Fiona's travels

The Simien Mountain Trek

fionaanderson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:34:00 GMT

Ethiopia is Africa's second most populous country at 75 million for a country about the size of France and Spain combined. Religion plays a huge role in local life, with a fairly even split of about 40% Muslim and 40% Ethiopian Orthodox Christians (one of the oldest Christian sects in the world), with the remaining such as Rastafarians who regarded the last emperor Haile Selassie as their God.

The tour started in the capital of Addis Ababa, at about 2500m ASL it is the 3rd highest capital in the world. A busy, bustling city, but only 10 minutes from the centre, there are women carrying stacks of Eucalyptus on their backs to supplement their income, and donkeys or sheep running up and down the streets. Bit of sight seeing and then off to Lalibela on a 50 seater plane....

Lalibela has a population of only about 20,000, so its small but rapidly increasing in size due to the increase in tourism. Lalibela is famous for the 11 rock churches built in the 12th century by King Lalibela. They are cut out of the rock, simple inside, in the shape of a cross, but unfortunately filled with fleas in the carpets from the animals, holy or not - they pack a punch and remained with me for the rest of my time in Ethiopia!!! We did a lovely hike up the hill to a monastery up at 3100m, through small round wood huts with a thatched roof, through fields of beans/peas or grains, stopping for some Thyme Tea which is a local speciality. Constant hassle from teenagers trying to get you to buy books or support them through school - unfortunately not all of it is legit.

Another short flight on to Gonder, which was the capital of Ethiopia in the 17th and 19th centuries, with a castle area built over time by various past emperors. This was our base before the trek or to come back to afterwards.

The Simien Mountains are highlands created by selective erosion through volcanic rock, creating 1500m escarpments and valley floors. The national park in the area was set up initially to conserve some endemic species including Gelada Baboons, Simien Fox and Walia Ibex (a wild goat), which are unfortunately now in the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger due to population declines. The highlands range from the lower slopes of cultivation and grazing, to regions of moorland, giant heathers, and up to the higher slopes of Red Hot Poker plants and Giant Lobelia.

The trek
The trek was 8 days long, supported by a full crew of mule helpers, mules to carry all the kit and equipment, camp assistants, a cook, guide, scouts to walk with us and keep us safe (even though we were more at risk of being shot in the head by their 1940s loaded guns!) and an emergency mule at the back to rescue any ill or hurt people! We trekked a total of 120kms roughly, each day with different scenery and viewpoints, and each day pretty hard not always due to the distance covered, but due to the elevations walked as well as altitude factored in. Some days, we would walk 10 hours, ascend 900m in one go and descend maybe 500m. For the summit attempt of Ras Deshen, we walked for 10 hours, up from 3200m ASL to the top at 4543m and then back down again to camp. Fabulous scenery each day, lots of little villages, people and animals but quite exhausting, especially when you're camping and don't get a proper nights sleep! Some nights were below freezing and we quite often had hail!! Back to Gonder at the end for a much needed shower and the chance to sit down on a loo again!!

The groups were fantastic, which was very lucky as there were many logistical nightmares, not only because its an African country and things operate differently, but also because our local agent was hopeless, so I did more than my jobs worth!! The final tour was a total nightmare as there were East African Leaders' meetings being held in Ethiopia so all the flights were booked up and we had to change hotels at the last minute too. Chaos, but didn't get in the way of the enjoyment of the group. So that's it, final tour and final tour for me as a tour leader, I'm hanging up my boots!!

China

fionaanderson — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:25:00 GMT

Kashgar

Over the border and into Kashgar, China, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. The history here is so complex, but Russia gave independence to Mongolia and the agreement was that Xinjiang would remain part of China. A fascinating place as the region has a majority of Uighurs. Although the Uighurs still almost consider themselves a separate country, they work on the local time of 2 hours behind Beijing time - the same as Kyrgyzstan, but all the official places and businesses in the area run on Beijing time, so its almost fingers up to China to say they are and will remain separate to China. The Uighurs are one of the minority groups, which China is quickly trying to obliterate from existence by the infiltration of the Chinese majority group, the Han Chinese, into their society. The schools are soon to be Chinese speaking with Uighur as an extra class, instead of the other way around, so slowly, China will take over and squash the religion and individuality.

Kashgar is a wonderful city with the new parts with flashing lights and a HUGE supermarket/shopping area, and the old parts; single storey buildings, dusty paths and locals selling handmade steel products, useful wooden objects, fruits and pots etc. We visited a local livestock market with everything you can imagine including sheep (with big bottoms - a sign of health!), cows, donkeys, horses, camels and the edges of the market lined with nut and seed stalls and barbers giving men a clean and close shave!

Turpan

An overnight train journey into Turpan - the hottest and driest city in China. The city is built where a lake used to be, so the city is actually 154m BELOW sea level so it is the second lowest depression in the world (after the Dead Sea). The rainfall is only 16mm per year while the evaporation exceeds 3000mm, so 2000 years ago they developed an underground irrigation system stretching for hundreds of kilometres supplying water to the people and land. Genius.

It was 42 degrees when we were there, visiting the ancient ruined cities of Bezeklik and Jiaohe, and the cave system of Gaochang - although not much in the Buddhist caves as looters and people from other religions have destroyed much of the paintings and decoration.

Dunhuang

Further East by train to Dunhuang. An increasingly touristy town as the masses are coming here to visit the Mogao Caves which contain the greatest grouping of early Chinese Buddhist paintings to survive dating back to 366AD. Amazing huge sitting Buddha built into a cave with murals surrounding telling stories of religion and adventure. We also did the usual Explore thing of watching sunrise after climbing to the top of the surrounding sand dunes - looking back at the oasis town that is surrounded by desert.

Jiayuguan

This is an ancient Han Chinese outpost and the Great Wall once extended beyond here but during the first few years of the Ming Dynasty, a fort was built and it was then considered the end of the empire. Today, the town has developed into an industrial town with just about everything and everyone owned by the Iron and Steel Company. The city has been built up for the workers, which could easily have been an utter failure, but instead the city is lined with trees and cycle/walkways without a factory in sight (until you get outside the city and look back to it).

We visited the 'Overhanging Wall' section of the Great Wall which is built in a different way to that of the wall further east as it is made of rammed earth - a technique that can survive here due to the lack of erosive precipitation. We visited the Fort which is the barrier between China and the desert (or the area that people were banished to if they committed a crime and never to return!). Finally we visited underground tombs dating to 220-420AD which are worthy of a mention as the bricks in the tomb were painted depicting social and rural activities including one showing a person eating with a knife and fork - who copied who!?

Xian

This city has been the capital of China 12 times in the past over various dynasties. A mix of historic buildings including the Bell and Drum Tower which in historic times would be like a time system being struck in the morning and night. An old section of the city called the Muslim Quarter with narrow streets, food stalls selling kebabs and cheap shops selling all the Beijing Olympic t-shirts you could desire! No trip to Xian is complete without a trip over to the Terracotta Warriors. Totally amazing and the Chinese have really done a nice job with the museum layout. Upon ascending the throne at the age of 13 (in 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish and thousands of warriors were made to guard the mausoleum (which still hasn't been excavated). This emperor did some good things but carried them out in a harsh and brutal way so he many people who disliked him. So in later years, the sites were broken into and all the warriors smashed up and destroyed. The pits were not discovered until 1974 when farmers were building a well.

The previous train journeys we've had have been long - usually 20 hours or so but interesting to see the vast expanses of desert and the frequent oil plant or steel factory for example. Its incredible to see the range of minerals, reserves and products that China has a huge supply of. With the man power and the increasing power globally, you can easily see why China is becoming a main player. Quite frightening really, how quickly China has climbed up.

Beijing

A short flight to the capital city with a population of 13.4 million. Huge high rises with 20/30 floors dominate the skyline but with plenty of trees and colourful flower displays to make the city an attractive one. The architecture old and new is fabulous, with so much thought going into design. The city has 6 ring roads circulating the edges, with the 2nd one being in the place of the old city wall, which was destroyed 20 years ago. The Forbidden City is not to be missed of course, and you feel you know the place after so many films being shot there. The FB is huge, with a large number of buildings that you walk through to get the part where the royalty lived. It was the imperial palace through 24 reigns and legendarily has 9999 rooms. The architecture is in the style of the classic Ming Dynasty - elegant curves on the edges of the roof.

The Great Wall

We also head out to another stretch of the Great Wall, at Mutianyu which was built in 1368. Beautiful location amongst the tree covered hills and less tourists as its further away from Beijing than other stretches. The Great Wall was first built by 7 kingdoms to keep the Mongol barbarians out of China but during the first Chinese Dynasty the emperor unified China and joined the sections of wall. So the wall essentially is the barrier between Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia (AKA China and Mongolia). Over the years, sections have been left to degrade but others built and rebuilt. The wall further East here is larger, wide enough to take a carriage and 6 horses abreast and it is made of bricks and stone.

Finally

An amazing journey through different provinces of China and with such a variety of Chinese people and minorities. The people are so friendly and eager to please but the language barrier is a challenge as you cant even begin to read the Chinese characters and actions are different so charades are hopeless! Classic example was at the hotel where the receptionist barely spoke English and we were dancing around trying to get our message across, then finally when we gave up, she turned around and politely said, "its ok, you can relax now"!!.

This journey has taken us 7450km with only 1440km of that by plane, the rest by trains and buses...a bit easier then when the Silk Road was travelled over deserts and mountains with camels and horses!

Kyrgyzstan

fionaanderson — Fri, 9 May 2008 12:13:00 GMT

The history...

AKA the Kyrgyz republic, the area is around 200,000 sq km and is 90% mountainous so the settlements and agriculture are concentrated in the river valleys. The highest mountain rising up to just under 7500 metres! The population was 5.2 million in 2007 and there are around 80 ethnic groups (the principles are Kyrgyz 66%, Uzbek 14% and Russian 10%). A central Asian country of incredible natural beauty and proud nomadic traditions, most of Kyrgyzstan was formally annexed to Russia in 1876. The Kyrgyz staged a major revolt against the Tsarist empire in 1916 in which almost 1/6th of the Kyrgyz population were killed. Kyrgyzstan became a soviet republic in 1936 and achieved independence in 1991 when the USSR dissolved. Nationwide demonstrations in 2005 resulted in the President Askar Akayev fleeing to Moscow. Despite the fastest privatisation programme and the most liberal attitudes in Central Asia, the economy is still in bad shape. Unemployment (and particularly underemployment) is rife and the average monthly wage is about 55 US Dollars in Bishkek and half that in the countryside - where 2/3rds of the population live. Kyrgyzstan has a predominantly agricultural economy with cotton, tobacco, wool and meat being the main agricultural products although only tobacco and cotton are exported in any quantity. Industrial exports include gold, mercury, uranium and natural gas.

The tour...

We flew into Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek at an awful time in the morning and head straight out for half a day's walking in the mountains. Beautiful scenery of snow capped mountains and river valleys and we saw a red squirrel (but it had a blonde tail) and Marmots running around (they look like large guinea pigs). Kyrgyzstan is all about the scenery so a nice break from the hot dusty sights of Uzbekistan. Bishkek is a little soulless with wide streets and large soviet style buildings and not too much to see in comparison to our historical sights we've been to so far. It did offer a great Italian restaurant which was a welcome break from the repetitive local foods over the last 2 weeks, thinking that I could keep it secret from my group, but it turned out they had all chosen to eat there too! Busted.

Off the next day in our 2 vans and with our local guide we visited the lake Issy-Kul which is the 2nd largest alpine lake in the world. Normally a hot spot for locals during the summer, it was eerily deserted but made for a nice lunch break along our long journey. Next stop, our Yurts for the night. These are traditional style nomadic shelters, using sticks and ropes to tie up the frame and covered in felt or skins traditionally for waterproofing. With 4 or 5 beds in each, arranged around the edge, it was cosy and warm overnight with the wind howling outside. The local breakfast of tinned sausages (sounds better than they were) and pasta shells, was a step too far however! However, for my second tour, due to improved weather conditions towards the summer, we stayed in yurts which were high up in a mountainous river valley - it was truely spectacular with local nomadic people rounding their sheep up on horse back.

The borders...

A long day followed as we drove towards the Chinese border along the dusty roads obliterating any view of the mountains in the distance. A very interesting and bizarre experience going through the border with the first checkpoint and the last being several hours and hundreds of kilometres apart - no mans land with military posts to check on your progress! The Torugart Pass is 3600m, cool and very little activity around. Endless checks of passports, then passport control to get the stamp on the Kyrgyz side, then customs to have the bags searched then the Chinese passport control where we had our temperatures taken!! etc etc...the land is so deserted and so far from anywhere that you could tell the military were making us jump through hoops just to make their day more interesting. They all wanted to know who the Americans were in the group for 'extra' checks and any maps showing Taiwan as separate to China would be confiscated (if we hadn't hid them). Phew, a long day...but we made it into China...

Uzbekistan

fionaanderson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT

The recce.....

I had a week to travel Uzbekistan before my first group arrived which was a mixture of adventure and being taken around in a bubble. Taxis were organised for me, hotel owners would drive me to the train station and be waiting there for me in the next town with a sign saying 'Fiona Anderson, Explore'. Pretty different to trying to haggle for 10 minutes over a dollar for a taxi ride and having that unknown feeling of where you are and what you're doing. Definite pluses and minuses to organised travel. The fun for me in my week happened in Bukhara where I met the hotel owners daughter and we wandered town just as if I lived there too - knocking on her friend's doors to see if they wanted to come to town with us. It was great to blend more. One evening we went to the local park where everyone goes as the temperature is much less sweaty and they have a fair ground. Just as I was thinking, look at that Ferris wheel death trap, rusty and not maintained, the girl had bought us a ticket and we were on!! Now, the tea cups and fairly mundane fair ground rides are dull everywhere else because they are not a thrill, but when you fear for your life that it may collapse today - now that's when the heart races!! We also went on a rollercoaster and the safety features were next to none - amazing.

The factual / historical bit...

Ancient cities of Uzbekistan were located on the Silk Road, the trading route between China and the West. In the 8th century the Arabs came from the west bringing Islam (85% of Uzbeks are Muslims). Many mosques and madrassas were built during this period including remaining structures from the Samanids. Most of the cities were destroyed during the invasion of Genghis Khan in 1220 but later, Amir Timur resurrected the cities using slaves and artists he had captured during successful crusades - the Uzbeks consider him their national hero.

Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after WW1 was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1924. During the soviet era, intensive production of grain and cotton or 'white gold' as it was known, led to overuse of agrochemicals and the depletion of water supplies, which have left the land poisoned and the Aral Sea and certain rivers half dry. Luckily, the proximity of Uzbekistan to the mountains in the east mean that they still have an annual supply of melt water into the country. The highest mountain in Uzbekistan is around 4000m which is in the same range as the mountains that spread through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that rise up to around 8000m!

Independent since 1991, the country seeks to gradually lessen its dependence on agriculture while developing its mineral and petroleum reserves. A majority of the country is desert receiving 50 mm of rain per year, whereas the cities receive 300 mm and the mountains 700 mm per year. So it is a dry climate all year around and artificial irrigation is therefore the only way that they can grow crops and create the oasis's that surround each town and city. The Uzbeks can grow all their own produce (part of the grand plan since independence) except sub-tropical fruits like bananas. Winters drop to -30C and summers (July) up to 50C!! Very pleased that tour I was doing in July is cancelled!!!!

