After much shouting at Qantas, praying to the God of aviation and a nice man at Trailfinders swapping our ticket to British Airways, we have a new flight. We now arrive in the UK a week earlier than we expected. We leave here on Thursday 29th and arrive into Heathrow 06.25 on Friday 30th so we'll see you lovely people at the weekend.
I'll definitely be sorry to leave here, Pete's place is pretty fantastic and along with great weather and decent food, it's not a bad life. That said, the thought of earning some money again is not to be sniffed at.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday.
Mx
p.s. James isn't at all happy with the change of flight and I quote "thanks for ruining my holiday and making me go home" so expect one happy and one grumpy face when you see us.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Could it be Wembley?
Nothing to do with our travels, but I thought you'd all be delighted to know that today Leicester have secured a Play-Off place.
Now, will we be playing Forest or Bluebirds?
Up the City!
Now, will we be playing Forest or Bluebirds?
Up the City!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Explosions in Bangkok
Just to offer some clarification to folks at home, we're no longer in Bangkok [as of last night], and are now enjoying a quiet life in Phuket courtesy of Rik's Dad, Pete.
We heard about the Grenade attacks, but the most we have to contend with for the next few weeks is sun-burn. Hopefully catch some of you on Skype over the next few weeks.
James and Miranda
We heard about the Grenade attacks, but the most we have to contend with for the next few weeks is sun-burn. Hopefully catch some of you on Skype over the next few weeks.
James and Miranda
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Bonus Edition
So as you're all aware, we weren't able to fly back to enjoy Pie Night and company of family. We thought maybe the delay was a small blessing and would buy us a couple of additional sunny days in Bangkok. I don't however think either of us, or indeed yourselves, thought we'd be 'trapped' in Bangkok for another 3 weeks... in fact, we were more than a little startled at the news that Qantas couldn't accommodate us before then.
Looking on the bright side, we get an additional holiday and some serious wind down time, as really we've both finished 'travelling', we're now in holiday mode and plan to make the most of it, doing as little as possible and trying not to make things too costly. Luckily, Rik and his Dad have come to our aid, and tonight we're going to take the sleeper bus down to Phuket, where hopefully we can track Pete's house down and make use of the spare room we've so kindly been offered. Thanks guys!
We'll stay put for as long as possible, and franly hold zero hope of getting an earlier flight home, I just can't see how logistically, even with additional planes, that thinks will move fast enough to see us dumped on an earlier flight. Surely the bottleneck will be the airport parking, air traffic and will mean only a small increase in throughput for those in the queue?
I will say this though, the UK Embassy, were apparently zero help. Basiclly if you're short of cash, or in a spot of bother, you need to call your friends and family for assistance or your travel insurance, zero aid is forthcoming. When you consider how many taxes we pay in the UK, you'd think maybe, just maybe a tin of SPAM or similar would be the least you'd expect. Next up, travel insurance, well we called Go Backpackers/eTravel and basically got told that despite buying a more premium level of insurance from them, that they too will not be putting their hands in their pockets, you see, Section H, point 2b says "if the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] intervene temporarily, or permanently" then we're not covered, even under the Catastrophe cover we have. Useless jobsworth clowns. Finally, Qantas have said they too cannot offer anything, and that our best bet is keeping hold of receipts and sending them to their CS department in Australia, which amounts in my eyes to - go bark up another tree.
Stranded if therefore fairly poignant, or at least we would be if we had children, pets, a mortgage and other obligations. Luckily, aside from money and Miranda's job [who are naturally understanding], we have no such hard wired commitments, or limitations. That said, I'm sure there's people who aren't so fortunate and are right now having to take loans, or worse to pay for medication or deal with other such issues. Hopefully, this will prove to be a valuable lesson in disaster relief, because frankly, from where I'm sitting it has been handled with sheer incompetence with confusion king-of-the-hill.
Anyway, just thought I'd put a little post up to let you know we're OK, and in very good spirits over the whole issue. All being well we'll see thee on May 8th for conclusion and pie, lots of piiiiiiieeeee.
Looking on the bright side, we get an additional holiday and some serious wind down time, as really we've both finished 'travelling', we're now in holiday mode and plan to make the most of it, doing as little as possible and trying not to make things too costly. Luckily, Rik and his Dad have come to our aid, and tonight we're going to take the sleeper bus down to Phuket, where hopefully we can track Pete's house down and make use of the spare room we've so kindly been offered. Thanks guys!
We'll stay put for as long as possible, and franly hold zero hope of getting an earlier flight home, I just can't see how logistically, even with additional planes, that thinks will move fast enough to see us dumped on an earlier flight. Surely the bottleneck will be the airport parking, air traffic and will mean only a small increase in throughput for those in the queue?
I will say this though, the UK Embassy, were apparently zero help. Basiclly if you're short of cash, or in a spot of bother, you need to call your friends and family for assistance or your travel insurance, zero aid is forthcoming. When you consider how many taxes we pay in the UK, you'd think maybe, just maybe a tin of SPAM or similar would be the least you'd expect. Next up, travel insurance, well we called Go Backpackers/eTravel and basically got told that despite buying a more premium level of insurance from them, that they too will not be putting their hands in their pockets, you see, Section H, point 2b says "if the CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] intervene temporarily, or permanently" then we're not covered, even under the Catastrophe cover we have. Useless jobsworth clowns. Finally, Qantas have said they too cannot offer anything, and that our best bet is keeping hold of receipts and sending them to their CS department in Australia, which amounts in my eyes to - go bark up another tree.
Stranded if therefore fairly poignant, or at least we would be if we had children, pets, a mortgage and other obligations. Luckily, aside from money and Miranda's job [who are naturally understanding], we have no such hard wired commitments, or limitations. That said, I'm sure there's people who aren't so fortunate and are right now having to take loans, or worse to pay for medication or deal with other such issues. Hopefully, this will prove to be a valuable lesson in disaster relief, because frankly, from where I'm sitting it has been handled with sheer incompetence with confusion king-of-the-hill.
Anyway, just thought I'd put a little post up to let you know we're OK, and in very good spirits over the whole issue. All being well we'll see thee on May 8th for conclusion and pie, lots of piiiiiiieeeee.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Bangkok
Today we're leaving Saigon and flying back to Bangkok for sadly our final stop!
We spent a good few days here with Rik and Rach (who are now engaged, big congratulations there), before heading down to Mui Ne for some much needed "look, I have a drink and a lounger, I'm not moving" time, after some three days of sun, we stayed our final night in Saigon, and will be flying to Bangkok later today.
Fear not, we'll be staying at the Bangkok Cha-Da again, which is out of the way, and therefore no need to worry about the recent problems. The only exception to this is if the airport is closed, and we have to extend our travels for another few weeks... but we have "Pie Night" to look forward to, can't say I won't be sad to see the ugly back of Vietnamese cuisine, give me Thai any day of the week!
Still can't quite compute that we're staring 4 days in the face, as much as i'm looking forward to seeing you all, I'm not sure I'm ready for rip-off Britain and finding a flat, a job and maybe even some new pants. That said, CV is updated, and had a few enquiries from recruiters, hopefully it will be easy.
To aid with the above, we're having some tailor made suits made in Saigon (which will arrive a week after we get home), so we'll both be looking dapper, and sharp.
Anyway, food is on the table, bye for now!
We spent a good few days here with Rik and Rach (who are now engaged, big congratulations there), before heading down to Mui Ne for some much needed "look, I have a drink and a lounger, I'm not moving" time, after some three days of sun, we stayed our final night in Saigon, and will be flying to Bangkok later today.
Fear not, we'll be staying at the Bangkok Cha-Da again, which is out of the way, and therefore no need to worry about the recent problems. The only exception to this is if the airport is closed, and we have to extend our travels for another few weeks... but we have "Pie Night" to look forward to, can't say I won't be sad to see the ugly back of Vietnamese cuisine, give me Thai any day of the week!
Still can't quite compute that we're staring 4 days in the face, as much as i'm looking forward to seeing you all, I'm not sure I'm ready for rip-off Britain and finding a flat, a job and maybe even some new pants. That said, CV is updated, and had a few enquiries from recruiters, hopefully it will be easy.
To aid with the above, we're having some tailor made suits made in Saigon (which will arrive a week after we get home), so we'll both be looking dapper, and sharp.
Anyway, food is on the table, bye for now!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Vietnam, so far.
We landed safely in Hanoi, jumped on a shuttle and met Rik and Rach at the train station. We headed immediately for somewhere serving food, luckily we found a small cheap eatery a minute away. On the menu, a fine selection of foods, ranging from Chickens Stomach, Beef Penis, Steamed Dog, Pigs Trotters and a few other options like Fish, Noodles and some more 'normal' cuts of meat. An hour later, we were on a sleeper train heading to Lao Cai. It was definitely good to see some familiar faces, and enjoy some boy humour [I'm sure Miranda will share the same view], catch up, and enjoy a beer together.
The train itself was fine, not quite up there with the Orient Express, but the beds were comfortable, and we all slept reasonably well after knocking back some Hanoi beer [and Oreo's]. We all woke up to a knock on the cabin door, which meant we'd arrived in Lao Cai, and from there a short 40Km hop on a mini-van to our final destination, Sapa.
Sa Pa is famed for it's location in the hills [altitude of around 1,600M], and the ease of access for meeting the rural hill tribe folk and their villages. We only spent one night there, which is definitely all you need, and having hired some mopeds, we went about our discovery of several villages via some long windy roads/tracks, which was frequently interesting. We passed though the villages of Hau Thao [H'Mong tribe], Su Fan [School photos] and finally into Ban Ho [Zay and Tay tribes]. The highlight I think for all, was visiting a local school, unannounced and armed with sweets for the kids, we got some good pictures, poor things needed a wash. Another thing that did strike us, was how friendly they all were, and certainly got the feeling not many tourists penetrate as far as we got away from Sa Pa, highly rewarding, and very much an inspiring experience.
Reaching Ban Ho with a bit of a thirst and hunger, we decided the settle for lunch [it's the end of the road], and thanks for a language barrier were forced to communicate our wishes by [me alone, ahem] performing a number of drawings, and farm animal movements and noises... *Snoooort*. Soon, we'd communicated we wanted Chicken, and a couple of minutes later, a girl came back with a Chicken, which at this point I wasn't sure if it served purely as clarification, buying a live Chicken to take home, or witnessing a sacrifice. On questioning, I managed to work out this Chicken was going to be putting it's neck on the line for us, and me being somewhat curious, in need of education, or perverse [delete as appropriate] decided to go and witness our lunch being slaughtered - fear not, I have it in glorious HD video. Actually, I think it's something everyone should see, if only to appreciate that meat doesn't grow on tree's, and that it doesn't grow with cling film and a price sticker on it. The Chicken [and associated rice] cost us £6 to feed the four of us.
The reality however was different from my expectations. My thinking was that this would be the freshest Chicken we'd ever eaten, and that it would be a fantastic eat. Wrong. It was awful, on so many levels. Not only was the Chicken basically quartered [minus the Breast, which mysteriously disappeared], therefore, two people had feet in their bowls, one beak and head, 2 kidneys, a liver, some unidentified pieces of meat, and some other typical pieces like wings, drumsticks... pick out the bits we want and man up, right? Wrong. Either they switched our freshly slaughtered Chicken, for something akin to a 2 week old carcass, that had been reheated a dozen times, or it was simply the worst Chicken I [actually all of us] had ever tasted, tough, bland, atrocious.
Throughout my life, I'd always disliked animals around the table during a meal time, however on this occasion, it was an absolutely wonderful, a godsend. The dogs ate well, very well, and we managed to [successfully, I think] pass off our almost unprecedented hunger off with a beaming smile on our face, before promptly leaving. It sounds awful, and the food was, but it sure made for an enjoyable meal, never have I laughed so much in the face of misfortune.
With that out of the way, we headed to a nearby waterfall, where we were told there was a pool for swimming. It was rather spontaneous, and sadly the girls didn't fancy dressing down to their lingerie for a dip. Rik [sporting his UK winter tan] and I however were game, and promptly went about discovering just how cold Vietnamese water can be... breathtaking. This came after trying to scale a wall, and build a bridge to gain access to the upper pool and slide down the waterfall... on reflection, it's probably a good job we failed, it was pretty powerful, albeit small. Rik also performed his signature 'walking on water' miracle, see pics. Did I mention how cold it was?!
That night we headed to a restaurant, grabbed our first decent [mine, average] meal in Vietnam, and basically got a little merry. The following day was spent on another moped road trip, finishing with another local village, called Cat Cat. This one was significantly different, and very disappointing after our experience the previous day. Cat Cat suffers from tourism as much as it probably profits from it, basically here they see so many tourist that nobody is openly friendly [unless they want money for something], and it just feels like an organised tour over an above a discovery of something special. For instance, there's a lovely stone path that would put Jacobs Ladder [it shares the same incline as well] to shame which intricately weaves and meanders it's way through the village and into the next... overall, just disappointing, but to be expected I guess given the proximity to Sa Pa town, which is easily walking distance. Map HERE if you're interested.
Right, I have to dash, we're getting a flight to Saigon tonight [more on that later], and Miranda is giving me the cross-eyed look!
Finally, there's also stacks of photos that I've been uploaded in the last day or so, enjoy.
[probably full of errors, but I have no time to re-read it now]
The train itself was fine, not quite up there with the Orient Express, but the beds were comfortable, and we all slept reasonably well after knocking back some Hanoi beer [and Oreo's]. We all woke up to a knock on the cabin door, which meant we'd arrived in Lao Cai, and from there a short 40Km hop on a mini-van to our final destination, Sapa.
Sa Pa is famed for it's location in the hills [altitude of around 1,600M], and the ease of access for meeting the rural hill tribe folk and their villages. We only spent one night there, which is definitely all you need, and having hired some mopeds, we went about our discovery of several villages via some long windy roads/tracks, which was frequently interesting. We passed though the villages of Hau Thao [H'Mong tribe], Su Fan [School photos] and finally into Ban Ho [Zay and Tay tribes]. The highlight I think for all, was visiting a local school, unannounced and armed with sweets for the kids, we got some good pictures, poor things needed a wash. Another thing that did strike us, was how friendly they all were, and certainly got the feeling not many tourists penetrate as far as we got away from Sa Pa, highly rewarding, and very much an inspiring experience.
Reaching Ban Ho with a bit of a thirst and hunger, we decided the settle for lunch [it's the end of the road], and thanks for a language barrier were forced to communicate our wishes by [me alone, ahem] performing a number of drawings, and farm animal movements and noises... *Snoooort*. Soon, we'd communicated we wanted Chicken, and a couple of minutes later, a girl came back with a Chicken, which at this point I wasn't sure if it served purely as clarification, buying a live Chicken to take home, or witnessing a sacrifice. On questioning, I managed to work out this Chicken was going to be putting it's neck on the line for us, and me being somewhat curious, in need of education, or perverse [delete as appropriate] decided to go and witness our lunch being slaughtered - fear not, I have it in glorious HD video. Actually, I think it's something everyone should see, if only to appreciate that meat doesn't grow on tree's, and that it doesn't grow with cling film and a price sticker on it. The Chicken [and associated rice] cost us £6 to feed the four of us.
