All around the world ..

Gallery: nz bits and pieces

jessikat — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:31:00 GMT

On the road again_ the South Island flying and skiing

jessikat — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 07:52:00 GMT

After Christchurch we headed off down south. Leaving the city behind and heading along the road towards the snow capped mountain was a good feeling, after sitting in Cairns for all those weeks dying to get moving again. From the start the driving in New Zealand was good at least in that the scenery was interesting and not always the same as it oftern felt in Oz, I can't say the same for some of the kiwi drivers, Crazy Madpeople with overtaking manouvres on blind hilly corners a speciality!

With a rough idea of where we were heading, partly influenced by planning to meet up with Sam's cousin. We spent our first night was spent at the little town/village of lake Tekapo where the water was supposedly really blue due to sediments in the water (i have to question the guidebook here though). It was really stunning at the lakeside especially near the landmark little church right by the water. I think what we will both remember most though is dinner at the little pizza place. Sitting next to the big open fire it was the first time that we had heard of seen, let alone eaten a pizza with venison on it or one with lamb and mint sauce and they tasted amazing. The next morning we got up and went ice skating at the outdoor rink overlooking the lake. Good fun until the blisters that rental boots always cause got a little too painful.

After Tekapo we made our way through some more outstanding scenery to the laid back Wanaka where we were to meet Sam's cousin Matthew. After one night in Wanaka we headed to Queenstown for a night and yet another yummy dinner of NZ lamb. From here we wanted to go to Milford sound and made it there after a sleepover on the way down to try and break the journey up a bit. The drive was once again stunning and thankfully we did not have to use the snow chains that we had been told were essential to carry at this time of year. The weather was good, well at least it was until we crossed the mountains to the milford side where it started to rain, unsurprisingly for milford apparantly. Our cruise boat was the smallest one operating and in the end there were only around 12 people on the boat. I was grateful for that especially after seeing the other boats and later on the way back all the dozens of coachs heading to where we had just left, phew, i think that the beauty of the sounds is best appreciated with as few people as possible. It is certainly a stunning place, there were dozens of waterfalls some we were told are the highest in the world although they don't count as they are not permanent features, the sheer rock faces meeting the water and while we were there the mist that clung to the rocks in places adding to the sense of enormity and awe inspiring atmosphere.

We drove back to Queenstown after our morning cruise on the sounds where we settled ourselves in for a few days to try out some of the things that the famous place had to offer. We did not go as all out as some people mainly due to budget and the fact that i am such a wuss there was not much that i would dare do! We did have a go on the shotover jet boat which with its 360 degree spins as close calls with the gorge walls was a good hangover cure! Sam being a bit more adventurous than myself and beind egged on by me had a go on the unique fly-by-wire. It is like a little plane you are strapped in which is powered by an engine and then is steered by the occupant through a valley trying to get as high and fast as possible it works a bit like a pendulum. It is harder to explain than some of the other things that sam could have chosen but we have photos so people can see for themselves and we don't confuse people. Anyway. We enjoyed being able to wander around queenstown for a couple of days taking advantage of happy hours and deciding where to go next. With the weather being not so good one morning we went to the crazy caddyshack crazy golf where we battled with volcanoes and fairgrounds to try and get a respectable score, my patience definately let me down and after a good start i lost concentration and it was all down hill from there. And Sam would have got a very good score if it was not for getting a score of 8 on one hole! One of the last things we did was to go up the Gondola which was just up the road from the campsite, nice views but we wanted to go on the luge, too late though!

While we were in this centre of adventure we decided we were going to blow the budget a bit more and go skiing for a couple of days. Being near the end of the season it was not too busy and we only had a small group for our lessons which we felt were definately needed me being very rusty and Sam not having been before. It was a lot of fun and i think that it has encouraged us to go skiing again maybe not on this trip though. We stayed in Wanaka and drove up to the slope at Cadrona. No mishaps unless you count leaving the lights on and getting back to a flat battery. Thank God for geordies and scots for that matter_ they helped us get started again, luckily as otherwise it would have been a little more difficult as we were the last car in the carpark!

Christchurch, New Zealand

jessikat — Sun, 9 Sep 2007 15:00:00 GMT

Well we have made it to the next place on our around the world trip, the beautiful country of New Zealand. I will probably repeat how amazing and beautiful it is many times in my stories but believe me it is for good reason. Our first sight of the South Island where we currently are was the snow capped mountains visible from the window of the plane as it started its descent into christchurch and from that moment i think we both decided that it must be as stunning as everyone had told us.

We had decided to stay in Christchurch for a few days to have a look around and to start acclimatising (it is cold!) before we picked up our campervan. After spending a while looking at options for where to rest our heads at night we decided on a jail! It was actually a very comfortable place as suprisingly enough it is not actually a working jail anymore but a hostel. We had a nice cosy cell which even had a tv and dvd player as well as a cell alarm button and the original solid metal cell door. In Christchurch itself we did not do much more than wander around the centre which is not very big.

We discovered some good places to eat and some good places to drink too. There were some good deals to be had in both fields! So with cheap drink and food we were happy not to do a lot except for take advantage of these and stay warm with some nice wandering in the city in between. One of the highlights was our experience with a stone grill meal which we came across by accident after being tempted by a sign for half price meals. A big hunk of fillet steak to cook how i liked it on my sizzling hot plate what could be better than that mmmmmmmmm.

We did do other things apart from discovering that there are some nice places to eat in Christchurch although this may sound suprising given what i have written so far. The Botanic gardens provided a much needed walk (to burn off all those tasty meals) and it was nice to see a botanics that was not all tropical plants, daffodils and snow drops were a reminder of home, another thing that added to the perception of England. Walking along the river Avon, in the aptly named cambridge area you could be punted along the river which is banked by weeping willows and daffodils, you can't get more 'English' than that! We went to the very modern and un-english, New Zealandy even Christchurch art gallery also known as Te Puna (maori). The big glass gallery building itself is impressive especially in Christchurch which does not really have any other really modern architecture, it was worth going just to have a look around.

After a couple of days, which was enough for us in the city, we were ready to get on the road. We were picked up from jail and taken to get our second campervan (technically no.3) of our trip. And so Jan Van joined our company ready to take us to see some more of New Zealand next stop some mountains and lakes down south.

melbourne the end of australia

jessikat — Tue, 4 Sep 2007 15:10:00 GMT

Our final day in Melbourne was spent doing another couple of Melbourne sights. We had a walk to the Victoria markets, it was not quite what i had expected but a good place to stock up on cheap clothes and trainers (Sam bought a bargin pair for $15) and Australiana tacky souvenirs. I was tempted by a kangaroo skin rug or maybe a big yellow and green australia hoody but i managed to resist!!

What we could not resist in Melbourne though was the official neighbours tour. How could we come the city that is the home of that famous show and not go and have a look at the street! After a bit of a drive out in the very busy (mostly with English tourists) neighbours bus we reached Erinsborough. Am I the only person who never realised that the name for the area came from an anagram of the word neighbours with another r and o added, i can't be! Anyway we drove to the street being shown some of the locations where some out of street events were filmed such as the funeral home where stingray was laid to rest (although i never saw that so i did not know what she was on about). At the street we took the photos with the sign and all of those sad things that you have to do when you are a neighbours fan. We did only get 5 minutes on the street because they were filming 'stock shots' which meant there were no actors there. We did get to meet one of the cast at the studio but i was a bit dissapointed! I was hoping for a harold or a paul what we did get was a fraser. Ok could have been someone totally unimportant like ringo! after a bit of a chat and some photos with him and of the garage and grease monkeys it was back on the bus and back to town. We got to see some classic episodes like harolds wedding and some deaths and disasters and we found out some possible happenings. I will let all you fans in on what we are told, Susan gets MS, falls asleep at the wheel of her car and knocks down new girl bridget who then ends up in a wheel chair. Libby comes back again to help look after Susan because Karl can't cope as he is working. I can't remember anything else right now but if i do i will add it in.