The desert areas are sparse with a small amount of vegetation holding on to what life they can find. There are many sheep herders in the desert and a few camels too. Occasionally you whizz past a gas or oil plant out in the desert and the country is also rich in coal. Mulberry trees are everywhere as they are great for shade, the Mulberries eaten by the locals and the leaves fed to the silk worms to supply the silk industry which has continued for 2000 years.

The tour....

Ok, well the first group arrive into Tashkent - the capital of Uzbekistan. They all seem nice and we get off to a good start with a city tour with the local guide telling them all the information and history and a good group meal in a Georgian restaurant of all places. Not too much to say about Tashkent really, almost 2.5 million live there and although there are some older parts around 1000 years old with narrow streets, most has been rebuilt into the Soviet style of mega structures spaced out and back from the street side. Tashkent has its positives of lots of parks to keep the city cool and shaded in the heat of the summer and outside there are some amazing madrassahs with the usual blue mosaic style dome ontop. It is a strange but pleasant experience not to be the sole information provider!

A noisy overnight train down to Bukhara through the desert - very nice carriages with 2 beds in each cabin and green tea supplied! Bukhara is a small (300,000 population but still 3rd largest), ancient and holy city with a huge number of madrassas (an Islamic religious school) and mosques (a Muslim place of worship). Each with incredibly decorated minarets and blue domes using mosaic pieces, with symmetric patterns inscriptions from the Quran. Again with trees for shade in the centre and puppet shows and old boys playing dominoes. Our hotel was in the old part of the city located along muddy paths meandering through the mud or brick houses where the local Uyghur tribal groups live.

Onwards to Samarkand, the 2nd largest city, which has largely been rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries by Timur (or Tamerlane) with wide streets filled with the 'national' car of Russia - the Lada, the snowy Pamir mountains as a back drop and blue domes dotted around with many tombs too for Timur, his wives and various important family members.

Great food; salads, soup, shashlik (kebabs) and the local bread (lepioshka) sold in wheelbarrows by toothless old men which is wonderful when the bread is warm but very rapidly turns into a deadly item from Cluedo when it dries. Speaking of teeth, many of the women particulrly have gold platted teeth as supposedly is prevents all types of cancer - very strange to see! So after that, back to Tashkent to complete our week here and off to Kyrgyzstan! :-)

Over and out

Tanzania

fionaanderson — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:56:00 GMT

First tour over and I thought I would write about what I've done so far...

The tour started in Arusha which is in the NE of Tanzania and in 4x4s we head west into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area which is over 6000 km2, originally part of the Serengeti National Park but was sectioned off in 1959 to provide an area for the protection of wild animals while allowing habitation of the indigenous Maasai - making it unique in Tanzania. The area has a number of volcanoes and craters due to its proximity with the Great Rift Valley, one volcano still active (Ol Doniyo Lengai) which last erupted in September 2007. The most famous feature is the Ngorongoro Crater, which is the world's largest unbroken, unflooded caldera. This caldera was formed when the volcano collapsed on itself 2.5 million years ago and now is full of wild animals - including the 'big 5' and the highest density of mammalian predators in Africa. We drove into the caldera for a game drive and saw a huge number of animals including the incredibly rare Black Rhinos, hippos, lions, zebra, African buffalo, elephants, wildebeest, Thomson's Gazelle, flamingos, vultures, eagles, crowned cranes, superb starlings, ostrich...

On to our camp which was just outside a Maasai village and the following day we hiked across the Embulbul Depression with a Maasai guide and armed ranger, following the herds of cattle and goats being sent across the plains for a days grazing. Onto Bulati where we visited the local primary school where the children walk for many kilometres to get there and with 600 kids and 9 teachers it was a busy place! Next we head over to the Empaakai Crater and hiked down through the rainforest into the crater to see the pink hues of the flamingos.

Back across the Ngorongoro crater for another game drive and on towards Arusha National Park which is the second smallest NP in Tanzania where instantly we saw a herd of Maasai Giraffe really close to the path which was amazing as they have to be my favourite animal. We spent a few days in this NP climbing approximately 1000m per day through forest filled with Black and White Colobus Monkeys until reaching our last hut at 3500m for our summit attempt of Mount Meru at 4566m high. Starting out at 2am we head off with our head torches climbing steeply up and across boulders, ash and scree to reach the summit at 8am. This was a tough climb as there were a number of false summits and with the altitude kicking in, your body feels so drained its difficult to take each step. We all made it which was fabulous with incredible sunrise views of Kilimanjaro and the ash cone in the crater of Meru. This was perfect acclimatising practise for Kili next week...

Back down to 800m for a well earned night in Moshi Hotel and a shower! Next day on to Kilimanjaro National Park. Our trek took us 6 days along the Machame route from the West which is the most beautiful route but also the most difficult! Due to Kili's equatorial location as well as its altitude, we head up through different climate zones: first through montane forest filled with huge ferns and Impatiens Kilimanjari - small red flowers found nowhere else on earth, then through scrubland and moorland with giant heathers, giant Sinesia and giant lobelias and into the alpine zone - a lunar-type landscape. All the time camping along the route in very basic sites usually filled with rocks - thank heavens for a Thermarest!! The food was amazing considering the conditions in which they had to produce food. The climb to this point was not overly difficult due to the slow pace which you have to go to allow your body to acclimatise as well as not exhausting yourself out before you attempt the summit. 'Pole Pole' as they say - 'slowly slowly' in Swahili! We had 2 days of snow which made it incredibly beautiful up there but also meant people were a little wet around the edges before really reaching the hardest part. An early night to try and get some rest before the summit attempt and we head off at 11:30pm in snow. The climb was long and steep along rock and scree and the head torches on the rocks above only showed you how much more there was to climb. It was totally exhausting, every step hurt and ached, the oxygen couldn't get into your lungs quick enough and nausea and headaches were kicking in. We reached Stella Point and had a much earned cup of tea! Then on to the highest point - 'Uhuru' at 5895m getting there at 8.40am, ranked 4th highest in the world and surrounded by ice caps and glaciers. An amazing experience but we were all keen to descend to shake off the altitude sickness and get some rest!! I was so pleased that my whole group of 14 made it to the top, ages from me at 26 to the oldest at 68. Even though 14,000 people attempt the mountain each year, only 40% make it. I was also glad that I managed to do it without using Diamox (a drug which hides altitude effects) as in my opinion thats cheating - like a runner winning a race on steroids!!

Back down to Moshi for the first shower in a week and presentation of certificates!!

Fabulous 2 weeks, never worked so hard in my life - having to do all the hiking and climbing as well as organising everything along the way. A few days off now before climbing Kili again on Friday - although the easiest route this time so it'll be good to see the mountain from the East!!

Well my second trip is over with and now I have a week to recover and relax on the beautiful island of Zanzibar. Here's how the last 3 weeks have gone....

The group arrived and I was pleased with how chatty they were and how well they were getting along and then I realise that 10 of the 16 are friends from home and out to celebrate a 50th birthday! So instantly the group got along and were lively which always helps matters.

Our first adventure was to climb Kilimanjaro. This time we approached form the Kenyan side to the NE along the Rongai route which is considered the easiest camping route. It was very different to the other side of the mountain - flatter and more gradual climate zones but a very attractive route nonetheless. Accompanying us we had 34 porters lugging our bags and equipment, 1 cook, 4 assistant guides and 1 head guide. Amazing to see these porters run past you carrying at least 15kgs on their head or neck! I was slightly concerned about a guy in our group who was heavily overweight, although he was strong and a good walker; he was slow and over 20 stone! The camp sites are all quite similar, bare soil and rocks with a shed used as a toilet with a hole in the floor for a 'long drop' loo, although some were more like 'short drops'! Our cook and team would always run ahead and have our tents and mess tent up and ready with hot drinks and popcorn ready for our arrival. Summit night was tough, although having climbed it already I noticed an improvement in altitude symptoms but it’s still such a tough climb. The large man and his lady stayed at the last camp site so 14 attempted the climb. 4 people got ill on the way up, around 5000m, with vomiting, dizziness or exhaustion and I sent each person down with an assistant guide. Our water supplies froze despite necessary precautions, it was so cold! Finally, 10 of my group made it to the crater rim and 7 went on to the peak. Exhausting journey, but worth it for the views.

Back to Moshi for a well earned shower and off for safari!

Our safari started in the Serengeti - the name is derived from the Maasai word 'Serengit' which means 'endless plains'. The Serengeti has a huge variety of habitats which is why it can support such a diversity of animals and birds – hosting the world’s largest and longest overland migration. The first Britain came here in 1913 and shot 50 lions in 3 months so the British set up a game reserve which was the basis of the formation of the Serengeti National Park which became fully established in 1951. Totally incredible place. Lots of Masai giraffes - we saw a group of 11 at one point - beautiful animals. We also saw lions, a rare glimpse as a Leopard walked past our vehicle and saw a couple more in the trees, and a herd of Elephants next to our landrover. Also a hippo pool with about 100 enormous hippos grunting and cooling off! We saw 2 Cheetahs which is amazing in itself and they posed on top of a mound for us to photo. We followed them as they wandered along the plains. Then we noticed that the Cheetahs were walking low and one split from the other to proceed forward towards a group of reedbuck - they were hunting! The hunter lay low behind a mound and then struck!! Over in 13 seconds and the Cheetahs had caught an antelope! The hunter clung to its neck to suffocate the animal and they took turns to feed while the other one kept watch - they cannot defend their kill from other animals so have to eat fast before word gets round. What an incredible experience. Our drivers said it’s so rare to see a kill - there are 600 Cheetahs in the Serengeti and only 1 in 10 attacks are successful!!!!

On the way to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area we could see thousands of gazelles and wildebeest starting to migrate towards the Serengeti in pursuit of the rains. The Ngorongoro was incredible and we saw 13 lions move around with their cubs. Zebra and buffalo grazed around our camp on the rim :-)

Next we flew to Zanzibar, home of the slave trade but now a Muslim island and major exporter of spices. Up to the north coast to a small village called Nungwi to enjoy the beach life and see the traditional building of the Dhow ships. We went on a sunset cruise in a dhow and snorkelled which was amazing. Lots of beer. Slightly strange mix of tourism and the incredibly poor village. The average age of people who live in the village is only 20 years due to large numbers of children dying with malaria. Back to Stonetown for a town and spice tour and our final group meal before the group left. I was actually quite sad to see this group go as they have been so much fun and the first group that I would like to see again!!

Brilliant and now enjoying my week off - back up to the north coast for some scuba me thinks!!

India

fionaanderson — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 04:11:00 GMT

We landed into Mumbai (previously called Bombay until 1996, population 16.4 million) in the Maharashtra state. It was chaos. We got a taxi into the city centre but the driver didn't know where he was going and only knew the hotels that were really expensive - we clocked on to his game so we got out and got another taxi. We're soon realising that hotels can play games, they often don't have a price board so you're free to haggle and they're free to push the price up when they think they know how much you're willing to pay.

After a day in Mumbai with the relative chaos we decided to head south into Goa away from the big city. Our train journey was 13.5 hours, which we actually slept a lot of - partly getting used to the heat I think. Its only about 30-32 degrees here, but very humid as the monsoon season has only just finished. The train was a constant buzz with people wandering up and down selling tea, coffee, curry, samosas, bhajis, etc etc. We're really pleasantly surprised by how friendly and funny the locals are, most are wanting some money from you one way or another, even if they only push the button on the lift, but that's life here and you get used to it slowly.

Goa is only just opening up for the season, so the beach huts are not open but its nice without too many tourists. The beaches we've seen have been sandy or pebbles or rock, quite a variety with a back drop of dense coconut palms. Flying overhead there are so many sea eagles and black kites and further in land hundreds of crows. We've had some great days exploring; we hired mopeds for 2 pounds and went off for the day exploring various little villages and beaches. Many houses are built in and around the jungle with brightly coloured clothes hanging on lines outside. It takes some getting used to that everything is dirty and dusty. The buildings are brightly painted but covered in a fine film of reddish dust as are the temples, but all with their own beauty showing through. There are 2 things that really strike me about India; firstly, the colours of the people's clothes and the contrasts between the blue sky, the palm trees, the red dusty pot holed roads and the dirty looking buildings, and secondly the smells, for better for worse, the spices, curries, incense, fumes, bonfires, urine - there's always something in the air.

We also visited a spice plantation which was interesting to learn about the different spice and herb plants growing in the jungle. One guy demonstrated how he climbs the tree like a monkey to collect the nuts, just using a rope between his feet, of course I tried, and failed, its harder than it looks!! Jemma then decided to 'wash the elephant' which was more like the elephant washing her! I nearly cried, it was so funny, the nelly kept spraying her.

We've just been staying at each place 1 or 2 nights while working our way south through Goa. The places we have stayed in are really variable. We've paid as little as 350 Rupees (about 4 quid between the 3 of us) and up to 1200 Rs. Price generally is a good indication of the state of the room but not always, some are cleaner than others, but we're often struggling with the musty smells as the rooms haven't been used much for months. In Palolem we stayed for a few days while Jemma and I got over a nasty 'travellers bug', not helped by the fact that the 3 of us were sleeping on 2 beds pushed together with an open bathroom in the room - not good I can tell you! It was a charming little village, a few more tourists around as it has a lovely beach. We went on a boat trip up the river and saw huge numbers of kingfishers, cranes and sand pipers.

Then on to Bangalore in the Karnataka state, which was chaos. The city is so busy and dusty my contact lenses nearly fell out my eyes with disgust. We stayed in a nice hotel which we needed after the 17 hour overnight train journey. The trains are great actually, with a class system, you can sit in a 'general' section (which we did one time for a short journey and it only cost us 15 pence!! bit of a free-for-all though), then there are the sleeper sections for longer trips, and air conditioned first, second or third class. People are always so friendly and helpful, you ask someone a question and 10 people pipe in with answers, they're keen to tell you about amazing places to visit and festivals that we shouldn't miss.

Anyway, Bangalore was a nightmare, the rickshaw drivers didn't ever seem to know where places were, so when we asked to go to the palace for example, they would wobble their head from side to side which means anything from yes to no to I agree etc but they don't actually know and we ended up in some strange places. Getting back to the hotel was another nightmare because it wasn't a big hotel so no-one knew it or the road it was on, so we spent a long time just driving around the city!

Away from the chaos and down to Mysore (nice name), which is a buzzing little place with an amazing palace and grounds, which we are going to see tonight as its the only day that they light up the palace and the whole city!

So all in all, we're having a really great time. India is unlike any other country I've been to. Total chaos, lovely people, great food, and such interesting charm and complexity.

There are so many people living on the street. During the day they are not so noticeable, the occasional person asks for food or money but its at nihgt or even by 9pm that it really hits home. There are people sleeping under every ledge and on the pavement. The families that you pass during the day where the babies and kids play together, at night are sleeping on the hard pavement. The homeless are often cripples presumably unable to work. Kids respond with a huge smile if you give them some water, a pen or something to play with.

We stayed in Mysore for a few days soaking up the chaos that took over the town while they prepared for a festival. They covered the huge intricate palace and surrounding walls and temples with lights which looked more like Vegas than Southern India! We then went over to the East coast to Chennai where we were seriously struck by a hot fume filled atmosphere. We've realised that we're not very good at the larger cities, they are mad and we have a constant battle with the rickshaw drivers to get a good price, they see us coming with 'mug' written on our heads and think they can double their prices, but in fact we now know how much to pay and wont take their scam much to their annoyance.

We head south to Pondicherry and Mamallapuram which were both nice coastal towns with a French influence when the French were over here. These places are hippy central and all offer massages and alternative treatments. Jemma and I decided to try one of these 'Ayurvedic' massages, the Lonely Planet said to 'leave your modesty at home' and not really thinking about what this meant, we went for it...i'll spare you the details.

