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Chivay, Peru

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Dear avid readers, Day 6 Tom here, trying my hand at blogging, I´ve been set the task of filling you in on what happened when we went to Chivay. However, I was ill for the majority of the trip and didn´t leave the room a great deal so I´m relying on photographic evidence and Sarahs descriptions, which I´m sure you´re aware are enough to make you feel like you were there anyway. So we got on a little bus which had furry shagpile like seats and travelled over a mountain pass to Chivay. On the way we reached 5000m approx, which is not to be laughed at. Splitting headaches and a mouth that felt like cotton and suddenly this particular "holiday" felt somewhat less relaxing than previous days. When we arrived however, we were greeted by the pet Llama or alpaca. I don´t know which and I´m not sure any european could tell you the difference. It spits. End of. Found the rooms were delightful with fantastic rafters etc. (please note Dad) however, a little on the chili side. I was then struck down by what I was convinced was swine flu but Sarah wasn´t having any of it and said it was the far more potent and dangerous MAN FLU. I laid in bed whilst they went to some spas. At this point I´ll tell you what Sarah said. Sarah says the baths were "like an outdoor pool of hot thermal spring water, slightly eggy smelling but relaxing" Day 7 Next morning we were supposed to go and look at the colca canyon but I was still being plagued by man flu so again I´ll have to tell you what Sarah said. Sarah said "Colca canyon was beautiful..." However she has now stopped telling me as she says it sounds silly. Instead I´ll describe. They firstly went to Cruz del Condor where they saw Perus famous Andean condors which are huge, the biggest birds in the world over 3m wide. (I thought the ostrich was but I guess not). They then travelled further up the canyon to where it was 1km+ deep and went for a nice short hike. After returning we all had a bbq myself included and it turns out meat is a good cure for flu (something I will write and tell the world health organization). We tried Alpaca (or was it llama?) it was pretty tasty. That evening we went to a really touristy place that served rubbish food but made tourists embarassed by inviting them to dance. I sadly was chosen to dance and within seconds I was being told to "die" after eating an orange and subsequently had my face sat on and was whipped with a bit of rope. The meaning of this "dance" is stilll unknown to Europeans and I´m fairly sure Peruvians alike. Alas we all had fun and went to bed. Day 8 Got up at 6. Had breakfast. Got in bus went back to Arequipa. We had the worlds slowest driver but we were told that he was a "professional" and not to worry. Free afternooon with nothing planned, got a sandwich changed some money and then came to type this blog. Not much else to report really, we have another flight tomorrow...which i´m told is the safest mode of transport but at 36000ft and 700mph I feel someone probably made a mistake when working this out.

New York, New York

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

New York Day 2 So I woke up early again, not wanting to wake anyone just because I was an early bird, I made my way to breakfast to chat more with Mama and to try out my Spanish. I returned to find everybody just about up and getting ready to check out. I handed my bags over to Mama who promised to look after them fro me today so I didn't have to drag my laptop and bags round with me all day and we all made our way to the subway for our second day in NYC. I love New York. There is just something about it, it's alive and it's carefree, relaxed but people are serious. It's not pretentious and everywhere you look there is something new to see. We parted ways again as the girls went to meet up with Johnny and look at more apartments and I dragged Simon to the American Museum of Natural History as that was where The Night AT The Museum was filmed. The first thing you see is the statue of Teddy outside on his horse. We walked around for a few hours looking at everything on offer. In my opinion the Air and Space museum in Washington D.C was still the most exciting and interesting Museum I've seen so far. This one was ok. I had a photo with DumDum and Rexy but the exhibitions were rather dully set out but still worth seeing. The dinosaur area was my favourite. The real bone displays were incredible and so big! Really cool to see. We then made our way to Broadway and Canal Street in search for the Ghostbusters Firehouse but alas we ran out of time and didn't get to see it. We all met up and made our way back to the hotel around 5pm to pick up my bags and get the car in which for some reason they allowed me to drive. I took it around the block to get used to it and being on the other side of the road, for some reason I find it very easy to adapt. So I drove us all the way home, 5 hours straight, right out of the centre of NY, through New Jersey, through Maryland, back to Johnnys house in Virginia where we dropped off him and Katrina and I swapped driving with Simon and passed out in the back which he drove us the next hour or so back to his. And here I am, its Monday and its raining again, which is nice as it gives us an excuse to laze around today while I update my blog, try and upload photos and plan what to do for the next couple of days that I have left here in Virginia. I think on Wednesday I'm in charge of painting the outside of their barn as Simon will be at work and I wont have anything to do, plus it should be hot and sunny that day so perfect for getting some sun. Perhaps a winery tomorrow other then that its an open book. Hope everyone is peachy. Over and out

Arequipa, Peru

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello hello, I am currently writing for Arequipa, Peru´s 2nd most important city on day 8 of our trip. Just wanted to update you all on the ongoings of the past few days picking up from the flight over the Nazca lines. Day 4 continued... So on saturday morning we headed to Nazca´s mini airport which contained to our suprise only very mini planes. And we were going up in one! 3 of us from the groups squeezed into one of these planes with a pilot and one other couple, noticing nervously that it simply said on the side ´sky wagon´. This didnt fill us with confidence! We took off on our short flight which would take us over all of the nazca line shapes created by the pre inca nazca people, for what reason the experts still dont know. Even so they were really quite spectacular. Stretching over a huge plain surrounded by mountains we saw about 12 or so different shapes including the famous hummingbird, spider and monkey along with the locally known astronaut (!), dog, whale etc. We did get some really good photos but still cant quite put these up. However, despite the fantastic view the flight it self was reallllyyy bumpy as the pilot tipped the plane down to each side to allow photos, whilst circling! It is safe to say that i dont think this flight cured Tom of his dislike of flying and it certainly did not encourage either of us to climb back into any kind of small aircraft any time soon though. The lines were absolutely amazing to see but we were definitely glad to have our feet back on the ground afterwards. The rest of the day was free so we made use of the pool that our lovely hotel had and luckily the sun was out. We then packed up and made our way to the bus station in preparation for our overnight bus journey off 9 hours, to Arequipa in the South.

Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Well.... After several slightly unamazing days in KL, we were happy to be leaving for a new destination. We were heading to Koh PHa Ngan in Thailand, one of the Islands that makes up the Samui archipeligo.The first leg of this trip was a train from KL Sentral station to Butterworth, near Penang, in Northern Malaysia. We had decided to slightly splurge for our first train trip, so we had a 1st class deluxe sleeper cabin all to ourselves. Only about $20 more anyway!This of course entitled us the prestigious 1st class lounge at KL Sentral and we spent about an hour up there in the aircondioned comfort watching the cattle classes below in the heat.This trip wasn't all it was cracked up to be, the power cut out several times, at one point we were stranded at some random train station for about 45 minutes whilst it was fixed. We arrived in Butterworth at about 5.30am, neither of us had slept very well on the bumpy Malaysian railway lines.At Butterworth station we caught a ferry over to the Island of Penang and spent about 8 hours in the former British Malaya capital of Georgetown. Alas, Georgetown itself was also not all we had expected it to be. We trekked around some very quiet and deserted old streets looking for some type of breakfast, before we gave up and spent about 5 hours laying around on the concrete of the foreshore marina area, again very empty and quiet.After catching the ferry back across to the mainland and the Butterworth train Station, we caught our next train, The International Express, to Hat Yai in southern Thailand. This time we were just in the second class booths, which was fine, and the trip again was very slow. Constant stopping and waiting etc. Of course, we also had to stop at the border to oficcially leave Malyasia and enter Thailand. We arrived in Hat Yai at about 6pm and found our way to the Louise guesthouse, as reccomended by Lonely Planet, and booked in for the night. After some tasty, and very cheap, dinner out in the streets, we went back to our room and slept. Next morning we spent 7 hours in a minivan to get to Surat Thani. Surat Thani is really just known as the junction where buses and trains stop for anyone heading to the Islands, Koh samui etc. We eventually got on a ferry just out of Surat Thani and spent the next two hours on the roof of the ferry watching the rain and clouds slowly head towards us.Just as we were arriving in Thong Sala, the port-town of Koh Pah Ngan, the clouds broke and the rain began.We managed after some intial difficulty to find a place for the night, and spent the night watching BBC world news and the 'Australia Network'.Next morning we jumped on a taxi and then taxiboat and arrived in Haad Kuat (bottle beach) at about 11am.We had arrived at our destination!!

Helsingborg, Sweden

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Denna sidan var dålig så jag har bytat till http://hannaogrens.blogg.se :-)

Sapa, Vietnam

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

So I really am becoming prolific at this whole blog malarchy...is exactly what you are thinking. Well, motivated by our imminent departure to China where rumour has it Facebook has recently been prohibited, the potential curtailing of my loose tongue by the Chinese government and the news that if I name drop 'Luke Alexander Meloy' or 'Hollywood' as he is known to his friends, it adds at least two people to our readership, I'm giving you more. Just be grateful! When you left us last we were just boarding the sleeper train fro our first experience of overnight rail travel. The Orient Express it certainly wasn't and decidedly less Carey Grant, all smooth, elegant and sophisticated, but rather more Grant Mitchell, rough, robust and threatening to eject us from our carriage at every corner. Several times from the sanctity of our bottom bunks in the four person carriage (us and two random locals) did we feel the train straining to stay on the tracks and I swear that few times we were doing the old David Hasselhof Knight Rider trick of balancing on the one set of wheels to get round a bend or through a tunnel. We made it into Lao Cai with slightly less sleep that anticipated and disembarked the train to head for the mountain town of Sapa. The climate is cool, the people are friendly and unlike the hard edged Hanoi, where most people are out to make a buck off of you (note the tell tale pause before the pluck a figure out of the ether for any price enquiry), there is a degree of warmth here unconnected to whether you are about to spend a dollar or not. One interesting footnote to the whole 'foreigner price' phenomenon, we happened to be travelling with an American family in a mini bus the other day. The wife of the family was and spoke Vietnamese. The driver who was touting a hotel to us for 200,000 VND then touted the same place to some locals on the bus for 100,000VND. Our friendly American picked up on this and informed us kindly. S our advice to you is to stand firm on your budget or in our case go and find a cheaper room at the hotel opposite. Sapa is a cross between Cuzco, Peru and the Cameron highlands of Malaysia. It has the hill tribe women wandering around the streets in traditional dress, complete with babies slung across their shoulders, reminiscent of Peru and the green mountainous valleys of Malaysia, although these valleys are full of spectacular rice terraces as opposed to tea plantations. So in our latest devil may care decision, we decided to flout convention and instead of signing up to an expensive tour run by one of the numerous travel agencies here, we decided to meet up with a couple of local village women who said they would take us round the rice terraces and their villages for a fraction of the cost . It's the strange thing about travelling, you find yourself in a position where you are far more open to the random acts of kindness and generosity of strangers that really reaffirm your belief in human nature. But ironically you also find yourself completely vulnerable to more nefarious elements of human kind. Being able to separate the good from the bad is pretty tough and much of the decision is based no gut instinct and pure luck. So it was with a certain sense of apprehension we arrived for our rendez-vous. Our fears were allayed almost immediately as our two guides proved to be as sweet and genuine as any people as we have met on our travels and the prospect of them robbing us was anyway nullified by the fact that one of them had a 3 month old baby strapped to her back. Indeed this woman, Ly, was literally laughing in the face of you Western women and your maternity leave as she strode down the track. Kirsty was rather smitten with this little one, I suspect because he bore a resemblance to our projected future progeny...well obviously not the shape of the eyes, but more the colouring. Yes, she was very taken with this little one, holding it and bouncing it, but I drew the line when she went to breast feed it. You see the done thing here is to breast feed each others children if they are hungry, so the little one quite naturally went searching for teat (told you I'd get breast feeding into this edition...next time regaining that pre-baby physique). The whole day proved to be immensely enjoyable, and the stroll through the spectacular valley and to the villages of the various tribes is a great way to learn about the lives of these people. Theirs is a life of forced marriages from the age of 13, many which have gone wrong, sometimes abusive relationships as in the case of Ly, motherhood from the age of 15 and exploitation by the Land Owners. But they just get on with life. There is no therapy, no self-help books and no Oprah - you get busy living or get busy dying to quote Morgan Freeman. As if to confirm our favourable suspicions about these two women, they then presented Kirsty with a pair of earrings as a gift so she has been swanning round searching for any child young or old to carry over her shoulder. Right it really is on to China tomorrow. Till we speak again!

