcement was made. We decided that if we had to do that ladies job today we would have definitely rung in sick first thing this morning!!! So we were all prepared to go into Auckland and stay at the backpackers where we had stayed before for a couple of nights but first we went to put are names down for Saturday's flight and to ask for our bags back. At this point she did a search for our bags and then said that we had been on the flight all along so why were we here!!! We explained we had been told twice once in Fiji and once at the Qantas desk that we would have to recheck in once we got to Auckland. We were then escorted through the airport to customs, after we had cleared customs we begged the man who was escorting us to let us go for a very quick cigarette, once we explained we had been in the queue for 3 hours and now had to be on a flight for 11 hours I think he felt sorry for us and let us go for one if we promised to smoked it very quickly!! Once we got to the gate they hadn't even started boarding yet so all that stress for nothing!! They made it sound like the flight was waiting for us!! Once on the plane we got settled in and it was an uneventful 11 hour flight with good service and lots of film choices. We landed in Santiago just after 12pm going back in time by 16 hours and arriving in Santiago before we had left Santiago hence the longest day ever!!! The airport at Santiago had been badly affected by the earthquake so we arrived to the strangest airport scene we had ever experienced!! We picked our bags up from the runway and then had to go through customs which was just in tents. Once we had cleared customs we were met by hundreds of taxi drivers we hadn't booked any accommodation as we didn't know we were coming but luckily Kate who we had met in New Zealand had recommended at hostel where she had stayed so we got a taxi there unfortunately we got ripped of by the taxi driver but we were too tired to argue and just payed it. Luckily the hostel - HOSTEL ANDRES had some dorm rooms available so we got checked in and went straight to bed at about 2.30pm for what we wanted to be just for a couple of hours but we didn't wake up until 7.10pm Whoops!!!! After we had showered we had dinner at a local café, the menu in itself was a challenge all in Spanish and of course neither of us speaks Spanish so we managed to pick out a ham, cheese and mushroom pizza which was fairly gross but we weren't very hungry anyway so it didn't really matter. After we had eaten we went back to the hostel and had a few beers which turned into a few too many (What a surprise!!) and we ended up going to a club with some of the people from the hostel so by the time we went to bed we had been up around 40 hours!!! Friday 5th March 2010 As you can imagine the morning was well and truly cancelled as well as half of the afternoon!! When we eventually surfaced and got sorted we had a walk around Downtown Santiago for about 4 hours stopping for lunch along the way. We discovered a nice square along are travels with some impressive buildings there were also a few entertainment acts going on as well. The ones that have stuck in our minds are a older man who thought he was Rolando but really not very good and two young lads sello taping people together - we couldn´t really work out what that was all about??? As you can imagine we eventually got lost as we had left the hostel without a map not the best idea. We eventually plucked up the courage to ask a police officer for directions which we got in Spanish but with some hand gestures we eventually figured out what she was trying to tell us and we got back on track and made it back to the hostel. Tonight we found a lovely Italian restaurant that had a menu in English so we both had a really nice pasta dish each. Tonight we both had an early night as we were both really tired but then as our sleep patterns were so messed up we couldn´t sleep and we were still awake at 6am I think we would have both dropped off but then the lads we were sharing the dorm with came in really p**sed turn on the light and starting packing then one of them was being sick really loudly next door (delightful!!!). So at 6.30am we were having a cigarette on the roof top terrace before going back to bed and we eventually fell asleep. Saturday 6th March 2010 Due to our disturbed night we didn´t wake up until 12pm and once we had got showered we set out to get our chores for the day sorted which we were expecting to be really difficult but they actually turn out to be really easy. First off we went to the laundry across the road and managed to communicate that we wanted to pick it up today before they closed which they agreed was fine. Secondly we went to get an adaptor for my camera as it was brought in New Zealand we didn´t have an adaptor to convert it into a European plug which is what they use here. We then popped back to the hostel and then went to a café next door for lunch with another girl we had met Becky who was flying to New Zealand today so we persuaded her to leave us her Spanish phrase book we did offer to pay her for it but she didn´t want any money for it (Can´t believe we came to a spanish speaking country with no phrase book what a bright idea). After lunch we sussed out the metro and managed to get to the bus station to book our tickets for Monday to Le Serena. Before we went to book our tickets we got the phrase book out and wrote down what we wanted and just hoped it was right. When we got to the counter the man looked quite amused by our piece of paper but he spoke a little bit of English anyway so it turned out getting our tickets was really easy, we had been dreading it!!! We then got the metro back to the hostel and sat and sorted out the route we were going to take from Chile to Bolivia before picking our laundry up at 17.30pm. After this we went for a coffee in one of the many nice coffee shops near our hostel before going for dinner at another cafe. This was very amusing as we couldn´t read the menu at all and two ladies sat opposite us found this very amusing but bless them they came to try and help us but they only spoke spanish so it didn´t really help so they went next door to a different cafe where there was a man who spoke some english so he came and translated the menu for us. Unfortunately it was not what we expected at all Suzie ordered pancake verde which turned out to be veal or pork we couldn´t really decide, but we did decide we definately wouldn´t be returning to that cafe it was fairly vile!!! After dinner we returned to the hostel for Pisco Sour night which were lovely but very leval as we later found out after 4 and a few beers it got a bit messy to say the least!!! But a great night. Sunday 8th March 2010 I found out this morning how much Pisco Sours didn´t like me I felt dreadful!!! Suzie didn´t feel so bad so she went down stairs to read her book while I tried to muster up the energy to get showered and dressed it took some effort I´ll tell you but with a few lie downs in between I eventually managed it!! We left the hostel around 1ish and went for some lunch unfortunately mine only stayed down for a short while - not pleasant I will not tell you anymore about that!! After we had eaten we walked along the river into the Bella Vista area and caught the Funicular up a big hill which was very steep Suzie tells me it was scary I wouldn´t know I felt so bad I had to sit on the floor all the way up. We went up to see the statue of the imactulact conception and some good views of Santiago. From here we got the Funicular back down and went into the BelloVista complex which is a lovely area and we agreed it would have been great for Sunday Session if we´d felt better instead we opted for coffee at La Casa En El Aire. From here we walked back to the hostel through a lovely park which was full of activity. Back at the hostel we packed, read and had more coffee before going to a Chinese for dinner which was ok but not quite Taipan. We then went back to the hostel and had a very sociable evening with two very nice Australians playing pool and cards before going to bed just after midnight. Monday 8th March 2010 This morning got up just before 07.30pm had breakfast before checking out and getting the Metro to the bus station ready to catch our bus to La Serena at 09.30am.

Wanaka, New Zealand

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:09:36 GMT

The perfect tree- then to rugged ice and rock.From queenstown on thursday, a sad farewell, but onto more beautiful places, the drive to wanaka, taking a short cut however this being one of the most windy roads ive ever been on, it made more nice scenary and alot of fun along the way. Reaching wanaka, another lake, mountains, could this country be me anymore, smileing again infact how do i stop smiling. Staying at the purple cow backpackers, spending the afternoon, relaxing with the cups of tea and making some plans for the trips ahead. A very organised backpackers plus a football in our rooom....:):). Friday, waking up to some rain, we walked around the small town, making enquiries about walks round the area, the plan was mount roy but weather conditions at this level were not ideal and so being up a mountain may not be the best plan instead, we felt the calming nature of wananak sat and chatted and with some luck a blue sky afternoon, a walk along the shores of the lake, where i stumbled accross my perfect tree(pictures to follow the blogs in afew days) lots of pictures, ideally the best journal spot, a lonely tree and the foot of the lake, mountains in the background trees behind and a perfect branch to sit at!! From there we made dinner, having people to travel with is great meals for one can be a little cumbersom(if thats the right word) so we made a great meal and there was another day gone.Saturday, the drive to glacier country :)!!! Getting up at 5.30am so that we could fit in walks along the way. Driving to the west coast ment we missed the sunrise becuase of the mountains hiding the sunrise, however seeing the blue pools certainly made up for it! We walked to were the river reveals incredable coloration of the water, that turkquise colour once again. It was a great way to begin our amazing day, walking over some swing bridges to the pools, there hard to describe the photos will emphasise them more!! The walk continued, showing soils with podsol characteristics, rock with iron deposits, i found myself stoping numerous times exploring...then stubbling accros some natural art work, using the peices of broken rock, new zeland writen on the flood plain of river deposits. Picture time, we walked into a valley and saw more beautiful mountains in the distance.Back onto the road again, the drive as beuatiful as the previous drives, its hard to keep focussed on the roads..... a u turn with out power steers makes for an amusing story.....this done becouse of a view luckily a deserted road and so we could turn and get that pictures. The drives hear are amazing how within afew hours the scenary has changed. Then seeing that west coast, a bruce bay numerous natural scultures...for years people have taken a stone from the beach or stones and drift would and made there own little natural artwork and finish it by making a wish. Stoping hear to do just that, the road side is lined with this cool scultures, names righten on roacks the odd national flag added in. (be warned sand flys have relised that we alll like to stop hear). Later in the day i droped my firend im traveling with of at the start of a 2 day walk she is doing and i made my way to glacier country. First stop fox :)! Being like a little kid in a sweet shop. Driving up one of the viewing roads i stoped myself taking a sneek peek at one of the view points. Desiding i wanted to see the glacier after a walk. So at a fare pase i made my way along one of the walking tracks then finally seeing the glacier, the morain clear to see adds to the glacier, the coplouration of ice and even though in glacier terms this is small the scale of them....this being my first reall sight of one. I was extremly happy, i sat for 15 minutes just appreciating the natural process of the ince and the erosional processes that have taken place. Walking accross to the other viewing road i took the walk along the valley to where you can get very close to the front of the glacier. Walking on the valley floor on the fluvial deposits and seeing how the glacier and smothed the valley walls. Being up close the colouration of the ice. Seeing the sign showing where the glacier was in 1935 was very interesting. From the glacier to a beautiful lake, lake matheson just outside the small town of fox, another walk to keep me smiling, walking around the mirrord lake was a great way to finished the afternoon. It wasnt until later i relised that the lake is there for you to see the mirrord image of mount cook.... luckily there was some cloud and you couldnt see it anyway. But i meerly loved walking around the lake, where as its so popular becuase of this mirror image! From fox to franz joseph...extremly windey roads!! Around 6pm time to check into the backpackers and an evening there.