The countryside in India mostly looks unmanaged and full of jungle scrub and trees. Ocassionaly there are sections of flat land with rice paddies and women double over working the fields and pulling weeds. Water buffalo graze under the watchful eye of Egrets and shepherds sit under an umbrella keeping an eye on their herds of cattle or goats.

Back to Chennai and we caught our flight over to Sri Lanka! We stayed just outside of Colombo. It is so different here to India, the roads are mostly hole free, buildings are slightly more built up and sturdy and things look cleaner, less dusty and with more dense and diverse trees. The people are different, the women wear more western clothing; t-shirt and a skirt and the men are stockier with friendly faces. Even though the dress sense here is more relaxed than India, we are finding that we are attracting more unwanted comments, which seems a bit backwards. The tsunami in 2004 hit Sri Lanka hard, killing 30,000 people and leaving 1 million injured, orphaned or homeless. They set a 200m buffer around the coast as a precaution but after the 2005 elections the buffer was softened or abolished so the rebuilding is happening where the houses stood before. Fishermen were given new houses 8km inland, but without transport other than their boats, it was not practical. Its not very obvious to see what the damage was, but there are still houses that are blackened with water damage with jagged edges where walls used to be.

We spent a few days on the Western coast and then head over to Kandy, which was beautiful to be in the forested hills and windy roads, and monkeys everywhere. Kandy was a nice place with a picturesque lake in the middle surrounded by trees, cormorants, large monitor lizards and kingfishers. We watched some good Kandyan dancing, although dismayed at how many tourists we had found ourselves amongst! We visited an Elephant Orphanage which as great, about 40 old and young elephants in the river washing and playing. Off then to Anuradhapura, which was free from tourists as there were some bombings last week by the Tamil fighters at the army base killing 9 people. Due to Tamil attacks all the National Parks are closed sadly and there are constant road blockages searching buses and trucks. Loved Sri Lanka, really nice people and very green and cheaper than India too!!

Anyway, we're flying to Delhi tomorrow and looking forward to seeing the northern part of the country.

Namaste!

Had the scare of my life going through airport baggage x-rays; they pulled me to the side and kept checking through my bag and checking the monitor, i kept asking if it was the tea I'd bought that was showing up dodgy, until they showed me the x-ray screen and my face dropped...it was a gun shaped object...i couldn't believe it and immediately went into body shakes. I frantically searched through my bag, worried that something had been planted during a roadside bag search I had 2 days ago...then finally a guy asked if i had a hairdryer...of course the plastic cover doesn't show up, just the slender metal insides!!!! Couldn't believe it, started to breath again!

We flew into Delhi and got out of there the next day as it was seriously manic and huge. On to Agra where we visited the Taj Mahal, incredible structure and beautifully ornate, looking magical in the hazy atmosphere, built nearly 400 years ago and looks brand new.

The north is very different from the south, the land is flatter and drier with less trees, there are more different animals; more cows, buffalo, ox,monkeys, camels, chipmunks, peacocks, a larger breed of rabid dog, and even saw a painted elephant walking down the highway.

A bum numbing 7 hour bus trip with a brief stop to eat some samosa style street snacks and use a 'communal toilet' and on to Jaipur - the pink city. It was really chaotic- the greatest amount of hassle we've had yet. The huge bazaars lining the roads selling anything from roasted monkey nuts to large tin pans. We visited a hilltop temple which had amazing views of the noisy city and the painted cuboid buildings housing the 2 million people.

Next on to Pushkar, with our most nightmarish journey yet having to wait ages for the bus, then we were all sent off in a rickshaw to try and find the bus, then a 4 hour journey and dropped on the side of a road and had some seriously angry drivers who were annoyed that we knew how far things were and wouldn't be ripped off. We ended up doing a fast get away helped by a nice man...phew. The next bus into Pushkar took us through a hilly desert region with rocky slopes and shrubs and cacti. Pushkar is a holy area with a lake surrounded by painted temples where people bathe and pray,we were given a blessing and were slightly annoyed that religion is based on how much money you donate. The Hindu Diwali festival kicked off which was fun but we were quite scared by the constant bomb sound of fireworks going off in the streets, set off by tiny kids, dancing in the sparks. Some firework bombs came a bit too close for comfort!!

On to Jodhpur, yes where the horse riding trousers started, the city overlooked by an enormous fort on the hill. The buildings here are painted blue, traditionally to signify the home of Brahmin but non-Brahmins have got in on the action too. The fort was amazing and often we were more of an attraction to the Indian tourists than the temples!! Families wanting a picture, until we were cornered by loads of people and trying not to be rude while we escape!!

A spine bruising day long journey on to Udaipur, in the upper deck of the bus in booths that felt like being in the boot of a car or a reptile tank and equally as hot. Udaipur is where James Bond's 'Octopussy' was filmed and of course the movie was being played at every opportunity. There are palaces and hotels in the lake that Jem and I went around on a pedlo, although told off more times than necessary as we tried to get into the 'restricted' areas. You can't make a quick getaway when you're in a pedlo and the guard is in a speedboat!!

After Udaipur we went up the hills and into the hill station of Mount Abu. Beautiful surroundings of forested hills and monkeys playing but as it is Diwali holiday time still, the town was more like Butlins with ice cream stalls (bad ice cream) and swan shaped pedlos (unaltered since 1810). Quite a pleasant stay nonetheless and cold at night so a good nights sleep.

Making our way south, with a full day on the bus leaving the Rajasthan state and going to Ahmadabad overnight to break the journey. Then a full day on the train (with the most amount of sneezing, wheezing, farting and burping yet) and on to Jalgaon in the Maharashtra state. From here we visited the Ajanta caves dating back to 650AD; about 30 Buddhist caves cut into the horseshoe shaped gorge and then the Ellora caves the next day; Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves, which were amazing open caves with pillars and stone figures of gods and animals. Really great to visit and totally different to anything else we've seen.

One night in Pune (usual big city with overpriced and appalling hotel rooms) to break up the journey again before heading to the coast to chill out. The beach was just what we needed and with other tourists (dread-lock wearing hippies) around, we were hassled less and able to truely relax finally. The weather has improved dramatically since we were last down this way and after 2 months of travelling in India, our ability to avoid being ripped off by little 13 year old beach sellers has improved too.

Back to Mumbai and tomorrow we're going to be extras in a Bollywood movie, which could be really fun but something tells me that we could be holding up a pillar in the background!!....more on this later....

Well that's it...back on Thursday. I'll miss the constant calls of 'Chai' on the trains - the hot tea flavoured shot that has a week's quota of sugar in it, the cows on the street, the randomness of everything / nothings predictable, the food, the smiles and jokes of people.

I can't wait to have a duvet, a pillow that's not as hard as a cement bag, non curry food (for a few days anyway), feet that are not black, and a non sweaty top lip.

Fiona, over and out

France

fionaanderson — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:04:00 GMT

Bonjour,

This is difficult as the keyboard is upside down, not a 'werty' keyboard as its known and spelt along the top, but a 'azerty', not easy or quick!

My week has gone well for my recce, the scenery is amazing and the castles totally spectacular along the top of the hills. I've walked 90 kms in 5 days through forests, plateaus, Mediterranean habitats of Rosemary and herbs and through steep gorges. Top tour.

My French is improving rapidly as they don't speak English here so i've had to sort everything out using charades and piecing together my French skills. I met a French English teacher which was great to have a break and we sat and spoke 'Frenglish'. She said I have very clear pronunciation and very text book so gave me some tips on sounding French and more conversational!

The food has been amazing in the little villages and homes that we stay in, usually a 4 course meal in the evening with endless cheese boards and free wine - love it!! Packed lunch for the hikes is all sorts of goodies, one lunch had such smelly cheese that it had grown holes so it could breathe - made your lips tingle! There's no phone signal in most places and internet only at the first town of Carcassonne and one lady's home computer along the way. The villages are sleepy with people chatting on the streets and the older locals perched on a chair outside their front door watching the world go by.

So the tour, they arrive into Montpellier, then we transfer to Carcassonne for some time in the town and castle (as featured in the backdrop of Kevin Costner's Robin Hood Prince of Thieves!), then off to Montsegur to visit the castle there; then walk from Montsegur to Belcaire through the Gorges of Fear aptly named as every year there are rock falls. Then walk to Puivert and visit the castle there, then on to Granes where we stay in a lady's house in a tiny village, then onto Rennes le Chateau made famous by the Da Vinci Code - the parish of priest Sauniere, then onto Sougraignes, through Gorge de Galamus with a hermits chapel built into the rock cliffs! Then finally Peyrepertuse, with incredible views across the Pyrenees to the Med!

C'est très bon.

This route has changed as the village we used to stay in has burnt down so the tour route has changed and we're staying in new places..!

Seen some great wildlife to keep me entertained on the long hikes; red deer, red kites, an eagle of some description, kestrels, huge crickets, a slow worm (less exciting as my bro's garden is filled with them!), hoping to see a snake and apparently lots of boar around although they're nocturnal so not hopeful.

Anyway better go as i've just seen one of my group has a passport that expired in 2006!! Have to call the embassy!

Norway - my first tour

fionaanderson — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:08:00 GMT

Norway is amazingly beautiful. Even the long bus or train journeys that would otherwise be dull are incredible tracks through mountains and across waterfalls. The waterfalls are in full flood at this time of year due to melt water and are coming down at every point from snowy mountains. Some areas are just like Scotland with moorland and rocky fields and other landscapes like New Zealand with the snowy mountains. The people are super friendly and glad to help us out wherever possible. We've had a mad week trying to sort things out - you would have thought that because the tour has been run before that everything would be in place, but no, buses are not running yet and walks are too wet or snowy. We've had to redesign the tour and organise all the dinner arrangements as we haven't liked any of the previous restaurant suggestions!! Food is ridiculously expensive here. It has been fun to head off and find new hikes that would be suitable and we've found some great farm restaurants that serve organic local foods so that's perfect!! Jordana and I haven't stopped laughing - I'm planning on visiting her in either in Tromsø (northern Norway) or Sweden in one of my lay-overs between tours to see the Alaskan Huskies that she uses for her dog sledding business - nice.

At the end of my recce now, in Bergen. I know so many crazy facts about Norway from composers to artists to vikings to the length of the longest fjord. Hopefully all prepared to give my talks about religion, politics, geography, food and to fire general facts at these people so they have all the info they would ever require!

I've just received my first list of 16 people who are coming on saturday - which has just made me shake!

Hi!

Well i've finally dropped my group off at the airport so i'm free now for a few days to sleep, sleep, sleep, eat, sleep and get back to Oslo to start again!!

I was nervous at the airport, it was strange being one of those people with a sign saying 'Explore' at the arrivals area, but instantly I could see they were nice.

Back to the hotel for the briefing (couldn't hold the map because I was shaking) but found some kind of inner confidence and came through. A rocky start as some of the group had been sent to the wrong hotel, one member lost his phone on the flight, and one person's luggage was lost in heathrow! One day in Oslo, with some great talks from me then an onward day of travel (leaving 2 of the group behind to find lost luggage!! - not good to lose group members!!).

The journeys are amazing and even though we travelled for the whole day, the group loved every minute of it with the incredible scenery - jumping from side to side on the train to take pictures out the window. We travelled up the Trollstigen pass which cuts its way up the mountain from 0-1000 metres with 38 hair pin bends, very famous route.

2 nights in Geiranger, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List for the beautiful fjord. I took them on a killer hike, supposed to take 2-4 hours, took us 7!! I hadn't done it in my recce, warned them it was difficult, but the locals say its not too hard. Actually we scrambled straight up a mountain face, worth every minute, they loved it. Walking with a group has made me realise that a stroll for me is equivalent to a week's hike to some people - something I need to remember. Patience is going to be a growing quality.

The weather has been absolutely amazing and hot, even Bergen, the city where it rains up to 270 days in a year didn't rain!! Definitely a good time of year to come as the waterfalls are full and the flowers are out (incredible Lupins growing wild everywhere).

So onwards to Loen for one night to do the glacier hike which they loved, another spectacular day of sunshine so the blue ice looked amazing (think i'll be a glacier guide next).

Off to Flåm where we did some optional sea kayaking (i got a free trip - great perk of the job) and I led another hike up the valley. Its was rainy here but the group was still buzzing and saying...'oooh how atmospheric it is'. Ate at an amazing farm, all organic and local foods, delicious and the owner gave us loads of stories and Norwegian info - definite highlight of the trip.

Then over to Bergen for a full day and final group meal. They did a speech saying thanks to me and gave me an enormous tip then I told them I was new...they couldn't believe it!! Even one of the group who had been on 17 Explore trips didn't guess, so that's great. I read the questionnaires (naughty but I was curious) and I got great marks which aren't expected for a first tour. A few things for me to work on I think, but I now have 4 days for that.

P.S. Reindeer is yummy and whale will be eaten next trip :-) (its not controversial here so don't get upset!!!) Food is expensive here, but managing to blag all my meals for free.

Hei,

Well, tour 3 is over and it was a good one. Only 1 couple and the rest were single travellers or friends so a good mix and similar ages. The groups vary so much with the different dynamics. This group asked so many questions and were a clever bunch which made it interesting. So many questions...what time is the bus, what number is it, how many seats are there, what colour will it be, does it stop right here...etc etc! All apart from the airport shuttle bus not turning up this morning, it went smoothly. I know the tour well now and know lots of information so it makes that side of things easier, but each person and each day's challenges are different. I had some really nice feedback from people whose opinion I value, even one comment from a quite hard-to-please guy who said I was the best tour leader he's had from Explore!! :-)

We've had quite a bit of rain recently as I gather you have in the UK too, but its been nice over the last few days which picked up spirits.

I'm loving the hikes here, especially the 21 km hike along the valley and gorge in Flåm, its simply incredible and I was pleased to see that they had fixed the bridge over a raging waterfall that was non existent last time we had to wade through!!

I was blown away by how much the glacier has changed since I was last there only 2 weeks ago - due to the rain but also warmer days - it has receded and there are lots more ice formations. Its great seeing the country change every time I come through...the flowers are different (Lupins gone, Great Willow Herb in its place) and lots more birds in the newly cut fields.

Still having fun and looking forward to my last tour.

Round the World 2006 Final blog

fionaanderson — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:07:00 GMT

Final log…

14 December 2006

A little bit strange to be sitting around sweating while people put up Christmas decorations and plastic Santa's. Funny experience when a group of kids came by singing what could only be a Christmas carol, carrying a Mother Mary poster, and a twig wrapped in tinsel while 2 boys attempted a tap dance, I tried not to laugh, honest.

Tulum (East coast of Mexico) is a very nice place, not much to do in town, but daily trips down to the really long white sandy beach and the ruins there were worth it all. The ruins were quite nice although highly managed and full of huge groups of American tourists on day trip from Cancun, but the stand out factor was that they were fronted on to the cliff edge that led down to the beach which was quite cool. A group of Aussie guys moved into my dorm so we spent the next few days drinking excess rum and playing drinking games, painful. Me and team Holland took a bus to Coba to the ruins there which was a nice day out and a productive day sweating out the rum from the night before. I had some valuable Dutch lessons, but more swear words than anything useful.

Off to Playa Del Carmen, and although its very touristy, its quite a nice break point and lots of good places to go out in the evenings. Lots of travellers coming to the end of their trip, so its chaos and more drunken nights. Really funny as there are a lot of very nice looking Latinos with nice bodies out too and all try to make me twirl like an experienced salsa dancer, luckily they seem to count when building up to bending me backwards, so I have some warning!! The weather has been really up and down recently but still weird to be December and I’m sweating all day!