The reality however was different from my expectations. My thinking was that this would be the freshest Chicken we'd ever eaten, and that it would be a fantastic eat. Wrong. It was awful, on so many levels. Not only was the Chicken basically quartered [minus the Breast, which mysteriously disappeared], therefore, two people had feet in their bowls, one beak and head, 2 kidneys, a liver, some unidentified pieces of meat, and some other typical pieces like wings, drumsticks... pick out the bits we want and man up, right? Wrong. Either they switched our freshly slaughtered Chicken, for something akin to a 2 week old carcass, that had been reheated a dozen times, or it was simply the worst Chicken I [actually all of us] had ever tasted, tough, bland, atrocious.
Throughout my life, I'd always disliked animals around the table during a meal time, however on this occasion, it was an absolutely wonderful, a godsend. The dogs ate well, very well, and we managed to [successfully, I think] pass off our almost unprecedented hunger off with a beaming smile on our face, before promptly leaving. It sounds awful, and the food was, but it sure made for an enjoyable meal, never have I laughed so much in the face of misfortune.
With that out of the way, we headed to a nearby waterfall, where we were told there was a pool for swimming. It was rather spontaneous, and sadly the girls didn't fancy dressing down to their lingerie for a dip. Rik [sporting his UK winter tan] and I however were game, and promptly went about discovering just how cold Vietnamese water can be... breathtaking. This came after trying to scale a wall, and build a bridge to gain access to the upper pool and slide down the waterfall... on reflection, it's probably a good job we failed, it was pretty powerful, albeit small. Rik also performed his signature 'walking on water' miracle, see pics. Did I mention how cold it was?!
That night we headed to a restaurant, grabbed our first decent [mine, average] meal in Vietnam, and basically got a little merry. The following day was spent on another moped road trip, finishing with another local village, called Cat Cat. This one was significantly different, and very disappointing after our experience the previous day. Cat Cat suffers from tourism as much as it probably profits from it, basically here they see so many tourist that nobody is openly friendly [unless they want money for something], and it just feels like an organised tour over an above a discovery of something special. For instance, there's a lovely stone path that would put Jacobs Ladder [it shares the same incline as well] to shame which intricately weaves and meanders it's way through the village and into the next... overall, just disappointing, but to be expected I guess given the proximity to Sa Pa town, which is easily walking distance. Map HERE if you're interested.
Right, I have to dash, we're getting a flight to Saigon tonight [more on that later], and Miranda is giving me the cross-eyed look!
Finally, there's also stacks of photos that I've been uploaded in the last day or so, enjoy.
[probably full of errors, but I have no time to re-read it now]
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Laos? Done.
After our whistle stop of Laos, we're shortly due to catch our next flight, Lao Airways, for Hanoi... Wish us luck!
In a nutshell then, Laos is a country of diversity. There's a feel of relative western influence, not least the French in the major cities (Vientiane, Luang Prabang). This however seems quite far removed from the population itself. Sure, there's nice buildings, scatter cushions, nice spa's and bakeries, but the people don't live in the colonial towns, they don't own the cushions, and they certainly can't afford treatments and massage - after talking to a girl yesterday, she earns 80p for giving an hour massage, and works a 13 hour day, 7 days a week.
If you look merely 5 minutes away from here, you'll uncover the outlying villages (the real Laos), paved by mud tracks, seemingly ramshackle buildings which shout DIY, and children walking happily amongst livestock.
For me, the best experiences, have been visiting the places where the people live, to see where the locals eat, and where they wash their clothes and themselves in the river. If you look 50 yards upstream, you might see Water Buffalo, or even us washing our Elephants.
The people here, they don't have much, but they don't seem to want it. Family values and friendship are definitely close to the heart, you just have to look in the street at the kids playing with bicycle tyres, or a
mother clutching her baby as she cooks. The saddening part really I guess is not seeing this at home, when was the last time you saw a group of children laughing almost uncontrollably? Maybe the UK lifestyle is too far removed from this for comparison?
I'd definitely like to visit Laos again, the people here are friendly, welcoming and often not hard pressed to throw a smile in your direction. It definitely seems a daunting prospect as London looms wide on the horizon, the city that if you rely on the surly waiting roomesque tube etiquette and common practice (or art) of looking through people, just seems worlds apart, and it is!
Vientiane, not a lot to do there, maybe spend a day, rent a motorbike and take a ride out to a village, meet the local drug smugglers.
Vang Vieng, if you want Marijuana, Opium, Mushrooms or anything else trippy, come here, just don't expect to see any locals. Worth a visit for the Tubing, scenery and eco-trips though. (see pics)
Luang Prabang, for us, it was Elephant riding, Kayaking, Night Market and learning the perils of Pottery making. Lots of temple, and then a few more.
You can't easily summarise Laos (or indeed many of the places we've visited), but hopefully the constant stream of pictures can fill in the holes in my vocabulary.
Anyway, we're off to 'Nam maaaaan, and guess what? You just weren't thereeee maaaan.
We'll be meeting Rik and Rach in a few hours, and Rik has English teabags..... Woooooooooooooeiiiiiii
Cya soon!
In a nutshell then, Laos is a country of diversity. There's a feel of relative western influence, not least the French in the major cities (Vientiane, Luang Prabang). This however seems quite far removed from the population itself. Sure, there's nice buildings, scatter cushions, nice spa's and bakeries, but the people don't live in the colonial towns, they don't own the cushions, and they certainly can't afford treatments and massage - after talking to a girl yesterday, she earns 80p for giving an hour massage, and works a 13 hour day, 7 days a week.
If you look merely 5 minutes away from here, you'll uncover the outlying villages (the real Laos), paved by mud tracks, seemingly ramshackle buildings which shout DIY, and children walking happily amongst livestock.
For me, the best experiences, have been visiting the places where the people live, to see where the locals eat, and where they wash their clothes and themselves in the river. If you look 50 yards upstream, you might see Water Buffalo, or even us washing our Elephants.
The people here, they don't have much, but they don't seem to want it. Family values and friendship are definitely close to the heart, you just have to look in the street at the kids playing with bicycle tyres, or a
mother clutching her baby as she cooks. The saddening part really I guess is not seeing this at home, when was the last time you saw a group of children laughing almost uncontrollably? Maybe the UK lifestyle is too far removed from this for comparison?
I'd definitely like to visit Laos again, the people here are friendly, welcoming and often not hard pressed to throw a smile in your direction. It definitely seems a daunting prospect as London looms wide on the horizon, the city that if you rely on the surly waiting roomesque tube etiquette and common practice (or art) of looking through people, just seems worlds apart, and it is!
Vientiane, not a lot to do there, maybe spend a day, rent a motorbike and take a ride out to a village, meet the local drug smugglers.
Vang Vieng, if you want Marijuana, Opium, Mushrooms or anything else trippy, come here, just don't expect to see any locals. Worth a visit for the Tubing, scenery and eco-trips though. (see pics)
Luang Prabang, for us, it was Elephant riding, Kayaking, Night Market and learning the perils of Pottery making. Lots of temple, and then a few more.
You can't easily summarise Laos (or indeed many of the places we've visited), but hopefully the constant stream of pictures can fill in the holes in my vocabulary.
Anyway, we're off to 'Nam maaaaan, and guess what? You just weren't thereeee maaaan.
We'll be meeting Rik and Rach in a few hours, and Rik has English teabags..... Woooooooooooooeiiiiiii
Cya soon!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Quick update
A couple of days ago we arrived in the city of Luang Prabang, it was once the capital of Laos, and therefore has lots of temples to visit, but frankly not a lot else. It's a nice looking place though, with primarily French colonial architecture, some nice eateries and in addition is situated on the confluence of two rivers (Mekong and Nam Khan).
We took a sunset boat ride out to a small pottery village, where we learnt just how difficult it is to make anything... other than a mess. Thankfully the children who were teaching us had a slightly better grasp of it. Pockets now a little lighter, we headed back on our chartered boat to the city.
Today, we're headed on a 2 day Elephant trekking, and mahout course. So getting back to London, not only am I fully qualified to drive a car, and ride a motorbike, I (fingers crossed) would be able to ride my Elephant to work, or even just for a leisurely stroll around Richmond Park.
Anyway, much more to come on that tomorrow night when we return to civilization. We hope you're all well, and that City find some form for next week...
Cya soon!
P.S Some new photos uploaded :o]
We took a sunset boat ride out to a small pottery village, where we learnt just how difficult it is to make anything... other than a mess. Thankfully the children who were teaching us had a slightly better grasp of it. Pockets now a little lighter, we headed back on our chartered boat to the city.
Today, we're headed on a 2 day Elephant trekking, and mahout course. So getting back to London, not only am I fully qualified to drive a car, and ride a motorbike, I (fingers crossed) would be able to ride my Elephant to work, or even just for a leisurely stroll around Richmond Park.
Anyway, much more to come on that tomorrow night when we return to civilization. We hope you're all well, and that City find some form for next week...
Cya soon!
P.S Some new photos uploaded :o]
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Buddha's, Smugglers and Worm Tablets... oh and Caterpillar Salad
Yesterday involved all of these things.
Miranda wasn't feeling tip-top (tiredness due to Mosquito bites apparently), so being the caring person I am, I let her sleep and left a note stating my intentions to go and visit Buddha Park.
So, with my backpack in place and rice bowl fitted to my head I set off on the 24km journey to Buddha Park, which Lonely Planet mentions, but gives utterly inadequate detail on how to get there. Anyway, I reached a roundabout, had two options and followed my nose. Around fifteen minutes later following the road along the Mekong, and having to dodge an increasing number of what I've describe as small quarries in the road (potholes, big ones) and shortly after it turned into a dirt road, I realised this may not be the right way.
After promptly spinning the 'beast' around, I headed back to the roundabout where in my best Lao (I have a vocabulary of maybe 4 words by now), where I asked for directions at a scooter repair shop. The guys pointed me to take the only other available road. So on their information I whizzed away down the dual carriageway, heading roughly towards the Friendship bridge. About twenty minutes later I was starting to lose faith, so pulled in at a garage, where I guy pointed (but said nothing), and with that I carried on for another mile. I then pulled into some small roadside cafe, where 4 women greeted me (probably hoping I'd buy something) and learnt my name, and where I was from... eventually I got the information I needed and set off, as the women continued to laugh - the helmet isn't the most flattering thing I've been seen in - with refreshed faith that I was on the right track, I headed up the road, got some more fuel, again re-clarified and, after another 20 minutes landed at a place in the back of beyond, in a tiny village along the Mekong, at yes, Buddha Park.
Before gaining entry, I had to grab some food. The selection was limited to some street vendors, so I took my pick and ended up at some place selling a comprehensive menu of... noodle soup. I grabbed a drink, took a seat and waited patiently as I watched her prepare my food. The funny thing is, non of these places would last a day in the UK, food hygiene is probably akin to the '3 second rule', meaning, if it looks OK, it is OK... oh and don't worry about the flies, they're all part of la familia At this point I can see the value of being vegetarian, which was great because I'd just found out my food had been delivered with a very fresh leaf salad. Let the feast commence...
The soup was huge, full of noodles, herbs, spice, vegetables and meat (some of which was harder to identify), however, sticking to the rule of thumb - always eat where the locals eat - I ploughed on, safe in the knowledge there were also eating it. About this time, I realised that the salad I was eating had some extra protein. I watched 2 Caterpillars walking around freely, I guess also enjoying the salad. At this point I became a full on carnivore, and left my new friends to eat the salad. The meat itself was OK, and 24hrs later I'm still alive, but man's best friend arrived shortly after to help me consume the soup without raising any suspicion that I'd had help with elements of it, I think the dog grew to like me.
Shortly afterwards, I was joined at the table by a Lao guy he was a nice chap seemingly. He was 24, spoke very good Ingerisch, and we enjoyed a decent conversation for probably an hour at the table. Actually it was great to speak to some locals, and swap opinions and exchange views. It came to talking shop, where I explained I (had) worked in IT, based in London. His job was a little different, he basically explained that he smuggled Marijuana across the river to Thailand, with his friends, a few times a week. Lucrative it seems because Thailand's laws see that most people there won't risk growing their own because of the harsher laws. Here in Laos the laws are more flexible, and with the right approach i.e cash, you can buy yourself a certain amount of freedom. In their case, they knew some Lao policeman, that they dealt with, and on the other side of the river, knew some Thai police, who collected the drugs on the other side.... interesting business plan, I'm sure you'll agree. They also had some guns, bought from.... yes, the Thai police for £40, yes, for a handgun!!
Anyway, we went for a stroll around Buddha Park, he explained what he knew of it, having grown up in the same village, and we had a about anything and everything. Right now, I can guess a few of your faces are screwing up, imagining this animal of a druglord, let me assure you, far from it. I trusted him, and I think over the course of the trip, you meet people and you get a nose for sniffing a rat. Anyway, we concluded our walk, I had a look around the park, and he said he was going over the road to his friends house for a few beers (Lao people like to drink, and beer Lao is a good beer), and would I like to join them. Initially I was slightly hesitant, and recognised that there's an element of risk, but after getting to their house, and seeing them all out in the front garden, drinking and chatting away, I figured what the hell not. So there I was, sat around with a group of new friends, chatting and having a good time - I think more than anything they were curious about life in England, and comparisons about things, from music to cars and back.
Unfortunately, I had to call time, as I wasn't much fancying a ride back on the 'ped in full on darkness, though as it happened by the time they'd all said their goodbyes, and how much they liked chatting with "their new Lao friend", James Bond... it was dark. After declining offer of a house party and sleeping at their house, which would of been great, but, obviously as circumstances dictated, it was time to say goodbye.
I got back to the hotel, and we went to eat one of the worst steaks of our trip, polished off with some antibiotics we found in the minimart, for killing worms (to be sure, to be sure) ... Well, you can't have it all!
Miranda wasn't feeling tip-top (tiredness due to Mosquito bites apparently), so being the caring person I am, I let her sleep and left a note stating my intentions to go and visit Buddha Park.
After promptly spinning the 'beast' around, I headed back to the roundabout where in my best Lao (I have a vocabulary of maybe 4 words by now), where I asked for directions at a scooter repair shop. The guys pointed me to take the only other available road. So on their information I whizzed away down the dual carriageway, heading roughly towards the Friendship bridge. About twenty minutes later I was starting to lose faith, so pulled in at a garage, where I guy pointed (but said nothing), and with that I carried on for another mile. I then pulled into some small roadside cafe, where 4 women greeted me (probably hoping I'd buy something) and learnt my name, and where I was from... eventually I got the information I needed and set off, as the women continued to laugh - the helmet isn't the most flattering thing I've been seen in - with refreshed faith that I was on the right track, I headed up the road, got some more fuel, again re-clarified and, after another 20 minutes landed at a place in the back of beyond, in a tiny village along the Mekong, at yes, Buddha Park.
