Travel Trip Holiday

Bangkok, Thailand - Bangkok: The Tattoo

2008-04-02T18:08:00.000-07:00

This is a quick one because I’ve had a few people ask and ask about this, so here it is: I got the tattoo I’ve been talking about for years in Bangkok, and there’s a little (but overdramatic) story attached to it.

Khaosan Road in Bangkok is close to where we stayed our second time in Bangkok, prior to flying to Japan, and it is packed with tattoo parlours, piercing salons, places to get braids and dreads, etc etc. Since looking for a place to do it (or not) was one-stop shopping Scott and I went around to different parlours to scrutinize them. We narrowed it down to one called Full Time by Eak, an artist that was well established, was published in many magazines and who had, most importantly, an impeccable business. I took the first step, which already made me nervous, in telling them what I was “considering”, and came back one hour later to look at the design: I loved it.

So, to go through with it or not? I either did it, or shut up and stopped talking about it forever. Which forever should I chose? I took the plunge and booked for the next day. The next day came, during which I had hours upon hours to psyche myself out. Four o’clock finally came around and I actually walked into the appointment. The guy was incredibly nice, waiting until the last possible moment to ensure I wanted to do it. I really really did, but was playing mind games with, well, myself! I sat down, started getting all sweaty and nervous, and he began. It hurt, but not that much. It was bearable, but annoying. There was one problem: I focused on it so much, and breathed SO much, I started getting dizzy 2 minutes into it and looked at Scott, all pale and clammy and said: “I’m going to pass out”. He said, “No, you’re not!”. I said, “Yes, I am”…

This is Scott writing now. And then the head fell forward covered in her mane of hair and it was lights out. Jenn had just passed out on the chair. The guy had to stop doing the tattoo; I was trying to wake Jenn up to no avail. The artist and I had to pick her up off the swivel chair and then put her on a big reclining chair. After about 30 seconds of talking and cheek pinching she finally started to come around. Totally dazed she could not talk and had no clue where she was. The tattoo guy was so calm as if this was an everyday thing. He quickly went and got a can of coke to bring her sugar up and after about 10 minutes she was standing (only just) and we were out the door and back to the hotel.

Jenn here again. What a freak I am! It honestly wasn’t painful; I just spent almost 10 years talking myself in and out of doing it, so following through with it shocked me a little. Ok, a lot. And I seriously over-react physically to things I notice, so really, I’m just being consistent. The tattoo artist also told me it wasn’t unusual for that to happen to a newbie. Nice. Comforting? Not really. I had the problem then, of having a minute corner of a tattoo completed, so I had to go back the next day to do it all again! Since I now knew better, and had calmed down, I acted like a normal person the second time around and got the tattoo finished. It took about 2 hours, and I AM very happy with it.

So that’s my drama queen tattoo story. I know, what a loser I am for passing out, but it made me all the tougher for going back again right??

Ko Phangan, Thailand - Time to try the island of Ko Phangan

2008-04-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

We have been unable to access internet in a few days, then we were on planes, etc so this entry comes a bit late… we are now well into Japan, but first is first, here is Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

So! After cutting our time down in Phnom Penh to one day, thinking we may not be able to change our flights, we rushed over to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat to find out that our flights had indeed been bumped forward… by ten days! Good news and bad news, as we now had more time in Cambodia, but not enough to backtrack and do it again properly. Oh well.

We decided to take a breather in Siem Reap and set down some roots for four nights. Our guesthouse was new and clean, but at night every mosquito hiding in the crevices of the building radared in on my location and spent their time feasting on my blood and flying straight into my ears, AAAARRRGGGHHH! One night I couldn’t take it anymore and got up at 3 a.m. and went and sat in the bathroom with the light on until the morning. It’s so awful when mosquitoes like you as much as they like me.

