Slavic Trails

Goa

slav — Tue, 1 Jun 2010 23:28:00 GMT

There's not much to say. Turned up on the train and stayed by Anjuna beach.

It was very quite due to it being off season. Chilled for a few days then was back to Delhi and on a flight back to Heathrow before I knew it.

Goa vs. Thailand? Thailand everytime.

And that's it. I'm back in England now.

Anybody know of any decent Chemistry jobs going?

Photos: Goa

slav — Tue, 1 Jun 2010 23:20:00 GMT

Empty

Mumbai/Bombay

slav — Fri, 21 May 2010 00:14:00 GMT

I have only a couple of Days in Mumbai before heading to Goa.

After one day here, I doubt I'm gonna see much more tommorow. The city centre is nice but the tourist sights are few and far between. Its actually the 1st place I've been to where I haven't been stared at by everyone I walk past on the street.

The main sight in the centre is the Gateway of india. A big gate that sits in the harbour. I saw it.

After that I wandered around for a bit (the layout is very london-esque), befor going to the prince of wales museum. It costs 25 rupees for indians and 300 rupees for foreigners! Imagine if we tried to pull that shit in England!

After the museum I took a few pics of ginger people to pass the time. Indians seem to dye their hair when the start to go grey.....The examples I have are NOT a rare sight.

I got a few pics of people on the train on my phone too. Not to high on safety, the doors of the metro remain open at all times. People hang out of the door to get prime position for getting of at their station. Also, bizzarely the carriages sre split for men and for women. Though women have a choice to trevel with the men if they so wish.

Maybe I'll see something new tomorrow. If I do I'll post it up

Photos: Mumbai/Bombay

slav — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:54:00 GMT

London in India

Varanasi

slav — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:30:00 GMT

I turned up to Varanasi at about 7am. There was no announcement that the train had rolled into the station I had to rely on a random to let me know. He knew his stuff though and I managed to get off at the correct stop.

I stayed in Varanasi for 2 days. The city is very old apparently dates back nearly 3000 years (probably why the buildings look a bit worse for wear....)

As you can imagine the city is all focussed on the ganges (Although I did take some time to visit Sarnath - a Buddhist area nearby).

ONce at the ganges can stand anywhere on the banks on the river and you would probably witness within a 20 metre radius:

People swimming in the river, people washing in the river, people doing their laundry, someone performing a ceremony, someone trying to sell you a boat ride, people playing cricket, others urinating in full public view, yoga classes, random goats, dogs and cows, a beggar, countless bodies being burnt on a log fires getting prepared to be swept into the river....oh yeah and also a couple of pipes pumping waste water into the river.

Its a lot to take in. I went down to the river twice, the first time was in the evening. I was gonna go for sunset, however the boat driver tried to take more money off me for it so I stayed on the banks until dusk before heading out (there was cloud cover anyway so I didnt miss out on much). During the boat ride we stopped at a temple for an evening ceremony. Lots of people, lots of boats, and lots of fire.

The second time was in the morning at 5am for sunrise. Very peaceful. No regrets setting the alarm for 4:30am. Both times I went to the river I took a boat out. Once on the river the noise on the bank seems to fall away into the background.

After 2 days I boarded the train heading for bombay/mumbai. 27hrs later I arrived -1hr behind schedual

Photos: Varanasi

slav — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:58:00 GMT

The Ganges

Agra

slav — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:31:00 GMT

It's all about the Taj Mahal. When you first walk through the gate and see it it almost looks flat. Like you were on a movie set. I went there at about 6:00am to dodge the crowds. There were still plenty of people there, but I didn't have to wait too long to get in.

When you get close you realise how amazing the detail is. You have to take your shoes off when you walk around the actual building, and a lot of the inside areas were closed off. It is amazing to see though. NOthing is painted on. All the patterns are either carved out of the white marble or other coloured stones are cut into and embedded into the strucutre.

After that I went to Agra fort. But I'd already seen what I came for.

8:30pm I caught a train overnight to Varanasi.

Photos: Agra

slav — Sun, 16 May 2010 17:09:00 GMT

The Taj Mahal

Ranthambore

slav — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:52:00 GMT

After a couple of days in Jaipur I went to Ranthombore, the site of a huge national park, home to endangered tigers.

During the safari I saw 100s of monkeys, 100s of deer, a handful of peacocks, a couple of salamanders and half a tiger (just its hind legs as it walked into a bush).

At the point of spotting the tiger,just 20metres from us our driver managed to get our truck stuck against a tree leaving the tyres spinning deeper and deeper into the dust. In the end we all got out and physically lifted the truck from its position against the tree. The thought did cross my mind that the tiger we'd seen could suddenly launch an attack, but having seen that the park ranger was wearing flip flops and was armed with a big stick I knew we were in safe hands.

For the remainder of the safari we were chasing shadows, looking for another tiger. By the end of it I had a camera full of deer pictures and was covered in shit loads of dust.

Photos: Ranthambore

slav — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:47:00 GMT

Safari

Jaipur

slav — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:00:00 GMT

So I've left Delhi and went to Jaipur for a couple of days ( I'll put up stuff about Delhi at the end, I'll be going back there for an extra day before I fly).