Before gaining entry, I had to grab some food. The selection was limited to some street vendors, so I took my pick and ended up at some place selling a comprehensive menu of... noodle soup. I grabbed a drink, took a seat and waited patiently as I watched her prepare my food. The funny thing is, non of these places would last a day in the UK, food hygiene is probably akin to the '3 second rule', meaning, if it looks OK, it is OK... oh and don't worry about the flies, they're all part of la familia At this point I can see the value of being vegetarian, which was great because I'd just found out my food had been delivered with a very fresh leaf salad. Let the feast commence...
The soup was huge, full of noodles, herbs, spice, vegetables and meat (some of which was harder to identify), however, sticking to the rule of thumb - always eat where the locals eat - I ploughed on, safe in the knowledge there were also eating it. About this time, I realised that the salad I was eating had some extra protein. I watched 2 Caterpillars walking around freely, I guess also enjoying the salad. At this point I became a full on carnivore, and left my new friends to eat the salad. The meat itself was OK, and 24hrs later I'm still alive, but man's best friend arrived shortly after to help me consume the soup without raising any suspicion that I'd had help with elements of it, I think the dog grew to like me.
Shortly afterwards, I was joined at the table by a Lao guy he was a nice chap seemingly. He was 24, spoke very good Ingerisch, and we enjoyed a decent conversation for probably an hour at the table. Actually it was great to speak to some locals, and swap opinions and exchange views. It came to talking shop, where I explained I (had) worked in IT, based in London. His job was a little different, he basically explained that he smuggled Marijuana across the river to Thailand, with his friends, a few times a week. Lucrative it seems because Thailand's laws see that most people there won't risk growing their own because of the harsher laws. Here in Laos the laws are more flexible, and with the right approach i.e cash, you can buy yourself a certain amount of freedom. In their case, they knew some Lao policeman, that they dealt with, and on the other side of the river, knew some Thai police, who collected the drugs on the other side.... interesting business plan, I'm sure you'll agree. They also had some guns, bought from.... yes, the Thai police for £40, yes, for a handgun!!
Anyway, we went for a stroll around Buddha Park, he explained what he knew of it, having grown up in the same village, and we had a about anything and everything. Right now, I can guess a few of your faces are screwing up, imagining this animal of a druglord, let me assure you, far from it. I trusted him, and I think over the course of the trip, you meet people and you get a nose for sniffing a rat. Anyway, we concluded our walk, I had a look around the park, and he said he was going over the road to his friends house for a few beers (Lao people like to drink, and beer Lao is a good beer), and would I like to join them. Initially I was slightly hesitant, and recognised that there's an element of risk, but after getting to their house, and seeing them all out in the front garden, drinking and chatting away, I figured what the hell not. So there I was, sat around with a group of new friends, chatting and having a good time - I think more than anything they were curious about life in England, and comparisons about things, from music to cars and back.
Unfortunately, I had to call time, as I wasn't much fancying a ride back on the 'ped in full on darkness, though as it happened by the time they'd all said their goodbyes, and how much they liked chatting with "their new Lao friend", James Bond... it was dark. After declining offer of a house party and sleeping at their house, which would of been great, but, obviously as circumstances dictated, it was time to say goodbye.
I got back to the hotel, and we went to eat one of the worst steaks of our trip, polished off with some antibiotics we found in the minimart, for killing worms (to be sure, to be sure) ... Well, you can't have it all!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Vientiane, and pictures of Bangkok uploaded
We landed on our feet in Vientiane, we're staying at Le Leela hotel, and basically have the place completely to ourselves. Who said Laos had to be third world :o]
So aside from nice accommodation, what do I make of it? Well, to be honest I wasn't expecting a lot, and I was probably very unfair to Laos in seeing it as a gateway to Ha Noi. Vientiane definitely isn't hustle and bustle, fast paced or metropolitan. What is apparent, is Vientiane is finding it's feet, apparently with occasional backing from some wealthier neighbours (a Malay shopping centre, Japanese funded clinics), and an increase in tourism.
Aside from a fine selection of Wat (Buddhist Temples), and a very small CBD (think smaller than Hinckley) there's not a lot to do, a few swimming pools, a decent selection of eateries, bars and street vendors, that's your lot, from a tourism point of view. What it does have is a serving of French culture, apparently a few of them landed here and made an impression - probably running from a war. The positive result is some decent food (we don't like to admit it, but French cuisine cannot be denied), and here in Laos, you get plenty of fine dining for your money.
Today we hired (another) two wheeled bundle of joy... a 110cc monster. Great for getting around, and given the traffic here is by any standards low, our £4 a day bike is well recommended. Tomorrow, or possibly Sunday we shall go to Ban Na, at the National Park where we shall go in search of Elephants, Tigers, Bears, Baboons and if we're really lucky - some more Mosquito's, which also seem to like Laos, and Miranda, a lot. The weapon of choice for that will be a Honda Baja as we'd probably kill our 'ped.
We're forced to stay here until at least Monday, as the Vietnamese Embassy (your only means of a VISA, $50 please) apparently can't process it before then. Monday we hope to get a bus to Vang Vieng for tubing (floating down the river for 3.5km on an inner-tube, drinking Beer Lao from one of many floating bars) and a visit to the caves there. Probably two days later, we head to Luang Probang the old capital to see the apparently wonderful Wat and other historic interests. Then we must press on to the border towards Ha Noi to meet Rik and Rach... our travelling buddies for the week. Rik, Yorkshire teabags, ok?
So that's us in a nutshell. As a final note, feel free to take a peek at the photos'/video we've been trying to get up to scratch with!
So aside from nice accommodation, what do I make of it? Well, to be honest I wasn't expecting a lot, and I was probably very unfair to Laos in seeing it as a gateway to Ha Noi. Vientiane definitely isn't hustle and bustle, fast paced or metropolitan. What is apparent, is Vientiane is finding it's feet, apparently with occasional backing from some wealthier neighbours (a Malay shopping centre, Japanese funded clinics), and an increase in tourism.
Aside from a fine selection of Wat (Buddhist Temples), and a very small CBD (think smaller than Hinckley) there's not a lot to do, a few swimming pools, a decent selection of eateries, bars and street vendors, that's your lot, from a tourism point of view. What it does have is a serving of French culture, apparently a few of them landed here and made an impression - probably running from a war. The positive result is some decent food (we don't like to admit it, but French cuisine cannot be denied), and here in Laos, you get plenty of fine dining for your money.
Today we hired (another) two wheeled bundle of joy... a 110cc monster. Great for getting around, and given the traffic here is by any standards low, our £4 a day bike is well recommended. Tomorrow, or possibly Sunday we shall go to Ban Na, at the National Park where we shall go in search of Elephants, Tigers, Bears, Baboons and if we're really lucky - some more Mosquito's, which also seem to like Laos, and Miranda, a lot. The weapon of choice for that will be a Honda Baja as we'd probably kill our 'ped.
We're forced to stay here until at least Monday, as the Vietnamese Embassy (your only means of a VISA, $50 please) apparently can't process it before then. Monday we hope to get a bus to Vang Vieng for tubing (floating down the river for 3.5km on an inner-tube, drinking Beer Lao from one of many floating bars) and a visit to the caves there. Probably two days later, we head to Luang Probang the old capital to see the apparently wonderful Wat and other historic interests. Then we must press on to the border towards Ha Noi to meet Rik and Rach... our travelling buddies for the week. Rik, Yorkshire teabags, ok?
So that's us in a nutshell. As a final note, feel free to take a peek at the photos'/video we've been trying to get up to scratch with!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Bangkok to Laos
Tomorrow we're leaving Bangkok, and it's definitely city I would recommend, and come back to. We spent four nights here at the Cha Da hotel, which for 25 sterling a night was excellent value, given the quality - we've done our best to avoid the touristy Khao San Rd, and thankfully as a consequence haven't seen many Euro/US faces out our way.
The best thing about Bangkok for me, is the availability of good cheap (often street) food, and if you avoid the tourist traps you can eat for 30/40 baht (50-70p). If you don't like spicy food, you're likely to go hungry, but I haven't really had a bad meal, or experience (anywhere) from eating where the locals eat... on the street!
The people here are also pretty friendly from what we can gather, hopefully that's a trait that will continue in the final stages of our trip. The city itself is big, much like London, and houses around 8 million heads. Actually, the only real annoyance here we've found are the greedy Taxi drivers. Being good travelers, we read up before we arrived, and knew the Taxi's were good value - providing they switched the meter on. Most of them however, try and agree an 'off the meter special price', which in my reckoning is usually 100% more than the fare if you had them use the meter rate... most of them either just drive off when you say meter, or as we found last night at the Banyan Tree hotel (we visited the Moon Vertigo bar, 59 floors up) agreed the meter to the concierge then didn't switch it on, assuming we'd roll with whatever price he decided when we arrived - at which point, I opened the door, and politely slammed the door for him 100 yards down the road, ahole.
Everything works pretty well here logistically, you have the Metro, the Skytrain (monorail), Taxi, Boats (river & canal), and the 'special price' Tuktuk (see above). As I said, it's definitely somewhere to look at visiting, and if we had more time I'd spend it in northern Thailand, and not the busier southern islands, hopefully on return to Bangkok we can take a look at Ko Chang/Ko Mak and discover more of rural Thailand, if it still exists!
Anyway, tickets booked, hopefully speak to you in Laos!
The best thing about Bangkok for me, is the availability of good cheap (often street) food, and if you avoid the tourist traps you can eat for 30/40 baht (50-70p). If you don't like spicy food, you're likely to go hungry, but I haven't really had a bad meal, or experience (anywhere) from eating where the locals eat... on the street!
The people here are also pretty friendly from what we can gather, hopefully that's a trait that will continue in the final stages of our trip. The city itself is big, much like London, and houses around 8 million heads. Actually, the only real annoyance here we've found are the greedy Taxi drivers. Being good travelers, we read up before we arrived, and knew the Taxi's were good value - providing they switched the meter on. Most of them however, try and agree an 'off the meter special price', which in my reckoning is usually 100% more than the fare if you had them use the meter rate... most of them either just drive off when you say meter, or as we found last night at the Banyan Tree hotel (we visited the Moon Vertigo bar, 59 floors up) agreed the meter to the concierge then didn't switch it on, assuming we'd roll with whatever price he decided when we arrived - at which point, I opened the door, and politely slammed the door for him 100 yards down the road, ahole.
Everything works pretty well here logistically, you have the Metro, the Skytrain (monorail), Taxi, Boats (river & canal), and the 'special price' Tuktuk (see above). As I said, it's definitely somewhere to look at visiting, and if we had more time I'd spend it in northern Thailand, and not the busier southern islands, hopefully on return to Bangkok we can take a look at Ko Chang/Ko Mak and discover more of rural Thailand, if it still exists!
Anyway, tickets booked, hopefully speak to you in Laos!
The Haircut and new videos
Below is an extract from an email I sent to Zoe. She seemed to find my situation most amusing so thought I'd publish it on the blog for you all to have a good laugh too.
To Zoe:
I must tell you about my dreadful haircut. If you're at your desk stop reading now because you will laugh!! We were in a Malaysian Market and there were a couple of hairdressers in there. One of which said they had hair treatments and because of the sun, my hair is fried. So went to enquire. The lady explained that my hair was very dry (yes I know that) and it transpired that because I was going to the beach the next day, the salt water would breakdown the treatment.
Ok, that makes sense. She suggested that I definitely needed a trim and knowing James did too, we agreed on two cuts and 1 blowdry for about £18. I sat in her chair feeling quite relaxed. She asked how much I wanted off the ends, I said 'hardly anything'. She said ok. I thought we were on the same wave length.
I was getting a wash and blowdry too but apparently the wash comes after the cut- alarm
Bells should have started ringing. Then she proceeded not to cut my hair across the bottom in a straight line like any normal hairdresser but dragged the scissors vertically down my hair, almost slicing it. She saw the look of confusion on my face when she'd done one side and said 'too much hair lady, we make thin, we make better'. So needless to say although I haven't lost loads in length, my ponytail is like a rats tail, when it's down, the 'thinning' has created lots of short layers, this coupled with the humidity means I look like a frikkin poodle!!
So at this point my hair rivals lily's before hers started growing properly. Her next move was to wash. I walked over to the washbasin after her, at which point she barked at me to go back to my seat. I did as I was told and she came back over with a bottle of water and shampoo in her hand and proceeded to try and wash my hair whilst sitting upright at my seat. Yes it was weird, yes there were bubbles everywhere, no I have no idea why I wasn't allowed to have it washed in the sink!!
Next came the blowdry... No combing of my hair after the wash, just madly blowing my tangled hair in different directions. Eventually she picked up her brush and started curling the feathered front part around my face 80's style! When the torture was over I stepped outside and started madly messing with it, trying to make it look better. James asked if I didn't like it, genuinely seeming a bit confused. I shot him a death stare and concluded that boys just don't get it and never trust a Malaysian woman with 'thinning scissors' in her possesion with anything as precious as hair!!
To Miranda:
Oh my god I'm actually crying sitting on the tube reading about the Malaysian Market haircut! I do have to initially say that you have been travelling and away from civilisation for way too long if you thought from the outset that a haircut from a Malaysian Market was going to be relaxing and bang on the money. I've never been to Malaysia but my gut instinct screams don't do it!
Wise words...
In other news James has done some IT geniusness and managed to convert our videos into a format that will go on the blog so they're very slowly uploading.
Our plan now is to go to the Laos embassy today to get a visa and then head over the border tomorrow as our Thailand visa expires then. We're both really looking forward to Laos. It's no where near as developed and touristy as Thailand and has fun activities like river tubing which we really fancy.
Hope everyone at home is well. I hope both Mums had a nice Mothers Day in your favourite children's absense. Hopefully get to speak to you all soon.
Mx
To Zoe:
I must tell you about my dreadful haircut. If you're at your desk stop reading now because you will laugh!! We were in a Malaysian Market and there were a couple of hairdressers in there. One of which said they had hair treatments and because of the sun, my hair is fried. So went to enquire. The lady explained that my hair was very dry (yes I know that) and it transpired that because I was going to the beach the next day, the salt water would breakdown the treatment.
Ok, that makes sense. She suggested that I definitely needed a trim and knowing James did too, we agreed on two cuts and 1 blowdry for about £18. I sat in her chair feeling quite relaxed. She asked how much I wanted off the ends, I said 'hardly anything'. She said ok. I thought we were on the same wave length.