Siem Reap is nothing like we expected. It’s a beautiful little town, with the river running through it as is the case with most cities in SE Asia. The central area is very touristy, full of bars, cafes and shops. The riverside is also really pretty as it’s lined with trees, benches and statues. Now this is the centre of Siem Reap, as the surrounds where the locals can afford to live, eat, etc are much more underdeveloped. Incredibly disturbing to me in Siem Reap were the amount of very young children, anywhere from 6 years of age that were out late at night selling postcards or bracelets or books to help their families make a living. We had a really difficult time with this, as we read that it’s the tourists that have created this culture of working children, as they make more money each month than if their parents go out to do similar or very physically demanding work themselves. What do you do? I don’t want to support child labour, but you can’t blame the families for this, they need to survive and it may be their best form of subsistence! We personally decided against buying from children (really heartbreaking sometimes), but I think each person has to draw their own moral line in SE Asia; it’s definitely important to be informed first before taking any action.

Why do I always get on a soap box? I almost can’t help myself! Ok, I am getting off of it. Again.

We hired a tuk tuk driver through our guesthouse to take us to Angkor Wat, one day for sunrise, and surrounding temples. I had no idea that the Angkor temples covered many kilometers and that there were so many temples. It’s a true temple-a-thon and you go armed with water and sunscreen and stamina. Seeing Angkor Wat for the first time is, I think, akin to (although I haven’t been!) seeing the Pyramids for the first time. It’s massive and intricate and sometimes defies reason when you gaze upon the many bas reliefs on the walls and walk through dozens of archways and hallways, all carved elaborately with images of Buddhist and Hindu gods and pictorial stories of legendary battles. Did you know that Angkor Wat was built around the 1100’s to 1200’s? I had no idea it was that… well, recent. And did you know the temples of Angkor were rediscovered only around 150 years ago and the many temples, spread throughout kilometers were hidden by jungle? Can you imagine coming upon such a thing when trekking through the jungle? Gah!

We went to too many temples in two days to mention, so I’ll give you our two favourites (besides the obvious Angkor Wat), which were Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. Angkor Thom was incredible much more compact but with giant faces carved into the towers and stone work detailed enough to make you think of Gaudi’s cathedral in Spain (has anyone seen it? It’s very detailed and bizarre). It was a genuine step back in time and it was difficult to believe that at one time the temple was actually functional. Angkor Thom was also like a little maze, with the main tower in the middle, giant steep stairs, towers all around… awesome! Our other favourite, Ta Prohm was the perfect image of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Phenomenal ruins, some crumbling, secret passages and courtyards, overgrown with vegetation, and most impressively MASSIVE trees growing shamelessly out of the walls, their imposing roots completely enveloping walls. I couldn’t stop smiling, it was so cool! Loved it loved it loved it.

Our two day temple- fest left us completely exhausted, but it’s definitely a wonder of the ancient world that is a must see. Now quickly onto food and restaurants, there are two honorable mentions. The first is Cambodia’s national dish, Amok, which is a very concentrated coconut and onion based curry, originally with fish, but also made with chicken and beef. It’s served in banana leaves adorably shaped into bowls and it is f-i-l-l-i-n-g. Good grief, I had two bites and was ready to explode. But yummy! As for the first unrivaled, place winner in the establishment area, that goes to the Singing Tree Café

http://www.singingtreecafe.com/

. It’s like somebody read my mind about what I like, what I believe in, what I’ve studied, what I want to do… and shoved it all into one awesome little hippie joint! It’s eco-friendly, fair trade, organic, uses its own garden, has free internet, provides information on environmental and humanitarian programs in Cambodia, has seminars upstairs… oh ya!! And the food is amazing! And at night little frogs come out of hiding from the garden and hop around your feet! Ha! It really couldn’t have gotten any better. Scott found a brochure and fortunately we were able to go there on our final night. But two or three or more times would have been great…

In an insane twist of luck, on our night before heading to Battambang we ran into Bruno, an Argentinean guy we worked with in New Zealand. He’d just arrived at the same guesthouse. It was really good to see a familiar face for a bit.