We decided to have a look at the Casino on our around and about walk back to the hostel. After winning nothing but only losing $10 between us in this huge casino i think we are ready for Vegas!

Last meal in Oz was tapas yum yum from the little lane next to the hostel and then to celebrate a good time and to toast our travel to New Zealand we had to go and redeem our neighbour drinks voucher at an Irish pub where we ended up staying most of the night drinking and watching Kareoke, not quite how i remember Oz but a good night all the same. A good send off in the amazing city of Melbourne.

on the road again starting in marvelous melbourne

jessikat — Mon, 3 Sep 2007 15:38:00 GMT

This place is definatley a breath of fresh air after being stuck in Cairns for what seemed like an eternity. I may be exaggerating a little bit but for those who have been to Cairns and stayed there for more than about 2 days let alone the 7ish weeks that we were there you have to agree that the town/city does not have very much to offer. We did get out for a day to Green Island where we could relax on a real beach, go snorkelling and generally escape the monotony of the town. The snorkelling was good a lot better than i expected although at the time we decided to go in the tide was out which made it a little difficult as there was less than a foot of water over bits of the reef, definately not comfortable for us or the coral. We saw some pretty impressive big fish including one grouper type thing which myst have been around 4 foot long with a huge big mouth that looked capable of swallowing small children! It is a shame that it did not swallow some of them especially the one who kept swimming up behind me right into my flippers forcing me into the coral on one side and Sam on the other, he would have been a tasty treat for the fish! We also took the glass bottom boat tour, it was actually really good something worth doing. And we did not get sea sick despite the 'captain's' warnings and the numerous sick bag dispensers located at easy reach intervals. The coral around the island is so shallow, it is not the most colourful but there were a lot of fish, big mouthed fish, weird sucker mouth fish, little multi-coloured fish, in fact there were all sorts but unfortunately no turtles, i think because it was the wrong time of year. We did see some whales though, not when we were snorkelling! but a little bit away (well quite a long way away but they were there all the same!) while we were sitting catching the sun on the deck on the way home. This day was really the only exciting thing we did while we were in the far north. That is unless you count washing cars or washing dishes and cleaning bathrooms fun!

We that is enough about Cairns now because we are not there anymore we are free, back on the road (well just about) yippee. Melbourne is brilliant. I think that it might just have bumped Sydney off the Australia top spot! We are staying right in the city centre here next to Flinders street station. It is cheap and the beds are comfortable but it has to be said it is really noisy. On our first night sleep was impeeded by someone who could probably be a top contender for loudest and most unusually irritating snorer on earth, probably the worst i have ever heard (well maybe i have heard some pretty bad snoring i won't mention any names!!). It is probably something to do with the fact that the rooms only have partition walls that do not reach the ceiling. It is however not a bad place despite the noise. And there is one good thing (at least in my opinion) about the weather being a bit colder and that is we get duvets again instead of horrid sheets.

So far we have had a good wander around up the little laneways with their pavement cafe's and chic little shops selling everything from cupcakes to jewelery and shoes. We went to the botanic gardens and along the south bank stopping to have a look at an interactive modern art exhibition and to the craft market along the river where we saw some ''circus dogs'' and some hulahooping!. In St.Kilda we had a good wander around through Luna park and along the pier before going to the espy where we had a good few drinks and listened to some live music played by a band of ageing rockers, they definately looked like they had been around to see some interesting things as did there accompanying man on the air-guitar, a very good night all in all. Lygon Street was another place we liked a lot with all those italian restaurants and shops who could't like it so we stayed for pizza and pasta after a few pints in the not so Italian, Irish pub down the road, mmmmmmmmmmm. That was not the end of pizza eating either with a visit to Fitzroy's brunswick street and the attraction of $4 pizza with yummy toppings we could not resist in fact we ended up sharing 3 in one night (they were just baby ones though so it is not as bad as it sounds), we had a bit of a pub/food crawl which resulted in this mass of pizza_it was something we had to do though to check out a few of the streets establishments. We did go back the next day too, to another place for more food though this time we resisted the pizza going for good old pasta also very good and for less than $10 with a glass of wine it tasted even better. Another good food experience was prahan market, it was soooo good, lots of nice fresh food, fruit and veg, meat and fish and olives and cheese etc. I think the bit we enjoyed most was the tasters though, so many olives and cheese and dips and sausages and for sam and oyster too. We ended up getting 3 tubs full of olives which were all gone by the end of the day, that would have never happened if Sam had not had a change of taste and decided olives were as amazing as i had said! thank god.

Not everything we have done so far in Melbourne has revolved around food/bars/shops though we have seen some other stuff. We went to the melbourne museum where we looked at some dinosaurs, watched some 3-D films, made faces in the fun-fair mirrors, i beat sam in the reaction time test!! haha, and we had a look at an old neighbours set the old skully kitchen. It was a lot better than i thought and i am glad that we got over out indecision and went in. We are off to go to the neighbours studio tomorrow to see the real ramsey street, a bit of tv culture! just what we came to melbourne for, it is going to be a good day!

Cairns

jessikat — Fri, 6 Jul 2007 13:00:00 GMT

Well we have made it to Cairns in our adopted home, our camperman campervan. It has been a long drive up from Sydney and we have finally escaped the cold and the rain. However, it is a shame to have to give up the van it has been good to be able to do things at our own pace taking our little house with us everywhere. It is now time to settle down at least temporarily to try and get some money together for the next 4 months (i can't believe that is all that is left!).

We handed the van back this morning, no problems. I want it back though. It was definately worth getting i would not have liked to travel up here any other way. We are making some progress at least in that we have got somewhere to stay. We have a room in a shared house which is only costing $70 a week because i am working for my share of the rent by cleaning for 10ish hours a week. We moved in today but have yet to unpack, i think i need to start the cleaning in our area first and try and move along some of the ants from the kitchen! Sam has found himself a job already doing painting and stuff at a house/hostel nearby, hopefully it will turn out to be more than a couple of days. It is not as easy to get a job here as we thought, everyone is looking and it is only a small town. I don't know if it is worth getting an RSA or whatever it is you need to get a job in a bar. I would prefer just to do something where i do not need anything. I am looking but it is not to urgent as we are not splashing out much money on rent and Sam is earning a bit.

Today is the first day that i have had to amuse myself with sam being at work. So i am spending it walking around in the sun looking for a job (although i just realised that i left my CV's somewhere) and shopping, its not such a hard life! I don't have to do any work until monday so i when i am done with town i can go and sit by the pool, although i think i will probably be cleaning when i get back anyway!

Cairns is such a small city i think i am going to get to know it very well especially as it looks like getting a job may not be very forthcoming.

