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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

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

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

Hué, Vietnam

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Ah Vietnam, yet another country to bear the brunt of US and European interference at some point in their history. Yet, this is a welcoming nation with some seriously beautiful spots, a fact that is somewhat surprising to you and me when we consider that much of our pre-conception of the place has been formed watching the likes of Apocalypse Now and Forest Gump. The place is certainly as tropically verdant as those films suggest, but when you take out Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper et al and a well meaning half wit from Green Bo, Alabama you are left with a remarkably developed country, the 16th most populous in the world. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is a buzzing metropolis that clearly shows the influence of French occupation in its architecture (another double edged sword...well not really even double edged if you consider the pain that resulted from this passage of time). The buzz is a result of the 24/7 moped grand prix that appears to be taking place on the streets. In fact all it needs is Murray Walker and a guy waving a chequered flag at every set of traffic lights to set the whole thing in motions. Moped drivers don't take any crap from anyone, let alone the police,and having to dive out the way of a procession riding up the pavement so they could cheat a one way sign is a regular occurrence. The feat of crossing a road successfully is something to be celebrated but general consensus appears to be if you can keep moving then things will tend to avoid you or if you are a big girl like me, then wait till a local crosses and run behind him. Both Cambodia and Vietnam accommodation is generally pretty good, and on more than one occasion it has been quite a bonus to find cable TV complete with sports channels in our room. Although, Kirsty has yet to spot the startling regularity that this amenity coincides with every time the British Lions have been playing. Pure luck I tells ya! Whether this is a good thing, I'm not so sure after the 2nd Test despair. Just one thought on this recent history....Ronan O'Gara misses the one tackle he needs to make and makes the one tackle he needs to miss. D'oh. From Saigon we moved to the South China Sea Coast and the beach side hang out of Mui Ne. For the paltry sum of $10 we had a lovely place on the beach complete with swimming pool over looking the murky waters. Our intention to do nothing but 'vege' by the pool was curtailed by the arrival at our little hideaway by the local constabulary and their cronies. Yes, the Vietnamese police turned up for what can only be described as 'a mid-afternoon session'. And out of all the guests they could have picked, they decided to invite me and the wife over to join them. Not really wanting to go, but not wanting to offend, lest we have to telephone the consulate with our one permitted phone call, we reluctantly joined them, their crate of Heineken and table full of freshly caught squid, crab and prawns. Oh did I mention that they didn't speak a world of English. So unable to converse, our hosts took it upon them, much to their obvious amusement, to make me try and down as many cans of beer with each of them in turn whilst force feeding us squid with chopsticks. To the observer it appeared to be a gross violation of human rights and abuse of police power and to me....well what the hell....I was drunk after a beer and half. Now through the haze there was a moment's pause for some clear thinking...the police are getting us drunk....they have our names...they know where we are staying....the best we could come up with was they were about to kidnap Kirsty....well every cloud. Much ramming of glasses together and pigeon English later they departed as quickly as they had arrived and we were left to reflect on what had just taken place and were we about to end up in a Vietnamese cell for the next 25 years and a breaking news item scrolling across the bottom of BBC News. We reasoned that at least the last supper had not been bad and that maybe, just maybe, as the chief fo Police kept telling us in broken English, ' Vietnamese Poleez, vewy, vewy fwendly!'. And so the next day on to Nha Trang, with one eye on the bus door in case we were suddenly pulled over by a chasing cop car. Described to us as 'the Ibiza of Vietnam' a little unjustly, Nha trang is another sea side town with a monstrous sandy beach as popular with the locals as it is with the travellers. Yes, it does have its fair share of neon lit bars and a number of beach side places, but it's a pretty laid backplace to indulge in more fresh seafood, or if you feel so inclined, hedgehog, soft shell turtle or civet cat. Our main excursion here was up to see the seated Buddha (well it wasn't like he was going to be playing tennis) who sits high up on a hill overlooking the town. The view is surprisingly reminiscent of the south of France, with the sea and multi coloured houses catching the eye - it's only when you glance inland to the dense jungle do you jolt back to Vietnam. Now the journey to Hoi An is a little bit of an epic and involves an overnight bus on what is effectively a mobile dorm, with 3 rows of bunk beds up the bus. Kirsty was particularly taken with this mode of transport and seemed to treat the whole experience as some sort of giant pyjama party. It was way after her normal bed time that I finally managed to put her to bed she was so excited. A sound night's sleep is not possible on any Vietnamese bus - the driver sees to that. Each bus has been fitted with a horn that produces a sound so excruciating it enters your eardrums, rattles down your spine and sits in your stomach for a few seconds - think Kirsty singing, but worse. The driver feels quite at ease using his horn to pass the time regardless whether it's 2 in the morning or not. Hence arriving in Hoi An we felt like we had just spent a night sleeping rough in a nightclub playing techno music. There is but one thing to do in Hoi An - get a new wardrobe - it has more tailors per square metre than Brick Lane has curry houses and having spent the year scrimping and saving, it was finally time to splurge....a little. Prompted by by imminent return to work and Kirsty having to hit the employment trail we indulged in having a few tailored suits made for ourselves and even if we do say so ourselves - we look da bomb....it's googd to see the capitalist in us is still alive and kicking. The figure hugging material is divine and was but roll of fabric until we came along. The pieces are stunning and all with 'double chiching' according to Dong our tailor (always wanted to say that), that's stitching to you and me. The only problem was deciding how much growing room we needed to factor into our clothes, so despite the fact that they were significantly cheaper than anything back home, they may just end up the most expensive items in our wardrobe on a cost per wear basis. Oh, and we must tell you about Kirsty's new Vietnamese Mum 'lady one wave', the owner of the cafe opposite or hostel. Her entire marketing strategy to help her stand out from the competition is to bellow 'hello' at every passer by, leaving them befuddled by the force of her welcome and before they know it they are sitting down at the table ordering drinks. No request is too much for 'lady one wave' and the night that she reopened just for us was typical of her generosity. A character we will never forget! There's a rather nice cultural phenomonen here in Vietnam and in fact throughout S.E Asia, in that people don't appear to take many days off if any. Sounds strange to compliment them on their work ethic, but it is balanced by the fact that many a business is a completely family run thing...run out of the family home...just like 'lady One Wave's' Cafe. it means that the family is constantly together and you may eat your meal literally in part of the living room with kids running round you causing carnage and grandma sitting watching the Asian equivalent of Cornation Street and East Enders in corner on the box...it's rather entertaining and certainly reinforces the family and extended family unit. Work and family social time just seamlessly blend into one rather than the more fractured and calendered existence at home. The journey up the coast to the cultural centre of Hue is exceptionally scenic with rice fields everywhere as you snake through the mountains and travel by the coast. Hue is one of the most laid back of Vietnam's cities - see the restaurant owners who let you look at their menus in peace without pouncing on you so ferociously as elsewhere. The city is home to a great crumbling Citadel, a former Imperial City bombed by the Yanks during the war. It's an enormous place well worth a stroll around to gain a perspective of the grandeur of this place once upon a time. Following that we sought out the local market for another tasty $1 noodle lady. Now the Dong Ba Market is evidently not normally the domain of the foreigner gathering by the incredulous looks we garnered, but for a real travel experience it couldn't be beaten. Much is lost in translation here and when we ended up with what was to all intent and purpose 'offal noodle soup', one of us at least turned our nose up at it. Surprisingly it was not me, yes the fussy and well brought up child has well and truly gone all street and I eagerly downed the bowl of 35p soup while Kirsty settled for a plate of greenery. Mmmmm noodle soup with bits of animal intestine. It's definitely giving me ideas for Saturday's One Year Wedding Anniversary. Noodle Lady was delighted the following day when we sought out her tiny plastic chairs and tables in the enormous market for another round of noodles...this time minus the offal. We are pretty sure it's the first time she has had repeat business from some tourists and weren't too suprised when the offer of some sort of reward card was not forthcoming. And so a 15 hour mobile dorm trip to Hanoi awaits us tonight. I'll have to make sure I get the Calpol ready for Kirsty...

