VIETNAM | Sunday, 7 Jun 2009 | Views [19]
Day two of the Halong bay tour started surprisingly similarly to day one. Claire was in the shower when the phone rang. The voice said ”Finish! Leave hotel now!” I looked at my watch: 7.10 and we had been told to meet at 7.30. Ignoring what had been ... Read more >
Tags: tour, island, trekking, island, beach, boat, canoe
VIETNAM | Saturday, 6 Jun 2009 | Views [21]
It was an inauspicious start to the trip. We had slept through the alarm and were awoken by a heavy thumping on the paper thin bedroom door. The thoughtful receptionist had given us a 20 minute headstart before the promised air conditioned minivan ... Read more >
Tags: tour, island, boat, mate, cave, passport, karaoke
VIETNAM | Friday, 5 Jun 2009 | Views [34]
The
first impressions of Hanoi in the taxi were that of a French city. It
was after all the colonial capital of French Indochina so it
shouldn't have been too surprising to be passing through ... Read more >
Tags: city, moped
VIETNAM | Wednesday, 3 Jun 2009 | Views [57]
It
was only a four hour journey to Hue from Hoi An but we still had the
bizarre “sleeping bus” to semi-horizontally not sleep in for
the journey. We allowed ourselves to be taken to the suggested
guesthouse ... Read more >
Tags: hangover, citadel, history, culture
VIETNAM | Sunday, 31 May 2009 | Views [60]
We
lucked out with the bus to Hoi An – it was quite a bit more modern
and seemed to have been designed with passengers in mind unlike its
previous incarnations. This time there was a space for your bag
rather ... Read more >
Tags: tailor, beach, bike
VIETNAM | Thursday, 28 May 2009 | Views [110]
We
had decided to do an island tour from Nha Trang - the punters on the boat were an
eclectic mix of English gap year types, Filipino engineers working on
the soon to open Nha Trang Marriot and a few locals ... Read more >
Tags: beach, boat, bar, island
VIETNAM | Monday, 25 May 2009 | Views [113] | Comments [3]
As
usual, the bus was late. After half an hour of waiting patiently in
the travel agency we went across the road for some beers, their
arrival, of course coinciding with that of the sleeping bus to Nha
Trang, ... Read more >
Tags: beach, omelette, scam, casino
VIETNAM | Friday, 22 May 2009 | Views [87]
Crowds of overpriced baguette-wielding hawkers thronged around the bus as the rucksacks were crammed into its belly. They had a captive market and knew it – expensive la vache qui rit baguettes for breakfast it was then. The return trip to Phnom ... Read more >
Tags: moped, history, tunnel, religion, temple, crash, home
CAMBODIA | Monday, 18 May 2009 | Views [47]
As with Laos, we had been learning that time is a bit of a variable concept in Cambodia, so we weren't worried when the minibus failed to pick us up at the agreed time. Perhaps it was a ploy – the owner (what he owned was not mentioned, I assumed ... Read more >
Tags: tuk tuk, temple, hospital
CAMBODIA | Thursday, 14 May 2009 | Views [28]
The storm had blown itself out by dawn and we left Don Det, as we had arrived, on a long tail. The holidays were over and the aftermath of the rains were very much in evidence in Nakasang on the mainland. The dusty street had turned into a mudbath ... Read more >
Tags: border, history, museum, storm
LAOS | Tuesday, 12 May 2009 | Views [49]
The Champasak Palace Hotel in Pakse was built by Prince Boun Oumna Champasak with, supposedly, a room for each of his concubines. Also known as the thousand room pavillion, it's built in Laotian style, looks a bit like a wedding cake, has 1 King ... Read more >
Tags: holiday, hotel, island, river, hammock, wildlife
LAOS | Wednesday, 6 May 2009 | Views [33]
The
bus, or a tuk tuk was supposed to pick us up at the GH between 1 and
1.30. At 2 the GH owner came over to us and called up to see what was
going on. Within minutes a tuk tuk arrived and we were taken to the
bus ... Read more >
Tags: bike, swim, bus, arch
LAOS | Saturday, 2 May 2009 | Views [56]
An early jumbo took us from from the airfield to the bus station. The road to Vang Vieng was steep and windy but the full volume Thai power ballads entertained. We arrived early, suddenly and a tuk tuk whisked us off on the hot dusty roadside to Phoom ... Read more >
Tags: tubing, injury