The next morning we took the 7 hour boat down river to Battambang. Hmmm, interesting mode of transportation I say, the boat was for 30 but there were at least 45 of us so people had to sit on the roof in pretty intense heat. Luckily, that was not us, we got the last bench under the roof. Roofs are important my friends. We passed numerous floating villages along the way, sometimes picking up locals that would row over in their little canoes and hop on to the next floating village. We also managed to be violently whipped, numerous times by branches from mangroves in “river” areas (more like flooded mud flats or swamps) that were questionable in their size to squeeze a boat through. But no! Sometimes, say three or four times, we had to pass another oncoming canoe or boat through an area not even wide enough for one. That’s when practically the entire mangrove tree was inside the boat. Then we were drenched by the motor spray of a passing motorized canoe. Then Scott almost lost a tooth when a giant branch smacked him unexpectedly in the mouth. Then… there are too many incidents, let’s just say the ride was eventful and adventurous!

Battambang the city is uneventful in itself it’s more the surrounds of the country that appeal. Ironically, for a second day in a row we ran into people we knew, this time the Spanish guys we got along with famously in Halong Bay, Vietnam. As for activities, we did take in another cooking class, this time Khmer cooking, and learnt how to make curry paste (hard, but not as hard as we thought) from fresh ingredients and the national dish, Amok. We visited the market prior to the class which was, well, I’ll be honest, a bit gross. Dried snake anyone? Many other live things, mainly seafood flip, flop and writhe around in baskets. How long can a catfish-like fish (I can’t ID fish) live out of water?!?! A long time obviously because there were completely out of water and kept wriggling and jumping out of the baskets. These are not lung fish! I don’t understand. But ew.

We finished our time in Cambodia with the infamous bus trip to Bangkok. We read and read and heard and heard about the outrageously bumpy unsealed road you went on for 4 hours until you hit the Thai border, but although it was true, it honestly wasn’t that bad. The air con busting on the bus for the last half hour was a bit more unbearable (it was HOT), but otherwise, all too easy.

Sapa, Vietnam - Sapa and Halong in the mist

2008-04-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last few days in Halong Bay, in the NE corner of Vietnam, followed by Sapa in the northern highlands just minutes away from the Chinese border.

Halong Bay is a Unesco World Heritage Protected Area. Local legend tells of a giant dragon that came down from the mainland and into the water, and as he went the land at the edges sank and his flailing tail left behind the 1,969 islands now in the bay which jut out of the water.

We began our 3.5 hour journey at 8 am in an overcrowded minibus to Halong City to catch what was known as our “Junk” boat. We sat beside the loveliest Vietnamese man, aged 20 and having saved up, was taking his mom and little sister to Cat Ba Island overnight as they were visiting from down south. He told me how a Vietnamese person had to save to even go out to a restaurant, so this was quite an event for the three of them. He also told us how he’d never been anywhere outside Hanoi, and how one day he would like to go overseas to work and maybe travel. He was such a hopeful and ambitious person, we gave him as much information as we could on where we’d lived and been should he realize his dream.

We arrived at the docks to utter chaos and got pawned off from one person to another to another to take us to our boat. Eventually, we arrived at the “Imperial Junk”. The boat was fantastic and romantic, and with a limit of only 20 people on the boat we got our little overnight room and headed to the top deck to catch the views. However, getting out of the harbour was another matter… bumper boats at the amusement park, as Scott called it. These large boats block each other in, and they literally smash the crap out of each other to push out into open water. Madness! And they don’t sink, there must be something special in that wood use for the hulls! We bumped and zigzagged and pushed our way out as the most amazing women on little row boats chased the larger ones, like ours, to sell them goods. These women were incredible maneuvering their little row boats while standing and straddling their boat and the large junks while making a sale. ANYTHING, including the doing the splits, to make a sale. Such marvelous and strong women, we were blown away by their stamina.