Pantanal, Brazil

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:51:10 GMT

Today we depart beautiful Bonito for somewhere even more amazing: The Pantanal. Located in the centre of South America it is the largest contiguous wetlands in the world - some 210,000 sq km. Although 'Pantano' means Swamp in Portuguese it is not but in fact a vast alluvial plain. In geological terms it is a sedimentary basin of quaternary origin, the drying remains of an ancient sea called 'Xaraes' which began to dry out 65 million years ago. From inland sea, to vast lake it is now a periodically flooded plain that experiences just 2 seasons: Wet from Nov-March when the river floods over and most of the low lying region sits beneath up to 3 m of water, and Dry for the rest of the year where the flood plains dry out and become Savannah like.The Pantanal is the best region in Brazil to see wildlife owing to the fact that for the most part the vegetation is low lying allowing for uch easier sightings of the animals. It is also for the most part uninhabited. We wake at 4.30 in the morning to catch our transfer for a 3 hour drive to our accommodation in the Pantanal which is the farm 'San Franscisco'. Farms are pretty much the only settlements here - but have a surprising lucrative industry. Everyone knows that Brazilians love their rice - but ask the average Brazilian where their rice comes from and they will shrug their shoulders. I asked this about 2 weeks after arriving in Brazil. You see I knew that rice had to be grown in flooded 'Paddy fields' but could not imagine anywhere in Brazil being like that. The answer is……..of course the Pantanal. The annual flooding is perfect for rice growing - and the other huge agricultural industry: Cattle. The third major industry in the Panatanal is a new one - Ecotourism. Something that all the farms are cashing in on as the Pantanal remains the best place in the world to see Jaguar (in the dry something like 70% chance to see). They provide accommodation, food and guides who take tourists into the Pantanal.So we roll up to the farm at 8 and check in. The heat and humidity of this place is so oppressive. Imagine 210,000km of water evaporating all around you - and a hot 30-35 deg sun. It only takes a few mins before you whole body is sticky and covered in sweat. Well our room here was great (ac & fan). We met our guide Roberta (specially requested as she was bilingual) and had a great breakfast. After we head out on a day safari in a converted 4WD. Our expectations are low - this is the wet season and probably the worst time of year to see wildlife (We had no choice but to visit now) however it starts great - we get several sightings of Marsh deer and Caiman. Bird life is everywhere and we see hundreds of Falcons, owls, Ringed kingfishers, Jabiri stalks, Tiger Heron, Parakeets, Maccaws and the great black hawk (the largest bird in the Pantanal. After a few more minutes we bump into a family of Capivara (pretty much the food source of everything mean in this area). It is on our return journey something incredible turns up. In Brazilian it is called the Tamandua Bandeiro. In English the Giant Anteater. A wondrous animal (and the animal I was most hoping to see). Extremely endangered now. An extremely unusual looking quadraped about 2.5m long with a long nose and tongue that eats termites and ants. It was on the road about 100m ahead and as soon as it got a whiff of us moved into the bushes to the side of the road. 'Ah ha' we thought. It is pretty much trapped as on the other side of the bushes are the flood canals that carry water to the paddy fields. So we roll the 4WD up to where it went into the bushes and eagerly awaited it to come out. What happened next was truly amazing. Can anteaters swim?? Such questions I am sure have plague the curious minds of biologists the world around. The answer, I am happy to report is……..Yes they can. Rather than come out to be snapped our little friend decided to swim the channel. Something our guide had never seen before. So I took the opportunity to catch a very rare picture - an Anteater swimming.Back then to the farm for lunch and after lunch out to the river for a boat tour. We got to see a lot of water birds; Cormorats, Heron, Stalks and kingfishers. Then we did a spot of Piranha fishing. Sorry not the red bellys but the yellow bellied variety. Slightly larger but not as vicious. Everyone managed to catch at least one. Mine I think was the largest (of course). Then we took the fish and feed them to the surrounding wildlife. One to the Fish hawk who came to watch us. And 3 or 4 to a couple of friendly caiman who were only too happy to perform for their lunch. This involved climbing some stairs at the pier and coming vertically up.Back to the farm for some dinner and then out again for a night safari. Before we left I went snake hunting and with the aid of our taxi driver found a small little snake called 'Costello de Vacha' or 'Cows ribs'. Not venomous but very cute. We also get a nightly visit from some very tame Crab eating foxes. The tour itself was not amazing I am sad to report. We caught sight of a red brockett deer, some more caiman and a couple of glimpse sightings of Ocelots and a pretty good sighting of a Tapir but nothing too amazing.The next day we woke early and our morning activity was a Canoe on the same river containing all those Caiman and Piranhas I was telling you about before. It was 3 of us in a Canoe and it was the most unstable terrifying tour. The boat was flat bottomed but pitched scarily at the slightest of movements. Thus of course keeping our balance became impossible. We didn't fall in - but likewise we didn't enjoy the tour so much - even when a troupe of Capuchan monkeys came close to the river banks.The afternoon was a small hike on a man made bridge across the wetlands - which again wasn't terrific and didn't yield any interesting sightings.It was the night safari we did that proved to be the trip of the day. Starting out we caught a great sighting of another Giant Anteater with a baby on her back, a really great sighting of a very playful Ocelot and another Tapir.Then after breakfeast the next day we headed back to Campo Grande for our long flight back to Belo Horizonte. As we left the farm it was very satisfying to see the heavens open up and pour with rain for pretty much the whole day. We really lucked out on that one.I am back in Belo Horizonte with just 10 days to go until I return to the UK. I only have one more blog to post after this giving a round up of Brazil and Belo.I hope everyone has enjoyed the blogs and accompanying pics. Write again soon!

Cape Town, South Africa

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:47:11 GMT

Hello everyone! We made it! After spending 16 hours in the air in total we are both completely exhausted, but already having a lovely time! We arrived at the hostel at around half 5 / 6ish (SA time), so since then have freshened up, had some food and are well overdue for crashing out..! We're planning our day tomorrow at tho mo, hopefully going to do table mountain, although it was closed today due to the strong winds :( we'll see. If all else fails we'll try and do some sort of day tour and some retail therapy :) Not a huge amount to tell you, but we thought we'd let you know we're all safe and sound! We're both on top bunks for tonight so slightly scared of falling out as they don't look secure at all, but we've already made friends so we're all good! Let you know when something more exciting happens! Lots of love, Cath & Libs xoxoxoxo

Big White, British Columbia

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:29:37 GMT

We have just come back from a weekend up at Big White with Andrew and Milene from upstairs. It was a great weekend and they had 18cm snow on Friday night which meant Saturday was the best ski day of the year!! The snow was great but not so much for us on Friday night because we were driving through it! We were supposed to be up there by 6:30pm and we finally got there about an hour later cause we had to drive so slowly as we could barely see in front of us through the blizzard. Before we even got to the Big White turn off we thought we were going to have to turn around as our tyres were spinning and we were only just crawling up the hill. We just made it to the turn off and passed another Dodge on the side of the road who couldn't go any further. Then there was the scary and windy drive up to the resort. If someone overtook us or passed us the other way within seconds we couldn't see their tracks because of the blizzard. And the worse thing was that we had been up there before so we knew that in parts of the road there were cliffs on both sides!!! We only skidded a few times around corners but that was scary enough. When we finally got into the village we couldn't make it up to the resort as it was at the top of the hill so we had to park the car down the bottom of the mountain and Andrew and Milene came and picked us up in their truck. Getting there was one of the scariest drives I've ever been on!!!!!! The condo was VERY nice. It was a fully furnished three bedroom unit on the ground floor so we could just walk out the back door and be on one of the ski runs. It also had a fire place and a hot tub out the back. When you were sitting in front of the fire you could just watch people skiing right by! And later in the day a jump had formed outside our window so we could also watch people jumping (and falling!). Great entertainment! :) On Saturday we woke up to beautiful blue skies but with all the new snow there were tonnes of people there. The Big White website said it was the best day of the year! Lucky us! But by lunch time I was exhausted so me and one of ther other girls stayed in the condo for the afternoon while Jarren went out with the others. Then after dinner we all went out for a couple of hours of night skiing. Jarren was sooooo tired after all that!! Because it was really thick snow and so many people skiing, mounds had formed during the day so there were lots of bumps to knock you over. And me being a skier was not good because if you hit one of these mounds (which I did alot!), my legs went in different dirrections so I ended up falling over with my legs all twisted up. Ouch my knees still hurt! And Jarren's tailbone is sore again because of the falls he had. We were all too exhausted and sore to go skiing on Sunday so we just packed up and cleaned the condo then came home to do washing. Jarren slept most of the afternoon while I tried to stay awake (that was hard!) on the couch to get the washing done. Even though we fell over alot and we really sore and tired we had a really fun weekend and it was great to meet some new people. They were really nice and we are hoping to go 'sweater boating' (self explanitory I think!) with them all before we leave Peachland. On Monday we slept in and then tried to move as little as possible cause we were so sore! But it was worth it :) Today we have had a big sleep in but I think we will be taking it easy again... Still looking for a place to stay in April and still haven't found anything yet. But more places are being advertised everyday so I'm sure we'll find somehting soon. Enjoy the rest of your week! P.S Not many pics this time... we were having too much fun! :)