I was getting a wash and blowdry too but apparently the wash comes after the cut- alarm
Bells should have started ringing. Then she proceeded not to cut my hair across the bottom in a straight line like any normal hairdresser but dragged the scissors vertically down my hair, almost slicing it. She saw the look of confusion on my face when she'd done one side and said 'too much hair lady, we make thin, we make better'. So needless to say although I haven't lost loads in length, my ponytail is like a rats tail, when it's down, the 'thinning' has created lots of short layers, this coupled with the humidity means I look like a frikkin poodle!!
So at this point my hair rivals lily's before hers started growing properly. Her next move was to wash. I walked over to the washbasin after her, at which point she barked at me to go back to my seat. I did as I was told and she came back over with a bottle of water and shampoo in her hand and proceeded to try and wash my hair whilst sitting upright at my seat. Yes it was weird, yes there were bubbles everywhere, no I have no idea why I wasn't allowed to have it washed in the sink!!
Next came the blowdry... No combing of my hair after the wash, just madly blowing my tangled hair in different directions. Eventually she picked up her brush and started curling the feathered front part around my face 80's style! When the torture was over I stepped outside and started madly messing with it, trying to make it look better. James asked if I didn't like it, genuinely seeming a bit confused. I shot him a death stare and concluded that boys just don't get it and never trust a Malaysian woman with 'thinning scissors' in her possesion with anything as precious as hair!!
To Miranda:
Oh my god I'm actually crying sitting on the tube reading about the Malaysian Market haircut! I do have to initially say that you have been travelling and away from civilisation for way too long if you thought from the outset that a haircut from a Malaysian Market was going to be relaxing and bang on the money. I've never been to Malaysia but my gut instinct screams don't do it!
Wise words...
In other news James has done some IT geniusness and managed to convert our videos into a format that will go on the blog so they're very slowly uploading.
Our plan now is to go to the Laos embassy today to get a visa and then head over the border tomorrow as our Thailand visa expires then. We're both really looking forward to Laos. It's no where near as developed and touristy as Thailand and has fun activities like river tubing which we really fancy.
Hope everyone at home is well. I hope both Mums had a nice Mothers Day in your favourite children's absense. Hopefully get to speak to you all soon.
Mx
Friday, March 12, 2010
Update!
Well it's our last night tonight on our little island heaven. Tomorrow we head off in the morning on a new adventure, destination? Bangkok. We're planning I guess to be there for 2/3 nights, as we really need to cover some miles over the next few weeks.
There could also be a change of plan, heading instead to Loas, before Vietnam. We're meeting Rik and Rachel out there in Ha Noi on March 29th, so it makes better sense!
In other news, I'm now also an Advanced Openwater diver, good for 30m, with some additions like night diving, and wreck diving. I'll leave it at that for now, as Miranda is fast becoming a dive widow :o)
Bye for now, J&M
There could also be a change of plan, heading instead to Loas, before Vietnam. We're meeting Rik and Rachel out there in Ha Noi on March 29th, so it makes better sense!
In other news, I'm now also an Advanced Openwater diver, good for 30m, with some additions like night diving, and wreck diving. I'll leave it at that for now, as Miranda is fast becoming a dive widow :o)
Bye for now, J&M
Monday, March 8, 2010
Diver James
Just a quick post to say I'm now a qualified diver, yey! Had some great dives today over on Phi Phi (Koh Bida), I've been lucky enough in the last two days to see Black Tip Reef Sharks, Kuhl Stingrays, Pharaoh Cuttlefish, Seahorses, Trivally... actually hundred's of species of marine life.
Back to our plans, well, we've just booked to go to Koh Tao (Turtle Island) on the East side of Thailand, the South China Sea. There I'll hopefully get a chance to log my 5th dive and Miranda will get the chance to do some apparently excellent snorkeling. From there, we really need to get a move on and head up towards Bangkok, preparing for our departure for Cambodia - curiously, having arrived on a boat from Langkawi, you only get a 15 day entry to Thailand, instead of the normal 30 day via an airport, though you can come back in and get it re-stamped if you can be bothered, or pay.
Bye for now!
Back to our plans, well, we've just booked to go to Koh Tao (Turtle Island) on the East side of Thailand, the South China Sea. There I'll hopefully get a chance to log my 5th dive and Miranda will get the chance to do some apparently excellent snorkeling. From there, we really need to get a move on and head up towards Bangkok, preparing for our departure for Cambodia - curiously, having arrived on a boat from Langkawi, you only get a 15 day entry to Thailand, instead of the normal 30 day via an airport, though you can come back in and get it re-stamped if you can be bothered, or pay.
Bye for now!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Langkawi to Ao Nang
Langkawi is a small island up on the Northern tip of Malaysia, to it's West and sits in the Andaman Sea. We spent I think 4 days there at the Lankasuka Resort, and would recommend it as a budget choice without hesitation, around 28 sterling a night for a huge (biggest room I've ever stayed in) premium king including breakfast.
Sadly, and much to my dismay you couldn't use it's seafront due to Jellyfish warning signs - we never actually saw one - and to be honest it's not the thought of being stung that would bother me... I'm just not sure I want to give Miranda an excuse to use her Shewee on me from great high, actually, I can see her smirking face now! You'll hopefully have taken a look at the beach sunset shots of the palm shacks, and writing in the sand , it was a nice beach.
We hired a car on the last day, the dodgiest/best car I've ever hired, depending on how you look at it. I walked down to the airport, basically with 100 RM (17ish sterling), my photo ID and license, it wasn't until I'd bartered them on the price and settled a deal that I realised I'd picked up Miranda's photo ID. Fearing I was onto a loser, I carried on with it anyway and just produced my counterpart (paper bit), she glanced at it, and gave me the key... So there I was, Toyota Vios, 17 pounds for the day, zero deposit (no card swipe) and asked to just park it at the agreed location (the other side of the island), leaving the car open, and the keys under the floor mat.
Anyway, the car worked out really nicely. We did a decent lap of the island, stumbled on the bustling market you saw in the photos (the one with the food that non of you liked), and then watched the sun set at Pentai Cenang beach, and after some Chicken Satay and a badly mixed cocktail headed back to the ranch for our last night.
We departed from the Kuah Town jetty, bound this time for Thailand via the port town of Satun. Arriving there we got the (pimped out) bus directly to Krabi, and from there a collectivo of sorts to Ao Nang, from where I'm writing this.
Ao Nang, well it's Ibiza town/Magaluf kind of affair, lots English, everyone hassling for you to grab a taxi that you don't need, to buy some chince from them, to eat at their restaurant. But actually once you come to terms with the place being touristy, commercial and lively, it's not as bad as it first seems. With that said, if it weren't so well located for getting to the islands of Phi Phi Don/Leh, James Bond Island and Phuket, we'd have more than likely moved on to somewhere nicer. The other draw are the beaches, Ao Nang's is fine, but a longtail boat can get you to Rai Leh (West), Phra Nang, Ton Sai in a matter of 5-10 minutes... so like I said, it's easy to get places from here.
One of my personal goals of Thailand was to get my diving certification, and yesterday after visiting every dive shop in town decided on doing it with a UK fronted firm called Scuba Addicts (established for 6 years, unlike a few of the newer outfits). I enrolled on a 3 day SSI (not PADI, equally respected, though less known) course, and today was my first day. So after spending about 4 hours reading yesterday, today I was back at school, and learning new things in the classroom and swimming pool (24 skills). Tomorrow, I'm going on my first outing to the local islands, and the following day have a day diving at Phi Phi and the exam. All being well, I'll be a qualified SSI Open Water diver, certified to a depth of 18m by the start of the new week. Unfortunately, Miranda decided against it, largely I think due to her concerns over Asthma (which can kill you underwater), and her cold which was still lingering in her inner ear/sinuses over the last week - I'm sure they'll be other occasions if she were to change her mind in the future.
With that said, I reckon she'll be happy with Thai guys pouring attention over her on the beach as she reads her new book, and trying to rival my (mediocre) tan.
Anyway, just a quick update, hope you're all well and good. We'll see you in 6 weeks (sweet baby jesus) and 2 days... I look forward to Miranda supporting my lifestyle as a professional Diver/Playboy/Skydiving/IT Geek for the weeks after we return, bless her!
See you soon!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Thailand
This morning, we leave Langkawi this morning on a boat, destination Satun, where we cross the border and jump on a bus to Krabi [6ish hours], there we plan to spend a few days on the beach [Phra Nang maybe], then see James Bond Island, and Phi Phi, before heading to Phuket.
See you in Thailand...
P.S New photos are up.
See you in Thailand...
P.S New photos are up.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Another day, another flight
Here we go again...
Just a quick note to say we're headed to Langkawi for 3 nights on the beach. We probably won't have Internet, so we'll probably be in Penang or Krabi (Thailand) the next time we check in.
Hope everyone at home is good! Buh bye for now!!
Just a quick note to say we're headed to Langkawi for 3 nights on the beach. We probably won't have Internet, so we'll probably be in Penang or Krabi (Thailand) the next time we check in.
Hope everyone at home is good! Buh bye for now!!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I actually quite liked it!
(Please note none of this will make sense unless you've read James' post below first)
I think this is the first place that James and I disagree on to this extent; I actually liked Singapore. There's lots of nods to it's past through colonial architecture and the constant references to Sir Raffles-the founder of modern Singapore. I also think as a girl, being able to walk around at night and know you're completely safe is nothing to be sniffed at. Girls living in cities are always on their guard, especially at night and this place really allowed you to relax.
The third key plus in Singapore is that clearly a shopaholic built this place. The endless malls are like works of art in themselves. State of the art architecture, coloured LED lights across the whole wavy frontage creating a giant
screen to create patterns that you can stand and watch for
hours. Inside these great structures are wall to wall designer shops. If I wasn't travelling and had some money coming in I could have done some serious damage! Popped into Hermes as I love their silk scarves (£281 each so nothing purchased). The man behind the counter was so helpful, getting dozens of different scarves of all different sizes and textures. The real fun started when this awkward little man, in his effort to show how versatile each piece was, actually started modelling them himself over his suit! I don't know about you but a man with a scarf around his waist like a sarong, another wrapped up like a boob tube and a third around his neck was just hilarious but was never quite going to cut it!
Regarding relexology; I agree with every word James wrote. It was brutal! This guy was seriously hurting my feet- all I could think was 'it's only supposed to hurt in places you are unwell so I'm clearly on the way out'! Apparently my yelps were louder when he pressed into the part of the foot that corresponds with the gut. The staff seemed excited that they'd made a new discovery and didn't have the heart to say 'i know, I have Endometriosis you plonker' apparently my stomach is 'very sick' and the cure was to come back the next day and have a one hour full body massage. Now, even if I believed a massage could cure a chronic illness, I just couldn't handle the pain of another one if their torture sessions!!
All in all, I quite liked it. I'd have liked it more with some cash to burn and maybe it's a place to visit with the girls, rather than a smelly boy!
Mx
P.s I wasn't in the least bit bothered about skydiving as my lovely boyfriend has suggested and found the whole thing start to finish really fun. When we get home we'll show you our video diaries of the jump. You'll see from the rambling, the sweating then the hilarious arm moves in the sky that someone, who will remain nameless was quite stressed out!!
I think this is the first place that James and I disagree on to this extent; I actually liked Singapore. There's lots of nods to it's past through colonial architecture and the constant references to Sir Raffles-the founder of modern Singapore. I also think as a girl, being able to walk around at night and know you're completely safe is nothing to be sniffed at. Girls living in cities are always on their guard, especially at night and this place really allowed you to relax.
The third key plus in Singapore is that clearly a shopaholic built this place. The endless malls are like works of art in themselves. State of the art architecture, coloured LED lights across the whole wavy frontage creating a giant
screen to create patterns that you can stand and watch for
hours. Inside these great structures are wall to wall designer shops. If I wasn't travelling and had some money coming in I could have done some serious damage! Popped into Hermes as I love their silk scarves (£281 each so nothing purchased). The man behind the counter was so helpful, getting dozens of different scarves of all different sizes and textures. The real fun started when this awkward little man, in his effort to show how versatile each piece was, actually started modelling them himself over his suit! I don't know about you but a man with a scarf around his waist like a sarong, another wrapped up like a boob tube and a third around his neck was just hilarious but was never quite going to cut it!
Regarding relexology; I agree with every word James wrote. It was brutal! This guy was seriously hurting my feet- all I could think was 'it's only supposed to hurt in places you are unwell so I'm clearly on the way out'! Apparently my yelps were louder when he pressed into the part of the foot that corresponds with the gut. The staff seemed excited that they'd made a new discovery and didn't have the heart to say 'i know, I have Endometriosis you plonker' apparently my stomach is 'very sick' and the cure was to come back the next day and have a one hour full body massage. Now, even if I believed a massage could cure a chronic illness, I just couldn't handle the pain of another one if their torture sessions!!
All in all, I quite liked it. I'd have liked it more with some cash to burn and maybe it's a place to visit with the girls, rather than a smelly boy!
Mx
P.s I wasn't in the least bit bothered about skydiving as my lovely boyfriend has suggested and found the whole thing start to finish really fun. When we get home we'll show you our video diaries of the jump. You'll see from the rambling, the sweating then the hilarious arm moves in the sky that someone, who will remain nameless was quite stressed out!!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Our 10th Country
As some of you already know, we flew out of Australia on Feb 22nd, bound for Singapore.
Singapore (meaning Island City) is typical city in many ways and probably most of what you'd expect, but it is remarkably clean, not so much in a clinical way, but there's zero litter, and clearly well looked after. It's also one of the safest cities in the world, mainly due to brutal policing, expensive alcohol and that a womans word in court gets you locked away, so ladies, you can walk alone and won't be hassled.
Singapore's major points of interest are the CBD, China Town and Little India, the botanical gardens and rainforest (one of the worlds only prime rainforest within a city) and it's Zoo.
The first night, we headed to Little India for a curry, which was pretty good, and certainly what the doctor ordered. After that, we made a near fatal mistake, we went for a massage. I went for a 30 minute back and shoulder massage, Miranda 40 minutes of reflexology. A small Chinese lady stepped out and directed me to a room for my massage, two minutes later she was going to town on me... No not that. She literally beat me up for 30 minutes, elbow in the spine, punch to the kidneys, just two of her favoured techniques. If I wasn't so proud, I'd have started crying like a little girl, but I manned up and rode it out. Occasionally, my focus was broken by Miranda letting out yelps from across the corridor, though interestingly they diagnosed a bad stomach, and water retention, all from touching her feet (which she's now very proud of, pedicure on the joint account...).
