The long way home

Home Sweet Home

vien_and_shaz — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Well, its over...we are back in New Zealand. As nice as it is to be home and see family and friends we are missing the bumming lifestyle of backpacking BIG time.

I remember when we set off we were hoping that we would rid the travel bug but it feels like its just gotten stronger!! However, the bank accounts are nearly empty and our brains are slowly shrinking to non existence so I guess its back to real life for now!

The last few weeks we've spent unpacking, (its amazing how many clothes you can live without) and updating our CV's, now we're just hoping that somebody wants to employ us!

So, I guess it's the end of our journal. Thanks everybody for sharing the experience with us and sending your emails and well wishes our way.

Keep in touch and I guess we'll see you all at our wedding......

sharan@clear.net.nz
mob: +64 (0)2102904084
ph: +64 (0)92780871
skype: sharan014

vien@clear.net.nz
mob: +64 (0)2102904077
ph: +64 (0)92780871
skype: vien-duong

R&R

vien_and_shaz — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:41:00 GMT

The last time we wrote we were in the Mekong Delta and on our way to Vinh Chau, the village where my parents grew up. We got there after a long moto ride and, well there’s not much there. I suppose that’s what I expected but, there really is not a lot there.

There’s a market, a few shops and restaurants that get set up on the side of the road around 6ish hmmm a world away from life in NZ. If my parents never made that decision to leave 30 years ago I could so see myself living in a wooden shack, with 8 kids, growing rice and riding buffalo, and while that sounds fun for a day I’d take my current life thanks (mum and dad). One night in Vinh Chau was enough for my little slice of history and the next day we left for a small island off the south coast called Phu Quoc. Everyone has their own little paradise that they think of and go ‘ahhhh’, well that’s Phu Quoc for us. Developed just enough, empty white sand beaches, good food and just a good place to chill.

We had to tear ourselves away from Phu Quoc and our next stop was Singapore. It was strange being there. Everybody spoke English and it was soo clean- a real contrast to the last few months. We did the tourist thing, Jurong Bird Park, Sentosa and of course a lot of eating and shopping.

The day we landed in Singapore I discovered the Malaysian (F1) GP was on in nearby Kuala Lumpur and it was too good an opportunity to miss. We went through a bit of pain to get everything organized so last minute but 2 days later we were there, Sepang International Circuit in the K1 Gold grandstand (best spot for overtaking). Woohoo! I’ll spare you all the lap by lap commentary but will say it was pretty wicked finally seeing and hearing the cars up close.

The last couple of weeks have been spent on the Southern islands of Thailand. It finally felt that we were on holiday, relaxing on the beach and staying in semi-clean hotels. We’ve also been able to go on some awesome diving trips. Although I freaked when we saw fish bigger than me!

The islands are postcard perfect. Our favourite was Koh Phangan, we splurged a little and stayed right on the beach. Awesome view and crystal clear water.

We’re now in Bangkok and today we celebrated Thai New Year. Its crazy, water fights, talc powder and lots of food and music. The Thais can party!

So now more shopping to do and sadly trying to get to grips with the reality that the trip is almost over. Scary.

Gallery: R&R

vien_and_shaz — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:31:00 GMT

Vietnam, islands

Gallery: The homeland!

vien_and_shaz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:53:00 GMT

Vietnam

The homeland!

vien_and_shaz — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:47:00 GMT

We were a bit concerned about arriving in Vietnam as we heard a lot about scams and theft from other travellers AND my mum and dad. They weren't wrong (within an hour of arriving we met a girl who had her pack, passport and money stolen) but employing our best South Auckland survival instincts have helped us out of any major troubles..so far...