I can't wait to get to New Zealand. It will be cold and wet, and we have been trying to escape that, but at least it will be different. Australia is a beautiful country but i am looking for a change. Maybe i will be thinking differently once i get a job but who knows.

Cairns

jessikat — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 15:44:00 GMT

We arrived in Cairns in the dark and were dropped off at our accomodation straight from the airport. Everything was silet and dark and there were no visible signs of life in the surrounding area. It was not a particularly good start especially when the room was not what we had expected and was not suitable. It will all be better in the morning or so we hoped and thankfully it was. We got a different room with a proper bathroom and no bunkbeds and we could see where we were which is always a good thing. The weather was not perfect but it was good enough to have a walk down to the beach and have a swim. Being stinger season meant that swimming in the sea was not advisable and there were nets up which took some of the fun out of swimming but at least the evil jellyfish can't get in. The one plus about the slightly grey and windy weather along with the jellyfish meant that there were not many people about. The main noise in the area, which is primarily residential was the cockatoos squarking.

It was decided to rent a car and we took a drive up to Cape tribulation (well nearly to the cape). It is a beautiful drive particlularly the bit along the coast to port douglas. On the way we stopped at Port Douglas, the daintree and mossman gorge. We got as far as crossing over the river on the vehicle ferry and then to a lovely strech of beach called thornton beach. We spent some time just walking along it up until the sand ran out replaced by the rainforest, this area was especially beautiful being covered in a light mist drifting out into the sea. As it was getting late and we had all had enough driving we headed back from here.

Another day we drove up the winding road to the town of Kuranda. It all seemed a bit run down, due to the weather and the season i suppose. We had a look around the market and we were lucky enough to have phil and judith buy us an aboriginal painting to go up in the flat when we get back. I would have loved to get the sky rail but sadly it was closed for maintenance.

While in Cairns there was another visit to be paid. This time it was a cousin of Judiths who had moved to Australia 40 years ago, she still has her local uk accent after all those years. Cath happened to live very close to where we were staying Clifton beach so we went around for a short chat and a drink and ended up there quite a bit longer. Understandable i suppose as there was a lot of catching up to do not to mention the fact that Cath is a bit of a talker anyway. She seemed to think i was the double of her daughter even going as far as saying we have the same hands, which she promptly took a photo of. It was nice to see some of the photos her daughter had taken of christmas island among other places, many of wildlife especially sea birds. She was especially animated when talking about her passions of diving and her daughter.

From cairns it was another plane back down to brisbane. To start our road trip to Sydney.

G'day Brisbane

jessikat — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 15:42:00 GMT

You could say that it was a bigger culture shock coming to australia that going to asia. Having become used to life in Asia, the cost, the colour, the people i don't think that either of us were thrilled by Brisbane. We had been excited about Australia but that soon began to evaporate (at least for me). The city was just like i remember it from when i was in Australia years ago, that is grey, industrial with a bit of an empty feeling. I know that not everyone feels like that though and i know it is not really a bad city i am just not a fan.

We stayed in the city just down the road from the hotel that Sam's parents were in. It was a pretty souless place but the location was good and the price was not too bad on the Oz scale. I am going to have to make a point of not complaining about the cost of australia as i know it is boring so just need to get it out my system, it is expensive at least by backpacker budgets. I don't know how people spend so long here. Anyway now on with the trip.

We went out for a few drinks our first night in brisbane and ended up in one of the hostel bars in town. We met some interesting people, drank some free beer and lots of not so free beer and had a good night. It did lead to a not so good morning though, i was definatley feeling the worse for wear. It was not a good day to be sick either because we were off to meet some of Phil's family (i think). I made it there although the car journey was a bit hellish and i am sorry to say that i did have to leave the company for a bit to go and lie down or to go to the bathroom all in the name of recovery. I was sorry not to be able to really enjoy the lovely lunch that they cooked mmmmm. I was definately glad to get back to bed that night!

We all spent some time just wandering around brisbane getting a feel for the place. Sam and myself took it easy and did not really see a lot unlike judith and phil who got up early and did it all. I think it was partly the initial 'asia sickness' that made me a little despondant in this city but getting out definately helped. Out in this case was to Buderim to stay with some old Uni friends of Phil and Judith's. We stayed at their house nearly a week. We arrived to a beautiful sunset and the evening was improved further sitting on their balcony with its beautiful view over the countryside and over to the east the sea.

We spent the week with Pat, Bill and Sam the dog looking around the local area. Sam and his parents went to fraser island (i have been too) on one day while i stayed with sam the dog and tried to update some of this journal. We went to Australia Zoo, which was really good well worth spending the day there. In the hinterland we drove to the glass house mountains and the small towns of malaney (with its famous cheese) and some of the other quaint, artsy towns recommended to us by Bill and Pat.

Bill and Pat took us to Noosa, Maloolaba and the famous and fantastic Eumundi market. At Noosa we went for a walk along the coast where we saw a wild Koala much to my surprise, i thought bill had just made it up as a ploy to try and get us to walk for miles! That was something i will remember, it was worth the short walk i am glad we saw it then as soon after seeing all the koalas in australia zoo i decided they were not that interesting after all, all they do is sleep! We also saw our first Kangaroo's on this trip, outside the university where bill works.

We were treated to some great food while staying in Buderim. Thai food in Maloolaba and a roast cooked on the BBQ as well as lots of dips and all sorts of good things. From the start any weight lost in asia had a hard chance in staying lost!

After an enjoyable week in Buderim we were off to Cairns. We made it to the airport despite the heavy traffic at the end of a long weekend and a few other obstacles and were soon on the plane to the tropics.

Gallery: singapore

jessikat — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:15:00 GMT

Gallery: Oz

jessikat — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:02:00 GMT

singapore

jessikat — Wed, 2 May 2007 12:34:00 GMT

We certainly managed to fit in a lot of places and activities in our few days in Singapore. We arrived in the morning on the train from KL which had really comfy beds and pillows and even a window on the top bunk, i don't know what the seat belts were for though! After missing a few buses with the number we had been told to get we ended up on a bus of another number which said it was going to the street near our guesthouse. This was a mistake though as it turned out that this street was very very very long and it actually did not go anywhere near where we wanted to be. Luckily we managed to work this out before had gone to far and were within walking range. Phew. It took a little longer to walk than anticipated as we had our big bags and it was raining and rain and flip flops don't mix, we managed to go a little faster withour them. It was such a relief to get to the guest house especially as it was such a bargain by singapore standards at $25 (singapore) for a double room, it was only a minor dissapointment to end up with bunk beds. After a couple of rounds of toast we went out to explore our local area of little India.

It was nice to walk around despite the weather although it did influence our first choice of destinations. We went to have a look around the huge 24 hour department store near by. It is a massive and very confusing place that seems to sell everything that you could wish for and more. We only lasted about 20 minutes the first time as it was all a bit crazy more so because it was full of people everywhere all the time, it was a bit of a challange getting through it and even more so trying to get out of the maze of overflowing lanes. After escaping we were happy to find ourselves confronted with lots of shops selling dosa and as to be expected loads of cheap indian food. We had thought that KL may be our last chance to stock up but we were proved wrong.

We had arranged to meet Vinod who was in Singapore on business having driven down from KL a few days before. He took us to a restaurant he knew where we once again indulged in some comforting Indian fast food. It was nice to see him again and to be given another mini tour (this time very small just around little India) which was nice as he showed us some things we might have had trouble finding, like the pub! Unfortunatly he was very busy with work and he did not manage to meet us again but i suppose that is what happens when you have a proper job!

