http://www.statravelblogs.comMost Popular Blog Entries from STA Travel BlogsenFri, 23 Jul 2010 09:49:03 GMTFri, 23 Jul 2010 09:49:03 GMT60http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/1dc7777/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Cnikki74740Cblog0Cargentina0Cel0Echalten/story01.htmOn Saturday we flew down from Boneus Aires on a reasonably undelayed flight for South America and landed in El Calafate - luckily the pilot could see the runway as we couldn&#180;t spot it! The amazing senery was just a taste of what was to come over the next couple of days with beautiful snow capped mountains and crystal clear lakes. After the best nights sleep ever in my own room with a double bed - think I&#180;m going to like this this tour we headed down to El Chalten by bus. We&#180;ve quickly discovered we are the only people on the tour and are yet to find the tour guide! A taxi dropped us at a bus station and after being asked for more vouchers we don&#180;t have we found a bus that seemed to have our names on a list! The drive was beautiful with our first view of Fitzroy Mountain a spectacular peak we were going to hike to the next day. There really is nothing in El Chalten it exists merely to serve the hikers and climbers who come to the Fitzroy range. On our first day in the town we were picked up by Pepe our hiking guide. Certianly was not loving his hello kiss on the cheek with his massive scratchy scary beard! He&#180;s definately of the traveller way with his dreadlocks under a tea cosy, sexy clingy walking trousers and chewed nails - eugh! Really nice guy though! He led us off on our first ever hike - a mere ten miles of hilly mountain terrain. Pepe did seem a little concerned when he asked how much hiking we&#180;d all done and got a unanimous reply of this is our first! We headed (well I tripped and stumbled most of the way) to the base of Fitzrtoy mountain seeeing a pecking woodpecker, a giant hare, an eagle, and condors. The viewpoint we made it to was spectcular and we were lucky to have a beautifuly clear day with no clouds obstructing the mountain. On the way back we headed off the walking trail along the horse trail - pushing through bushes and mud we made it to a cool waterfall which made a beautiful photo with the mountain in the background. We also stopped off at a amazing (running out of awesome words) lake which was perfectly clear. Every stream and puddle is crystal clear and apparently perfect drinking water - although gave that one a miss personally. That evening we collapsed and watched a film! The second day saw our second hike - safe to say 13 hours hiking in two days has definately killed us. Especially as i&#180;m refusing to eat the pre packed sandwiches - managed a little bit after Lisa opened it and wafted the yucky aeroplane smell away! Living on cereal bars at mo. Today the trek was much more up and down and pretty tiring - especially when Pepe pointed out where we were heading an hour in - on the horizon! We made it round to the side of Mount Fitzroy to a frozen lake with two glaciers stemming from the base of the mountain to the lake. Despite the ice it wasn&#180;t deep enuogh to walk on the lake, so we entertained ourselves trying to get the perfect photo of each of us in front of the glaciers! Given our complete lack of photography skills this took quite a while! On the way back Lisa had a small incident with a log but made it through relatively unscathed, given her rather dramatic slide down the stairs to dinner last night she&#180;s beating me in the falling stakes - sure my time will come as soon as we try and walk on ice!<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/1dc7777/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/nikki7474/blog/argentina/el-chalten&link=El Chalten, Argentina" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/nikki7474/blog/argentina/el-chalten&link=El Chalten, Argentina" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386014/f/7277/c/321/s/31225719/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386014/f/7277/c/321/s/31225719/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMTnikki7474_92008-09-10T23:00:00Zhttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/d0d9d5/story01.htmComing out of the hotel (more properly, casino resort) this morning, a guy walked past with a slogan on his T-Shirt which I thought nicely summed up many people's experience of Las Vegas: "One Casino, Two Casinos, Three Casinos, Poor." Actually, though, Vegas it quite an easy place to visit on a budget. The casinos seem to make something of an assumption that anyone coming here is going to be spending tons of cash and therefore should be enticed into doing so with lots of freebies. I found that it was quite easy to walk into the restaurants within the casinos and tuck into three course meals for silly prices - the longer they get you to stay under their roof, the more the casinos will make out of you in the long run. Or so they figure. Hang around long enough and stand in the right place and eventually a pretty girl with a tray of drinks may well come up and give you one for free. I probably could've phrased that better, but you get the idea. If you're looking for free entertainment, you can do a lot worse than check out the range of shows on offer to anyone simply walking the length of the strip - every hour or so, most of the casinos put on some sort of spectacular display outside their main entrance to draw the crowds in. In fact, with Vegas being the size it is these days, I reckon there are probably enough free attractions outside the casinos to keep anyone occupied simply walking from each one to the next for a couple of days - I can only hope to list my favourite two or three here and leave the rest for you to discover for yourself. The Mirage, for example, has a giant volcano in the middle of the forecourt surrounded by ponds and covered in vegetation, palm trees and cascading waterfalls. Every hour or so, there is a deep guttural roar from within the volcano followed by a full scale eruption - flames leap high into the air, the waterfalls turn to steam, lava pours down the sides of the volcano and turns the water in the ponds into a lake of fire. This is all quite a shock if you happen to be walking past at the time and aren't expecting it! The Treasure Island Casino stages a mock sea battle hourly in which the British Navy takes on pirates on a large lake next door. The ships, which are each probably several times the size of a car, sail out onto the lake and start hurling cannon balls across the water at each other for about eight minutes before the pirate ship suddenly bursts into flames and the British ship splits in two and sinks out of sight beneath the waves. My favourite free attraction, new since my last visit, is the fountain display in front of the Bellagio casino. This really is one show which it's impossible not to stop and gawp at. Every fifteen minutes or so, to the sound of various well known tunes, a line of coloured fountains begin to shoot jets of water over two hundred feet into the air in time to the music. It really is spellbinding to watch the quarter mile of jets pulsing with colour and creating intricate patterns in the air to the sound of popular hits. The best way I can describe it is to compare the fountains to the visualisations that come with computer music players such as Windows Media Player. Except that you're watching an actual live visualisation right there in the air in front of you - it's like fireworks made out of water. The Bellagio fountains cost over forty million dollars to construct, contain one thousand nozzles from which the jets can be shot to any pattern or any height by specialised computer software behind the scenes, and five thousand multicoloured lights to bring it all to life. They were built by the amusingly named WET design who specialise in fountains and are also responsible for my other favourite water display - the leaping fountain at EPCOT centre in Florida, where a jet of water from a nozzle appears to repeatedly bounce at various angles across lily pads on a lake and over the heads of passers by the disappear down a hole on the other side. Also worth a visit in Vegas are the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace. This massive shopping mall has been constructed as miles of Roman roads underneath the casino itself, and entry is via a moving walkway which quite literally makes you feel as though you are being transported back in time into the days of the roman empire - except that there weren't quite so many branches of Planet Hollywood open back then of course. Wandering the authentic streets below the casino, the most striking thing you notice is that the ceiling is curved and painted to look like the sky - or at least, you think it's painted until you realise that it's all done with clever lighting which changes throughout the day so that the sky always feels like the sky and not a static image. As with all things in Vegas, the Forum is hard to describe without seeing it. There are streets of cafes, market squares dominated by roman statues within circles of pillars in the middle of each market square and stretching up to the sky that isn't a sky, paved walkways and roman pillars along the walls. The effect is simply mind numbing and it really is easy to forget that the sky isn't real and that you're not in some old town that has been carefully preserved for two thousand years. The Forum is also home to a fifty thousand gallon saltwater aquarium where you can watch divers feeding the sharks twice a day. And there's even a free show at the Forum. Using unbelievably real robotic characters, the story of