The people have been friendly, laidback (when not scamming) and naturally curious about Sharan & I (hmm he looks Vietnamese but she doesn't and he speaks english? wierd...) It usually takes a while to explain myself and the classic intro goes like this:

Hello. Hi. Where you from? New Zealand. Oh...but you look Vietnam. Yeah I am. Really?!! but you don't speak Vietnam? No. Oh... But my family doesn't actually speak Vietnamese anyway, we speak a Chinese dialect in a place called Vinh Chau. Blank confused look...And her? She your friend? <sigh>

This did get a bit annoying repeating it 20x a day and once I couldn't be bothered and actually said I was Thai (which stopped the conversation dead), but its 2nd nature now and does mean I get lots of impromptu free Vietnamese lessons!

Vietnam itself has been pretty sweet. Amazing food, diverse scenery, learning about the wars (unbiased communist war video quote: American devils came to bomb our children and destroy schools...) and seeing how entrepreneuial the Vietnamese are these days (if only they used the energy spent scamming for something constructive!), it kinda makes me even more proud to be Vietnamese!

After complaining for months to Sharan about having golf withdrawal I had a round at the Dalat Palace golf club. For the first time ever I had a caddie (compulsory) which made it the laziest round ever, even by golfing standards. She drove the cart, cleand the golf balls,chose all my clubs, raked the bunkers, read the greens and lined up the putts (tiger woods golf style). FYI I shot 103.

We finished off our open water diving certificate in what could be the most dodgy operator in Nga Trang. We skipped half the course, were given the exam answers (we were told you will 'definitely' pass the course before starting) and they really inspired confidence in their equipment ('That O-ring is definitely going to blow' to 'Oh no, its ok' in the space of 5 seconds) But hey, it was cheap and we survived.

For me, Vietnam has been great. I speak better Vietnamese than Vien!! The food is awesome and the country is really easy to travel. Halong bay was beautiful and staying on the boat overnight was great. Although, I was grilled by 2 vietnamese kids about why we didn't have a baby yet and that girls shouldn't drink beer! Hmmmm, no comment.
The traffic is crazy. We have been hiring scooters throughout the country. Hanoi and Saigon are manic and while on the moto I've rubbed shoulders with buses and other motorists a few too many times.
I got a bit carried away at the tailors in Hoi An so now both our backpacks are almost too heavy to carry (mine is full of Sharans stuff.)

For the last few weeks we've been thinking about whether or not to extend our trip, its one of those things that everyone who travels for a while thinks about. Travelling has become a way of life now and we're not sure if we're ready to get back to our day jobs just yet. Regardless we've decided that 8 months is long enough and we've booked a flight home on April 14th.

We've got a few more days exploring the Mekong Delta and Viens parents home village! then to Thailand for some relaxation in the sun. Oh yeah, i think I've convinced Vien to go via Singapore for some long overdue retail therapy!!!

Lazing in Laos

vien_and_shaz — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:38:00 GMT

Our time in Laos has come to an end and what a beautiful country (this may be because it reminds us of NZ!)

First stop was Si Phan Don (4000 islands) which introduced us to the Lao culture pretty quickly. The next 3 days were spent on our hammocks drinking Beer Lao and waiting for the Aussie guy to deliver freshly baked cakes to us at 5pm everyday...heaven! Sadly we had to tear ourselves away from the hammocks and visit some of the other provinces- Champasak, Savanakhet and the very western capital of Vientiane.

Viens b/day was spent in crazy Vang Vieng. This place is bizarre, TV bars,'happy shakes'and tubing down the river while stopping at bars for some infamous Lao Lao (rice whisky). We were lucky to have an awesome group of people to do the tubing and celebrate Viens b/day. Aside from the craziness of the place, the scenery was beautiful. We spent a day exploring the limestone caves around Vang Vieng with a gung-ho local guide who didn't speak english and led us off the beaten track. We reaquainted ourselves with tubes to venture into the 'water cave'(the Lao aren't very imaginative) and clambered a kilometer deep into another to swim in a pitch black and freezing underground spring.