Our trip out to, and in amongst Halong Bay was more than we had imagined. Cliff faces punch out of the water all around you creating a labyrinth of jutted rock islands pocked with caves and the occasional sandy beach. Enormous hawks circle overhead repeatedly looking for fish which they then swoop to the water for and attempt to catch in their giant claws. The waters are calm and smooth, and the haziness made the islands further away look like they were behind increasing layers of veils.

After visiting some sprawling cliffside caves on foot we arrived at our docking point to go kayaking amongst the islands and into caves, something I desperately wanted to do! Scott, myself and two guys from Spain headed to the kayaks to be given oversized lifejackets that didn’t close and kayak paddles held together with duct tape. Go the duct tape! It fixes ANY problem, just ask Red Green (the Canadians understand this reference). I searched through the pile of jackets for any that resembled something that actually floated to be told by a guide, “It’s ok, fine, fine, fine, you fall in the water you just scream”. No, no, no! We can swim, swim, swim but could still drown, drown, drown! He wasn’t kidding though, so off we went, giant lifejackets and all. We kayaked for just under two hours and enjoyed every minute. We went through caves that led into coves that could be cut off during high tide. Scott and I found ourselves talking about where we would camp out for the night if a king tide were to suddenly swoop in! We saw a little sandy spot with a skinny, leafless tree, and decided that would be the hypothetical spot. Alas, no such thing happened of course, and we kayaked back out. Having done that we were up for a bigger, or should I say, smaller challenge. We found the smallest cave passage we could and sardined ourselves through the small hole with success! We had to suck in our breath and hold our paddles lengthwise, but how funny was it! High fives all around. Back to our Imperial Junk we went to watch the golden sunset and have some dinner.

Our plan had been to retire to our cozy boat room early, do a little reading, have a shower when all of a sudden the walls began to shake and rumble and we heard screaming: karaoke had begun at full volume. Out of our room we went to listen to the badly sung drunken ballads ranging from Lionel Ritchie to Abba. Other neighbouring boats became jealous and suddenly 4 Australians rowed over from their junk boat to join our obnoxious karaoke party! It was such a fun night, not the early night we had planned, but really funny nonetheless. A guy on our boat, just a little bit outgoing and named Daniel became our MC for the night and kept coming out with ripper jokes, such as “So let’s talk about what we did today… I went swimming in some faeces…” (we all die with laughter), “don’t tell me you didn’t see the faeces too!” You see, despite its world heritage status, the people of Halong Bay, as is the case with most of Vietnam, throw everything outside, or in this case overboard. EVERYTHING. Earlier, while kayaking we had passed by numerous floating plastic bags and pulled them out of the water and shoved them in the kayak. As yet, there just seems to be no education or awareness about protecting and keeping clean wild places, or even the urban spaces they live in.

After breakfast the next morning we sailed back to the mainland again, fortunate enough to see Halong in a different light of day and in slightly clearer conditions. We spent our 3 hour ride back to Hanoi cramped with the 2 Spanish guys at the very back of the minibus where they drew us a map and plan of action on how to tackle Spain when we get there, and we wrote for them what they should do in Australia, as that is their January destination. They also taught me how to swear in Spanish as I explained to them I had the innocent vocabulary of an 8 year old. I feel so much more grown up now!