LAOS | Tuesday, 28 Apr 2009 | Views [78]
The 7.30 “AC” bus from Louang Prabang to Phonsavan left at exactly 8.30 and had quite a big hole in the floor under our seats. It was a comfy enough but windy journey punctuated by the obligatory noodle soup shop in a non-descript market town. Of the ... Read more >
Tags: guest house, war, uxo, tour, history
LAOS | Sunday, 26 Apr 2009 | Views [39]
A
tuk tuk brought us up the bank of the Nam Kong river in the morning
and we walked across a fabulously rickety bamboo bridge to a Hmong
village, beginning our trek. It was blisteringly hot and Tan, our
guide kept the ... Read more >
Tags: river, trekking, kayak, animism, mot, visa, chess
LAOS | Wednesday, 22 Apr 2009 | Views [73]
There
are various strategies to finding a guest house and most of ours
involved avoiding the hawkers as much as possible. We had liked the
sound of Mekong, a place by the river mentioned in both LP and RG. A
For Sale sign ... Read more >
Tags: sok dee guesthouse, attempted robbery, visa, injury, waterfall
LAOS | Sunday, 19 Apr 2009 | Views [57]
Songkran
was finally over so we could walk the streets without fear of iced
water attacks. We were going to Laos and just had time to drop off
our boxes to be sent home before the bus was due to pick us up. The
trip ... Read more >
Tags: boat, visa, border crossing
THAILAND | Thursday, 16 Apr 2009 | Views [55]
By the time we got back from the trek we were too tired. even for a massage, so we sold out and grabbed a pizza and watched a movie in bed. This was followed by a catch-up day – lots of internet and blogging for me while Claire did a few chores ... Read more >
Tags: massage, new year, festival, temple, culture
THAILAND | Friday, 10 Apr 2009 | Views [191] | Comments [2]
Choosing a trek in the North of Thailand felt like a bit of a lottery at the time. Every seemed to offer the same thing – 3 days 2 nights of a jam packed agenda including visiting a hill people village, doing an elephant ride, bamboo rafting and ... Read more >
Tags: trekking, tribe, culture, cave
THAILAND | Wednesday, 8 Apr 2009 | Views [54]
Claire was still feeling dodgy the following day so we went looking for a local remedy. The proprieter of the Corner Cafe, where we'd been a few times came good in her suggestion of ginger tea – seems to be a great cure for a upset tummy. ... Read more >
Tags: market, massage, sick
THAILAND | Monday, 6 Apr 2009 | Views [105]
i The restaurant was closed, had a for sale sign outside and Jane and Steve were nowhere to be seen. We decided for one to have a look for a place to stay while the other minded the bags. Walking down the street it was clear there were absolutely ... Read more >
Tags: culture, food, drinking, boxing, mot, israeli, ladyboy
THAILAND | Wednesday, 1 Apr 2009 | Views [127]
On
our last day in Bangkok we were just about checked out when an
enormous thunderstorm rolled in and opened on the city. It was more
ferocious than spectacular – simultaneous bellowing thunder and
lightning combined ... Read more >
Tags: storm, train, temple
THAILAND | Monday, 30 Mar 2009 | Views [94] | Comments [1]
We
woke up late and hungover and struggled out the door so as not to
completely waste the day. We were heading for Jim Thompson's house –
the home of a an ex CIA agent who practically single handedly revived
the ... Read more >
Tags: hangover, palace, cia, buddha, chinatown, boxing
THAILAND | Friday, 27 Mar 2009 | Views [72]
It
was time to sample some legendary Thai food so we stopped in at a
restaurant which had a menu – not feeling brave enough for street
food just quite yet. Claire went for the red curry and I for the
hotter green.... Read more >
Tags: phone, guest house, teak, temple, haircut
THAILAND | Thursday, 26 Mar 2009 | Views [59]
Bangkok
is known as Krung Threp to the locals – the city of angels. Our
arrival in the massive and massively modern Suvarnabhumi airport was
straightforward after the three hour puddle jump to Sydney and a
quick ... Read more >
Tags: hectic, temple, tuktuk
NEW ZEALAND | Wednesday, 25 Mar 2009 | Views [54]
As we made our way back south down the Milford Road we
made a stop for a longer trek up to Key Summit, so named because three rivers
flow south, east and west to three different seas from the peak. Fabulous views