We managed to make ourselves comfortable using the fantastic underground system, we were lucky enough to have a stop near our hostel. And explored a little further going to china town and to the river around the historic district. As we seem to have been doing everywhere we did a lot of walking there is always so much to look at.

After we had been in Singapore a day or two we went to meet Sam's parents who flew out to meet us and who we were to continue on to Australia with. We arranged to meet them at there big posh hotel on Orchard road, a little different from our accommodation! it was a good place to wait making the most of comfortable seats and airconditioning. This was when the real sightseeing began. We definately all managed to see Singapore and i think to do it justice.

We all went to little India for a cheap dinner in our side of town to give Phil and Judith a taste of how we had been living. This meant more dosa for me and everyone else had something different, puri, roti and i am not sure of the name of the type of bread phil had but it looked like a puffed up cushion/balloon. We also went to have singapore slings in Raffles which was a little more expensive (!) than our dinner the night before. I am not sure that everyone was impressed by the bar with its peanut shells all over the floor and a few pigeons taking it upon themselves to make themselves at home. The hotel itself is beautiful but the drinks it is so famous for were not so good (soapy tasting was one thought on them).

We spent some time walking around various areas of the city taking it in, all of it very clean, which is one of its claims to fame as is the fact it is very safe. We spent an evening at the night safari which was good but not as good as we had been led to believe. We went to eat at one of the food markets which had been recommended to us by one of the cities friendly taxi drivers and after walking around being accosted by every stallholder we decided on one which looked good (although they were probably all very similar) we chose a tasty looking crab from a cage at the front of the stall. The chilli crab was really good as were the vegetables and the other dishes we had. The beer was very cold as we had been assured by a man selling drinks next door. A meal to be remembered.

Our flights were at the same time (just about) so we went to the airport together and departed to our different terminals ready to see each other at the other end in the next stop and a world away Brisbane, Australia.

From tall towers to white sands

jessikat — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:17:00 GMT

Arriving in KL i was struck by the size of it and some of the 'modern' amenities such as the monorail/underground system. This is certainly a city a world away from some of the places we had previously been. One of the most striking differences was also one of the most obvious and that was the number of skyscrapers and other high rise buildings, the most famous being the Petronas towers one of the worlds tallest buildings.

We arrived in the centre after a long taxi ride from the airport which we shared with a woman travelling from Australia. After being dropped off in town we managed to find our hostel which as it turned out was actually pretty good as well as being the cheapest we had managed to find. On our arrival we were shown around by John who very thoroughly showed us around and told us about the area. After settling in we headed out to meet our new Aussie friend to get some dinner. As we had no idea where to go we were reliant on our new friend who had been before. We ended up in the nearby market area in the nearby Chinatown where we had some noodle dishes that were tasty although i am still not sure what was in them.

It was quite nice to experience the hustle and bustle of a big city that we had not experienced for a while, probably since Bangkok. I always feel strangely at home in big cities even though i would not wish to spend a lot of time in them.

A lot of our time in KL was spent walking around pretty aimlessly getting a feel for the place or at least for the area that we were staying in. We explored the area around Merdaka square and the petronas towers. We took the underground to the towers and then in the cause of saving money we walked back via the KL tower. I have to admit that i did not go up, i am far too scared of such things! Sam did though so i did get too see the photos of the extended views all over the city, which i admit were impressive, but not that impressive that i felt i had missed out.

There was a lot going on in KL while we were there due to the Grand Prix which was being held there (in the nearby track). We went to one of the grand prix pre-event things held by BMW just next to the petronas towers, there were demonstrations of their cars and about all sorts of things about grand prix cars and drivers, it was especially good as it was free although it was a bit hot. Sitting directly in the sun i could almost feel my feet face melting and it was too hot for the cars too so we did not really get to see much. If only we owned a BMW then you got into the air con vip bit with free food and drink too!

After spending most nights not doing very much (due to the fact we were usually to knackered after walking around all day and also that we could not find much to do around where we were staying) we were suprised to get a knock on our door one night. This was an invitation to a party on the roof with free food, cheap beer (we never saw any cheaper anywhere else in KL) and music provided by one of the guys at the hostel. The music; guitar playing and singing gradually got more and more confused as the night drew on and he was not the only one who had a good night.

After a couple of days in the city of giant towers we left to fly to another malysian city but one altogther different. We stopped at kota bharu for a couple of days before moving on to travel to the much anticipated perhentian islands. We arrived at the jetty to take us to the islands after a drawn out journey in an ancient mercedes taxi which was late for the ferry but luckily for us the ferry was running late too. The weather was stormy and the sea was more than a bit choppy and this was pushing things behind. When we did get on board we did with all our valubles in plastic bags and ready to get wet- we had seen the bedragled state of the people who had just got off! It was soon time to leave the shelter of the harbour and move out into open water. From the start we were tossed atound and sitting on the sides of the boat we were soon drenched. The boat and our bodies often feeling the drop from crest to trough of the large waves. This jarring was definately not for anyone with bad backs, one of the older passengers looked to be in particular pain and unfortunately the journey took over and hour. It started off quite exciting but towards the end i think we all wanted off. After another 20 minutes or so of trekking across the island after being dropped off by another smaller boat and another RM4 we reached our chosen destination of long beach. I think it took others a bit longer in particular a couple of british girls dragging huge suitcases along the muddy and narrow jungle track- crazy! Now it was time to escape the rain and find somewhere to stay.

I was suprised to find that it was more expensive than i had thought but we got a nice room on a hill over looking the beach it had a bathroom and rare for the island 24 hour electricity. The reason we ended up on long beach was because it had the most facilities but unfortunately that does also mean the most people. It was more built up than i had been led to believe but then it has also obviously changed a lot since the people who recommended it to us in India had been. We spent our time just chilling out on the beach swimming Sam went diving, i signed up to dive but once again got hit by the curse of sickness and we took a boat and went snorkelling. The most interesting thing about the place was probably the people we met especially Vinod who was staying in the room next door. We were lucky that the next room along was also occupied by someone who we also got to know, john.

It turned out that Vinod (i might have spelt this wrong, i apologise in advance) was from KL and was having a short break from working hard for medicines sans frontieres. He told us all about his work and all kinds of other things and he invited us to meet up with him in KL when we got back saying he would show us around. Nights were spent watching movies or sitting around talking at the bar. There was also a fair bit of money spent eating in the restaurants (overall the food was all terrible) and buying nasty cheap vodka!. We failed to bring any alcohol with us due to a lack of planning and forgetfullness. This was a big mistake as it was more expensive and the stuff we ended up drinking was pretty horrible, definately leading to feeling worse the day after.

The island is so small and so with any news of a party there was quickly a crowd made up of what seemed like the whole area, at least this seemed to be the case at the party they had at our accommodation. It was a good laugh, very busy, very load and with some very crazy dancing!

I have to admit i was bored though after being there a week. I don't think i am a tropical island kinda girl. I start to feel a bit trapped and impatient, i am not the kind of person who can just sit on the beach and sunbathe. The swimming was good, at least it was until i got caught in a rip and ignored the rules it felt like there was definately cause to panic! (although i know it is the thing you are not to do) and i had to be rescued by sam, after that i was not so keen on swimming. So when it was time to go we were definately ready although some people staying there had gone for a week and were still there months later. We got back to kota bharu after a nice calm but very fast boat ride and a very fast taxi. It was then decided to go for the slow bus to the airport after it was an hour late and the bus was still not there i have to admit i was a little worried we would miss the flight. So just as i was trying to force Sam to get a taxi it arrived and we did get to the airport on time despite my misgivings! next time i will just keep my mouth shut!

So after a quick flight we were back at the KL airport, which as i think i mentionned before is not particularly near KL.

Gallery: beaches and skyscrapers

jessikat — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:12:00 GMT

KL and the coast

from white sands to tall towers (2)

jessikat — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:11:00 GMT

So after a quick flight we were back at the KL airport, which as i think i mentionned before is not particularly near KL. The plan had been to get a bus straight from the airport to Melaka but unfortunatley this was scuppered by missing the last bus by about half an hour. So our options were to get a different bus to another place and then another bus to melaka but it was getting pretty late and the directions were not too good. We could also go back to KL, stay the night and then get a bus the next day. The final option was a taxi, this was also the most expensive (just) and seemed like an unneeded splurge for us. This was however the way we chose in the end. After much haggling with some man at the airport bus station (who knows if he was anything to do with taxi's!) a price was agreed and a taxi appeared. As i mention above i am not convinced that the service was being provided by an actual taxi service. The 'taxi' was bright green, with blacked out windows, a massive growling exhaust, lowered suspension- a proper boy racer car. The guy driving was very nice and so was his friend who he went to pick up to come along with us for the ride. It took a little longer than we thought and even when we had 'entered melaka' according to the road signs it was another 30 minutes along a road which had the most petrol stations i have ever seen in one area and lots of trees sparkelling with white fairy lights until we got to the centre. Whoever they were we got there alright and they were nice enough to drive us around the city for ages asking directions to make sure we got to the right place.

The next day we moved to a cheaper guesthouse (there were no cheap rooms left in the one we checked in to first) which was good except for the mystery water which leaked under our door one night and soaked everything. It was then about time we started to explore Melaka. One of the best things we found in melaka apart from all the historical stuff was the food. Roti Canai, masala dosa, thali's and all of our favourite things. It was a bit like being back in India in that department and it was cheap too. After all the crap food on the perhentians it was heavenly.

We found that in the city you could walk around just about everywhere in Melaka at least all of the 'sites' although i was tempted by the brightly decorated multi-coloured cyclos, especially at night with all the neon lights and music (CD players). We went to the Stadthuys museum, a history museum covering the history of melaka in the oldest dutch building in the East. I can't say we were very impressed, i am definately glad that we did not have to pay full price (we went in the afternoon where you pay less as you do not get the full day to use the ticket). It just seemed a bit dull and in places run down, it was also hard to read the descriptions as they all seemed to be placed at knee height, who knows why?!. We spent some time walking around by the river/canal and the old houses nearby and then into china town. The market in China town was great we did some shopping, had a few beers while listening to some terrible karaoke (some people just kept getting back up and i swear they just got worse!) and then some live music in the form of a man and a guitar which was not too bad once he got the mic to stop screeching. All this was accompanied by a huge thunder and lightning storm which was impressive to watch, the rain which we and everyone else seemed to be expecting did not come till a lot later on much to ours and the stallholders relief.

We also made the most of the airconditioning in some of the big shopping malls on a couple of occasions and ended up going bowling as well as shopping to try and replace some of our disintegrating clothes (indian washing processes are not always the kindest).

We saw some amazing sunsets while in melaka unfortunatly the one we witnessed after climbing to St.Pauls church (now just a shell) at the top of the cleverly named! St. Pauls hill was not the most spectacular, although it was still worth the climb.

Our exit from melaka was not as exciting as our entrance. After wandering the street we were told to get the bus from looking for a bus stop (it was really hot) we discovered that there were not any and you just stick your arm out, we got to the bus station. At the bus station we met an Irish guy who we had met looking for beer in the street near our hostel and then gone for a meal with we bought our tickets and within 10 minutes we were on the bus and leaving. Back to KL. The bus started off pretty empty and I still had two seats to myself at the end of the 2 hours it took to get back. After a short walk we were back at the good ole' travellers home where we were once again welcomed by john and the boys. We have left them a very nice review which i think they were pleased with.

In Kl we met up with Vinod as planned and he gave us a chauffer driven tour of the city. He also took us for lunch, a proper Indian thali, which was really good, we were the only tourists there and i don't think that i will be able to find it again. We went all over the place, to the national mosque, the big war memorial sculpture near the government house, we drove through merdaka square, went to modern out of town shopping centres, drank some chinese coffee accompanied with bread and i think condensed milk (which i love as it seems do the malaysians) yum yum. Vinod was also a knowledgable tour guide and gave us a running commentary about where we were passing and a bit of a history lesson. It definaley helps to have a locals eye view of a foreign place. After our sight seeing we went for a drink, to watch the football (can't remember which game arsenal vs ?) and to try some of the local version of greasy after club food i think he said it is called mamak (?) and is maggi noodles with lots of stuff mixed in, very greasy and very good.

We also met up with one of Sam's old flat mates from Uni who is living in KL. Vinod drove us to the bar to meet him but then unfortunately had to go. So we had some more beers and a catch up and then we met up with some of darrens friends and went to another bar. Where they were buying bottles of whiskey accompanied by carafes of mixer (it was a nice bar). At about 2am after some good catching up and more than a few drinks we got a taxi back home. After a much needed lie in we looked around the city again, ate some more dosa and this is what we did until we left to singapore on the very comfortable train.

phnom penh

jessikat — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 18:44:00 GMT

We arrived in Phnom penh in the afternoon after having taken the super mekong express bus from Siem Reap. Our first choice for accommodation was staying at the lake for a couple of reasons one of the big ones being it was fairly cheap. We soon discovered that it is not really a great place to stay if you want to see much of the city but it is really good if you just want to lie in a hammock and smoke joints all day. We spent a couple of nights there, watched the sunset over the lake and watched a couple of films but could not handle it any more as we actually wanted to do something.

There are lots of rumours that the lake is not going to be there for much longer as it has been sold off to some big foreign company and will be filled in. No body seems to know exactually what is going on but at least we have seen it, what there is to see is a bit smelly and dirty but it is nice to sit by in the evening on one of the big creaking verrandah areas.

After moving from the lake we saw a lot more. We found a guesthouse just near the river and the royal palace and so could walk to most places we wanted. We spent a week in phnom penh all together taking our time to see the main tourist sites and to wander around and see what was going on in the city.

We visited the royal palace and saw the silver pagoda and the emerald buddha, most of the solid silver floor tiles are covered up with carpet and sellotape, but the ones that you could see gave us a good idea of what the whole area must have once looked like. The rest of the palace complex was also pretty impressive with nice garden areas, everything is pretty well maintained except for some painted wall murals which may or may not be in the process of restoration, you could not really tell. Next to the palace is the national museum which is a nice building with a central courtyard around which many angkor age relics are placed. I am not sure either of us were really interested in the pieces that much but the setting was nice and having seen angkor wat we could get a better idea about what they would have looked like in there original setting.

We also visited the Toul Sleng museum or S-21 as it is also known. This is the former school in phnom penh where many prisoners of all ages were imprisoned and tortured. It was a moving site, walking around the cells which had been occupied when the khymer rouge fell and when any prisoners that were alive were freed. There are photos of how the victims were left in the cell they were found in. It was an unsettling upsetting feeling which only continued as we walked passed the thousands of photographs of those who were imprisoned in S-21 from young children to the elderly, then seeing the torture equipment and some of the skulls. All in all incredibly disturbing but it certainly helps to remind people who visit of the attrocities committed so it hopefully does not happen again.

We also visited the killing fields at Chou ek which were also very moving. Seeing the memorial stupa filled with more than 8000 skulls of victims so far discovered, there is no more room in this one either! The site is actually very pretty, with a lot of trees and flowers an birds, it had been a chinese cemetary before the khymer rouge acquired the land. This makes it even more disturbing and unbelievable to think of what happened here. Walking around you are stepping on fragments of bone and pieces of cloth from the clothes of the victims. The guide said there are other mass graves as yet uncovered. After we left and got in the tuk tuk to head back to town still thinking about the horror of where we had just been the driver asked us quite cheerily if we wanted to go to the shooting ranges! We did find this quite shocking although we have heard of a lot of people doing it, the timing though seemed pretty inappropriate.

We both really liked phnom penh and i think we could have stayed longer and despite all i have heard and read i did not seem to notice all the sleeze that is known to go on. Maybe we were lucky not to witness it or maybe we just did not see it, either way it seemed like an ok place. There are such a lot expats is the city either running bars or just sitting around. Maybe this has something to do with the sleezy side or maybe not.

We also went to the 2 main markets although we did not buy a lot except a pair of cheap ear phones that lasted less than a day at central market and some jewelry at the oven-like russian market. We did have a good walk around and saw all sorts of things, i think you could buy anything you could think of. The big yellow central market was a little easier and more comfortable to get around unlike the low ceilinged metal tin can like russian market. It was another time when i have thought it would have been nice to be able to take lots of stuff home but can't.

angkor wat

jessikat — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 18:37:00 GMT

Arriving in Cambodia was a little different to how i expected it. We got to the airport which was very nice and new looking we got straight through the visa line no problems and all the atm machines (there are a lot) give out the coveted US dollar. We got to the guesthouse that we had been reccommended after the taxi driver weakley tried to get us to stay somewhere else and then we spent about 4/5 days being sick, first sam and then me, watching HBo and reading with the occasional short trip out to get some food or drink. Once we were finally well enough we decided to make our first trip to the famous Angkor Wat.

After weighing up the options we decided to get bikes and cycle there. This was made easier as we had seen bikes we thought would be good as they had a nice bouncy spring suspension and were not expensive. I checked the brakes which were working enough and we set off and then a couple of minutes down the road when we decided to change gears we realised they did not work and were set in a high gear. This definately made the journey a little more difficult especially in the heat. We ended up exhausted on what should have been an easy ride and were over taken more than a few times by bikes with no gears and comfortable looking tourists in tuk tuks. We saw quite a lot and it was amazing but we decided to head back before sunset and to come back the next day with a tuk tuk!

This trip in the tuk tuk convinced us that it was the only way to do it as it meant we were not dying of heat exhaustion when we got to the temples and we had energy to explore a bit more. We saw the main temples of Angkor wat, the bayon, ta prohm and many others- i think 'templed out' is a popular phrase and we certainly felt it. The highlights for me were the bayon with all those faces and the magical ta prohm with its giant tree roots. We walked off the main tourist path to another temple called ta nei which we had been recommended by someone as being 'like ta prohm but better with more vegetation', it was not and is not worth the 20minute walk there and the 20 minutes back especially since i think we spent less than 5 minutes there! maybe we were hasty and there is something amzing hidden but after so many other more interesting temples it was a waste of energy.

There were so many people visiting angkor, i thought it was meant to be the low season but apparently not! The numbers were demonstrated splendidly when we went to watch sunset at the temple on the hill (i can't remember the name), there was hardly space at the top of the hill to sit and the amount of coaches, tuk tuks and other vehicles at the bottom of the hill was incredible. There were people from all over the world visiting, many in big tour groups which walked very slow, were very load and inconsiderate to those tourists in smaller groups. It made seeing the temples a little more difficult and meant that seeing them in the hottest part of the day was worth it as there were less of these groups. The sunset is one of the things that everyone goes to see and of course due to the nature of it everyone is at the same place at the same time. It was however pretty dissapointing we got there and could hardly see where the sun was it was so cloudy and so we left after holding on as long as we could to see if anything would happen. It just so happened that in the tuktuk back we could see a lovely sky.

It was so hot most days that we had to shower at least 3 times a day, this made exploring a lot of siem reap on foot unappealing. We did walk around a bit and ate at some nice (looking) restaurants including the famous red piano (tomb raider/jolie) and the unusual looking dead fish tower which had many levels and even some crocodiles which you can feed. One of the most constant sites in siem reap is the book sellers many of them land mine victims who have carts, some donated by people overseas selling copy books on cambodia and lonely planet guide books for all over the world. It is sad to see so many people including children who have been injured by landmines but it is also refreshing to see these people not beg for money by using peoples pity. There are also lots of children carrying around these books to sell as well as bangles and postcards- all of whom seem to have memorised the geography section of a world encyclopedia. They ask you what country you are from and they reel off the population, capital, country leader and many other facts, this along with the fact that they are all so cute! meant it was hard not to buy everything. There are a number of restaurants and shops which train local children so they can get a job especially in the service/tourist industry and others which give a percentage of profits to help. One of these we went to was a butterfly garden which was a lovely place to sit surrounded by flowers and butterflies. It is a shame we saw this on the last day.

I was definately glad to leave Siem reap for all the nice places to sit and charitable places it feels quite false, i am not sure really how else to describe it. And to move on especially after we ended up staying so long was definatley a relief.

luang prabang

jessikat — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 18:34:00 GMT

Having decided to forego any long journeys on any type of land transport we limited ourselves somewhat (by our choice of flights) to Luang Prabang and Pakse and the surrounding areas.

I have already covered some of our time in Luang Prabang in another story but that was so long ago that i will probably end up repeating some stuff here but, at least i am finally filling in this bit of the story.

After the inital suprise by the show of wealth in some areas especially in the types of shops and restuarants not to mention the presence of a brand new shiny hummer jeep! It is obvious that the town (or city as it is known) is very reliant on the tourist dollar. A lot of the tourists were of a more mature age and part of adventure/cultural tour experiences but maybe those with a little extra luxury. There is definately a market for the higher cost local crafts in some of the beautiful shops which i contented myself with just browsing. It is definately a town to do some shopping if you have the inclination, money and space. Every night there was a market taking up a large portion of the main street in front of the palace. The market mainly consisted of fabric handicrafts made by the locals at home including slippers, bags and clothes as well as jewellery, antiques and some food stalls too.

We found that there were also a lot of more budget travellers as we expected unfortunately though we found that our money did not go as far here as we expected- i suppose that is what happens when the upper end of the tourist market overlaps with the budget one. Even so it was nice that we could all be millionaires, that opportunity does not come along too often.

We had a pretty quiet time in Luang prabang cycling around along the river watching people working on the areas of land farmed mainly for subsistance on both sides of the river, visited some of the beautiful Wat's some of which were being repaired by monks. We also visited the royal palace, a fairly simple building in the great scheme of palaces; the palace interior has been left more or less intact to how it was when it was occupied. One of my favourite parts was the room decorated in colourful glass mosaics (possibly the throne room) depicting many different scenes from battles, decapitations, strange fish and many others the rest of the palace past this point is pretty spartan.

We ventured down to the river and as well as watching the locals playing boules we could see the slow boats meandering along, it was especially relaxing at sunset which was beautiful over the water. During the day people also use the river for the less conventional transport option of tubing. This involves sitting in a big tractor inner tube and floating down the river, it often appeared as if they were having a competition to see how many people they could fit in one without turning it over which did happen fairly often.

One of the more interesting places that we ate was the 'lao' BBQ, a cook your own affair which we have since seen called by various other things. We had buffalo and chicken and a lot of greens, noodles and egg for the soup which was also part of it. It was certainly a lot of fun to do, i wish we could do it at home. This BBQ place was one of the more popular places to sit and have a drink, something to eat and to stay out a little later. There were definately a higher number of younger people than in some other places and you could sit in the garden or inside to play pool or watch TV. They played Lao music which we did not see as unusual but a sign outside seemed to indicate it was. The sign stated that as of a certain date the government had declared that only lao music could be played. It also stated that a 11pm curfew was in place. We did not really know what to make of this especially as many other places seemed to be breaking it!

We also got our first taste of the lao love of drinking on womans day. A day when women are supposed to get the day off and the men do the work, or at least that is what we were told. Definately something that we should adopt in the UK! It did appear however that most people of both sexes took the day off and had a few drinks to celebrate.

We took a day trip to the waterfalls nearby (via a local village). The busy minibus drove us through the countryside along dusty roads and past a shocking amount of burning or recently burned vegetation (a scene we were, sadly, to see repeatedly in other places we saw) as well as some local villages which reconfirmed to us that in no way was the rest of lao like luang prabang. One thing that we saw that was a unexpected was some white water buffallo. On arrival at the falls with what seemed like half the tourists in luang prabang we wandered to the water stopping off to see a bear sanctuary and a lone tiger, both of which were once common in the wild here. Sam was braver than me and braved the freezing water as did our guide/friend Sak, who came on the trip with us. Both seemed to enjoy leaping off the rope swing and jumping of the waterfalls.

We got bikes again but this time we had a purpose. Sak had told us about a local sports event. He said there would be football and that it was a tournament between various schools across the country, we had the impression that it was only a minor thing as we had heard nothing else about it. It was actually quite far out of town (in the end i did not go as i was not feeling too well). It was also in reality a very big thing in Laos as i saw on the TV later. The event Sam went to was only the opening ceremony there were no actual games. There was however some parachutists, helicopters, marching parades and some singing and dancing as well as thousands and thousands of people for who an event like this was something that they didn't see very often. It was certainly something to give Sam (wish i was there!) a lasting impression on one of our last days in luang prabang before heading south.

From Wats to waterfalls

jessikat — Mon, 2 Apr 2007 15:57:00 GMT

After only and hour and a half and another good flight with another on board meal we arrived in Pakse. Impressions of this city were not so favourable as those of Luang Prabang had been, it is not a city of UNESCO heritage material. It was a change of scene to go with the change in climate. We had moved from the temperate northern climate with its pretty historic centre, timber french style buildings and tree lined streets to the altogether different humid heat and concrete of Pakse. One of the first things to redeem it was that it was cheaper (in the main) and we even managed to get a room with the now much wished for air-con and the extra addition of a TV with a remote control (even if it was a chopstick!). The only thing that cost more was bike rental and being stingey we got one bike for us to share. This did make exploring a little easier as long as we were on the flat, hills were definately a problem and with sam being the pedaller it was understood i would walk these. It was the cause of much amusement to some of the local kids who were probably unused to seeing such a sight as surely most tourists splash out the extra couple of dollars to get 2 bikes who raced us down the street and unsuprisingly (and much to our dissapointment!) won!

The choice of food options was not quite as great as Luang Prabang but we did manage another BBQ this time it was called a korean BBQ, we also found a good Indian which we took advantage of. The numerous frogs legs dishes on various menus did not however entice us. Evening entertainment was not to be found and after dark the only noise apart from dogs barking and the odd motorbike was from the TV's present in every household where the whole family spend the evening glued to the screen.

One thing that we saw that was unusual was a nursery in the front of one of the buildings (where the tv is usually located) behind the metal grate gate. It appeared more like a jail but the second day conditions were slightly improved by the addition of chairs to the previously all concrete room!. The children did seem remarkably happy despite the environment even though a few looked like they were trying to escape with their arms or legs put through the metal grid keeping them in.

Our options for activities were either to go down to the mekong islands of si phan don or a trip to the bolevan plateau for coffee and waterfalls. We decided on the plateau, i think part of the attraction was that we could get there ourselves on a motorbike. We hired a bike, got a map and the name of places to stay and then with our bags in storage we were off. It was nice to be able to see things ourselves again. We had a good drive to our destination of the waterfall village of Tad Lo passing a lot of villages and fields. It was a good way to watch the local way of life and the children waved and shouted hello along the route. We stopped off at a waterfall on the way which was very pretty but there were a few coach loads of tourists there at the same time which was a little off putting as was the fact that a group of them wanted to take lots of photos of us. After we had obliged with a few shots we escaped and got back on the road and by mid afternoon had arrived at our destination where after a little searching we found Tims one of the recommended places to stay. On talking to people at the hostel we decided that we had made the right decision to miss the islands, the heat coupled with the lack of fans due to there being no electricity and all the bugs made it a little less picturesque in my head at least.

The river is definately the life blood of the people in the area at every area there were people swimming, washing themselves and their clothes, fishing in it and using it for irrigating their crops (allotments!). We ventured in for a swim but made our exit before the local elephants had their bath. We took a trek on one of these elephants after some of the people staying with us did it and recommended it. This consisted of a fairly leisurely 1 and a half hours through the river and the local village and forest, with just the odd tree to duck or a hill that meant holding on was essential. The elephants seemed very happy, there were no sticks used to hit them and direct them and chains were only used minimally to restrain them. They were all old working elephants used to hard work so i suppose doing the trek keeps them occupied after retirement. They were certainly looked after and ours at least got his own way a few times by being let to stop for a few juicy bits of tree on the way around to follow on from the big bunch of bananas that had been given to him at the start.

We also went to one of the local villages to see a local festival/ceremony which we were told would include some traditional dancing and buffallo sacrifice. It did not quite meet our expectations or the description. It was definatley a different experience. It was really a bit of a drunken disorganised party- it turned out the village chief ('master of ceremonies') had passed out drunk so the ceremony could not take place and was posponed to the next night. The drink was flowing freely especially warm beer and the leathal 'lao lao' and the whole village seemed to be enjoying it, a lot! We made a few new aquaintances in the locals who seemed to find us good company! It was strange to see all the old men who were a lot smaller than us they were like young children but with grown up faces, real characters, very smiley and friendly. It was the difference in size between 'us' foreigners and the petite locals that led to one of the most memorable moments of the evening where 'us' big western giants managed to collapse not one but 2 benches and end up on the floor by merely sitting on them! I think that the locals probably found it even more hilarious than us! In the end we were escorted back to the car after a couple of people started to ask us for money and i even saw one man with a gun. Definately time to leave! especially as we had to leave the next morning with sam driving- nobody needed any more lao lao, it was cheap and the beer was warm and more than a few of the group indulged in a few bottles.