Paestum, Italy

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Day 1: Left Minori and drove the rest of the Amalfi coast. Carried on driving to Paestum got a cabin in a nice camping ground right beside the beach. We went swimming in the afternoon but the got chased bake inside by a big thunder storm. Day 2:Today we are going to the Paestum archeological site. It is the ruins of a whole greek town filled with 3 temples a swimming pool living quarters a ampitheatre and some other intrestin buildings. Most of the houses and living quarters were just the base of the wall but the temples were still standing. The ruins were pretty cool but the mueeum didn't have mutch. In the afternoon we drove down the coast to explore a little further there was a nice beach with huge waves from the storm last night. We carried on to a small fishing village wich was really nice. On the way back we decided to go back another way we headed strait up the hill and got lost it was fun. Day 3:

Townsville, Queensland

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Mission beach to Townsville The 3 hours drive to mission beach from Cairns seemed like 3 minutes as I was oozing to be driving and in such a mint motor home!! Mich and I sang a lot of the way (check the video out!) and loved the cruise down the coast, we got to Mission beach and stocked up on loads of supplies from a supermarket called Woolworths! Don't think it has anything to do with our poor woolies at home. We stocked up big time on waters, diet cokes and loads of cheap food like pasta and noodles etc. Then found a camp site and parked up for the night, the independence of this motor home is unreal and I must admit the whole camping thing had never really appealed to me, but I love it, give me a ring in 47 days and I will tell you if I still love it but I think I will as we can do what we want when we want. We have driven past the bus station a few times and seen backpackers waiting for buses and we're so pleased we don't have to catch any buses for a very long time!!! We got up the next day and had cereal for the first time in ages and went for a run on the beach, we are determined to get super fit out here. Mission beach area is massive the roads are really wide, so driving is easy and the beach is miles long so there is plenty of space for everyone. That night we drove right next to the sea front and pulled up next to a picnic table for dinner, we cooked a cheese and ham omelet and noodles, beautiful hats off to the chef Mich I think I'm the kitchen porter for this trip as Mishee knows how to camp as she has a lot more experience than me, shes brilliant!! We left late afternoon and continued our journey down the Bruce highway, heading for Townsville and made a random stop when we saw a sign for waterfalls, around 20km off the beaten track, we stayed there for a while and enjoyed a brew next to the gorgeous scenery. We then drove a couple more hours to a free rest stop near Ingham, and parked up alongside a load of hippies. We made dinner and just relaxed and got scared by giant bats! The next morning we woke early and drove to Peruna National park and had breakfast. Then had a lovely walk up to see some more waterfalls. Just before lunch we headed back to the Bruce Highway and made our way to Balgal beach a massive beautiful beach with no-one around. It was a stupidly hot day for the middle of winter! But it gave us a chance to top up our tan. I went for a run while mishee cooked a lovely steak with mash potato and gravy! Yum! Then we had a magical hour where we watched the sky turn from blue to orange to red and then pink, what a beautiful tropical sunset! We parked up right next to the beach where it says no camping. We are not too sure of the laws on camping in OZ but there a lots of people parked up here so we will wait to see if we get asked to move! We also had a night at a place called saunders beach another free site with free bbqs right next to the beach and met some real cool people who gave us a lot of advice about camping! We have got 48 days all in all, and I worked out we only have to drive 40 miles a day to get to Sydney so we can really take our time! We will stay in Queensland for quite a while even though its winter its like British summer but hotter! But maybe not this year, I hear! So loving our first week in OZ and still loving the camper which is now called Carlos after our favorite seal at Singapore zoo, next stop Townsville, thanks for tuning in again, we hope we are not boring you!!! Ads and Mishee xxx

Halifax, Afghanistan

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

So here goes...Ben at 3am Highlights of the night so far have included... Mum in tears Aunty in tears Grandma in tears Kinda startin to sink in slightly that we're not just going away for a few weeks!! As you might have guessed, we're not currently rafting on the back of a camel on Afgan... I'm actually sobering up after too much wine at a family get together 'goodbye' (Dad made his trademark moussaka - scrumptios) anyway - yeah - (look Hayley! i'm writing a blog! :-D ) Been working down the NEVER ENDING to - do list. Been doing Skype phones by day, and photo-sharing/back up by night. I've been at the latter for the past 5 hours trying to find a better (and cheaper) alternative to Flickr, only to return to... you geussed it.. Flickr, after 5 hours. it just looks the part, and feels like its not going to sell your photos to Tom d*** and/or Harry, and is secure. Also unlimited upload, and access to original full res photos - £15 a year. StaTravelBlogs makes your pictures all fuzzy when uploaded. I'll post a 'Flickr Guest Pass' link up on here so that friends/family can view the full res pics (even though they're set to 'private') without signing up for Flcikr - Ben's being doing his homework! Hell I hope the future blogs are more exciting! Dull crap must be done though, cos once my 2Gb memory card fills up (prob around the time we get to Heathrow ;-) ) i'll need a backup. Anyhow, enough dullness for now - off to collect 5 Skype phones tomorow form Pudsey! Woop! i'll just add some tags... hehe ...

Singapore, Singapore

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

hey all Again i am really sorry for another late blog entry. I am now in Singapore and will be heading to Indonesia later today with Alison to meet up with Lila and the kids in Jakarta. The last few weeks in Vietnam were eventful and emotional. Shona and Alison came to visit me, it was weird seeing them after so long. We paid a visit to Tam Hai resort which was great as normal, Shona then went to Hanoi with Lila whilst Alison and I went back to Tam Ky and then on to Hoi An. We had a very busy time because Alison was only in Vietnam for a couple of weeks. During the last week we went to Hanoi and Halong Bay. Hanoi is VERY humid and it is difficult to get away from the heat as there was no aircon during the day in our hostel. I loved it and wish I could of stayed longer. We only had one full day in Hanoi because we spent 2 days and 1 night (on a boat) on Halong Bay which was beautiful. Leaving Vietnam was weird and sad. My whole experience still has not sunk in and I've no idea when it will. I met some amazing people and some difficult ones but I'm really proud of what I have achieved. Its the hardest but best thing I have done to date and I will never forget it. I'm short of money but still having a great time. Off to Australia on 23rd July and cannot wait to arrive. Hope everyone is well, again sorry for the late update. Alistair (and Alison!)

Hanoi, Vietnam

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

You'll be please to know that my paternal instincts have proved exemplary. Our sleeper bus to Hanoi was uneventful; Kirsty slept like a baby, not waking or crying once throughout the 15 hours. You see the secret is routine, the avoidance of late night sugar and if all else fails dipping her dummy in brandy seems to help. Next week new and expectant mothers, my tips on breastfeeding. Actually, the above is not strictly true, our slumber was rudely interrupted by a local forcing a tightly wrapped bundle under our bed. This in itself was alarming, but when the bundle started to move of its own accord we were guaranteed to spend the rest of the journey sleeping with one eye open. It was the stuff of nightmares and the smart money says that said bundle was a dog, judging by the smell. Sadly, this bow wow was not destined to run round the table searching for scraps, it was more likely doomed to be the centre piece of said table. Yes, although you must learn to accept the nuances and customs of the countries you are travelling through the Vietnamese passion for munching on man's best friend is not one that we will be partaking in.....unless it comes with chips and a side salad. To wander round Hanoi at night feels distinctly like you are ambling round the streets of some European city with its well lit squares where couples converge. The centre piece of the Old Quarter, where we are staying is Lake Hoan Kiem, which lights up at night for families to come and promenade and rather bizarrely a load of locals with scales offering to weigh you for a few thousand VND - as you do. But I suppose even more strange as a sight are the scores of well dressed Vietnamese picnicking on carpets all over the pavement of the streets. Hanoi, like many other places we have travelled through, likes to group their shops and stalls, so not content with the one place selling giant cuddly bears, you have a whole street of them all competing for the same customers. Today we have walked down, among others, Flip Flop Way, Dried Squid Drive, Sunglasses Sidewalk, Ice Cream Alley and, our personal favourite, Fruit Shake Street. Somebody has got to tell these people that somewhere in Dried Squid Drive somebody might also want a fruitshake to go with their squid. The Hanoi fruit shake is quite something, a heady combination of tropical fruit, coconut milk and a good glug of condensed milk. It's a winner that's guaranteed to help us put back on some weight. So you find us here in Hanoi, a little stuck. We are awaiting our Chinese Visas before we can move on . Despite paying for the express service we are still having to wait 6 days - damn those pesky weekends - we'd forgotten they existed. So the days have been filled with a few trips around the place to kill the time, allowing us to observe Vietnamese society at work. My advice to you is to avoid any form of business higher education that is accredited to any Vietnam institution..I've earned one just wandering around the place. I've already briefed you on their views on the importance of location, but I feel I can save you some money on a costly MBA by outlining the major points for success over here completely free of charge: 1. Rather than innovation, step 1 is all about identification. Identify a successful, established business. 2. Mimic and replicate every aspect of that business down to name, logo and services offered till there is no easy way to tell you apart. 3. Hoodwink unsuspecting travellers into thinking you are part of the original company, trading off their name whilst offering a sub standard product. It'll take a lot of hard study but you too could have your own Vietnamese MBA in matter of an afternoon. So Saturday was our one year Wedding Anniversary and thank you all for your messages of varying degrees of support, shock and relief. Yes I've grown fond of the wife over the last year and she has become very dear to me these days. Needless to say it was all I could do to mark the occasion with a pastry and a sachet of iced coffee for that special breakfast in our hostel room. In all seriousness when you get to spend an entire year together, more time that you will probably spend with each other cumulatively over the next 5 years, it's difficult to make one day uber special, but I can pretty sure we will remember the Wedding anniversary where we went and ate street food on the corner of a busy road in Hanoi for the rest of our lives. It's been seriously scorchio here. Uncomfortably so. So it was with great delight that a near apocalyptic down pour arrived the other afternoon. As the locals raced for cover and every tourist donned a plastic poncho, sold to them at outrageous prices by vendors that magically appear out of nowhere, us true Brits marched on in nothing but shorts and t-shirts much to the bemusement and amusement of the locals. It was a welcome relief and if it can just limit itself to a short, sharp, heavy hour we will gladly run about in it every afternoon. A few more Vietnamese observations for you: the women are the real work horses over here, doing much of the manual labour leaving the men to idly lounge about on their motos and cyclos touting for business while simultaneously cultivating a belly that they like to show you when it gets warm. Vietnamese drivers are quite clearly the most relaxed about not working of their S.E. Asian counterparts. The Thais are ferocious in seeking work, not taking no for an answer, the Cambodians, hardworking but respectful to a 'no thanks' but the Vietnamese barely raise a hand or eyebrow to you in most places, proving to be more laid back than a Rastafarian on Ritalin. At least women are putting the hard yards in. Monday we headed out to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to see the final resting place of Vietnam's great redeemer. Sadly, 'Uncle Ho' can't deal with too many visitors these days without getting over excited so he takes Mondays and Fridays off (thanks Lonely Planet, we owe you one!) So instead we went off to explore the Presidential Palace area which includes Uncle Ho's former residence. For fans of 'No Entry' and 'Exit' signs it's a must see, for fans of being interested, I'd suggest you skip this one. This may be a tad unfair, because I am sure with a guide the whole experience might be a little more worthwhile..but when on a budget. Success today. The Visas have arrived and the transport booked. Tonight it is the turn of the Sleeper train to carry us to our destination in the north of Nam. On to the highlands of Sapa and in a couple of days over the border to China..to eat Chinese food...of course over there it is just called food.