That night, on the sleeper train, and in a compartment we shared with a snoring German man, we moved onto our next port of call, Sapa. Sapa was originally a hill station for the French and is now a beautiful little mountaintop town where many hill tribe villagers, primarily women such as the H’mong, Dzai and Red Dzao trek daily to sell their goods, mainly blankets and bags which they ornately hand- embroider. The hill tribe people are beautiful in every way, from their colourful traditional dress which they continue to wear daily, to their kind, warm smiles. They are also incredibly demanding: but with a giggle and a smile. Our path was regularly blocked by one woman or another opening her handmade blankets in front of us with the question/statement “You buy from me!?” Their voices slightly lilt up at the end to imply a question, but their assertiveness implies a demand. They also say it perfectly in French, same inflection: “Achetez de moi!?” We met with a young lady named Shol, aged 17 (I am inventing the spelling, this is how it sounded) who hooked her arm around mine and followed us through the town, chattering away about her ten brothers and sisters and how many did I have? Did I have babies? How old are my mom and dad? Remember that these women learn English from tourists, so their ability to speak it so efficiently is from hearing it alone. They are SO intelligent. Obviously Shol managed to sell me a bracelet I do NOT need, but after our thirty minute chat and walk through the town I had to give her the sale. She smiled warmly, laughed and grabbed both our hands and kissed them to say goodbye. Beautiful girl.

Our 13 km day trek from Sapa was a colossal highlight of this trip. We met our 19 year old H’mong guide Chan (pronounced more like Jane) and set off on our trip, followed by two additional H’mong women who were trying to sell us their bags and bracelets. The scenery was outstanding, and as we wound down away from Sapa we were able to take in a view of the entire town. The first half of our trek was simple and downhill through valleys and hills infinitely terraced with rice fields. The fog rolled in and out throughout our trek, and every turn around each corner revealed a new vista. We chatted to Chan about everything from the environment around us (apparently it’s incredibly green around July) to their education (children go to school from the age of 8 to 16, only primary is free, and high school has to be paid for) to being a H’mong female. Most of her friends, as is standard, have children by the time they are 16. In the past generations 10 children was not uncommon, but things are changing and 4 is now more the norm. Generally speaking, a girl is now allowed to choose her husband, family approved of course, but if she does not marry by the age of 21 is considered and old woman! I asked 19 year old Chan if she was married with children, and she replied “Nah, I don’t want to get married, I have things I want to do, I don’t care what they think”. Now there is a tough young woman! In her intimate village of 800 that must be a slight stigma to overcome… but no matter, she will do what she will do. Good for her! And her English was impeccable, again, learnt only from listening to tourists. She is brilliant! And does 13 km treks everyday! Can you tell we were impressed by her?!

The second half of our trek was a true trek indeed. We mucked our way through steep hills and rivers and mud and boulders, still followed by the other 2 women, who at half our size (literally) and wearing their traditional skirts with little sandals or no shoes at all, would offer us their tiny hand to help us get through tricky spots. We saw women doing the trek back to their village with their babies strapped on their back, as if they were taking a Sunday morning stroll along a paved path. They never set a foot wrong, and they were phenomenally strong. The 2 women also bequeathed us with handmade presents they made along the way from the vegetation along the path. We were given horse figures woven out of grass, head wreaths made out of ferns and flowers which they placed on our heads… as we overheard one woman doing the trek, we became human wall hangings. In total we saw two villages along the way, Lao Chai, which was Chan’s village where Black H’mong people live, and Ta Van with a large population of 3000 where the Dzay people live. Villagers all speak Vietnamese, but when in their villages they speak their own dialect which generally only they can understand. We did make a purchase at the Dzay village and the gorgeous old lady that sold us the item and a little girl (her granddaughter?) agreed to have a photo taken with us. They really like Canadians as there is a Canadian man that lives in Hanoi but has developed a close relationship with the hill tribe villagers and comes every couple of weeks to visit them. He has even spent their new year with them dressed in their traditional dress, which as Chan described looked ridiculous, but they liked it and found it hilarious nonetheless.

Individually, and the following day, we also walked to Cat Cat another H’mong village where we were greeted by a stunning waterfall and a lady selling rice inside bamboo which she heated over a coal pit, absolutely delicious and a great snack after our second mini trek.

Since we were such trampers in Sapa we rewarded ourselves daily by going to Baguette et Chocolat, a community project restaurant that hires and trains disadvantaged Vietnamese youth in the hospitality industry. The hot chocolate (that I spiked with rum): OHMYGAWD! Delicious. The pain au chocolat: WOWWWW! The waffle with banana and chocolate: WOO HOO! Definitely a worthy and deserved treat to go there.