Hervey Bay, Queensland

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hi Everyone I thought i would fill in a bit of detail about the diving as we have more time now and then daves gonna say what we have been upto since then. We got in to hervey bay this morning and have pretty much done everything that we would like to here already as its just a launch pad for boats to fraser island (where we go tomorrow) so we have some time to update our blog. We set off from cairns last wednesday on Scubapro, a massive diving boat that can fit about 35ppl and had a 3hr journey out to our first stop on the great barrier reef! I thought our first dive at sea would feel a lot less restrictive due to there being a bit more space than the swimming pool but with all the gear on it still felt a bit weird. I kept thinking i had lost dave (you have to stay close to your buddy as they have your spare air!) but he would just be over my sholder. We both got used to diving in the sea and were instantly distracted by the beautiful fish and massive corals. We had to practice some skills in our first 2 dives of day one but mainly we just swam about and instructor dave pointed out some sea cucumbers, christmas tree worms, aNEMOne fish, our first shark (a white tipped reef shark) and a blue spotted lagoon ray. The snorkelling on the shallow reef was my favorite bit of day one; there were fish everywhere and we saw a turtle! Day 2 we did two more dives, after which we were certified open water divers. We had to try and descend to exactly 16m to test our buoyancy and control, i managed it but dave was just shy on 15.9. If you went over like sunnit a friend in our team you had to eat a vegemite suprise! After we were certified we did our first pleasure dive where you go without instructors where you like! they set a course for us but we soon got lost and were distracted by a turtle. It came swimming past and i turned to follow it. I managed to swim an arms length away (i touched its shell though your not really supposed to) for about 30s with it looking at me the whole time, best bit of all the dives for me. We did a night dive which was pretty scary to begin with. they did a big long scary breifing and told us if a shark bumps into you and starts agressive behaviour to huddle in a cricle. If it grabs a mate push them away from you and inflate their bcd so the expensive equipment is easier to recover later! they played jaws music and m.jackson thriller as we descended but it wasn't too bad in the end. We saw a turtle that was about the size of a family dining table and dave asked the instructor if he could touch a flat fish that landed in front of him and he said yes! Day 3 we did our deep dive of 30m to see if anyone suffers from nitrogen narcosis (goes a bit mad/like being drunk at high pressure) but we were all ok. We had to count to 30 to see if we were effected, dave did the best and also guessed the real colour of the torch he showed us ( you lose some colour at depth so it appeared yellow but was green). our last dive was another free dive but with a camera this time so you can see the pics of us doing summersaults, putting sea cucumbers on our heads and of a few fish. Wow sory thats so long. All in all the best bit of the trip for me so far! Right dave taking over now, after our eventful Pro-Dive trip for 3 days at sea we had our group meal/drinking session. I noticed that as soon as i was off the boat that i had "sea legs" where if you close your eyes you start getting dizzy, leo didn't have the same problem though which was weird. We all met at a bar called the Rattle and Hum and grabbed some food and beers. It was nice to see people in normal clothes rather than wetsuits. After the instructors arrived we quickly moved onto a pretty seedy club called the Woolshed where it is almost customery to dance on the tables!! I also popped into another club called the Heritage but can't remember too much after that!! Unfortunately for us we had to be up at 6.30 for another trip out to the reef for snorkeling/buffet and entertainment. The reef we were taken to wasn't as good as where we had been with ProDive but we did see A small (1.5metre) white-tipped reef shark and we could almost touch it it was so close. So that was a highlight! Our entertainment came from an Australian called Elvis who was singing Mung Jerry to us with a guitar which to some degree was entertaining! Another early start the following day where we went to Cape Tribulation which is basically where the rainforest meets the sea. It was a pretty cool day as we went to a zoo where kangaroos ran free and we got to see koala bears as well. We were then taken to this spa where we had all you can eat bbq and it was by an amazing beach that was pretty much uninhabited. We were soon off tto the rainforest and then we went on a boat ride down the river in search of crocodiles! We managed to see about 5 the biggest of which was 3 metres long and was called "Scarface" and you could see why!! After getting back to Cairns we got on our first Greyhound (bus) to Airlie beach, only 11 hours (our shortest of all our trips!!) overnight, wasn't too bad to be honest plus it saves on a nights accommodation! Airlie beach is a pretty chilled place and we went to the Whitsundays in a Camira (cool boat, look it up!) we went to the Whithaven beach which was amazing, the sand is literally white and our boat were the only guys on it. We played a bit of cricket (warm-up for the ashes) and then headed to a bit of coral for some snorkelling. Unfortunately this wasn't great as compared to what we have experienced already the coral wasn't great and the visibility was 4 metres at best (up to 30metres with prodive!). That night we caught another Greyhound to Hervey Bay (13 hours) where i am writing this now. There is not alot going on here, apart from this wierd time-warped shark museum that is stuck in the 80's. You can definately tell it is getting colder the further south you go. Off to Fraser island for some 4WD fun for a couple of days so hopefully update you on that when we get back! Dave and Leo