Lusaka, Zambia

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:29:43 GMT

This is the second in a two-part series about my visit with Jan Nijhoff, who works with the Common Market for Eastern and South Africa (COMESA) and Michigan State University in Lusaka, Zambia. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet. According to Jan Nijhoff, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) "was born" as a result of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-the list of broad targets that the United Nations hopes developing nations will achieve by 2015. Nijhoff, who coordinates a project between Michigan State University and countries in eastern and southern Africa to promote regional trade, says CAADP was a response by COMESA (the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) to develop a program to "solve" the problems outlined in the MDGs. The initiative is focused especially on MDG #1, the goal of halving both the number of people who earn less than a dollar a day and the number of hungry people worldwide by 2015. CAADP works on four main pillars or programs: extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems; improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market access; increasing food supply, reducing hunger, and improving responses to food emergency crises; and improving agriculture research and technology dissemination and adoption. But achieving these goals (and MDG #1) will require increasing agricultural growth across Africa by 6 percent per year, according to CAADP. To do that, African governments will need to spend 10 percent of their annual budgets on agricultural development-up from only around 5 percent currently. The "beauty of the CAADP approach," Nijhoff says, "is that it holds governments accountable" through agreements, or compacts, that they develop with COMESA. These compacts, which outline extensive government actions, can help countries achieve greater agricultural growth while also protecting the environment. Essentially, Nijhoff says, they are "game plans" that specify where a country needs to spend its resources, where donors and the private sector can play a role, and what policies need to be in place before an investment can happen. They can include actions like building more roads to reduce transport costs for farmers and other businesses. COMESA has also launched a regional compact initiative with FANRPAN (which I'll be writing about in future blogs) and other partners to identify interventions that are already common among member states, as well as activities that can have a regional impact. By focusing on national and regional economic development, and by showing donors where to spend their money, both COMESA and CAADP hope to increase food security, improve livelihoods, and achieve the MDGs for millions of people in eastern and southern Africa. And although skeptics of the program claim that it's "donor pushed," Nijhoff says it should be viewed as "African led" because agriculture and trade ministers are working in collaboration with CAADP to develop policies. What do you think? Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved: 1.Comment on our daily posts—we check comments everyday and look forward to a regular ongoing discussion with you. 2. Consider donating—For a limited time only when you donate $36 dollars (tax deductible) to support the Worldwatch Institute to support our, we will mail you a signed copy of our flagship publication "State of the World 2011" when it comes out in January. To make sure you receive your copy of the book just be sure to enter the code "NTP2011" when you make your donation. 3. Receive weekly updates—Sign up for our "Nourishing the Planet" weekly newsletter at the blog by clicking here and receive regular blog and travel updates.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:17:32 GMT

Hi everybody! Sorry it has taken me two months to update my blog, the internet connections in Ethiopia were painfully slow to say the least! I have spent the last two months living and working in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. I worked for one month in a kindergarten teaching engish to 3-6 year olds, and the rest of my time working in an orphanage. I had the most amazing time with all the children and I would like to say a massive thank you to all the other volunteers for making my time there so special!! And an even bigger thank you to Projects Abroad when two of us were arrested! Living in a city with over 4m ethiopians got to be a bit much at times, but after 2 weeks I soon got used to all the attention. There was just so much to do in the Addis that we didn't really feel the need to leave! But on 4 weekends we managed to venture out of the city to see lakes, hippos, churches and get a real feel of what Ethiopia had to offer. I stayed with an Ethiopian family during my time there which gave me a really good insight into the culture. By the end of my stay I had become quite fond on 'injera' - a sour pancake which is accompanied by spicy sauces, and eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And snack. My host mother was lovely and very (maybe even too) attentive. 'BEE!' she would always say ('eat' in amharic). I would thoroughly recommend Ethiopia to anyone, I had a really great time. I will try and upload photos very soon for you all to see. Tania x