Atlantis is told right in the central square by the statues of King Atlas and his children, scaring the willies out of everybody in the area. The voice of Atlas booms out without warning, echoing across the courtyard and causing people sitting at coffee shops to choke on their cappuccinos and small children to dive behind the nearest statue. Unfortunately, these statues then begin to move and creak into life, an arm twisting here and a leg lifting there until they appear to be under their own free will as though in a scene from Jason and the Argonauts. The children argue over who is the better ruler and, unable to decide which of his greedy children should govern over Atlantis, Atlas orders the destruction of the city and we watch it first burn to the ground (Vegas seems to like fire illusions) and then sink beneath the waves as a twenty foot animatronic dragon appears over Atlas shoulder to watch the destruction. Lasers, steam and fountains are used to great effect to create the impression that Atlantis is sinking into the depths, and then another disembodied voice announces that the next show will be in one hour and everything returns to normal. Or at least, as normal as anything can be in Caesar's Palace. Today, I went along to see the new Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton, something I had seen advertised on television before I began my trip and had then totally forgotten about until I got here and saw it being advertised everywhere. In true American style, this is another attraction which is so fabulously over the top that I don't really know where to begin. Stepping through the back of the ticket office, you find yourself rather spectacularly standing on the promenade deck of the Star Trek space station Deep Space 9, complete in every tiny detail and curving off in both directions - it was actually like being in the show. Strange creatures scuttled up and down speaking gibberish, and the windows looked out into space. In Quark's bar, I had my evening meal from the Star Trek menu, served by a Dabo-Girl (sexy casino hostesses from Star Trek) and surrounded by Ferengi waiters and bartenders. Of course, if you've never seen Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or have no interest in Science Fiction then this will all mean nothing to you, but just take my word for it that it's all totally immersive and one hundred percent realistic in every detail. And if you happen to be engaged to a fellow Trekkie, and the two of you really have stepped across the fine line between fan and fanatic, you can actually get married at the Experience - they'll set you up with alien witnesses, you'll be married by a character from Star Trek, and you can even have your reception at Quarks bar. But let's be honest, if any of this really gets you excited then you're probably not likely to be getting married any time soon anyway. When I had taken my fill of the Promenade with its shops and restaurants, I was led through to board my shuttle for a quick ride around the galaxy - and this is where things really got seriously good. Before boarding the shuttle, my group of sixteen people were led into a small, square, unremarkable room with four doors in the opposite wall and a single television monitor mounted in the corner. Anybody who has been on a motion simulator ride at any of the major theme parks in America will recognise this setup: they line you up in four rows of four in front of the doors, and then after watching a brief introductory film on the monitor, the doors open and you shuffle forward into four rows of seats inside the simulator to begin your ride. However, something quite different and unexpected happened at the Star Trek Experience - something so remarkable that I'll probably spend the next ten years trying to work out how it was done. As our group stood in our four neat rows in our bland little square room watching a guy dressed in a Starfleet uniform telling us on the monitor about what a fantastic shuttle trip we were about to have, all hell broke loose. Mid-sentence, the monitor suddenly flickered and died. A second later all the lights went out, plunging our featureless little room into pitch blackness. Immediately, there was a jabber of voices in the dark: "Emergency. Get those people out of there." We felt compressed air shoot across our legs and faces, followed by millions of blue twinkling lights all around us and the sound of a Star Trek Transporter being operated. The lights came back on. Less than five seconds after the lights had gone out, we were all now standing in the transporter room of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The grey featureless walls and the monitor had gone, the doors had disappeared, and the room we were in was much larger than the one we had been in five seconds previously. More to the point, we were now standing on a totally different floor - something which could not possibly have been changed without lifting us from it. With a swish, the transporter room door slid open and a bridge officer came in. He explained hastily that we were no longer in the 20th century and were instead on board a Starship in what we would call the future. He told us that the commander would explain things, and proceeded to lead us out of the transporter room and along the corridors of the enterprise to the actual bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. As bridge officers bustled about, we were lined up around the room and told to watch the viewer. Riker, the Enterprise first officer from the television show, appeared and explained that one of our group was an ancestor of captain Picard. The Klingons, it seemed, had attempted to kidnap us from Las Vegas in order to change history and the Enterprise had rescued us. The crew would attempt to return us to the temporal rift from which we came in a shuttlecraft, and so get us back to the 20th century. When the message had finished, an officer led us to the turbolift where an exciting ride to the shuttle bay ensued - including a mid-ride lights-out power failure which caused the lift to go into freefall and drop several floors, tilting on its axis and throwing us all around. We were then taken into the shuttle bay and placed on board a shuttle where the motion simulator ride we had been expecting in the first place began. I'll say it again - the Americans don't do things by halves! Las Vegas really is a compact entertainment oasis in the middle of an otherwise forbidding desert. People either love it or hate it. Some people talk endlessly about what a den of vice Vegas is and how anyone coming here is a terrible person, others cannot resist the pull of its bright lights. Whatever you think, the idea that Vegas is all about throwing your money away on Craps tables and Slot machines is old fashioned - the strip contains more entertainment venues and shows than you can shake a stick at, and you can easily spend as long as you want here without seeing half of what it has to offer and without spending a penny on gambling. There's even a Wet and Wild water park here, so you could spend a day riding the flumes and ignore the rest of the town completely. On the other hand, if you like a bit of a gamble, they don't exactly stop you - there are slot machines in the toilets, slot machines on your table at breakfast, slot machines in the car parks for people who can't wait to get inside. The casinos don't have any windows or clocks, because if you knew what time it was you might go home. Photography and videotaping inside the casinos is strictly forbidden because the management is scared that you might capture on film somebody whose wife doesn't know he goes to Vegas, and he might get in trouble and not come back. Seriously. And it is possible to win - a woman with whom I used to work came to Vegas once, put a quarter in a slot machine and was immediately surrounded by flashing lights and the sound of running feet - she'd won ten thousand dollars. There is, of course, a seedier side to Vegas as there is in any city - but it's easy to ignore. To see what I mean, just walk along the strip at night and accept every magazine, flyer or brochure that is offered to you by guys standing every couple of hundred yards along the way. By the time you get to the other end, you'll probably be holding about three years worth of pornography, courtesy of Vegas - mainly adverts for massage parlours, out of town ranches and any other vice you can think of. Although prostitution is legal in Nevada, it seems that it's not legal to do it within the city limits - so everywhere you go you'll find guys peddling places out of town. The first time I came to Vegas, I naively assumed these peddlers were handing out leaflets for fast food restaurants and electronics shops or the like - and as you can imagine, my jaw nearly hit the ground when I realised what they were actually doing. http://www.vegas.com/http://www.startrekexp.com/<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/d0d9d5/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/globalwanderer/blog/nevada/las-vegas&link=Las Vegas, Nevada" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/globalwanderer/blog/nevada/las-vegas&link=Las Vegas, Nevada" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386013/f/7277/c/321/s/13687253/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386013/f/7277/c/321/s/13687253/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/globalwanderer/blog/nevada/las-vegas2008-03-29T00:00:00Zhttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860e/story01.htmHello. Today is our last day in Cusco. We've been here for what seems like a long time - about 9 days - primarily because I was diagnosed with amoebic dysentry, which has somewhat slowed us down! Anyway, I'm fine (having caught it early), and Simon has taken great delight in telling me that I have eaten someone else's poo...! Argh!Onto more pleasant topics...