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello peeps, Well we only have 2 weeks 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 (see the photo above). 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 Kav noticed a couple of bison in a field. Bison are hugely endangered due to 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! 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 mummy and 2 baby black bears, a couple of moose and lots and lots of chipmunks – man I love those little things! 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 leggings and a hoodie, 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 Kav found licking a brick wall for creepy crawlies and then started our descent down to a more bearable altitude. When we were back at sea level Kav let me know that it was a good thing I napped the whole way because the drive down got very hairy with steep roads and thick fog with rain – something I not good with at all! 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. Kav was getting quite stressed and as we passed a dingy looking place advertising rooms for $30 I suggested we stay there as it was cheap and it was getting quite late. Kav 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. I’m a big fan of Chicago after being able to spend many weekends there with Jamie while he was at university, and I loved it just as much this time round. The evening we got there we were tired and hungry and so Kav went in search of some dinner for us while I updated my CV – yup, it’s time to start looking for work now that we’re home in a few weeks. To my hugely impressed surprised he 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. He randomly found a local pizza place, walked in and apparently got accosted by the owner who spent 45 minutes telling him her life story, how she owned 3 pizza places in the city, got shot and so moved out to the suburbs, but he did manage to make it back alive to me with the most delicious pizza! 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 my all time favourite musical movies is Meet Me in St Louis so I 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 yummy, and nice and cheap! Have once again written too much so am stopping here and will continue from Louisville, Kentucky in my next blog. Hope everyone is healthy and happy, Sally xxx

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello! This is a very sad occasion, as it is my last blog.I suppose if I feel nostalgic I could write about the exciting things I'm going to do after my trip, such as going to the hairdressers and trying to find a phone, but I doubt people will find that very interesting. I left off my last blog, which probably needs rewriting, with the drama of my flight ticket. This was Saturday, and I had until Monday to go back to the office to hear something definite. I can't really remember what I did for the rest of the day, other than eat enough to feed a small family, wander along the seafront at night-time (I later read in Lonely Planet that I was cautioned against doing this as I would certainly get mugged or attacked or something), and go to bed ridiculously early. I also made friends with Anna, a bubbly brunette from Worchester, who had been living at the hostel rent-free for two months because she worked in the bar for a couple of hours a night, a pretty sweet deal. Needless to say I was quite stressed about the situation with my tickets. I did realise however that Rio is a stellar city, in fact probably my favourite (after London). I could easily live there. Well, if I could speak Portuguese. They have everything; old buildings, new shopping centres, free museums, cool bars and restaurants, a beach, mountains, and I was there in winter when the sun was shining and it was 25C, so good weather all year round. The next morning, after managing to sleep despite seemingly having the record holder for the World's Loudest and Weirdest Snorer in the bunk below me, I was hanging around trying to decide what to do with the day when I met Rachel and Sam from Scotland. They were heading up to Santa Teresa, somewhere I wanted to explore but was wondering if I could be bothered to go as it was quite a trek (remember by this point I'd been on the road for almost eight months and very ready to go home, so my enthusiasm for random sightseeing was waning). That was perfect, so we set off together. We had to get the metro to the centre and then a 'bonde' up the hill to Santa Teresa. The bonde is a tram system which used to cover all of Rio; I suppose it was rendered redundant after the metro system came in. The bonde up to Santa Teresa is the only one remaining. We had to wait an hour to get on one as they are very small and only come every half hour or so (you kind of see why they're not popular, it's fine for a tourist gimmick but imagine how annoying it would be if you were trying to get to work). Rachel and I got seats but Sam decided to get into the spirit of things by hanging off the side. There are handles and little foot ledges on the sides and the locals just tend to jump on and off when they want. The foot ledges are very little indeed and Sam seemed to regret this decision quite quickly, especially when we travelled across a very high bridge over a motorway. The bonde is very old and rattley, but fun to ride on. I really loved Santa Teresa. It's at the top of a hill and it's full of trees, old characterful buildings, cute little cafes, and it's got a very suburb-type feel. Having said I could live in Rio, Santa Teresa is the neighbourhood I would live in. As it's at the top of a hill it also gives stunning views across the whole of the city; from the big Jesus (which has a proper name which isn't Big Jesus) and Pao de Asucar (Sugar Loaf, another big hill, which seems to be famous just because it's a hill), to the beach, some skyscrapers and the airport. There was a place called Parque de Ruinas which was an old mansion belonging to an heiress who used to hold parties for artists, writers, musicians and the like. The basic structure of the house still stands but there are no floors inside so they've put metal stairs and Perspex up so people can walk around. The best views were from up here. If I had a lot of money I would buy that house and live there. And learn Portuguese. Santa Teresa was a nice place to just wander around, which we did for a while before having lunch. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures, which is a shame. I can take some when I go back and buy my house….. The next day I set off again first thing to STA (it's actually STB in Brazil because I have learnt, to my detriment, it is not the same company as STA. Same same, but different) to try and sort out my tickets. At least this time they weren't busy and the receptionist knew what to do with me. At first the guy told me there was no way I'd get the ticket because there wasn't enough time; it took two days for this and another two days for that, so they could get the ticket here for Friday. Helpful, but my flight was on Wednesday, which comes before Friday don't you know. He said, "I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do". Now, here I got a little upset, which caused him to go back in the office and come out two minutes later with the news that perhaps they could do it; there was no guarantee, but they could try. I filled out the form and handed over my cash, and just had to wait to hear. At this point I thought I probably wasn't going to get my ticket and I'd be stranded and need to buy a new one, so I was feeling quite dejected. As I toddled back to my hostel, I accidentally re-enacted Breakfast At Tiffany's when I was distracted by a jewellery shop window whilst having a snack. Then I remembered that good old Lonely Planet mentioned something about a jewellery shop museum in the area, and after a swift consultation it turned out to be the same place (Amsterdam Sauer), so I went inside. This is probably the best thing I could have done to cheer myself up. Firstly I was escorted around and shown all the different gemstones, and then I was taken up to the showroom. It's a really posh jewellers, and most of the customers are quite wealthy. It really wasn't a museum of the sort I was expecting (a few fusty old bejewelled objects in glass cases) because it was definitely more a shop than a museum. I obviously wasn't one of their target customers, shuffling around in my clothes which were falling apart with my rucksack, and in answer to the question, "which hotel are you staying at, Madam?" I replied, "Rio Backpackers". But in spite of this, they were really nice to me. I had to explain "I wasn't quite in the market for anything at the moment" but the man still let me try on (in fact he made me) some of the pieces and then wished me a good day. When I came out I realised there was another one next door (H Stern), so I thought I may as well go there too. This one was even better. Firstly, it had more displays and I actually learnt quite a bit about gemstones, plus they had people making the jewellery at different stages which you could view through two-way mirrors. Then I had a free drink whilst being shown some items, was able to try on a £3000 emerald and diamond ring ("I'm afraid I'm not quite in the market….") and on top of that got a free ride back to my hostel in a fancy car with blacked out windows. I definitely left in a better mood, and spent the rest of the day reading on the beach. On Tuesday morning, having had no email about my ticket, which the guy had promised he would send as soon as he had news, and I was viewing the lack thereof as a bad sign, I yet again went back to STB. I was getting well known by this point. Apparently I'd had no email because there was no news, which didn't necessarily mean I wasn't getting my ticket, just that the Sao Paulo office hadn't heard back from STA. I was not hopeful. No jewellery shops today; I considered going back to H Stern just so I could get a free ride, but decided that would be cheeky. I actually tried to take a shortcut on the way back, got lost and ended up wandering in circles for an hour or so. It was a very sunny day so I went back to the beach. I was planning on seeing some more of the city but the whole walking to the office and back every morning took about two hours (more if I got lost) so I wasn't in the mood to go wandering around for the hell of it. I checked my email at the end of the day and finally had one from the STB office. My ticket had arrived just after I left in the morning! So it actually took a day in the end, not a week. I was, needless to say, very happy about this, as I really thought I wasn't going to get it. I celebrated by watching Harry Potter with the hostel crowd, which incidentally was really good. (The hostel crowd, not Harry Potter. Not that I dislike Harry Potter, I was just referring to the other….) Now, as I was banking on the probability of not getting my ticket, I had mentally prepared myself for this and was in that sense kind of unprepared for actually leaving. I think I was expecting something to go wrong right until the end. But everything actually went incredibly smoothly. I got the bus to the airport, checked in, got my boarding card, etc, and the next thing I knew I was in London. From there I got the Megabus up north. I had a bit of last minute excitement in the form of an hysterical 19 year old sitting next to me, who was in tears because she missed her stop in Sheffield and had to go an extra 10 miles or so down the road to Barnsley and make her way back. I was sympathetic as she was really upset, but I couldn't quite see the cause for the drama, even if I hadn't spent the last eight months on very long bus journeys to places I'd never heard of. So I'm at the end of my journey, and I feel I should say something insightful and philosophical about what I've learned and how I've changed as a person, but I'm still a bit jet-lagged and my brain isn't working too well at the moment. Perhaps I can write another blog about all that later. At the moment I'm just very happy to have tea, clean clothes, and to be able to speak the same language as everyone else.