and alpine bogs at the top.... Read more >
Tags: birthday, rugby, camping, hostel, paddy, prison, camera
NEW ZEALAND | Friday, 13 Mar 2009 | Views [65]
The next destination was Queenstown, probably the most
touristy town on the South Island and home to pretty much every adrenaline
sport known to man. Again it's a very picturesque setting for a town, on a lake
and surrounded by The Remarkables, ... Read more >
Tags: fjord, cruise, lord of the rings, trekking, nature
NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 12 Mar 2009 | Views [82]
We spent the night in another DOC site at the end of
Lake Mahinapua, near Franz Josef, home of its namesake glacier. It was really
difficult to find in the evening. I had booked a Heli-hike up the glacier for
the following morning and Claire ... Read more >
Tags: glacier, horse, helicopter, fair, camping, hostel
NEW ZEALAND | Tuesday, 10 Mar 2009 | Views [55]
The drive was hot and uneventful back over steep
Takaka Hill especially as we managed to avoid getting stuck behind a 2 trailer
road train of powdered milk, Golden bay's biggest export. A quick pitstop in
Richmond for more supplies, then ... Read more >
Tags: camping, kiwi, jade
NEW ZEALAND | Sunday, 8 Mar 2009 | Views [87] | Comments [2]
It was great to be back on the road after a work break in Wellington (work for Claire, “work” for me). We stuffed our gear into our bags and jumped in a taxi to the Interislander ferry terminal. The 3 hour ferry journey ( a comfortable mode of transport ... Read more >
Tags: ferry, kayak, camping, springs, seal, fruit
NEW ZEALAND | Monday, 2 Mar 2009 | Views [74]
Sylvia and Oii bade us farewell early on the Monday morning – their schedule only allowed them another 2 weeks for the whole of the South Island and they had an early ferry to Picton. Our journey 5 minutes up the street was shorter but we ... Read more >
Tags: apartment, work, concert, carnival, rugby, flood
NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 5 Feb 2009 | Views [58]
After 10 days in the car and sleeping in tents we were all quite glad to pull up to the Wellywood Backpackers in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The monstrous pile of camping detritus that was crammed into the lift on the way up was positively ... Read more >
Tags: hostel, apartment, museum, fire escape
NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 29 Jan 2009 | Views [88]
Continuing
further South, Taupo with its enormous lake provided a pleasant spot
for lunch and catching up with internet and suchlike. We needed to
keep moving so we carried on towards Tongariro National park,
stopping ... Read more >
Tags: trekking, volcano, fire, camping
NEW ZEALAND | Tuesday, 27 Jan 2009 | Views [77]
The next day was the anniversary of the day Claire and I had met a year previously so we were determined to enjoy ourselves despite the gloomy mood of Sylvia and Oli's unsuccessful attempts to reconcile. We took the front seats, yanked up the music ... Read more >
Tags: maori, camping
NEW ZEALAND | Monday, 26 Jan 2009 | Views [165] | Comments [1]
Our
next destination was the Kauaeranga
Valley in
Coromandel Forest park where a clutch of DOC campsites are set in a
forest environment. A long gravel road took us up from the modern but
shut Info ... Read more >
Tags: beach, hot spring
NEW ZEALAND | Saturday, 24 Jan 2009 | Views [155]
We
were all quite happy to pack up the next morning and pile into the
car rental company's collection car. It took us out to near the
airport and we picked up our green flash station wagon rental (MOT
26) with over ... Read more >
Tags: camping, rental car, wildlife, forest, hot spring
NEW ZEALAND | Tuesday, 20 Jan 2009 | Views [70]
The
16 th of January never happened as we crossed the
international date line to New Zealand, the first “developed”
country on the trip. The flight was pleasant (LAN are great) and
Auckland airport was certainly ... Read more >
Tags: hostel
NEW ZEALAND | Thursday, 15 Jan 2009 | Views [98]
Teresa wanted us to stay for the whole time we were in Santiago, all of 3 days, but we couldn't accept any more hospitality, despite her insistence. We got a taxi to the centre – Teresa wouldn't let us go without giving Claire the woolen shawl and ... Read more >