Pattaya, Thailand

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Just in case there's any confusion we came to Pattaya to see the boys and that really is the main reason. We knew that it would be a few days of doing not a lot and coping with big hangovers. Its a deffinate eye opener and a completly different way of life, but we are beginning to understand it a bit better now. Saturday 11th July 2009 Bangkok to Pattaya We decided to get up fairly early today as we wanted to go to Bangkok's weekend market before heading to Pattaya. After having a cup of coffee we left our guesthouse at about 9am. We left our bags there in storage for the day. We took the local bus number 3 from our area to Chatuchak Weekend market in Chatuchak Park. We'd heard from various people that the market was big but we never expected it to be as big as it was. Its said to be the biggest market in South East Asia. It was very over whelming. There were clothes, crafts, jewellery, food, household items and pretty much every thing you could wish for. It was very easy to get lost. We were there until about 1pm and we had lunch there, just pad thai, before heading back to Khoa San road and our guesthouse. The bus back took a lot longer as traffic was horrendus. Getting to the market had taken about half an hour coming back it was more like an hour! With our bags back on our backs we then tried to get a taxi to take us to the bus station. This proved harder than we had expected mainly because we weren't prepared to just pay any price we wanted it on the meter. Every taxi has a metered taxi sign on top of the car but it took us 4 taxi drivers before we found one who agreed to use the actual the meter! The other guys were asking for anything between 250 baht and 500 baht. The actual cost was 150 baht, a big differance. It was also only this much because traffic again was horrendus and it took an hour to actually get to the bus staion. Not fun!! This was our first experience of crazy thai driving. We got there about 3:50pm and the next bus was leaving at 4pm, so just in time. We arrived in Pattaya at 6:30pm, but they dropped us off on the side of the road quite far out of town and Skelly was waiting for us at the bus station. So then we had to try and explain to Skel where we were so that he could come and get us. Not an easy think to do when your in an area with no landmarks around. But thankfully we were able to work out which Soi (road) we were on so then he could come and find us. After picking us up we went straight to the appartments where he lives and he had put one aside for us to stay in. Its lovely and big and so nice to be able to spread out. After showering and changing we headed out to main Pattaya with Skelly to Walking street. This is where our lesson on Pattaya's culture started and its an eye opener I can tell you. We started the night just in a normal regular bar, but after dinner we then visited 2 go-go bars and a lady boy bar! With the go-go bars use your imagination and you want go far wrong. Lots of nakedness and bar fines. (Gran ask dad he'll explain) and in the lady boy bar, my god they are stunning!! The one we were talking too had had his/her boobs done in Bangkok for 50,000 baht. And they were very good!! They also have tiny bums!! It is very hard to tell with alot of them which sex they actually are!! But Skelly was very good at pointing them out for us!! A good late night was had by all!! Sunday 12th July 2009, Pattaya. Morning was cancelled today!! We didn't leave the appartment until about 1pm and then from there we walked the half an hour walk down to Jomtien, which is where both Skelly and Jim have there bars. Firstly we had some lunch and then we popped into see Jim who we had previously rung and arranged to meet. We had a couple of coke's with him and arranged to meet later for a drink or 2. After this we went to the beach for a few hours. The beach we were on was ok but not the prettiest beach we have ever been on. But it did us fine for a bit of R&R. We left the beach at about 6pm just as the rain started. This didn't last too long thankfully. Now the idea had been to go home and shower before meeting Jim but we went to Skelly's bar first to get out of the rain and then we kind of never made it back home. Skelly's bar is called Olivers and Jim's is called Kosy's. So anyway we had several beers with Skelly and some other people he knew and then we went to Kosy's at about 9pm to meet Jim and Ed. The rest of the night was spend going to a few different bars with Jim so he could show us a few different places and meet some of the people he knew. It was a good fun night but another very late one!! I do believe Ed may have been cursing us today (Monday) as we made him stay out later than he had intended. He had to get up at 7am to play golf. Sorry Ed. Monday 13th July 2009, Pattaya Another morning cancelled!! After seeing Skelly up in his appartment and using his computer I then went for some lunch, Caroline did come with me but only for a drink as she was not up for food. She didn't stay for long as she wanted to be close to a bathroom!! So she went back to Skelly's and I had some lunch. I then stayed in the bar/restaurant reading my book. I had intended going to the beach but it was raining and not really very sunny. Its been really overcast today so not really beach weather. At about 4:30pm we took the half an hour walk too Jomtien, saw Jim for a bit and came here to use the internet, which is where we are now. Were going to have an early night tonight as were going out with Phil tomorrow afternoon and we though we might go to Pattaya's floating market in the morning. Tomorrow night will be another thing as its Phil's birthday so it would rude not to help him celebrate it!!! Were staying here until Thursday and then going north to start seeing the real Thailand. Tuesday 14th July 2009, Pattaya This morning was a refreshing change, we woke up feeling great!! No hangovers and plenty of sleep!! After we had used the net last night we went for dinner at Natans (French and Thai), which was nice and then we had an early night. Our early night also included watching the Coast to Coast walk of 1992. Very amusing!!!! We had a chilled morning and then Phil and Nid picked us up at 1pm and took us too the Crocodile Park. The Crocodile Park also advertises as a 1 million year old stone park as well. Couldn't quite see it myself!! The Crocodile Park was great fun and set in some really nice grounds. Even though its low season the grounds are maintained perfectly!! Whilst there we saw Crocs, tigers, elephants and other animals. There was also a crocodile show which was very amusing but not quite Steve Urwin!!! After the Crocodile Park we all went back to Phil and Nid's house which may I say Nid is lovely. We chilled here for a bit, looked around the house and then had some dinner. We also introduced Nid to Mrs Doubtfire (remember Phil you need to download it!). From here we all headed back into Pattaya to Cosy's bar (Jim's) to celebrate Phil's birthday. Ed and some of Jim there too. Another late night!!! Wednesday 15th July 2009, Pattaya Not much in the morning except for seeing Skelly and then at lunch time we went to Nong Nooch Botanical Gardens. Skelly gave us a lift and then we spent about 4 hours here. We started off with a bit of lunch and then we started to explore. First spot was Butterfly hill and garden, this then lead us in to Pet's corner. Interesting array of animals. We didn't want to stray too far as there was a show at 3pm which we wanted to see. The first part lasted about 40 minutes and was a Thai cultural show, a mixture of dancing, singing and Thai boxing. The second part was in a seperate arena and was an elephant show. Mixed feelings on this one, it was fun to watch and the elephants appeared quite happy but it's always difficult to know how you feel about performing animals. It was good though and they did a mixture of ball sports, dancing and painting. After the show we held hands with a chimp and then carried onto explore the gardens. The gardens were again very impressive and very well maintained. It was good and glad we went. Skelly picked us back up at 5:45pm and we headed back to the condo ready to be picked up by Ed at 6:30pm. Caroline went on the back of Ed's bike and I got a motorbike taxi and we all went to a favourite Thai restaurant of Ed's. Once there we were joined by Phil, Nid, Ed's girlfriend Ying and her friend. The girls ordered the food and we all tucked in. It was delicious!! Our favourite being King prawns in garlic, pepper and onion. Yummy. After dinner we all headed to Jim's bar for a couple of drinks. Thursday 16th July 2009, Pattaya After having our morning coffee with Skelly in his condo we then took the half hour walk to Jomtien and attempted to get our train tickets to Chiang Mai. Not as easy as we had expected. Everywhere else we have been we have been able to just book train/bus tickets the day before travel but this is not the case here. We wanted overnight train tickets to Chiang Mai for Friday but typically it was full. So the options were a)fly or b) train ever today or Saturday. Now because we couldn't leave today and we didn't want to stay another day we opted to fly from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on Friday. This all took a lot of time and as we were due to meet Phil, Nid and Ed at 1pm we then didn't have time for lunch so we just grabbed some street food and then walked fairly quickly to our meeting point. Once we found them we jumped into Phil's car and first stop was The Pattaya floating market. Nothing like the Bangkok one as this was very much built for tourists. All wooden flooring and shops on the river. It was really pretty and nice to walk round. We also ate our food whilst here along with Nid eating hers. We have now discovered that Thai woman love to eat. They eat little and often so street food is big on the list of things to do/eat. After the floating market we drove up into the mountains to a wonderful temple called Anek Kusala Sala (Viharasien). It's not really a worshipping temple but more of a museum combining Chinese and Thai culture and art. Very interesting and a fantastic building. It was opened in 1993 as a friendship museum between China and Thailand. We were here for an hour or so. Not much to read thankfully for Caroline and Phil but lots to look at. After looking at the Cat fish near by, we then went a different way back through the mountains looking at various houses, temples and scenery before stopping at a vineyard. The vineyard was called Silver lake vineyard and it was also a shop, restaurant and beautiful setting over the lake. We tried red grape grape juice which was lovely. From here it was back to our condo, packing and then a baht bus into Jomtien. We went for dinner at an Irish bar with Bi (Skelly's girlfriend), I had Mexican and Caroline had Thai. After here we had a few drinks in Skelly's bar, a few drinks with Jim and then back to Skelly's for a game of pool before heading home about 12am. Friday 17th July 2009, Pattaya Today it was up at 8am, finish packing, good byes to Skelly and Bi before being picked up at 9:30am by Phil and Nid. They were going to Bangkok anyway so had offered us a lift. A lot quicker way of getting there than by bus. Thanks Phil. Once in Bangkok we walked around with Phil for a bit as our flight wasn't until the afternoon and then they dropped us off at the airport for us to get our 4pm flight to Chiang Mai. It was a little delayed but we eventually left about 4:45pm arriving in Chiang Mai around 6pm. Just a quick extra to say thank you to Skelly, Phil, Jim and Ed, for all your hospitality and kindness. Great to see you all and keep in touch xxx

Perth, Western Australia

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello, Well i thought i had better come and give a bit of an update from Perth. The day after i last wrote, i went on a free walking tour in the town, organised by the tourist information office. it was good to get a highlight and some history of the city. On the walking tour i met a really nice girl from isreal, who was staying in the same hostel as me. Perth is a nice city, it is small, but nice. it has free buses throughout the city which is good and seems to have lots of free facilities for children and elderly people. There is an english quarter, which has a row of 'english style' shops, all in a very bad form of mock tudor. in there there is a shop that sells english foods, so of course i went in and bought myself some marmite! I have met some other really nice people in my hostel, Laura who is from Bristol, Wesley and Pj who i am sharing a room with who are both from Ireland. In the afternoon Wesley and i went to Kings Park, which is this amazing park that looks right over the city, it is so beautiful, the best city park i have seen so far. There is a cool bridge (which you will see in the pictures) and a war memoral that you can sit one person on each side, and if you put your face towards the stone and talk you can hear each other really clearly, its so weird. the stone must carry the sound or something. On Saturday night i went out with the Irish guys to a pub called Rosie's , which was good fun. On Sunday i went to a town just dwon the coast on the train called Fremantle. It is a really nice little town, and was originally a convict colony. i went to a good market and watched lots of street performers which were really good. I then went to the old convict prison and had a guided tour (where i bumped into some other peopl from my hostel) and it was quite scary to see how the convicts, and then later the prisoners were kept, as it was a working prison until the 1990's. they also did hangings there which wasnt very nice. Then in the evening there was a movie night and we watched Benjamin Button (very good but long). Today I went to a travel agent and got my 5 day top end tour booked for darwin, which was a relief. i am just trying to change my flights now so that i can get an earlier flight back to sydney, then an earlier flight onto NZ. It is all quite frustrating, as i dont know how long to spend in Darwin, and the days i want to come back are more expensive than leaving too early or too late so i will have to either leave on thursday or sunday, thursdayt being not enough time in darwin and sunday being too much time. So i dont know what to do. I have also just realised just now that i am in Perth a day longer than i thought, which is annoying as i feel reeady to leave now, there isnt much left for me to explore! After the travel agent i went to Kings Park again, and just sat and read my book and then sewed up my bag which was falling apart. Looks like i am going to have another two days of sitting and reading before my flight! doh. I am going to meet with Sally, the Vietnamese girl i met in Vietnam who now lives in Perth! So that will be good. Speak soon