Missouri, Missouri

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Well since our disastrous day at Oregon Caves we’ve managed to get north and east through Washington (the state, not the city!), Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa, Illinois, and into Missouri! It’s meant long hours in the car but we’ve needed to make up some time seeing as we’ve only got a few weeks left before we are home again. The day after Oregon Caves we took a scenic drive over to Crater Lake, one of Oregon’s famous landmarks. The drive was beautiful. It takes you though the Oregon Cascades National Forest and on either side of you are hundreds of thousands of tall, full green trees, mountains and rushing rivers. It’s quite a slow drive though too as the road winds up and down over the mountains but it’s worth the time and effort. As we got higher and nearer to Crater Lake, in the distance we noticed that all the mountain peaks were covered in snow – not something you expect to see in June! Driving has been a major part of our trip since we first picked up our caravan in Australia, but every country has been different with its own unique look, road system and rules. For example, in Australia, the roads are wonderful. If you are driving up the east coast, there are really only one or two main motorways you can take, which have 2 lanes, the other roads are what we would call A roads and have one lane. None of these roads are ever busy, it’s amazing. It’s like no one ever goes anywhere. In fact, most of the vehicles you see on the road are travelers’ vehicles and you know this because they have one of the following names on them – Britz (like ours), Juicy, Traveler’s Autobarn, Maui or one of many others. It’s wonderful, there are no traffic jams, no suicidal 19 year olds in their chavved up Renaults and no crazy commuters, strangely enough. The other brilliant code of conduct they have over there is that if the person in front of you thinks they are driving too slowly for you, they just pull over and let you pass. And vice versa, if you are in a heavy caravan and you can’t quite get to 40kph like everyone else, you just pull over and let everyone behind you pass – very friendly. The basic road rules and the side of the road you drive on are the same as in England, except that their speed limits and distances are in kilometers and not miles. The scenery is wonderful too – blue sea, golden beaches and beautiful plant life. You won’t get lost as long as you know that if you are heading north you will always have the sea and beaches on your right and if you are heading south the beaches will be on your left. That’s how you know you are going the right way, and that is how Australians will give you directions! You don’t need a sat nav either, just a good map and a good map reader and you’ll do fine. New Zealand is similar. Hardly any traffic anywhere, they have one main road per island, per east and west, and no one really seems to be going anywhere, especially in a hurry. Distances and speeds are in kilometers again and as long as you have a map you’re fine. It’s very hard to get lost in New Zealand. The scenery again, is beautiful and you are constantly surrounded by mountains, green grass, rivers, lots of sheep and when on the coast, stunning beaches and blue ocean. The USA is far, far different. There are far more cars, or trucks I should say, on the roads than we’re used to. It seems that normal sized cars aren’t good enough for 99% of the American population so everyone seems to be driving around in ugly, gas guzzling, space taking trucks, hummers and SUV’s. You feel like you’re driving a go-cart around them all, it’s terrifying sometimes! One reason for this is that gas (petrol for you Brits) is so cheap. Check this out. In the UK it costs, what, £30-£40 to fill up your tank? Same in Australia and New Zealand. In the US it’s about £15! Therefore, all these massive tanks on the road are actually quite cheap to run, despite the repercussions they have on the environment. However, on a positive note, it has meant that we have spent a much smaller fortune on gas during our time here in the states. The other type of vehicle constantly taking up road space are the motorhomes and caravans. You’ve all seen Meet the Fockers right? Remember the motorhome Robert de Niro drives? They are all over the place here, especially with it now being in the summer holidays and everyone is on vacation (which annoyingly is jacking prices up all over the place for us!). Similar to Australia as well, a lot of the American population actually live in these things and just spend their retirement driving around the US. Granted, there is a lot to cover and see in the USA but very frequently I just want to stop someone and tell them there’s a big wide world out there just waiting for them to visit. Ridiculously, something like 70% of American’s don’t even have a passport! OK, apart from the felons and the obese, I just don’t understand it. Americans also drive a lot crazier than the Australians and New Zealanders and take no prisoners when in a hurry. We’ve seen far too many near misses and actual crashes for our liking and so try to stay as indiscreet as possible. Our first car that we picked up in Florida was a Kia Rio, a disgusting gold one too! Not something you would call “cool”. It’s not perhaps something we would choose to buy ourselves but it was serving its purpose, that is until a warning light started flashing and we had to trade it in for a bright red Ford Focus, which is much better. It feels safer and is much nicer to drive too. Plus it has California plates so we feel more ‘cool’. But when you’re driving around 5 hours a day for 8 weeks and 15 thousand miles (the equivalent of 25 round trips from London to Land’s End and back), you need something comfortable. There are only two good things about driving around the USA. One, they use miles and not kilometers and two, the constantly changing scenery around you. We’ve gone from boring, marshy Florida to freeway hell Texas, from red rock desert in New Mexico, to brown arid desert in Arizona, from scenic, ocean side California to the forests of Oregon, and being surrounded by green fields and snowy mountains in Montana and Wyoming. It really is a treat to have such beautiful things to look at for the numerous hours a day we drive! Although saying that, driving in the USA isn’t always fun. They have some crazy road systems going on with no less than 6 different road types. In the UK we have motorways, A roads and B roads, nice and simple. In the US they have interstates, freeways, state and provincial highways, county roads, the list goes on. Plus one interstate can have up to 600 exits because they are so long! Thank god we’ve had a sat nav otherwise we’d still be trying to find our way out of Florida. Plus, Jane (our sat nav voice) has had us in stitches many a time. In the UK an instruction may be simply “Take exit 4 onto M3”. Here Jane would say “Take I-80 to exit 546, up ramp, to right onto I-35”. It’s just a jumble of words, numbers and pink lines on the screen while you try to navigate your way around the numerous trucks and motorhomes all around you! They also have this great rule that you can turn right on a red light, which is fab if you hate traffic lights. I just hope that we forget all these new rules and laws when we get home, or we could find ourselves with no licenses at all! So, back to Crater Lake. While driving through the National Park as we got higher, the snow got deeper and deeper. We stopped a few times to take photos and throw a few snowballs and then arrived at the top overlooking the lake. The lake is there because thousands of years ago a volcano erupted and collapsed, leaving behind a massive crater which eventually filled with water, creating Crater Lake. It’s like a huge pit, 50 miles wide, filled with gorgeous blue water and surrounded by snowy peaks and rock. It’s not a lake in the sense that you can take a boat on it or sit on a beachy area on the side, you can only drive around the top rim and stop to walk