The next day we chose to see some of the city via an open top bus tour (you can see most of it in under an hour, as everything is in easy reach). Electing to jump ship at the main commercial area, Orchard Plaza, where we roamed the shops (if you like malls, Singapore is for you) for a while before heading into a food hall, we settled on a place called Teppenaki - Beef chilli stir-fry, vegetables, rice and miso soup for £5. Around about this time I realised these chilli's were particularly warm, actually, that does them an injustice, they were like a rocket up the arse! Thorough dehydration occurred in the form of head sweats and watering nose, luckily it was a good eat! Miranda got off more lightly with a similar dish with John Dory, but, with less chilli :-)
Earlier in the day, we were walking in the 35 degree sun, so we thought we'd head to the Raffles Hotel, for, guess what? Yep, a Singapore Sling! After they'd relieved us of £12.50 a piece, we headed off... Far too rich for our sort!
So, Singapore in a nutshell, alcoholic drinks are expensive, very expensive. Food is reasonable, and of good quality. The city is clean, and the people friendly. Ultimately, for me, it just felt a little disappointing and not something I can easily put my finger on. It just wasn't in your face enough to be memorable, nor did it have any obvious trace of it's roots. There's things we didn't see, but I saw enough to know it doesn't (for me) have the same appeal as London, or a lot of other places we passed through since October.
Today, we took the 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, and after guessing an anonymous Wifi networks password (1234567890, tut tut), was able to bring you an update. Much the same for KL really, I've heard it's more of a 2 day place than somewhere to get comfy - Thailands beaches beckon!
For those not in the know, we uploaded our Skydiving photos yesterday, proof we did (despite Miranda's trepidation) jump from a plane.
In other news, big congratulations to Katy for becoming a mum, to her baby girl Isabel (9lb 13oz). Well done!
Speak soon, bye!
Singapore (meaning Island City) is typical city in many ways and probably most of what you'd expect, but it is remarkably clean, not so much in a clinical way, but there's zero litter, and clearly well looked after. It's also one of the safest cities in the world, mainly due to brutal policing, expensive alcohol and that a womans word in court gets you locked away, so ladies, you can walk alone and won't be hassled.
Singapore's major points of interest are the CBD, China Town and Little India, the botanical gardens and rainforest (one of the worlds only prime rainforest within a city) and it's Zoo.
The first night, we headed to Little India for a curry, which was pretty good, and certainly what the doctor ordered. After that, we made a near fatal mistake, we went for a massage. I went for a 30 minute back and shoulder massage, Miranda 40 minutes of reflexology. A small Chinese lady stepped out and directed me to a room for my massage, two minutes later she was going to town on me... No not that. She literally beat me up for 30 minutes, elbow in the spine, punch to the kidneys, just two of her favoured techniques. If I wasn't so proud, I'd have started crying like a little girl, but I manned up and rode it out. Occasionally, my focus was broken by Miranda letting out yelps from across the corridor, though interestingly they diagnosed a bad stomach, and water retention, all from touching her feet (which she's now very proud of, pedicure on the joint account...).
The next day we chose to see some of the city via an open top bus tour (you can see most of it in under an hour, as everything is in easy reach). Electing to jump ship at the main commercial area, Orchard Plaza, where we roamed the shops (if you like malls, Singapore is for you) for a while before heading into a food hall, we settled on a place called Teppenaki - Beef chilli stir-fry, vegetables, rice and miso soup for £5. Around about this time I realised these chilli's were particularly warm, actually, that does them an injustice, they were like a rocket up the arse! Thorough dehydration occurred in the form of head sweats and watering nose, luckily it was a good eat! Miranda got off more lightly with a similar dish with John Dory, but, with less chilli :-)
Earlier in the day, we were walking in the 35 degree sun, so we thought we'd head to the Raffles Hotel, for, guess what? Yep, a Singapore Sling! After they'd relieved us of £12.50 a piece, we headed off... Far too rich for our sort!
So, Singapore in a nutshell, alcoholic drinks are expensive, very expensive. Food is reasonable, and of good quality. The city is clean, and the people friendly. Ultimately, for me, it just felt a little disappointing and not something I can easily put my finger on. It just wasn't in your face enough to be memorable, nor did it have any obvious trace of it's roots. There's things we didn't see, but I saw enough to know it doesn't (for me) have the same appeal as London, or a lot of other places we passed through since October.
Today, we took the 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, and after guessing an anonymous Wifi networks password (1234567890, tut tut), was able to bring you an update. Much the same for KL really, I've heard it's more of a 2 day place than somewhere to get comfy - Thailands beaches beckon!
For those not in the know, we uploaded our Skydiving photos yesterday, proof we did (despite Miranda's trepidation) jump from a plane.
In other news, big congratulations to Katy for becoming a mum, to her baby girl Isabel (9lb 13oz). Well done!
Speak soon, bye!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Gweat Bawwier Weef
We're in the process of uploading our most recent shots, the Great Barrier Reef. Yesterday we visited Saxon and Hastings reef, which, thanks to our new purchase a waterproof sleeve for the camera we managed to capture (some) of it's magic.
We both had a great day yesterday, snorkelling for several hours, and doing some SCUBA, which we both also loved, more on that later though! In Thailand I'll be getting my PADI so I can do a whole lot more diving, I hear it's $200 in Tland, versus £350 at Stoney Cove... ha!
Right now, I'm looking at a means of converting and uploading about 100 video's you've yet to see, so hopefully I'll have a chance to get some of those up too.
Oh, and we'll try and get some of our Skydive photos on the go!
Finally, log on to your Skype this weekend, we have free (thank you jesus) unlimited broadband at this place, so we'll try and catch some of you online - mornings and night time are most likely due to time difference.
Anyway, take care, we're going for a spot on lunch, then to the lagoon!
We both had a great day yesterday, snorkelling for several hours, and doing some SCUBA, which we both also loved, more on that later though! In Thailand I'll be getting my PADI so I can do a whole lot more diving, I hear it's $200 in Tland, versus £350 at Stoney Cove... ha!
Right now, I'm looking at a means of converting and uploading about 100 video's you've yet to see, so hopefully I'll have a chance to get some of those up too.
Oh, and we'll try and get some of our Skydive photos on the go!
Finally, log on to your Skype this weekend, we have free (thank you jesus) unlimited broadband at this place, so we'll try and catch some of you online - mornings and night time are most likely due to time difference.
Anyway, take care, we're going for a spot on lunch, then to the lagoon!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Brisbane
***This was written yesterday by Miranda. We've since safely gotten to our digs in Cairns***
Hello
I know you must all feel like you're getting the silent treatment but believe me this lack of wifi is so irritating for us too. The good news is we arrive in Cairns tomorrow from Brisbane at around 9am our time 11pm Tues yours and our hostel has wifi so we can hopefully catch some of you on Skype then.
We've been in Brisbane for five nights and it's been very chilled out. We arrived at the weekend and Brisbane at night is a small but perfectly formed bustling city. There's the normal central bars like you'd find in any city which host the spill from the offices in the CBD. Outside of this is 'the valley' a bars and clubs strip that would remind you more of Ibiza than a city. Our friends Nikki and Reece who we met in Florip live here so they were nice enough to take us around, showing us some good sights such as Mount Cootha for panoramic views of the city. The South Bank with Brisbane's artificial inner city beach, the Valley for a fun night out and a couple of hours up the Sunshine coast to the beach for some surfing lessons.
The beach trip started with a 6.30am pick up after a night out in The Valley (this is apparently a late start and beach trips usually go at 5am!). We dragged ourselves out of bed and started the 1.5 hr journey to a quiet beach. We got there at 8am and the sun was already scorching, no one even considers less than factor 30 here. Luckily my skin is finally accepting the sun so i'm now not like a lobster after 5 mins of sun with Factor 500 slapped on me. Reece took James out first for the lesson which he thoroughly enjoyed although now sporting a few bruises . I was next to go...having previously had a surfing lesson in Croyde Devon with my friend Caz, I was feeling quite confident. What I hadn't considered is that the board Reece had was not the huge giant yellow float i'd learnt on in Croyde and was much smaller and harder to balance on. Secondly was the size of the waves and the current. To cut a long story short it was so much drama even getting far enough out to start paddling, big waves breaking in my face for 10 mins and my bikini more suited to lounging on a beach rather than do anything sporty, I admit I was struggling. After 30 minutes of 'challenging' conditions I decided that was enough and retired to the beach. To be fair to James he stuck it out much longer than I did and was exhausted by the time he came out of the water.
Today we've been on a tour of the city - amusingly run by an english guy from Dudley. Being sub tropical means when Brisbane gets rain, boy does it rain and our tour was cut short when each one of us was drenched to the skin and there was thunder and lightning directly overhead. I have never ever experienced thunder so loud, it was something I wont forget.
We're now off to bed as we have to be up at 4am. Hope all is well at home and hopefully get to chat to you tomorrow.
Hello
I know you must all feel like you're getting the silent treatment but believe me this lack of wifi is so irritating for us too. The good news is we arrive in Cairns tomorrow from Brisbane at around 9am our time 11pm Tues yours and our hostel has wifi so we can hopefully catch some of you on Skype then.
We've been in Brisbane for five nights and it's been very chilled out. We arrived at the weekend and Brisbane at night is a small but perfectly formed bustling city. There's the normal central bars like you'd find in any city which host the spill from the offices in the CBD. Outside of this is 'the valley' a bars and clubs strip that would remind you more of Ibiza than a city. Our friends Nikki and Reece who we met in Florip live here so they were nice enough to take us around, showing us some good sights such as Mount Cootha for panoramic views of the city. The South Bank with Brisbane's artificial inner city beach, the Valley for a fun night out and a couple of hours up the Sunshine coast to the beach for some surfing lessons.
The beach trip started with a 6.30am pick up after a night out in The Valley (this is apparently a late start and beach trips usually go at 5am!). We dragged ourselves out of bed and started the 1.5 hr journey to a quiet beach. We got there at 8am and the sun was already scorching, no one even considers less than factor 30 here. Luckily my skin is finally accepting the sun so i'm now not like a lobster after 5 mins of sun with Factor 500 slapped on me. Reece took James out first for the lesson which he thoroughly enjoyed although now sporting a few bruises . I was next to go...having previously had a surfing lesson in Croyde Devon with my friend Caz, I was feeling quite confident. What I hadn't considered is that the board Reece had was not the huge giant yellow float i'd learnt on in Croyde and was much smaller and harder to balance on. Secondly was the size of the waves and the current. To cut a long story short it was so much drama even getting far enough out to start paddling, big waves breaking in my face for 10 mins and my bikini more suited to lounging on a beach rather than do anything sporty, I admit I was struggling. After 30 minutes of 'challenging' conditions I decided that was enough and retired to the beach. To be fair to James he stuck it out much longer than I did and was exhausted by the time he came out of the water.
Today we've been on a tour of the city - amusingly run by an english guy from Dudley. Being sub tropical means when Brisbane gets rain, boy does it rain and our tour was cut short when each one of us was drenched to the skin and there was thunder and lightning directly overhead. I have never ever experienced thunder so loud, it was something I wont forget.
We're now off to bed as we have to be up at 4am. Hope all is well at home and hopefully get to chat to you tomorrow.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Sydney Australia
After arriving in Sydney three days ago and checking into the most expensive hostel in the world ($88 a night for 2 dorm beds!!!!) we started to explore the city and find out why everyone raves about it.
Much like Auckland there's a lot of English culture here, the street names are all familiar, Liz is on the currency and the food is a million miles from S.American gourmet treats such as the cow's heart served up in Peru. The difference between Auckland and Sydney is scale; there are so many people and I like it!!
We were based in 'The Rocks' area which is very central so spent our first full day exploring this part of town. First stop was The Sydney Opera House. After meeting some Germans the previous night who described it as looking like 'a public toilet' up close, our expectations had certainly been lowered! Actually getting there and seeing it's scale was quite something. The roof isn't smooth and whiite as you might imagine, it's almost a shell effect and reminded me of an armadillo. The building juts out into the harbour and from aroud the back of the Opera House are wonderful panoramic views. We enquirer about seeing something and got very excited when I saw La Traviata was on (Claire-Louise and Noodle will realise why)! But alas it was showing after our departure.
Next door are the Royal Botanical Gardens which are FREE (are you taking note Kew Gardens?!?) and sit right on the water's edge. Less impressive are the plants; it's the inhabitants which make it a worthwhile trip. As we walked through the grounds we saw a cockatoo flying overhead, then another. We moved across the grass to where they were landing and within a couple of minutes there were over half a dozen on the ground around us. James decided to go all 'bird man' on me and get amongst them. I on the other hand found their large wingspans and low level flying a bit unnerving and retreated. Next up the bird man went in pursuit of more living things, this time big bats! There are literally hundreds of them and you can see them clearly in the city sky at night. I was less bothered by the bats than the cockatoos as they stay high but I was mildly concerned about a big bat shit bombing me. Thankfully this did not happen.
After a day of pounding the pavement we made our way back to the hostel. It's stated as the 'best hostel in Australia'. I would say not for the rooms which were new and ok but for the huge roof terrace with uninterrupted views of the Harbour. In our room were six beds; mine and James', a Chilean brother and sister who further support that there isn't an unfriendly Chilean on the planet and finally a guy who's name I didn't even bother to find out as I hated him already who we'll just call 'world's loudest snorer'! Now I know that a dorm is a bit of a lottery regarding room mates but snorers should be banned. This guy was some sort of snoring ventriloquist with the unique ability to sound like was lying next you you and aiming his snorts directly into my ear! His abilities put my Dad's snoring to shame and that's saying something!
Day 2 we made our way to Bondi Beach. After an expensive bus journey we arrived at the beach and it was quite beautiful. We were supposed to be meeting our friend Farooq from Florip but he named a place, didn't give an address and after a long walk in the sun up and down the beach we realises he'd got the name of the bar wrong as the locals had never heard of it. We abandoned looking, went down to the busy beach, found a square of sand and spent a lazy afternoon in the sun...bliss!
Day 3 we had a bit of a panic as realised it was our last day and there was still so much to see. So we covered at least 100 miles on foot (this may be a hyperbole but it did seem really far) and saw 'the most beautiful shopping centre in the world' the Queen Victoria Building which was architectually stunning, then walked to Darling Harbour where we visited the Aquarium. Incidentally this was really good-very well managed, big clean pools for all the sharks, dugongs, crocks and HUGE tropical fish. After a few hours there we walked from the harbour to Chinatown which definitely transported you to a different world. Almost bought a lovely Omega watch in on of their jewellers and James the same with some Prada sunglasses until we remebered we have no money for such things (the downside to travelling is definitely living like a student!). Then went to Paddy's Market which reminded me a lot of the markets found in South America. After the extravagant purchase of some cashew nuts and wasabi peas we left and headed through the main shopping street 'George Street' in order to get to the Harbour Bridge. Unable to resist a bargain, I bought some lovely new sandals in the sale for a very good price. They currently hurt like hell (I'm hoping this will go after a few wears) but these got the thumbs up from James and I quote 'even your trotters look nice in them'.