Sharan has also made progress towards beating her fear of motorbikes and actually rode the two of us around Luang Nam Tha for a day AND she is even coming round to the idea of a motorbike tour in Vietnam Woohoo!(WHATEVA!!)We went on a 2 day trek in Luang Nam Tha. The trek itself was pretty good but the highlight was definitely reaching the Akha mountain village where we spent the night. Life in the village hasn't changed a lot in the last 1000 years or so; bamboo huts, more animals running around than people and they have a village chief! (although we didn't meet him cos he was 'unhappy' which apparently is really not good).
I did make a meaningful contribution to village life though, teaching the kids how to make paper planes! As this was the first time most of them had seen paper progress was quite slow. But, when they finished it was magic, literally, the kids thought it was magic that something could actually fly and cue hysterical plane throwing for half an hour afterwards. That night we sat around a campfire with half the village drinking a bit more Lao Lao than we should of, if you didn't you were a ladyboy (even the girls).

We've seen some crazy sights here- but the one that takes the cake is a little 5 year old boy waving to me with a cows head in his other hand...vegetarianism never looked better.

Our next stop is Viens homeland...Vietnam! Sadly, only a few weeks to go till the end of our travels :(

Gallery: Lazing in Laos

vien_and_shaz — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:19:00 GMT

Laos pics

Holidaying in Cambodia

vien_and_shaz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:17:00 GMT

As I type Sharan and I are having an unscheduled night in (nothing to do) Stung Treng, as our Laos visas didn't arrive today as expected. The guesthouse has been kind enough to give us a free room though, which is nice except it's quite dingy, has plastic bags for windows and there's an (all night) wedding party on the street outside with very big speakers...looks like the ear plugs are going to get some use tonight.Welcome to the travelling life in Cambodia :)

But it hasn't been all doom and gloom. We spent New years eve in Phnom Penh on the river bank with the locals and tourists alike drinking beer and eating boiled eggs while watching the haphazard fireworks display. The next day we visited the unlikely combination of sad Khmer Rouge sites (killing fields, Tuol Sleng) and 'ok, now lets shoot some machine guns!' (quote: tuk tuk driver) at the shooting range. I was tempted by the rocket launcher but settled for a magazines worth of AK47 which was fun but not my cup of tea.

What never fails to amaze us is the driving over here which is crazy in the cities but down right suicidal everywhere else.. Every vehicle has their own 'crusing' speed that is uncomfortably fast and must be maintained always, even given other traffic, blind corners, stationary water buffalos, etc...crucial to this is the fact that for every 2 lane road there is an invisible 3rd lane in the middle that can be used at anytime, just honk the horn!! Adding to the entertainment are the locals carrying loads on their wheels that make the worst IKEA van disaster look like a casual shop at Tescos (see pic)

And then there's the rubbish, it's everywhere! Khmers really don't care that their country is becoming a tip. Picture this, we were at Bokor national park and had endured a butt numbing 3 hours on the back of a pickup to reach the hilltop summit viewpoint. It was a beautiful spot, surrounded by jungle and a view of the southern coast. Everyone was admiring the view when a Khmer lady runs towards the cliff face and throws a plastic bottle over the edge into the wilderness, proudly watching it fly into the horizon. Who does that??! She did get a bollocking and lecture by one of the dutch tourists though.

What has really stood out here are the kids, they are soo friendly and smart. Always saying hello but always trying to sell you something. The begging though is full on and something we have had to get used to.

Before we headed off to Laos we discovered that there waqs no ATM in all of northeast Cambodia and only one in Laos. We had to take the 6 hour bus back to Phnom Penh just to get cash out. A lesson learnt.

We have just returned from Ban Lung which is a small town covered in red dust. Vien loved the bumpy off road riding on the moto, pity his hair didn't enjoy it as much (see pic). We saw some cool waterfalls but the highlight was definitely the crater lake which was crystal clear water surrounded by jungle. We hired some inner tubes and wasted the day away, a great way to end our travels in Cambodia.

Other stuff we've done: Relaxing in Sihanoukvilles beaches, riding the hilarious bamboo train, seeing the Irrawaddy dolphins and obviously the magnificent temples of Angkor.