Puerto Natales, Chile

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:47:37 GMT

Puerto Natales & Torres del Paine 01 – 08.03.2010 Puerto Natales ist wie viele andere Orte am Wasser gelegen und von Bergen umrandet. Der Gebirgszug hier heißt Torres del Paine. Wir hatten vor hier eine mehrtagige Wanderung mit Zelt zu unternehmen, die sogenannten W-.Wanderung. Der Name kommt von dem Weg den wir gelaufen sind. Er geht in einer W-Form um 2 Berge herum. Im Hostel eingecheckt stellten wir fest, dass fast alle Möbel selbstgebaut aus Holz waren und das der Hersteller nicht mit besonderes hoher Quälität gearbeitet hat. Unser Doppelstockbett war ziemlich wackelig und die Leiter nur halb befestigt. Jeremy konnte noch nicht mal oben pupsen ohne, dass das Bett gewackelt hat. :) Wir hatten uns entschlossen noch einen Planungstag zu nehmen, bevor wir losziehen. Zusammen mit unseren Navimag Freunden Jenn & Lucas (USA) and Graeme (Neuseeland) haben wir den Trip geplant und auch gestartet. Wir entschieden uns die W-Wanderung in 4 Nächten / 5 Tagen zu machen. Wir haben uns ein 2-Mann Zelt, Matrazen und Camping-Kochutensilien ausgeliehen. Gepackt haben wir nur ein paar Wechselklamotten. Ein Set Klamotten zum Wandern und ein Set wärmere Klamotten zum Aufwärmen nach der Wanderung und zum drin schlafen. Mmmh, am Ende können wir uns bestimmt alle nicht mehr riechen. :) Dann haben wir noch Essen für alle Tage gekauft und gepackt. (Nudelterrine zum Frühstück; Nüsse, Müslibars und Schokolade für Tagsüber und fertige Nudelpackete zum Abendbrot) Puh, der Rucksack war gar nicht so leicht. Wir konnten alles Gepäck, was wir nicht brauchten, in unserem Hostel unterstellen. Am Morgen des ersten Tages unserer 5 Tages Wanderung sind wir als erstes mit dem Bus für 3 Stunden um 7.30Uhr in den Nationalpark gefahren, haben uns einen Wasserfall angeschaut bevor wir mit der Fähre über einen See gefahren sind zum Gasthaus ‚Lodge Paine Grande’, von wo aus unsere Wanderung startete. Am ersten Tag sind wir 4 Stunden zum Gletcher Grey gelaufen. Es ging erst ziemlich steil bergauf und dann ziemlich steil bergab. Die Wanderung war ganz schön anstrengend. Erst hatten wir vor noch 1 Stunde weiter zu laufen zu ‚Campamento Los Guardas’, wo man auf dem Gletscher laufen kann, aber wir waren alle zu müde und geschafft. Jeremy und Lucas hatten auf dem Weg zum Gletscher darüber spekuliert einen Eisberg zu reiten. Und als wir am Zeltplatz ‚Camping Grey’ ankamen und unser Zelt aufgestellt hatten, setzen die beiden ihren Plan in Wirklichkeit um… In Unterhosen gings in das eiskalte Gletscherwasser und auf einen Eisberg, der aussah, wie das Loch Ness Monster. Die beiden nutzen dann die letzten Sonnenstrahlen, um ein wenig aufzuwärmen. (sehr schönes Foto haha) In der ersten Nacht war es sehr kalt. Wir sind am nächsten Morgen gegen 9:30Uhr losgelaufen, den ganzen Weg wieder zurück (der erste Bogen vom W) zum ‚Lodge Paine Grande’ und dann noch 2 Stunden weiter zum nächsten Zeltplatz ‚Italiano’. Graeme ist eher losgelaufen, da er wesentlich schneller läuft. Die ersten 4 Stunden waren wieder anstrengend, aber die 2 extra Stunden waren relativ eben. Der Zeltplatz lag an einem Fluß und wir haben unser Zelt direkt am Fluß aufgestellt. Sehr schöne Location! Wir haben die gleichen Leute wieder getroffen, wie am Abend zuvor. Und so saßen wir in einer relative großen Runde zum Abendbrot. Aber sobald die Sonne untergegangen ist, ist für uns Schlafenszeit – kein Licht. Am 3. Tag haben wir unser Zelt stehen lassen und sind zwischen den beiden Bergen zu einem Aussichtspunkt gelaufen. Diesmal kam Jenn alleine mit uns mit, da Lucas sich nicht so gut fühlte. Er ist vorausgelaufen, um uns einen guten Zeltplatz zu sichern und um ein wenig zu schlafen. Wir sind den mittleren Strich des W hochgelaufen. Laut Karte waren es 2.5Stunden hoch und 1.5 Stunden runter. Wir brauchten 6 Stunden hin und zurück. Das war so ein flelsig, holprig und anstrengender Weg hoch und genauso runter. Jenn hat sich das Knie verletzt und ich habe mir meinen Knöcheln verstaucht und mein Knie tat weh vom Abstieg. Wieder am Zeltplatz angekommen, haben wir unser Zelt zusammengebaut und sind 2 Stunden zum nächsten Camp ‚Refugio Los Cuernos’ weiter gelaufen. Lucas wartete dort schon auf uns. Der Zeltplatz lag an einem See und hatte ein Gasthaus, indem wir uns ein ordentliches Abendessen gönnten mit unseren Wanderkollegen. Am 4. Tag stand die längste Wanderung vor uns. Wir sind an diesem Morgen eher aufgeweckt worden von Graeme, um den Sonnenaufgang zu fotographieren. Sah traumhaft aus. Was ich bisher noch nicht erwähnt habe, Graeme, Lucas und Jenn hatten Fotoapparate von der professionellen Sorte. Und alle 3 hatten den gleichen Fotoapparat, nur mit unterschiedlichen Linsen. Jeden Abend wurden Fotos verglichen. Und wir stellten fest, dass unsere so wesentlich kleinerer Fotoapparat genauso gute Fotos macht. Zum Teil sogar bessere Fotos, aber das lag mehr an: zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort. Wirklich vergleichen kann man die Qualität nicht wirklich, ihre Bilder sind wesentlich schärfer. Wir werden auch ein paar Fotos von ihnen reinstellen. Der Weg war anfänglich einfach zu laufen, aber dann nur bergauf, zwar allmählich aber über 4 Stunden. Wir sind insgesamt 7.5Stunden gelaufen und haben einen Höhenunterschied von 750m überwunden. Am höchsten Punkt angekommen, gings um den Berg drumherum und auf einem Pfad direkt an der Seite des Berges entlang. Das war der schönste Weg von der ganzen Wanderung. Lucas hat sich sein Knie auch verletzt auf diesem Weg. Der einzige der problemlos zu laufen schien, war Jeremy… Wir haben kurz an einem Gasthaus ‚Albergue Chileno’ halt gemacht und dann gings noch 1 Stunde weiter bergauf zum Zeltplatz ‚Campamento Torres’. Von da aus wollten wir am nächsten Morgen gegen 5:30Uhr 1 Stunde steil bergauf krackseln bis zur Spitze und uns von dort aus den Sonnenaufgang ansehen. Zum Abendbrot haben wir wieder die gleichen Leute getroffen. Und da es der letzte Abend war, haben fast alle Wein gekauft an der letzten Gaststätte. Und so haben wir mit Nudeln und Wein gefeiert. Am 5. Tag war es wirklich sehr schwer früh um 5:15Uhr aufzustehen, um wieder wandern zu gehen!!! Aber wir haben es geschafft und waren um 7 Uhr oben auf dem Berg. Und gerade als wir ankamen, fing es an zu nieseln und dann regnen. Wir hatten echt Glück mit dem Wetter, bis auf diesen Morgen. Erst Nieselregen, dann schwerer Regen. Aber als die Sonne wieder rauskam, entstand ein Regenbogen direkt über der Felskette. Einfach unbeschreiblich – sieh Foto!! Dannach gings zum letzten Teil unserer Wanderung. Zurück zur Gaststätte ‚Albergue Chileno’ und dann weiter bis ins Tal von wo uns der Bus abholen sollte. Die Wanderung war 4 Stunden hauptsächlich nur bergab. Wir waren alle Superglücklich als wir unten ankamen und diese 5 Tage extrem Wanderung überwunden hatten. Insgesamt sind wir 69km gelaufen. Wir haben herausgefunden, wieso der Nationalpark Torres del Paine heißt…. pain (englisch) = Schmerz (nicht wirklich :) ) Unsere Füße, Beine, Schultern und Rücken haben schwer gelitten. Editors Notiz: Sandra hat für diesen Abenteuer auch ein paar Wanderstöcke gekauft. Und ich bin sicher, dass sie zustimmt es ohne die Stöcke nicht geschafft zu haben. Ich erwarte jetzt eine Entschuldigung, dass sie meine Wanderstöcke ‚Opa-Stöcke’ genannt hat. Gegen 17Uhr waren wir wieder zurück in Puerto Natales, unter die Dusche gehüpft unsere stinkenden Klamotten in die Wäsche gegeben und zum Abendbrot haben wir uns mit unseren Wanderfreunden in einem Restaurant getroffen, Fotos ausgetauscht und sind dann totmüde ins warme Bett gefallen. Die 1cm dicke Campingmatraze ist doch nicht so gemütlich, wie ein Bett! Wir haben am nächsten Tag den 18Uhr Bus nach El Calafate genommen zusammen mit Lucas & Jenn. *************************************************************************** Puerto Natales, like so many other places here, is on the water and surrounded by mountains, in this case a smallish mountain range called Torres del Paine. Our plan was to do a multi day hike trip along the W-Trek, so called because it’s shaped like a ‘W’. We checked into our hostel and discovered that all of the furniture in the hostel was homemade wood furniture but not very high quality. Our bunk bed was a bit shaky and the ladder only half attached to the bed. Jeremy wasn’t able to fart without the bed shaking… :) We decided to spend an extra day in Puerto Natales to plan our trip carefully. We planned the trip together with our Navimag friends Jenn & Lucas (USA) and Graeme (New Zealand). We decided to do the W-Trek in 4 nights / 5 days. We hired a tent, poor examples of sleeping matts and cooking gear. We took only two sets of clothes. One set for us to wear and one warmer set for after the hike and to sleep in. We were all going to be a bit smelly at the end. We bought all the food for the entire hike too (2 minute noodles for breakfast; muslibars, nuts and chocolate for the day and ready made pasta dishes for dinner). The backpack was quite heavy in the end even though that we left most of our luggage at the hostel. Our bus left at 7:30am in the morning of the first day of our 5 day hiking trip. We arrived at the National Park 3 hours later, hiked up to a waterfall before taking a catamaran ferry across the lake to the point where our hike started. On the first day we hiked for 4hrs from ‘Lodge Paine Grande’ to ‘Camping Grey’. First it was quite steep up hill and then steep down hill. It was pretty exhausting. Originally we planned to hike an hour further to ‘Campamento Los Guardas’ where you can walk on the glacier but we were all too knackered. Jeremy and Lucas had talked about riding an ice berg on the way there and after we had put up the tents the crazy boys went in the freezing cold glacier water and jumped on one that looked like the Loch Ness monster. They used the last of the sun’s rays to warm themselves up afterwards. (very nice photo haha) The first night was very cold. We started hiking back to ‘Lodge Paine Grande’ at around 9:30am the next day and then continued on for another 2 hours to the next camp site ‘Italiano’. Graeme started walking way before us as he is an early riser and walked a lot faster too. The first 4 hours were really hard again but the 2 hours to ‘Italiano’ were quite flat and therefore a lot easier. The camp site was at a river and we put up our tent directly next to the water. Very nice spot! We met the same people again than the night before so we sat together for dinner. But as soon as the sun went down we all went to bed as we were exhausted and there was no light anyway. On the 3rd day we left our tent at the camp site and hiked up to a lookout in French Valley – the centre of the ‘W’. Jenn came with us on her own as Lucas didn’t feel so well. He walked ahead to save us a camp spot at the next camp site. The map told us it was a 2.5hr walk up the mountain and a 1.5hr walk back. It took us 6 hr return!! The way was so rocky and steep that we couldn’t walk any faster. In addition Jenn and I hurt our knees and I rolled my ankle. Once we were back at the campsite we packed up our tent and walked for another 2 hr across to campsite ‘Refugio Los Cuernos’. Lucas was already waiting for us. The campsite was located at a lake and had a refuge with hot showers and a three course dinner. The fourth day was our longest hiking day. Graeme woke us early to takes photos of the sunrise over the lake. It looked gorgeous. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that Graeme, Lucas and Jenn all have big professional cameras, each with several different lenses and a big tripod. Every evening we all compared photos and we established that our much smaller and cheaper point-and-shoot takes just as good photos – sometimes even better, but that was more a case of right place, right time. To be fair though, their photos are sharper with better colours – we’ll post some of them here too. The trail was easy to start with, but soon changed to uphill, that is say continuously uphill for four hours with a height gain of 750m!! Lucas also injured his knee on this section and discovered the benefits of Jeremy’s hiking sticks. It seemed the only one who didn’t have a problem walking was Jeremy! At the highest point, the trail wound along the side of a steep mountain high above the valley and river below. This was the most beautiful view of the trek. After a further 2 hours, we paused briefly at the ‘Albergue Chileno’ and then continued steeply uphill for a further 1 hour to our overnight stop ‘Campamento Torres’ – a total of 7.5 hours mostly uphill with full pack!! Again we met the same group of people for dinner and, since it was our last night, almost everyone had bought wine at the previous guesthouse. So it ended up being a wine and pasta party…until sundown of course! On the last day, the plan was to get up well before sunrise, hike for an hour, watch the sunrise on the Torres (towers) del Paine and enjoy the view while eating breakfast. The alarm rang at 5:15am and it was very difficult to crawl out of bed and put our dirty, stinky clothes on. But we managed it and, after scrambling up 45 degree inclines, we made to the lookout at 7am. And then the rain started, followed by the wind. However, the sun did manage to show itself briefly and produced a beautiful rainbow over the three towers. The photo is gorgeous but doesn’t really capture the freezing cold wind and rain! ;) We ended up having breakfast back at camp before packing up and starting back down to the valley where the bus would pick us up. This was a four hour hike, for the most part downhill – less strenuous but more painful on the knees than uphill. We were all extremely happy when we arrived at the bottom, and could take our shoes off, knowing the 5 day hike was behind us! In total, we hiked 69km. And we discovered while the national park is called Torres del Paine – “Towers of Pain”!!! Our feet and legs and shoulders and back were killing! Editor’s note: Sandra bought a pair of hiking sticks for this adventure and I’m sure she’ll agree that she would have struggled to complete the hike without them. I expect she will be issuing a formal apology to me shortly for calling mine grandpa sticks! We were back in Puerto Natales by 5pm, had a hot shower, burned our hiking clothes (not really – we just washed them!) and met with our hiking buddies for a proper meal and to exchange photos. Then it was straight to a comfortable bed, so much better than a 1cm thick sleeping mat!! The next day, we took it easy and caught a bus with Lucas and Jenn to El Calafate in Argentina at 6pm.

Dheishah, Palestinian Territories

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:16:49 GMT

Another food adventure happened when out of the blue I got a random call from Ahmed saying that we were going out. I walked out to meet him, only to be pushed into a small pick up truck, with plenty of space in the back for corpses. Without being told anything we headed out of the camp. I asked Ahmed where we were going, and he said bethlehem, just as we turned the opposite way. One of the guys in the van reminded me of the photo he had shown me a few days ago with him and some mates eating sheep's head, then pointed out that every one of them was present with me in the truck. After several stops and chats with random men, who I had the distinct feeling were discussing the best way to cook me, we arrived at what they claimed was a bakers. Inside there was the trappings of a baker's - a little bread and a large mixing device. What was also present was a huge oven, remiscent of a crematorium and certainly large enough for a person and a strange wooden crate of sawdust that smelled of apples. Amongst the sawdust were eggs, warm as if they were in an incubation chamber and I wondered if they were trying to breed dinosaurs. My thoughts flitted from the idea of them forcing me to eat sheep's head straight to cannibalism, and then, as we drove away, me still intact in the back, I was feeling relieved until the driver started careering around the road in a frenzied attempt to hit one of the ferral dogs. I sincerely hoped the space in the van was not for collecting road kill. Instead we ate the fresh bread (so they use the oven for at least a little non-meat food substance) and the eggs which turned out to be, er, just eggs, in front of a hilariously dubbed version of Gladiator. No sheep's head, no roadkill and no human. Maybe this was just a dry run to lull me into a false sense of security, I have no idea...