Cinque terre, Italy

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

12-14 Day 1: Today we drove down the coast towards Italy, the road was really busy and after driving for a few hours we came to tiny country called Monaco. Looking down on it we could see lots of multi million dollar super yachts and flash buildings. It was run by one really rich family to bad it’s not the Bragans. Finally we came to Italy, we drove further up the coast. We came to a one-lane tunnel, we stopped at a red light but then all the locals went flying past straight into the tunnel so we decided to follow. The tunnel was about 7 kilometres long and our campsite was in a turn off in the tunnel. Day 2: Mum was sick this morn so she stayed in the tent while the rest of us walked the Cinque Terre. It is 5 villages which are joined by a walking track, we took the train to the 3rd village called Corneglia it is on top of a cliff, but the train station was at sea level so we had to walk up about a million steps. We had to pay to go on the walking track which was weird, it was a really hot day and the track was very steep it also had a lot of tourists they were mostly Americans and Aussies. The next town was called Vernazza, it was really nice we stopped for a swim and lunch. We carried on up the track and then down a massive set of steps to Monterossa for a swim. Then caught the train back to our campsite to see mum. Day 3: Today mum was feeling a bit better so she walked with us to the train station then went home. We took the train to the last town called Riomaggorie the track was much easier and only took us 20 minutes to the next town called Manarola. There were masses of people, we had a quick swim then carried on to Corneglia where we headed back to the campground and went swimming with mum.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hola! Eigentlich sollte ich jetzt meine Hausaufgaben machen, aber irgendwie habe ich so gar keine Lust, vielleicht liegt es daran, dass ich noch nie Hausaufgaben mochte und sie früher auch nur selten gemacht habe. Naja egal! Also meine Sprachschule ist wirklich ok, um Euch einen kleinen Eindruck zu geben mit was für Leuten ich da im Kurs sitze werde ich Euch diese Persönlichkeiten mal beschreiben. Also da ist einmal meine Lehrerin Paula, tja eigentlich sehr unauffällig. Sie steht auf unseren italienischen Kursteilnehmer, da ihre Eltern selber aus Italien kommen und sie redet ständig von ihrem Mann der wie sie so schön sagt recht schlicht ist. Ach und ich glaube Sie ist Schwanger, jedenfalls trägt sie diese H&M Mode! Für die Herren der Schöpfung: oben rum eng und unter der Brust verläuft es dann alles etwas Figur freundlicher. Ja und mit ihrer Argentinischen Aussprache treibt sie uns alle noch in den Wahnsinn, denn wenn man die nicht lernt, kommt man hier auch nicht klar. So, dann gibt es noch das australische Globetrotter Pärchen, mir persönlich sehr sympathisch, da die schon ein wenig rum gekommen sind und der Horizont bei denen doch ein wenig anders ist als bei einigen anderen Leuten die ich im Laufe der Zeit schon kennen lernen durfte. Die beiden sind ständig müde, lieben Joga, interessieren sich für andere Kulturen und wohnen auch in einem Hostel und sind herrlich unkompliziert. So sind sie die Australier einfach amazing (austalisch ausgesprochen „ahmaising", oder so)!!! Ihre Lieblingsthemen sind: der CO2 Ausschuss, Joga, Gewaltfreie Milch von Kühen, öffentliche Verkehrsmittel usw….. aber die sind wirklich sehr nett und so schön entspannt….vielleicht sollte ich auch mal mit Joga anfangen, allerdings müsste ich dann vorher erst mal ein bisschen Valium nehmen. Hab das ja schon mal mit meiner Schwedischen Freundin Evi in den USA ausprobiert, als die Lehrerin dann meinte, dass wir die Socken ausziehen sollten, dachte ich schon die ist nicht ganz Dicht. Der Raum war nicht wirklich geheizt und draußen lag Schnee…ne ist klar. Als sie dann noch sagte, „Wir spüren jetzt, wie die Wärme von unten durch den Körper fließt" war es vorbei nie wieder JOGA! Evi fand das glaube ich ganz toll, sie ist eingeschlafen….als sie wieder zu sich kam und die Stunde vorbei war und ich ihr erzählt habe wie es mir so ergangen ist, meinte sie nur das es mit nicht schaden würde wenn ich ab und zu mal ein Gang runter schalten würde! Recht hat sie! SO, dann gibt es noch meinen sprachbegabten Italiener, kommt aus der Schweiz, (sorry Konrad)sieht umwerfend gut aus, ist 22 Jahre alt und fragt unsere Paula ständig wo man den hier Party machen kann….! Ab und zu spricht er dann ein wenig Schweizer Deutsch mit italienischer Melodie…herrlich! SO, kommen wir nun zum meinen besten Freunden den Amerikanern. Da hätten wir Shain, eine Frau so Anfang 30ig, Ärztin, kommt ursprünglich aus Russland, lebt jetzt in Queens und geht ständig zu Tango Kursen. Dann gibt es noch Richard, oh je ist bei der US Army, sieht aus wie Indianer Jones der zu viele Donuts hatte, besitzt einen fetten Kaugummi Akzent, da er aus Mississippi kommt. Seine erste Frage in der Vorstellungsrunde an unsere Australier war ob die auch Waffen zu Haus im Haus haben…äh ja …die Australier waren so geschockt das sie nicht wussten was sie sagen sollten. Natürlich war unser „Ritschaurd" auch schon in Deutschland und zwar in Kaiserslautern (arme Sau, gibt wirklich schönere Ecken) und begrüßt mich jeden Morgen mit „Hey Caormen, wey geiht as dieurr". Auf seinem Camouflage Rucksack steht fett geschrieben Red Head und er wundert sich warum ihn die Argentinier für einen weißen reichen Amerikaner halten…! Naja und da bei dieser bunten Truppe keine allein reisende Person (irgendwie haben die alle jemanden dabei, Schwester, Bruder, Kinder, Pärchen etc….) dabei ist, bin ich zurzeit eher alleine in Buenos Aires unterwegs. Genug zur Truppe, der Kurs ist sehr gut und ich muss mich bemühen mit zu kommen. Werde deshalb jetzt Schluss machen und mal anfangen meine Hausaufgaben zu machen und ein paar Verbos Reflexivos zu lernen. Morgen werde ich mit meiner Schule (klingt irgendwie süß) einen Ausflug nach La Boca und Caminito machen. Ich bin mir sicher, dass ich Euch dann Morgen mit neuen Fotos versorgen kann. Werde mir dann auch mal Zeit nehmen auf Eure Nachrichten zu antworten. Morgen gibt es dann noch einen kleinen persönlichen Erfahrungsbericht von meiner NUTELLA (Nutescha) Suche!!! Falls ich nicht zu müde bin, mein Jetlag macht mir tierisch zu schaffen. GLG Eure Carmen

Kowloon, Hong Kong

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello there everyone. And sorry for all of you who i forget to get my blog address to. Hope all is well with you and thanks Caz n Chriss my only blog mates for at least leaving a message. Anyhow just a quick update. Hong Kong is hot n sweaty just like me at the moment and i can tell you now have not stopped since i got here. It really is a great place to visit. food, people weather, entertainment all spot on and will def come back. have not sussed out how to get pic on here as yet but as soon as i do there will be pics everywhere. in a few days i will be leaving for Bangkok. Been before but love the place! Anyhow people out on the town now so take care for now.....blog ye soon! Laters Yousef PS: Chris hoe did yje other job go....ok? not as good as ours hey? who turned up and did it go ok.... let me know.....have a fab holidaY ....CHEERS YOUSEF