Overall the contrast of the calmness of Halong Bay and the activity and life of Sapa perfectly rounded out our first week in Vietnam, and both were unforgettable experiences.

Patong, Phuket, Thailand - ...to the Beach!!

2008-04-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Phuket in the morning, extrememly unpleasant landing. Windy Wellington aint nothing compared to this pilot! Never knew planes actually 'bounced'.

From the airport we grabbed a taxi to Patong. Nice little town, it has like a hundred million bars...and a beach.

Wicki has joined us for the journey and is my new roomy. So much stuff for sale on the streets, not 'stuff', like jewlery and stuff like that. We over indulged a little the first night in Patong, had a great time in the bars. They each have a novelty, something to do to keep you busy...and at their bar, as its kinda competitive. Played some Jenga (Yes, that wasnt a typo..Jenga)....and rounded the night off nicely with some Connect Four. Most of the people out were actually working girls, hanging out at bars looking for some work.

So the next day was spent on the beach...I wasnt brave enough to parasail, I left that to Wicki, Mark and Jodi. SPent the day relaxing in the sun, swimming on the beach and getting massages. The old woman also painted my nails...artistic talent isnt her strong point, she should stick to massages.

A lot of Patong was washed away by the Tsunami. A lot of rebuilding, especially right next to the beach, was still happening.

Am starting to get a little anxious about travelling to London, although looking forward to it...a little nervous about searching for work.

Hanoi, Vietnam - Everything Happens in Hanoi

2008-04-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

We entered into Vietnam early in the morning after a 45 minute drive in a private mini-bus, the complete lap of luxury, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves! We got stamped out of Lao and crossed what is known as "no man’s land", essentially a few hundred meters of street belonging to neither country between Lao and the official Vietnamese border entry. It is here that we met Hai, our Vietnamese guide whose English was so fantastic that we dubbed him the Vietnamese David Beckham. He sounded exactly like him, the accent, the slightly higher male voice... Uncanny! However, he learnt English from an American teacher, so who knows how he managed to pull his lilt off.

Our first pit stop in Vietnam was the city of Vinh where we would catch our sleeper train to Hanoi. Despite Vinh being a large city, let me tell you, people of the tourist kind are a rare and strange commodity, as we very quickly surmised. Traffic slowed to a crawl, cyclists and people on scooters rubber-necked, children pointed and waved and market vendors yelled to each other to inform everyone the circus, uh, I mean we were in town. The four of us just kind of smiled and stared at the ground as we walked, afraid of causing an accident or being asked to do something ridiculous. We were astronauts just landed from the moon! Movie actors! Rock stars! In the market, someone grabbed my arm and started patting it. Yes, I’m real, not a ghost. No please, no autographs, we’re really nobodies! It was as amusing as it was uncomfortable, but the four of us managed to get through it and I think we were all grateful to have each other that way no one person got gawked at for too long. Oh, and Hannah decided to wear shorts that day (not the culturally acceptable to the knee cap type), so that really helped to divert some attention!

Our sleeper train to Hanoi was the real SE Asian experience. Tiny little compartments were jammed with even tinier metal beds with worn down, 1cm mats. At barely 5’4 I filled the entire length of the bed, so you can imagine the free show Katherine and I got when we got to watch Hannah who’s a very tall girl and Scott squeeze into their beds. We had tears rolling down our eyes and our guts hurt from laughing so hard, it was like watching Cirque de Soleil when the man gets into a tiny box, but in this case he can’t, and this is no circus. It was hilarious! And then Hai, our guide dropped a bomb by announcing that the sheets provided by the train sometimes didn’t get washed so there may be bed bugs, just a warning… so Katherine started taking her sheets back off, at which point Hai said the mattress was probably worse. Thanks, David Beckham! No more out of you, please! But no, he went on, and began to pick on Hannah about Kuan, our Lao guide, asking her if she thought he was handsome and did she want a Lao passport? Hilarious! It was honestly the creepiest, most uncomfortable and funniest train ride imaginable. Eventually all the silly kids fell asleep only to be woken up at 4:30 a.m. by loud Vietnamese music and what smelled like a couple of lit packs of cigarettes at the base of our door. The latter made me jump out of bed faster than the former. Alas, we were in Hanoi.