(!), we've done some lovely things here. We know the centre of Cusco, the Blueberry Lounge and it's menu, and this internet caf&eacute; just nextdoor to the Backpackers Family House where we've stayed with Carola and her family all very well...!! But we have managed to venture beyond the city, too. We had a cracking day in Pisac, north of Cusco, visiting its very colourful and happening Sunday market where we decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping! The ruins perched high up on the hill behind Pisac are brilliant too, largely because of their position (Simon has a much greater appreciation of what we're actually looking at at these archaeological sites!)... and the paths that are cut into the hillside that run between the various parts... the fort, the temple, the old village... We really enjoyed our day there...We also had an afternoon walking up to Sacsayhuaman (you can work out&nbsp;how the non-Quechua speaking tourists pronounce it!), the nearest ruins to Cusco, just up behind it on the hill, and where there are enormous rocks (weighing up to 120 tonnes) forming part of the remains of the old Inca fort. We also that same day wandered around the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art... also very good with lots of intact beautiful ceramics, including one that reminded me of you, dad!For various reasons including illness, expense, knowing that we'd done the best of the treks already in Peru anyway(!), we opted out of doing the Inca Trail up to Machu Picchu (perhaps a tinge of regret will always hang over that one for me), and instead went up in a day on the train yesterday. The train takes four hours from Cusco (even though it must only travel about 30 miles!!!) up to Aguas Calientes, from where you get a bus up hairpin bends to Machu Picchu. The train we got was 'Backpacker Class', the cheapest one that tourists can get and it was FULL of us! Tens of coaches met us off the train to take us up to Machu Picchu and my suspicions that this must be one of the most touristy places on earth were all confirmed! There were crowds and crowds at the entrance once we got up there, too... Nonetheless, Machu Picchu has left a lasting impression. Its setting is incredible, perched on a ridge and falling away extremely steeply on both sides, all the way down to the tiny river and trains at the bottom on one side. The famous picture of Machu Picchu has Waynapicchu rising in the background and&nbsp;I was determined that we would climb it, knowing that Pete, Cal, Jo, Jonny&nbsp;and Graeme all had! It was well worth it: a hard climb up to sit at the tippy top, knowing that in several places you really had to watch your step so as not to just fall off the mountain. It happens, apparently. If it was England, nobody would be allowed up. Fortunately, it isn't (even if I do wish the restaurants here were all regulated by our health and safety laws!!). The views were fantastic and it was exciting being up somewhere so scarily high!We're back now and just about finished here in Peru. Tomorrow we're catching the train to Puno on Lake Titicaca. For once we're travelling during the day (the journey is supposed to be lovely). Yesterday we met a German-Austrian couple on the train who had hired a car and driven around Peru and got to see a lot more of the landscapes than perhaps we have on the night buses! (But then they hadn't been to the Cordillera Huayhuash!)Lake Titicaca lies on the border between Peru and Bolivia, our third country, and our fourth month. See you there. Lots of love, L &amp; S &nbsp;xxPS If&nbsp;it makes you feel better at this the beginning of November, the weather reports for Puno and La Paz are as cold and rainy as they are for you!!!<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860e/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/lindsandsimon/blog/peru/cusco&link=Cusco, Peru" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/lindsandsimon/blog/peru/cusco&link=Cusco, Peru" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386011/f/7277/c/321/s/11699726/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386011/f/7277/c/321/s/11699726/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/lindsandsimon/blog/peru/cuscohttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860d/story01.htmWe spent a couple days in Paris before we jumped on a flight back to the US.&nbsp; We stopped here once before over a month ago on our way from London to Interlaken.&nbsp; Over a month ago, that seems so weird to say.&nbsp; When we stopped before we spent the day at the Louvre and the Touleries?&nbsp; There are a lot of beautiful parks in Paris.&nbsp;This time we went to the Eiffel tower and took a trip to the top.&nbsp; All in all about two hours of waiting in line.&nbsp; You wait at the bottom, then at the second floor elevator, then to go back down, then one more time for the next elevator.&nbsp; Worth it for the best view in Paris?&nbsp; I think so, Lindsay would disagree.&nbsp; We walked down the Champs Elysee (though most of the stores were closed on Sunday) to the Arc de Triumph.&nbsp; We ate at a restaurant that Lindsay loved along the Champs called L'Entricott.&nbsp; Good steak frites with bernaisse sauce!!&nbsp;I got tickets for the Moulin Rouge.&nbsp; A little pricey since the movie came out, but it was a lot of fun and included a bottle of champagne.&nbsp;&nbsp; Before the show we had an amazing dinner at a little cafe that we found near the Moulin Rouge.&nbsp; Awesome duck and scallops for dinner and creme brulee and chocolate truffle for dessert.We're actually back in the US now.&nbsp; It feels really weird.&nbsp; It's a little bitter sweet, there are some things we missed while we were gone (like Gator Football), but now we're sad that it is over.&nbsp; If only&nbsp;I could get paid to travel!!!&nbsp; I've settled back into work and look forward to returning to several of the places we went someday, but not all at once.&nbsp; For now, I'll have to just look forward to seeing everyone and watching the Gator's and Bears have tremendous seasons.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860d/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/bporak/blog/france/paris&link=Paris, France" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/bporak/blog/france/paris&link=Paris, France" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386009/f/7277/c/321/s/11699725/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386009/f/7277/c/321/s/11699725/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/bporak/blog/france/parishttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860c/story01.htmToday was my last full day in India and I packed a lot in! I woke up early and jogged over to the queue for the Taj Mahal&nbsp;bright and early. Of course this is India so randomly one of the three gates (the one I picked to go to) was closed so I ran over the other gate but it made no difference - 6:00 or 6:05 there was no way I was going to be first inside as the book suggested (so you can hear the silence in the tomb - supposed to be stunning). There were tons of people in line. But we were all still in early and it was still nice to be there before it got too hot and while the light was still beautiful from the recent sunrise. The Taj Mahal is much hyped in all the books and poetry. I have to agree its beautiful and it is very obvious how much thought went into the design (like putting&nbsp;the Taj on a&nbsp;raised platform so when you look at it all you see behind it is blue (theoretically) sky or building the&nbsp;towers&nbsp;surrounding it just a little turned out so in case they fall they won't hurt the main mausoleum) and the detail in the marble and inlaid stonework is impressive. But it is just a mausoleum and a nice garden. Maybe I have a hard time feeling romantic about a gift of love build by a man who killed his older siblings to obtain his position. Call me unromantic. The Taj is worth seeing if you are in the area and a relaxing and tranquil place compared to the surrounding city. After a hearty brunch and a relaxing morning by the pool, I headed out for more sightseeing. Agra was the capital&nbsp;long before Delhi and has some great sights. I hired an air conditioned car and&nbsp;driver which made a&nbsp;huge difference.&nbsp;Much less hassle by hawkers and I came back not feeling totally exhausted. First I went out to Fatehpur Sikri which was a city built by Akbar who was the great architect and statesman who rule India in the 1500s (and the&nbsp;grandfather of Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal). Akbar&nbsp;designed many of the great temples in the area (including a tomb for his father which is said to be the inspiration for the Taj - it is located in Delhi), was the first to use marble (which is much cooler than red&nbsp;sandstone, by the way - good&nbsp;choice here Akbar!) and who moved the capital to Delhi eventually. Before&nbsp;moving to Delhi, Akbar built the city of Fatehpur Sikri outside where Agra is now. It is build entirely of red sandstone and is lovely. But&nbsp;the&nbsp;city's location was Akbar's one big mistake - there was not enough water to sustain teh city and it was abandoned after only 14 years. Today it is in great shape. You can see much of the palace, the outdoor parcheesi board where the emperor played with live 'pieces' and learned much about his guests by how they played, and the mosque which is still actively used. It was beautiful and interesting&nbsp;at Fatehpur but extremely hot. I see why the city was abandoned. I&nbsp;was so hot&nbsp;that I didn't even sweat, I was just dehydrating from the inside out like a prune =) I think the only time I've been hotter was in Chitchinitza, Mexico. But&nbsp;I had time to cool off in my air conditioned car (good choice today!) before we returned to Agra and I went to the Agra Fort.