to the edge and look over to take photos, but it is incredibly stunning and unique. And very cold I might add! After Crater Lake, the next day we went on a scenic drive day, taking a chance that a famous road, that closes in winter due to snow, would be open. The McKenzie National Recreation Trail takes you up through the Cascades and the Willamette National Forest and takes you high up on mountainous, windy roads through the forest and connects to the apparently hair-raising Old McKenzie Highway, but unfortunately it was still closed so we had to take a detour, which took us up through the Mt Hood National Forest where we saw the staggeringly high and snowy Mount Hood, and up to Portland. On the way to Portland, right up on the border between Oregon and Washington is the Columbia River Gorge and the Historic Columbia River Highway which we took, taking in the various waterfalls, cute villages and awe-inspiring views. When we arrived in Portland, we found a motel and ventured out into the city to take a look. First we went to Powell’s City of Books which is apparently the biggest bookstore in the world but then decided to go back to our motel. It’s not a nice city, when you compare it to the likes of San Francisco, Dallas, Vegas etc. Every doorway and street corner has a homeless person in it and lots of shops and buildings are shut down and derelict. It’s still suffering from its drug days and needs a few licks of paint and some money pumped into it before it’s a nice place to live or visit! Trust me! I’ve talked about places and the drives, but not about the people. It seems that there are 3 types of size in the states – fat, obese and anorexic, although clearly that’s just for the rich and famous. Having falling prey to it ourselves, we are acutely aware of why American’s are so large. Food. Now it doesn’t take a genius to work that one out, but until you’ve spent a long amount of time here you won’t really realize what effect it has on you. Like rats in England, in the States you are never more than 10 feet away from a fast food establishment. Once you’ve tasted that first burger, it’s hard not to want one every day with the choice that is on offer. There’s McDonalds, Burger King, Fat burger, In and Out Burger, Jack in the box, Wendy’s, Sonic Burger and Applebees, and that’s just some of the big names here, imagine all the little burger joints and diners on offer. Then you’ve got KFC, Popeye’s, Arby’s, Red Lobster, Chilies, I-Hop, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Waffle House, Cheesecake Factory and thousands more constantly on offer. Whether you are walking down the street, driving on the freeway or just watching TV, you are permanently having food shoved in your face and down your throat, literally. You just can’t escape food. Supermarkets are amazing too. Compared to UK supermarkets, the fruit and vegetable sections are tiny. Plus, you never ever see any of it in American’s trolleys, and the piles of fruit etc never seem to go down! Most of the supermarket is taken up with freezers of readymade meals, frozen pizzas, burgers, breakfast meals, ice cream and other terribly bad things for you. Plus, you’ve never seen such amazing bread and pastry products on offer. How a nation can think of so many donut variations is beyond me! Our problem while here is that it’s too hot during the day to keep a cool box in the car and we’re never sure whether our next motel will have a fridge so we’ve been living on fast food and microwavable tinned food for the last 7 weeks. We can’t wait to get back to ‘normal’ food! Although, saying that, it may take a while to wean us off burgers, pizza and corndogs! So with all this in mind, please don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize us when we return! We’ll be the chubbers in the corner with a burger in one hand and a donut in the other!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Kuala Lumpur We finally dragged ourselves away from paradise on the 29th June on a very sketchy speedboat to Koala Besut. We had to wait 4 hours there before catching an 8 hour overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur. As we boarded the bus we were amazed at the high quality of the coach, sooo much leg room and leather seats with freezing cold aircon. We picked our seats at the front and were chuffed that we would be this comfy for 8 hours! After around 20 mins, loads of people got on and we realized that we had seat numbers 34 and 35, which were on the back row of the bus and were the only seats with bad leg room, we were a little upset! But to be honest we were lucky to get the bus as there were only 3 seats left. We didn't want to spend the night in Koala Besut as its not very nice and is just a stop off point for the ferry boats. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 5am, and got a cab to china town, we were really lucky to find a man on a bike who owned a guest house close by. He told us how cheap it was and let us check in early, very chuffed with the guest house cheap and clean! China town is a really great place to stay if you are on a budget with hostels for £5, cheap markets for food and clothing and the monorail stops are right on your doorstep. The monorail is a great way to see the city, for just RM2 (40p) you can get to most central places in the city. We slept until around 12pm and made a stupid decision to go out for a walk to the west of KL where there are lovely parks. It was ridiculously hot and humid, it took us an hour to find a map! It really is true that the heat is a source of hot headed arguments as we fell out about nothing, but soon made up after a nice cold Ribbena in some air conditioned cafe. We caught a taxi back to the guest house and chilled until it cooled outside. Later that day we caught the KL transit train (monorail) to little India as we were craving a curry! After wandering around little India for about an hour,we found a nice local cheap India. The food didn't look like the India we are used to but we ate it anyway! The next morning we took the tube to KLCC. Walking out of the station we were suddenly in a huge shopping mall! The mall was 6 storeys high, probably around 3 times the size of the Trafford centre. Little Mishee's face lit up! The aircon was sooo nice, we wandered around the shops for hours window shopping as everything was priced as at home as the products were authentic. If you are in KL this place is definitely worth a visit and is called the Suria shopping centre. We then walked outside and got hit by the heat and checked out the tallest twin towers in the world. We had a wander round the gorgeous park then had to retreat back to the shopping centre for more aircon. We watched a film called 'State of play' at the cinema, good film but the people out here talk through the film! On the last day in KL we woke late and went to the Petaling street market to get some clothes for Australia. We went a little crazy as everything was soooo cheap, now we are fully kitted out for OZ. I got 3 t-shirts, a pair of shorts and some 'Diesel' jeans, Mishee got a denim jacket, red skinny jeans and a pashmina. Then we got the tube to the KL Tower, this is the forth biggest tower in the world at 420m high. I was terrified and I still don't think I will have the courage to do a sky dive, we will see. The lift took only 58 seconds, the other option was a 55minute stair trek, I was up for the stairs but Mishee thought otherwise, understandably. The vies up there were incredible, we had no idea KL was so vast. Then Mish had a random pony ride that was included in the ticket along with an F1 simulator ride and a mini zoo. I was so good I regret becoming a tennis coach, I should have been an F1 driver, I know I have a big head, sorry! We then headed back to China Town and had a gorgeous Chinese meal at a local restaurant. Now its early to bed as we have to be up at 2am to get to the airport for our 6.30am flight to Singapore. We loved KL, as there was so much to do and see, the vibe here is really good. Off to Singapore, peace out Gary and Gabby xx