Memphis, Tennessee

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello people, Well we only have 10 days left now, so this will be one of my last blogs. It’s been a fast and furious couple of weeks and even though most of it has been spent in the car, trying to get further east, I still have a lot to tell you. Yesterday was Independence Day in the USA and I had decided that Colonial Williamsburg would be the perfect place to spend it for a couple of reasons. 1) Virginia is where Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was from and 2) Colonial Williamsburg is a purpose built town that takes you back to Jefferson’s era so it seemed perfect. So we knew that we had 2 weeks to get from Seattle to Williamsburg, Virginia (south of Washington DC) and seeing as it took us 4 weeks just to get from Florida to Vegas, we were obviously on a tight deadline. We didn’t spend much time in Seattle unfortunately. The problem for us with big cities is that they are expensive to stay in. Hotels and motels in the city cost far more than in the suburbs but if you stay in the suburbs then you need to pay expensive parking costs to do any sightseeing. Therefore, we’ve had to keep city visits down to just a day. We don’t see this as an issue though because to be honest, when we come back to the States in the future we’re more likely to have more money and can then stay in the nice hotels in the cities! Plus, we’ve found that the country and smaller places are far more appealing and interesting than most of the cities anyway. When we arrived in Seattle we drove past the Space Needle and pretty much decided that we had done Seattle. Driving through the streets looking for somewhere to park gave us a good idea of what it was all about and seeing as we have no money for shopping or having sumptuous meals, we’re really there just to see famous landmarks. We parked up, walked to the Space Needle and the Seattle Centre, got back in to the car and drove an hour east to find somewhere to stay for the night. Oh, and we didn’t think the Space Needle was all that anyway! The next day was a boring but beautiful drive through the rest of Washington, briefly into and out of quiet Idaho, through Montana, which was filled with continuous gorgeous hilly countryside and down into Wyoming to visit the famous Yellowstone National Park. The park sits on the border between Montana and Wyoming and lives up to its hype! Yellowstone National Park is famous not just for its wildlife but for housing half the world’s geysers and its geothermal pools and features. It was kind of like New Zealand’s Wai-O-Tapu but with bison and grizzly bears. We picked up a map from the visitor’s centre and started driving around the green and hilly park when suddenly we came across this huge basin of thermal pools! The whole side of the hill was mass of oranges, browns, yellows and greens. They have built boardwalks all around so that you can get up close, and while strolling through the basin, we felt like we were back in Rotorua NZ, not Wyoming USA. Then, after a few minutes driving we saw a mass of cars that had stopped on the side of the road. I’ll briefly explain how the National Parks work so that this all makes sense. The parks are owned and run fantastically by the National Park Service. Every visitor must pay an entrance fee per vehicle or person and this money is used to help protect the environment and wildlife that live there, making sure that the parks are kept in pristine condition and that any endangered animals are preserved. Each park has at least one visitor’s centre where you can get information on various drives and walks/hikes that are on offer as well as purchasing various souvenirs or food, and there are usually 1 or 2 roads that you are allowed to drive on, slowly, through the park. These roads are either a loop road or a road that takes you from one side of the park to the other and you can stop anywhere you want to look at the various wild animals or stop to take in the views. So when you see lots of cars suddenly parked up on the road, you know either there is an amazing view to take a photo of or something big is going on. This time, people had stopped because there were 2 grizzly bears roaming around a mile or so away on the other side of the river. Seeing as we had just purchased some new binoculars, for this reason, we hopped out of the car and took a walk down to the riverside to see the bears. It may not sound that interesting, but there’s something wonderful about seeing animals in their natural habitat, just wandering free. Much better than seeing them in a zoo. After seeing the grizzlies, we drove on through the park and stopped again when I noticed a couple of bison in a field. Bison are hugely endangered due to past poachers and so Yellowstone are desperately trying to increase their numbers within the park. They are enormous animals, weighing up to 2000 pounds, wildly unpredictable and dangerous, and can sprint at 30 miles per hour (that’s 3 times faster than a human)! You do not mess with these things, I’m telling you. The ones we spotted were literally 20 paces from the road, so we gently and quietly walked as close to them as we felt comfortable and took some fantastic photos. Even though they didn’t seem to even notice us it was still quite unnerving so we didn’t stay too long to find out what would happen if they did! Feeling incredibly happy after our chance sighting we drove on more, past more stunning fields and thermal areas with sulphur smoke bellowing into the air and were then suddenly faced with a traffic jam. This wasn’t just a few cars slowing down to look at an animal type of traffic jam; we were in it for over an hour, moving at 2 mph the entire time. The cause? Bison taking a walk down the road! 4 adults and 3 babies were just taking a leisurely stroll down our road. Being used to constant vehicles, they weren’t bothered by the hundreds of cars trying to get past them, and took no advantage of the grassy knolls on either side of the road either. They must have walked 4 or 5 miles down this road before casually turning off into a field. It was wonderful to see but very frustrating! After that there seemed to be an abundance of wildlife and we managed to see mule deer which look like elk, a female and 2 baby black bears, a couple of moose and lots and lots of chipmunks. It really was a truly magical day and with the incredibly varied environments around you, it’s definitely a one of a kind sightseeing destination. The next day we drove a long, long way east across Wyoming and into the southwest corner of South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The memorial to the famous 4 presidents is also owned and run by the National Park Service (NPS) and has just gone through a renovation to preserve the rock and to improve the quality of the original work. Apart from the walk around the actual rock face, there’s not an awful lot to do there, so it is a long drive for the sake of a 10 minute visit, but it is totally worth it. It’s not as big as I thought it was going to be and somehow not as jaw-dropping either, but something about it makes you tingle. It’s a little bit of everything – the memorial to the men and what they achieved for their country, the effort that went into the sculpting, the fact that it draws so many people to it and that you’ve seen and heard about it since birth and suddenly you’re there. It really is quite a sight. Of course the 4 Presidents portrayed on the mount are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, but poor old Roosevelt did get a bum deal. His face is stuffed somewhere into the back and gets lost between the other 3. To give you an idea of its size here are a few facts. Each face is 60 feet tall with each eye being 11 feet wide, George Washington’s mouth is 18 feet wide and his nose is 21 feet long (the others are 20 feet long). It took 14 years to sculpt, led by Gutzon Borglum, took 400 workers using jackhammer tools and dynamite and cost just under a billion dollars to build. As well as the memorial there is also the Avenue of the Flags which leads you up to the monument. This avenue celebrates America’s 50 states and flies each state’s flag – all very American! Our next stop was the Rocky Mountains National Park in Colorado, and for those of you near a USA map, you’ll notice this meant us going southwest and slightly back on ourselves. It was a last minute addition to the schedule but totally worth it. Think the complete opposite to Yellowstone and you’ve got the Rocky Mountains NP. Instead of miles of grassy mountains, all the peaks are covered in snow, instead of bison the park is home to elk, mountain lions and longhorns and instead of sunshine, the park is frickin’ freezing! The Rocky Mountains has the highest average elevation of any national park and even the main road climbs higher than most US mountains, to an incredible 12,183 feet! Not only is it unbearably cold for those of us wearing just shorts and a t-shirt, but the altitude makes you feel like you’ve just run up the mountain, not driven. Getting out of the car and walking 100 yards to a viewpoint, I felt like I’d just run the marathon and I had no idea why, until I read the survival tips in the park newspaper. Thank god I thought, I didn’t think I was that unfit after all the hikes we’ve done this year! We got out a couple more times in the freezing wind and rain to look at the views and animals, including a cute little marmot that I found licking a brick wall for creepy crawlies and then started our descent down to a more bearable altitude. We stopped for the night and the next day popped into Boulder for a quick look around. Boulder is home to the University of Colorado and 30,000 students and is apparently renowned for being a party town/university. The town, even though it’s quite purpose built and new looking, has lots of character and charm and, maybe it was because it was Sunday, had a relaxed and happy vibe about it. We took a leisurely amble down the pedestrian promenade filled with shops and coffee houses, and even a Cheesecake Factory(!), stopped to watch a very bizarre and hilarious I might add Brazilian dance exercise class in a random tent and then started our drive east towards Chicago, one thousand miles away!! After driving for 7 hours we stopped just outside of Lincoln, Nebraska for the night and spent ages driving around looking for a motel. We didn’t have a coupon book that covered Nebraska and couldn’t find a gas station that had any so we had to resort to trawling around town asking for rates and finding the cheapest. I was getting quite stressed and as we passed a dingy looking place advertising rooms for $30 Sally suggested we stay there as it was cheap and it was getting quite late. I wasn’t happy because it really did look awful but, as the old saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover! The room was really lovely and had a great timberline feel about it with animal skins on the walls and hide lampshades. For $30 it was pretty amazing and we celebrated with a burger takeout meal (well, there was no microwave in the room!). This might be a good point to tell you about some of the places we’ve been staying. You will have noticed that we’ve been staying in motels – not very ‘traveler’ you might think. But our lives were saved upon discovery of these fabulous coupon books that you pick up at gas stations, which I think I’ve talked about before. They have one per region or state and motel chains or privately owned motels place a coupon for a cheap price. We’ve found places for as cheap as $29.99 so it’s really paid off. The reason we’ve done it this way is because believe it or not for us it’s cheaper than staying in hostels. If you’re 18 and with mates, then hostels are the way to go, as your bed will be $20 a night. As a couple hostels aren’t nice and for 2 beds that’s $40 or even more for a private room - sometimes up to $60-$70. So, we decided to boycott expensive hostels and go with motels instead. For the same or even cheaper prices we get a room to ourselves with a bathroom, microwave and fridge, our own TV, and free Wi-Fi and breakfast. Wouldn’t you do the same? The rooms vary in size and come with either 1 or 2 small double beds. We don’t sleep well at all if we only have 1 bed as it’s too small, and if we have 2 beds we sleep in separate beds and seeing as that’s our favourite way to go, we’re quite concerned that when we get home we’ll be sleeping in separate rooms! After a second 8 hour day of driving we arrived in Chicago. The evening we got there we were tired and hungry and so I went in search of some dinner for us while Sally updated her CV – yup, it’s time to start looking for work now that we’re home in a few weeks. To her astonishment I came back with a traditional Chicago pizza pie! A pizza pie is a deep dish pizza, sort of more like a pie, hence the name. I randomly found a local pizza place, walked in and got accosted by the owner who spent 45 minutes telling me her life story, how she owned 3 pizza places in the city including one on the ground floor of the NBC building and how she got shot and so moved out to the suburbs. To be fair she was very sweet and was very friendly to all her customers. The next day we drove into the city, parked the car and took an open aired bus tour which was great fun. It took around 4 hours stopping at various places like Millennium Park, Michigan Avenue, the Art Institute, Soldier Field, the Aquarium, Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile and Sears Tower. It also stopped at the John Hancock Tower where we got off, rode the incredibly fast elevator to the 94th floor (1000 feet up) and enjoyed a relaxing glass of wine and a 360° view of the city. We had planned to do something in the evening but we got back too late and we were exhausted. After Chicago we drove south to St Louis. One of Sally’s all time favourite musical movies is Meet Me in St Louis so she was desperate to go to the city that was home to the 1904 World’s Fair. We drove straight to the centerpiece of the city, the Gateway Arch, right on the river front. It was completed in 1965 and symbolizes the city’s historical role as the ‘Gateway to the West’. It really is a sight to be seen and standing at 630 feet can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. Right opposite is the Old Courthouse and Museum so we took a quick look around the beautiful building. It’s going through a massive renovation at present but we still managed to see some exhibits showing St Louis through the years as well as a fascinating 15 minute video about the famous Dred Scott slavery case. For lunch we popped into Charlie Gitto’s, famous for starting the toasted ravioli and it lived up to our huge expectations. Instead of using pasta the meat is rolled in breadcrumbs and then, typically American, deep fried and served with marinara sauce – just amazing, and also cheap! I have once again written too much so am stopping here and will continue from Louisville, Kentucky in my next blog. Bye for now.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Dubai – the Desert City Morning had broken according to the exclaiming cockerel next door so I got out of bed, eager to see what the days’ breakfast would bring. Downstairs, I was surprised to see an Australian couple who had arrived late the night before. They were very nice and we chatted about their trip to Europe and my forthcoming trip to Southeast Asia. It always amuses me how non-Europeans talk about Europe. Like it’s a single entity where all one has to do is see London, Paris and Rome to be able to say “yes, we did Europe last summer, it was wonderful, so quaint.” Today, being my last breakfast at the Villa, I had decided to make the most of it. I started with the yoghurt then a full bowl of fresh pineapple, to my delight. Ancy brought out the Indian component – it was an Indian stew. It looked like a pureed, diluted version of rice pudding. The translucent white soup was given life with the addition of bright green, orange and red vegetables and chillies. The accompaniment today was, again, a type of pancake but made from fermented rice flour and used to soak up the tasty liquor. Keen not to make the same mistake again, I accepted a second bowl of stew and the numerous rice pancakes that seemed to endlessly roll fresh out of the kitchen. Ancy had again called me a taxi and I had it take me to the museum again. Upon arrival, I walked the short distance to the old town region of Bastakia, which I had mostly missed the day before. The area is the oldest in Dubai and has been recently renovated looking almost pristine, possibly a little too so. The closely placed buildings formed a network of narrow alleys ripe for exploration with small shops, cafes, galleries and other tourist centred attractions. It was still quite early and I scurried along the allies and passages in glee being the only one around. The high wind towers, a very early form of air conditioning for the buildings which possessed them, were really quite attractive featuring multiple panels of carved latticework presumably used as fancy air bricks. They were built many decades ago by well-to-do traders. For unknown reasons, there were wooden poles and exposed beams which made for handy places to hang lanterns and awnings. It felt like a real treat to be able to wonder around with just the odd shopkeeper to say “hello” to. Apart from the lack of Arabs (they were in the adjacent Mosque) and, perhaps, the slight ‘just finished’ feel to the buildings, the place felt like a step back in time and was truly atmospheric. The small accumulations of sand in the corners of buildings were a constant reminder that I was in the desert. From there, I walked up the Dubai Creek, through the bustling streets and into the real working Dubai. Passed multiple mosques with their elegantly towering minarets, I was jostled as I squeezed between carts and street vendors while others presumably rushed to work, though, for many, I was already walking through their ‘office’. Wooden roofs covered tiny shop-lined alleys full of Arabic men bartering in their painfully clean traditional dress. Adjacent to the souk, was a main abra stop. Abras are essentially water taxis that ply the route between major points on either side of the river offering a faster way to travel despite being decades old. It was worth the trip just for the experience and cost less than twenty pence. The long thin abras, with a tiny roof for shade weren’t built for comfort, more for speed and agility. Many abras clogged the few rickety jetties but owners took it in turns to accept passengers although they didn’t have to wait long as they had plenty of punters. I was accosted by a man wanting to help so I told him I was heading for the spice souk. He immediately ushered my onto a rapidly filling abra where I hopped aboard, found a spot to perch on and we were off, quite literally barging other abras out of the way. I hadn’t seen any other white people on an abra nor had I seen any women. We darted out into the main waterway, dodging heavily laden dhows en route, who would have thought a three minute ride across the creek would be so thrilling. Once we had a short stretch of clear water the driver, in a trench in the middle of the boat and stood on the hull itself, starting banging on the deck. This, a fellow passenger explained, meant we had to pay and people starting hurling the 1 dirham coins at him in acknowledgment – no ticket here then. Upon landing on the Deira side of the saltwater creek, I headed straight for the popular spice souk. I could smell the exotic aromas wafting towards me as I approached. Bloated hessian sacks were carefully filled with various vibrant spices like paprika and turmeric; it was certainly a surprise for the senses. Inside, the shops had horizontal wooden pigeonholes filled with yet more spices, herbs and dried fruit. Delicate brass scales sat swaying on the counter and the walls were filled, floor to ceiling, with various culinary goods. Sticks of cinnamon, vanilla pods and piles of saffron, the colour of molten lava, beamed from their wooden containers. Had this been at the end of my trip, I would certainly have bought various samples to take home as these luxury items were everyday essentials in Dubai and priced accordingly. Leaving the spice souk and brushing off a persistent but friendly salesman in the process, I walked along the waterfront to another of the attractions I had a free ticket to. It was the modestly sized old residence of a former ruler although it wasn’t nearly as grand as I would have expected. The sun was beating down and the temperature was around fifty degrees so I didn’t spend much time in the central courtyard. Instead, I took refuge in the many rooms that came off it that were filled with past currencies, stamps and, more interestingly, old photos. They depicted the life and workings of the original Dubai when the area around the creek was still the most central and most important to the city and the emirate. As late as the 1980s, Dubai was still very primitive and more akin to the lost desert cities one sees in films with desert all around, no roads and certainly no skyscrapers. It looked as if the buildings had somehow been pushed out of the sand and were at great risk from the closely lapping waters of the creek whose lateral borders were beach, not the elevated frontage it sports now. The citizens waded through pools to see neighbours, and the boats, with their tattered sails, were far less numerous. What difference oil can make! The miniature wooden double doors, reinforced with large, black, irregularly round rivets and long sturdy yet decorative hinges, lead into thick-walled whitewashed rooms. The doors required serious ducking and were just that bit too narrow to get into through one side, especially with a bag like mine strapped to your back, so both doors needed opening. Even smaller, with the top door frame coming to just below my nipples, was the door into one of the wind towers and up onto the roof. I felt like Alice must have felt as she blindly followed that unpunctual rabbit into a hole leading anywhere and everywhere. I couldn’t stand up as I climbed the dim staircase, so I resorted to the gait of an ungulate with my tripod clipping the ceiling. On the roof itself, the power of the wind tower was apparent and the breeze refreshing. The view over the creek and Deira was given a soundtrack of many chanting men from the nearby mosque during one of their five daily prayer sessions. I caught the bus to the Wafi Mall to get pictorial evidence of the Egyptian hideousness and to catch a convenient taxi back to the villa where I would go on to experience the medium that gave rise to Dubai – the desert. I showered and changed ready for the desert safari and waited downstairs for the “luxury 4x4 vehicle”. It eventually pulled up and I, being alone, got to sit in the front seat. We drove for about forty five minutes through the hustle and bustle of Dubai and along the motorway into the desert. After which we stopped at a very mediocre service station that was filled with tacky tourist trinkets, obviously tailored to its clientele. The ‘car park’ was packed with four wheel drive vehicles all releasing some air from their tyres in preparation for the soft dunes while the passengers, myself not included, stocked up on water and ice creams. Meanwhile, I’d prized my camera out of my bag and had legged it down the road, over a cattle grid, through a barbwire fence and into the desert for some sneaky snaps before we set off. I managed to fit in about forty photos before I ran back, just in time for our departure into the desert proper. Pulling off the asphalt, over the hard shoulder, through a gap in a poorly made wire fence and straight onto the sand, we stopped momentarily to release a little excess gas, from the tyres not from lunch. We were off, hurtling across the sand at speed, up and over the colossal dunes before sharply turning at the ridge to allow the vehicle to ‘surf’ across the dunes with sand swirling all around us. It was like a natural rollercoaster and just as exciting, although from the sounds of things the Grecians in the back hadn’t been on one before. It was fantastic fun, as was occasionally seeing another vehicle perform the same stunts daring stunts while we shot passed. We stopped after forty five minutes as we came across a vehicle with a puncture. We all got out, the bonnet was lifted so as to prevent overheating and we were given ten minutes to absorb the desert, or that’s what I chose to do. Previously, this kind of sand-filled desert, where the titanic dunes were the skyscrapers, was a thing of awe seen only on nature programmes where nothing but the obscure and ancient could survive. Last year I wondered at the Australian desert, the outback, and my first real taste of the desert, and I was blown away with its sheer scale and presence. This was both the same and something entirely different. To me, this was the real desert. I stood, stunned and amazed, at its vastness and beauty feeling a great deal of respect for the many that have conquered it and for the desert itself. It must have even taken Ray Mears a considerable amount of time to work out how to survive in such barren and arid conditions. The sand and its various abstract lines were so crisp with any imperfection quickly blown over by the wind providing an infinitely changing landscape that one could only admire. It wasn’t just the vista that was infinite for the desert seemed to go on forever with no sign of civilization anywhere, not even a shack or a tree interrupting the amber glow of the sands. Ripples, micro-dunes if you will, were created by the breeze and covered some surfaces of the real dunes until a peak was reached. A gently meandering line, the ridge of the dune, was where thousands of particles of sand were shot over the edge which provided fluidity to an otherwise seemingly static environment. I clambered up, ruining its perfection, to feel the grains exfoliate my skin then the burn from the heat of the sand on the sun drenched side of the dune. There was no more time for exploration as the wheel had been changed, and more adrenaline-fuelled fun ensued. We headed over to a rocky hill that provided a more permanent and sharp incline to the dunes. Here we stopped again, this time to try our hand, or foot, at sand boarding. I was first and managed to have a couple of spectacular crashes but they just added to the fun, even if I ended up wishing I hadn’t put any sun cream on. I was fairly pleased with my performance as it was as difficult as I had anticipated but lots of entertainment for everyone involved. We arrived at a traditional Bedouin tribe camp, with three camels waiting patiently outside, where we were to spend the rest of the evening. There were large tents made from dark heavy cloth that formed the perimeter of the camp with a large area in the middle for people to sit. Here, we were invited to rest while we waited for dinner to be cooked, which included traditional barbequed kebabs that smelled delicious. The smell of food was antagonised with the sweet, pungent fumes from the Shisha pipes which I wasn’t interested in trying. Others dressed up in traditional clothes for photos but I and a Canadian family went for camel rides around the camp. As we waited for the previous guests to dismount, it was clear to see that the camels didn’t enjoy their work. It took lots of shouting and whipping to get them to comply with simple commands. The reason for the muzzle became apparent when the disgruntled camels tried to bite the handler. I wasn’t worried though as it did have the muzzle on and I hadn’t done anything to it, yet, so why would it go for me? It really didn’t occur to me that it might fancy a shot at me so it came as a shock when it had a good chomp on my right arm as soon as I came into range of its long curved neck. This resulted in an impressive bruise several days later. We were thrust backwards then forwards as the camel reluctantly stood up. It was a choppy ride around the camp, even at slow speed, and quite different to that of a horse. I managed to hang on as the quadruped sat down and, on leaving its personal space, gave it a wide berth. I returned to the central rugged area where many low tables were arranged for people to sit cross-legged on large cushions as I did on the dhow cruise. The food was soon ready and I raced to the queue to get my first meal since breakfast. There was quite a range, from flat breads and hummus to curries and kebabs, and I, of course, tried everything. The tables were arranged around a dancing area where, after a second helping, we were entertained with traditional belly dancing. It was quite entertaining to watch, especially when guests were invited to join her which they did with a surprising lack of hesitation and resulted in a very pleasant evening. The drive home entailed another hairy drive through the desert, this time moonlit, and then back onto the service station for re-inflation. I was back at the villa before midnight and felt a little guilty as I was last to be picked up and first to be dropped off. I then washed what looked like several kilos of sand from my body before getting into bed ready for an early rise the next morning. Ancy had very kingly offered to drive me to the airport where I said farewell and thanked her for the delicious food. I left Dubai feeling enriched that I’d experienced another, very different culture and surprised myself with a sense that I would, in a few years time, like to return with the intention of seeing the capital, Abu Dhabi, which is said to be the cultural centre of the UAE. I was expecting to hate the city and it to be devoid of any culture, stifled, in my eyes, by its embrace of the modern world. I also expected to spend a fortune while I was there having heard numerous reports of it being very expensive but this never happened and I found that I spend very little, although the villa wasn’t overly cheap. This, then, further enhanced the idea that Dubai really is what one makes of it, a diverse city that can be many things to many people. One that I would certainly recommend friends to visit – just go in the winter when the temperatures are tolerable! I checked into my Emirates flight then made my way to duty free where I bought some whiskey for Mr Lim, as a thank you, and also a spare battery for my camera with some of the leftover money I had, the rest I changed into Ringgit. I got a drink from the ubiquitous Starbucks and took a seat to utilise the FREE Wi-Fi while I waited for gate 23 to open. Onboard the plane, I was sat right at the front which meant I had more leg room but with a reduced view and a very young baby next to me. I was expecting this to cause problems for me throughout the flight but it never did, even with the bassinet protruding into my space and was kindly thanked on my exit from the plane by the staff for my understanding. I chatted to a Malaysian girl who was sat next to me during the flight, she was studying medicine in Moscow. Enjoying a little quiet time, I wrote and sipped on another gin and tonic as I headed to country number two. ‘Ah, the pleasures of flying.’