Feeling a bit tired by this point we knew we needed to get up to the Bridge and walk across it, then we could have dinner. The bridge is really quite high- you need to walk up a big hill, then a load of steps to get up to it but this makes the views stunning. Up on it is quite a noisy experience with the M25 running to your left and the train passing on the far side. The pedestrian area is no less hazardous from playing chicken trying to dodge all the joggers (seemingly the most active people in the world). At one point we almost broke into a run ourselves we felt so out of place walking.
Next it was early to bed as we needed to be up at 3.30am to catch our flight to Brisbane. To summarise our time in Sydney, I was disappointed to have left so soon after only scratching the surface. It's a city you need to go to with a bit of money in your pocket to fully experience their food and arts culture. Culturally it's so similar to London and had the same buzz about it which I really liked but with glorious sunshine and a very active, outdoors lifestyle. In conclusion definitely worth another trip when we're earning a wage again.
Mx
P.s in other news James has been suffering a bit with one of his wisdom teeth. Not wanting to risk dentistry in Asia, we've gone to one here in Brisbane. Turns out he's got some food stuck in it and a bit of an infection so a clean and some antibiotics later, he's doing much better.
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Much like Auckland there's a lot of English culture here, the street names are all familiar, Liz is on the currency and the food is a million miles from S.American gourmet treats such as the cow's heart served up in Peru. The difference between Auckland and Sydney is scale; there are so many people and I like it!!
We were based in 'The Rocks' area which is very central so spent our first full day exploring this part of town. First stop was The Sydney Opera House. After meeting some Germans the previous night who described it as looking like 'a public toilet' up close, our expectations had certainly been lowered! Actually getting there and seeing it's scale was quite something. The roof isn't smooth and whiite as you might imagine, it's almost a shell effect and reminded me of an armadillo. The building juts out into the harbour and from aroud the back of the Opera House are wonderful panoramic views. We enquirer about seeing something and got very excited when I saw La Traviata was on (Claire-Louise and Noodle will realise why)! But alas it was showing after our departure.
Next door are the Royal Botanical Gardens which are FREE (are you taking note Kew Gardens?!?) and sit right on the water's edge. Less impressive are the plants; it's the inhabitants which make it a worthwhile trip. As we walked through the grounds we saw a cockatoo flying overhead, then another. We moved across the grass to where they were landing and within a couple of minutes there were over half a dozen on the ground around us. James decided to go all 'bird man' on me and get amongst them. I on the other hand found their large wingspans and low level flying a bit unnerving and retreated. Next up the bird man went in pursuit of more living things, this time big bats! There are literally hundreds of them and you can see them clearly in the city sky at night. I was less bothered by the bats than the cockatoos as they stay high but I was mildly concerned about a big bat shit bombing me. Thankfully this did not happen.
After a day of pounding the pavement we made our way back to the hostel. It's stated as the 'best hostel in Australia'. I would say not for the rooms which were new and ok but for the huge roof terrace with uninterrupted views of the Harbour. In our room were six beds; mine and James', a Chilean brother and sister who further support that there isn't an unfriendly Chilean on the planet and finally a guy who's name I didn't even bother to find out as I hated him already who we'll just call 'world's loudest snorer'! Now I know that a dorm is a bit of a lottery regarding room mates but snorers should be banned. This guy was some sort of snoring ventriloquist with the unique ability to sound like was lying next you you and aiming his snorts directly into my ear! His abilities put my Dad's snoring to shame and that's saying something!
Day 2 we made our way to Bondi Beach. After an expensive bus journey we arrived at the beach and it was quite beautiful. We were supposed to be meeting our friend Farooq from Florip but he named a place, didn't give an address and after a long walk in the sun up and down the beach we realises he'd got the name of the bar wrong as the locals had never heard of it. We abandoned looking, went down to the busy beach, found a square of sand and spent a lazy afternoon in the sun...bliss!
Day 3 we had a bit of a panic as realised it was our last day and there was still so much to see. So we covered at least 100 miles on foot (this may be a hyperbole but it did seem really far) and saw 'the most beautiful shopping centre in the world' the Queen Victoria Building which was architectually stunning, then walked to Darling Harbour where we visited the Aquarium. Incidentally this was really good-very well managed, big clean pools for all the sharks, dugongs, crocks and HUGE tropical fish. After a few hours there we walked from the harbour to Chinatown which definitely transported you to a different world. Almost bought a lovely Omega watch in on of their jewellers and James the same with some Prada sunglasses until we remebered we have no money for such things (the downside to travelling is definitely living like a student!). Then went to Paddy's Market which reminded me a lot of the markets found in South America. After the extravagant purchase of some cashew nuts and wasabi peas we left and headed through the main shopping street 'George Street' in order to get to the Harbour Bridge. Unable to resist a bargain, I bought some lovely new sandals in the sale for a very good price. They currently hurt like hell (I'm hoping this will go after a few wears) but these got the thumbs up from James and I quote 'even your trotters look nice in them'.
Feeling a bit tired by this point we knew we needed to get up to the Bridge and walk across it, then we could have dinner. The bridge is really quite high- you need to walk up a big hill, then a load of steps to get up to it but this makes the views stunning. Up on it is quite a noisy experience with the M25 running to your left and the train passing on the far side. The pedestrian area is no less hazardous from playing chicken trying to dodge all the joggers (seemingly the most active people in the world). At one point we almost broke into a run ourselves we felt so out of place walking.
Next it was early to bed as we needed to be up at 3.30am to catch our flight to Brisbane. To summarise our time in Sydney, I was disappointed to have left so soon after only scratching the surface. It's a city you need to go to with a bit of money in your pocket to fully experience their food and arts culture. Culturally it's so similar to London and had the same buzz about it which I really liked but with glorious sunshine and a very active, outdoors lifestyle. In conclusion definitely worth another trip when we're earning a wage again.
Mx
P.s in other news James has been suffering a bit with one of his wisdom teeth. Not wanting to risk dentistry in Asia, we've gone to one here in Brisbane. Turns out he's got some food stuck in it and a bit of an infection so a clean and some antibiotics later, he's doing much better.
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Thursday, February 11, 2010
A very quick post
Hello peeps
We're being really pikey and using a cafe's Internet whilst stood outside so we can send this quick post.
After a few really good days in Sydney, we're off to Brisbane at some unearthly hour tomorrow which involves a 3.30am wake up.
We know we've been bad bloggers recently but hopefully we can do a proper post in Brisbane.
Hope all is well at home and we'll hopefully speak to you all soon.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
We're being really pikey and using a cafe's Internet whilst stood outside so we can send this quick post.
After a few really good days in Sydney, we're off to Brisbane at some unearthly hour tomorrow which involves a 3.30am wake up.
We know we've been bad bloggers recently but hopefully we can do a proper post in Brisbane.
Hope all is well at home and we'll hopefully speak to you all soon.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Photos (West Cost, Qtown)
Just another quick update, we've uploaded some more photos, including a rather spectacular sunset (which I know Miranda is quite proud of)!
We're in Twizel at the moment and will be planning to see Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo, before heading toward Christchurch where we hope to visit Banks Peninsula (Akaroa), to swim with (wild) Dolphins and do some Sea Kayaking!
Oh, and we hit the highest temperature in NZ yesterday, at 39 degrees!!!
Hope everybody at home is good, haere ra!
We're in Twizel at the moment and will be planning to see Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo, before heading toward Christchurch where we hope to visit Banks Peninsula (Akaroa), to swim with (wild) Dolphins and do some Sea Kayaking!
Oh, and we hit the highest temperature in NZ yesterday, at 39 degrees!!!
Hope everybody at home is good, haere ra!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The road is long...
A quick highlight of our story so far in NZ's South Island:
Day 1: We arrived in Picton after cruising over on the Interislander ferry. Fresh off of the ferry, we needed to hire a car. With this being high-season, we knew we'd probably paying a premium over the advertised 'from' prices. Luckily, we happened on a bargain, and managed to scoop our Nissan Sunny for $30NZ a day. From Picton, we drove via a small B road to Havelock, and from there, to Nelson. We called Kath in Havelock, and luckily they took enough pity on us to offer us a bed for the night... our lucky day! Before going to the Merritt's, we grabbed a bite of Fish 'N' Chips in touch - Southern King Fish, much nicer than Cod/Haddock in my opinion! Oh, and since arriving in Sauvignon Blanc country, we've discovered we're rather fond of this NZ delicacy!
Day 2: We headed to Motueka today, with a goal in mind... a Skydive! Luckily it was a beautiful day, and after arriving at the Skydive centre, we managed to secure our jumps for roughly an hour later (are you reading this, North London Scamdiving Club?). So, the jump... well, it's fair to say we both absolutely LOVED it, and for those not lucky enough to be in the plane with us (hi Dad!), we have enough video and photos to bore you to absolute tears, when we arrive home. It was all very seamless and calm, and after a brief 15 minute flight over Abel Tasman, we arrived at 13,000ft, next up the door opens... and the next thing you know, you're perilously dangling outside the plane. Within seconds, you're dropping through the air at 120mph, with your brain on absolute overload (I seemed to make weird hand gestures??). As an experience, it's probably the best thing I've ever done, and despite what you may think, it bizarrely doesn't feel that unnatural, there's no gut wrenching/stomach churning effect... you just float on a cushion of air that forms beneath you. 50 seconds later when they pull the chute, you're reminded just how tranquil life can be, maybe due to the adrenaline dump, that's still coursing it's way through your veins? It's so quiet, so gentle. Awesome. We then drove up to Kaikerikeri, where we stayed near the beach... we fell asleep at about 6pm that day heh!
Day 3: Well, with us living a hard life of late, we decided to head to Kaikerikeri beach for an hour or two this morning, beautiful beach. After some brief relaxation, a gentle swim (in the 'fresh' sea), we missioned on. Next stop? Greymouth. We'd read prior to setting off in LP that from Westport to Greymouth is one of the 'top 10 driving roads in the world', and being in a Nissan Sunny we thought it would be a shame to pass it up... after all, a car like this was MADE for these twisty roads! Before we got to Westport, we saw two girls with puppy eyes (and later realised were German, and sported hairy legs) thumbing a lift, it was one of my ambitions to offer a ride to some hitchers (after Miranda made me continue past a couple I wanted to pick-up only days before), and I won't be picking any more up! I'm not sure if we smell like they do... but fork me, it was A/C off and windows down!! Anyway, after dropping them off and recovering (I nearly passed out), we hit the road ((hi) Jack), and it didn't disappoint... every bend we cruised through was a 'WOW' moment, check out the photo's... they probably describe it a whole lot better than I could.
Day 4: We're heading to Franz Josef glacier now, so more on how we get on later!
Finally, we uploaded (pretty much) all of our photos today, so be sure to take a look. Again, sorry we haven't been around a lot, but the NZ internet system, or lack of, is prehistoric. I mean, if Bolivia has free WIFI in hostels, why the hell don't they have it here?
Much love, world peace, etc
Day 1: We arrived in Picton after cruising over on the Interislander ferry. Fresh off of the ferry, we needed to hire a car. With this being high-season, we knew we'd probably paying a premium over the advertised 'from' prices. Luckily, we happened on a bargain, and managed to scoop our Nissan Sunny for $30NZ a day. From Picton, we drove via a small B road to Havelock, and from there, to Nelson. We called Kath in Havelock, and luckily they took enough pity on us to offer us a bed for the night... our lucky day! Before going to the Merritt's, we grabbed a bite of Fish 'N' Chips in touch - Southern King Fish, much nicer than Cod/Haddock in my opinion! Oh, and since arriving in Sauvignon Blanc country, we've discovered we're rather fond of this NZ delicacy!
Day 2: We headed to Motueka today, with a goal in mind... a Skydive! Luckily it was a beautiful day, and after arriving at the Skydive centre, we managed to secure our jumps for roughly an hour later (are you reading this, North London Scamdiving Club?). So, the jump... well, it's fair to say we both absolutely LOVED it, and for those not lucky enough to be in the plane with us (hi Dad!), we have enough video and photos to bore you to absolute tears, when we arrive home. It was all very seamless and calm, and after a brief 15 minute flight over Abel Tasman, we arrived at 13,000ft, next up the door opens... and the next thing you know, you're perilously dangling outside the plane. Within seconds, you're dropping through the air at 120mph, with your brain on absolute overload (I seemed to make weird hand gestures??). As an experience, it's probably the best thing I've ever done, and despite what you may think, it bizarrely doesn't feel that unnatural, there's no gut wrenching/stomach churning effect... you just float on a cushion of air that forms beneath you. 50 seconds later when they pull the chute, you're reminded just how tranquil life can be, maybe due to the adrenaline dump, that's still coursing it's way through your veins? It's so quiet, so gentle. Awesome. We then drove up to Kaikerikeri, where we stayed near the beach... we fell asleep at about 6pm that day heh!
Day 3: Well, with us living a hard life of late, we decided to head to Kaikerikeri beach for an hour or two this morning, beautiful beach. After some brief relaxation, a gentle swim (in the 'fresh' sea), we missioned on. Next stop? Greymouth. We'd read prior to setting off in LP that from Westport to Greymouth is one of the 'top 10 driving roads in the world', and being in a Nissan Sunny we thought it would be a shame to pass it up... after all, a car like this was MADE for these twisty roads! Before we got to Westport, we saw two girls with puppy eyes (and later realised were German, and sported hairy legs) thumbing a lift, it was one of my ambitions to offer a ride to some hitchers (after Miranda made me continue past a couple I wanted to pick-up only days before), and I won't be picking any more up! I'm not sure if we smell like they do... but fork me, it was A/C off and windows down!! Anyway, after dropping them off and recovering (I nearly passed out), we hit the road ((hi) Jack), and it didn't disappoint... every bend we cruised through was a 'WOW' moment, check out the photo's... they probably describe it a whole lot better than I could.
Day 4: We're heading to Franz Josef glacier now, so more on how we get on later!
Finally, we uploaded (pretty much) all of our photos today, so be sure to take a look. Again, sorry we haven't been around a lot, but the NZ internet system, or lack of, is prehistoric. I mean, if Bolivia has free WIFI in hostels, why the hell don't they have it here?
Much love, world peace, etc
Thursday, January 28, 2010
It's not what you know...
Yep, it rings true. At least last night it did, we stayed a night at the Merritt's house. I present, the Merritt's (with two smelly backpackers!):
Byyyeee!
*edited for accuracy.
We'd like to thank several people for making this happen, firstly obviously the Merritt's for putting us up, and letting us use their house as our own. Secondly, our UK agent, Robert Hancock, utilising his extensive network of contacts (we need a room in Australia... make it happen!).
But seriously, it was great to have a night of 'normality' and family life, sink a few beers, a bottle of wine and have nice soft toilet paper!
Right, we're off to Abel Tasman national park (in our 198,000KM Nissan Sunny EX Saloon!) to see a man about a dog skydive, and a quick trek to a beach. I know, I know, life sucks!
Byyyeee!
*edited for accuracy.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Hello from Auckland
Well we made it! After a brilliant flight with LAN over here we arrived an hour early at 3am. After a quick pancake breakfast at Mc Donalds in the airport we negotiated a great price and caught a shuttle bus to the hostel.