Really looking forward to going home now, especially seeing as my family (except my sister - who is collecting me from the airport) do not know that I arrive home on the 19th, they all think I’m back on the 23rd, so I cant wait to knock on their doors!!

I'm coming home! (A day more here then I fly to LA for 2 days before flying home, British Airways no less, I’ll be trying for an upgrade!)

I've had an absolute blast this year, most of you who can be bothered to keep in contact will know this.. (cheers to those who didn't!).

Many countries were visited: Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, West coast of North America, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize.

Many sight seeing days, drunken nights and several brain cells killed. Highlights have to be the full moon party and scuba diving in Thailand, Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, the crazy boat trip up the Mekong in Vietnam, Fraser Island in Australia, all of New Zealand (the extreme activities and the people), Mexican food, and Guatemala in general (great place)...so many highlights.

Low times would definitely be losing my camera on my 2nd day of travels on my birthday in Bangkok, eating too much happy pizza in Cambodia, getting robbed in Singapore, not sure whether my bungy jump in NZ was a highlight or low!? Plus various relatively minor travel and journey disasters, fires, missing baggage etc.

I've met some totally great people on the way too and will hopefully keep in contact with you all.

What I have missed:

My friends and family from home

Indian food (you can't get good Indian food outside England)

Home cooked food...and all other food

My bed and clothes in a wardrobe not a bag

What I have not missed:

The weather

Expensive nights out

Routine and having to work

Well, that's it folks, no more extremely lengthy emails, you'll have to take up Solitaire to fill dull moments at work from now on!

See you soon, Love Fi xx

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize

fionaanderson — Fri, 3 Nov 2006 22:06:00 GMT

Mexico!!

3 November 2006

Hola, cómo estás?

I flew into Cancun, Mexico where Vicky was waiting for me (who I travelled with in OZ and have managed to talk into extending her trip to come with me to central America!!). We head into Cancun for a night in a very dodgy hostel that didn't have doors. Over to Isla Mujeres to kill 2 days acclimatising to the extreme heat before we needed to be back in Cancun for our bull fighting show. We hired a golf buggy with some guys and explored the small island; we went to a turtle farm with some tiny babies, also tried to pick up a hitchhiker and spent the next 10 minutes trying to somehow fit him on the buggy!! Very quickly having to learn Spanish as its all everyone speaks here, also trying to throw in French and German as most travellers are from those locations...steep learning curve.

Back to Cancun where we went to the bullfighting show...glitzy event and neither Vicky or I had expected they would kill the bulls - it would have been so funny to see our faces when they did!! A padded and blindfolded horse goes into the arena and the bull would nearly knock the horse off its legs while the rider (picadore) stabbed the bull in the neck, thus weakening its strong neck muscles (causing it to lower its head so that the matador can do the last part). Gushes of blood, then the matador would tease the bull, and attempt to insert the sword between the cervical vertebra and into the bull's heart after which it would collapse to the ground after a good minute...another guy would immediately jump on it, stab its head to finish it off, and cut parts off as a trophy for the fighter...quite shocking but we came strangely transfixed by it as the 4, 5, 6th bull came out to its destiny. Not all grim though, one bull was voted to live as it was strong, so went off to produce lots of strong babies :-)

Deciding on an approximate travel route, we head west on a dodgy bus that picked up people en route so they could sell you weird things as we drove along. Quick stop in Chichen Itza, a temple, quite cool, then finally into Merida. Vicky and I had a random day when we went to Cuzama by bus, where a boy peddled us along on his modified push bike, then we went in a carriage along the old train lines pulled by a malnourished pony. We travelled for a few kilometres into the middle of nowhere and arrived at these Cenotes (sink holes), which were incredible pits into the ground half filled with water and the roof covered in stalactites (and bats). We swam in one and crawled down a steep ladder into the pit of another. Great day followed by more burritos, tacos and Corona (I love Mexico - we can eat them every day) then Salsa lessons at the hostel.

Next stop was in Campeche, which is a beautiful little town with cobbled streets and the most amazing centre where the cathedral and park are. We hired bikes to explore and nearly lost our lives many times trying to traverse the roads...not sure what the road rules are here or even if there are any!? It seems that every other person drives an old style beetle in Mexico with their favourite dance music blaring out.

Our first real experience of the language barrier when we get the times wrong on our bus ticket and have to buy another. We were slightly alarmed when the security guard was trying to ask us something, only presuming he wanted to search our bags for bombs or something and turned out he was just offering us a drink while we waited!! Two blondes travelling is certainly attracting attention with whistles and comments, but we're getting used to it and most people are really helpful and friendly.

Finally we caught our bus to Palenque, arriving before the sun had risen. Really great town and much more how we were expecting Mexico to be, with street stalls selling fruit and trinkets and lots of bustling activity. Increasingly in these towns there are guards with machine guns standing on the side of the street. We visited the ruins which were really amazing...over 200 buildings in the jungle, with only 5% that you can actually visit. It was so unbelievably hot, but we're getting used to permanently sweating! Completely different day the next day after the biggest thunderstorm overnight. It was wet, but seeing as we were visiting waterfalls it didn't seem to matter. One with a very rickety bridge and kids selling bananas...delicious little sweet ones (the bananas not the kids).

Great news from my eldest sister that she has just given birth to a baby girl, so that's fantastic!

Another early bus up and around the hills into San Cristobal at over 2100m above sea level and its so much colder here. Its a really wonderful town with rainbow coloured houses, balconies and cast iron decoration. The market stalls have an amazing array of traditional items including handcrafted Mayan clothes, bags and purses in amazing colours. We arrived just in time for the last day of a festival here and enjoyed a night of music and fairly painful flamenco dancing that had a modern contemporary style. The following day we went on a trip up the Sumidera Canyon by boat and saw loads of egrets, herons and pelicans perched on cacti on the steep rock faces.

Heading into Guatemala tonight, so I’ll report back from there!!

Adiós amigos!! Love Fi xxxxxx

Guatemala is great!!!!

10 November 2006

Hi all,

A long bus journey into Guatemala, easily over the border and onto a 'chicken bus' (old American school buses that they pack you in like chickens) which cost us about 2 quid for a 4 hour journey, bargain, its cheap here. They drove so fast around the cliff edge, with 4 or 5 people per seat it was definitely packed, and our bags perched on the roof - we were in fear each corner would throw it off! There were men getting on the bus with machetes, a guy with claws for hands and a gaggle of guys who found it sooo funny to be sitting next to the English girls. Fun experience.

We stopped in Quetzaltenango and went to the cemetery for 'Day of the Dead' (aka: All Saints Day), everyone in town was there to pay respect to the deceased. Huge family tombs and flowers everywhere, a really colourful event and an amazing market with incredible interesting foods and smells. Vicky and I went to some indigenous villages where a vegetable market was held - veges grown huge by the volcanic soil and the mists providing daily moisture. Weirdest experience yet, when we were taken to a village where they gave offerings to a plastic doll effigy that would send their message to the gods, they poured gin into its mouth and stuck a cigarette in its mouth, with a little kid sitting by it to flick the ciggy occasionally so the ash wouldn't fall on its clothes...totally bizarre and had to restrain from laughing. Everything is amazingly colourful, and hectic too, I had my first experience of running and jumping onto a moving bus!! Vicky and I decided to hike a volcano here, so we head up to a crater lake, seriously steep paths, almost lost, but worth the climb and sat and watched as the mist engulfed the area in minutes as it always does at midday.

A bit about the country...Guatemala, just larger than England, is the meeting place of 3 tectonic places and therefore has frequent earthquakes and 30 volcanos. Many of the roads are currently being dug out from recent landslides, there's one around every corner. The landscape is a patchwork of vegetable fields, and maize planted right up to the doorstep of houses, all leading up to the forest covered mountain ridges and volcanic peaks. All the places we've stayed in are above 2000 metres above sea level, so are quite cool and become mystical as the mists sweep in at midday. November is kite season due to the high winds so the skies are littered with kites that kids have handmade - a skill shown to them by their fathers. All women seem to have a baby in a sling on their backs - quite practical really.

We caught another chicken bus to Chichicastenango to be in time for the massive markets there that take place on Sundays and fill every street. Great market filled with rugs, foods, wooden carvings and everything under the sun. Loving all the fresh fruit and orange juice squeezed while you wait at street stalls. We stayed in a totally awful hostel, the worst on my whole trip, it was like a prison cell, and we were glad to leave.

Much warmer in Panajachel on Lago de Atilan, which is a massive crater lake surrounded by volcanos, a really beautiful place and quite touristy as a result. We went on a boat trip around the lake which stopped at 3 villages, really beautiful streets and so many adorable kids selling handmade things...Vicky and I ended up with 24 bracelets for 90 pence as we just couldn't say no!!

Antigua, which we adored as we fell into a Crepe shop that had Nutella. A wonderful town that has at least one church/ruin on each street and great to wander around. An old monastery has been converted into a very classy and nicely done hotel (about 70 quid a night and worth every penny!), with parrots perched in all the trees, water fountains, of course the ruins and the distant sound of opera music. All the banks and shops have security guards outside with shot guns which is quite a fright! One early morning, we hiked an active volcano which has been erupting nearly continuously since 1965, led by police security to prevent us from being robbed or assaulted, very dramatic. It was an incredible experience walking up towards the summit, with more and more solid black lava, as sharp as glass, and right next to a surging lava flow kicking out some serious heat!!

Off to Honduras tomorrow...

Let me know how you are all getting on...

Love Fi xxxxxxx

Honduras, Guatemala, then Belize…

20 November 2006

Up at crack of dawn to head into Honduras and over a very simple border crossing where they didn't even stamp our passports (shame because I’m getting quite a nice collection of stamps in my passport now!). We stayed the night in Copas Ruinas which was a tiny little town and visited the ruins there...quite similar to the other ruins we have seen, but in a rather nice setting in amongst the jungle. Very different type of country here - the Hondurans are fairer in skin colour than the Guatemalans and wear much more modern clothing, but the landscape seems very similar, with the usual concrete houses each with a few horses, several cows, 2 dogs, and 20 chickens.

Off up to the Caribbean coast and over on the ferry to Roatan. Very beautiful island where we spent the week and I did my Advanced scuba diving course. The diving was great and really fun to do some new skills like floating upside down through a hoop only using your lungs to adjust for buoyancy. The drift dive was amazing just floating past the coral and not having to swim as the current sweeps you along, and the night dive was a real experience, turning off the torch and seeing the bioluminescence around your hands (also a great display of lightning in the sky above). The island was really hot and tropical with lush sandy beaches and a wonderful setting of the wooden village and tropical plants and flowers around. There are a lot more afro-Caribbean people here giving the place a totally chilled out type of holiday destination. With a duty free shop nearby, we drank local rum costing US$2.95 per bottle and watched the amazing sunsets each evening. Life was very tough here as you can tell, but quite a needed break after so long on the road.

Back on to the mainland and a day travelling to get back over the border into Guatemala...only just making it to the border for the last shuttle in the day, as the bus we were on visited all the tiny pot holed villages along the way. We stayed the night in Puerto Barrios then caught a ferry over to Livingston (funny little place where all the ladies seem to want to braid your hair!) and another boat up to Rio Dulce where we caught a bus to Flores. We stayed in Flores for a few nights and visited the Tikal ruins, which covered such a huge area and have the tallest Mayan ruin in Guatemala which you could climb and it looked over the dense jungle canopy with all the Howler and Spider monkeys.

Off to Belize tomorrow...

Hope you're all well, love Fi xxxx

You better Belize it!

07 December 2006

Over the next border and into Belize, quite a small country; only about the size of Wales and quite similar to Guatemala except the first language here is English. Over the sea and on to Caye Caulker island, which is quite small (and even smaller since the hurricane in 1961 which split the island into 2!). Its chilled out. What a relief to speak English again and be able to chat with people, although in a totally Caribbean Rasta way so 'tree' is 'three' and 'arreeed' is like saying 'alright' aka good day. Funny funny. Its seriously hot but with a nice breeze as its mid winter here - strange kinda winter temperatures if you ask me! Vicky and I spent many days just relaxing and enjoying the sandy streets, fresh banana bread, BBQ'd lobster, Snapper and Barracuda, and all the fruit you can eat. We went on a sailing boat for a snorkelling day trip; which was totally amazing, with huge shoals of Mangrove Snappers, Blue Stripped Grunts, the guide picked up a Southern Sting Ray which felt amazing, and the star of the day for me were 2 huge Spotted Eagle Rays, incredibly graceful.

Vicky left me here to make her way back to England, which was very strange and sad after spending so long together in Central America. As soon as I was on my own, I wasn't; I met a fellow traveller - we went snorkelling and saw a Nurse shark underneath a boat and a Barracuda too so that was great, and by the evening I was cooking for 8 and drinking rum til 5 am, funny this travelling malarkey! I broke my flip flops which was a very significant moment as I really thought they were going to hold out til the end of the year after being through so much with me! The next few days were filled with hangovers and most of my time was spent snorkelling. The water is incredible and absolutely brimming with life...sting rays, nurse sharks, fish shoals, butterfly fish, the biggest hermit crab ever at over 30cm shell length!! And loads more. Many afternoons were spent watching the sun go down while fishing for our dinner or drinking cocktails or both. I decided to do the famous 'Blue Hole' dive; the almost perfectly circular Blue Hole is more than 305 meters across and some 123 meters deep. The hole is the opening to what was a dry cave system during the Ice Age. When the ice melted and the sea level rose, the caves were flooded and now the hole is an amazing dive with 10m tall stalactites in a cave in the side at 45m, huge groupers at over a metre long and 9 huge grey reef sharks circling us, it was amazing. The trip took us to an island for lunch where we saw nesting boobies and Frigate birds, and also 2 more incredible dives...and I finally saw a turtle!!

Great island and hard to leave as the people are all really nice and we have a good laugh, although managed to get quite a few of them to follow me to San Ignacio (eastern Belize)...a worldly group consisting of USA, Holland, Switzerland, Malaysia and me from the UK of course. It was really nice but strange to be off the island and back into a bustling town with cheap markets and chaos in the streets. We had all planned to do a tour here, and Jack and I met a really nice but drunk guy in the bar that is a free lance guide and he said he would take us canoeing down the river and it was to be a cheap adventure, except it rained really hard overnight so all tours were cancelled the next day...sucks.

So back up into Mexico for me for the final leg of my trip!...

Hope you're all well, love Fi xxxxx

Stars in the USA

fionaanderson — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:04:00 GMT

18 October 2006

Long flight over but gained a day which was good...I had Tues the 3rd twice :-) Quite strict boarding in Fiji having our bags searched numerous times, and we had coppers on the plane too!!

Los Angeles is humungoid but I picked a good hostel right in Hollywood with 'the Hollywood sign' visible from the windows. I spent a few days in La-La-land walking around Hollywood Blvd along the stars in the pavement, Sunset Blvd, and visited the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are held. So much going on in this part of Hollywood with people dressed up as film characters and movie premiers going on etc. I hung out around a couple of movie premiers hoping that Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon (premier of their new movie 'Departed') would want to marry me, but no. Many many places that have film or celebrity associations like scenes from 'Pretty Woman', or clubs that the rich and famous go to, far too many to mention. Very strange to see places that house celebrities with the homeless next door...its so mixed up. There are loads of crazy people here and the locals talk to themselves. A car really is the only way to travel. Its not that the public system is unreliable or infrequent, there's just no information or timetables so you get completely lost and have no idea how long you'll be waiting (speaking from experience!).