Luang Prabang, Laos

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello everyone, We recently left the laid back village of Pai and began a two day slow boat trip down the Mekong from Thailand into Laos. We travelled on a huge 'long boat' through the most awesome scenery and rested overnight at Baan Pakbeng. This is another very rustic town on the banks of the chocolate-milk Mekong and we were greeted by village ladies carrying handfulls of live, quacking ducks. Every restaurant doubled as the owners house also and their family and children would be sat watching television and having their dinner in a proper lounge corner of the restaurant with thier sofas, coffee tables and personal photographs for all to see.... from here we did another 8 hours on the slow boat before reaching our destination... Luang Prabang. On arrival you can instantly see why the place is world heritage listed and it is possibly one of the most picturesque places I have ever seen. Today we went through a forrest to a huge waterfall and swam in the numerous rockpools that were fed by the crystal clear water. We swung out on tarzan swings into the water and others dived from knee-tremblingly high trees. On a personal note my body has adapted to the multitude of mozzy and insect bites. I still get bitten but no longer consider amputation as a solution to ease the itching. The humidity is something else and has a somehwat leaking effect on my body so for the sake of efficiency I am thinking of cutting out the middle man (being me) and just pouring the copious amounts of bottled water straight onto my clothes. I have been excersing a lost and long forgotten primary school attribute and I have started reading again and already polished off two big thick books with no pictures... who'd have thought.... I'm still a way off the tie-died cheese-cloth clothing, dreadlocks and jewelry made from shells but we'll see as my hair grows. It's still too early to really really miss anyone properly yet but the travelleing so far, the peole we have met, the places we have seen, the sounds, sights (not so much all the smells) reminds us each day that we're alive and confirms the reason we chose to do this trip. We are having technical difficulties with the SD card reader with the new cards so I will have to bring in the camera USB cable the next time to upload the new photos... sorry but they should be worth waiting for. That's all this time so from me (aka Stuart Leaking-Moonchild), Bernie and the duckwomen of Pakbeng... Peace, Love and Life.... Word up !!! XXX

Santiago, Chile

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Ola! 2 blogs in 3 days.......a bit of reading for you all whilst your ´working´ hard!! So onto the first country that doesnt have English as one of its native launguages, and even getting a taxi from the airport to the centre of Santiago took a bit of time. We made it there in the end though, and then found a hostel as we tried to stay awake, the 39 hour day was starting to take its toll on both of us, literally the longest day of our lives! We only had 4 full days in Chile and we´ve made the most of them, we´ve taken the cable car up one of the mountains to where there is a massive statue of the virgin Mary overlooking the city, it was also a pretty good view of the whole of Santiago which is a massive city. We then took a walk around the centre of the city to see the sights, took a picture with a couple of policemen outside one of the buildings, it was abit like the houses of parliment in london, except we thought we better not try and make them laugh, would of been hard to explain! The following day we went skiing to El Colorado, which is about an hours drive from Santiago, we got picked up from the hostel by a bloke who loved driving, i think he really wished he was a racing driver, but if he was he´d need a horn in his car, he must of beeped at about 30-40 people on the way back to the shop to get geared up, it was about a 15 minute drive! We got kitted out with the works, they also labelled our gear, asking our names, they got Ýak´ for Jack and ´Crist´ for me! We jumped on another bus and headed up to the mountains, getting out on the slopes at about 11am, we had to be back on the bus at 5pm so we had a good 6 hours to put in some major skiing! Yak was pretty good as he´d been quite recently but it was my first time skiing since year 8 at school, probably about 10 years ago! So we took it easy on the green slopes for a couple of tries, on the first go i was well happy as i´d not fallen down and was going pretty fast the whole way, I then tried to stop and ended up in a heap on the floor, lesson 1, learn to stop before going fast! I also managed to lose my lift pass in the fall, but luckily found it again, it could only get better! Yak was off zooming down the slopes whilst i got my bearings back, i even spotted him getting a little jump in here and their from the ski lift. We then met back up at the top of the first slope to try something a little harder, we got on the ski lifts that just pull you along, abit like a zip wire, just going up hill. As we were reaching the higest point on the mountain Yak managed to fall off of his lift and said ill meet you at thebottom of this one! So i carried on and got to the top, lovely views, would of been nice if their was another way down other than skiing, too steep and narrow for my liking, but their were little kids getting off the ski lift so i just went for it, doing well until about 30m down the slope, then taking a tumble and not being able to stop for about a further 40m when i manged to hit the wooden fence seperating the slopes, great success, no broken bones just a quick adrenaline buzz! We then spent the rest of the day going down some of the intermediate slopes with Yak going on a few more of the red ones. For the last couple of runs, i faced the red one again and luckily no repeat of the first attempt! It was well good, the views around the mountain were amazing and it was a great day for skiing, for the last run we went right to the top again and then fired down the whole slope until we were at the bottom and had to get the bus home, all in all a quality day. We spent the next day chilling out, it was much needed after skiing, so not much to write home about their! We went to Valparaiso today, which is a very old city on the coast of Chile, about a 2hours drive from Santiago, it was a nice place, but you could see how old it was as it was quite shabby! We spent a couple of hours just wandering around and seeing what was their, climbing many hills as apparently their are a total of 45 hills in the city! We then had lunch and got the coach back. Tomorrow we head off to Argentina on our first mega coach ride, 20hours! Hope everyone is ok and your enjoying the English summer, Muchos Love Crist and Yak xxx