We arrived at our destination so early that the Saturday night party people were still going strong. Lucky for us as unlike South America, they do not have 24 hr reception and there wasn't anyone around to let us in. As it happened a kind young man who was smoking pot outside the hostel let us in with a key and we made a makeshift bed from a small sofa in the sitting room until the hostel owner arrived.
After a morning of feeling a little like zombies, we decided to get out and explore a little of Auckland. First impressions: it's really nice, it feels a lot like home but where are all the people? Yes I realise it's Sunday but it's such a stark difference in population size compared to the sardine-like nature of London, it does seem odd.
We spent the afternoon exploring a few of Auckland's main streets and then the harbour. We met up with Claire and Ricky (you'll remember them from the Christmas photos) for a drink, along with their friend Louise who's English but has lived here for 3 years. The gringo trail is well paved, and we're probably also going to meet up with someone from our hostel back in Florip all those months ago. It really is a small world!
Tomorrow we might catch the ferry to a small island off the mainland and do a wine tour (a horrible way to spend a Monday I know) and then we're having drinks with Anna tomorrow night (kiwi friend I used to work with at Nestle) who moved home last year.
Well we're still on South American time here so it's equivalent of 9am without a night's sleep so we're pretty zonked. Apologies if it doesn't make any sense and it's littered with errors.
Mx
P.s
Just to let you know that wifi in hostels is more sporadic here than in S.America and when you can get it you have to pay for it so our contact may not be that regular.
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
We arrived at our destination so early that the Saturday night party people were still going strong. Lucky for us as unlike South America, they do not have 24 hr reception and there wasn't anyone around to let us in. As it happened a kind young man who was smoking pot outside the hostel let us in with a key and we made a makeshift bed from a small sofa in the sitting room until the hostel owner arrived.
After a morning of feeling a little like zombies, we decided to get out and explore a little of Auckland. First impressions: it's really nice, it feels a lot like home but where are all the people? Yes I realise it's Sunday but it's such a stark difference in population size compared to the sardine-like nature of London, it does seem odd.
We spent the afternoon exploring a few of Auckland's main streets and then the harbour. We met up with Claire and Ricky (you'll remember them from the Christmas photos) for a drink, along with their friend Louise who's English but has lived here for 3 years. The gringo trail is well paved, and we're probably also going to meet up with someone from our hostel back in Florip all those months ago. It really is a small world!
Tomorrow we might catch the ferry to a small island off the mainland and do a wine tour (a horrible way to spend a Monday I know) and then we're having drinks with Anna tomorrow night (kiwi friend I used to work with at Nestle) who moved home last year.
Well we're still on South American time here so it's equivalent of 9am without a night's sleep so we're pretty zonked. Apologies if it doesn't make any sense and it's littered with errors.
Mx
P.s
Just to let you know that wifi in hostels is more sporadic here than in S.America and when you can get it you have to pay for it so our contact may not be that regular.
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Friday, January 22, 2010
Today is the day...
Yep, today marks our departure from South America, to a new continent... to the land of flightless birds, sheep, British weather and dinosaurs.
We're not flying until 11pm (-3gmt), and due to crossing the uber confusing dateline, we don't land until Sunday(?). We'll be heading to Auckland where after a couple of days (sleeping), we'll be boarding a train down to Wellington - Tranz Scenic I think it was called :o)
Anyway, we'll have 13 hours in the air to write up our individual thoughts (no conferring purrrrleaze) and post on the other side.
Off to the park, so for now buh bye!
P.S Also changd the blog slightly, hope you like the changes, feel free to let me know if they result in cross-eyed reading!
We're not flying until 11pm (-3gmt), and due to crossing the uber confusing dateline, we don't land until Sunday(?). We'll be heading to Auckland where after a couple of days (sleeping), we'll be boarding a train down to Wellington - Tranz Scenic I think it was called :o)
Anyway, we'll have 13 hours in the air to write up our individual thoughts (no conferring purrrrleaze) and post on the other side.
Off to the park, so for now buh bye!
P.S Also changd the blog slightly, hope you like the changes, feel free to let me know if they result in cross-eyed reading!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Santiago
Today, at 6:30am we fly to Santiago where we´ll be spending the next two nights. As yet we don´t know much about it, but what I do know is it´s warm (tomorrow 33 degrees C, the following day 35 degrees C), which after a 10 or so days in Patagonia, we´re ready for!
Anyway, we´ll hopefully continue with some more updates in Santiago, but for now.... g´bye!
Anyway, we´ll hopefully continue with some more updates in Santiago, but for now.... g´bye!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Torres del Paine
In addition to the essay below, we'd like to bring your attention to our pictures taken whilst trekking in Torres del Paine... Given you're a clever bunch I suspect most of you have seen them, right?
We'll be working to get everything neatly tied up, before moving to the green pastures of NZ - We fear we've become acustomed to the 'tomorrow' attitude of South America! No harm in that eh :o)
Oh and I'm also sporting a new do, like it?
We'll be working to get everything neatly tied up, before moving to the green pastures of NZ - We fear we've become acustomed to the 'tomorrow' attitude of South America! No harm in that eh :o)
Oh and I'm also sporting a new do, like it?
Uyuni - Salt plains
So rewinding back what seems like a lifetime ago, I wanted to write an account of our tour over the Salt plains of Bolivia (the biggest in the world):
Leaving Potosi on a bus bound for Uyuni, we started the 7 hour journey still with the taste of Potosi on our tongue, quite literally.
We knew before hand the road to Uyuni was of the typical Bolivian standards, unpaved, which translated loosely toast ploughed field. However, this bus for me was the worst we'd taken, not only did you feel your organs groaning as you hit the next (in a long line of) bump(s), but the choice of film playing was nightmarish - think Grange Hill meets Grease 2 (the bad one), then cut the budget by a factor of 10, include a man in a fringed cropped top, add some Spanish loons shouting at the top of their voices, and well, you get the idea!
So, back to the bus ride, we decided we couldn't take a minute longer of the entertainment, so started watching a film of our own. About 30 minutes later, we both felt a whole lot worse, travel sick you could say, then the stomach starts spinning... One thing I should mention at this point, Bolivians don't have toilets on buses, instead you bellow at the driver and you hope he stops, you then get a panoramic view of people doing what they wish they didn't need to. You also don't leave the house without your very own toilet roll, if you find a toilet roll, seat, toilet in a cubicle, you probably aren't in Bolivia!
Lucky for us, we managed to hold out for the next stop, a kiosk, restaurant, toilet kinda place. Before the doors had even opened there was a queue. So stood here now outside the toilet (small hut in a field), around 15 people we waiting for the next of two cubicles to become free... Whilst you wait you are occasionally treated to a tune or two. Here you discover there's two types of people, those who try to silence the noises of the human body, and those who literally just let fly!
This one guy, well he must have had a torrid time, noises I didn't think were even possible, over a period of seemingly hours. During this time, people banging at the door, threatening to throw 2 resident chickens under the cubicle, and laughing at you isn't what you need... Still he knew what he'd left for them, which perhaps explained his rye smile in exiting the stage. I thought toilet talk didn't get any lower than at home, but come to Bolivia :-)
Anyway, back on the bus again and feeling much better we managed to close our eyes. We rocked up at Uyuni around 2am, 8 hours later we had to be looking lively!
Uyuni, it's a fairly small place, probably Stoke Golding size, and today appears to exist almost solely to serve tourists looking to explore the Salt plains. We'd booked our tour in La Paz, and before doing so uncovered the fact that some of the drivers like a drink or two... Therefore we went with a Lonely Planet recommended company Lipez Expeditions, stipulating no borracho conductors (drunk drivers), or we'd be wanting a refund.
We waited for a while, got a bite to eat (2 very large pancakes with banana and honey (which I hardly touched)... Sorry M) and prepared for 3 days in a jeep, with Claire, Ricky, 3 Korean girls and the guide/driver. I won't go into the exact itinerary (you can Google that), but a quick run down of each day instead:
Day 1: we first visited the Train Cemetery, the line which runs from Chile to La Paz is home to a myriad of old (British/German made) trains It's good for a few photos if nothing else! I believe the line still carries freight occasionally from Chile to La Paz - but don't quote me!
We also visited the first Salt hotel, which we're told was shutdown due to causing ecological issues in the surrounding area. It's now a museum, interesting to see but offers little else, other than Coke and Pringles.
Next stop was the Fish Island, which is the highlight of the day. It's a coral island in the middle of an 80km salt desert, here you can take some great shots (the cliche, people in a hat/dinosaur type), and also go trekking up to the top of the island (25mins) and take in the surroundings.
We then headed to the Salt Hotel for the evening, which was pretty smart. Alas, no hot water and questionable cuisine. Here Miranda began to feel a little 'Bolivian', and we collectively also began to wonder how much our 'guide' had drank judging by the blood shot eyes and the slurred speech.
Day 2: We left early as we had quite a distance to cover. I think it was around this time we began to think our driver (sorry, guide) was a complete tool. He basically drip fed snippets of what we could get from him and for the rest of the time remained completely disinterested in us.
Today we saw plenty of lakes, all of which had names revolving around their colour, red, green, you get the idea. They're all home to Flamingo's but very little else, scenery and setting wise though they've beautiful to look at. Oh and it was hot, incredibly hot...
As we'd spent the previous day in the middle/front of the jeep (8 seater) we thought we'd let the Koreans have a sit in the middle. Our generosity backfired when it can apparent our legs weren't best suited here, and that the ickle Koreans were better suited to this!
We probably need to add that as a result of our lunch we were all feeling that at a moments notice we could seriously 'lose control', unfortunately for Miranda she seemed to be the worst affected... stomach cramps and nausea ahoy!
Luckily along the way through the national park there's a few toilet stops, which frankly we were all VERY glad to see! About an hour later we felt we were relatively safe to continue our journey (hey, there was a big queue). At this point, leg ache, tiredness, frustrations, stomach cramps had gotten the better of most of us - Miranda wasn't feeling or looking to great, so asked one of the Koreans to swap to the back. On refusal, I very kindly (using crossed eyes, and a different tone) asked them again...
So, with Miranda now in the middle, we headed on to the next spectacle, the 'Tree Rock'. On the way there our 120,000 mile Toyota Landcruiser began to make some wonderful noises, which at first I guessed was down to a dodgy suspension mount, about 20 minutes later we were sat stationary in a desert with what I think is a broken front diff... To be fair, as much as we didn't like the driver, he did a decent job of getting us moving again, getting covered in oil in the process.
The going was slow, stopping relatively frequently to check it, but eventually we made it to the refuge for the night. Basic place, with no heating, sparse electricity and definitely no hot water! This was where the fun started, at this stage Miranda had been literally bought to her knees with illness - can't remember seeing someone look so ill from sickness and a (severely) upset stomach. Between us all we managed to scrape together enough drugs to just about cope, but lets just say that night is one we'll never forget, for all the wrong reasons! During the night it became clear I wasn't going to escape scott free, but thankfully my ride wasn't quite as torrid!
Day 3: Due to having such a diabolical night, and knowing full well we were leaving at 4:30am to watch the sunrise, see the geysers, and wallow in the thermal baths. We really weren't at all sure if Miranda was going to be in any state to continue in the morning. But thankfully we left the following morning with a full crew, and Miranda tentatively clutching to her only hope... a plastic bag!
As time passed that day, we all started to feel better, little by little. For me, this was almost solely down to the thermal baths, which in those surroundings and the almost unbearably hot water (the best kind). Sadly, I didn't have my swimming buddy, but I think we were just all glad she was gaining some colour - which incidentally is a few shades darker than you'll remember her! Incidentally whilst Miranda waited in the Jeep for everyone she overheard our driver offering another driver a beer at 7.30am. No wonder the drivers seemed so out of it by night if they started drinking this early in the morning!
Next stop was the white and green lake, the green being full of arsenic and therefore devoid of any life... Beautiful none the less!
Finally, we headed over the Chilean border, and from there it was a short bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama... Which thankfully falls outside the scope of this post!
There's two things that could of made this trip better, firstly a better driver/guide, secondly, not losing my North Face Gore-Tex shoes! Bugger...
Anyway, best leave you all to rest your now very tired eyes!
****Congratulations on reading the worlds longest post****
Leaving Potosi on a bus bound for Uyuni, we started the 7 hour journey still with the taste of Potosi on our tongue, quite literally.
We knew before hand the road to Uyuni was of the typical Bolivian standards, unpaved, which translated loosely toast ploughed field. However, this bus for me was the worst we'd taken, not only did you feel your organs groaning as you hit the next (in a long line of) bump(s), but the choice of film playing was nightmarish - think Grange Hill meets Grease 2 (the bad one), then cut the budget by a factor of 10, include a man in a fringed cropped top, add some Spanish loons shouting at the top of their voices, and well, you get the idea!
So, back to the bus ride, we decided we couldn't take a minute longer of the entertainment, so started watching a film of our own. About 30 minutes later, we both felt a whole lot worse, travel sick you could say, then the stomach starts spinning... One thing I should mention at this point, Bolivians don't have toilets on buses, instead you bellow at the driver and you hope he stops, you then get a panoramic view of people doing what they wish they didn't need to. You also don't leave the house without your very own toilet roll, if you find a toilet roll, seat, toilet in a cubicle, you probably aren't in Bolivia!
Lucky for us, we managed to hold out for the next stop, a kiosk, restaurant, toilet kinda place. Before the doors had even opened there was a queue. So stood here now outside the toilet (small hut in a field), around 15 people we waiting for the next of two cubicles to become free... Whilst you wait you are occasionally treated to a tune or two. Here you discover there's two types of people, those who try to silence the noises of the human body, and those who literally just let fly!
This one guy, well he must have had a torrid time, noises I didn't think were even possible, over a period of seemingly hours. During this time, people banging at the door, threatening to throw 2 resident chickens under the cubicle, and laughing at you isn't what you need... Still he knew what he'd left for them, which perhaps explained his rye smile in exiting the stage. I thought toilet talk didn't get any lower than at home, but come to Bolivia :-)
Anyway, back on the bus again and feeling much better we managed to close our eyes. We rocked up at Uyuni around 2am, 8 hours later we had to be looking lively!
Uyuni, it's a fairly small place, probably Stoke Golding size, and today appears to exist almost solely to serve tourists looking to explore the Salt plains. We'd booked our tour in La Paz, and before doing so uncovered the fact that some of the drivers like a drink or two... Therefore we went with a Lonely Planet recommended company Lipez Expeditions, stipulating no borracho conductors (drunk drivers), or we'd be wanting a refund.