So Jaipur is pretty cool. Various forts overlook the city. All very grand. Giving amazing views of the city itself. saw a sunset from one of the forts one evening. You can see the haze of dust and pollution above the city, the sun just disappeared into the haze in the end rather than dropping off over the hoirizon.

The centre of Jaipur is painted in a pink colour, sectioned off by a number of gates. Very busy. Very strange to see. Traffic is crazy.

As ever there was the random cows walking around mingling with the people, plus a few camels thrown in for good measure.

On my 2nd day I visited an old observatory. housing a massive sundial which could apparently calculate local time to the nearest 2 seconds. 2 days I figured was enough and it was time to leave.

Photos: Jaipur

slav — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:17:00 GMT

The pink city

Koh Phi Phi

slav — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:20:00 GMT

I;m currently sat in the dirt of delhi dreaming about Koh Phi Phi. A fantastic place. The island is small, very relaxed, very beautiful. We speant most of our week the lazing about, mustering a small amount of energy to do a cooking course in one afternoon, and to do a snorkelling tour of the islands. The snorkelling was amazing (we took some pics on a disposable camera - mona has these though) I've seen nothing like it. Hundreds of tropical fish and coral as far as the eye can see.

The only hassle you get is from the Scuba Divers trying to tout for buisness - every other building houses a PADI approved organisation.

I forgot to mention that there is a bar on the island that has its own Muay Thai Boxing ring. Anyone can volunteer to fight, if you do you get a free cocktail. Pretty brutal - but good entertainment. They should introduce it in england. Any problems, solve it in the ring, then sit down together for a nice Pina Colada afterwards.

A beautiful place. Our only regret is that we only speant a week here.

Photos: Koh Phi Phi

slav — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:02:00 GMT

The Beach

Phuket

slav — Sat, 1 May 2010 20:02:00 GMT

Having contested with the Volcano and the Red Shirts, I managed to meet Mona on time at Phuket airport. Our Hotel is situated on Kamala beach.

Because of the trouble and the impending rainy season the crowds are thin on the ground making the place pretty awesome. weve pretty much had our own private beach and swimming pool for the past week, The pool even has a bar in it that stays open as long as youre drinking.

THeres not too much to see on the actual island, when a tour includes a visit to the cashew nut factory you know youre struggling for ideas, but the beaches is what its all about. Definately the most expensive place ive been to so far, but compared to England its still pretty cheap.

Yersterday we went to on a tour of Phang Nga Bay. Phang Nga Bay and Halong bay are same same. Apparently so much so that scenes from Good Morning Vietnam were shot around this area only this time the sun was with us. The Bay is home to James Bond island (from the film Man with the Golden Gun). Pretty cool to see but I was disapointed that they didnt have a Nik Nak look a like to greet you as you step off the boat.

Saw a fat aussie guy fight at the local kick boxing stadium down in Patong. The have kick boxing fights there pretty much every day.

We are heading to Koh Phi Phi tomorrow, after we settle the hotel bill. Weve been signing food and drink to the all week....

Photos: Phuket

slav — Sat, 1 May 2010 19:46:00 GMT

Hello Mr Bond

Chiang Mai

slav — Sat, 1 May 2010 19:34:00 GMT

Id already written something for this before the computer crashed.

Chiang Mai was cool saw an elephant pant a picture there and play football. Things dont get much better than that. Worst part was doing white water rafting in a river that had no water in. We were all dressed in helmets and life jackets slowly going down the river, with kids laughing at us as they paddled in the shallow water.

Most of the time there was taken up by the 3 day trek we did. Much different to SaPa. Although SaPa had the views, you didnät get the tribal women here following you around everywhere trying to sell you a bag.

After another bus from hell between Vang Vieng and Chang Mai though I decided to fly down to Phuket to meet Mona. Arrived with 2 hours to spare.

A Volcano, Red Shirts no problem. Ive even had to pay off the Thai government to let me stay in the country a bit longer because my VISA was gonna run out on 1st May!

Photos: Chiang Mai

slav — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:57:00 GMT

Trekking + Elephants

Vang Vieng

slav — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:02:00 GMT

We stayed a total of 6 nights in Vang Vieng, which also took in the Laos new year. Apart from the drinking that goes on here there's not much to say. In terms of tubing - youre supposed to sit in a rubber tube over a 3km strtch of the river which is lined up with bars. It was described as a spring break alternative to me. In reality people just hang around the first 50m. On the 1st day we tried it Chris got his tub stolen afer using it once to cross the river. THere are rope swings and slides over the river. Plenty of scare stories about drunk people killing themselves using them so I stayed clear and stuck to the beer.

The 2nd time we went we managed to get 1km down the river before giving up and catching a tuk-tuk back. The whole thing lost its sheen for me when chris spotted a condom floating past him. I dont think I went in the river agsin after that.

Plentey of power cuts throughout the town. One power junction actually went up in flames one evening and the power was out for the whole evening.