We were beyond exhausted upon arriving at our guesthouse, and all four of us slept until the afternoon in which we had our last guided tour with Gecko’s of the city of Hanoi. Our local city guide was a like a strict teacher, excellent in his information delivery, adamant about having our attention, and insistent on having two of us on either side of him, three and one would not do! We visited the Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius which later became a university (for men only, of course), and is now used for special events and academic gatherings; the One Pillar Pagoda, and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex where Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body is kept despite strict instruction in his will to be cremated and scattered in different areas of Vietnam, as he was of the people. Up until recently Ho Chi Minh’s body was sent to Russia between November and January where embalming experts would do the necessary maintenance and then he would be shipped back. However, Vietnam now has the technology and experts available to do this macabre task themselves. For lack of an appropriate word, the highlight of our tour was Hoa Lo Prison, or the "Hanoi Hilton", as it was dubbed by the Americans during the Vietnam War. For Scott and I the gruesome history of this prison really helped bring into light the horrors Vietnamese people fighting for independence endured by the French. The conditions in the prison were cramped, diseased and inhumane. The guillotine used by French guards against any dissidents is on display, alongside photos of the executed… they were really difficult to look at. Women with babies were placed in cramped solitary confinement… it just went on and on. We found out that some French protesters burnt themselves alive to display their condemnation of how Vietnamese prisoners were treated by their country. Also in the prison were photos and objects from American POW’s which were imprisoned in the prison during the war. It was really moving to see the photos of the day in which they were released in 1973. Photography really does capture a moment in time, and to see the faces of prisoners on the day of their release was an overwhelming experience. We are so glad we went to the prison, and as disturbing as it was to see, we learnt so much more about this history. It helped us to better understand Vietnam from its thousand years of Chinese rule to French dominance to the Vietnam War and the effect it had on the Vietnamese people and the soldiers from other countries involved.

Hanoi was also the primary spot to see the Water Puppet Theatre. This is an ancient and traditional art developed by the Vietnamese, in which they used to flood their rice paddies after the harvest making it a watery stage for a puppet show. In Hanoi this is recreated in a theatre setting and is sold out one or two days in advance despite its six showings a day. We’d never seen anything like it, it was really interesting and imaginative, but even funnier and stealing the show was the little one year old two rows down that could not contain his excitement and pointed, squealed and clapped until his little hands were red whenever a new puppet emerged or even moved. We ended up watching him more than the show, and, as is the rule of the theatre, the proverbial "really tall guy" with the additional benefit of a big head sat right in front of us and clearly had ants in his pants. Oh well

Our second afternoon was dominated once again by market and boutique shopping where the true, anti-shopping beast I have inside me finally came thundering out in SE Asia! I couldn’t take it! I felt cramped and fed up and bored and wanted nothing to do with buying a stupid silk dress/scarf/shirt, I didn’t care how unique it was or how many "cheap for you" promises were made. I did behave though (except for one mini tantrum) as we were with Katherine and Hannah, no point in bringing them down into my I-hate-shopping pit of despair with me, and especially as this was the end of our Gecko’s Tour and our travels with the two of them, which we really enjoyed.

Overall, we really enjoyed Hanoi and learnt a new life skill: how to cross a road with 200 scooters, 30 cars, 10 bicycle rickshaws and 2 stray dogs coming towards you all at the same time with no intention to stop. You step out, walk with confidence, make eye contact with the drivers if possible and dodge or give way if necessary. When the other side is reached successfully, you breathe. Nobody will ever stop for pedestrians. Ever. You are essentially a moving pylon, all you can do is hope that everyone swerves around you at the right time.