Baden Baden, Germany

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Nur noch einmal schlafen!!!! So bin schon etwas nervös und werde jetzt mal anfangen zu packen. Tja ansonsten genieße ich noch die letzten Stunden in Varnhalt Baden Baden mit einem wunderschönen Blick auf den Schwarzwald. Da Buenos Aires ja ein recht stressige, laute und dreckige Stadt ist genieße ich noch die Ruhe. Morgen früh werden mich dann meine zwei besseren Hälften Konrad und Susi zum Flughafen bringen tja und dann fliege ich auch schon um 19:40 mit LAN Chile von Frankfurt via Santiago de Chile nach Buenos Aires. Komme dann dort am 12.07.09 so um 13:00 Uhr in Buenos Aires an und werde dann mit den Shuttle Bus vom Flughafen zum Hostel fahren. Dann werde ich erst mal meine Sprachschule aufsuchen und einkaufen gehen, denn am Montag geht es ja schon los... Also ich melde mich dann wenn ich eine vernünfige Internetverbindung gefunden habe. Schaut Euch erst mal die anderen Fotos .... Hasta Pronto Eure Carmen

Pokhara, Nepal

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Nepal Blog: 26.06.09 - 10.07.09 Kathmandu ~ Chitwan National Park ~ Pokhara Nepal is like dipping a toe into Indian culture then deciding to chill on the grassy banks after all. Predominantly Hindu, bright saris pervade the streets and polka dot the hillside fields. Men-only groups sit on wooden platforms on streetsides, playing cards and sipping glasses of chai. Cows languidly roam the pot-holed dusty streets in the midday heat. And there's the widest range of physiognomies that we've seen so far -wide Tibetan faces with their high cheekbones and tight, smiling eyes are as common as the large-featured, bushy moustached Indian ones, and large almond eyes in surprisingly Western settings. Most of these faces are smiling at you, when they're not trying to offer you a cup of tea (which, when you've been standing in their shop for the last half hour trying to decide between two near-identical necklaces, comes as a nice surprise and shock to someone used to the impatient semi-sneers of the shop assistants on Oxford Street, if you can find one). But I knew how it was going to be after spending most of the flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu sitting next to a Nepali minister for education, who, after taking off his glasses to reveal twinkling eyes, gave me a list of recommendations as long as my arm for Kathmandu then, seeing that i was beginning to drown in information, firmly thrust his card upon me, insisting that we call or email if we get stuck. "We like to know people are enjoying our country", he said. Understatement. In two weeks, I've been given free lassis in restaurants, 8 cups of tea in shops (even when i wasn't buying anything) and after checking into hotels, had half the street in Thamel (the tourist district of Kathmandu) knowing my name (probably something to do with giving in with the tea and buying BOTH necklaces, but still), had random blessings on the street and been joined by a young Nepali vet student when walking around Durbar Square in Kathmandu on Saturday morning just because he fancied showing us around, and getting us into the tourist attractions for free. We snaked down muddy back alleys through throngs of people out to see the 365 girls dressed up in their frilly party frocks and lining the streets in honour of the Kumari, the Newari living goddess (long story, but basically involves a Malla king, a goddess, an unseemly advance, and his subsequent guilt). You had to have your wits about you, because every so often there'd be someone slaughtering a goat at a road corner shrine and you'd need to dodge the blood spatters, but it was hard to keep focused when there was so much going on. Aside from the kohl-eyed Bo-Peeps, we passed a marching brass band wedding procession, a Karma Sutra temple, complete with engravings (not in any way erotic, we're assured, but rather an expression of a tantric religion, though they looked pretty erotic to me), 3000 rickshaws intent on mowing you down or at the very least splattering you head to foot in mud, and some beautiful wooden architecture complete with vivid blue doors. Standing among the (Hindu and Buddhist) temple-strewn squares of Kathmandu, you glance upwards and catch a glimpse of the mist-covered mountaintops in the distance, just as a pigeon s***s on your head before you can get too poetic about it. Nepal's pigeon population seems to be thriving - in the villages they build birdhouses to keep them before ritually slaughtering them, but they roam free in the cities. Eat your heart out Trafalgar Square. After seeing all those young girls putting in so much effort, it would have been wrong not to visit the Kumari's palace in time for her once-a-day appearance at her window (no photos please!). As well as Vinayak, the Nepali vet (who, by the way, doesn't particularly like animals, but it's a job, isn't it?), we'd met Lawrence, a Dutchman en route to Thailand to meet his girlfriend, and Matthew and Shira, a couple who'd met on a plane, and we'd all stood in the rain to see the goddess in which none of us believed. And we waited. Finally Vinayak went and somewhat sacriligeously hammered on the front door, demanding when the embodiment of Durga/Taleju (depending on who you believe) would keep her 4pm appointment and show her face, an act which i'm convinced sent her straight back to bed until 5, which is when she appeared. A hush echoed around the courtyard square. And, after staring regally, yet youthfully, the five-year-old disappeared back into the depths of the dark wood palace (prison?). Well, it's not every day you see a living goddess, so we celebrated with a late lunch of momos, stick tricks and drinks in a tiny place Vinayak knew. Not a bad day all in all. Kathmandu is perfectly situated for day trips, in fact, it's probably the reason it's the capital. Kess and i spent one day walking past paddy fields of women planting the already-germinated crop and singing together, bent in a line at right angles, up the hill to the Monkey Temple to the west of the city. The view at the top of the steep, animal-guarded stairway encompasses the whole of Kathmandu, and is pretty magic once you've wiped the sweat out of your eyes, but part of me prefered the ramble through the mountain-lined paddy fields for a true look at the city. Still, we did the obligatory walk around the prayer wheels (presided over by authoritarian-looking monkey heavies) and gazed at the big white stupa, which gazed right back at us through the painted eyes of the Buddha which watch over the 360 degree panorama. And, after all this tramping (you can't travel with a Kiwi for 6 months and some of the vocab not rub off), we were both glad to make it back to town for an Indian thali set and an early night. A note on Nepalise food. Aside from the ubiquitous yet delicious momo dumplings, the influences seem to be largely Indian, with a fair whack of Tibetan yak cheese and curd thrown in. We've had some delicious daal bhaat and buff (buffalo) curries in some of the tiny momo restaurants (where you can dine like a queen for less than a dollar) and thick sweet lassi with nuts on top from a busy corner street seller (another Vinayak find). But a serious food highlight was when sheltering from what can only be described as a biblical deluge in Bhaktapur, an ancient town 40 minutes from Thamel. After hiding from the monsoon with the ducks in a doorway (gilt edged) for over half an hour, we'd taken our chances, thrown our sandals to the wind, and swam our way to the nearest promising-smelling metal pot. The cafe was pretty empty when we entered, apart from the family who ran it. Leaving the street full of residents sticking pots out to catch the rain water, we beamed at the earring-and-vested father behind the food as we shook out our umbrellas and wrung our clothes, pratically putting out the stove in the process. "So, what'll it be for you girls?" we assumed he said, in Nepali, as we struggled onto a bench to the sounds of Bollywood Sessions blaring from the t.v. "Umm, what've you got?" we mimed. "Momos?" To avoid further confusion, he rustled us up a plate of a bit of just about everything he had: the best momos I've ever tasted, potato curry, tomato pickle, and flat rice. As the t.v. steamed up from out evaporating backs (as opposed to the PG video), he proceeded to tell us proudly about his daughters, who had studied in Europe and were now living in America. His wife sat and anxiously watched as we tried each new mouthful, but satisfied by our obviously authentic grins of appreciation, nodded smiles now and then. And then the son, who up till now had been silently flicking through Bollywood channels whilst dexterously making momos piped up. In word perfect English. The dad, seeing that attention had passed from him, or perhaps just annoyed that he couldn't tell us more about his daughters' marketing courses, went over the to the t.v. and whacked up the sound, drowning out his son, who dutifully turned back to the momo-making, and started to dance back to our table. Seeing that he hadn't served us anything for fully five minutes, he shook up a tomato ketchup bottle and without asking if we needed any (we didn't), proceeded to explode the sauce all over our plates. And Jess' new silk scarf. We never did get to see all that much of Bhaktapur, but we left the town with a warm glow from that little kitchen room and honest-meaning, friendly family. Not that the warm glow lasted that long. We'd hired a motorbike and on the way back, the rush hour, ringroad traffic had been diverted and had to wing it cross-country over insane potholes and with no map to guide us, with Jess' back playing up and me with one eye open, dust scratching the contact lens in the streaming other. All I can say is that it's testament to Jess' navigation and driving skills that we got home at all. But i guess we should count ourselves lucky that the monsoon held off for those two hours! Week Two in Nepal found us on the six and a half hour bus journey (if you include the traffic queue for roadworks in the boiling midday heat) to Chitwan National Park. I rather enjoyed the journey, which takes you past lush green gradated hillsides, thick forests and vertiginous drops to swift-moving brown waters below. Small boys play in the swinging metal baskets that transfer goods from one side to the other, high above the river, with a disturbing lack of fear (or safety awareness, for that matter). Other little boys and girls scream from wildly overcrowded schoolbuses driven by angels (Nepal puts a strong emphasis on schooling and with increasing birthrates, the Kathmandu Post told of concerns that there'd be inadequate numbers of secondary schools available before long. Or that bus-driver massacres would sharply increase, which would solve the issue at least). The Royal Chitwan National Park is 932sq km large, and full of rhinos, tigers, leopards, elephants and deer to feed them, but the part we stayed in, at Sauraha, is mainly full of jungle lodges. So full in fact, that although there were still a few off-season groups around (mainly Indian), we were the only people staying at ours. Which did mean that we had the best service possible, as well as personal guide (Tilak) who took us on long-grass rambles and had time to talk religion and politics to us as the sun set over the river, but which also meant that there was no way Jess and i could lose ourselves in anonymity. This was particularly bad at mealtimes, at which we were constantly faced with a plate whcih can only be described as eclectic. As if to ensure that we'd get something we liked, we would have soup, rice, fried potatoes, fritter/meat AND chips. And these are healthy supersize-me buffalo-portions we're talking about here. There's no guilt worse than feeling ill from a long journey in the heat and having to leave a whole plate of food that has been prepared solely for you. We spent the next morning protesting our lack of pie-eating-contest stomachs in a desperate bid to keep portions down. Other than that, the morning, as mornings go, was pretty spectacular. It started off with a canoe down the river, in a hollowed our tree, to spot some crocs. While our guide, Tilak, was to be honest more interested in bird watching, Jess and i were still full of the Oz croc tour guide's safety warnings: "These are not a joke. Crocs WILL eat you. Keep your arms inside the (speed)boat" - so were nervously scanning the bank for any sudden movements to threaten our bit of tree bark. Jess saw her first. "Umm, is that one? There? Right in front of us, two feet away?". It was, and she was hissing. Tilak pulled out a big cane pole in case she got frisky. So that's alright then. Making it back alive, we walked past the village, with its heaps of corn drying in the sun on the ground, to the Elephant Breeding Centre, where some baby twins were suckling from their mother, and a baby wild boar was trying to suckle me. Then on for our elephant safari, for which we climbed on board a basket with two chain-smoking Frenchies (nervous?!) and lolloped our way with another elephant into the jungle, also known as 'low-flying branches land'. We were just revelling in the excitement of seeing two rhinos close up for the first time (who knew they were so be-armoured?) when our Nellies started getting 'playful'. It was all rather exciting, like a fairground teacups ride gone wrong, until Jess pointed at the other driver's terrified face, and we realised it wasn't a game. As the other elephant stamped and ours charged off into the trees, the strap holding our side of the basket snapped, leaving us bumping even more precariously on top of a giant steam-roller, which was out of control. Jess fell to the floor, in a wail of red-hot dust and we all waited with bated breath as the clouds cleared to see if she were breathing. Oh ok, that bit's a lie, but it seemed a bit more of a fitting end to the drama than the truth, which was that the trainers got the elephants under control, and hopped down to mend our strap, and we all lived happily ever after (sorry Jess!). The evening brought with it a cultural dance show, complete with man-in-peacock costume (also apparently traditional) and fireshow (ditto, and in no way imported from the Thai beaches for the tourists) and an early night, as i was to be up at 6am the next morning for a birdwatching session. Yes really. But it turned out to be interesting in the end as it is a passion of Tilak's, and it was nice to take an early morning stroll and grab a mango from the tree before the 4-hour bus journey (on rock-hard seats) to Pokhara, our last stop in Nepal before the border crossing to India. Pokhara's a true tourist town by a beautiful lake, and the last stop for trekkers setting off to do Annapurna walks. Jess and i, scared of leeches and monsoon horror stories, are saving the trek for next time, when we will hit Everest Base Camp in the right season, so are free to boat on the lake, enjoy the cooler climate and check out the views of the mountains in ease. And actually it's exactly what we need, to have some time to do some meditative yoga (one session focussed so much on breathing exercises that i nearly passed out from the rush of oxygen to the head) and chat to the restaurant waiters, who are full of tips (and warnings!) for India, and anecdotes about Nepal. So for now I'll leave you, and go for another stroll along the lakeside to enjoy the snow-topped mountain sunset views and snigger once again at the barber-come-massage stalls that line the streets ("no, i don't think i'll be letting you touch me, thanks for the offer though!") Who knows? There might be time for a lassi before the sun sets.