It was good fun being there during the new year. The Laos people are so friendly. A massive contrast to Vietnam. The are is a lot less tourist driven so things could change, but I hope they don't.

With time running out I made a beeline for Chiang Mai.

Photos: Vang Vieng

slav — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:56:00 GMT

Tubing

Lao Cai to Vang Vieng, 4 days of travel

slav — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:21:00 GMT

So we started at 5am in Lao Cai. Me and Chris turned up to the bus statino to find Grant talking to a random woman. she kept saying "Dien Bien Phu". Perfect thats where we're heading we thought. We got on the bus/ Parcel force delivery Van, with bags of rice and barrels of Petrol packed around us and set off. After an hour we had made it back to SaPa, where we picked up some tribal women. One of them pointed at me, I thought she wanted my seat so I nodded and tried to get up. Before I could she'd put her head in my lap and slep for the next 2hrs!

We arrived at a place called Lai Chau, about half way for us when we were kicked off the bus and told to get on another. By the time we realised what was going on we were having to pay for another ticket!!!! They say you haven't truly been to Vietnam if you haven't been scammed.....

From Lai Chau the road had been newly cut and was just a dirt track. Progress was really slow. We eventually arrived in Dien Bien Phu at around 6/7pm. We bought tickets to take us into the Laos the next day leaving at 5:30am

This bus was insane. We got on and already half the seats were covered in boxes. I started the trip sat on a massive box of Nestle chocolate drink. It took us 4hrs to travel the 30km to the boarder and cross over to Laos. The road was getting worse. Still dort tracks but a lot thinner and with a 90 degree sheer drop on one side. we were actually leaning over the side at one point when the driver couldnt be arsed clearing away a landslide properly. At one point the driver hit reverse because he'd taken a wrong turn. He was heading straight for the edge with no direction. All of us on the back seat at this point started screaming. The laos guy sat on my foot actually grabed hold of me in panic, as if I could help!

After 6 hours of terror we arrived a town called Muang Khua. We had no idea where we were and how to get to Luang Prabang. Our saving grace was a Thai guy who was on our bus. He owned a hostel in Vang Vieng and was heading that way. He chartered a boat to take us down the river to a village called Muang Ngoi. Great but for the fact we had no money! A perfect time to crack open the $100 dollars I'd been carrying in my shoe for 4months!

We got to the village at around 6pm. It was like some out of the movie THe beach - an amazing place. you can only get to this place by boat, isolated chilled out, in a beautiful setting. If we'd had more time and money we would have stayed longer than the night. but as we only had about $70 between 3 of us we figured reaching an ATM was our priority.

The day after we caught a boat down to Nong Khiaw - where there was a random boat race going on followed by mini bus to Luang Prabang, sticking with Pong - the Thai guy all the way. As we set off on the bus we didn't realise people were going to line the streets and throw buckets of water into the windows in celebration of the coming new year! With no air con we had no alternative but to get soaked.

After a 4th day on minibus we finally made it to Vang Vieng. The final leg was fairly was fairly uneventful. I think we were pretty grateful about that

Photos: Lao Cai to Vang Vieng

slav — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:02:00 GMT

Don't try this at home

SaPa

slav — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:47:00 GMT

So we left Hanoi with a one wy train ticket to Lao Cai before catching bus to SaPa, we'd organised a 2 day trek covering a total of 28km. We got to SaPa, dumped our heavt bags and set of at 9:30am for the 1st day.

The vistas were spectacular, the only down side was the amount of tribal women there were walking around trying to sell you things. I ended up buying two bags, after being broken down over a number of hours.

On our one and only night in the area we stayed at a home stay in a village 14km away from SaPa. Te food was great and as an added bonus the landlady (Tam) came and sat with us, encourageing us o do shots of local Rice wine!

On the second day more walking was on the agenda! The weather was not as good and by the end the visablity was terrible. We got back to the Hotel and then headed back to Lao Cai on a local bus in the hope that our passports had been delivered to Pumpkin travel company!

SaPa definately was cool but you can see a big impact that has been made by the tourists that go there, from the constant selling to the new roads that are being carved into the mountain side, on the other side though this once poor area is devloping rapidily due to the tourists, with new schools being built etc....

Anyway, SaPa finished we decided that we were going to head down to Dien Bien Phu to cross over to Laos, against the advice of a number of people including the tour company tht sorted out the SaPa trip.....

Photos: SaPa

slav — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:40:00 GMT

Trekking in the mountains

Hanoi

slav — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:33:00 GMT

After the mad dash to reach Hanoi I spent one night there before heading to Halong Bay. However, we did return for nother couple of days to organise our trip to SaPa and our route into Laos.

As a city its pretty generic. Big. Went to see Ho Chi Minh, which was quite intense. A lot of guards. A lot of security. No cameras allowed. I stepped 2metres out of line to see if I could spot Jack and Grant and I was made to go back through security again!

Water puppet show was pretty fun. But before I had a chance to settle we were getting on a night train to SaPa. Jack made the decision to head back to Siem Reap, so now I'm travelling with Chris and Grant from the building project.