Tags: crab, chess, cacho, chilean football team
CHILE | Tuesday, 13 Jan 2009 | Views [75]
The challenges with our final South American journey, to Chile, began as we alighted the bus. Our seats, 9 and 10 were on different floors of the bus. It took a few minutes of confusion before someone with some common sense came along to sort out ... Read more >
Tags: drug bust, hospitality
ARGENTINA | Monday, 12 Jan 2009 | Views [107]
A Bolivian approached us as we waited to get our bags off the bus, touting the “Life House Hostel” and promising free transport. We had been contemplating other places but we decided to go for a bit of randomness, seeing as we had never planned to ... Read more >
Tags: bike, blood, storm, rain
ARGENTINA | Saturday, 10 Jan 2009 | Views [154] | Comments [2]
I have already briefly described South American long distance buses as being quite luxurious and well equipped compared to many European bus journeys I've been on. We thought our last 12 hour plus journey in the continent deserved a blog of its own.... Read more >
Tags: bus, bingo
ARGENTINA | Friday, 9 Jan 2009 | Views [77]
As
it was high season we decided to book ahead in Bariloche and arranged
to stay at a place a few km out of town (Alaska Hostel). We said our
bon voyages to Aisling and Keith at the terminal and jumped on
another ... Read more >
Tags: lakes, biking, asado
ARGENTINA | Wednesday, 7 Jan 2009 | Views [213]
The
first time I had heard of El Bolson was when a friend recounted a
tale about a friend of hers when in Buenos Aires. It had been settled
(if that's the right word) by a bunch of hippies in the late
seventies ... Read more >
Tags: trekking, hostel, fair, hippy, hat
ARGENTINA | Thursday, 1 Jan 2009 | Views [109]
The night journey across the continent towards Esquel was pleasant enough, although I thought I had left a bag containing all my gadgets behind. A man got on selling hand-made wooden rosary beads which I bought as a sort of superstitious insurance ... Read more >
Tags: trekking, party, lake, mountain, fireworks
ARGENTINA | Tuesday, 30 Dec 2008 | Views [208] | Comments [1]
In 1852 a number of Welsh settlers arrived in Puerto Madryn and worked their way south and west before they got to the Chubut valley which they decided was the spot for them and promptly irrigated, We arrived in the heat of the mid afternoon ... Read more >
Tags: museum, wildlife, tea, cake, mad people
ARGENTINA | Friday, 26 Dec 2008 | Views [122]
The bus was warm and smelt distinctlly of feet as we found our seats. It had been delayed for 2 hours and Retiro was packed with throngs of people heavily laden with Christmas miscellanea. Puerto Madryn, in Chubut province in Patagonia was 18 hours ... Read more >
Tags: wildlife, christmas, fireworks, whale
ARGENTINA | Monday, 22 Dec 2008 | Views [168] | Comments [1]
t was always going to be a challenge to meet Marcos. I had taken the precaution of trying to text him suggesting we meet at the train terminal but without a phone it wasn't going to be easy. We spoke briefly and arranged to meet outside McDonalds but ... Read more >
Tags: delta, old friends, party, parrilla, package
ARGENTINA | Monday, 15 Dec 2008 | Views [137]
It
was a bit disorientating in the taxi at first. The street names
didn't seem familiar and I had lost my sense of direction. Gradually
Buenos Aires started to reveal itself as we approached our rented
apartment ... Read more >
Tags: protests, apartment, theft, old friends
URUGUAY | Thursday, 11 Dec 2008 | Views [366] | Comments [1]
After a light brekkie we donned the rucksacks and walked the 500m up to the bus station to catch our ride to San Carlos. There we made a very hassle free connection to Manantiales, meaning Springs which is a small village about 12km outside Punta ... Read more >
Tags: ipod, beach, colonial, ferry
URUGUAY | Saturday, 6 Dec 2008 | Views [229]
Happily Karina & Monaim decided to come to Cabo Polonio with us and we left Punta del Diablo, overcast as it had been our entire stay, with our surprisingly heavy and awkward watermelon as a new addition to our luggage. The bloody melon became a ... Read more >
Tags: beach, artesania, jeep, cabin, lighthouse
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