I didn't have particularly high expectations for USA and LA from word of mouth, but I have been pleasantly surprised. They are friendly here...always chatting to each other in ques and helping people out. Would have been great to be here for Halloween...these people are bonkers about it!!

Heading out of LA and the hilly landscape becomes more and more arid. Crossed the Nevada border, then with huge billboards seemingly in the middle of nowhere is Las Vegas! Its exactly how you would imagine it. I jumped in with both feet and went along to a club night on the strip...as expected, dancers on the bar and expensive drinks. We walked the strip the following day and the casino/hotels are so incredible...there's water fountain displays the height of a skyscraper, rollercoaster's, a New York city skyline complete with Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, a pyramid with a xenon light beam that burns brighter than any other in the world and is even visible from space!! The places are massive and have all the gambling requirements you could possible need...one casino had acrobats performing over the gamblers and another had lions in an enclosure (yes, slightly cruel but totally cool at the same time)!! I tried my hand at a couple of games, realising actually how addictive I found it and made sure I kept an eye on my total spending budget of $10!! We were amazed and didn't notice 7 hours slip by walking the strip (sore legs). Usual dudes driving the strip at night, windows and roof top down, that appear to all shop at the same overly huge t-shirt shop...only cool if it hangs below your knees!!? Quite funny when an American guy stopped and asked me for directions, then said I couldn't speak proper English and couldn't understand me...err, I AM English!!

With 2 lasses I met in LA, we hired a car for 3 days and head over into Arizona. Our first day was spent driving and we cruised around an old volcano lava flow and spent far too long trying to photograph the lightning. Very strange driving on the wrong side of the road, having not driven for ages, and in an automatic too, but you soon get used to it. Second day I drove up to the Grand Canyon. I knew it was going to be spectacular, but I was totally blown away. The views were incredible and the weather perfect. Unbelievable. Also saw some cool wildlife including Elks and a Cliff Chipmunk. Our third day, we head up to Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah. Again, totally incredible. Zion NP was filled with windy roads and pinnacles of amazing rock strata and Bryce NP was as close to a rock city as you could imagine...intricate sandstone sculptures extending into the distance. Back to Vegas and we stayed overnight in a hotel on the strip (sounds expensive but mid-week the prices were cheaper than a dorm bed when sharing between the 3 of us).

I then took a 13 hour bus, train and bus journey up to San Francisco and spent a couple of days walking the city. Its beautiful with really interesting little residential streets with flowers and balconies and the city isn't very big so I walked and bussed most of the streets. I went to the usual sites including the 'crookedest street in the world', the Golden Gate Bridge and although I wanted to go over to Alcatraz, half of China's population were waiting in que and the tickets were sold out. Desperately wanting to see the enormous Redwood Sequoias, I went on a day trip up to Yosemite NP, which was amazing with seriously tall pine trees and a huge granite valley formed by plate subduction. The Redwoods were worth the trip; 2,500 to 3,000 years old, measuring up to 11 m in diameter, and tower to heights of 76 m to 91 m above the ground!

Back to LA and spent another day getting lost and ended up in some really interestingly awful places, but also made it over to Rodeo Drive to see some enormous houses and around the Beverley Hills area. I went down to Venice beach which wasn't quite what I had imagined; so many hippy places and the homeless doing drawings and arty things for a few quarters. Finding anything other than fast food is such a mission, you actually have to go to a 'health food' shop top get any decent sandwiches or fruit!!

Well, tonight I fly down into Cancun, Mexico, so I’ll email again from there with stories of sombreros and tequila!! Love Fi xxxx

Fiji

fionaanderson — Tue, 3 Oct 2006 22:03:00 GMT

Auckland and off to Fiji - Bula (hello)!!!

3 October 2006

Off to Auckland which is a very sprawled out city and almost straight up to the Bay of Islands. As the name suggests, its a bay with 142 islands dotted around which makes for an amazing surrounding. Me and my buddy went out for an afternoon on a boat to investigate the islands while having fun fishing. Unfortunately it isn't quite the right time of year for large Snapper so no fish BBQ but we each caught several moderate sized fish including Snapper and a scorpion fish! Great afternoon and perfect weather, especially now that we are further north and summer is creeping in.

Back to Auckland. Just as the last of my group leave Auckland and I’m thinking that its going to be a quiet few days before I fly out....I’m checked into a dorm with 7 men which quickly became my family and we got blotto :-) and then, the group start to gather as we're all preparing for flights out, so the old team is back together, and guess what? we got blotto again.

Off to Fiji with Simon, Jack, Dave... and Drago decided to come along too. We hadn't really acclimatised to the fact that we were in Fiji, sitting at the bar in the warmer climate, but it soon kicked in....helped by the fact that Drago would shout 'its Fiji time' every 5 minutes!! Back in the world of pinacoladas, sunsets, mosquito nets, sunburn, beaches, flowery dresses and a flower in the hair, hot weather, turquoise waters, and incredibly nice locals. Off on the boat, the islands are so beautiful and most are quite small with sandy beaches, palm trees in the centre and coral reefs around the periphery. Off to Manta Ray Island, where we stayed for a few days. We snorkelled with Manta Rays, went scuba diving, kayaking (although spent most of our time pushing each other out), fishing (funny watching the locals digging for sand crabs and running down the beach after them!). Nights filled with 'Fiji Gold' lager, drinking games, shots of vodka out of sea shells, and bonfires on the beach. A couple of local guys joined us and did the Haka around the fire much to our amusement, although drank our bottle of tequila, fell asleep on the beach and were sacked the next day....whoops!! The boys are a lot of fun and a good group to be with, although we have now realised that Drago is not only an alcoholic with a bionic man stomach, but also an insomniac!!

Next we stayed on Nacula which is fairly far north of the Yasawa islands with incredible sandy beaches and crystal clear seas and then off to South Sea Island which is the smallest of the islands and took 5 minutes to walk around. We went on an amazing dive here around a sunken yacht where I was chased by a potato cod and then into the coral gardens with so many tiny shoals of fish such as damsel fish, butterfly fish and blue star fish too. Managed to book a couple of nights on Beachcomber Island which is the party island and did just that. Brilliant time and back to the main island for our last night together.

After spending the last few months in OZ and NZ, its quite strange to be back in a world where dogs roam the streets, con men work to scrape money from you, and kids walk to school with bare feet. Its also quite nice to have that element of backpacking again..bring on central America!!

I then spent the next few days on Robinson Crusoe Island and met some really great people. The locals are really friendly and did the most amazing shows of fire dancing and routines with outfits like something from a 'Miss Catherine Dancing Show' (only my family will understand that one). A family I met, are sailing the world with no real timescale in mind and they had the most incredible stories of pristine places...I asked if they needed a skipper/wife/chef, but unfortunately not. I spent the afternoon on their yacht drinking fine coffee they bought in Bora Bora.

Well I'm off to LA tonight and can't quite get my head around the fact that I leave at 10pm on Tuesday and arrive 10 hours later in LA at 1.30pm on Tuesday....eh!!??

Speak soon me mateys, love Fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

New Zealand

fionaanderson — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:01:00 GMT

Farewell Terra Australis and hello Kiwis!!

28 August 2006

Spent the week with the Nicks drinking copious quantities of alcohol on a daily basis and staying out til 6am most nights...lots of activity during the day too, sightseeing and being tourists, so it wasn't really a week for lots of sleep!! We went to the Ice Bar and drank cocktails from ice glasses in a minus 5 environment :-) Met up with Holly a couple of times again too (my mate who I travelled with in Thailand who lives here) we drank beer and laughed hard about fun times in Asia. Great week and so good to see everyone. Last night out in Sydney and I stayed out longer than I should have, had 2 hours sleep (would've been only 1 hour if I hadn't overslept!) and left at 6.30am to fly out....Farewell Australia, I will remember to put 'The Lot' on a burger, especially the beetroot and pineapple component, and throw the word 'grouse' into my conversations to express that something is good :-) its been a journey.....over and out........

Land of the long white cloud aka Middle Earth...the first settlers were the Polynesian forbears of today’s Mauri people in AD 1000 and became a British colony in 1840. NZ's population is 3.95 million (and 39.2 million sheep) with 1 in 3 people living in Auckland. I flew into the south island which straddles the boundary between the Pacific and the Indian/Australian tectonic plates, forming the southern alps - the beautiful snow capped mountains. Great first impressions of New Zealand and Christchurch, although I think it must have been a full moon as the high street was filled with gothic kids dressed in black and wearing strange outfits and make-up. Having mucho fun hearing the Kiwi accent too - its hilarious, mixing up their vowels and saying 'lift' rather than 'left' and 'pin' instead of 'pen'. But they're a friendly bunch. After 12 hours of catching up on much needed sleep, I strolled Christchurch. Its a very British style town where music and art are quite prevalent, with local art in the market and street performers and musicians playing throughout the town. Its beautiful here and weather is perfect - not as cold as I was expecting with lovely sunny days.

Off to Kaikoura on the 'Kiwi Experience' bus and straight out on a whale watching trip - I’m gonna spend so much money in NZ (despite it being cheaper than its neighbour OZ) but I couldn't turn down the opportunity. We saw 3 Sperm whales (the world's largest toothed whale) coming to the surface after a deep feeding dive and sinking down again with the classic flick of his tail! It was so incredible being so close to the huge beauties. I was also pleased to see an albatross (the world’s largest flight bird) and petrels soaring around too. We also saw HUNDREDS of Dusky dolphins playing and jumping around, it was such an amazing trip.

Next to Nelson and then Westport travelling anti-clockwise around the south island, with incredible views of the surrounding mountains and valley floors with lush farmland and sheep, cattle, horses or deer, or valleys with rock scree and a river flowing through. Very picturesque here so its not surprising to know that one third of the country is designated as national parks. We stopped at a beautiful lake and some of us thought it would be a good idea to jump in - so painfully cold with the snowy mountains all around. They're a really great group and we all bond well spending many evenings drinking and playing drinking games usually encouraged by the Irish and English bingers.

Off to Lake Mahinapua on the west coast still and had a fancy dress party, with a 'plastic fantastic' theme bringing out the weird and the wonderful. Really good fun and I met someone who I knew from OZ, although he was dressed as a gimp so in couldn't talk to him for long!!

Next to Franz Josef where we stayed a couple of nights while we climbed the glacier...it was so incredible. We marched off with crampons and thick boots and climbed up the glacier through crevasses that were ice walls with a small gap in between. We had such an amazing day although doing the 8 hour hike was a challenge but the views and the blue ice was worth it all. My mate fell through soft snow that was covering a hole which was really amusing (although could have been quite serious if it was really deep) but laughed really hard when the first thing he said when he was stuck was 'quick, take a picture'!!? Great day and sore legs after! Off for the longest of our bus journeys to Wanaka where we stopped at nice locations en route and drank beer to recover that night. Then finally into Queenstown which we have all been looking forward to...booked a few days skiing which should be great and have found some strange stupidity to sign up for the Nevis Bungy jump tomorrow - this 132m jump and 8.5 second freefall, from a suspended gondola, is the second highest bungy jump in the world (the highest is now in South Africa)....why oh why!!!???

Anyway, just thought I'd send this email in case the bungy (or the fear associated with it) kills me...P.S. The Haka is below for some extra info for you Rugby boffs...

Haka is Mauri for any form of dance but its come to be associated with the war chant that recedes battle. The most famous haka come from Te Raunparaha (1768-1849), a chief of the Ngati Toa tribe. Made famous by the All Blacks, its a powerful national symbol of pride and identity...

Ka mate, ka mate (it is death, it is death)

Ka ora, ka ora (it is life, it is life)

Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru (behold the hairy man)

Nana nei I tiki mai I whakawhiti te ra (who caused the sun to shine)

Upane, aupane (abreast, keep abreast)

Upane, ka aupane (the rank, hold fast)

Whiti te ra (into the sunshine)

Queenstown to Auckland

12 September 2006

First night in Queenstown and all 34 of us had a massive night out as some people are going in different directions now...wicked night and serious amounts of drinking to fuel the karaoke. So much fun but getting in at 9am for a couple of hours sleep and then preparing for my bungy was not a great idea! We were taken up the mountain, briefed and swung over to the gondola in a mesh swing...I was so scared - I'm scared of heights at the best of times and so terrified I could have cried. The valley bottom was 217m away and my jump was 134m...I inched towards the edge of the platform holding on to the guy with a death grip and just knew it was a point of no return so I had to jump before he even finished counting me down. The freefall of 8.4 seconds was incredible with the ground rushing towards me, then a bounce back up and another drop which was equally as terrifying. I had to release my legs to put me into a sitting position and as the winch clunked down on my line I screamed at the sound of what I thought was breakage!! Then I was winched back up to the gondola and shaking so much...it was an amazing experience but why did I pick such a high jump that was so petrifying!!?? Our driver Bodhi threw himself off the roof in spectacular fashion. Got some great pics and a DVD which shows the sheer fear on my face and me asking the guys a million times whether it is safe or not!!

Went skiing for 3 days and was pleased that my skills came back quickly after a good 5 years since I was last on the slopes. Cardrona has the best park that I’ve seen with jumps, slides and half pipes which was amazing fun and was the only way I could find to guarantee that I'd fall over (you have to fall over otherwise you're not trying hard enough). The sun was shining everyday which amplified the beautiful views and scenery - real 'Lord of the Rings' territory.

Another massive night out getting in at 8am and relished a day off the next day, which was the first day off since I arrived in NZ - mucho needed as we've been drinking every night with early morning get ups. I got up at the first sparrow fart the following day to go down to Milford Sound. The drive was amazing in itself with incredible scenery and we drove along one of the top 10 most dangerous roads with avalanches falling around us! Milford Sound was very beautiful and although it was a little misty, it just added to the magic of the area...steep cliff edges and a U-shaped glacial valley filled with water. We went on a boat cruise and all the wildlife lined up for viewing...we saw penguins and fur seals and then 'if you look to the front of the boat there's a large pod of bottlenose dolphins'...great show!! Good day and another heavy night out doing the old uni style activities...races along the road and rides in a shopping trolley...good ol red bull keeps the eyes open! After the night's events it was off to Ferg Burger the best burger in the world with burgers done to perfection, its the talk of the town.

Off to Christchurch again to complete my south island loop. Our group has mostly dispersed now, apart from a few familiars...I’ll miss people like Drago the Puerto Rican model/actor who can't stop swearing and shouting 'that's feking awesome'...or Simon who drinks a lot and always does funny things on a night out...good bunch of people. Spent one night in Christchurch pretty much sleeping to recover from previous binge drinking weeks then off to Kaikoura again where everyone went whale watching which I did last time, so I sat on the beach all afternoon watching a family of Southern Right Whales feeding 10m off shore and playing around - amazing.

The following day we caught the ferry over to the north island. The north island is quite different to the south, with more hills, rougher farmland and windy roads, also the north island is volcanic. Spring is here with bouncing lambs and new flowers colouring the landscape. We stayed a night in the capital Wellington where we bumped a guy from our group so had a big random night out. Big signs that we need a night off when we're drinking shots straight away just to keep our eyes open...Jager bombs the whole way (red bull with a shot glass filled with Jagermeister dropped into it and a shot of vodka for good measures!).

Off to Taupo where a few of us did another skydive. The conditions were so perfect with clear skies and amazing scenery looking over Lake Taupo. The crater was formed over 27,000 years ago, filling crystal clear water into a huge depression the size of Singapore through a series of, at least, five volcanic eruptions, the largest being only 1800 years ago - an awesome event considered the largest by far the world has ever witnessed. The jump was really amazing although not as scary as the first one I did in OZ and who would be scared jumping out of a plane after doing the Nevis bungy!!!?? Much needed night off (first night off since being in NZ) followed by another random night out.