Bangkok, Thailand

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:54:58 GMT

After an amazing buffet breakfast at the Navalai we cheched out early and got a taxi to the Hotel where we would meet the group later that day. (we are starting the trip with a twenty night tour from Bangkok to Hanoi through Cambodia and Vietnam). After getting our room for the night we headed out to explore the nearby China town, after being directed by an old Thai man from Chiang Mai there on business, seemingly just enjoying talking with us and practicing his English. We stopped on the main street in China town to have Duck (like peking style) with rice, again, some of the best we'd ever had,

Pushkar, India

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:45:58 GMT

Hello from Pushkar, which is regarded as one of the holiest cities in Hinduism. We arrived here yesterday lunchtime following a horrific 5am start and a 5.5 hour train journey from Udaipur. I was sad to leave India's city of romance, which had a lovely relaxed vibe about it. An evening boat cruise was the final action of my time there, which awarded us incredible views of the sun setting over the mountains. But that very much marked the end of a chilled out two days. The 6.15am train from Pushkar was not remotely relaxing! Our seats were very uncomfortable and we were repeatedly pestered during the journey by begging children. Some of them boasted tambourines, though like most Indian musicians I've seen they had absolutely no musical talent. It seems anyone can be a musician in India. You just need a wailing voice, an instrument and the ability to beat the hell out of it! The train took us to the chaotic town of Ajmer, from where we caught cars over the Snake Mountain Pass here to Pushkar - a journey of just 11km. Pushkar is a very small city, with a permenant population of just 25,000. Taking into account the many tourists and Hindu pilgrims that figure is probably boosted a little bit, but the place has a small town feel. We pretty much covered it all on our one hour evening orientation walk, which we timed to escape the rising heat. The end of March in India is the start of the hot season, and in my 2 weeks here I've been able to feel the temperature changing. Today's high was in the region of 34C, but at least the heat is dry and not humid. The first thing that strikes you on a walk through Pushkar is just how many western hippies there are here! Apparently many of them are from Israel, but there's definitely some Australian, American and British hippies mixed in too. A lot of them appear to be permenant residents, but I suspect that a few years ago they were probably office workers in Tel Aviv or London or somewhere. It strikes me as a strange decision to move from the western world to India, and many of them appear to be very strange people. Years of drug abuse and lazing around appear to have taken their toll of some of the scruffy hippies, and you see many of them ranting to no one in particular in the street. This morning one middle aged lady in our cafe was screaming to herself about how she doesn't need the love of a human, and how she was very clean! Nobody paid any attention to her but I was slightly concerned to see she'd been given a very sharp knife to cut through her french toast - she really didn't look like the most stable of people! There also appear to be more beggars and disabled people in Pushkar than other cities we've visited. The two things go hand in hand in India as virtually no company will set on an invalid. I'm not sure if they come here hoping to take advantage of tourists and people trying to do good on their pilgrimmages, or whether they believe the waters of holy Lake Pushkar will help cure their ails. I suspect its a bit of both. Hindu's believe Pushkar Lake was created when Brahma (the Hindu creationist God) dropped a lotus leaf from the heavens, and bathing in its holy waters is the main reason the pilgrims flock. Unfortunately because of drought the large lake is all but empty, which makes for a very ugly sight. The pilgrims instead use bathing pools constructed by the ghats, which in Hindi means steps down to a lake. I find the Hindu mythological stories quite bizarre if I'm honest, and they remind me a lot of the Aboriginal dreamtime tales. However, what surprises me most about them is how the stories don't seem to have any moral purpose. For example one of the key stories linked to Pushkar is about the wedding of Brahma, which was apparently conducted here. Brahma was all set to marry a woman and was waiting at the alter only to find she never turned up. So on a whim he picked a woman from the crowd and married her instead. Brahma's initial fiance returned soon after and became infuriated. So in revenge she swore that Brahma would only be worshipped in Pushkar, and nowhere else on Earth. For that reason, Pushkar contains Hinduism's only temple devoted to Brahma, whereas temples devoted to Hinduism's other two main Gods (Vishnu and Shiva) can be found all across India. There is a story related to Shiva (the God which protects from evil) which is even more bizarre. Shiva and his wife had a child named Ganesh. However when Ganesh was born Shiva walked out on his family and went missing for a couple of decades. When he returned to try and locate his estranged wife he was confronted by his son, who blocked the path of a man he didn't recognise. Shiva, not recognising his son, in turn beheaded Ganesh to get past him. On discovering that he had beheaded his own child, a mortified Shiva picked up the head of the nearest animal he could find, which happened to be an elephant, and that is how Ganesh came to have an elephant's head. Many of the Hindu temples here are inaccessible to westerners, but I was permitted entry to the Brahma Temple - albeit once I'd left my camera outside. For the holiest temple in one of Hinduism's holiest cities, it was very disappointing. There wasn't much to it at all in terms of decoaration, and I left feeling very underwhelmed. From there I ascended a nearby hill (750ft from ground level) to reach Pushkar's second holiest site, the Sakitri Temple. By now it was about 11.30am and really starting to get hot, so it was unsurprising very few people were up there. The temple itself looked like a concrete shack and was very ugly both inside and out, but my walk was rewarded by stunning views over Pushkar and the surrounding desert. After descending the hill I then took a walk around the dry lake, which would look so much more beautiful if it had water in. As I approached the ghats to get down to the lake bed I had a rather ugly confrontation with a Hindu man, which I feel a bit guilty about. He tried to thrust a flower in my hand which he told me to give as an offering, but I shirked his advances. In Pushkar there are so many conmen trying to perform this same trick, and when you take the flower they insist you give them some money. We were told to avoid them. But this man got really, really angry when I wouldn't take the flower, and he wouldn't let me past. My only option was to accept it and see what would happen, but to my surprise he just thrust it in my hand and walked off immidiately. He wasn't after money at all, he was just a man trying to make sure I paid my respects to his religion. In order to pay your respects at the ghats you also have to remove your shoes. On the dusty lake bed this was not a problem, but on the stone paths and steps it very much was. Quite how all the Indians were comfortably walking about barefooted I don't know, as the stone was absolutely red hot. I had to sprint and I still felt like I burned my soles! Having seen all of Pushkar by about 1pm I've had the afternoon to relax by the neighouring hotels pool, and now use the internet. British Airways announced their flight schedule for the opening period of strikes yesterday, so I was eager to look at that. All but one London-Delhi flight has been cancelled, but the four Delhi-London flights over the weekend are not. I fly on a Sunday, which will again be the second day of the strikes, so I could see this as a good omen. However the Monday Delhi-London flights are cancelled, and there will be so much disruption in the week between the strikes I'd be surprised if they were able to implement the same schedule. I will find out on March 22nd at the earliest whether I can come home, which leaves me with an uncomfortably long wait in the meantime. I just want to find out so I can enjoy the rest of my trip - this is really pre-occupying me. Tomorrow morning at 8am we are departing Pushkar and heading to Rajasthan's capital Jaipur by means of a 4 hour bus. Lets hope this bus doesn't meet the same fate as another Rajasthani coach filled with school children, which 2 days ago plunged off a bridge, killing 26. Having experienced Indian roads I can well imagine this happening, so lets hope I make it alive!

Siem Reap, Cambodia, Cambodia

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:38:01 GMT

Hi everyone, We have arrived safely in Siem Reap, and we realy like it here already. Bus journey up wasnt too bad and we got tuktuk to our guesthouse which is really nice. We have booked onto a cookery course tomorrow, then we will do some last minute shopping in the afternoon, think we will got to Angkor Wat on Thursday. Phnom Penh was good, we went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda where we met a nice girl from New Zealand. We spent the morning with her then we all had some lunch before visiting a museum. Really liking Cambodia, trying to pack as much into my last week as i can, see you very soon xxx

Hotel Ranga, Iceland

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:15:25 GMT

I have arrived in Iceland, and its raining!! Typical really! The hotel is nice if not a little remote, but its a good excuse to chill and just enjoy a couple of days before all the big trips start! Iceland seems really empty, the towns appear built up, but the countryside is bare!! From the hotel I can see a river, a road with a few cars and that is about it! But the rooms are nice, the food is good so I should be happy for a couple of days!! I am going to write postcards today and sort out the odd bits I have to do. I am already getting used to american people as i am surrounded by them, there are a few English guests but nothing in comparison!