Tomorrow we're off to Laos for 3 weeks, thats if our visas ever turn up...

Gallery: Holidaying in Cambodia

vien_and_shaz — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:06:00 GMT

Cambodia

Hey you, where you go?!?

vien_and_shaz — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:05:00 GMT

After a few tear filled goodbyes we made it to Thailand...eventually. Our plane was delayed in Dubai for 5 hours and when we were landing in Bangkok some psycho started to beat up this passenger and there was blood flying. Unsurprisingly the Emirates air hostesses calls to 'Please return to your seats' didn't stop the brawl, luckily some other passengers jumped him and restrained him across the centre row of seats tied up with seat belts..ingenious!

So, yeah, the trip was eventful to say the least. We had 3 days in Bangkok, the first thing we noticed was the heat, we had just come from Wales high of 6 degrees to Bangkok high of 35 degrees. We still aren't used to it..yummy...sweat. Looked at some cool temples-did some shopping climatised to the 'hey you, where you go?' catch phrase from the endless number of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers and left to Kanchanaburi and my first encounter with mozzies and the lovely asian toilets and bathrooms. We went to Erawan waterfalls which were beautiful like a mini Plitvice. The water was bright turquoise and the only difficult thing there was to get used to the fish trying to bite my arse while Vien was taking pics.

Next stop Ayutthaya, one of Thailands ancient capitals so heaps of old temples. Couldn't resist hiring a scooter even though memories from our accident in the Greek islands are still fresh. (That is a matter of perspective as I can only vaguely recall it) Pretty good coz everybody thought Vien was Thai so we didn't have to pay to see the Wats.
I spotted a yummy looking stew at the annual Ayutthaya festival and asked what it was, the lady replied 'like chicken' good enough for me so I picked up a plate, tucked in and quickly realised that it wasn't chicken but couldn't pick what it was, it tasted good so I carried on...until I saw the torso of a grasshopper. Anyway, I was a bit grossed out at which point I had another spoonful for some weird reason. Well the quarter plate left went in the bin on route to the safety of the spring roll stall.

Next stop Khao Yai National park. To do a days trek in the rainforest. Our guide 'Jeep' took the two of us on a more 'adventurous trek' which involved going through vegetation about 7 feet high and doing some impromptu rock climbing. My only instruction 'use long leg, use long leg' Thankfully no injuries. Following around Jeep was like living an episode of Ray Mears. He showed us how to live off the jungle we treaked wild elephants 'Come see this poo is only 3 or 4 hours old, still fresh!'Saw 'the waterfall' from 'The Beach' which was wasted on both Vien and myself as neither of us have seen the movie. We saw some monkeys, gibbon, hornbill birds and the highlight a python, which we had to pull the tail of as it is 'one time in life you see!' Great day.

Next Chiang Mai which wasn't too good. Vien & I have been really sick (stupid mozzies) So we have not seen much at all. We've been dosing up with drugs (fellow phcist geeks, you can buy ANYTHING OTC here). We are both a little better so don't worry Mums!! We went and did a Thai cooking course. Learn't how to make a few good dishes highlight: banana fritters with coconut ice cream and our own red curry paste.

Christmas was spent in Pai with all those hippys!!! We rafted from Pai to Mae Hong Son which is our last stop in Thailand (for now) before we fly to Cambodia. Our next update will be in the new year so have a safe and enjoyable silly season!!

Gallery: Hey you, where you go?!?

vien_and_shaz — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 01:44:00 GMT

Thailand pics

Gallery: Ciao Europe!

vien_and_shaz — Thu, 6 Dec 2007 08:35:00 GMT

Last of europe pics

Ciao Europe!

vien_and_shaz — Thu, 6 Dec 2007 07:45:00 GMT

It’s been a while since the last update and the 4 month trip around Europe has sadly come to an end. Since last time we have spent another week in Spain, France and finally 3 weeks in Italy.