Terribly hung over and on a bus to Rotorua (smelly town with all the geysers and mud pools bubbling with sulphur) where we went white water rafting down a grade 5 river which was amazing. So much fun going over a 7 metre waterfall (think about how high that is, its pretty big!) where 2 in 5 rafts capsize but we made it alive...so much fun. In between the white knuckle adventure and paddling for your life, the gorge was so amazing with NZ's silver fern, huge tree ferns and vines hanging down from the rock cliff edges.

Next we went to Waitomo and went black water rafting which involved being dressed in a wetsuit, hard hat and white wellies and going through a cave with a rubber ring in hand or on bum. Quite scary in parts as I’m not too fond of small spaces - crawling through a small tunnel filled with gushing water but so much fun jumping backwards off a waterfall in the darkness with the rubber ring wedged on my bum. Amazing sight of millions of glow worms (Arachnocampa luminosa) like stars in the sky while we drifted down the cave with our lights off in pitch darkness....incredible experience.

Next stop Auckland...but I’ll stop there as these emails are getting longer and longer!

Love to you all, Fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Australia

fionaanderson — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 21:56:00 GMT

Down under
16 Apr 2006
You know you've been travelling for a while when the aeroplane meal arrives and you swing your legs and jump in your chair like a small child at Christmas!! Good meal - thanks Air Asia! Arrived in Singapore and my guesthouse is great and feels a bit like student life again...there's free breakfast but you have to pick up a saucepan to make it...its been ages since I cooked and I think I prefer the taste when someone does the work for you!! Went around town for the day with a few peeps I met - really nice city. Alot of people I meet here are heading from OZ up into Asia...i seem to be the oracle of info for them and quite jealous that they have such a great journey ahead of them...rough bus journeys but great views en route, thousands of butterflies and dragonflies, interesting and friendly locals, beautiful island beaches, great temples, jungle treks etc etc....i'm sad to be leaving!!

For those of you who didnt know....my parents were in Kuala Lumpur when I was in Singapore, so I jumped on a bus and visited them for a couple of days. I strolled into the excessively posh hotel with a great big grin, the bathroom is marble and big enough to swing a tiger, I soaked in the pool and jaccuzi til my fingers were like prunes and waited for my parents....really fantastic to see them again :-) I joined the 'wives group' with my mum while my dad was working during the day and we visited KL - ate in the revolving restraunt at the top of the telecommunication tower, went to the new aquarium and ate LOTS of great food!! Sad to say goodbye for the 2nd time! :-(

Back in Singapore and the dorm was robbed...7 of us had stuff stolen...they would have had to lean over my sleeping body to get to my bag by my bed, and they put everything back as it was afterwards!! Probably an inside job but weird that none of us woke to see what was happening - maybe we were gassed!?! Lost a wack of money and my camera with all my recent pictures on which is the worst thing - gutted. Spent the day with a grumpy look on my face and filed a police report, boo-hoo.

Rough few nights sleep following the incident as I believed everyone was trying to rob me! Anyway, last day in Singapore I went to Sentosa island to the south, bit Butlins like; with trams, cable cars and man-made beaches; I watched monkeys playing basketball and Mackaws doing puzzles...I ended up in the orchid gardens and saw wild monkeys so that made it worth the trip!

Caught my flight to Darwin, OZ where the immigration was particularly stringent: they searched everything I owned - item by item! I was 'read my rights' 3 times for honey sweets, multi-vitamins and a cocunut shell bracelet I bought in Cambodia....hearing the sentence from 'The Bill' really sends shivers! They tested the items and realised I wasnt a criminal - phew.

Great to be in OZ...its quite home from home really, except its hot, the fellas wear shorts with socks and boots, and the stars are upside down. Enjoying the luxuries of dairy products again, especially a cheese & vegemite bun (vegemite was invented in Melbourne). Did you know, Darwin is the most lightening prone city in the world with 80 thunder days a year! Most incredible lightening displays :-)

I took my hangover on a trip to Litchfield National Park, which was beautiful. We hiked, I saw a rock wallaby and a water monitor lizard and we spent the afternoon soaking in the enormous waterfalls - the currents were so strong you had to swim as fast as a possum up a gum tree and one waterfall had lots of pools with bubbling water like spas :-) I ate a Green Tree Ant and it tasted like citrus.

Also went to Kakadu National Park for a 3 day camping and hiking trip. Really great group and a beautiful park...its absolutely enormous...we walked, soaked in waterfalls, I held a young croc, we looked at rock art, and saw soooo much wildlife, its bursting with life...insects, snakes, cockatoos, frill neck lizards, wallaroos, eagles, kites, cookaburas etc etc. Kangaroo for dinner each evening. We went on a boat trip and saw a 5m salt water croc, which we fed Roo on a stick :-)

OZ is relatively expensive so trying to figure out a way to travel around such a huge country - its bigger than Europe and can take a week to get between cities! Drinking more than is healthy but the people are great and loving it here!

Happy Easter everyone! Love Fi xxxxxxxxxx

The Red Centre - Cairns

29 April 2006

Hey folks,

From Darwin I went on a 20 hour bus journey down to Alice Springs - this country is massive - did I mention it’s larger than Europe?! The weather is great here; a lot less humid than Darwin and the evenings are a little cooler. You can see why this area is called the 'red centre' as its more desert like with browning trees and red soil - still with the intermittent termite mound (if you want to eat termites, they taste of pepper by the way). Loads of aboriginal people here and unfortunately a lot of them live on the street and drink as they can’t find jobs in competition with whites.

Using the notice board dating service in the hostel (where people put adverts up for a lift/or wanting a lift etc) I had a blind date and met 2 frenchies who have a car, and later we met a couple from Hong Kong to fill the car. I bought a tent and we head off towards Uluru (Ayers Rock - the world's biggest monolith) and the Olgas (Kata-Tjuta). This national park was handed back to the aboriginal owners in 1985 so the traditional names of Uluru - Kata-Tjuta are preferred. Due to a slow start we only made it one hour out of Alice Springs on a road with no turnings before the sun went down and we pulled off the road and made camp (sounds a little dodgy!?). The Frenchies had stolen half of their hostel's kitchen so we had a very civilised dinner cooked on the bonfire. It was so quiet you'd be able to hear a lizard fart, except for the occasional road train zipping past. I wasn't totally prepared for camping out there: with my single layer tent and my summer sleeping bag...the temps can drop 20 degrees between day and night so I had to dress like an Eskimo even to get a wink of sleep! But it was reassuring to know that if I slept badly, I only had to wait for a couple of hours after sunrise before you would be sweating again! When people told me I needed a head fly net for this area, I thought they were joking - but jebus - you always have at least 30 flies on you and they immediately zoom for your nose or ears - sooo damn annoying!

Drove down to Uluru and did the 9.4km walk around its base (which gives you an indication of how big it is). I had a thought that here I am on the other side of the world, walking around Uluru, with randoms I jumped in a car with 2 days ago: makes me smile :-) Really amazing single rock with gorges and bulges, a bright orange sandstone colour, made even more striking by the brilliant blue cloudless sky behind, and as the sun went down it changed to deep red. We camped out again and the sky was so clear, the stars were amazing...great end to a great day.

We went over to Kata-Tjuta and did another long walk there...quite similar to Uluru, but lots of separate rocks - nicer in some ways. We also visited Kings Canyon and the West MacDonnell Ranges...more red sandstone rocks and cliffs with occasional cycads, ghost gums and lots of lizards! Only 2 of us could drive, so we shared the driving - quite strange to get used to such a big car and an automatic, but the roads are so straight you can’t go wrong! The road to the MacDonnell Ranges was basically a dirt track for 100kms and the car parts along the side of the road were a grave reminder of previous drivers' misfortunes. I'm glad it wasn’t my car, but amazingly we arrived in one piece (except the windscreen mirror was shaken right off and cracked the windscreen).

Glad to be back in Alice Springs - the group was great (esp. the HK couple - you'd think English was their first language!) but we were pleased to say goodbye to the Frenchies...they were not at all decisive or pro-active so we wasted a lot of time doing nothing...also one of them had a cigarette in the petrol station and didn't realise it was dangerous, which I thought really summed them up! The Chinese couple and myself went out for a slap up meal and cold beer (we survived off rice and veg or sandwiches for 6 days!), and then crashed into our comfortable and warm beds - good to be back in civilisation - even for a country bumpkin like myself!

I head out to Cairns on the bus, the trip spanning over 3 days! :-( The grass was short and the land flat, with things becoming increasingly green as we drove into a different time zone. We stopped for a day break in a mining town, which felt small, but in fact (and I quote) Mount Isa is one of the largest cities in the world, covering an area the size of Switzerland and with a main street 180km long! Loads of birds of prey in amongst the active copper smelting towers and they have a 'Miners Monthly' magazine, which make me chuckle. Had a good day, but met my next bus and they hadn’t transferred my rucksack so it was on its way back to Alice! The driver seemed more worried than I was, but maybe that was because I told him I knew Ju-Jitsu!!? Travelling for a long time and then not having my bag in Cairns for 24 hours was a bit annoying, but such is life.

Looking into doing a sky-dive in the next week with a girl I met, so you'll have to wait for my next email to find out if I: a) survive, b) broke anything, and c) whether I got my luggage back!!

Take it easy peeps, love Fi xx

P.S. I've just finished an EXCELLENT book about the life of Ned Kelly, beautifully written, so read it! Peter Carey, The True History of the Kelly Gang.

Cairns

12 May 2006

Hey guys, next instalment!...

My luggage wasn’t on the bus...it was 400 odd kms away - muppets...so I had to wait til the other end of the day to get it back - I was getting quite anxious!! Wasted time in between watching the sky fill with thousands of fruit bats (the first big bats I’ve seen - 2 ft wingspan) they flew slowly so you could get a really great view of them :-)

The weather is lush - the wet season has just finished, so it’s becoming increasingly hot :-) Enjoying Cairns immensely - there's no beach but a large lagoon on the esplanade where everyone chills out and bands play there all day. Having some very long and fun nights out - meeting loads of different people in clubs that close at 5am and where everyone dances on the tables!! Met a guy who works for the Environmental Protection Agency and we went on a day trip up to Port Douglas...he had a bit of work to do, but not much as its bank holiday, so we took the scenic route and swam in a river gorge - good day and nice to chat with someone about environmental stuff!!

I also went on a road trip with guys from the navy that I met here (I went on their ship and practiced my gun noises standing behind the gun - much to everyone's amusement!). We went off for the day and visited the tablelands, south of Cairns...lots of beautiful rolling hills and waterfalls...although there's still a lot of damage here from the last cyclone, so a lot of places were closed or inaccessible.

Considering my string of bad luck recently (and getting attacked by a bird - which I’ll leave for another story!), I was brave and jumped out of a plane!!!! We went to 10,000 ft in a tiny little green plane; I was right by the door, which was scary enough going up as you could see everything below you! I didn’t have any time to think how scared I was once the door was open because I was trying to put my feet on the edge, and then I was thrown out!!! The freefall was 30 seconds, passing though a cloud which made my skin sting from the water droplets, then out the other side...such an overwhelming intense feeling of falling...I was screaming and shouting (and swearing), then the shute went up and suddenly everything went quiet and we slowly soared down...I pulled on the ropes to make us spin in a tight circle, which also made you feel crazy...beautiful view. When we landed, everyone's feelings had turned from nervous tearful moments to running around the field jumping on each other screaming!! 2 people's birthdays so we drank champagne and buzzed around for a few hours...amazing...I could talk about this forever, so I’ll move on!! Went out for a drink...and home at 4.30am again...I blame it on the free champagne they gave out in the bar for ladies night ;-)

2 hours sleep and an early morning to go scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef...life is tough sometimes! Back with my ol friends from Darwin (they're great) and we had a wicked day...very posh boat with a buffet, wine and biscuits and cheese :-) beautiful coral and fish, and so close to the surface. Unfortunately the weather could have been a little better as the sea was a tad rough (esp. with my hangover and swallowing the occasional mouthful of salt water - yuck!). No turtles to be seen, which is one of the things that I haven’t seen diving yet - but we saw a huge Napoleon Mauri Wrasse, which was being fed from the boat and would beach up on the back - beautiful and about 2.5 metres long! I threw my snorkel and fins on (I’ve never moved so quickly) and jumped overboard to have a good look at it :-)

Went out on the sauce again and met up with the guys who live in cairns - a lot easier to rendezvous now that I have a mobile phone and had a great night out...brilliant bunch and becoming quite attached to them! Spent the weekend with these guys just hanging out and getting to grips with the rules of AFL - they love it here! Australia is such a sporty country - Cricket, AFL and rugby. They were passing on so much info about OZ, its history and traditions etc, it was great!!

Time for a fact or 2 I think...did you know, that on the Australian coat of arms, the Emu and the Kangaroo were selected as symbols to represent the country's progress because they always move forward and never backwards! Also, when European explorers first saw Kangaroos, they asked an aborigine what they were called and he replied "kangaroo" meaning "I don’t understand" your question - the explorers thought this was its name and that’s how the kangaroo got its name :-)

Went out for the Sunday sesh - big night out here - 2 for 1 drinks in the pubs from 5-7pm...funny because most people there have to work the next day!! Met a load of very drunken aussies and made the mistake of drinking with them - they can really pack it away! Went out to a few pubs and clubs with this group...got in free everywhere because we were with a 6'8" dude who the bouncers cowered behind!!

Said my goodbyes :-( and left Cairns (done pretty much everything there is to do here)...and head off with the Pom couple and Dutch couple down the coast towards Whitsunday Islands, and Fraser Island for adventures for the next couple of weeks.... Sweet as :-)

Whitsunday & Frazer Islands, down to Byron Bay

28 May 2006

From Airlie Beach (where we spent the night) we hopped on an awesome sailing boat and went on our 3 day trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We chose the boat because it drops you off on an island both nights (Ann, Dutchie, gets sea sick)...little did we know that it is THE party boat!! People drank continuously since 8am, doing drinking challenges using a snorkel with a funnel stuck on the end! Beautiful islands and so luxurious to sail :-) Apart from the excellent snorkelling we did with some more incredible coral and fish, the highlight was Whitehaven Beach, which was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The sand is white from fine quartz which squeaks under foot, sand bars and turquoise waters flowing up against the islands and inlets...incredible. The only down side is there are stinging (and some deadly) jellyfish in the waters at this time of year (same all up the east coast until the water cools slightly), so we had to wear stinger suits - all in one leotards - which ruined the whole picture of frolicking across this idyllic beach!! Great trip and a great bunch of people. Deadly night out to celebrate returning to dry land.

There's a different breed of traveller on the east coast here...more younger groups on holiday for just a few weeks and drinking their way up the coast - girls with suitcases and a matching belt per outfit and boyz with footie shirts on - very different to the northerly or central areas.

Bussed it down to 1770 (used to be called 'Round Hill' - its name was changed in 1975 to '1770' - the date that Captain Cook first set foot on Queensland soil). Really nice town, very spaced out, and finally you can swim in the sea here because it’s safe - so the first of the surfers are showing up. I met some peeps and we went on a 'Scooter-Roo' trip (not quite Hell's Angels, but close!!) and as the name suggests, we drove around on scooters for a couple of hours site seeing and looking out for Kangaroos...great fun...my first time riding a bike and I loved it!! Only 24 hours in 1770, then down to Hervey Bay where we left for our Frazer Island trip (Frazer is the biggest sand island in the world - fact).