&nbsp;From this location many rulers ruled India over the years, most recently and famously were Akbar, his son Jahangir (apparently his&nbsp;wife really did the ruling though, he was reported to be a&nbsp;bit of a drunk), his grandson Shah Jahan (who built the Taj) and then his great grandson Aurangzeb who killed his siblings and imprisoned his father in Fort Agra for the last few years of his life. He was imprisoned in a tower in the fort so that he had a&nbsp;view of the Taj Mahal and could&nbsp;mourn his wife every day. - Great family stories huh? Makes Shakespeare look boring. Tonight I&nbsp;take the train back to Delhi but I won't even be in town for 6 hours before I head to the airport in the wee hours of&nbsp;the morning. I'll post some pictures&nbsp;and write one last journal with some memories of my trip when I get home. I do have fond memories of&nbsp;my time in each country and loved&nbsp;traveling to all of them. I learned so much from my trip, about myself (like that I don't really like traveling alone that much =) and how to be more patient) about&nbsp;the politics, geography, history, and social dynamics of this part of the world, and even about Australia and America. One thing about traveling is that although you go to see the interesting&nbsp;things abroad, you also learn alot and appreciate home. So its time for me to go home. I can't&nbsp;wait!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860c/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/stefanie/blog/india/agra&link=Agra, India" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/stefanie/blog/india/agra&link=Agra, India" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386007/f/7277/c/321/s/11699724/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386007/f/7277/c/321/s/11699724/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/stefanie/blog/india/agrahttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860b/story01.htmHi, We are in Koh Phi Phi now which is like paradise! It is a tiny little island and is it is really cute. The sea that surrounds the island is an absolutely amazing colour and it is surrounded by large rocks like the pic above. The film 'The Beach' was filmed on the other part of the island so if you have ever seen that you can imagine how beautiful it is here. The island got absolutely wrecked by the Tsunami but there doesn't seem to be much evidence of it now as everything has been built again. There is a lovely relaxed atmosphere to this island so it is only fitting that we are relaxing! We are staying at a nice resort that has a pool and is right on the beach front - the view takes my breath away every time I see it. Basically I love it here! Our last day in Chiang Mai was an interesting one. We got a tuk tuk and headed off to an area where they sell all the goods that are made in the area. We weren't exactly sure where we were going but the tuk tuk driver seemed to have an itinerary set out for us! Our first stop was the worlds largest jewellery shop - Mum would have been in paradise! There were people there making the jewellery and then they took us to the showrooms. Me and Caroline in our backpacks were looking decidedly out of place as we were followed round by the thai saleswomen. Some of the jewellery was ridiculously large and over the top and everytime we pointed at it to show the other one the salespeople would think we wanted to try it on! We didn't think we would buy anything in a million years but then the salespeople starting showing us things in our budget and i somehow ended up with a blue sapphire ring! It is lovley though and was cheap! Next we went to a place where they sold Parasols and umbrellas. That place was realy fun because the people that paint the umbrellas could also paint things on you. So I had a lovely elephant painted on the top I was wearing and a elephant at sunset painted on my backpack - it definitely adds a certain something! The painters were so talented and so quick, they look really cool. Then Mr Tuk tuk ferried us around to a few more places before we convinced him that we had had enough and managed to escape! After that we had our 12 hour overnight bus journey to look forward to! Luckily it was quite empty so we got 2 seats each so could spread out. We arrived back in Bangkok at about 5 in the morn which was weird as people were just going to bed after there nights out. We were dropped at the Kao San Road and it was really weird to see it so quiet without all the street vendors. After this we went to the airport to get our plane to Phuket which is one of the islands in the south of Thailand. We were pretty wrecked when we got there so we just had a relaxing afternoon by the pool and then headed out in the eveningi for a bit to see Patong. The beach looked nice and the place looked cool but we didn't really have the energy for it. The next morn we got a ferry over to Phi Phi and since then as I said we haven't been doing much. Loads of people tried to dissuade us from coming down here as the weather is supposed to be bad on the west islands at the moment but we have been lucky so far and have had two days of mainly sun. We are off on a boat trip tomorrow around the islands and to do some snorkelling so the weather is sure to take a turn for the worse for that! xxx<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b2860b/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/sarahmatthews/blog/thailand/koh-phi-phi&link=Koh Phi Phi, Thailand" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/sarahmatthews/blog/thailand/koh-phi-phi&link=Koh Phi Phi, Thailand" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386005/f/7277/c/321/s/11699723/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386005/f/7277/c/321/s/11699723/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/sarahmatthews/blog/thailand/koh-phi-phihttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28609/story01.htmWow, we're back in Canada. It's hard to believe that we are now embarking on our Canadian stint of the Fantabulous Trip. We lived out February 15th twice, as we boarded the plane for the 7pm take-off on that day. Of course, it was Air Canada, so we were late leaving :) We arrived in Vancouver at 7am on Feburary 15th. Just like the movie Groundhog Day! We had a nice time in Vancouver and got to see our friends--Carly, Fadi and Lucia. We also got to drink good wine and eat some delicious cake. mmmm...cake. The next morning we were off to Ottawa and we arrived at about 4pm. We're still catching up on sleep, but I think we've done quite well to get back on Ottawa time. It's been odd to be back in a city where we know the transit system, know places to eat, and can recognize the street people (although that last thing is a bit disconcerting, to be honest). Seeing the street people in the same places we saw them before we left has made us both realize how much we have been able to see and do over the past 10 1/2 months, while so many people lives didn't change at all. It's hard to describe the feeling. Since our arrival and recovery, we have been out searching for apartments. It's exciting, as it's the first time the two of us have actually looked together for a place to live! Can you imagine? But, that makes it just a bit more stressful as well. Luckily, we are having no problem finding potential places. The hardest part will be deciding which one we take! The housing market has opened up a lot in Ottawa, which is good news. It also helps that we're more grown up now (supposedly) and are willing to pay a little bit more. We also have a better idea of where we'd like to live. All of that helps. Hopefully by the end of this week we'll have our lease signed. Other than apartment hunting, we've just been visiting and going to all of the restaurants that we sat and drooled over while we were eating beans in Lesotho :) There are still more on the list, but that's okay. Something tells me we'll get around to visiting each and every one of them. Tonight Joel is going to a hockey game. *gasp* that means that we have to be apart for more than 10 minutes! I can hardly remember the last time that happened. On Saturday we head to Halifax for a couple of weeks. We come back to Ottawa for a few days to drop off stuff we had stored in Halifax. Then we'll load up on souvenirs and head West. If anyone wants to get in touch with us, e-mail is probably your best bet since we're sleeping here, there and everywhere over the next month and a bit. Hope to hear from you soon! :) m&amp;j<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28609/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/coteselig/blog/ontario/ottawa&link=Ottawa, Ontario" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/coteselig/blog/ontario/ottawa&link=Ottawa, Ontario" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386003/f/7277/c/321/s/11699721/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386003/f/7277/c/321/s/11699721/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/coteselig/blog/ontario/ottawahttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28608/story01.htmSo the last blog entry - On Mel's birthday we went to the pyramids. We took 2 camels around the pyramids and Mel wore her bellydancer headdres birthday present. As the camels sat down and stood up we both tried desperately