Adelaide, South Australia

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:02:05 GMT

6.3 , 7.3, 8.3 SORRENTO Mit einer kleinen Verspätung und einer Packung Hangover im Gepäck fuhren wir endlich am Samstag mit Debbie nach Sorrento. Alles was wir wussten war: Es gibt ein Ferienhaus, Sorrento liegt am Meer und es liegt ca 2 stunden entfernt von Melbourne. Nach den besagten 2 stunden Fahrt kamen wir endlich in Sorrento an, einem wirklich kleinen Ferienort, wo wir schon neugierig von Debbies Bruder und seiner Frau erwartet wurden. Da es schon dunkel war und vor Ort nicht mehr viel zu sehen, gabs den ersten Abend Pizza in einem kleinen italienischen Restaurant. Diesen Tag wollten wir die Umgebung erkunden und haben den back beach endteckt und dort den Vormittag verbracht. Am Abend waren wir in einem Chinesischen Restaurant essen und anschließend im Kino (Alice in Wonderland). Dieser, kleine Ferienort ist ja sehr nett und bestimmt super für Famielienurlaube, aber für unseren Geschmack dann schon fast zu gemütlich und entspannend. Mit Sehnsucht nach Abenteuer und der Autoübergabe, fuhren wir dann Montag abend wieder nach Melbourne. AUTOKAUF & ABFAHRT IN MELBOURNE Vereinbart war anfangs wir bekommen das heiß ersehnte Auto am Dienstag, aus Dienstag wurde Mittwoch (wir waren nicht sehr verwundert) aus Mittwoch wurde Donnerstag und dann am Freitag konnten wir auch losfahren. Wir trafen Freddie (den Autohändler) donnertags in Melbourne und fuhren mit ihm zum Ummelden. Erstes Problem: permanente Wohnadresse in Australien. Da aber Freddie uns schon eine Autofahrt lang kannte, schrieb er seine auf den Zettel. Auto war somit unseres. Der nächste Weg führte in eine Werkstatt um die AC aufzufüllen (warum man das auch immer machen muss, war mir sehr neu??!). Dann brachte uns das Auto auch noch zu Freddies eigentlichen Arbeitsplatz und wir fuhren alleine weiter Richtung heimwärts, als plötztlich Anja Rauch aus der Lüftung kommen sah. (Anja:„ Ist das Rauch oder Nebel?" Michi: „nein, nein das is kein Rauch") Nach ein paar Minuten war es dann doch eindeutig Rauch (Gestank). Das Problem erkannt (Keilriemen - gerissen) kam Freddie und brachte neue (aber gebrauchte neue) und am nächsten Tag bekamen wir dann die ganz neuen, was sehr gut war, denn zuhause angekommen stellte sich heraus dass auch die Lichtmaschine ihren Geist aufgegeben hat. Alles neu und wir konnten am Freitag Vormittag loslegene und Melbourne (endlich) verlassen. Voll bepackt gings auf den Freeway Richtung Torquay. Das war uns noch nicht weit genug weg und somit fuhren wir weiter nach Apollo Bay. Dieser Weg führt über die Atemberaubende Great Ocean Road!!!! Einfach cool dort entlang zu fahreb... Dort angekommen wurde zum ersten Mal das Zelt ausgepackt und in Rekord Zeit aufgestellt. Noch schnell gekocht und ein Bier im Ort genossen und ziemlich müde früh ins Bett gefallen. Nachts um 2 wurden wir dann von unsren lieben Nachbarn (zuvor im Ort getroffen) mit einem nette Ständchen geweckt. Die Great Ocean Road führt an den Zwölf Aposteln vorbei. Ein kurzer Stopp dort und ein paar Steine im Wasser gesehen machten wir noch einen Spatziergang entlang den Wegen die zur Küste und den unendlich vielen Lookouts führen. Die nächste Übernachtung war dann in einem Hostel (für uns aber im Auto am Parkplatz) in Warnambol. Ein nettes kleines Hostel, ein paar Bier und schon haben wir zwei Mädchen (aus Englang) kennen gelernt die uns bis Adelaide begleiten wollen. Gut für uns, da wir uns das Benzin teilen können und zu viert macht Rommy mehr Spaß! Am nächsten Tag (Sonntag) war 10 Uhr Abfahrt. Da wir die Strecke nach Adelaide ein bisschein unterschätzt haben, legten wir noch einen nicht geplanten Stopp in Mt Gambier ein. Das war schlussendlich eine sehr gute Idee, da es dort Vulkane zu besichtigen gab. Den Abend am Campingplatz ließen wir gemütlich ausklingen um am nächsten Tag die Vulkane (mit Wasser gefüllt) zu sehen. Am Vormittag machten wir eine Wanderung und verließen Mt Gambier zu Mittag um die 444km Strecke nach Adelaide noch hinter uns zu bringen. Nun sind wir in Adelaide! (15.03.)...

Mission Beach, Queensland

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:01:02 GMT

Had very little to say about Townsville other than it was a scene from 28 days later an apocalyptic movie, expecting half dead zombies to be the only people we would see! At first we thought the city had been evacuated as despite it being a Saturday everywhere was shut and no-one was to be seen! The only place open was Subway and the cinema! So we came halfway around the world for a foot long and Alice in Wonderland in 3D! We are now in Mission Beach, 2 hours south of Cairns. It's truly becoming a tropical wonderland where every insect appears as if seen under a magnifying glass; it's very much like the lost world (the novel not the sequel to Jurrasic Park!) On arriving at the hostel which is like a treehouse amongst the jungle we were immediately greeted by the rare and endangered largest moth in the world, the Hercules moth measuring 27cm in diameter, we thought it was a model and had to ask the receptionist if she was joking! Despite having a double room as usual we have many six legged room mates of gigantic proportions! On our 1st day we attempted a walk on a bush trail, however after wiping the 5th spider web out of our faces we decided it was too much like Indiana Jones so on our retreat we acquired a stick and swashbuckled our way back through contending with apple sized spiders as though they were Captain Black Beard. We thought we'd wind down from this adventure with a leisurely stroll along the palm tree lined beach only to find we were surrounded by a crocodile inhabited creek (which grow up to 5 metres in length!) We finally retreated to the sanctuary of a supermarket for the next 2 hours! The most dangerous thing in there was raw chicken!

Sydney Again, New South Wales

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:45:20 GMT

12.3 ja ich bin wieder back in Sydney und das wetter wie kann es anders sein SUPI... nachdem ich gegen 10.30 in sydney gelandet bin und meine sachen ins Hotel gebracht hatte, gab es keine ruhige Minute fuer mich. zuerst in den Botanischen Garten (und vor freude den boden von opernhaus gekuesst xD) und dort hab ich mich mit Lara getroffen, die ich bereits aus nz kannte und die extra hier gewartet hat lol nach 3 stunden war es auch schon wieder aus das treffen, denn lara musste sachen packen und dann ab gen norden, aber naja da der abend ja lang ist bin ich kurzerhand nach kings cross zu meiner vorruebergehenden mitreisenden franzoesin und wir haben zusammen den abend verbracht. 13.3 heute ging es in die Blue maountains nach katoomba... auf einen neuen versuch und diesmal hats geklappt, es war super schoenes wetter gewesen und wir haben einen riesen grossen marsch hingelegt... 1mal durch ganz katoomba, dann zu den 3 sisters und dann noch die katoomba wasserfaelle und wieder zurueck. (sahgen wir 1835 stufen und knap 10 kilometer durch berge)...am abend haben wa dann nach unserer pasta (kann schon keine mehr sehen) noch fun beim billard und tischfussball gehabt. nach dem stand von 3:1 fuer frankreich gegen deutschland gings dann ins bett. 14.3 heute stand nur der besuch bei meiner verwandschaft in springwood auf dem plan, aber bevor es soweit war, haben wir noch ein wenig in katoomba abgehangen und dann noch einem blues und jazzfestival gelauscht... am fruehen nachmittag gings dann mitm bus nach springwood wo zuerstmal mit nem kuehlen bierchen angestossen wurde, am abend noch barbecue alle zusammen und dann ab ins bettchen 15.3 heute war ein langer tag. ich bin schon um 6.30 augestanden und das an meinem geburtstag,, aber was tut man nicht alles um glueckwuensche entgegenzunehmen und wenn man dann noch ein geburtstagsstaendchen von ner knapp 3 jaehrigen bekommt, dann ist das doch toll. nach dem fruehstueck gings dann acuh schon wieder weiter nach sydney wo ich mir dann noch ein wenig die beine vertreten habe, bis ich dann abends zu meiner anderen verwandschaft zum geburtstagsbarbecue gefahren bin..... 16.3 heute erstmal ausgeschlafen und schoen gefruehstueckt. danach mein konto geschlossen und das restliche geld noch entgegen genommen... dann gings mit dem free shuttle bus nochmal ne runde durch die stadt und dann richtung botanischen garten zum Mc Quaries chair... dort haben wir uns dann ein wenig gesonnt, aber was will man auch anderes machen bei sonnigen 30 grad....am abend dann wieder zureuck ins Hotel und schonmal meine sachen gepackt, denn dafuer werd ich die naechsten beiden Tage die uebrigens meine letzten tage hier sein werden nicht die zeit dafuer haben, aber dazu dann am donnerstag mehr... Ich verrate nur soviel es sollen 35 grad werden und es wird mit strand und baden zuu tuen haben

Arusha, Tanzania

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:34:27 GMT

It's really lovely out here, very very hot!!! Had my first day at the hospital today, on the Obs and Gynae ward - it was gross!! Women are giving birth out here with nothing, no pain relief, no blankets on the bed, and some even have to share a bed when they have a rush on! And you cannot believe how crazy they are with infection control, they use sterile gloves for cleaning the ward and don't swap gloves when checking dialation or anything! I was so shocked, but i suppose they have no choice - they literally have no money, and no equipment. In surgery they dont even have anaesthetics - they do amputations with the patient only on Ketamine!! Then they throw the removed leg, whole into a bin!! Ewww. Its a totally different life and makes me feel incredibly lucky to be british and very proud of the NHS!! The women are all so quiet the entire time too, you wouldnt think they were in labour, puts the British to real shame. It is such a culture shock! I gave the Hunger Lunch Donation to the Chief Staff today - they were totally thrilled, because although its not much to us, it makes a huge, huge difference to them! So thanks to all that made donations - or Tafadali as they would say in swahili! Had my first Swahili lesson yesterday, it was awesome! Amazing to be learning a language again. It is surprisingly easy to pick up, because everything is the phonetic english. But i dont think i'll ever be quite as fluent as the locals. But its useful to have some words when introducing yourself and on the wards. Everyone is very patient with us english folk and ou inability to pronounce the words correctly. Aiming to go to the orphanage on friday, see the children - which will be a great experience!! Then fingers crossed Zanzibar trip this weekend. Kwehilli (Goodbye) Linz xxx