We waited for a while, got a bite to eat (2 very large pancakes with banana and honey (which I hardly touched)... Sorry M) and prepared for 3 days in a jeep, with Claire, Ricky, 3 Korean girls and the guide/driver. I won't go into the exact itinerary (you can Google that), but a quick run down of each day instead:
Day 1: we first visited the Train Cemetery, the line which runs from Chile to La Paz is home to a myriad of old (British/German made) trains It's good for a few photos if nothing else! I believe the line still carries freight occasionally from Chile to La Paz - but don't quote me!
We also visited the first Salt hotel, which we're told was shutdown due to causing ecological issues in the surrounding area. It's now a museum, interesting to see but offers little else, other than Coke and Pringles.
Next stop was the Fish Island, which is the highlight of the day. It's a coral island in the middle of an 80km salt desert, here you can take some great shots (the cliche, people in a hat/dinosaur type), and also go trekking up to the top of the island (25mins) and take in the surroundings.
We then headed to the Salt Hotel for the evening, which was pretty smart. Alas, no hot water and questionable cuisine. Here Miranda began to feel a little 'Bolivian', and we collectively also began to wonder how much our 'guide' had drank judging by the blood shot eyes and the slurred speech.
Day 2: We left early as we had quite a distance to cover. I think it was around this time we began to think our driver (sorry, guide) was a complete tool. He basically drip fed snippets of what we could get from him and for the rest of the time remained completely disinterested in us.
Today we saw plenty of lakes, all of which had names revolving around their colour, red, green, you get the idea. They're all home to Flamingo's but very little else, scenery and setting wise though they've beautiful to look at. Oh and it was hot, incredibly hot...
As we'd spent the previous day in the middle/front of the jeep (8 seater) we thought we'd let the Koreans have a sit in the middle. Our generosity backfired when it can apparent our legs weren't best suited here, and that the ickle Koreans were better suited to this!
We probably need to add that as a result of our lunch we were all feeling that at a moments notice we could seriously 'lose control', unfortunately for Miranda she seemed to be the worst affected... stomach cramps and nausea ahoy!
Luckily along the way through the national park there's a few toilet stops, which frankly we were all VERY glad to see! About an hour later we felt we were relatively safe to continue our journey (hey, there was a big queue). At this point, leg ache, tiredness, frustrations, stomach cramps had gotten the better of most of us - Miranda wasn't feeling or looking to great, so asked one of the Koreans to swap to the back. On refusal, I very kindly (using crossed eyes, and a different tone) asked them again...
So, with Miranda now in the middle, we headed on to the next spectacle, the 'Tree Rock'. On the way there our 120,000 mile Toyota Landcruiser began to make some wonderful noises, which at first I guessed was down to a dodgy suspension mount, about 20 minutes later we were sat stationary in a desert with what I think is a broken front diff... To be fair, as much as we didn't like the driver, he did a decent job of getting us moving again, getting covered in oil in the process.
The going was slow, stopping relatively frequently to check it, but eventually we made it to the refuge for the night. Basic place, with no heating, sparse electricity and definitely no hot water! This was where the fun started, at this stage Miranda had been literally bought to her knees with illness - can't remember seeing someone look so ill from sickness and a (severely) upset stomach. Between us all we managed to scrape together enough drugs to just about cope, but lets just say that night is one we'll never forget, for all the wrong reasons! During the night it became clear I wasn't going to escape scott free, but thankfully my ride wasn't quite as torrid!
Day 3: Due to having such a diabolical night, and knowing full well we were leaving at 4:30am to watch the sunrise, see the geysers, and wallow in the thermal baths. We really weren't at all sure if Miranda was going to be in any state to continue in the morning. But thankfully we left the following morning with a full crew, and Miranda tentatively clutching to her only hope... a plastic bag!
As time passed that day, we all started to feel better, little by little. For me, this was almost solely down to the thermal baths, which in those surroundings and the almost unbearably hot water (the best kind). Sadly, I didn't have my swimming buddy, but I think we were just all glad she was gaining some colour - which incidentally is a few shades darker than you'll remember her! Incidentally whilst Miranda waited in the Jeep for everyone she overheard our driver offering another driver a beer at 7.30am. No wonder the drivers seemed so out of it by night if they started drinking this early in the morning!
Next stop was the white and green lake, the green being full of arsenic and therefore devoid of any life... Beautiful none the less!
Finally, we headed over the Chilean border, and from there it was a short bus ride to San Pedro de Atacama... Which thankfully falls outside the scope of this post!
There's two things that could of made this trip better, firstly a better driver/guide, secondly, not losing my North Face Gore-Tex shoes! Bugger...
Anyway, best leave you all to rest your now very tired eyes!
****Congratulations on reading the worlds longest post****
Friday, January 15, 2010
Middle of nowhere??
Hi all
Just to let you know that as of stupid-o'clock tomorrow we're off on a 4 day trek to Torres Del Paine, Chile (there's talk of camping so not my idea of fun!!)
Definitely no wifi and probably no phone signal.
Should be back in the land of the living on evening of 18th but probably quite late.
It's freeeeZzzzzzzing here so finally have some appreciation for your chilly winter at home.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Just to let you know that as of stupid-o'clock tomorrow we're off on a 4 day trek to Torres Del Paine, Chile (there's talk of camping so not my idea of fun!!)
Definitely no wifi and probably no phone signal.
Should be back in the land of the living on evening of 18th but probably quite late.
It's freeeeZzzzzzzing here so finally have some appreciation for your chilly winter at home.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Perito Moreno Glacier
Yesterday we went to achieve what we came to El Calafate for, the Perito Moreno glacier. It's a huge, magnificent looking thing that creeps forward upto 2 metres a day, often spitting large chunks (tonnes) of ice for the photographers patient enough to wait. The glacier itself is 97sq miles, and is 19 miles long, it's also the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world!
We booked with Heilo Adventura, who seem to have some sort of exclusivity deal on the glacier. Before booking you have a choice of 3 different options, a boat ride, or Mini-Trekking which is the boat ride plus a 1.5hr trek on the ice, and finally Big Ice which is the same as the former but with a 7hr trek. We chose the Mini-Trekking and to be honest I'm very glad we didn't do Big Ice, it may sound terribly obvious but the temperature out on the ice is pretty staggering (from what we're used to) and I suspect very similar to the temperature back in the UK (*snigger*), more so, the wind there is enough to knock you off your feet, though in the glacier you're sheltered somewhat.
The glacier itself is massive, and no doubt extremely difficult to appreciate when looking at the pictures (which have already been uploaded), I also failed to realise before hand that there's many points of interest on the surface of the ice itself, waterfalls, lagoons, caves, crevasses, holes to the very bottom, cliffs and probably a lot of things we didn't get to see aswell. Other beauty lies in the ice itself, which, when it cracks and exposes itself renders it's deep blue hue to you, very cool indeed. Visually as I've tried to explain it's pretty fantastic, but your ears are also constantly treated to a very deep audible shotgun like noise as the glacier moans beneath you, expecialy apparent when a few tonnes of ice throws itself into the lake at it's face (which is solely created by meltwater).
Suffice to say then that we both had a great day out on Perito Moreno glacier, and that we'd thoroughly recommend doing it. The glacier is around 30,000 years old, and is stable - the Patagonian ice cap is making enough fresh snow for new ice to be formed, at a rate which matches it's movement forward - and so should be here for a few years to come!
Photos are up in their usual place, we're hoping they don't receive a frosty reception!
Finally, we'd like to wish our avid readers, Lewis Bond, Ricky Child and Pru Engel a very happy (and now belated) birthday... we hope you all had a great day!
We booked with Heilo Adventura, who seem to have some sort of exclusivity deal on the glacier. Before booking you have a choice of 3 different options, a boat ride, or Mini-Trekking which is the boat ride plus a 1.5hr trek on the ice, and finally Big Ice which is the same as the former but with a 7hr trek. We chose the Mini-Trekking and to be honest I'm very glad we didn't do Big Ice, it may sound terribly obvious but the temperature out on the ice is pretty staggering (from what we're used to) and I suspect very similar to the temperature back in the UK (*snigger*), more so, the wind there is enough to knock you off your feet, though in the glacier you're sheltered somewhat.
The glacier itself is massive, and no doubt extremely difficult to appreciate when looking at the pictures (which have already been uploaded), I also failed to realise before hand that there's many points of interest on the surface of the ice itself, waterfalls, lagoons, caves, crevasses, holes to the very bottom, cliffs and probably a lot of things we didn't get to see aswell. Other beauty lies in the ice itself, which, when it cracks and exposes itself renders it's deep blue hue to you, very cool indeed. Visually as I've tried to explain it's pretty fantastic, but your ears are also constantly treated to a very deep audible shotgun like noise as the glacier moans beneath you, expecialy apparent when a few tonnes of ice throws itself into the lake at it's face (which is solely created by meltwater).
Suffice to say then that we both had a great day out on Perito Moreno glacier, and that we'd thoroughly recommend doing it. The glacier is around 30,000 years old, and is stable - the Patagonian ice cap is making enough fresh snow for new ice to be formed, at a rate which matches it's movement forward - and so should be here for a few years to come!
Photos are up in their usual place, we're hoping they don't receive a frosty reception!
Finally, we'd like to wish our avid readers, Lewis Bond, Ricky Child and Pru Engel a very happy (and now belated) birthday... we hope you all had a great day!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
We're alive...
In the last week we've been rather busy or lazy, we'll let you decide which.
Anyway a quick summary of our movements, we've both been fine since Bolivia! Geographically we've also done a few miles:
First, we took a 25hr bus from Mendoza to Puerto Madryn, and after staying there for 2 days and doing some nature related tours (which we'll cover later) we decided to head further South.
Today we literally just got off of another (18hr) bus. Right now we're sat in a cafe in Rio Gallegos, see!
Nobody told me that travelling actually meant sitting on a bus so frequently, luckily despite the long journey times it's not really a hardship... Comfy armchairs, films, hot meals, coffee. The trick is to make sure you're tired before you get on!
We only came to this place as it's a hub for either continuing south, or heading west. We've elected to miss the opportunity of visiting the most southern city in the world, simply because we now have less than 2 weeks left in these (beautiful) lands. The other reason being there's nothing in particular to do there, unless you plan to visit the smaller islands of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), or dare I whisper it... The Isla Malvinas (Falkland Islands). So west we shall go!
In a couple of hours we're headed to El Calafate (only 4/5hrs woooooooei), which I'm sure you'll already know there's a rather large block of ice there, a glacier (Perito Moreno). We plan to see, maybe even walk/climb on, then head to Chaltèn where you can do numerous treks/climbs up or around Cerro Fitz Roy... muy dificil!
Final note, we're also uploaded the latest batch of pictures, there's a few of the tour we did in Puerto Madryn (Pennisula Valdez). Anyway, lots of posts on the way so I'll let this one fly...
Bye, and hope you're all well!
Anyway a quick summary of our movements, we've both been fine since Bolivia! Geographically we've also done a few miles:
First, we took a 25hr bus from Mendoza to Puerto Madryn, and after staying there for 2 days and doing some nature related tours (which we'll cover later) we decided to head further South.
Today we literally just got off of another (18hr) bus. Right now we're sat in a cafe in Rio Gallegos, see!
Nobody told me that travelling actually meant sitting on a bus so frequently, luckily despite the long journey times it's not really a hardship... Comfy armchairs, films, hot meals, coffee. The trick is to make sure you're tired before you get on!
We only came to this place as it's a hub for either continuing south, or heading west. We've elected to miss the opportunity of visiting the most southern city in the world, simply because we now have less than 2 weeks left in these (beautiful) lands. The other reason being there's nothing in particular to do there, unless you plan to visit the smaller islands of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), or dare I whisper it... The Isla Malvinas (Falkland Islands). So west we shall go!
In a couple of hours we're headed to El Calafate (only 4/5hrs woooooooei), which I'm sure you'll already know there's a rather large block of ice there, a glacier (Perito Moreno). We plan to see, maybe even walk/climb on, then head to Chaltèn where you can do numerous treks/climbs up or around Cerro Fitz Roy... muy dificil!
Final note, we're also uploaded the latest batch of pictures, there's a few of the tour we did in Puerto Madryn (Pennisula Valdez). Anyway, lots of posts on the way so I'll let this one fly...
Bye, and hope you're all well!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Bad parents
I feel compelled to share a recent experience with you...
James and I were in a local restaurant when a mother, father and four children walked in. The kids ranged from about 10 to a baby under a year old. The family ordered their beef (no menu it was beef or beef) and a large bottle of full fat Coke.
As we watched the mother share out the coke amongst her young family, to our complete horror she grabbed her small baby's bottle and filled it with Coke.
Now, I know I don't have kids and armchair parenting is very easy but please...this is surely very wrong?!?
People with small people of their own are most welcome to comment.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
James and I were in a local restaurant when a mother, father and four children walked in. The kids ranged from about 10 to a baby under a year old. The family ordered their beef (no menu it was beef or beef) and a large bottle of full fat Coke.
As we watched the mother share out the coke amongst her young family, to our complete horror she grabbed her small baby's bottle and filled it with Coke.
Now, I know I don't have kids and armchair parenting is very easy but please...this is surely very wrong?!?
People with small people of their own are most welcome to comment.
Mx
-- Posted from Miranda's iPhone
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year!
I'd like to wish you all a very happy 2010 and hope you all had a great night celebrating it!
We had big plans (briefly) to go to a 3am party in a Vineyard, which would have been fantastic if a little unrealistic given our track record of being awake past midnight.
We eventually ended up in a restuarant with a few dozen locals, after nearly famishing at the roadside. This came about after waiting about an hour for a taxi - they took the night off - after which we literally dived out of the taxi at the first sight of food. Last night I also witnessed a first, Miranda eat an aperetif of shellfish so this was definitely a special night, one to remember. Eventually midnight arrived and with a flurry of fireworks, singing, people dancing and receiving an invitation from Gonzalo (a 30 something with wife and kid) to visit him in Santiago, we saw in the New Year.
Had the taxi drivers of Mendoza not thrown a spanner in the works, we may (or may not) after 3-4 hours kip had managed to attend this 'Rave in a vineyard', but we had a good night... doing what the locals do, which is eating and drinking at midnight!
We had big plans (briefly) to go to a 3am party in a Vineyard, which would have been fantastic if a little unrealistic given our track record of being awake past midnight.
We eventually ended up in a restuarant with a few dozen locals, after nearly famishing at the roadside. This came about after waiting about an hour for a taxi - they took the night off - after which we literally dived out of the taxi at the first sight of food. Last night I also witnessed a first, Miranda eat an aperetif of shellfish so this was definitely a special night, one to remember. Eventually midnight arrived and with a flurry of fireworks, singing, people dancing and receiving an invitation from Gonzalo (a 30 something with wife and kid) to visit him in Santiago, we saw in the New Year.
Had the taxi drivers of Mendoza not thrown a spanner in the works, we may (or may not) after 3-4 hours kip had managed to attend this 'Rave in a vineyard', but we had a good night... doing what the locals do, which is eating and drinking at midnight!
Happy New Year
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