to stay on! For dinner our lovely egyptian guide took us for a buffet at a restaurant where they were making a movie. We met Fifi Abdul - the most famous belly dancer - everyone was very excited she was there and we tried to be excited as they made us have a photo with her. &nbsp;We also visited a perfume makers befiore watching the sunset over the pyramids. Our last day saw us do some shopping around the market and finish reading our books in the park. It was sad it was all coming to an end. On our last day we got a cheap taxi to the airport and checked in 2 x 23kg bags, and had 2 x 10kg hand luggage but they didnt seem to mind. However they did mind that our ticket had the wrong date on. Despite us changing it online they said it had expired. Mel looked weepy and they finally did let us on the plane. The 6 hour flight was boring with no films or even a screen with our flight path. We arrived above london an hour early and then circled around the dome for abother 40 minutes! And then we were home after: 16 countires, 5 pairs of flip flops, 44 scuba dives, &pound;17,122 spent, 1 theft and 277 days away, Mel and stu x<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28608/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/melandstumissingyou/blog/egypt/cairo&link=Cairo, Egypt" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/melandstumissingyou/blog/egypt/cairo&link=Cairo, Egypt" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386002/f/7277/c/321/s/11699720/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386002/f/7277/c/321/s/11699720/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/melandstumissingyou/blog/egypt/cairohttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28607/story01.htmenough said. read the journal, enjoy<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28607/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/rachelklein/blog/spain/wish-i-was-in&link=Wish i was in, Spain" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/rachelklein/blog/spain/wish-i-was-in&link=Wish i was in, Spain" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386001/f/7277/c/321/s/11699719/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386001/f/7277/c/321/s/11699719/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/rachelklein/blog/spain/wish-i-was-inhttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28606/story01.htm&nbsp;Had a great few days in Tokyo and now feel like I know the city pretty well! Had a great time when we went down to Tokyo bay! It was a fantastic sunny day so we had a great view over to the rainbow bridge and the Tokyo tower! Getting around Tokyo was pretty easy and Jo and me are now experts on the Tokyo subways and I think we must know most of the stops off by heart...the walking between tube stations has helped keep us fit anyway!Found that in Tokyo there is a&nbsp;definite&nbsp;trend with people's cats and dogs wearing clothing...yes CLOTHING!!! We even came across some shops which sold outfits for cats and dogs and these included fireman, squaddie and FROG outfits...BIZARRE but made us laugh alot!! Have even put a picture in the photos section to show one cute doggie we saw in fluffy pinky combat clothing!!! Enough on cat/dog clothing...We took a train to the Mount Fuji region where we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the mountain and its snowy top on our&nbsp;way there...sadly as soon as we arrived the weather turned "Bognor" cloudy and the mountain disappeared behind dark clouds! Never mind we had a good day and&nbsp;when we did see the mountain for a fleeting second we were amazed how huge it actually&nbsp;was!!! A fab site!Today was my favourite day and I call it "Jens Japan day!!"..Got up&nbsp;very early and went to a fish...yes a fish market!! Was actually a real laugh and it was the biggest fish market in Asia (A fact there for you!!),&nbsp;so was a real experience.....never seen so many huge fish/crabs/lobster!&nbsp;The fishermen were even&nbsp;cutting up massive tuna fish bigger than me! And there were squid as long as my arm.&nbsp;Also watched sumo which was&nbsp;amazing and when&nbsp;I get back to Bognor perhaps we could organise sumo events.....just a thought!!!Looked around Shinjuku which is&nbsp;where you find the designer shops&nbsp;of Tokyo...was loving the Gucci shop and still cant believe we went looking around their lovely shop in our smelly travel gear!Loving the Japan vibe and the fun things they do! We travel back to Shanghai tomorrow by ferry (fingers crossed its smooth!)...we will next travel&nbsp;up to&nbsp;Beijing by&nbsp;over night train. In Beijing&nbsp;where we hope to visit&nbsp;The great wall of lovely China!!Send you more news and photos very soon!&nbsp;Lots of love to all,&nbsp;hope your all&nbsp;fine and cool,&nbsp;from Jen xxxxx&nbsp; &nbsp;<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28606/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/jenniedean/blog/japan/tokyo&link=Tokyo, Japan" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/jenniedean/blog/japan/tokyo&link=Tokyo, Japan" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386000/f/7277/c/321/s/11699718/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001386000/f/7277/c/321/s/11699718/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/jenniedean/blog/japan/tokyohttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28605/story01.htmNy lyckades vi fa ihop det till att vi befinner oss i Cairns. Sa tekniska ar vi. Hur som helst har vi slagit oss ner i Thailand nu. Och till och med lyckats p**** in regnperioden. Men det gor oss ingenting. Har dragit med oss var hollandska van Anne som vi traffade nere i Melbourne. Tillsammans har vi inga problem med att fa dagarna att ga. Det blir mycket kortspel och paraplydrinkar nar regnet oser ner. Det galler att gora vad man kan. Och varannan dag har faktiskt solen skinit och vi stekt pa beachen. &nbsp;Om du trodde att Australien var avslappnat hade du fel. Eller ratt... det ar i alla fall annu mer chill har. Landade i Bangkok&nbsp;och&nbsp;akte dagen efter till Koh Samet, mycket trevlig o. Kostade oss hela 300 bth, med andra ord ingenting. Priset ar helt klart den storsta skillnaden nar man backpackar runt. &nbsp;Nu har vi hamnat i Koh Phi Phi. Har ar det lite mer party. Vilket ar bra. Vi gillar verkligen buckets, hinkar med drinkar. &nbsp;Efter detta blir det Koh Samui, Koh Pah-Ngang och Bangkok igen. Vi har totalt tre veckor pa oss. Very niiiiice. Det ar perfekt med ett litet stopp halvvags innan hemkomsten. Anne har tva veckor mer an oss och ska upp till Laos och Kambodja. Hade inte bangat men nu ar vi ratt glada att snart vara hemma. &nbsp;Tjing Tjong Langkalsong<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28605/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/mathandfrie/blog/queensland/cairns&link=Cairns, Queensland" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/mathandfrie/blog/queensland/cairns&link=Cairns, Queensland" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div><br/><br/><a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001385999/f/7277/c/321/s/11699717/a2.htm"><img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/18001385999/f/7277/c/321/s/11699717/a2.img" border="0"/></a>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/mathandfrie/blog/queensland/cairnshttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28604/story01.htmThe name of the park sounds nice-Knotts Berry Farm, but they have some crazy rides there!! The ride in the photo is the silver bullet, and when we came off of it, i nearly fell over as i was so dizzy its crazy! We were dropped from 252ft which definately scares the crap out of you, and we went from 0-80mph in 2.5 seconds!They have a ride like that at thorpe park which is wicked, but this one has an extra rollercoaster bit on the end, just to scare us even more!We bought a photo which is funny, i look like im about tocry, and frank looks pretty normal! They had a few water rides, the best of which was perilous plunge, when you are in a boat and you go down a vertical slide thing, we got drenched! Looked like we'd been swimming! There was a ride called ghost rider which was good, but im not even kidding, i thought it was going to break! It was a wicked theme park, never been on such crazy and scary rides! It was only when we got back that Kyrstie told us about all the people that had dies on those rides, so don't think we will be going back there in a hurry!!It was good though! Yeaterday we went to Kyrstie's Grandparents house as they have a swimming pool and a diving board! It was wicked, but think we need to work on our dives, specially me as i was pants! We are off to a football (soccer) game this afternoon, so we will see if they are any good out here! Franks played a few times with Shane and his friends, and he says there not too bad, so we will have to see what this team are like today! Only a few days left till were back, ive seen the weather in England and its raining, not very impressed, never mind though!