Nadi, Fiji

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:20:07 GMT

BULA! flitigt använd hälsningsfras av fijianerna, funkar typ för allt..."hej -bula", hejdå-bula", "smackade det bra?-bula" "hur är det?-bula" Just nu sitter vi på flygplatsen på huvudön och är tacksamma för att vi inte befinner oss på öarna utanför huvudöns östkust. Mr Tomas the Cyklon är nämligen där och härjar, på väg att avta dock tror dem. Ställt till det riktigt ordentligt för invånarna på dessa områdena. Många platser har evakuerats och hus förstörts, de har ju dock inte världens stabilaste hus ute på de mindre öarna. Fiji är litet men som tur är så har inte vår sida drabbats speciellt mycket, mest vind och en del regn under de senaste två dagarna. Tyvärr har det dock lett till att flygen härifrån antingen ställts in eller blivit försenade. Vårt plan är just nu 6 timmar försenat, vilket suger. De senaste två dagarna har vi spenderat med att titta på senaste nytt om cyklonen. Stämmningen har inte varit på topp precis, massor av turister som suttit och väntat på sina plan som blivit försenade, försenade och försenade..."A national disaster" förklarade regeringen i landet det som. Massor av frågor man velat få svar på." När kommer den? Kommer den hit där vi befinner oss?" De som jobbade på hotellet verkade inte precis ha koll..."den kommer imorgon, den kommer ikväll, den kommer på tisdag???" Hjälpte inte direkt så ville man få reda på något gällde det att hänga med och uppdatera sig själv, checka in lite fijitv. Men vår fijivistelse har inte bara varit "A national disaster". De första 4 dagarna var ljuvliga med härlig värme och blå himmel. Tog oss ut till några riktiga söderhavsöar med en segelbåt..my god! Så himla fint! Kritvita stränder och havet lika blått som himmeln. We liked! Besökte exempelvis ön där man spelade in "Cast away" kanske den sämsta filmen någonsin enligt kicki, 3 timmar enbart Tom Hanks..inte bra. Men fint var där i alla fall, och ingen Tompa syntes till. Snorklade, solade och njöt. På segelbåten var det "all inclusive" både när det gällde mat och dryck :) även livemusik av den fijianska besättningen ;) Besökte även en fijiansk by mitt ute i ingenstans på en ö. Här fick vi delta i en välkommnstcermoni där "hövdingen" delade ut kava (nationaldryck) till två utsedda ledare för besökargruppen. Därefter följer lite ritualer...med klapp och BULA skrik innan vi var välkommna till deras by, spännande Passade även på att ta lokalbussen in till "stan". Lokalbussen var en mycket mycket gammal VOLVObuss med TD (tvärdrag) inga fönster, och en lina att dra i kopplad till en cykelringklocka när man ville av. Bussen var full när vi steg på..men fijianerna klämde snällt ihop sig och gav oss plats. Bilden av oss två som enda blonda, blåögda inklämmda mellan fijianerna (mörka, stora med afrohår) måste ha varit rolig. Kände oss aningen missanpassade men njöt av trippen för fulla muggar när vi skumpade fram mot "stan". Så tills*** efter en ganska lyckad tur till Fiji är det nu 5 timmar tills vi åker till U SSSSS A, om inte Mr Tomas försenar den ytterligare...den jäveln.

Melbourne, Victoria

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:48:34 GMT

Cairo, Egypt

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:44:45 GMT

As Salaam alakum! Langt sidan vid bloggudum sidast en allt adstaedum ad kenna. Thailand baud okkur upp a soralelegt en randyrt net sem vid gatum ekki saett okkur vid. Akvadum thvi ad koma bara med laaaangt blogg i stadinn thegar vid vaerum komnar til Afriku. Erum sem sagt, i thessum ritudum ordum, staddar i Cairo. En fra thvi sidast: Tokum sem se lestina fra Sapa og maettum til Hanoi mjog seint um nott eda eldsnemma morguns, eftir thvi hvernig a malid er litid, og tokum taxa uppa gamla goda hostelid okkar thar sem tesettin bidu eftir okkur (nenntum engan veginn ad drusla theim med okkur nordur i land og akvadum ad taka sensinn a ad theim yrdi ekki stolid, og ekki eins og stuldur a theim vaeri heimsendir hvort sem er). Eyddum deginum i letirolt um Hanoi (yndislegur baer) og ohoflega iskaffidrykkju. Skelltum okkur svo a storkostlega fancy hotel rett hja okkur og hittum fraenda Sillu, Erling, sem hafdi akvedid ad djoina okkur i nokkra daga baedi i vietnam og thailandi:) Settumst a hotelbarinn medan vid bidum eftir honum og fengum hjartaafall thegar vid saum verdskrana (Verdum niskari med hverjum deginum). Pontudum okkur odyrasta bjorinn og sotrudum hann a minushrada (meira ad segja ovenju haegt fyrir Sillu, naestum ogerlegt fyrir Heidu) med thad i huga ad thurfa ekki ad kaupa neitt meir. Um leid og Erlingur kom, haekkadi hann luxusstandardinn allsvakalega eftir um thad bil 5 minutna veru a stadnum og baud okkur a hrikalega flott sjavarrettahladbord (sem hotelid hans baud uppa, hefdi vaentanlega lidid yfir okkur ef vid hefdum sed thad verd). Daginn eftir tokum vid annan naes roltidag i solinni, bordudum a markadnum, drukkum kaffi her og thar og keyptum nokkra mynjagripi. Pontudum okkur ferd til Halong Bay sem lofadi mjog godu og gerdum tilraun til ad fara tiltolulega snemma ad sofa til ad vera hress i ferdina. Thad mistokst og daginn eftir voru allir threyttir og oferskir en spenntir fyrir Halong Bay. Vorum sott a hotelid okkar og settumst aftast i minirutuna, anaegd med hversu fair voru i rutunni og dreifdum vel ur okkur. Vorum minna hrifin thegar vid eyddum naesta halftima i ad runta um baeinn ad saekja endalaust af folki og filingurinn var meira eins og ad vera i sardinudos en rutu thegar allir voru komnir. Innifalid i dagsferdarverdinu var velenskumaelandi og 'enthusiastic' leidsogumadur. Sa madur kynnti sig sem Van eda Only (ekki viss) og var verr en illskiljanlegur (hence kayak/pancake). Med herkjum gatum vid skilid nokkurn veginn thad sem hann sagdi (giskudum a mikid) og komumst ad thvi ad vid attum ekki ad koma til Hanoi aftur fyrr en 9 um kvoldid en hotelkonurnar hofdu tilkynnt okkur ad heimkoma yrdi um 6/7 leytid. Thetta var ekki alveg ad henta okkur thvi vid vorum buin ad plana annad um kvoldid svo ad Erlingur sagdi nokkur vel valin ord vid Van/Only sem skildi ekki margt en nadi toninum (og augnaradinu) var eftir thetta samtal i thvi ad hrada ferdinni medan hann horfdi taugaveikladur a Erling. Eftir langa rutuferd komum vid loksins ad Halong Bay thar sem beid okkar batur. Vorum dalitid oheppin med vedur, slaemt skyggni en thad sem vid saum var engu ad sidur mjog flott. Van/Only vard hins vegar minna flottur med hverri sekundunni. Taladi linnulaust, mest af thvi gjorsamlega oskiljanlegt og neyddi mann stodugt til ad koma hingad og thangad og gona a eitthvad sem madur vissi ekki hvad var. Hadegismaturinn var heldur ekki serlega flottur en tho fannst okkur hann nokkud betri en aumingja Faxa sem sat hinum megin vid bordid og atti greinilega erfitt med ad gubba ekki yfir allan matinn. Svo var komid ad kayakferd. Silla og Heida asamt Van/Only og Faxa vorum thau einu sem treystu ser i soleidis og thad var actually mjog gaman. Vid vorum svakalega professional, eins og vid hefdum aldrei gert annad (fyrir utan sma misskilning thegar vid klesstum a staersta fjallid a svaedinu. 'Heppilega' nadist thad a vidjo)! Naest a dagskra var hellaskodun. Forum upp margar troppur til ad komast i hellinn og thegar thangad var komid fekk madur halfgerdan aulahroll. Hellirinn sjalfur mjog flottur en buid ad setja marglitud diskoljos inni hann, bua til augu a stein sem liktist dreka og fleira 'inauthentic'. Van/Only var heldur ekki ad gera sig, i stad thess ad segja okkur merkilegar stadreyndir um hellinn benti hann hingad og thangad og sagdi okkur ad sja alls konar 'misabsurd' hluti. Best var thegar hann benti a stad i lofti hellsins sem myndadi pinkulitid N og sagdi ad tharna vaeru augljoslega romio&juliet a ferdinni. Heyrdum svo leidsogumann naesta hops benda a sama stad og segja ad tharna vaeri augljoslega jesus a krossinum maettur. Svo slaemt ad thad var eiginlega gott. Eftir kalt augnarad fra Erlingi thordi Van/Only ekki odru en ad hrada okkur ollum upp i bat og eftir thad upp i rutu thar sem adalskemmtiatridid var Faxi og 27, svo ekki se minnst a Heidu spaejo! Daginn eftir tokum vid flug til Bangkok (eftir ad hafa loks athugad hvort tesettin vaeru enn a stadnum, sem thau 'til allrar hamingu' voru) en Erlingur for til Laos. Vid saum fram a ad na ekki ad sja laos nema halfan dag (timinn lidur alltof hratt!!) eda svo vid akvadum ad geyma thad til betri tima og forum beint til bangkok. Eyddum fyrsta deginum i Bangkok i ad rolta um stadinn og nanast deyja vegna hita og raka. Svitnudum vid thad ad vera til. Skelltum okkur svo a naeturmarkad um kvoldid thar sem okkur var bodid uppa 'pingpongshow' og 'smokingsuperpussyshow' thegar vid bentum soramonnunum a ad vid, 2 konur, vaerum kannski ekki alveg markadshopurinn aestu mennirnir sig mikid og aeptu 'lookylookylooky!' Greinilega thottum vid frekar fordomafullar ad daema thessi 'show' an thess ad vera alla vega bunar ad kikja. Settumst a bar (einn af faum sem baud ekki uppa 'superp**** eda 'pussycollection') og skemmtum okkur vid ad giska a hvada konur vaeru 'actually' konur og hverjar vaeru 'ladyboys' Daginn eftir vorum vid bunar ad boka 'mega'dagsferd hja hotelinu. Byrjudum a ad kikja a 'floating market' sem var bara fint og gott mal ef ekki heldur heitt og rakt. Forum svo a 'filathemeshow' eda eitthvad alika og hossudumst um a fil sem labbadi hring um svaedid. Naest var komid ad enntha lagkurulegri 'filathemeshowi' i dyragardi thar sem filarnir voru latnir gera margt theim onatturulegt eins og ad spila fotbolta (buid ad krita nofn fraegra fotboltamanna a ennid a theim:() Skelfilegt ad sja thetta! En vid virtumst vera einu 2 sem ekki gleyptum vid thessu thvi hinir ahorfendurnir aeptu og flautudu af gledi. Akvadum ad sleppa 'crocodilewrestlingshowinu' thvi gatum ekki meiri dyramisnotkun og eyddum halftima i ad gefa filunum ad borda i stadinn. Svo var komid ad tofrasyningu sem var toppur ferdarinnar (engin dyr latin gera asnalega hluti). Toframadurinn var tannlaus thaelensk utgafa ad Richard Gere og honum til halds og traust var afskaplega lettklaeddur 'ladyboy' en syningin var bara alls ekki svo slaem. Dagurinn i heild var hins vegar ekki til ad hropa hurra fyrir og alls ekki peningana virdi. Kvoldid eftir hittum vid Erling aftur sem lofsamadi Laos svo mikid ad vid erum strax farnar ad skipuleggja naestu ferd. Aftur for luxusstatusinn mikid upp vid komu hans og vid smokkudum besta sushi sem vid hofum fengid thad kvold. Luxusinn helt afram neasta dag, Erlingur laug thvi ad vid tvaer vaerum a odru luxushoteli (hostelid okkar vaentanlega med negativa stjornugjof) og fekk thad i gegn ad vid fengjum adgang ad sundlauginni a hotelinu hans (4 seasons!!) Eyddum thvi nokkrum klukkutimum i ad sola okkur vid sundlaugarbakkann og thykjast vera rikar og ofdekradar. Forum svo i verslunarleidangur og endudum a ad sja 2 myndir i bio, badar i 3d - Lisa i Undralandi og Avatar - badar frabaerar! Afskaplega latur og thaeginlegur dagur. Maettum svo aftur daginn eftir a sundlaugarbakkann goda (madur venst audveldlega sona luxus) og eyddum morgninum thar. Svo kvaddi Erlingur, friid buid og Khost (af ollum stodum) beid. Vid hins vegar skelltum okkur med tesettin godu a posthusid, maettum thangad um 2 leytid bara til ad sja ad posthusid hafdi lokad fyrir halftima. Eftir ad hafa thurrkad burt svitann og tarin forum vid a hostelid okkar og gratbadum mottokumanninn um ad finna leid til ad koma tesettunum heim. Hann sem betur fer vissi af stad sem haegt var ad senda thau og eftir langa og stranga leit (sem 'involvadi' megn starfsfolks 'mollsins') fundum vid posthusid og postkonan sendi tesettin heim ordalaust! HALLELUJAH!!! Ef thau komast i heilulagi heim verdur teparty hverja helgi :) Tokum svo flug um kvoldid til Cairo og hingad til erum vid bunar ad skoda 'Khan el Khalili' (islamskur markadur her) og rolta um midbaeinn. I dag aetlum vid ad skella okkur a Egypstka safnid sigla sma a Nil (vonandi) og a morgun kikjum vid a pyramidana:) Latum heyra i okkur fljotlega aftur Knusknus S&H