Our stint in Spain was really tiring, the long train journeys and train strikes were beginning to take their toll and even the tapas and sangria wasn’t making it better. We saw some awesome sights along the way, the aquaduct in Segovia, super-modern Valencia and Granada’s Alhambra. Hanging out with the Spaniards for the final Formula 1 GP and watching them go through the full spectrum of emotions was quite memorable.

Entering France again was nice (no pun intended.) We spent a few days chilling in Nice enjoying the good weather and did a daytrip to Monaco. I don’t think I’ve seen that many Ferraris ever (although spotting a black 360 with chrome spinners and bling bodykit proves money doesn’t buy taste.) I was dragged around Monaco to follow the Grand Prix circuit…yes ladies, it was exciting as it sounds!

With the realisation that flights around xmas are freakin expensive the decision was made to finish Europe a bit early...so a reality check that the end is near and cue a frantic few weeks…

The last country in Europe was Italy. It really does have everything the history, architecture, culture and pizza!! not to mention the fantastically stylish Italians! It all started at Lake Maggiore which was pretty and strangely absent of tourists. We hired bikes and went riding around. Had a nice picnic and bottle of wine, which probably wasn’t the best idea when we had to ride back on the roads with the nutter Italian drivers. One thing is for sure they’re natural swervers!

Next was Verona and I had all these expectations (you know Romeo and Juliet) but was a bit disappointed that the ‘Juliets fake balcony’ was just sprawled with graffiti with every tom dick and harry declaring their love for somebody or rather.

After yet another train strike and 10 hour commute we arrived in the awe-inspiring Dolomites for some hiking in the great outdoors…well we would of except that it was – 3 degrees, snowing like mental (about as much as the night we got stranded on Mt Ruapehu for those that remember…) and we couldn’t actually see the Dolomites. Making the best of the situation we walked around San Candido with the odd impromptu snowfight thrown in.

As the Italians would say Venice is bella bella! (with hands flapping wildly) I think cos it’s so different from what we have seen before. Just walking around and getting lost in all the little streets was a tourist attraction in its own right. It’s bizarre not having any cars and catching boats around instead. A place we’re definitely coming back to.

Florence was just a nice place to be. We joined a walking tour with the highlights being Michalangelo’s David, Uffizi gallery and the yummy Tuscan food.

It was good to get out and about on the Cinque Terre which is five quaint little seaside villages with a scenic coastal path between them. We took a whole day to walk from the first village to the last but as we happened to be in the middle of pizza and wine country it inevitably ended up being a very scenic pub crawl! Thankfully we didn’t have to walk back again and trained it back home…

Naples and no doubt the pizza is the best we’ve ever tasted, by a long way! We were so overcome by our culinary euphoria that we even committed the unforgivable crime of…photographing the pizzas. Naples is strange, really run down, more than a bit gangsta but a great vibe and hiding amongst the tagging were some of the best little churches and artworks we’ve seen.

Next stop the Amalfi coast and probably the best piece of shoreline scenery yet. We arrived in Positano around lunchtime looking for somewhere to dump the bags and must have looked a bit confused when one of the locals asks what we’re after. We reply:

“We’re looking for tourist information”

“Tourist information?!?! I’m tourist information!”

True to his word he was in the know and hooked us up with one of his buddies in pretty much the best place with the best view on the coast, cheap AND they did our laundry, sweet!

Cliche I know..but all roads lead to Rome. This was the last stop for our Europe travels. I had already been there but it was cool showing Vien around.

So Europe is over. We’re both a bit gutted to leave this part of the world where we’ve spent the last 4 years and are wondering when we’ll be back. It’s strange that our life in the UK is officially ending. We’ve seen some amazing sights, learning the whole time, eaten good (and bad) food, been absolutely knackered (tired that is), its just been an experience.

We’re in Cardiff now at my brothers’ place and it’s good to get some R&R.

Sharan’s brother here - Since picking them up from the Airport, Sharan and Vien have truly utilised their break in travelling, having successfully being able to muster the energy to go to between bedroom, kitchen and lounge (with the occasional need for a toilet break). Obviously the hours of walking about they have spoken about have had an everlasting affect on them……….