<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b28604/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/franknbex/blog/california/knotts-berry-farm&link=Knotts Berry Farm, California" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=http://www.statravelblogs.com/franknbex/blog/california/knotts-berry-farm&link=Knotts Berry Farm, California" target="_blank"><img src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.statravelblogs.com/franknbex/blog/california/knotts-berry-farmhttp://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/c33343a/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Czakke0Cblog0Cspain0Cbarakaldo/story01.htmJag byter nu blogg.denna strular mest for folk, och somliga hittar inte bloggarna, sa jag byter till en enklare..har kopierat allt som statt har, till den nya, och aven redigerat lite, och tack for kommentarer och lyckohalsning via mails, a sa, http://www.resekatalogen.se/component/option,com_myblog/blogger,Zakke/Itemid,296/tror denna site komemr gora det lite lattare att hitta dom olika bloggarna, och aven kommentera skall vara lattare :PSee ya on the flip side<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/c33343a/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Barakaldo%2C+Spain&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fzakke%2Fblog%2Fspain%2Fbarakaldo" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Barakaldo%2C+Spain&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fzakke%2Fblog%2Fspain%2Fbarakaldo" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTzakke_130http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/be67f73/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Canjo0Cblog0Crussia0Cirkutsk/story01.htmÄntligen i Irkutsk. Var framme runt halv elva lokal tid imorse, och virrade runt på tågstationen ett tag innan vi hittade vår guide Alex som skulle ta oss med på äventyr till Bajkalsjön. Han var en 17årig, liten och söt pojke, som pratade med en stark amerikansk accent efter att ha varit utbytestudent där under ett år. Vi hittade vår bil och gav oss av de ca 7 milen, Alex pratade nonstop hela vägen och berättade om Irkustk, visade och pekade längs vägen och gav oss en lång utläggning om Shamanism som fortfarande finns kvar i olika delar av regionen. Började med ett besök på Bajkalmuseut, där man fick se några av de alla arter av fiskar och växter som finns i området och i sjön. Bajkalsjön är världens djupaste insjö med 1637 meter och vattnet är så klart att man kan se nästan 40 meter ned på vissa ställen. Vattnet är friskt och drickbart, och sjön har ett enormt djurliv, bla finns den speciella sälen Nerpa här, som man ej kan finna någonannanstans. Lanskapet var otroligt vackert, nu var ju sjön delvis täckt av is och snö, men man kunde ändå se snötäckta berg på andra sidan sjön. Är säkert väldigt annorlunda att se det under sommarhalvåret när man faktiskt kan se vattnet, men jag tycker att snö gör landskap minst lika vackert som grönska. Det var väldigt mycket turister kring sjön, många ryssar som åkte skridskor, körde snöskoter på isen och promenerade omkring. Turismen har verkligen kommit igång här och det var hotell efter hotell och fanns en liten skidbacke i närheten av sjön. Jag och Alex tog en skön promenad uppför en brant backe och möttes av en fantastisk utsikt ut över sjön från toppen. Vi passade på att köpa kebab och åt en god lunch på isen. Det var inte alls så kallt som jag hade förväntat mig, solen sken och det var nästan helt vindstilla, vilket tydligen är ovanligt för Bajkalsjön där det nästan alltid blåser. Var tillbaks i Irktusk runt 17 och blev avsläppta vid vårt familjeboende. Vi bor hos en ensamstående kvinna i 40årsåldern som har en fin lägenhet ganska centralt. Vi har fått övervåningen med varsitt eget rum, en fräsch toa och egen nyckel. Det var underbart skönt att äntligen få duscha och sova i en vanlig säng igen. Tog oss ut och åt middag i närheten samt tog en liten runda i Irktusk som har ett ganska så litet centrum. Har en heldag här imorgon innan tåget går vid 10 på kvällen vidare mot Ulanbataar, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/be67f73/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Irkutsk%2C+Russia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fanjo%2Fblog%2Frussia%2Firkutsk" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Irkutsk%2C+Russia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fanjo%2Fblog%2Frussia%2Firkutsk" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTanjo_128http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad641/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Cjanehickman0Cblog0Cbrazil0Crio0Ede0Ejaneiro/story01.htmHello! 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, &#34;I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do&#34;. 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, &#34;which hotel are you staying at, Madam?&#34; I replied, &#34;Rio Backpackers&#34;. But in spite of this, they were really nice to me. I had to explain &#34;I wasn't quite in the market for anything at the moment&#34; 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 (&#34;I'm afraid I'm not quite in the market….&#34;) 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.<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad641/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Rio+de+Janeiro%2C+Brazil&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fjanehickman%2Fblog%2Fbrazil%2Frio-de-janeiro" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Rio+de+Janeiro%2C+Brazil&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fjanehickman%2Fblog%2Fbrazil%2Frio-de-janeiro" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTjanehickman_68http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63f/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Ctheadventure0Cblog0Cnew0Ezealand0Cauckland/story01.htmHey everyone Today we bought coats! With the extreme shifts in weather that New Zealand provides on a day-to-day basis, we decided it would be wise to buy coats. We were told that by the time we get down to Queenstown it would be snowing, so we thought we should invest in some warmer clothing sooner rather than later. So off we went, walking down the major high street in Auckland, Queen Street, trying to find some coats. It was a pretty unexciting day and after looking in every clothes shop on the street (and stopping each other from buying hoodies) we managed to both find coats that didn't break the bank...too much. After a day of shopping we treated ourselves to watching a film in the warmth of the hostel. We chose Borat, and making use of having an oven, cooked very crispy jacket potatoes - they were lovely. In the evening, we packed our bags ready for the start of our adventure in New Zealand with Kiwi Experience - first stop, Whitianga. Xxx<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63f/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Auckland%2C+New+Zealand&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Ftheadventure%2Fblog%2Fnew-zealand%2Fauckland" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Auckland%2C+New+Zealand&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Ftheadventure%2Fblog%2Fnew-zealand%2Fauckland" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTtheadventure_67http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63e/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Ccourtney0Cblog0Cwestern0Eaustralia0Cperth0Eaustralia/story01.htmso right now...im not actually travelling i am working to earn money so that i can go to south america in dec/jan 2009. but i have done some travelling over the past couple of years...China, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, 'Finland for a day' Thailand and short visit to Malaysia...so if anyone wants to know a few details of those adventures feel free to ask! in the meantime ive lived in WA my whole life and now live in perth to study...so any questions about the home state...ask away!<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63e/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Perth+australia%2C+Western+Australia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fcourtney%2Fblog%2Fwestern-australia%2Fperth-australia" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Perth+australia%2C+Western+Australia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fcourtney%2Fblog%2Fwestern-australia%2Fperth-australia" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTcourtney_66http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63d/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Cbjanddave0Cblog0Cqueensland0Ctoowoomba/story01.htmGday Everyone we're home. Its been a good trip, and you can see from this site that we've had fun and been alot of places. Now we have to find jobs, pay bills, catch up with mates fix up some things that aren't quite right at home. We caught up with BJs family no worries, picked up Trinity, and another pup as well. Daves family was not quite as easy because they decided to go to Mt Isa just before we got home. (Nobody knew we were coming home...it was a surprise). So now its BBQs and visiting mates trying to catch up with people. Hopefully we'll see you soon. Belinda and Dave<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63d/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Toowoomba%2C+Queensland&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fbjanddave%2Fblog%2Fqueensland%2Ftoowoomba" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Toowoomba%2C+Queensland&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fbjanddave%2Fblog%2Fqueensland%2Ftoowoomba" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTbjanddave_69http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63c/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Cayepep0Cblog0Cthailand0Cbangkok/story01.htmฮ่าฮ่า...