Melbourne, Victoria

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:07:39 GMT

So since i last updated.... went to a gig. so good. really enjoyed it. just a few local bands. 4 bands for 5 dollars!!! thats 2 pounds 50!! beers were like 4 quid though. not so cool. next day went to the beach. got quite burnt. good times! it has turned to tan now though but i burnt the underside of my nose. not fun. we then headed into town with out bags to our friends place who we met in bali. her place is right in the centre. southbank near the arts centre in the cbd. next to the tallest building in melbourne. awesome place. such a safe girl! she had to work so didnt see her much but goin gback on thursday to stay with her again!!. played monopoly. habvent played in years! pretty wierd with everyones different rules they play though! that night madeline went to work so we chilled then went to an aussie rules game! pretty wierd how i used to play it at grittleton house school! out of all the sports they chose aussie rules... pretty random. but cool! any way. it was st kilda, who we supported, against the western bulldogs. really good fun but st kilda lost!! not as brutal as a rugby game though but still a good game to watch!! next we went to meet up with this girl called steph who we met in bali but she bailed so we ended up going to the casino. lost fifteen dollars. so annoying. didnt even win once at roullette!!! eurgh. charlie won then lost but at least he knew how it felt to win!!! next day headed out. went to the i max but was fiull so we walked arpound the natural history museum. really cooll but the bit about the aboriginies was quite sad. we pretty much raped them and their country. hmmm. not cool. after we went and bought some nesquik. we miss it!! so good. then we headed home and walked down to the river side. nice piece of development. everything in melbourne is so new! so clean. watched some street performers which was a good laugh! very amusing. went back. ate dinner with madeline and played monopoly and cards etc. a good laugh. such a safe girl!! next day woke up early to go on the great ocean road tour. whistle stop tour! bombing it down the road. saw bells beach. the main surf beach of australia. saw the great ocean road sign. saw koala bears in koala bear cove. nice fish and chips lunch. then walk in the rain forest. such diverse landscapes. the vegetation changes every so often. rain forest, pine woods, bush. very interesting. we then saw the twelve apostles. one of the seven wonders of the world! amazing views. some had collapsed to become stumps but the rest were stacks. then we went to a bay where there had been a ship wreck in the 1800's. cool bay. went into a cave and mucked about for a while! then we went for more view points. the ocean road has some of the most amazing views and cliffs ever! insane. the got some ofod. then a 2 hour drive where the kangaroos kept jumping in the road. very quaint hostel. few cool people in the group. headed to bed. was an incredible day! next day we woke up early and ate some cereal for breakfast. nice having cereal again. rice krispies but called rice bubbles. tasty. then headed to some view points and some rock formations. amazing. first we headed to see a water fall which was pretty cool. it was early so pretty cold so was still wearing a hoodie but was such a nice waterfall and we got some good photos. we were in the grampians which is an area shaped by volcanic movements pushing up river sediment millions of years ago. so there are some amazing views and crazy rock formations such as the jaw of death which your not allowed to go on but we sneaked over the barrier and stood right on the edge. amazing photos. AMAZING VIEW!!! we also saw kangaroos. this place is needed to be seen to be believed. some of the best views i have ever witnessed. breath taking! we had some amazing photos! i dont know why but i'm loving aus. just loving it!!! the area where we travelled today was just beautiful and the towns were cool as well! proper out back. so dry but feels really authentic with cockatoos flying around cawing! next we headed to a vine yard for a free wine tasting session! had some really nice shiraz anmd some nice port that for some reason smelt and tasted like my parents strawberry jam... not a bad thing!!! in the toilets of the vine yard we saw a red back spider. really dangerous. very cool. there are lots of dangerous things in aus but if i get bitten i get bitten. nothing i can do! obviously check toilet seats and beds and shoes etc but no need to fret. then we headed back to melbourne. all in all a sweet ass trip. the photos will how amazing some of the views were. crazy. i love australia!

Napier, New Zealand

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:23:31 GMT

New Zealand, Ok it wasnt on the immediate agenda but it seemed a shame to leave it out when we were so close. The weather gets a lot colder here in the autum/winter so we thought best to come now and enjoy it whilst it is warm. We got cold enough in sunny california to remember how cold it can be. The plan to see NZ in 3 weeks, easy we thought!!!!!! The Magic bus was doing a deal where you paid for the north island pass and got the south island pass or free, ans as you all know I do like a bargain...... So as this is a bit belated I will run through what we have done and where- Auckland – Not much we go back here 2 days before we fly out planning to see a winery and go to whaihiki Island Rotorua – Went to Tamaki Village and Adam was asked to be the chief of the bus, got to the village and adam had to stand in front of 200 people and lead us in whilst the mauri chief dod a war dance to his face.... all good though and we had the best lamb ever. Waitoma – We saw glow worms here went on a walk and boat tour to see them, no pictures from camera but I have a postcard with them on. Taupo – This is where we did our skydives 15,000ft the highest in the world available commercially without instructor training, OMG very scary but good. Have the dvd so you can RELIVE THE FEAR WITH US...... Wellington – Good shopping, saw the notorious water buckets and really liked it here.... Caught ferry to Picton and then on to Nelson – We walked to the centre of NZ it was one long walk up hill, should be used to walking by now... Greymouth – Not much here great hostel, first bath, lol and we went on a brewery tour, lots of freebies and let’s just say we was very merry and had a good meal. Oh and lets no forget the singstar in the pub... Franz Josef – Nice place nice and warm, we did a half day hike up the glacier and it was a lot scarier than I thought, we had to put crampons on our hiking boots and off we went.... there were rocks falling by the side of where we were walking. Our guide was like the ultimate action girl she had a ice axe and cut away where we would walk very cool and one to remember scarier than sky diving at times. Wanaka – was really nice here as well, the bus driver who is a absolute legend dared someone on the bus to jump of the pier into the lake with the least amount of clothes on, well Adam won jumping in with his pants on.... The prize a teapot full of cocktail (long island iced tea) at Queenstown. Queenstown – Is a really cool place, near the lake and ski resorts got a really chilled out atmosphere. Its the size of Bury St Edmunds so not too big, liked it here probably most expensive here than anywhere elsewhere as its got everything that you would want . Stayed in a dorm room and had snorers and people having sex in the room so not great sleep for 2 days but we survived to tell the tale, the first and hopefully the last time that happens to us....Also went to Milford Sound 12 hr bus trip but the weather was bad so a bit of a waste of time... cant win them all... Dunedin – Didn’t really like it here, but hostel had a pool club underneath so you could play pool for 1 hr for £4 which was cool. We met this german guy called Mario and we got some films to watch which will keep us occupied. He was a really funny guy and kept us laughing with his little stories. Lake Tekapo – Beautiful lake front hostel, we planned to have a BBQ and of course I helped out with the food and everyone was fed well and had a good time lots of beer and steak. We got a fire in the lounge roaring and we went in the forest to collect some fir cones and some dry fire wood. Christchurch – next stop, we leave some friends behind and carry on with our journeys back to Auckland. At the moment we are watching Grease on the bus.... good times. Richie our legend bus driver is like Danny Zucko. ha ha ha Kaikora - went fishing caught sea perch and lobster. Ate like Kings :-) New Zealand People are friendly, hostels are better than oz and its cheaper. Bus Driver=Legend Scenery is stunning Gives you all an idea, will update in a few days I promise xx The Rawlings