Bangkok, Thailand

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

woke up feeling quite hungover and tired the next day so didn't do alot. in fact the only thing i did do was watch a few films in the DVD room with katrina (irish girl) and then went for a walk round bangkoks impossibly busy streets. the next day i met up with ben and anya and went on a tour of the temples in bangkok (pictures soon to be uploaded) which was very good. we ended up in china town at closing time in the evening. it was so busy! motobikes and people every where. for the last two days me and enja have spent most of our time checking out the giant shopping centres. there are two main ones, central chidlom and MBK. central childlom is big enough (and has a fantastic restaurant at the top) but MBK is something else! it took us all day to explore just one of the 7 floors. i got to haggle with a lady for a bag and bought pirate DVDs from a more respectable pirate DVD dealer. i dont mind if they're rubbish, they're good souveniours (however you spell it). in the evenings we all get together in the bar and play pool and have drinks. a pint of beer 6% costs about 50p!

Vancouver and B.C, British Columbia

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Vancouver and BC (20th -28th June 2009) So we had a safe journey into Canada and parted ways with Sarah and Chris for a few days. My friend Helen picked us up from King George sky train station and we headed to Langley, about 30 miles east of Vancouver. It was lovely to catch up with Hel, who I last saw a 2 years ago when she came back to Swansea to visit family and friends. She has a three year old daughter, Danae who is absolutely adorable and was sound asleep in the back seat of the car…I had the pleasure of sitting next to her….she woke soon after with a big smile on her face and not at all shy…..she’s a cutey alright!!!! Our first couple of days was very relaxed. Hel took us to White Rock, an area on the coast which was also right next to the Canada-US boarder, very strange being able to walk along a beach that belongs to two countries but also a very pretty place. We had fish and chips by the sea and Darren spotted his first bald headed eagle! Danae enjoyed dancing around the totem poles and we had pictures by the rock that bears the areas name ‘White Rock!’ On another day Helen and her husband Phil who is also from back home (Hereford) took us further inland to a pretty lake at the foot of the mountains. Cultus Lake was a really lovely area with stunning views looking into the lake and of the surrounding green mountains with so many trees! Plenty of bears around no doubt!!!!! The weather wasn’t too great that day but it did improve and we were able to take Danae to the waterpark. We had lots of fun on the big slides and Danae had the right idea wanting to play in the hot tub as it was a little chilly…none of us were complaining!!!! We made it into Vancouver on our third day and did plenty of the sights. The city sits on a island or peninsula with the Burrard Inlet surrounding it. The mountainous backdrop is amazing and some of the peaks still had a little snow cover, it’s a beautiful city with a cracking skyline from Stanley Park. Vancouver is the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics which begin in 228 days time, so there was plenty of activity going on, roadworks, new buildings sprouting up and more facilities available. The city seems to ooze a certain type of buzz, an buzz of excitement and anticipation. It definitely seems like the city is proud of being an Olympic host and with Whistler being a co host up the road in the mountains, it feels like the games are going to be a huge success. We covered most of the touristy sights in the one day including Gas Town where Vancouver all began as little cobbled streets and wooden shacks. Its now a bustling inner suburb with plenty of character right by the harbour. We took a walk to Canada Place where the 1986 Expo took place and the building looks like a big ship sticking out into the inlet with an array of sails on top. The views from the end are lovely looking over towards Grouse Mountain and North Vancouver and we also enjoyed plenty of sea planes land on the water! The main shopping area of downtown happens along Robson and Granville Streets so we enjoyed a little walk down there before heading to Stanley Park at the tip of the peninsula or island. We met Sarah and Chris and enjoyed a relaxing few hours walking around the big park that so many Vancouvians use within their day to day lives. We saw plenty of native Indian culture and history by admiring original hand carved totem poles, the designs and vibrant colours are amazing, each one so individual and different, it was really interesting to read each ones description and what it represents. The walk along the sea wall was lovely, plenty of joggers, cyclists and skaters keeping active and the view over to the Lion Gate Suspension Bridge was delightful. We walked past the 9 O’clock canon and a little light house that used to guide ships and vessels into the port. As we walked around the corner we witnessed a brilliant skyline of the city. So many of the skyscrapers similar in design and colour that none of us were sure if we liked it or not. Maybe they all looked too similar and not many had much individuality or on the other hand they created a unique picture by all being so alike. Anyways the we took some photo’s and carried on our walk back towards downtown. On Wednesday we left Helen’s and the four of us headed to Whistler in our hire car. It didn’t stop raining during the 2 hours journey and the scenic drive through the mountains was covered by low dark grey cloud…great! Our campsite had flooded and they expected us to camp on an RV concrete sight….no thank you. After a little look around Whistler Village we all unanimously decided to head back down to Vancouver. Luckily for Darren and I, Helen, Phil, Danae and Helens parents were happy to have us back for two nights!!!!! And we were glad to be back! Darren and I spent another day in Vancouver seeing Grandville Island, an old tip site under the Grandville bridge which has been transformed into wonderful quirky markets. We had a look around and then walked over towards Kitslano Beach for impressive views over towards the city. We had a great view of the skyline but the mountainous backdrop was covered by some angry black low clouds which actually created some pretty cool photos (says Darren!!) We had a nice walk along the coast and a very laid back day. It was today on Thur 25th June on the bus back to Langley that we heard of the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcet. So we’ll always remember where we where on this day L We enjoyed all our evenings staying at the Moore’s playing board games, playing with Danae and catching up with Helen and the family. Helen’s Mum and Dad used to own the Post Office in Bishopston (now Gower Surf) and as a kid it was my second home, so it was great being like old times and mucking about and all sorts. Darren fitted right in and it really was a great place to spend our last week of travels! We said goodbye to everyone on the Friday and Sarah and Chris picked us up and we all headed into the Rockies for our white water rafting trip (Reo Rafting). The views heading inland were spectacular, just so green and mountainous, Darren and I keep telling ourselves we’ve been so lucky to see so many different kinds of sceneries in all the countries, each one so different and beautiful. Our rafting weekend was the best way possible for us all to end our journey! We camped for two nights on the Nahatlatch River, which was gushing with water due to heavy rain over the past week, luckily the skies were blue on arrival and we saw plenty of sunshine! They fed us lots of yummy meals and on our first evening we enjoyed using the hot tub and listening to Philippe sing live acoustics while we all kept warm around the open fire! On Saturday we headed out onto the river in the afternoon! In the morning we just chilled our and enjoyed being with nature!!! There was about 50 people on the trip and we headed up stream all kitted out in our wetsuits, lifejackets and helmets….a very good look! We got taken through the safety briefings beforehand and then it was partytime!!!!! Because the water has been so high, we could only raft a certain part of the river, which ment we got to do it twice otherwise it would have been too short, so no complaints, the more action time the better! And what an experience, from the word go the river was gushing down stream and the rapids and waves were everywhere….Sarah and my aim was to stay on board the raft and stay as dry as possible…..well that wasn’t going to happen, within the first minute we were absolutely drench, it was fantastic! Our guide Brenna (a girl) was great and along with the four Canadian guys in our raft we all got the opportunity to sit up front on the first and second run. It was great fun and we certainly all got a great buzz from it! Nobody from our boat fell in but we did see a few other fall out, funny really!!!!! We celebrated our success with a few drinks around the camp fire in the evening before hitting the sack for one last time in Tina our tent (that’s what we named her as she’s been a diamond for the last few months and kept us dry!) Our final day (today) was spent doing Yoga in the morning before heading off back to Vancouver to fly back to London!!! We’ve all said it was the best way to finish our trip with a bang and definitely recommend Reo Rafting, its in a beautiful setting and the staff and facilities brilliant. We are all currently in the airport waiting for our delayed BA flight to arrive (our first delayed flight out of 17 isn’t too bad I guess!) My parents will be waiting for us in arrivals in T5 tomorrow afternoon and then its back to the land of Wales! Darren and I are both very excited to get home now, 8 months have gone so fast but its also been a long time too….we’ve had the best time ever and if you’re reading this and have also thought about travelling..……JUST DO IT, it’s the best life experience you may ever have. We have seen some amazing places, experienced some scary times and some funny times and gotten to make some new friends all around the world in the mean time, its been amazing. No regrets and just for the record….Darren and I couldn’t be more happier, the 8 month honeymoon was definitely the making of us! See you all in sunny UK sometime soon, sending our love, thanks for reading and enjoying (I hope!) lots of love Hels and Darren xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx PS - all the final photos will be posted up next week! Bye for now x