เปิดซิง!! บล๊อกใหม่ ที่พลัดหลงเข้าโดยไม่รู้ตัว 555555 อะไรยังไง ไม่รุ้ รู้แต่ว่า... พรุ่งนี้ พรุ่งนี้ พรุ่งนี้ สอบไฟนอล EL 172 เอ่อ นั่นแหละ ที่เปิดซิง บล๊อกใหม่ก็เพราะว่า... เรากำลังจะไปเวิร์กอ่ะดิ ไปที่ไหนอ่ะเหรอ?? ก็ไป Six Flags,NJ อ่ะ เปนสวนสนุกอันดับ 1 ของอเมริกาเลยนะเว้ย ของโลกก็ว่าได้... เปนงัยละ ตื่นเต้นช่ายม๊า?? อะไรยังไง เด่วเราจะมาอัพบล๊อกต่อนะ หลังจากสอบเสร้จนะ วันนี้ต้องไปละ มีสอบตอนบ่ายย บะบาย :))<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63c/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Bangkok%2C+Thailand&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fayepep%2Fblog%2Fthailand%2Fbangkok" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Bangkok%2C+Thailand&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fayepep%2Fblog%2Fthailand%2Fbangkok" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTayepep_62http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63b/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Ccatandphil0Cblog0Cuk0Chome0E1/story01.htmThe final post, and possibly the hardest one to write! We're home back in the UK at last after 5-6 months of travelling; firstly we just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who have been keeping in touch with us through the Blog and for posting all your kind messages. Overall we had a fantastic time travelling but it was great to arrive back in the UK, to Snow and a temperature of just 1 deg C! Since our last post we visited Hong Kong for a few days before flying home. The place was truly different to everywhere else again, &#34;very very British&#34;, as I intelligently put to a taxi driver when we were there. I visited New York when I was 16 and like everyone was impressed with the skyline. Hong Kong is like nothing else, with hundreds of skyscrapers performing lighting displays each night to classical music and a transport system that actually runs on time! The place is crammed full of museums, tea shops and all sorts of interesting things to see using unusual methods, such as taking the star ferry across from the main land to Hong Kong Island or riding an old Chinese junta ship (the old fishing boats with the red sails) around Victoria harbour. There is plenty to do, even enough to arguably go and live there for a bit and it felt like our 3 nights 2 days there just wasn't enough to do the place the justice it deserves! And I haven't even mentioned the food or the old school quaint trams. (Sorry dad) The only downside on visiting Hong Kong is the prohibitive costs of accommodation, with most hotels being at least £100 a night, (not great if your backpacking, and at the end of 6 months with increasingly less money) We found a sky rise in the middle of lots of others with a room for around £16 a night, which on our budget was a lot more than normal! It came with all the charms of a very old high rise building with dirt and noise everywhere. The room was the size of the double bed, but it did make us feel that we had had our own slice of the Hong Kong life style. After that we certainly felt ready for the comforts of home and a 13 hour flight and 5 or so free glasses of red wine later (thanks for that advice Jen and Becky) we arrived safely back at Heathrow. With thousands of photo's (that still need uploading) and 6 months worth or dirty washing that took about 3 days to do. Whilst I settle down with the tasks of very day life such as applying for jobs, catching up with the parents. Etc. Cat packed her bags and is now out in Zermatt working for a skiing company for a week or 2. So who knows this might not be the last post of the Blog after all, may be we'll all get a bonus review of Switzerland in the near future? Thank you for keeping a beady eye on us using our Blog, If we haven't seen you yet, I hope we should catch up soon? Much love Phil and Cat<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/b7ad63b/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Home%2C+UK&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fcatandphil%2Fblog%2Fuk%2Fhome-1" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Home%2C+UK&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fcatandphil%2Fblog%2Fuk%2Fhome-1" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTcatandphil_61http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/a2671f5/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0CANJO0Cblog0Csweden0Cmalm0E1/story01.htmFärdigpackad. Har blivit mer och mer, att jag alltid väntar med packning till in i det sista men nu ligger allt på sin plats i min ryggsäck. Vandringskängor, termobyxor, underställ, fleecetröja, jag är redo att möta riktig kyla. Har lånat en dunjacka och laddat med kortlek, yatzi, böcker och proviant inför tågresan. Vad kan gå fel? Har en släng av resfeber och kommer ha svårt att somna, trots att jag måste stiga upp och ta tåget till Kastrup redan 04.22 imorgon bitti. Har inte hunnit tänka på den stundande resan förräns igår när passet kom med alla visum klara och stämplade. Är ganska bra att inte ha byggt upp några förväntingar, det brukar oftast bli de roligaste och bästa resorna, men jag är ganska säker på att detta kommer bli den mest annorlunda resa jag hittills gjort. Tror det är dags för lite kvällsmat och sen försöka sova. Ses i Moskva / Anette<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/a2671f5/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Malm&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2FANJO%2Fblog%2Fsweden%2Fmalm-1" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Malm&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2FANJO%2Fblog%2Fsweden%2Fmalm-1" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTanjo_126http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9f20731/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Caustralianbags0Cblog0Cnew0Esouth0Ewales0Caustralien/story01.htmHalloechen Halloechen, erstmal Happy Easter! Wie das so ist, hier in Australien werden wir ein wenig bestraft, dafuer, dass wir hier sind: Keine Ostereier dieses Jahr! Ok, ein wneig ist es auch unsere Schuld, haben uns extra Eier fuer disen Zweck gekauft, aber die sind in diverse Spiegeleier und Backkuenste entschwunden. Zur Belustigung der Hostelbevoelkerung haben wir blaue Cookies gebacken. Ja, blaue (wenn wir endlich Fotos hochladen koennen, werden wir es beweisen)... was zuerst ein voller Erfolg werden sollte, stiess leider auf nicht soo viel Begeisterung, denn zugegeben, es waren nicht die besten und eher wenig &#34;delicious&#34;, was aber einige trotzdem nicht gestoert hat:) Was noch zu unserem gestrigen Osterprogramm gehoert hat, war sportliche (!) Betaetigung im Park. Nach ein, zwei, drei oder sogar vier Runden Brennball (mit sehr seltsamen australischen Regeln), ner Runde Soccer und einem ziemlich heftigen Regenschauer, bemerkten wir erst Abends das Ausmass: Muskelkater am ganzen Koerper! (Die Frage lautet: Wie unsportlich kann man eigentlich sein???) Ja, ja wie die Zeit vergeht:) auf den Tag genau sind wir jetzt schon 2 Wochen unterwegs. Heute konnten wir usn dann auch wieder (ja, es wurde auch langsam nochmal Zeit) ueber das Hostel aufregen, dass uns immer saemtliche (haben sie sich gegen uns verschworen?) Informationen ueber unseren Aufenthalt in eben diesem vorenthalten. Nach der strikten Beteuerung aller Angestellten (&#34;I've defenitly told you so.&#34;) werden wir jetzt die letzten beiden Tage in Sydney in verschieden Dorms schlafen muessen. Linda muss umziehen und soweit wir das eben festestellen konnten, ist es der Fang des Jahres: &#34;Hier muffts aber..&#34; - &#34;Oh weia, hier sind ja NUR Jungs!&#34;... So viel fuer heute, es gruessen euch Lindi und Tschesi<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9f20731/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Australien%2C+New+South+Wales&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Faustralianbags%2Fblog%2Fnew-south-wales%2Faustralien" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Australien%2C+New+South+Wales&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Faustralianbags%2Fblog%2Fnew-south-wales%2Faustralien" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTaustralianbags_34http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9d22911/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Cminja0Cblog0Csouth0Eaustralia0Cport0Elincoln/story01.htmDas Angebot von „FREE APPLEPIE and PANCAKES&#34; konnten wir nicht unterschlagen und somit haben wir mit den Engländerinnen im Backpackers eingecheckt und auf ein Neues das Zimmer mit 8 andren Personen geteilt. Dem Motto „Backpackers alwas go out&#34; folgten wir ohne zu zögern und zogen mit einer Gruppe von Engländern los auf der Suche nach brauchbaren Pubs. Zu sechst rockten wir die Stadt und waren letztenendes in dieser Nacht froh endlich wieder ein richtiges Bett zu haben. Das gratis Frühstück haben wir aufgrund des Hangover verschlafen, deshalb war auch der restliche Tag für den Strand reserviert. Nach den zwei Nächten im überfüllten Hostel (und unsrem ersten (bis jetzt noch nicht bezahlten) Strafzettel) verließen wir es und wollten uns auf die Suche nach einem geeigneten Campingplatz machen. Leichter gesagt als getan - die Weiterreise verzögerte sich um 2 Stunden, weil wir vergessen hatten unser Licht auszuschalten (Battery flat). Der Versuch die Polizei um Hilfe zu bitten scheiterte. Auf dem Weg zum Mechaniker trafen wir endlich einen Helfer in Not mit Werkzeug und genügend Kenntnissen um unser Auto wieder in Gang zu bringen. Neue Batterie (Nummer 4) neues Glück !?!?!? Unser nächstes Schlaflager sollte nun wieder Mitsubishi Magna am Campingplatz sein. Eingeparkt und voller Motivation die Umgebung zu erkunden hatten wir nach einem 2 stündigen Fußmarsch North Adelaide erreicht. Weniger motiviert gings unter weiterhin großer Hitze machten wir es den andren Backpackern nach und kauften uns unsren ersten 4-liter-Tetra-Pack wein für unglaubliche AUD 8. Diesen edlen Tropfen genossen wir abends in unsrer Mitsubishi-Magna-Lounge (=MM-Lounge) um den St. Patrick's Day zu feiern (unsre Cosmopolität bringt uns dazu auch irische Feiertage wahrzunehmen). Unsere Limousine (öffentlicher Bus, der sich von uns via Autostopp