Next stop Bangkok on Sat, but right now it’s time for another cuppa….

Gallery: Wining & Dining (& soon to be dieting)

vien_and_shaz — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:15:00 GMT

Wining & Dining (& soon to be dieting)

vien_and_shaz — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:53:00 GMT

No more German food!! Yeah! We have finally entered the part of the holiday I wanted. Great food and even better wine. We have adopted the french way of life pretty quickly, eating baguettes, desserts and drinking our share of the wine. It started in Colmar, the Alsace wine region where we strolled from town to town through the vineyards.

In Burgundy we popped into a Coté d´Or wine cellar for a bit of degustation. A jolly frenchman greeted us and proceeded to laugh in our faces after finding out we were kiwis (still only a few days after the RWC exit..), what an idiot! So we decided to take out our anguish by consuming a ´generous´ amount of his €200 Grand Cru (read: half a bottle) after which we both felt better in more ways than one.

Next was Paris and its just as good the 2nd time round, definitley one of our favourite places. We visited the palace at Versailles which was over the top. We also stayed in a town called Blois and cycled through rural France to see the spectacular Chateau Chambord.

We joined a D-Day tour in Normandy for a bit of history lesson. The stories and scale of it all were amazing and the memorials sobering, but a really great experience.

We managed to finally get to Bordeaux after the french rail network decided to go on strike. Bordeaux was really neat. We went to Saint Emillion and booked an educational course in the wine school. The camp guy running it was absolutley hilarious and more than a bit bias to the local drop. We aren´t too sure how the Dutch guy behind us passed the course when all he could smell in the wine was cat piss!

Next day we arrived in San Sebastian in Spain for a tapas feast then onto Madrid.

The actual travelling part is quite relaxed now as we never book anything anymore, we often find ourselves last off the train and spend way too much time in front of vending machines discussing whether to get a fanta or coke zero...

Next, few more days in Spain and then back to France...more wine..yeah!!

Gallery: October fun

vien_and_shaz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:59:00 GMT

October fun

vien_and_shaz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:58:00 GMT

We met up with Pri, Gabs and Anil one day at Oktoberfest (Munich beer festival) and Des, Loz and Mel the next. Needless to say many steins of beer were consumed with lots of general silliness and singing of German songs we didn’t know the words to. We are still feeling the effects a week later.

We then detoxed for a couple of days in the Swiss Alps, of which we have a new appreciation for after reading ‘Touching the Void’ (cheers Ed.)

(and now for Viens rant…)

We popped into the only English pub in Interlaken. It was pretty small with a few swiss locals, a group of frenchies and a couple of aussies. The aussies told us about their loss earlier in the day which we were sympathetic with but were really thinking ‘wohoo! You guys are outta here, suckers!’ A few hours later we were suckers too. I couldn’t believe we were out of the world cup and it was all due to that scummy ref! First he sent McAlister off for nothing (after which it was 14 vs 16) and the French scored, then he started to think he was in the NFL cos the Hail Mary used to score the next try was ridiculous!!! Yes I’m still not over it yet because we had tickets to the semis!!! I then had to suffer the indignity of reading clause 3 “In the event that your team does not qualify…” and England got through, great…oh and did I mention we’re now starting our month long stint in France (sigh)?

We're Engaged!!!

vien_and_shaz — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:18:00 GMT

Yes, Vien popped the question at Neuschwenstein castle in south Germany. After apparently carrying the ring for 2 months (suprised he didn't lose it!) the timing and place was awesome. We are both happy and are giving you all warning of our wedding so no excuses for no shows. I was totally shocked and I thought he was kidding! hahaha

Ladies- the ring is beautiful but, only a temporary travelling ring as Vien is worried somebody may cut off my finger for the bling to come!

So life is good...