Coast to Coast - Storms River onwards, South Africa

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:00:00 GMT

Hello all, Hope everyone is well, well just to keep you updated. Im currently in Sapa in Vietnam, just about to go on a 2 day 30k trek through the rice plains and mountains but as luck would have it, it is pouring it down with rain and has been for 7 hours. How i love Asian weather ;) Well, the next part of my South African adventure takes part in Storms River. The home of the worlds highest bungee jump. This was probably going to be one of the best parts of the South African coast for me, because after shark diving and kruger national park this was one of the things i wanted to tick off "things i want to do in my lifetime". We stayed in one of the best backpackers so far in South Africa called tube and axe. Upon arrival, we got on really well with the people who worked behind the bar and every night they put on a bonfire, and for a 750ml bottle of beer it cost 1 pound. Luckily in the last place we stayed, we managed to get a deal for this backpacker where we bought a bulk deal, for our accommodation, meals, transport to and from the bungee and the bungee itself, we paid a one off fee and all we had to do was turn up. So everything was in place for the next few days. After a eventful fist night, the next morning was going to be to most nerve racking to date because in the next 2 hours we were going to be throwing our self off a 216m high bridge with nothing but a rope attached. Sounds like a crazy idea. Was probably one of my best ideas yet ;) and plus because i had told so many people i was going to do it, i had to follow through with it now. We arrive at the bungee site, and boy was it a high bridge. We tried to stay as brave faced as possible, but i think everyone was in the same boat. We jumped with 3 other people, all of which had never done a bungee jump before either. So all 5 of us were bungee virgins, which in a way kinda helped. We all got geared up, and briefed on what we had to do for the jump, and the risk etc. Luckily, the words you may die didn't come up, so this gave us a small bit of confidence. Il jump straight to the jump itself, we were all given our numbers of when we had to jump and luckily i was number 3. But for Chris, he had the fun job of going first. I would say the worst part of actually doing the bungee jump is not walking across the bridge to where you have to walk, but actually standing over the edge and having the people holding you count down from 5. Once it hits 1, you whole head just goes blank, but i just bent my knees and jumped off as far as i could, never a absolutely crapped myself. haha. My the feeling of flying through the air was out of this world. I asked the barman the night before what it was like to do the bungee jump and his reply was, you cant tell someone the answer to that until you do it yourself, and i know knew what he meant. The experience is something that i will never forget. Luckily for us, the day we were meant to leave tube and axe, the baz bus turned up late and our new friends from behind the bar made us stay for a extra night, and luckily for us it was one of there birthdays, so it was going to be a very messy night indeed. They had prepared a lamb spitroast which had been on the bonfire since 1pm, the beer had also been flowing from since then as well, so everything was in place for a great evening. All the locals and friends turned up, and we found out a awesome way to get really drunk. Beer pong. Bit like ping pong, but with pints of beers, two teams and and lucky throw across a table. I will try and upload some photos which help explain that a little easier ;) to cut it short, this was a first taste of the real South African way of life, and ended up staying up till 6am drinking and for some (not me) fire walking. A local sport for some of these crazy people. Unlucky for me tho that i had to check out of the room at 9am that morning. It really wasn't a pretty sight, but hair of the dog helped us get through it thanks to the birthday boy who made us continue drinking. Next stop for us was Jeffery's Bay (j-Bay as the locals call it). This was home to the surfer dude. It hosted one of the top 10 places to surf in the world called super tubes. So we thought that we had to check it out. Upon arriving, still a bit tender from the night/morning before we found out this was going to be a very crazy/party town indeed. We had bumped into a couple of people that we had already met on the baz bus, and also met another lad from Portsmouth, so we turned up in a small group which was nice. The backpackers was crazy. We walked through the door and there were people everywhere in face paints and drinking themselves silly. For our first night, we just chilled out and soaked it all in. The location was unreal, within 20m was surfers paradise. There was a beach on our doorstep and surfer dudes and chicks everyone. It was defiantly different to anything we had seen on our travels. The next day we heading down to the beach and across to the local town to try and find someone to teach us how to surf. And god help them, this was going to be a easy job. We managed to actually find someone and arranged for a 2 hour lesson the next day. Soooo, the next day i had my first ever surf lesson, and boy was it hard work. Ive played a lot of sports in my time, but nothing compared to how knackering surfing was. Unluckily for me, the first time we were allowed to go out on the boards i sat to far forward, got taken out by a massive wave and nose dived leaving me with a nasty cut to my thumb. As we were only 30 minutes of 2 hours, i wasnt going to let this stop me. I did just about manage to get up for all of about 4 seconds and then i was straight off again. Chirs had a lot more luck than me, and looked like he might have the making of a amateur surfer. haha. That night, it was one of the lads birthdays, so again more sitting round a bonfire but this time on the beach. And singing songs and drinking yet more beer. But a great time had by all. These were pretty much the highlights of J-Bay and next stop for us was Port Elizabeth. This was one of the stops on the baz bus that you had to make. Along the South African coast there were 3 stops that were compulsory stop overs. Durban and Swaziland being the others. After a really eventful last week, we decided to get a early night, we were sharing a dorm with two germans, which turned out to actually be quite funny. The next day we had a wonder around to see what there was on offer. And there wasn't really that much. There was a beach that you couldn't really go down to. A really nice shopping/casino/cinema complex that looked like something out of disneyland and then the city centre which was to far to walk, so we decided that we would hit the cinema for the first time. Not expected films to cost 1.50 to go and watch compared to the 8 pounds of the crappy Odeon. That night we headed back to the hostel, and bumped into two girls from holland that said they were going to a club and if we wanted to join them. So we took them up on there offer and roped the 2 germans to come. Then more people arrived on the baz bus and we had a French with us and also a Swed. So we were hitting the town with two english, two dutch, two germans and frenchman and a swede. The making a great night. and a great night it was. We got to sample local African music, again a enjoyed a lovely dance around with the locals and our new friends, teaching them a few stupid moves, and the next day we ate of our hangovers at a local dolphin show. What more could you ask for. Well, actually, there was penguins and seals performing who were also really good. The next night, the germans were to hungover to do anything so we left them behind and the rest of the went out for dinner which was really nice to get to know everyone. We had a really great, and a few funny comments by the germans. One who described Chris's snoring as world war 3. Finally someone who understood what i had been putting up with since we left the UK. Along our travels so far, we have had many more comments but il leave them for there appropriate sections. Next stop for us after P.E was going to be East London, and for those of you that are thinking that i have cut my travels shorts and been on a lovely trip to London there is also a East London in South Africa. There are actually quite a few. They even have a Margate here, but never got the pleasure of making it there ;) I have been having a bit of trouble trying to upload photos to my blog, i have managed to get pretty much all of them to my facebook, but always seem to crash on here. So i will keep trying, but if anyone wants to see the photos just add me on Facebook. email address is - charliehartley2005@hotmail.co.uk Missing you all, Charlie xxx