Cairns, Queensland

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Cairns, Australia It was a really smooth flight from Singapore to Darwin and from Darwin to Cairns. Jet star was a surprisingly good airline as it is the Qantas budget option. We were chuffed as we thought it would be like Easyjet (Sleezyjet!). We flew into sunny Cairns around 8am and got picked up and taken to our hostel, called Castaways. We couldn't believe how clean this hostel was and it had its own kitchen and TV room, but we are now paying 4 times the price we were in Asia, so we are a bit gutted not to be in the land of the cheap anymore. The first evening we caught the free bus to town and went to a backpacker haunt called the Woolshed, where we both got very very drunk and ended up in some club dancing until 3am, quality tunes! The next day with a gruelling hangover we took a walk along the esplanade into town, this was a gorgeous walk (sadly there is no beach, and also watch out for the saltwater crocs!). We were surprised to not be sweating, the air was lovely and cool. Ads put a jumper on for the first time in almost 3 months! The next day we woke early and went for a run along the esplanade to try and burn off some of the calories we had consumed on alcohol a few nights previously! It felt amazing to finally be cool enough to do some exercise and we can really see how OZ is geared around sport and outdoor activities as there is a free outdoor pool, volleyball, skate park, and free classes such as yoga and aqua aerobics. That day we did lots of walking around town and started thinking about what we wanted to do in OZ. We booked a trip around the great barrier reef came back to the hostel and watched Finding Nemo for further inspiration! We woke early the next day walked into town, grabbed a coffee and caught our boat to the reef. As soon as we got out of the harbour it was ridiculously choppy and a lot of people required sick bags! We dived at 2 points in the outer barrier reef and saw lots of fish including clown fish (Nemo) and our favorite the Sea turtle. The water was not as warm as Malaysia so we had to wear wet suits and it was still pretty damn cold, we were so pleased that we chose to snorkel and not dive as the waters were quite shallow so we could see just as well with our snorkels. Plus diving is twice the price! Overall an amazing experience at the Great Barrier Reef and we would definitely recommend it to anyone. We had a nightmare booking a campervan as the one we wanted wasn't available for a week, but we managed to find the only available one in Cairns believe it or not, as it is peak season here at the mo. The van is super sweet with a Toyota 2.4 litre engine and is a Hi Top camper with a big fridge, sink, microwave, awning, table and chairs and loads of storage and even a CD/MP3 player which we can plug the I-Pod into. We couldn't be happier as we thought we would be given a crappy one for the price we paid. But it has all the mod-cons and from here we start our camping adventure for 48 days down the East coast to Sydney

Melbourne, Victoria

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello, Well i am still getting over seeing Janelle from neighbours, still a bit star struck! Not that much has been happening realy since my last blog. Lee and I got the tram to St Kilda yesterday, which is a beach town just outside of Melbourne. I thought that it would be a really nice place, as i had heard great things about it, but really i would say it was just ok. it was the first day since we have been in MElbourne that it had been sunny and not raining, so it was nice to take advantage of that and take a walk along the beach. In the evening i went to meet up with Ross's best friend, Jon, you may remember him from our wedding (he was the one who came all the way from australia and danced like a crazy person) and his girlfiend naomi, which was cool to meet up with him on his own patch. So I fly to Perth tomorrow, better go and find some accomodation now as i am landing at 12.15am so i guess i had better find somewhere to stay for the night. That's it! speak soon x

Yasawa Islands, Fiji

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

BULA!Welcome back to the good life. We´ve had nothing to re`port really up until now(check out the All Blacks Photo Album, we´ve just been working hard. So in desperate need of a holiday! WOOOOO! So a 3hour flight from Auckland to Fiji. It didnt take us long to be living that dream again! Sipping on the finest ´Fiji Gold´ Beer and touching down in sunny paradise. That night we were initiated into classic Fijian culture, with a ´Cava Ceremony´(or 20). Cava is a drink which is made from the root of a pepper plant, basically it looks like muddy water, tastes like muddy water and goes down about aswel as muddy water. But it does numb your mouth and make you feel super relaxed, not that you need chilling out in Fiji.Early the next morning we got on a boat and headed for the Yasawa Islands, the hard part was choosing one particular island to stay at, with all of the looking equally amazing, so i stepped up (its jack writing by the way) and picked one. Coarl View. A seriously stunning place, with fantastic people and a lace that will defo leave me and C with top memories. That night at dinner they announced the daily activities for the following day in paradise. One prticular activity stood out slightly more to us than the other, a "SHARK FEED DIVE".There were only 4 takers, including us. So at about 9.30am down we went to about 18m and watched as the instructor opened up the bin full of fish scraps.(personally little dissapointed, thought they were going to feed someone to the sharks, the name of the activity is a bit missleading) just joking. It was awesome, we watched as about 5 white tips around 2m long, gobbed up the fish. Then right at the end, cruising up from the ocean floor below was a Lemon Shark, we were told this one is just over 4m long. Ummm trying my best not to swear in describing how big it was.....it was ´very verý´HUGE! Cool times already though!Over to Christopher....... BULA! The locals who work on the island have a game of touch rugby EVERY evening before dinner, and we both looking forward to it. They only play 1 touch before turnover so it was a slightly mad game but got rid of a few cobwebs and was good to play some form of rugby again. Some of the Fijians were unrealm playing barefoot they still had crazy speed and good skills it was good to watch(as that was what happened as they sprinte past). After the Shark dive i decided to take my ´Advanced Diving ´course on the island, it was just me on the course so it was basically"do you wana dive today?" and i could chose when i wanted to do my 5 dives. It was a good course, no written tests, just underwater skills, it also meant one of my five could be another shark dive, we went down 30m and i had to write my name and play "O´s&X´s" just to prove the pressure hadn´t messed with my head. We then went back up to 18m to join the shark dive group. On the way back up one of the 2m white tips was on his way back down and was swimming right towards us unitl about 3m then it casullay swam right past, pretty intense. I then got to watch the rest of the shark feed.Barndog joined me on 1 of the dives which was spectacular, it was called ´the pinnacle´basically a huge mushroom shapped coral reef, that we swam around and then underneath at the bottom. There was also a tunnel we could swim through, we both got stuck though forgetting about the tanks on our back, but squeezed through still. We saw Sting rays and Magic coral which completley changed colour when touched.....divign was amazing! We also did a couple more trips from Coral View, one of them a school trip over to a boarding school on a different island, it was amazing to see the real Fijian culture. The kids all looked well happy and they also sung to us for about 45mins, which is a massive part of their culture, Fijians love a sing song! It did feel a bit weird though as the 4 of us who went,sat on chairs at the front, just like X-factor! But was a great afternoon.We also did an afternoons hand line fishing, even catching some of our own bait on the beach beforehand, the Fijian guy found a hole in the sand and started digging, plucked a crab out of the sand and then snapped off its legs and pincers and threw it in the boat! He then said we could give it a try, so as a joint effort, me, Jack and the couple who were on the trip managed to catch one crab, whilst the Fijian caught about 5! We then set off and begun fishing, again the Fijian guy was bossing it, he caught about 7 fish, I caught 2, Barnesie and the girl caught 1, and the other lad seemed to just be feeding the fish his bait, but still sounded like he had a great time!! As you can see from one of the pictures, JB was sulking as he´d caught nohing until he finally pulled one in on his last go, we then headed back and for lunch the next day we got an extra plate on the table with the fish we had caught, very nice! Back over to Barndog........Next up for us was a Kayaking sesh over to Blue Lagoon (which funnily enough us where the film Blue Lagoon was filmed, funny that) It was about a 30min paddle there (with the current) Then we snorkelled over the lagoon and the reef for an hour which was amazing then we had to Kayak back. There were two other lads one looked a bit like action man, but when theres 4 lads-4 kayaks- and one finish point, its always going to turn into a race! Well, we absolutley smoked em´it was just like a Redgrave and Pincent moment, poor old action man and his mate got left for dead.Ha.Having been at Coral View for a week. We were now locals to the staff, they even reserved the table at dinner for us and 2 long term english girls we met. We truely embraced Fiji culture. Tried all of thier food, which was sooooo good. We were so well look after. After chatting to one of the guys who´s lived on the island all his life, he expressed his interest in golf, a few drinking games and ´Fiji Golds´later and we´d promised to build the island a Mini Golf Course. The next day we delivered! Tavewa Golf Club, he first on the Yasawa Islands. The Coarl View Open took place the Sunday. C came 2nd to a Fijian Lady who had never even heard of golf before. I cant remember where i came (bad loser). The evenings were always class, spent singing, dancing and drinking (even a touch of dressing up) which made for some seriously good times. C´s new nickname is Billy. During the 2 weeks in Fiji he won several dance competitions. I sense a new career for Mr Elliott?ha. He even sold me out to ensure his victory in one game. (Damm you Billy).I am affraid the day came where we had to leave. A week had passed and we´d only stayed on the 1 island, which is rare among the backpackers, but it meant we actually got to know the people and they got to know us. So back on the boat, down to the next island, Kuata. This is the island where the film Castaway was filmed. The only thing we did on this island was chill out, after all we had worked hard and deserved our holiday. (i can see you shaking your heads in disagreement, but we did)ha.Back over to Billy for the last few days! It was onto Beachcomber, the iland with the reputation....party central, very different from the other islands, you could even walk around the whole island in about 5 minutes. It is also home to the infamous 100+ bed dorm, quite a sight in itself! As it was our last 2 nights on the islands we made the most of them and ended up smashed both nights, partying until the early hours, kind of like home really.......except for the cocktails (replacing the turbo cider shandy´s), the sand dance floor (replacing the sticky beer and glass filled dance floor) o and the fact we were surrounded by a nice warm sea (instead of bristol docks!!) We had 2 great nights, on the 2nd Barnesie tried a Baman impersonation (we´ll leave it at that) and ended up getting told to leave the only bar on the island, luckily the guy let him back in.....and only 2 minutes later he tripped over and ended up on his ass, much to the amusement of pretty much everyone in the bar! Great times, he claims it was the "2 level bar floor´s fault" personally i blame the ridiculous amounts of alcohol we consumed! The following day was a sad day...time to leave the islands and head back to the mainland, the sun was still shining and another couple of weeks would have been lovely! That afternoon we had some time to kill, so I got a taxi into town to have a look around, it was an experience, everyone trying to get you in their shops, I ended up in one and had a Cava session with this guy, as a farewell to Fiji, i was especially happy when two girls walked in so i wasnt the only person in the shop! Over to JB for the final bit.............. So with an afternoon to kill on the mainland, and Billy in town, i decided to head to the golf course. The etiquitte of golf in Fiji is the real deal, no collar shirt rquired, you dont even have to wear one. Baking hot day (nowhere to put the hot ashes Coley).The last 8 holes i joined in a 2-ball with a very interesting Fijiain guy and his friend. On the 19th hole over a few Fiji Golds we got chatting. It resulted in him offering Me and Billy a job on ´his resort´on one of the islands. Does anyone know how you could go about turning that down!?.......didn´t think so. With Fiji delivering the goods big time, i´ll speak for both of us and say the last 2 weeks have been up there with the best if not the best of the trip. Personally i dont think it will be topped! It was immense!But now were in South America! Chile to be precise.......yyyyyyeeeeeeeehhhhoooooo!Stay tuned for the Latin American Blogs coming up.Sure to be interesting.Hope your all well!Much LoveJack and Billy (c hates it by the way) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx