Around the world in a daze

My Scholarship entry - Understanding a Culture through Food

sarah153 — Tue, 6 Mar 2012 15:01:52 GMT

Sticky sweet syrup drips down my chin and drops to the dirty street as I bite into a jalapi. The traditional Bangladeshi sweet is little more than deep fried sugar – essentially everything bad for you in one delicious snack. I ordered it from the bemused street vendor in his make-shift stall, in broken Bengali, which brings a smile to his face – “ek-ta jalapi”.
I am new to Bangladesh and desperate to absorb everything the country has to offer. This starts with the food. Walking through the streets of Old Dhaka, hawkers offer parcels of deep fried goodness. Strong smells of cumin and chilli carry down the road past fried eggplant slices in chickpea flour, rice flour cakes and puffed pastry filled with dhal. I know these foods will most likely result in a close intimate relationship with my bathroom, but it’s worth the risk. The melody of spices with vegetables I never knew existed, keep me coming back for more.
To sample these treats is to feel part of the buzz of the city. My skin, shape and voice make me unavoidably Western, but when I eat these foods people stop starring and start smiling. They call me a “real Bangladeshi woman”. I eat with my right hand mimicking the locals and after a couple of weeks my fingers are stained yellow.
On every street corner is a cha stall. In this alcohol-free country, men meet to drink tea, buy tobacco and sometimes watch sport. The tea is sweet enough to induce a diabetic coma in most Westerners. Spoonfuls of sugar mixed with condensed milk and a little tulsi tea creates a pale brown elixir that fuels hardworking rickshaw pullers.
Life is tough in Bangladesh, with constant threat of floods or cyclones and crippling poverty. Children sort through rubbish on the sides of streets hoping to find enough recyclables to pay for a meal. These street snacks and teas are a luxury even they can afford. It offers a chance to sit back, block out the beeping of horns, the stench of the open sewerage system and imagine being somewhere else.

Dhaka Airport Antics

sarah153 — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:47:00 GMT

Leaving Bangladesh is an adventure all of its own.

Outside the airport is chaos. Visitors must bay an entry fee to the airport if they want to wave off their loved ones, so most stand in front of the entrances having emotional farewells and blocking the doors. Usually this isn’t a problem for me because I’m ushered through the first class door by some helpful security guard despite having bought the cheapest of cheap Air Asia tickets.

As soon as you enter the door you queue again to put all bags through a scanner, which constantly breaks down and the officers are usually asleep.

Once you find your airline check-in there is another series of queues. Usually I manage to skip these again by being moved to the first class queue or once they opened a booth especially for me and closed it after I had finished.

Last time I was forced to queue with the others and luckily I discovered the queues are not as long as they look, it’s just that Bangladeshis are trolley mad. Every person has to have a trolley, because chances are if you’re rich enough to travel, you’ve never had to carry anything in your life, someone else has always done it for you. Even those just travelling with hand luggage take a trolley.

After check-in, they leave the trolleys scattered around the desks, so reaching your airline assistant, is a bit of an obstacle course.

Once you have checked in, there isn’t an awful lot to do. There are some uncomfortable red plastic chairs that probably came from another airport when they decided to renovate 20 years ago. There is a dimly lit hall with some very suspect food places and a couple of duty free shops (one of the few places in Dhaka you can purchase alcohol).

I’ve recently discovered a restaurant that serves safe (I hope) food and offers a vague sanctuary before the flight, apart from the waiting staff attempting to engage in conversation.

The flight itself is interesting and unlike any other flight I’ve ever caught. When I fly back to Bangladesh, I feel like I’m already in the country as soon as I board the plane. The men stare at you as if you’re naked, the children as if you’re a ghost and the women as if you’re Angelina Jolie there to steal their babies.

Despite buses and trains having the same seating order, people spend far too long walking up and down the aisles trying to find their seats and inevitably most will sit in the wrong one until the flight attendants ask them to move, which they will reluctantly do. Most are business men or travel in families with one bossy son in his 20s who will tell everyone where to sit (usually wrong) and even what to eat.

Almost every second man will have a mobile phone out calling or texting. When the flight attendant tells them to turn it off, they slide it into their shirt pocket and pull it out again the minute she walks away.

I like to sit and read trying to block out the sound of attendant needed bells ringing for nonsense reasons, but me pulling my book right up to my face apparently isn’t a clear enough indication I want to be left alone. The man sitting next to me will always move closer and closer to me then start asking what my country is, have I got a husband and what are my views on Ricky Ponting.

After four hours the flight lands and the flight attendants look as if they’ve aged about 4 years and I am left wondering if they benefits of my holiday have already evaporated.

Office life

sarah153 — Mon, 3 Jan 2011 15:01:00 GMT

Booa is always the first to arrive at the office. She is the cook and cleaner so isn’t deemed important enough to carry a key. She sits and waits in the car port for the other staff to come and let her in. She is always dressed in a ratty orange sari, with a faded pink blouse. She wears the end of the sari up over her hair. Her front tooth has been chipped and she wears huge wide glasses. I don’t know her real name; everyone calls her Booa or Khala, meaning Aunty. This is supposed to fit with the idea of the office being like a family, but it doesn’t work. She never eats with us and whenever someone needs something done they can’t be bothered doing, like running to the store, they ask her to do it.

Often I arrive early (on time) and sit with her. She doesn’t speak English and stares at my attempts at Bangla for an awkward few minutes until someone arrives. It is usually for them to be 15 to 20 minutes late and then look at you like you’ve inconvenienced them by showing up on time.

Everyone spends the first half an hour to hour of the day sitting in the conference room reading newspapers. They don’t have English papers so I generally go to the office and start work.

Booa also has to start work. She half heartedly sweeps the office and sometimes empties the bin, then heads into the kitchen. She spends most of the morning squatting in the corner of the dank, musty kitchen over a huge machete type knife that is held pointing upwards. She cuts directly onto the floor and given her half hearted attempts at sweeping, I’m not too sure how clean it is. The kitchen is the way to get to one of the bathrooms, and I’m sure the dirty bathroom feet going through the kitchen floor are a large factor in the food poisoning I keep getting.

There are only two gas hotplates, no oven, and no kettle. Booa cooks one or two things at a time then leaves them to get cold, while she cooks the others. As a consequence, by the time we have lunch half the stuff is cold, the other half is scorching hot and too hot to pick up, which is difficult considering we eat with our hands.

Lunch is usually ready by 1.30, but most people won’t eat until 3. After this, Booa does the dishes and wanders around aimlessly for a while. One of her favourite ways to pass the time is to stare at me and Anna. We are never doing anything interesting but she will stand and watch us for hours.

The other staffs always claim they are busy and have so much work on. But if you look at their computer screens you’ll see YouTube clips or Facebook. Often the doors to individual offices will be closed. This means they’re having a nap and don’t want to be disturbed. The staff’s works long hours. They have only one day off a week and that day is for praying, so I understand they must get tired. But I think if they didn’t take naps at work and didn’t spend the first hour reading the paper, they could get enough work done in 5 days that they wouldn’t have to work the 6^th.

The boss works his own hours. He comes in around 11 or 12 with his three year old son, who wrecks havoc in the place. Then he goes home for an hour or two at lunch time then works later in the evening.

Adi his son is free to do whatever he pleases. The Bangladeshis dote on young children, which means they are never disciplined and run around thinking they own the place. One day everyone but me and Anna were in a meeting, Adi ran into our office covered in permanent marker and with two in his hand. He started drawing on the furniture. I said stop, then as soon as I turned my back he started again. So I confiscated the pens, he started crying and another staff member ran in, asked Adi what was wrong and gave him back the pens. Adi promptly started drawing on the furniture again and now we have nice new decorations. But no one seems to mind because he is cute.

A quarter of the way through

sarah153 — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:42:00 GMT

Well it’s been three months and I’m still going strong and actually enjoying Bangladesh, despite the heat, traffic and constant illness.

If it’s not food poisoning, it’s sunstroke or a resurgence of my long gone asthma thanks to the thick pollution. My immune system is screaming at me – get the hell out of Bangladesh.

But I am determined to persevere.

We now have a fully furnished apartment, complete with a table tennis table, which we hope will be enough to lure our friends from Gulshan over for a tournament and taste of the Dhanmondi culture. They may live in the expat part of town but we have the French, German and Russian centres, all with great cafes, film festivals and shows.

We have a beautiful lake and have actually started making the most of it by running or walking around it in the morning. I choose to ignore the piles of rubbish in and around the lake and the man who goes by in a boat picking up the trash. Instead I focus on the crazy Bangladeshi exercise classes going on in the small parks around the lake. The older exercisers enjoy something like tai chi, but with a lot more grunting, followed by a nap on one of the benches. The teenagers do some sort of serious boot camp, with lifting heavy planks and building strange bridge type things to balance across. And the women are my favourite. They still wear a sari or salwar kameez and often sandals as they attempt to power walk around the lake, but the power walks are more like dawdles and any work they managed to achieve is instantly destroyed with a quick break for ca (tea made with condensed milk and about four tablespoons of sugar).

Any belief that we would have evenings spare to contemplate life were soon dashed after arriving here. There is at least one event on every weekend, often two or three, plus birthday dinners throughout the week, dinner parties, brunches and just about anything. Yes the number of places we can go out is limited but the events certainly aren’t.

We’ve started to learn little tricks of getting the foods we crave that aren’t normally available at our local supermarket. There are a couple in town that sell such things as barbeque Shapes, So Good, Red Skins and even Boost chocolate bars. And as we approached the three month milestone, we started taking holidays and bringing back goodies from Malaysia or presents from Australia. Our pantry is now stocked with such delicacies as muesli, balsamic vinegar and pesto. It’s as if we never left home! The Australia Club has just had a new shipment and I was overcome with joy as I peered into the fridge and saw not only Boags Draught but also Boags Premium – at about a third of the price you pay in Tassie. I spent the weekend lying by the pool sipping a Premo, better than home!

So finally we are settling in. Life is sometimes hard, but that is to be expected in the third most unlivable city in the world. We all have off days and take it in turns to pamper each other. The next few months are jam packed full of holidays including the second eid and Christmas. With tropical beaches beckoning it is easy not to get too stressed out by Dhaka.

Wedding Days

sarah153 — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 21:20:00 GMT

When my colleague invited me to her wedding I was over the moon. I was picturing beautiful dances, laughter and joy, but the reality was different.

In true Bangladesh style, I did not receive the invite until four days before the wedding. It takes one day travel to get to her village where the wedding was to be held, which gave me three days to organise leave from work, buy bus tickets, buy two new saris, cancel the trip I originally had planned that weekend and pack. But I made it, along with my flat mate and colleague Anna.

She had been married four months earlier but this was the ceremony. Although she was married by law, she was not considered so by society and was not able to live with her husband (or stay the night) until after the ceremony.

Traditional weddings last four days. The first is a turmeric ceremony with close family, the second is held at the bride’s house. The third day is supposed to be a rest day, the bride stays at her in-law’s house and is not allowed outside. The neighbours will all come to visit and meet the new bride so it is really not much of a rest for her. The third day is the same as the second but held at the groom’s house.

The turmeric ceremony

The turmeric ceremony is the most enjoyable part of the wedding. As it is just close family (and two white hangers on) everyone is more relaxed. People are laughing and joking. But it still seems incredibly uncomfortable for the bride.

She is dressed a bit like Big Bird, in a bright yellow sari adorned with heavy gold jewellery and flowers. She sits on a stage while family members take it in turns to sit beside her and paint her skin with turmeric from a beadle leaf and feed her sweets. By the end of the night she was stuffed from all the sweets but has to keep eating as people take it in turn to sit by her on the stage under the bright lights from the camera man. At the end of the night she was dripping in sweat from the camera light and tired to the bone. Anna and I were lucky enough to be staying at a guest house so got a decent night sleep. The bride wasn’t so lucky and when we turned up the next day, she was still exhausted.

The Second Day

On the second day the bride’s family hosts the ceremony. The wedding ceremony doesn’t seem designed for the enjoyment of either bride or groom. The 1000 or so guests who are invited seem to get the best deal. They come in, have a free meal, go and look at the bride for a couple of minutes and leave. Meanwhile the bride is dressed in a heavy sari and weighed down by jewellery until her shoulders droops. It takes 4 hours to dress her and finish her makeup. Then she is placed on a bed and made to sit for the rest of the afternoon so people can come and gawk at her. Again it is filmed and when the bright light of the flash rests on you for a minute it is so hot, make up starts running down your face. I can only imagine how hot she must’ve got with it resting on her for hours.

The groom shows up at about 4, the wedding started at 1. His friends must pay money for his car to pass into his wife’s father’s house. Then he too sits for the neighbours to see on a small stage. After an hour or two they are allowed to see each other. They move into the dining hall and are presented a massive plate of two whole chickens, beef (nearly didn’t happen thanks to the antrax scare) and rice, lots and lots of rice.

Anna and I had already had one meal at the wedding, where we had been forced to eat more than comfortable but they’d decided it was time we ate more again. There wasn’t enough room on the top table for us and the horror of two foreigners not having the best seat was too much for our hosts and they forced the bride and groom to move to another table where there was room for us, much to our horror. Our plates were filled up and we were shortly ready to burst.

After dinner, the bride has a tearful farewell with her family. It is a far more significant change than in Australian families, it really is a farewell to your family as you know it. Then with her new husband she travelled to his home town, two hours away. We caught a mini-bus to the same town, Rangpur, where we had a hotel booked and planned to do some sightseeing the next day. It felt like it was the middle of the night but we were tucked into bed by 9pm.

Anna and I had to be at work so travelled home on the fourth day of the wedding missing the groom’s side. But we did visit their house during the rest day.

The wedding couldn’t have been much more different to an Australian one. There was no singing or dancing, speeches and definitely no champagne.

There seemed to be more tears than laughter. Anna and I were forced to eat until I was literally sick. The excitement of having foreigners took some of the attention away from the bride as people came to practise their English on us and see how good our Bangla was. We felt guilty taking away the bride’s attention but to be honest I think she appreciated it, it was an extremely intense day and we offered a diversion.

I feel extremely honoured to have been invited to see a traditional wedding, but I do not think I need to experience it again.

GET ME OUTTA HERE

sarah153 — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:35:00 GMT

It was only as I was trying to leave Dhaka that I realise how much I needed a break from it.

It was almost three months into my stay and I thought I’d take the opportunity to have a break and visit my cousin Kate and her husband Paddy in KL for a few days. I booked the tickets, packed my bags and was ready to go. Easy right? Wrong.

My colleagues suggested I went to the town hall to find a CNG (gas powered tuk tuk) to the airport. So I optimistically went along. But when I got to the town hall there was only one CNG. I asked him in broken Bangla if he would mind taking me to the airport. Yes he said he would mind and turned away from me.

Never mind, I still had two hours until check in closed and it would only take one hour maximum to get to the airport.....

I tried to hail down another CNG but they kept driving past. Some men in a beat up red corolla tried to convince me they would drive me and I decided to move away from my spot.

I headed up to the main road knowing I am constantly hassled by CNG drivers there trying to give me a lift. But when you want one you can never find one. They flew past me full of passengers. I started looking for baby taxis, which are notoriously dangerous and I’d normally stay clear of but it has been half an hour and I was starting to cut things fine.

Even they seemed full and my hopes of getting away were slowly disappearing, the traffic was thick and I could feel the first drops of the next monsoon falling on my face. A sure sign even more people would be looking for transport. I started sending desperate texts to my friend Anna back at work “I’m never going to leave this goddamn country”.

I was almost in tears; my huge back pack on my back and hair out at all angles thanks to the humidity, when two men took pity on me. They said they would help me find a CNG and actually managed to hail one down for me. He asked 1000 taka, the normal price is 150. I was so desperate I would have taken it if only I had the cash on me, they don’t really do credit cards in CNGs.

Eventually they found some guy who claimed he was a private car driver and could take me to the airport. Normally I wouldn’t get in the car of a strange man but it was that or stay stuck in Dhaka, more specifically stuck on Mipur Road in the rain. I jumped in trying to decipher his number plate written in Bangla in the process.

I text Anna to panic if she hadn’t heard from me in an hour and held my breath for the next 40 minutes until I arrived at Zia International Airport.

From there life was easy, a little too easy. I walked through the “security” area and checked in. This involved a man crossing my name off a list of passengers and waiving me through to the gate.

It appeared my pilot had similar issues finding the airport and at departure time there was still no sign of the plane and no notification as to where it might be.

An hour later it finally showed and I was treated to four hours of air conditioned bliss with my book. First thing I saw after I landed was Starbucks. I don’t like coffee but it’s nice to know I can have it if I want. I felt like I was back home.

After trying to find the train station and realising I was at the wrong airport for that, I leapt onto the last bus into the city, expecting to get there in 10 minutes or so. As the other passengers started to fall asleep I realised I was not as close as I thought.

I arrived two hours later than I told Kate I’d be there but seeing her and being shown into their luxurious air-con apartment made the whole journey worthwhile. I slept better than I’d slept in the past three months under a doona thanks to the lovely chilled room.

I had three days of western indulgence with Kate and Paddy. We ate burgers, shopped enough to make my father proud and hit the bars. I didn’t stand out and no one stared at me. People spoke English and I found ANZAC biscuits at the shop.

It was everything I needed to recuperate. Hardest thing was getting back onto the plane. The other passengers started to stare at me. I felt like yelling “we’re not in Bangladesh yet, you can’t do this to me!”

Ramadan

sarah153 — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:48:00 GMT

Shortly after we arrived in Dhaka and started work, it was time for the month-long Muslim festival of Ramadan. Ramadan is the strangest celebration I've ever seen in my life. To start with, it's 30 days long, it takes a lot of stamina and perseverence to celebrate that long. In the Western world Christmas is just one day then a few days off to prepare yourself for New Years, then you can relax for another year.

During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat during day light hours (a bit like vampires). All cafes, tea stands and restaurants have banners, signs and curtains in their windows so peple cannot see in and be inticed by the few non-believers in town. It is still possible to get food during the day, you just need to be subtle about it and try not to eat infront of people who are fasting.

By mid-afternoon the street is full of stalls selling greasy snacks, including Beguni (deep fried eggplant) or my favourite - japalpi (essentially deep fried sugar). Locals stock up on these goodies every night and lay them out on a plate, mixing sweet and savoury together. At sunset (or the pre-approved time denoting sunset) they delve into the snacks for Iftar (breaking of the fast). They stuff their mouths with an assortment of different snacks all mushed up together and washed down with a sickly sweet cordial, often rose water flavoured. It takes about five minutes for them to wolf down the snacks and then pray. After prayer the real dinner is served. they fall asleep at normal time and wake at 4am to eat again and pray, that is the last meal until iftar the next day.

Consequently everyone is tired from getting up early to eat and by the afternoon, they haven't eaten for 12 hours. Needless to say almost no work gets done in this time and did I mention it runs for a month?

Ramadan culminates in eid. A festival celebrated similarly to Christmas - public holidays, big meals wiht the family and giving of presents. The one main difference is that eid is not on a set date. It depends on the sighting of the moon and thus cannot be called until the night before. The women then must rush around to create a feast.

Myself and Anna were lucky to be invited to spend eid with a colleague and her family. We turned up at the colleague's eldest sisters house around 11 and were presented with some Bangladeshi sweets. It looked like white stringy slop but tasted like doughnuts. Next we were ushered off to the brother's house. Here we had yummy chicken curry. Then back to the sister's house for yummy chicken curry. Next was another sister's house for more yummy chicken curry. After "takign rest" we went to the final sister's house. By this stage my stomach had grown about 4 times its normal size and I wasn't really in the mood for anything else but of course there was more chciken curry. It is such an honour for them to have a foreigner and it would have been so rude to refuse so I forced some more down. I was exhausted and full but there was more to come. A famous Bangladeshi movie star had invited us for the evening meal. This time, thank goodness, it was fish curry this time!

It was amazing to be part of the traditional celebrations, even if I felt like I didn't have to eat again for the rest of the year!

During Ramadan, we managed to enjoy ourselves. We had a quick trip up to Mymensingh to visit a friend. It was so nice to get out of Dhaka and see some of the countryside. Mymensingh is the same size as Hobart but after Dhaka felt like a tiny village. We had a trip to see the Garo tribe and could even see the hills of India in the distance.

The day after eid, Anna and I also set off on another adventure to Boda, in the very far North West. The air was cooler and clearer and it just felt more relaxed. although it is one of the poorest areas in Bangladesh and the stories from some of the women we met were devastating. So many women survive off just one serve of rice a day and are married off and pregnant barely teenagers themselves.

Dhaka Daze

sarah153 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:53:00 GMT

We arrived at Zia International Airport, Dhaka, in the middle of the night. We didn't need to stand in the foreign passport aisle for everyone to realise we weren't from around here. 17 young Aussies clutching bags of duty free alcohol from Singapore and wearing vague attempts at modest clothing stand out in Bangladesh.

After collecting our bags and walking through the world's most pathetic customs check, we were piled into cars and driven to our hotel in Gulshan. This was our first exposure to the Bangladesh roads and as I'd been up for 24 hours it was a pretty surreal experience.

Buses, private cars, rickshaws, CNGs (similar to tuk-tuks) and trucks compete for space on the road, narrowly avoiding collisions. Although given the scratches and the dents on the buses, it is not always avoided.

Trucks drove by piled high with live chickens, while children jumped on and in front of moving cars trying to steal the semi-comatose chooks. Eventually we arrived at the hotel and climbed into bed exhausted.

The next two weeks were intense sessions of language classes, shopping, setting up house and food poisoning.

The first step was to completely restock our wardrobes with appropriate clothing. For girls this means salwar kameezes. A dress-like top over extremely baggy, unflattering trousers and an orna. The orna is a scarf worn across your chest to act as a modesty shield. At first it was a pain dealing with it slipping down and constantly having to rearrange it. But now I've grown to love it. It has so many uses - sweat wipe, handkerchief, bag cover, sunshield, or just about anything. Boys can and do wear just about anything.

During this shopping trip, I had my first encounter with my new celebrity status. Another girl and I sat down to take a break during shopping and soon attracted a crowd. Boys dared their friends to come and talk to us while women in burkhas stared openly at us. There would have been about 15 people stood around staring at us by the time we managed to get away.

This shopping day was fairly enjoyable, despite the heat, which made us all really tired. We soon found out not all shopping in Dhaka is fun. Much of the two week introduction period was spent setting up our new homes. Three people are living rurally and everyone else in Gulshan, the part of Dhaka where the foreign embassies are, except for myself two Annas and James. Our house is in Dhanmondi - only 10 kms away. But it takes about an hour, sometimes two, to get there. We spent most of our time sitting in traffic while beggars with awful deformities and small children came banging on the windows trying to get money and almost getting hit by cars, when they finally started moving again.

Our house was completely unfurnished - no oven, fridge or air con. So what time we didn't spend in the car was standing around hot sweaty markets, trying to barter in broken Bengali/English, with people who thought they could over charge us just because we are white. I have never been so conscious of my race or gender before. We now have some basic furniture but it was such an ordeal we kept ending up at the cool air conditioned sanctuary of Nandos for some peace and quiet.

We moved into our apartment and started work about a week ago. Work is good, the apartment not so much. It resembles a construction site as the carpenters finish cupboards and light fittings, it should already be finished and yet the piles of wood everywhere suggest it should be a while longer - Bangladeshi time is different to Australian time. There is dust everywhere and we cannot use the kitchen. We were too stingy to buy air conditioning so sleep in pool of sweat. The builders are foul and keep staring at us and making lewd gestures, smoking in the house, stealing things and eating our food.

Anna and I were lucky enough to escape this for four days when we went on a field trip with work to one of our sites in the west. It was amazing - total opposite to Dhaka. The first night we sat by the river watching the fireflies and in the morning we were woken by the sound of birds not the call to prayer, car horns or rickshaw bells.

We watched the school classes, had snacks at local's houses who proudly watched us as we ate, refusing to eat with us, sampled local food and took part in iftar celebrations on the first day of Ramadan.

The trip was fantastic and left me inspired about the work I'm going to be doing, it seems like a great organisation. Coming back to Dhaka was hard but at least we had the sanctuary of the Aussie expat club on the weekend, where we could lie by the pool and drink beer, pretending we were back home in summer where starving children don't walk the streets, bags don't get snatched, men don't interpret eye contact as a come-on and girls don't get married and pregnant at 12 years of age.

But what do you expect living in the third most unlivable city?

US of A

sarah153 — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:30:00 GMT

After a couple of days walking aroudn the newly abandoned Olympic stadiums in Whistler and vAncouver, I flew into LA.

I got the most expensive taxi ride of my life past billboards advertising lap band surgery on one side of the road and fast food onthe other. I eventually arrived at Sunset Boulevard and met Kyle and Fred lying on their hotel beds uploading photos from their first day in the States - this would become a daily routines. Jo arrived a few hours later.

The next four days were one huge adreneline rush as we did Universal Studios, Knotts Berry Farm and Magic Mountain theme parks. Jo only came to the first but the boys were in heaven and ran excitedly from ride to ride only stopping for lunch when I begged.

We flew from LA to San Fransisco, which was a fun city despite one of its main attractions being America's most notorious prison. We got the ferry to Alcatraz, which was gloomy but very interesting and had a great view.

We had the full San Fran experience - rode bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge, hopped on and off trolley buses down to Fishers Wharf and ate at Bubba Gump. Jo and I even managed to squeeze in a day trip to Yosemite National Park. It seems even after living in the Canadian Rockies, I haven't had my fix of snow capped mountains yet.

For a change of pace, we headed to Vegas for Fred's birthday. We arrived on St Patricks Day so the neon lights, drunk college students and vomit filled streets all had a greenish tinge and everyone claimed to be Irish.

We had five nights there and managed to break even on the pokies, see David Copperfield and stroll the boulevard.

For Fred's birthday, he decided he wanted to shoot stuff up, and what better place to do it. I headed out with the boys to the Gun Store and we really taught those paper terrorists a lesson. It was quite a thrill to pull the trigger and to see I actually made teh target, despite what the boys said.

We took a day trip to the Grand Canyon and it was certainly big. There was still snow in some places adn the white made a great contrast with the dusty red of the canyon.

After Vegas, the boys headed to Victoria in BC and Jo and I were on our own in a rental car heading through morman country. Despite its reputation as a religious state, Utah is actually a lot of fun. We visited three amazing national parks - Zion and Bryce Canyons and Arches - and Dead Horse State Park. We managed to find Utah's only brewery and settled in for some tasting one evening, it turned out to be pretty damn good.

There were some great walks in the parks and although Zion Canyon isn't as big as Grand Canyon, I think it is much better. It has huge rock pillars filling the canyon.

We tried to see a lot in just a few days, which meant six to eight hours driving a day and we pulled into Salt Lake City exhausted and ready to head south to the warmth and great food of New Orleans. Thsi is my favourite North American city, maybe because it feels like you are in a different country. The French, Spanish and African influences are so strong.

Although it is still recovering from Hurricane KAtrina, it si a vibrant and lively city. There is jazz playing everywhere, the smell of gumbo drifting down the streets and Bourbon Street at night is full of men throwing mardi gras bead from the balconies. Ironically the most popular drink is called a Hurricane and people walk down the streets sipping the bright red cocktail and trying to catch the beads.

I was sad to leave, especially after only a cople of day, but it was time to meet the boys in Texas.

Auston is supposed to be the live music capital of the world. We were there on a quiet Monday night but there were still 80 live bands.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot to do in the day and we found ourselves wandering around George W's old stomping ground - the State Capitol building.

The next day Jo and I went to San Antonio, which is basically Mexico but on the American side of the boarder. It's a fun town and also the site of the Alamo so we were able to brush up on our American history while walking around.

Miami was our next and final stop in the U.S. The boys went via Orlando for another theme park, while Jo and I made the most of the beach and sunshine.

Just as well because Canada was next and there was still plenty of snow. I had a great week back in Banff showing Jo around and catching up with my friends. But we weren't there for long and before I knew it I was on the plane to Paris to meet my sister.

Banff

sarah153 — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:18:00 GMT

After a month of minus 30 degree weather, searching for jobs and facing the very real possibility I wouldn't have anywhere to sleep on New Years Eve, everything finall fell into place, two days before Christmas.

Louisa was offered a job at one of the many chocolate shops in Banff, which included accomodation. Soon after her boss decided she needed someone extra and hired me purely on the basis i was Louisa's friend. So despite looking for different work in different companies, we were working together and sharing a room.

The chocolate shop paid badly by Australian standards but well by Banff. And we did get to sample an awful lot of lollies - especially the macaroons, which were chocolate and coconut pieces that looked like a turd but tasted like tropical paradise.

We needed the sugar fix to get through the day. The customers were often difficult and the boss psychotic. She would go from telling you she loves you to saying you're the worst emplyee ever and she wants to sack you in seconds.

There were a few quetionable practices like picking things off the floor and putting them back on the shelf or rubbing expiry dates off with metho. But after a month of searching i was happy to have any job.

Blake and Andy found work in Canmore, the next town. It was only 15 minutes drive but the buses were so unreliable and expensive we didn't get to see them ovten

Luckily we made a good group of friends to go tobogganing, ice skating and snowboarding with. I learnt that winter is actually fun if it is cold enough!

The two months workign there went by far too quickly and all of a sudden it was time to leave. This time Louisa wasn't coming with me because of a visa issue, and saying good bye was very strange after 11 months together.

Working in a Winter Wonderland

sarah153 — Mon, 4 Jan 2010 05:46:00 GMT

After a 16 hour bus ride from Vancouver, we stumbled off the bus in Banff tired, groggy and not fully comprehending that this snow coated village was about to become our new home.

We headed down Lynx St on to Wolf St (yes all street names are animals I particularly like Gopher St, but not so keen on Muskrat St), and almost literally bumped into three deer walking down the street.

Banff is full of Australians looking for work so they can stay for the ski season. But because there is a recession and because there are more job seekers than jobs, it is hard to find work. It took us a month before we found anything. Louisa and I have the same job and the same staff accommodation, we're even sharing a bedroom!

Because people are here for a long time with nothing to do until they find work, they try to entertain themselves, mainly by drinking away the small amount of money they have. The other activities around town are also expensive – particularly skiing.

There are three ski areas around Banff – Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt Norquay. As far as I can tell Sunshine is the trendy one all Aussies head to. Lake Louise is pretty and the one North Americans head to. Mt Norquay is smaller and families and locals spend their time there.

I've tried all three and although Lake Louise is more beautiful and has a greater variety of runs, I am Australian so keep getting drawn back to Sunshine.

Louisa snowboarding

I started out skiing. It was hard. I spent most of the first day on the ground, my knees ached and my thighs burned. I gave it a go twice then tried snowboarding. I didn't want to like it because most snowboarders think they are too cool for school and slide past you at crazy speeds just so you know how inadequate you are on the snow. But I couldn't help it. It was so much fun and seemed a lot easier than skiing. It did still hurt, especially after riding three days in a row. I've just fully committed myself to it and bought a board, which I partly chose for the pretty pattern on the top and partly for the price!

We've also done a bit of hiking around town. The mountains are beautiful and the views at the top are amazing, provided they aren't covered with cloud. Walking up hill is fine in the cold because it warms you up. But down hill can be quite hard. The cold wind freezes your face and the snow on the ice is slippery.

There are a lot of things to get used to living in a high altitude in winter that you just don't even consider at home. Apparently it takes your body 2 months to adjust to high altitudes. Until then you puff and pant walking up just a couple of stairs, you have the worst hang over of your life after 2 beers and remember nothing of the night before. There is also the cold to adjust to. it has gotten as cold as minus 30, with wind chill it drops another 10 or so degrees. For example your skin dries out constantly. My lips and hands are so cracked and sore I have had to buy up big at the Body Shop to make them better. We've also learnt that you don't go otuside with wet hair. Otherwise you end up with frozen dreadlocks as the ice matts it into thick clumps. Snot freezes in your nose, your earrings get so cold they start to freeze your ears from the inside and you're forced to wear your entire wardrobe every time you leave the hosue. But it is all good fun.

Europe part 3

sarah153 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:56:00 GMT

After a few days rest and relaxation in Cologne, Louiisa and I headed to Berlin to meet up with Andy and Blake again.

Berlin is an amazing city but it stinks. The name literally means “Swamp City” because that is what it was built on. Every now and then you a rotten egg type smell hits you. This is the swamp odours seeping their way up from under the city. But despite the smell it is a fun and yet confronting place.

There are memeorials and reminders everywhere of the city's past from huge holocaust memorials to the imposing Soviet buildings and remains of the wall. We also took a trip out to the Sachsenhausen former concentration camp, which was a confronting experience, made even more real with the very bad weather. it was hard to imagine how anyone could survive out there in those conditions.

Holocaust memorial

But Berlin was not all doom and gloom. it is a beautiful city and is also well known for its night life. We found an amazing pub, made out of a slum building, which was home to several art studios as well as small bars.

We had a fantastic time in Berlin, the only complaint was the weather – it was so cold. But Andy assured us it was much warmer in Prague where Louisa and I were off to next.

She lied. it actually snowed on our last day in Prague. So much for a last bit of warm weather before the Canadian winter.

Still it was a beautiful city and we had a great time. We did a walking tour and discovered most of Euro Trip was actually filmed in Prague and on our pub crawl we went to the English pub they went to in the movie.

Time went too quickly and before we knew it we were off to Vienna. It is a pretty city but doesn't really have much to offer that other cities don't have. The biggest highlight was finding a bar that served Boags!

Budapest was next and slightly warmer. I really enjoyed our short time here. It is a very different city to most of the others we had been to and is apparently still struggling with the change over from communism to capitalism. But the people were friendly and there were many great sights, not to mention the thermal baths.

We spent our last two weeks in Europe in italy. i wasnt sure how much I would enjoy it because it is talked up so much and I expected to be dissapointed. i wasn't. Every city is beautiful in its own way and has so much to offer. The people went out of their way to help us and the food was amazing.

To be honest I think we spent most of the two weeks eating – gelati, pasta and pesto, pizza and delicious bright green biscuits.

eating buffalo motzarello pizza

It was hard to leave italy especially as it was still fairly warm there. But we knew we had another adventure in Canada where we will be trying to find work and settle down for a few months. The idea of not having to pack every few days is certainly appealing!

Europe part 2

sarah153 — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 05:25:00 GMT

After a whirlwind tour of some of the major cities in north Western Europe, we headed down to the south of France for some R and R.

Louisa and I arrived in Bordeaux feeling exhuasted and not wanting to do much, as a result spent most of our time sitting in the park eating pate and cheese with bread. Pretty nice!

Picnics in the park with pate and bread

The main tourist attraction in Bordeaux is to take a wine tour with the grey haired tourists and sample wine by spitting it out, at a huge expense. We decided it was far better to buy the same wine from the supermaket around the corner for under 3 euros and drink it at the hostel with other backpackers – and we certainly did not spit it out!

Our Bordeaux wine

After two nights it was time to move on again to the seaside town of Biarritz, right near the Spanish boarder.

The sun was shinning and it was actually warm enough for us to get in the water, something we hadn't felt like doing since Asia. Most of the locals decided it was too warm to even wear clothes. The beach was filled with elderly women, the colour of tangerines, wearing noothing but a g-string.

After that sight, it was time to leave France and cross the boarder into Spain. We headed to San Sebastian – also a seaside resort. Unfortunately the good weather did not follow and although we enjoyed some nice relaxing walks along the beach, we didn't feel compelled to get in the water again.

We did, however, sample some of the fine local cuisine. In the Basque part of Spain, instead of tapas they serve pintxos. Basically you walk into a bar and there are platters of food such as small open sandwiches, seafood skewers and chorizo sausages. The barman gives you a plate and you fill it up with as many goodies as you want then show him and he will charge you. The idea is to have a few at a bar then head on to the next.

It is also important to sample the local drinks. We really enjoyed the kalimotzo – a mixture of coke and red wine, which sounds disgusting but is actually delicious and tastes similar to sangria.

Pouring cider San Sebastian style

We also tried sangria and tapas a few days later in Barcelona, as well as a yummy paella. Barcelona was a fun city. We saw a couple of Gaudi's pieces of work, including la Sagrada Famillia, which has been a work in progress for about 100 years and is still not expected to be completed till 2030. it was impressive but i was left wondering whether it was all worth it.

La Sagrada Famillia

We also had a walk along the fake beach, with sand imported from the Sahara for the 1992 Olympics. We managed to make it up to the highest point in Barcelona – it is 16.9 metres high!

But time was running out and we had to meet Andy and Blake in Switzerland. Unfortunately the trains weren't running as we planned – one was full, one late, one not running on a sunday, etc... and we didn't arrive in Sion, our meeting place, until 2am, by then the others had gone to bed. We had to find accomodation for the night quickly and because we were not willing to pay 100 euros for a hotel each, some taxi drivers agreed to take us to a stadium, where we could camp in the car park, beside the horse stables – an interesting night!

camping by the stadium

Luckily we found Andy and Blake first thing the next morning and they took us in their car to a campsite in Interlarken, where we had a luxurious night in comparision. We spent just over a week driving through Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. We went to such places as Grindalwald, Lucern, Vaduz and Salzburg.

We would have two nights free camping, in a park, truck stop or forest, then one night in a campsite to shower and do other important things. It was great to be out of the city and have the freedom of the car. We had many excitements along the way – mostly including food or supermarkets and freebies.

We discovered the joys of the Coop and its version of Home Brand, Prix Garantie. Our proudest moments included drinking Prix Garantie Hell Blonde beer and melting the Prix Garantie chocolate down into a chocolate fondue. In Austria we tried apple strudel, schnitzle sandwiches and both sweet and savoury pretzels.

After all the camping we lived the life of luxury for 3 nights in Munich. We had a hotel booked with a free buffet breakfast. The four of us were in heaven and ate about 4 courses each and managed to pilfer bread rolls, tea bags and sachets of Nutella for lunch. Jef came from Sheffield for the time and was shocked by the amount of food we manage to fit in our stomachs and bags.

The main reason we were in Munich was not to eat, but rather drink. It was the last weekend of Oktoberfest and we were ready to party.

We found a seat in the Hofbrau tent early on the first day and had a lady carry over our steins and plop them infront of us. it was a struggle to lift just one, but some of these ladies were carrying about 10. We had 3 each as the crowd around us got rowdier and rowdier. People were dancing on the tables and chanting and cheering.

We went back agin in the evening of the second night, which happened to be a public holiday in Germany and the second last day of the festival. There were people everywhere and spew all over the ground. We sat and had a beer on the grass and watched people pass out.

Oktoberfest was amazing and I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. and it is a beautiful city We all separated again after Munich. Jef went back to Sheffield, Andy and Blake drove off into the night aiming for the Czech Republic and Louisa and I are taking it easy in Cologne. We'll meet up with Andy and Blake again in Berlin in a few days time.

Europe part 1

sarah153 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:24:00 GMT

The speedy part of our trip has begun. In the past 8 days we have been to 4 countries and are off to a fifth in a few more.

We arrived in Copenhagen on September 2 and met up with Jo again. We had just one night in the new home of Our Mary, but we manage to see pretty much all of the sights. First up we decided the best way to tackle the city in such a short time was by canal tour, unfortunately the boat was open topped and the rain poured down – similar to Ireland really - and we spent most of the day looking like drowned rats. But we did manage to see Mary's palace, the sculpture of Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid, and some beautiful old buildings.

Princess Mary's house

One of the highlights was not on the usual tour guide. We had an hour spare before getting the night train to Amsterdam, so decided to go to the Ice Bar. The entire bar is made of ice, including seats, walls and the glasses themselves. You have to dress in a thick, blue cloak and gloves and your lips go numb when drinkign from the glass. It was an amazing experience and made the weather outside seem so much warmer! And the alcohol made the forthcoming 16 hour train ride seem less daunting.

In the ice bar

We arrived in Amsterdam feeling exhausted ajfter little sleep on the train. I had decided early in the morning I was going to get more sleep lying on the floor than sitting in my chair, and as a result I hurt all over the next day. But that didnt stop us. We set out walking around the city – we did the Sex Museum and the Anne Frank Huis – both very confronting in very different ways. And had chips with mayonaise from the original chip stall for lunch.

Chips and mayonaise

The next day we took a free walking tour around the city and saw a lot more and learnt about the Dutch way of naming things – as they are. There was the Old Church, the New Church, the New Market and the royal Palace. Then came one of the highlights – a trip to the Heinekin brewery! yum yum!

Tasting Heinekin

Day 3 we decided was time to get out of the city and we headed to the Hague and Delft. We saw the Escher art gallery and lots of Delftware pottery! We also snackked on pancakes. In the evening we went on the Red Light District pub crawl – which was fun, we think.

in the Escher Museum

Holland was great but like Copenhagen, it rained a lot, I was worried this would be the case with all of Europe. Also I couldn't find a single Ollibollen in all of Holland and we didn't see any close up windmills – very dissapointed.

In Bruge, Belgium, the sun finally came out. We had just half a day in this beautiful town to explore and reminisce about scenes in the movie. The hardest bit of the trip was trying to have all the traditional Belgium foods in just one afternoon, but we managed it – chocolate, waffles and chips.

Belgian chocolate

The sunshine continued into Paris and we enjoyed 2 toasty warm days exploring the city of love and eating cheese and baguettes.

Jo left us today and we are now on our way to Bordeaux to sample some wines and work our way towards spain.

The Motherland - England, Scotland and Ireland

sarah153 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:17:00 GMT

The past month has been a whirlwind of sight seeing, visiting family and friends and eating, lots of eating.

We arrived in London at the start of August to stay with my cousin Kate and her fiancee Paddy. We had almost a week there indulgining in those things we'd missed in south east asia – baths, newspapers, doonas and being cold enough to wear jeans. When plannning our first few days in the UK, most of the things we wanted were to do with the food we'd missed in Asia – roast dinner, spag bol, curry, fish and chips, etc...

Kate and Paddy beside Big Ben

When we weren't eating we managed to fit in the sights such as Big Ben, Tower of London, Greenwich, changing of the guards,

a west end show, and even a night in Brighton (unfortunately jet lag prevented us experiencing the legendary night life and we were in bed by 9).

The weather was great and Louisa was convinced all those people who had been warning her about English weather were lying.

After London we headed to Oxford to stay with my Auntie Adele and her family. It was good to get out of the city and spend sometime relaxing, having a bbq and attempting to punt. We got in a good walk around the countryside, pub meal, a look around the university and the Harry Potter movie for a bit of culture.

Auntie Adele and Uncle David

From one university town to another. We headed to Cambridge after a few days to stay with my Uncle Tod and his family. It was at this stage the English weather finally started living up to its reputation. We saw the city in the rain, which is probably the way it should be seen!

Tod also took us to Norwich, a very pretty town, and Great Yarmouth, a very ugly town. Great Yarmouth is an English seaside town. Unlike in Australia, where the beach is enough for a seaside, the English add amuusement parks, jumping castles, horse and carriage rides and bars along the road next to the beach and even on the beach itself.

uncle Tod at Great yarmouth

Next stop was to visit my Nanna in Matlock. We spent four days trapessing up and down the Derbyshire Dales and surrounds. It was great to get back to my “second home” and explore all the old areas, including the hotel I used to work at.

Nanna on the Derbyshire Dales

The next stop was Sheffield to visit Jef, a friend from home. We had a few days exploring the city, and its night life – including a pub quiz, where we lost almost as badly as we do at home!

Pub lunch in Sheffield

It was great to get to see everyone again and it seemed so strange to get back into the habit of backpacking, but we weren't on our own for long.

After Sheffield we headed to Edinburgh, where Jo met us.

With Jo in Edinburgh

We had three nights in the middle of the city during the Edinburgh Festival and we made the most of it. We saw some brilliant acts including a musical improvisation group, Facebook the musical and some great stand up comics. It was very hard to leave Edinburgh!

The Fringe Festival

Inverness was next, where Jo left us for a week and we explored Loch Ness for a day, but didn't find the monster.

After a day we flew to Dublin to meet Malcolm and Leanne, Louisa's parents.

Inverness was cold but Ireland was even colder. I kept thinking I should return to Ireland in summer, until I realised August is summer there.... I wore my scarf, jumper and raincoat most days, some days I even put on my thermal top! But we deicided the scenery was best viewed when it was cloudy, to keep it authentic.

Beautiful Irish scenery

We had a day looking aruond Dublin at churches, the castle, a walk along Temple Bar and the Liffey. In the evenning we saw an Irish dancing and music show while eating Irish stew. The next day we hired a car and headed south.

Our car

We spent about 4 days driving around and saw just about everything south of Dublin. It was a great trip and good to see Louisa's parents again too.

On to Europe main next for 2 months.

Northern Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

sarah153 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:46:00 GMT

The second month of our trip has been eventful. We've passed 2 borders, had 2 20 plus hour bus rides, seen a lifetimes worth of temples and are ready to hit Thailand.

We spent over a week in the north of Vietnam basing ourselves from Hanoi and heading off on trips to Halong Bay and Sapa. Halong Bay is one of the main tourist sights for foreigners and Vietnamese alike, and for good reason.

It is this amazing series of islands that jut out of the water. Only one island is inhabited – Cat Ba Island, a major place for locals to have boozy weekends away. Halong Bay is trying its hardest to become part of the new seven wonders of the world. We picked a 2 night trip. The first day was spent exploring caves around the islands - including James Bond Cave, where one of the films was made – by foot and kayak.

IN the evenign all tourist boats (and there are a lot of them!) anchor in the same spot and float around, bumping into each other slightly. Most are party boats but the wildest ours got was a game of Uno on the top deck!

In the morning those of us who were staying 2 nights were dumped on Cat Ba Island for a short walk up a mountain. There were two paths – adventure and normal, we thought we'd picked the normal one but realised when we were up to our knees in mud, it was actually the adventure track. Luckily we'd worn sensible shoes, not like the poms who were walking behind us who only had thongs. At the top of the moutain was a very high tower, unfortunately the top step was missing so you sort of had to leap onto the top and hope for the beest. All the photos i tried to take at the top are blurry thanks to my shaking hands due to the climb.

At the top of the climb - look at the fear in my eyes!

We stayed the night on the island in a pretty awful hostel before floating back to the harbour in the morning and getting the bus to Hanoi.

From there we booked a trip to Sapa, where there are many ethnic minority villages and great walking. As it is higher in sapa the weather is cooler, which is just as well as some walking was pretty steep.

The rice paddies in Sapa

Thankfully you are followed by a black H'Mong woman who holds your hadn on the slippery bits and even offers to cary bulkythings like bottles of water for you.

Of course they expect you to buy handicrafts from them when you stop.

After Sapa we had a few days in Hanoi before heading on our first 24 hour bus ride to our first border crossing at Laos. A lot of peopole had described the bus trip to us as the trip from hell, so we were a little worried. Especially when we looked at the bus. Before we even left they were fixing the engine. The back 3rd was filled with boxes and luggage and there was no room to store our packs except for the roof. We couldnt recline our chairs as there was too much luggage and they kept stopping to add even more. It turns out there is no real transport system for goods between China and Laos so it is all done by passenger buses. As it got later the aisles were filled with bits and pieces. Then the staff (there are always about 6 people working on a bus) decided it was time to sleep and pulled their hammocks across the aisle, so there were not only obstacles on the bottom but also the top. But sayign all this it wasn't too bad, we did manage to get some sleeep and it was a great way to get to know the others on the bus, many of whomm we ran into again and again in Laos.

We didn't spend much time in Vientiane the capital, just headed straight for Vang Vieng – the tubing capital of Laos. Tubing involves sitting in a tyre inner tube and floating down the river stopping at makeshift bars and drinkign too much free lao lao (whisky) and beer lao. The bars apparently washed away in the rain a week before we got there, and were rebuilt within a day. The shoddyness of the building was made perfectly clear to us on our second day on the river. We tried to walk down a set of stairs to the river bank, when it collapsed from under us. i was ok, just a bit bruised, but Louisa started spitting out blood and I started to think something terrible had happened. Luckily she had just got her teeth caught on her lip but it was still pretty nasty and we were put off tubing after that.

Sitting in a Vang Vieng cafe - one of hte few that wasn't playing friends or the simpsons

So we headed south to Four Thousand Islands – a collection of sand bed islands on the Mekong. There is not an awful lot to do there but relax in a hammock.

All the children on the island we stayed at seemed to do the work while the parents got drunk. We took a sunset cruise with a couple of Aussies, which was supposed to include swimming and a bbq. It became obvious -pretty early on that our guide was not all there and luckily his son had taken over driving the boat. They dumped us on an island for a walk, where the son would meet us at the other end and start the bbq. Halfway alogn the walk we realised our guide was no longer followign us and had to go back and look for him. we found him in a makeshift bar getting into the lao lao and left him be. the rest of the trip was “interesting” but we survived and the son cooked a great bbq chicken.

We moved onto Cambodia soon after and met up with Andy and Blake in Phnom Penh. It was great to catch up with them as they are going the opposite way to us around South East Asia so we could give each other tips. We spent a few days in the south at the beaches with them, swimming in the morning, playing poool and cards in the afternoon and having a bbq on the beach in the evening, blissful!

Beach bbq in Sihnoukville

They are now in Laos and we have made it to Siem Reap. We spent 3 days riding around the temples in the boiling heat and are thoroghly exhausted now.

Just a few more days in Cambodia before hitting the beaches of Thailand.

In the Middle (of Vietnam)

sarah153 — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:37:00 GMT

Well after a few tough days of lying on the beach, we continued our journey north to Hanoi where we arrived this morning.

This stage introduced us to sleeper buses, which are a Vietnamese term for sitting in the most uncomfortable seats you can imagine while the driver takes the bus around corners at full speed, into the ditch and up bouncing around on the pavement, while beeping his horn, talking loudly, playing incredibly bad music, putting the lights on full and generaly doing anything to stop you sleeping. So the day after is spent walking around in a zombie like state.

But it was worth it. After the first bus ride we made it to Hoi An, the town of 200 tailor stores. Most people get suits or dresses made for formal occasions but seeing as we have no formal occasions for the next year we decided shorts were the better option. It was lots of fun and they ended up being exactly how we wanted, not like some other stories we heard.

Hoi An is the most beautiful town we have visited but there is not an awful lot to do. We spent half a day touring the My Son Cham ruins and the other half hiring bikes to take to the beach, but felt there was not much left to do... other than go to a beach party in the night.

The next day we tiredly got a car to the Marble Mountains, where there are Buddist temples inside the natural caves, beautiful but the paths were very steep and it was about the hottest day.

From there we took the train to Hue because it was supposed to be picturesque, but unfortunately all the locals shut their curtains and we couldn't see a thing.

After a day in Hue it was time to get into the night bus again and head to Hanoi. We've had a day here and will go to Halong Bay for 3 nights tomorrow.

Heading North

sarah153 — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:35:00 GMT

We are now in Dalat – the honeymoon capital of Vietnam. most of the tourists here are loved-up Vietnamese couples who seem to have a strange sense of what they like to see. The region is famous for its waterfalls but most are decked out with fake plastic animals and cafes. You can get your photo taken with a Vietnamese cowboy and his pony. We even found a white horse with black painted stripes, attempting to look like a zebra.

But once you get away from the tack, it is actually a pretty nice place. It is up in the mountains, which is a nice escape from the flatness of the south and it also means the climate is cooler. I even had to wear a jumper last night!!

We spent yesterday exploring the town by foot. The first stop was Crazy House which Lonely Planet highly recommends but it is a bit of a let down. It is this strange house with rooms in weird shapes and very uncomfortable looking beds. Each room has a theme such as kangaroo, where there is a giant kangaroo in the room, with evil glowing red eyes. Guests have to be out most of the day so people can look around. But on the upside the honeymoon suite is available for 1,2 or 3 people???

next was camly falls, the capital of tack. The cable cars were over an hours walk away but well worth it for the view. You can see all over Dalat, even the Eiffle Tower shaped post office!

Today was the best day of the trip so far. Rot the guy who runs our hotel is very anti-Lonely Planet and keen to offer things not in there so arranged for his cousin and friend to take us on the back of their motorbikes to a local mountain for a walk. The walk was straight up and I struggled a bit – clearly boot camp didn't do that much for me!! - but it was amazing.

The views at the top were spectacular looking over a greenish lake, over Dalat and to the other mountains.

The way down was interesting. It is entering the start of the wet season so there has been a bit of rain, making the track pretty slippery. We had very dirty bottoms whenn we got down.

We both loved the motorbikes and are pretty keen to do another trip like that soon.

But for now it is off to Nha Trang. Here is apparently a really nice beach and we are both desperate to gett in the water away from the heat and after today, rest our tired legs!

Louisa and I were both desperate to get to Nha Trang because it was hot and we just wanted to swim. It hasn't disappointed, we've spent lots of time at the beach inthe warm water.

On Wednesday we promised ourselves a treat day to unwind from the stress of no work or responsibilities. But ended up being stalked by a taxi driver who set his bikie friends after us, eating a bowl of spinach and wallowing in mud.

We attempted to order a traditional vietnamese breakfast first thing of soup. Usually these come wiht a range of vegetables and noodles but this one was just spinach and some weird meat we didn't know what it was floating in oily water.

Never mind we'll grow strong like popeye. After breakfast we attempted to get a taxi but he didn't understand where we wanted to go so we walked off. He spent the next hour following us around tryingto understand where we wanted to go, we said goaway but he kept following. We tried going up back streets but he found us. Next thing his friends on motorbikes were following offering us lifts as well,to some unknown destination as it certainly wasn't the mud baths we wanted to get to.

WE eventually got rid of them, went backto thehostel and got them to arrange a taxi for us and our dramas for the day were over.

The mud baths were great, so relaxing. YOu soak in this pool of mud for 15 minutes, to which Louisa said "This is great, it'll get allthe dirt off our bodies"??? Then wash it off and soak in a hot tub before jumping in the pool. Unfortunately the cold pool was closed andthe 38 degreee one was a tad too hot, so we opted to return to the beach andhave a swim before sipping cocktails on sunbeds,life is pretty tough!

The next day we took a trip to 4 islands on a small boat with a bunch of other tourists, we went to a dodgey aquarium which looked more like a pet shop than tourist attraction, went snorkeling, danced on tables and sang waltzing matilda.

now for 2 more days lying on the beach before heading to Hoi An where we may get some clothes made up

Down South in Vietnam

sarah153 — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:33:00 GMT

Well we are a week in and despite what everyone predicted there have been no major dramas.

We arrived in Saigon tired and overwhelmed on Monday morning and mistakenly took the first taxi we saw. We thought he said it would be 50,000 dong (about $5) but he meant 500,000 ($50) – our first rip off.

The traffic on the way in was chaos. Motorbikes and scooters darted infront of the taxi and wove their way around other cars and taxis. Bikes carrying huge loads of food, plastic containers or people appeared out of nowhere. When there was no room they just rode up onto the pavement. I was sure we would die several times on the way, or kill a scooter rider.

But we made it to the hostel in one piece.

From there we spent the day exploring by foot. We found a map and managed to find our way around the city. We found the markets, Reunification Palace and a bunch of nice parks before settling in for an evening of water puppetry.

We also pretty much mastered crossing the roads, it doesn't sound like much of a chalenge but when you realise there are no real road rules and every scooter driver has a death wish it is pretty challenging. We learnt to just walk in front of them and hope they don't hit us.

Our first dinner was an interesting experience and we both expected to wake up in the night with severe food poisoning, luckily we didn't. Despite everyone saying there was food everywhere in Saigon we struggled to find any other than one man serving bits of meat and rice. We weren't exactly sure what the meat was or how long it had been there for, but it tasted good and we were starving having skipped lunch and spent the day walking. So we risked it.

Meals have since become easier and we are learning to be more adventurous.

Day 2 we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong lived during the war, pretty much the only way to get there is to go on a tour but our guide was really good so Im glad we did. He explained a bit more of the history of the war and showed us around the bunkers and tunnels. We headed down into one tunnel that has been widened for us fat lazy westeners but it was still pretty small, we could get through bending over. It ran for 100 metres but Louisa and i both decided to take the first exit at 20 metres. It was hot and sweaty and smelly underneath.

It was a great experience but kinda glorified the war. Great fighters were given the “American Killing Award”.

After this we jumped out at the War Remnants Museum, which was pretty gory. There were actual deformed foetuses in alcohol in one display as well as pictures of deformitiies from Agent Orange. But again it was interesting to read aobut the history of the Vietnamese, my memory from studying the war in college is very hazy.

We spent the next 3 days on a Mekong Delta tour. It was really relaxing after the hustle and bustle of Saigon and crossing roads was just that little bit easier.

We did a lot of boat trips, which were great, but a tad repetitive. All tours seem to include lots of side trips to people making rice paper, coconut candy and just about anything you could imagine. We were restrained and didnt by anything!