Gallery: We're still alive!

vien_and_shaz — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 06:30:00 GMT

We're still alive!

vien_and_shaz — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 06:25:00 GMT

The last time we wrote we were in Austria singing the sound of music hits, since then we’ve been in 3 different countries and nearly pulled our backs out carrying our packs..that strangley seem to be getting heavier with wine bottles the more places we go!

We went to the Salzkammergut lakes in Austria which was beautiful. We hired a couple of bikes and decided to bike around St Wolfgangsee lake which was a 70km round trip. The next day we were both walking funny and headed off to Vienna.

Vienna was pretty good, nice architecture. I really liked it but I found the people quite rude which was a bit of a shame.

Poland was our next stop and it was definitely an experience. We stepped off the train in Krakow and went to find the tram to our hostel. The lady at the tourist information desk reassured me that we were able to buy the tickets on the tram. (every country has been different). We had met up with an Aussie guy so we all got on the tram, about one stop away from our hostel these ticket inspectors came on the tram. All 3 of us were ready to buy our tickets but fatty and skinny wouldn’t have it, they wanted us all to pay a fine. I refused and they wouldn’t listen to my explanation so we just hopped off the tram and they followed us. About 2 hours later, after speaking to 4 different cops and being threatened to be arrested they bargained with us to pay only one fine between 3 of us!! I really thought my negotiation skills would work, later we found that everybody in our hostel had faced the same fines!!

I got over that…eventually. Krakow was nice, the main square was really cool and we had some good Indian food (I was craving it by this time). We took a day trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau which was pretty intense. It was really sad and I think the most depressing place we’ve been to. I’m glad I went as I learnt a lot but that was a sad day.

Zakopane was our next point of call. We hiked in the Tatra mountains (we had recovered from Austrias bike ride by now). I don’t think that part of Poland sees many Asians/Indians as Vien and I kept getting stared at non stop.

Warsaw was our last stop before Berlin, it was ok but not my favorite city and it rained every day!!

This was the end of our month in Eastern Europe on to Western Europe…and we could finally use our Eurail pass and travel in 1^st class comfort!

I love Berlin! What an awesome place! It was good getting to Germany everything is so efficient, the trains are on time, everything is made easy for non German speakers. We did a bike tour which was really good. There is so much history and a lot of things to see in Berlin, it’s definitely a place I would like to see again especially because everything is changing so quickly.

We stayed in a city called Dresden for a night. It’s a quiet-ish German city with great architecture. This was where we picked up our nice wheels for our trip down the fairy tale road. The car was an absolute joke. Now most of you know we owned our crappy punto in England but I would have traded this SMART car in for the punto any day. It was hilarious. The fairy tale road was a drive through little german towns that the Brothers Grimm based their fairytales in ie Pied Piper, Cindarella etc.One of the places we stayed was a city called Kassel, we needed some accommodation so went to the tourist office and they organized us to stay in some private accommodation. Vien and I turned up late at night and I thought that we had entered a scene from trainspotting. Seriously, these 2 guys were off their heads, when we were taken to our room there were mattresses on the floor with big hippy posters and flower power paintings everywhere…I made Vien lock the door and put furniture infront of the door before going to sleep. We got up early and before we left, I glimpsed in the kitchen and saw a massive hippy painting and 2 rather large marijuana plants sitting on the windowsill!! Hahaha. Everything made sense.

We ended up in Frankfurt and spent 2 days in the Rhine Valley for my b/day. Lovely, wine tasting and chilling out…Yes..I am old so no emails reminding me please.

While we were in Frankfurt we managed to catch the Frankfurt auto show….cars, lots of beer, more cars, need I say more.

Amsterdam was next. Everybody knows about Amsterdam and yes, the stories are all true.

Right now we are chilling with our friend Pretesh in Essen Germany. We’ve been here for about 4 nights and have recharged our batteries ready to hit the road tomorrow. It’s been great doing nothing at all except watching rugby and frequenting the pub a bit too often.

Next stop the Romantic Road! Miss you all loads xx