9 people in each 4x4 - and they were pink, which we loved (well the girls at least!). We bought food for our 3 day trip, which consisted of lots of meat as per the boyz requests! We had a mental time...driving along the beach was so much fun, which I got to do a lot because only 3 of us could drive - even more fun when you came across a creek that entered the sea and a few of them had quite a big drop in - much to my surprise (and enjoyment!). All the tracks are off road and it was good fun cranking the truck into low gear and slamming your foot to the floor to drive up very steep, bumpy hills, and through pots holes and deep water - I loved it! My favourite parts of the island were the fresh water lakes that were surrounded by fine white sand and had crystal clear water - they looked like beautiful beaches, also there is a ship wreck on the east shore, which you can get right up close to and it’s eroded in such a picturesque way, its incredible! The island really is one big sand dune, with a rainforest area in the centre - perfect! You can't swim in the sea here as there are seriously strong currents and tiger sharks, grrrr (OZ has pretty deadly waters!!?). All in all it was a fab trip, although our second night camping was a nightmare as it tipped down with rain, so we ate sandwiches for dinner in the back of the 4wd and our tents leaked all night like Chinese water torture dripping on your head....made people a little cranky for our last day!! I think finding out in the morning that our battery was flat on the 4wd didn't help either, but our hero; the heavy metal fisherman pulled us out and helped us jump start. Plenty of Dingoes, especially the moment our steaks hit the BBQ!!

Back to Hervey Bay for one more night before heading down to Noosa...beautiful place that seems very up market; islands in the creeks heading out to sea, very nice houses with boat jetties, pelicans perching on the yachts and a great beach...I could stay here for ages, except there isn't much to do in the evenings except detox and catch up on sleep (not a bad thing!). I went with my group to the Australia Zoo (unfortunately Steve Irvin didn't make an appearance - Crikey), the zoo was great - lots of shows and animals to touch (Kangaroos are well soft!). This is where I parted with the group I've been travelling with - they don't have long left so they're travelling quickly and I still have eons so I’m slowing the pace down. I hung out in Noosa for a few days with some people who are my new group - walked the national park, sunbathed, then off to Brisbane (the third largest city in OZ)...

Brisbane is a really nice city and good to have more to do - we had a much needed night out clubbing, pubbing and ended up in a casino, which was fun! Beautiful weather - a little cooler each evening now but perfect blue skies and lush sunshine during the day: starting to exchange some of my smaller items of clothes for warmer jumpers! Off to Surfers Paradise for a bit of beach action and a massive pub club crawl with 8 other hostels...lots of free drinks and club entries....and most importantly - a free flashing drinking glass! Started out on a bus with people packed in singing people smashing rhythmically on the windows - pretty crazy! Great night (what I can remember) but I think me trying to climb the pole on the dance floor in a fireman fashion, wearing a skirt, and ending up more like Bridget Jones wasn't exactly my strongest moment!!

Byron Bay onwards in the next email. Take care all of you and keep the emails coming you lazy beggers!! Love Fi xxxxxxx

Byron - Sydney and starting to freeze!!

10 June 2006

In Byron - lush sunny weather here during the day but considerably colder at nights now. We're staying in an 'alternative' hostel with tee-pee and tent like huts to sleep in - all the fun of camping but still in a nice comfy bed :-) lots of hippies making didgeridoos and wearing clothes that are too large, but a really friendly place. Got up early for sunrise on the lighthouse point - the most eastern point in OZ and watched dolphins feed along the coast. Spent the day on the beach bronzing (i.e. watching the surfers) and then the arvo in the pub drinking beer and eating potato wedges - tough times! Ended up out til late, dancing on more tables.

We went for a trip to Nimbin, which is an 'alternative' town and the driver was a hippie and briefed us about the place. Dope is illegal everywhere but the pigs (sorry, shouldn't say that now that my bro is one! hehe), the coppers turn a blind eye here, so if there's one undercover, someone will shout 'taxi'! Very funny place. We ate cookies. Also visited a waterfall and a guy's house who owns an amazing garden - the whole bus load of us giggled our way through the day! Had a relaxing last day in Byron eating posh ice cream and watching whales from the beach :-) (the first whale I’ve seen in the wild, so very excited!).

Next we were in Newcastle for a couple of days. We decided to go on a 'sophisticated' day tour to the Hunter Valley wine region. They're officially in a drought now so the ground is dry and brown with ranch style places with horses and cattle. We should have realised that it would be an 'aussie' style tour and it would actually be a piss up!! We went to 6 different wine cellars and tried all the wines from Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot to the desert wines and of course ports too (mum and dad you would have loved it, and Janine you would have cried at how nice the white port was!!). We were drunk by 11 and were definitely pleased to eat some top notch cheese and fudge too. Totally fab day! Met a St Bernard dog called Jo who starred in the last blockbuster of Peter Pan! Spent our second day in Newcastle wandering around the city - quite a nice place but lots of industrial influence and lots of chavs too!!

Finally, we arrive in Sydney, which is looking beautiful in autumn colours, although we didn't get off to a good start! We arrived in the Kings Cross area with adult shops, shows and prostitutes everywhere at midday!! Our hostel is great but the TV broke and so did the hot water so we had cold showers 2 mornings :-( We were rained heavily upon on our first few days’ sight seeing, which didn't make for good Kodak moments. Tuesday was the coldest June day in Sydney for 12 years - where's my luck!!? Although spent a very worthwhile 20 bucks in the Sydney Aquarium which was amazing. Recovered (and dried off) by going crab racing in a bar - so amusing especially because they were hermit crabs and not the fastest! My crab decided to jump on the others backs, which wasn't exactly a winning move! Great night out and felt the pain the following day...getting rained on again but the weather cleared long enough for us to go up Sydney Tower with amazing views at dusk and also went on a simulator that bashed you around while 'flying' around OZ! The tower has a 162,000-litre water tank on the top to stabilize it! I met up with my friend who lives in Sydney that Jemma and I met in Thailand - we ate Pad Thai and reminisced about fine days on Koh Phi Phi!! Also met up with Vicky's friend from home who's working in Sydney - we went to her house and she fed us an amazing curry then apple pie and custard - lush!!

Off to the Blue Mountains for a couple of days and went on an awesome (but highly exhausting) walk down the cliff, through the rainforest in the valley, then up hill and up 722 sheer cliff steps to the top again (yes we counted!). Totally knackered but worthwhile to see the '3 sisters' at sunset and incredible views over the mountain ranges.

Back to Sydney and spent the day going around Bondi and Coogee beaches before getting into preparation mode for the world cup Saturday night out...its gonna be massive as loads of people have timed getting to Sydney for the games! My celebrations shall be in the next instalment...go England! :-P

Love to you all, Fi xxxxxxxxxxx

Sydney to Melbourne; where I shall remain for a few weeks!!

23 June 2006

Go England!! What a rubbish first match against Paraguay (from what I can remember!). Awesome night out though: about 50 of us from the hostel went out with our faces painted, it was really great. Next to no sleep that night and spent the following day site seeing - we went over to Manly beach on the ferry which was really nice although there were some really strong winds which made the beach a little chilled!! Horrendous overnight bus journey down to Melbourne that night - the bus driver seriously thought we were perishable and made the coach arctic!! An hours sleep on and off with terrible neck pains trying to curl up on the seats then we arrived in Melbourne. In the afternoon we went to Melbourne vs Collingwood AFL (aussie rules) game in the MCG arena, which has a capacity of 100,000 and was nearly full. We had incredible seats as the only ones left when we booked were premier, so what a great view. So much fun and very different atmosphere to UK games - less group singing and less foul language!! Back, curry, then out to the 'Neighbours' (the aussie TV series) night where we had some awesome photos taken with Connor, Lyn Scully and Paul Robinson!!! I was so star struck and it was such a hilarious night...we came 3rd in the quiz which was a bonus. Back to the hostel and watched the Australia vs Japan game and the streets were filled with car horns and screams at the successful result. Such a long few days and absolutely shattered........bed for 12 hours!!!

We wandered around Melbourne for the day and somehow ended up in the Parliament building and sitting in on a debate about state bills, expenditure and budgets...quite surreal and not sure we fitted in! We borrowed my friend Emma's car (I travelled through Vietnam with Emma) and went for a road trip. We drove along the Great Ocean Road which was an incredible drive through swinging roads heading along the coast with the occasional viewpoint and arches and stacks formed out of the orange sandstone. Of course the 12 Apostles were beautiful especially when we arrived at sunset. The next day we head up into the Grampians which was also amazing. There was a bushfire recently so all the trees were black but encased in some sort of creeper, giving each tree a bright green haze around its trunks and branches. Really incredible sight. It was an amazing couple of days and such enjoyable driving! Back to Melbourne for the night then down to Phillip Island (we stopped of at Ramsay Street along the way, which was quite funny to see the houses from the TV programme - although I think it was more Vicky's thing than mine!). Phillip Island was great; we all lined up along the beach and watched the Little Penguins (the smallest Penguins in the world) come surfing out of the waves and head up past us to the burrows where we could also go and watch them around their homes :-) they were so sweet and diddy! But we laughed so hard when a wave would come in and wash them off their tiny feet like a stack of skittles!! Another great day. Wonderful to get away from cities for a few days on the open road to see what's in between!! We had a lot of fun!

Vicky and I have been crashing at a few friends’ houses in Melbourne which has been really great to get away from those damn hostels (much appreciated guys!). We stayed with Vicky's friend from home; Simon, and also Mike who I met in Bangkok, and then I moved in with Emma. At Mike's house we drank copious amounts of wine then head out to the England vs Australia Rugby Union match in the Telstra dome - another really excellent game to watch (although England lost and we were surrounded by so many aussies!!). Then sadly, Vicky left me to go over to NZ...quite weird to be parted from her after travelling together for the last month and living in each others pockets!! Anyway, Ryan and Emma found me a job to keep me in Melbourne...total rubbish, but I’ll be raking in the cash so that's good! Not exactly the 'wetland conservation' position I was looking for (believe me I’ve been looking) but its getting people to sign over to green electricity - instead of using coal, it uses sugar cane so its totally green and cheaper for the customer as its government subsidised. It’s still got 'green' in the title so that's still my line of work right!!!!??? :-( Anyway I’m going to stick with it for a few weeks to save up for my skiing trip in NZ :-) We're going on a road trip next week which will be a laugh as they're a young bunch of guys and I’ll get to see around the state with my hotel and transport paid for me!! Anyway earning between $800 and $1200 initially, I can’t complain!? I've joined a gym and go every day (at the moment), seeing as I’m settling into Melbourne...good way to balance out the intake of beer!!

I've been watching all the Australia and England footie matches although the only problem with watching them in OZ, is that the games are on at 11pm, 2am and 5am...so it’s such a mission to get involved!! This morning at 5am we got up and went over to Federation Square where there were a predicted 20,000 fans watching the massive outdoor screen - a seriously lively atmosphere despite the early hours, also quite a few people crawling out from the clubs to watch too! Great fun :-) Aussies are crazy about sports, especially in Melbourne!

Anyway peeps, I hope you're all well. Loads of love, Fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Melbourne and work :-(

9 July 2006

Well guys,

Not too much to add really from the last email...I’ve been working loads and 6 days a week so it hasn't left much time to do much else!! Work has been quite a laugh as the boys are really funny and enthusiastic. They play songs like 'The Eye of the Tiger' really loudly in the bus on the way out to turf to get us all psyched for a day of sales!! (Gets pretty annoying after the 10th time you've listened to it and it’s their mobile ring tone too! Anyway I started knocking doors and it was harder than it looked. I was on a quick learning curve to be more pushy and assuming the sale, but its not really in my nature, so it took me a little while to catch on. Also I struggle having to bullshit (excuse my French) my way into their houses to get the signature. Anyway I managed to be get a few sales a day which is good, despite my sever boredom on the long days walking around places where people told you to 'f' off!

Our one day off a week and Ryan, Emma and I go on road trips out of the city down along the coast to make the most out of our days of freedom...great to get away and enjoy some heavenly fish and chips by the sea while sipping on some rosé :-) Loving Melbourne and being in a routine for the past few weeks...its a great city to get to know and nice to keep my feet on the ground in one place for a while!

The following week we went away with work on our road trip out to rural country Victoria...crickey we met some weirdos! It was a good week although much harder work than we had expected. I soon became token 'mum' for the week and made everyone breakfast and dinner when we returned from work. It was quite stressful as everyone was so hungry not getting back til 9pm and our cabins were not exactly kitted out for cooking for 8 people! We ate well, especially considering they usually eat pizzas all week! Anyway, it was announced on the way back at the end of the week that I would make a good wife...not sure if that's a compliment!!? Great group but sales isn't quite my bag so I’m just deciding whether to do one more week with them or head down to Tasmania....time will tell...

Anyway peeps, not the most entertaining email as my life has consisted of going to work and the gym...good for me and my ever increasingly full wallet, but no stories of adventure!

Hope you're all well!?

Love Fi xxxxxxxxxx

Tasmania, Cairns and Sydney (again)

13 August 2006

Hey to you all!

I was talked into doing another week doing the door-to-door work...I had to stay til Saturday as there was a free bar Saturday night!! I spent the next few days enjoying being unemployed again...

Off to Van Dieman's land (Tasmania) for the week. My cheap flight took me to Launceston where I spent the day in awe walking around beautiful 'Cataract Gorge' - the sky was so clear and blue; the hills were reflected perfectly in the water. I met a girl who was 'Made in Taiwan' - yes I said that to her, and no it wasn't the first time she'd heard that joke!

I next found myself in Hobart (Australia's second oldest capital city), nice place with oldish buildings and a great market that apparently is quite famous in Tas. A brief visit up to Mt Wellington with an incredible panoramic view of Hobart and the hills and valleys around the coast - beautiful and enjoyed putting my footprints in the snow!

My next stop was in Port Arthur, which is a historic site that used to be a prison for convicts from OZ and Britain in the 19th century. Wonderful area (despite the harsh history). I was the only person in the creepy hostel at the top of the hill, with ghost tours going on outside the window at night; the place had dusty old book cases and a piano in the corner that was perfect for a Stephen King movie. It was a dead zone, literally, with no phone signal and no one around this time of year. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well, especially when someone was rooting around the house til 2.30am, and I didn't want to ask whether it was the hostel owner...or not...!!?? I've never been happier to wake up at 5.45am to catch a bus out!! On the bus we briefly saw an Echidna (quite rare) and ran over one of the many wallabies, so much road kill in Tas!

My bus journey took me to Bicheno on the east coast. I met a German, now OZ resident and we went down into Freycinet National Park and climbed the mountain for what would have been one of the most picturesque lookouts over Wineglass bay - except the weather was appalling so we saw...clouds, we were soaked but remained high spirited. The following day couldn't have been more different with totally clear blue skies and nicely warm...I walked the coast and admired the fairy/little penguin and wallaby footprints along the sandy beach. You can instantly tell where the penguins are nesting, by the smell!!

Its true about the 'backpacker stone' - I was told that travellers to OZ put on a stone in weight. I'm not terribly pleased to a part of this little delight but judging by my inability to say no to a fresh cake from a bakery oven, its no wonder really....or maybe I shouldn't hang around bakeries each morning!?!

Off to Cradle Mountain where I went on a walk through an enchanted forest with fungi and lichens dripping from the trees and wet wallabies everywhere that were very unbothered by my presence as I stuck my camera in their faces. Back to Devonport where I caught the 'Spirit of Tasmania' ferry back to Melbourne, which was like being on a roller coaster for 11 hours!!