aufhalten ließ) brachte uns direkt vor das Irish Pub PJ O'Brian. Die unverständlichen Iren konnten uns immer noch nicht wirklich beeindrucken und somit waren wir sehr froh über deutsche (JA WIRKLICH), schweizerische und englische Gesellschaft. Wiedermal endete der Abend im Hungry Jack's (der australische Burger King). Da Adelaide über mehrere Strände verfügt konnten wir unseren Hangover nun am Henley Beach ausschlafen. Unsere alten Knochen verlangten nach einem richtigen Bett, somit kamen wir auf die grandiose Idee unsre Couch-Surfing-Kontakte auszunutzen. Die erste Couch surften wir in Port Augusta (Fr. 19.3.). Da schon wieder Freitag war, nahmen wir unser Backpacker-Motto wirklich ernst und folgten der Einladung von Mick, unsrem ersten Couch-Host, nach Whyalla mitzukommen, wo wir unser Poolspiel-Können verbessern konnten. Wir verbrachten einen lustigen Abend mit Mick und seinen Freunden. Am nächsten Tag gings wieder zurück nach Port Augusta, wo wir einen DVD-Marathon veranstalteten (draußen zu heiß, zu viele Fliegen und zu viel Sand). Am 21.3. brachen wir nach einer Runde schwimmen und auf Delfin-Suche zu unsrer nächsten gebuchten Couch in Port Neill auf. Keine 10 Minuten unterwegs erkannten wir das Problem unsrer Gutmütigkeit noch nicht und gabelten einen (wie sich im Nachhinein feststellte) französischen Backpacker, Victor, (das Schild verriet uns, er wolle nach Perth) am Straßenrand auf. Zu dritt erreichten wir dann unser Ziel, wie sich herausstellte eine riesige Schaf-und Kuhfarm. Wir wurden herzlichst emfpangen (3 Hunde inbegriffen) und mit einem lecker Abendessen überrascht. Am nächsten Tag wachten wir Gott sei Dank früh genug auf um voll und ganz ins australische Farmleben einzutauchen. Die erste Aufgabe: Check the sheep! In einem großen Geländewagen gings quer durch die Felder gings zu unzähligen Schafen, wovon 2 im Sterben lagen und circa ein Drittel der Herde Babies bekamen. Michi tat sich etwas schwer das Kommen und Gehen der Schafe einfach hinzunehmen und war den Tränen nahe. Zweite Aufgabe: Feed the lamb! Und unsre Herzen schlugen höher, als wir die kleinen Lämmchen und das kleine Kalb Bridget sahen und füttern durften (siehe Fotos). Dritte Aufgabe: Get the Sheep! Nicht am Pferd, sondern am Quad trieben wir die Herde in die richtigen Gatter und pickten uns drei zu scherende Schafe heraus, womit wir bei der vierten Aufgabe wären: Sheer the Sheep! Neue Devise: Learning by doing (wogegen sich Michi anfangs streubte aus Angst ein Schaf zu verletzen) durften wir unser Schafscher-Können unter Beweis stellen. Zu einem zweiten Abendessen sagten wir natürlich nicht nein und ließen uns die zuvor gestreichelten Schafe gut schmecken. Am nächsten Tag brachen wir wehmütig (Dank Labrador Molly mit kaputten Flipflops) nach Port Lincoln auf. Da sich der Smalltalk und die Sympathie aufgrund seiner nicht vorhandenen Englisch-und Traveller-Verhalten in Grenzen hielten verabschiedeten wir uns weniger wehmütig von Victor. Nächste Hosts in Port Lincoln: ein Lehrer-Ehepaar!<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9d22911/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Port+Lincoln%2C+South+Australia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fminja%2Fblog%2Fsouth-australia%2Fport-lincoln" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Port+Lincoln%2C+South+Australia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Fminja%2Fblog%2Fsouth-australia%2Fport-lincoln" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTminja_38http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9cbf8ca/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0CPamster0Cblog0Cnew0Ezealand0Cblenheim/story01.htmWell was up early yesterday morning to go swimming with Duaky Dolphins!! was amazing got the boat from Kaikoura town centre and went out to where pods of then were swimming guide said there was a couple of hundred there! Water was freezing but the dolphins swimming all around me certainly made up for that!  Once back on dry land and warmed up a bit was time to get in car and drive upto Blenheim. Headed for Renwick in the heart of the vineyards but with it being easter weekend everywhere was full so found a motel in Blenheim itself and settled down fr the night with a dinner of fish which he boys had freshly caught that morning! Had a long lie this morning before getting our hired bikes ad heading off around the vineyards! Sadly with it being good Friday they were all closed! Everywhere here seems to close for good Friday! So we just cycled around in a loop making our way back to the motel! Heading to Greymouth tomorrow and then onto the Franz Josef glacier for the next few days!! xxxxxx<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9cbf8ca/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Blenheim%2C+New+Zealand&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2FPamster%2Fblog%2Fnew-zealand%2Fblenheim" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Blenheim%2C+New+Zealand&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2FPamster%2Fblog%2Fnew-zealand%2Fblenheim" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTpamster_61http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9cbf8c9/l/0L0Sstatravelblogs0N0Caddis0Ephysios0Cblog0Cethiopia0Caddis0Eabeba/story01.htmtraenen und huehner zum abschied... zum letzten mal liessen wir uns am mittwoch vom wecker aus den federn schellen und machten uns auf, die patienten zu verabschieden...bei den meisten lief das ziemlich glimpflich ab, sie bedankten sich mit vielen &#34;batam batam amasegenallhu's&#34; und wuenschten uns alles gute...bei akelilu - ein tetraplegiker welchen wir ca. 8 wochen lang betreut haben und dem wir am dienstag noch einen rollstuhl organisieren konnten! - brachen jedoch alle daemme und er lag schluchzend im bett, bedankt und bedankte sich...genau so sein bruder und sein zimmergenosse (jeweils mit etwas weniger traenen...) und wir mussten uns beeilen wieder aus dem zimmer zu kommen, weil es sonst um unsere fassung auch geschehen gewesen waere (also bei karin wars das eigentlich sowieso schon...)! so nahmen wir abschied von all den menschen, die wir ein stueck ihres lebens begleiten durften...am mittag wurden wir dann von akelilus bruder nochmals geholt (er sah uns per zufall draussen sitzen) und wir besuchten unseren patienten ein weiteres mal...dieses mal war beinahe die ganze familie da, sie halfen ihm im bett aufzusitzen und er ueberreichte uns je ein kleines paeckli, schuettelte uns die hand und liess sich dabei fotografieren (wir kamen uns noch nie so wichtig vor...hand geben und in die kamera laecheln!!)! schon durch die wirklich lustige situation hatten wir viel zu lachen danach, jedoch noch etwas mehr als wir die geschenke auspackten..je ein schwarzes keramikhuhn mit weissen tupfen (knapp als huhn zu erkennen...), also doch noch einen staubfaenger zum nach hause nehmen =)! aber freude hatten wir trotzdem und gingen dann zur feier des tages auch noch mit unseren physiogspaendlis ein bier trinken...wir luden sie alle ein (ca.7 personen, 2 bier pro person...ca. 17 franken...) und fielen am abend todmuede ins bett! am freitag machten wir uns nochmal per minibus auf den weg in die bole um unsere haare zu kunst werden zu lassen...von 8.00 - 14.00 sassen wir abwechslungsweise bei der frisoerin auf dem stuhl und liessen uns drangsalieren, sodass wir abends zwar umwerfend aussahen, jedoch auch ziemliche schmerzen hatten...zum glueck gabs eine feine roeschti mit bratwurst bei mirjam im guesthouse und einmal mehr eine lustige runde mit lustigen spielen, sodass wir unsere schmerzen etwas vergessen konnten... samstag war dann putz- und waschtag, wir beendeten unsere schulsachen die wir am donnerstag begonnen hatten und liessen uns am abend zusammen mit wini und tes (physios) noch einen letzten tedj schmecken...um 1 uhr fanden wir uns in unserem zimmer wieder, etwas traurig vom abschied der freunde und noch ueberhaupt nicht bereit zum schlafen...also beschaeftigten wir uns bis ca. 3 uhr (wir wissen auch nicht so genau womit...aber es war auf jeden fall ein riesengaudi!!) und loeschten dann endlich die lichter...sodass wir heute ein feines zmorgen bei sonnenschein im bon cafe geniessen konnten (zusammen mit mirjam und aendu) und nun noch den vorlauefig letzten blogeintrag verfassen konnten! nachher gehts dann ans packen und morgen um 7 uhr gehts los an den flughafen...wir sind langsam nervoes, hoffen dass das mit der safari klappt und wir am dienstag starten koennen...aber zuerst muessen wir mal nach nairobi und dort auf die liebe evy warten (wir freuen uns schon ganz doll ueber ein liebes,bekanntes schweizergesicht!!!)... ob wir nochmal einen blogeintrag schreiben werden steht in den sternen...auf safari wohl kaum und ob wir nachher noch lust oder zeit haben wissen wir auch nicht! aber ihr werdets erfahren...und sonst sagen wir schon mal: ade, ond bes bald! batam batam amasegenallhu (vele vele dank) fuers fleissige lesen und schreiben, wir freuen uns schampar auf euch! bes denn, hebed sorg! en letschti decki omarmig us addis uechi karin ond nicole<img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/321/f/7277/s/9cbf8c9/mf.gif' border='0'/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Addis+Abeba%2C+Ethiopia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Faddis-physios%2Fblog%2Fethiopia%2Faddis-abeba" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Addis+Abeba%2C+Ethiopia&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.statravelblogs.com%2Faddis-physios%2Fblog%2Fethiopia%2Faddis-abeba" target="_blank"><img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" /></a></td></tr></table></div>Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMTaddis-physios_31