We did make it back the next day in one piece although the dodgey petrol gauge which only read empty did lead us to run out of petrol, luckily we ran out on the way into a petrol station! how lucky! Our last night in Lao was accompanied by a massive storm which continued to the next day albeit at a slightly less intense rate (less thunder and lightening) until we got onto our flight under some big golf umbrellas (kindly provided by the airline for the walk to the plane). So it was good bye Laos and hello Cambodia.

sabaidy

jessikat — Sun, 1 Apr 2007 16:17:00 GMT

We left lovely Chiang Mai by plane for our first flight on Lao Airlines. For those of you who may have heard of it, its history in a previous incarnation as Lao aviation was not a very safe one. We decided that flying was the way to do Lao after looking into the alternatives of boat and buses. I don't think these would have been a very comfortable option especially with my hatred of buses, although the scenery i imagine to be pretty spectacular.

Before we left i had reassured Sam that the planes would be new and safe even if it was a small plane with propellers. It was a fairly small plane but it was new and we even got fed on the 50 minute flight, can't imagine that happening on many other airlines. The only time my confidence wavered was reading that in case of landing on water you were to use your seat cushion a flotation device, as there were no lifejackets! and the usual pre flight safety routine only consisted of a quick show of where the emergency exits were. It also sounded a bit like a wind up motor but all in all it was a really good flight, 2 more to go. The landing in Luang Prabang was pretty spectacular, coming down over the hills and then right over the rivers, skimming the roof tops of the small houses near the airport. We had no problems getting our visas on arrival although the price was more than what we expected at $36 ($1 overtime fee for weekends) when the lao website says $30, we did however get 30 days instead of the 15 that we thought. Driving through the town first impressions were of a peaceful, pretty place, the french influence is definately in evidence throughout in architecture especially in the central tourist area. The whole place has the appearance of being very up market with whitewashed buildings with dark wood shuttered windows and doors, wooden balconys over looking the streets. Most restaurants are open fronted with polished wooden floors, heavy dark wood furniture, table cloths and candles. There are bakerys with fresh baguettes and croissants, pizza places and numerous shops selling beautiful but expensive jewellery and there is even a couple of posh wine bars. There are many beautiful gold embellished Wats/buddhist temples and all over there are young apprentice monks walking around in their orange robes, we saw a lot of them on the internet the other night keeping up to date on the world news undoubtably.

We rented some bikes for $1 a day to potter around with. The currency situation in Laos is something i am still adjusting to, you can pay in kip (Laos official national currency), dollars, Thai Baht and even euros in some places! what makes it even more confusing is that the exchange rate means that you get around 17 000 kip to the pound, so changing 100 pounds can make you a millionaire!!

chiang mai

jessikat — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 18:30:00 GMT

It was certainly a change to be inland without a beach within reach but for me at least it was a welcome one. Flying into Chiang Mai we saw what looked like from the air to be a fairly tidy city surrounded (albeit at a distance) by rolling hills. On the short taxi ride to the city centre we got our first real look at the place, everything is pretty low level in comparison to thailands main city, Bangkok in everyway from architecture to crowds of people. We decided to stay in the old part of the city which is surrounded by a moat (with fountains and pretty lights at night!). This part of town also has lots of small tree lined lanes which are good to explore on foot, the area being fairly traffic free. After looking at a few guesthouses and finding them all full we found one just down the road from the local produce market with its colourful stalls full of veg, meat, lots of live fish and the occasional skinned frog or 2 and tasty snacks.

A lot of the time we had in Chiang mai we just wandered around taking the place in. We got a motorbike one day although it was pretty crazy driving by the look of it (it is bad enough being a passenger!) as on the main roads there is a lot of traffic. I think that all the traffic put us all off trying to go very far on the bikes so we just went and had a drive around the huge and very impressive university campus before returning to the relative safety of the leafy lanes in the old town area looking at some of Chiang mai's many beautiful wats.

We spent a night walking to and around the 'famous' Chiang Mai night market which was a good way of spending a few hours. It was very big and not many of the stalls sold much of a lot of interest. There were a lot of stalls selling fake football tops, ethnic style necklaces and clothes (i.e. fisherman pants!), other fake designer goods and pretty much anthing else you can imagine. There were some areas which were dedicated to food stalls too where it was nice to sit to relax and recharge for a bit before heading back out to the main shopping areas. We had, had enough of walking after a few hours and so opted to get a rickshaw back to our guesthouse, a luxury i felt we deserved.

Sam and I also took a cookery course one day to learn how to make our favourite thai food. The setting for the course was in a nice leafy garden and it turned out that we were the only participants on that particular day which meant extra attention from our Mr.?. He was a very interesting teacher (although i can't remember his name at the moment!) with a way of speaking which exaggerated various syllables resulting in a crazy sing song voice. We got to choose 5 dishes each and eat them all. We went to the market in the morning where we were given explainations of some of the strange looking produce and where we collected the ingredients for our choices. We then spent the day cooking everything from tom yam to spring rolls and stir fry chicken with basil and fried rice. Sam tried to get the teacher to let him put in about 20 chillies into each dish but we were rationed them to a level he thought that we could handle! The name of the cookery school was chillies, maybe that is one of the reasons that we chose it. We left full with doggy bags for later and a happy knowledge that we could recreate these things at home with the help of the recipe book that we got.

We went to another night market too, this one on a street that is closed to traffic for the event. We got there a little early when a lot of people were still setting up and had to hang around a while before anything really started to happen. It was nice to walk around although it was not as interesting as we had been led to believe by the magazine article which sent us there in the first place. It had most of the usual kinds of things we had seen in other markets but there was some interesting looking food some in the form of big black jelly stuff and some deep fried insects! And it was not all bad as i did find some things to buy!

We also met some really nice people who were part of what must have been one of the craziest trekking groups their guide had seen! Our neighbours in the hotel invited us to meet them for a drink which we happily agreed to and we all went to a bar/all you can eat BBQ down the road. Here the drink was flowing freely and the group were having a good time singing and dancing around. Niall managed to convince the guys playing in the band to let him play which he did to a rapturous reaction from the trekking group. After a couple of hours of manic dancing and a lot of alcohol the guide who had organised this night out, birdie, tried to get everyone to leave to go somewhere else. After another hour of trying to move the party we ended up going to a club/bar called spicy- it was truly terrible even with a few drinks. The crowd was mainly local with a good splash of tourists too there was much crazy dancing and some crazy outfits too. I decided then that i did not fancy ever going back to this place but somehow we did end up going, and it was even worse! I suppose it was a good laugh but mainly because it was so awful!. Some of the people we met in this group were from Scotland and they very kindly took us up to use the swimming pool at their hotel, which was much appreciated as i think we were all suffering from water/beach/swimming withdrawl.

From Chiang mai we had originally planned to go back to bangkok and enter laos at the south and miss out the north but once up north we did not have the inclination to retrace our steps. We ended up with only 2 weeks to experience Laos, which is not a lot as the journeys are so long especially down to the South. We ended up booking some flights with Laos airlines which despite hearing worrying reports on their safety in the past were very good. You even got a snack on flights under an hour and a meal on flights over an hour. Once we had managed to get these flights sorted it was time to leave Thailand and go to a Laos another new place which i had heard so many good things about.