Haven’t had too many country facts to give you recently so here's a great fact I found on a beer mat - who says drinking beer isn't educational!!?...

In old England, ale was ordered in pubs by pints and quarts. When the customers became unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their pints and quarts and settle down. This began the phrase, 'mind your P's and Q's'.

Sad to leave Melbourne and my buddy Emma but loving happy hour with Virgin Blue! Off to Cairns to warm up - it was 22 degrees when I got off the plane in the middle of the night - heaven and its mid-winter here! Long lazy days reading books and basking in the sun. Staying with my Aussie friend who I met last time I was here, which was really great. Good funny night out over the weekend with the lads and spent the following day watching them bet on the horses in a very nice beach side bar. I went on a tour up to Cape Tribulation - the oldest tropical rainforest in the world with 12 out of the world's 19 families of primitive flowering plants. The cruise down the Daintree river was incredible with so much wildlife to see - pythons and green tree snakes looped around trees, a kingfisher, blossom bat, crocs of all sizes, kites, just to name a few. We walked through the TRF under the cover of the canopy as the sky let out a little rain (considering the whole of OZ is in drought and has serious water issues, this place is less than thirsty with an average of 3.5 metres of rain per annum). We ate tropical fruits including a strange 'chocolate mud fruit' and drank wine. It was a great day. Sad to leave Cairns, I guess that's the only down side of travelling - having to move from places you love and say farewells to good people - but always onwards to another great location so mustn’t grumble!

Back to Sydney and met up with the Nick's from home who some of you will know!! Great to see them. Curby's birthday the first night, so that was celebrated in a few of Sydney's drinking holes! Here for a week before I leave for New Zealand, so I will email again from my new location!

Love from Fi xxxxx

Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam

fionaanderson — Wed, 8 Feb 2006 21:53:00 GMT

Hi from Chiang Mai!
08 Feb 2006
Hi there folks!

Well what to write and what to leave out...there's already too much to say...

We caught a sleeper train up from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (13 hours) which was an interesting experience sleeping (or trying to) on the train - also the mozzies were really enjoying my sweet tasting flesh and certainly had their fill. Chiang Mai is an amazing place with the central city surrounded by a moat and parts of the old city wall remain. There's a wicked Sunday market where you can buy anything - the jewellery and clothes are amazing here and SO DAMN CHEAP!! The temples are unbelievable with statues of elephants around them and golden buddahs in the middle. We've met more interesting people here than you can imagine - all independent people with loads of stories - its great - lots of people travelling alone too.

We went on a trek for 3 days (just got back) which was uber fun. 10 of us in the group, led by a guy who was permanently drunk and so crazily funny - he was excellent!! He also had his 'medicine' which he claimed was ginger and other things, but it really made him speed up the hills, so who knows! We hiked up the mountains and stayed in a village for the first night. Most incredible place but got quite cold at night as we were high up. Great to get some exercise and stretch our legs and amazing jungle views. The insects in the jungle at night sound like a car alarm and the dogs and chickens were very noisy too - calling all night but really getting going at about 4 am!! Luckily for me I brought a sleeping mask and ear plugs - but it still didnt ensure I slept more than 2 hours! The rest of the group suffered too but we're all getting used to sleep deprivation now. The village was beautiful and there were so many baby animals - chicks, baby boars (so cute) and .......lots and lots of PUPPIES!! They're so cute and just hang with us for hours (mostly because we feed them constantly!) I've taken so many baby animal photos! (I will send some pics soon). Everyone we have met and come across are so friendly and love to chat with you. The second night we stayed in a bamboo hut next to a waterfall surrounded by terraced rice paddies (not used at the mo) and the jungle with exotic trees :-). Each day we hiked for 3 or 4 hours through the jungle and had our showers in waterfalls along the way - I mean if this isn’t paradise then I don’t know what is!! We went for elephant rides which was wicked fun and down a river in bamboo rafts - which was also great as we had water fights - very refreshing in this heat. It was a really great trip and the people were excellent (I did think the Canadian group would really get on my nerves on first impressions, but they were the best of all!)so thumbs up all round!

Back in Chiang Mai for the next few days before we head south and we're spending today recovering from our hike - massage and body scrub then in the pool then a few beers - its a hard life!!

Love to you all, and thanks for your emails too, Fi xxxx

Dad - have a great trip in Kenya, I look forward to hearing about your stories too xx
Mum - I hope Josh is looking after you!? :-)
Kate and Mike - yep we've had a foot massage - very nice as its more pressure points than trying to tickle you - although Jemma was screaming like a girl through the whole thing as she has excessively sensitive feet!!

Hey from Koh Tao
19 Feb 2006
hey you guys,

well we're in the south of thailand now. Its obviously rained alot recently as all the rice paddies now have water in them with buffalo and egrets feeding amongst each other and the palm tress...lush. We headed out to Koh Phangan by boat and as the little silver fish jumped along the sides of the boat and beautiful islands were in the distance, we knew we were heading into paradise!! Well thats my romantic description, and now on to the full moon party, which was absolutely awesome...loads of people just dancing on the fine sand and buckets of cocktails with whiskey, coke and a red bull type drink (which seemed a bit deadly). We met 2 Brit girls who were bonkers and really up for a laugh too. I parted from our 4some and met loads of cool people...everyone just up to chat and dance. By the end of the night we ended up covered from head to toe in fluorescent body paint and quite pie eyed...quick swim in the turquoise sea as the sun came up to reveal a mess of dancers and people asleep on the sand :-) back to our bungalow (on the other side of the island with its own beach :-P) at 10 am and shattered!!

We hung out for a bit (recovering and snorkeling) before making it over to Koh Tao (Turtle Island) which is so beautiful...and beautiful people to match!! We're doing a open water dive course (allowing me to dive to 18 metres) which is great (had the exam today and its like being back at school anticipating the results...). We've been on a few dives and the group are all really nice...we have a really big crowd of us going out together now..ever increasing numbers. 2 Austrian girls..one looks like the french girl off the film 'The Beach' (for those of you who have seen the film will understand that she is gorgeous!!) Diving is absolutely great...we've seen some incredible fish that are so interested in you and swim right up to you (although the little cleaner fish that insist on nibbling at you can get a little annoying)...we're finding nemo
tomorrow at another dive site :-) final 2 dives tomorro before receiving our certification..then a piss up, then Jem, me and an OZ girl we've picked up are heading over to Koh Phi Phi (where they filmed 'The Beach'...so much to do!!!

Anyway thats enough rambling for now...did I mention that our dive instructor is hot??!...so generally having a fab time, loads of great people, diving and working on my tan :-)

Keep the emails coming everyone!!!

Loads of love, Fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi from Thailand and Malaysia

27 February 2006

Hey all,

Well to carry on from my last email...we finished the diving course on Koh Tao - our last 2 dives were totally amazing and a videographer came along with us, funny watching ourselves over again.??Long night out that night to celebrate..another couple of buckets which?kept us up til 10 am again?but got to watch an amazing sun rise so that made it all worth it!

We headed off to Koh Phi Phi with Holly the OZ on an overnight boat -?a metre head room and everyone had to crawl in and find a place to lie down - mostly just wooden boards to sleep on..long night!!? Koh Phi Phi?was totally scorching by comparison to the east coast so unfortunately we spent a whole day just lying on the beach and swimming in the sea - tough I know!? Its so beautiful here but from the pictures dotted around, it was even more lush before the tsunami...the middle section of the island with beaches either side was hit quite badly and used to be covered by palm trees and bungalows...now its fairly baren with just a few trees and lots of construction going on.? Apparently the Thai government is going to re-build multi storey apartments on the beach instead of the bungalows which seems a shame.? We met a dive instructor who was diving at the time of the waves and his story was incredible and must have been a weird experience.

Anyway, seeing as we're professional divers now (he he) we did 2 more fun dives on Phi Phi.? Somehow we managed to get the guys to take us out in the afternoon which they dont normally do because the morning boat was quite busy, so it was just us girls and 2 instructors with the whole boat to oursleves (how useful sometimes to be female!!)!!? The diving was incredible...so many fish and coral reefs of all colours...angelfish, butterfly fish, lion fish, moral eels, hundreds of shoals that you can just float through...and black tip reef sharks..amazing.? We hired a digital camera and took some wicked pictures (unfortunately there isnt a CD facility here so you'll have to wait for the pics).

Another heavy night out on the beach drinking buckets and meeting people,?dancing, fire shows etc...back at 7 am and up at 8 to go on a boat!!? [note to self...never again will you drink heavily, not sleep and go on a boat the next day]? needless to say, I spent most of the day looking at the horizon!? Our boat trip was around the islands, stopped at a few coves to snorkel (incredible) and visited Maya Bay (The Beach) which was beautiful.? Somehow I managed to hit the bars again that night...only because it was our last night on P.P?i think :-)

We were quite sad to say our byes to Holly and the strays we collected along the way, they were great...but onwards...boat, bus and boat trip into Malaysia.??Our first?culture shock...the heat is totally different (much more humid) and having left our little touristy islands, we arrived in the busy city of Penang where we were the only westerners we saw all day.? Headed up Penang hill to look over the city and visit a temple, ate lots of food from street stalls...mmm curry..things are even more cheap here than Thailand.? I had a curry, coffee and bottle of water for 50 pence!!

We then headed inland for Cameron Highlands...beautiful hills with farms..lots of tea and strawberries...we're going for a wander tomorrow.? Its so refreshing to have a cooler climate and not be hot all day and night :-)? anyway, I must stop typing now and sink a beer....

Love to you all, Fi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I LOVE CAMBODIA
18 Mar 2006

Hi everyone!

More notes...from Kuala Lumpur I flew to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and met a guy in the airport (which was great as we were the only westerners on the flight so we made a bee-line for each other) and it also meant that it halved the decision making! Stayed in a really great guesthouse, only paying a quid a night - winner. Its confusing changing currencies so often - here they use US dollars and their own 'Riel' for smaller denominations so i'm now dealing with 2 wads of notes! grrrr

I jumped on the back of a motorbike and went around town: the traffic lights, zebra crossings and road markings are all there for decoration and mean nothing!! Needless to say, I was pleased to return alive. I met a guy from Canada and we spent the following few days doing the ''touristy'' things ...hmmm....we went to the S21 prison/genocide museum and the killing fields - very tough morning learning about the shocking and brutal things that happened here only 30 years ago, made worse by landmine victims begging outside the gates (not exactly a nice topic for this email but its important so there it is). Fact: Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world with 4-6 million in the countryside. Anyway, tough morning so we went shopping in the Russian market, went to a shooting range and shot Tommy Guns and then ate happy pizza.

A few days later I head NW to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor Wat temples...got a 3 day pass and needed it. Driven around on a moto to visit the temples - its a a big place and some are 40km away (great views of 'communities' en route). The temples are the most incredible thing I have ever seen (Pyramids close second) if you havent been here watch Tomb Raider!...Angkor Wat is the largest religious building in the world and is amazing but my favourite had ancient trees growing around the temple and it was umbe..fecking..believable (i'll send pics when i've decided which ones out of the 100 I took are the best!!). Got up early 2 mornings to watch the sunrise from Angkor Wat - amazing, and watched 2 sunsets too. Got followed around alot by kids (Pied Piper style) selling stuff or giving the most detailed history in perfect english (then wanting a dollar) which I occasionally gave in to. Guesthouse is great and chilled out (probably due to the amount of dope people are smoking) and toads come onto the patio outside my room at night to cool down :-)

I have to say, Cambodia is my favourite place so far, the people are so genuinely friendly and the country is beautiful...i met a girl who is doing some voluntary teaching at a local school, which sounds great, so thats my next adventure for my next trip :-)

Head down south to Sihanoukville to get a couple of beach days in...wasnt too impressed with the place as there are so many local kids constantly climbing on me and grabbing and poking me, which got really exhausting after a while. They love white skin! Had an awesome night out with 2 of the funniest people I think i've ever met, sunrise swim in the sea and bed by 7am.

Going over to Saigon, Vietnam tomorrow....

Good morning Vietnam!!
01 Apr 2006

Hey peeps!

Well the journey from Cambodia to Vietnam went smoothly (apart from the road bumps and pitt holes and our bus caught fire so we had to wait for a replacement!). I met a few other solo travellers and we stuck together in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Saigon is wonderful and really great to wonder around - we seem to get alot less attention here so it feels more comfortable and safe. Although the streets were a real hazard to cross....walk slowly and hope for the best. Legally they're allowed 2 people on a motobike, but they still have a family of 5 (baby under arm and steering with the other!). We hit the local market and had the most amazing noodles with veg and spring rolls (the assortment of seafood, eel, frog, turtle or rat didnt really appeal!!).

The 5 of us (Swiss dude, UK police bird, and an OZ and Kiwi couple) visited the Cu Chi tunnels that the guerrilas used in the Vietnam War and was told completely false, anti-Amercian stories about the war. Went on a 2 day trip down the Mekong Delta....half the tour was a bit touristy and we were hurried, but we travelled down a wonderful stretch of river with huts on stilts and wooden boats steered by ladies with triangular straw hats on, which was great. Great group too and lots of giggles!

Running out of time before needing to get back to Bangkok for my flight to Singapore, so booked a flight from Hanoi to Bangkok...which means i'll miss out on Laos this trip (but i'll be back!!) and also means we need to get moving to make it up to the far north of Vietnam in a week for our flight!! Lots of 6 and 12 hour overnight bus trips ahead....

Caught a late bus to Mui Ne...hired bicycles for the day and visited a beautiful waterfall that runs over red sand...the water is low at this time of year so we walked up the stream in red flow on soft sand and soaked in the waterfall. Also cycled through a fishing village where fish were laid out in the sun to dry and then we head over to some huge red sand dunes (Vietnam's own Sahara!). Long day and sore bums from biking, we lay on the beach the following day.

Caught an overnight bus to Nha Trang (no sleep as it had tiny, sweaty, plastic seats and no space) and went straight out for a boat trip. Had an awesome day snorkelling and pratting about....they set up a floating bar which we swam to and were rewarded with an endless glass of red mulled wine...highly unsafe in the sea but we had lots of fun!! Went for 2 fun scuba dives (it was only 16 quid!) less fish than previous dives, but the coral was incredible and we saw a 2m long spotted moray eel! Had a coughing fit and nearly died but didnt :-) Spent the afternoon in the mud baths which was hilarious.

Another 12 hour overnight bus journey up to Hoi An - beautiful town with old architecture and lots of art and tailors shops...ended up getting some shorts and a top tailor made for me for 7 quid...Emma bought loads (sucker)! The locals here have a wicked and cheeky sense of humour, its very entertaining. Excellent food and beers for 20p :-)

Vietnam is such a long country, the temp can be a difference of 10 degrees between the N and S; we started to feel the cooler evenings as we progressed north (mid 20s at night) - really nice change from the constant hot temperatures!!

Another bus journey, to Hue, only brielfly there and went on a rubbish boat trip (luckily the day only cost us 70p otherwise we would have moaned!): more temples and not much to do other than that! Beautiful scenery though - tree covered hills and meandering rivers.

Our last bus trip took us for 13 hours up to Hanoi where we wandered around the town during the day...the most interesting thing about the city is that each street has a particular type of shop: so one street will sell tin, another silk and another herbal medicine - quite cool. Flying out of Hanoi tonight, quick stop in Bangkok then flying to Singapore........

I'll stop typing now!! Hope you're all well, love Fi xxxxxxxxxxxx