Chang Mai, Thailand - 3 Day Jungle Trek

2008-04-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

The three days in the jungle went pretty fast!
Day 1: We all pile into the back of a ute and are taken up to our departure point. We sit down for some lunch adn get a chance to chat with the rest of our group. Our trekking group consists of 3 Spanish girls, 1 English girl (Vicki, but our guide calls her Wicki) and myself Jodi and Mark.
Then...the walking starts. We walk up very steep hills, we havent reached the shelter of trees yet so its extremely warm. My body is slick with sweat...quite disgustingly really. But I'm not alone. We rest next to a river under the shelter of a hut for some lunch. Boon, our guide, has made some fried rice and sticky rice for us (which he carried on his own back to the lunch site). The rest of the day is spent walking, we walked through rice fields, stopped by a waterfall in the afternoon for a break and a refreshing swim. The water was pretty cold, but oh so refreshing. The water was hard, pounding down off the rocks...you needed to keep a firm grip on your bathing suit if you wanted a back massage from the water! Besdie the waterfall was an old man hanging out in his hut, with his roosters. He was carving horn/whistle things...which were of course for sale. After the swim we headed up to the villiage of the 'Karin Tribe' where we were staying for the night.
Not a minute after we had got our bags off our back and gone back outside to check out our home for the night we had some visitors. Three young kids waiting for us to come out of hiding. They are very shy, no speaking, they just shove small baskets of bracelets and necklaces they have made, from wood and or rice, under our noses. As soon as you pick one up they find their voice...'50 baht'. Was so cute. So we all purchased a bracelet or necklace to keep them in business.
Sitting down for a rest with cold beer in hand was very welcome. The beers were stored in large chilled boxes that were locked when we werent there, they were a very reasonable price. The shower was four bamboo walls tied together with....you guessed it...bamboo, and a bucket that you filled up and poured over yourself. The toilet was a squat in a shed, and it had a door so that was great news.
We sat under the house, sort of like a carport, and ate our dinner by candlelight. Chicken and Veg stirfry, tofu and bean sprout with rice...delicious. So much food, we're all famished...but still cannot eat all of it.
We have a nice group of people. We all have a sing song after dinner, feels like school camp!! Is a good night and sleep is very welcome...although it is very hot and I dont think a good sleep is had by anyone. Then theres the 100 roosters that were awake bright and early!
Day 2: We are joined by a Dutch couple because the rest of their group have gone back. Loads more walking, Wicki is unfortunately ill today...and it wasnt even self induced. It rained a lot. It was nice, but it just made the walking track slippery in parts...which caused some comic moments. Stopped for another yummy lunch, noodles and veg this time.
The afternoon walk was a little more exciting....there was so much water....it covered our walking tracks. We're not talking getting our socks wet....we're talking getting our belts wet!! It was a great challenge, trying to balance on logs...that you couldn't see through the muddy water. Jodi went for a wash up to her armpits...hey, thay probably needed it anyway. Very quick thinking to save her camera though.
We settled in for the night at camp that was set up by a waterfall. We all jump in our bathing costumes and had a wash. Chicken and potato curry for dinner, our guide didnt carry all this food with him. He had other guys meet him at the camps with the food. This was our last night together so we endulged a little. The singing only got better as the night got on. There were about 4 locals there too, hanging out singing etc. I aquired the name 'Tiger Smile' over night, or maybe they just had the courage to tell me that night. I was given it because I am "happy and smile a lot, but can 'Grr'"...so there, make of that what you will. Our guide was great, Boon was relaxed, patient and pleasant.
Day 3: Wasnt that far to trek out of the jungle, to be honest I think we just went round in circles. We rode elephants the last day. It was quite an amazing feeling, knowing the strength and what they are capable of. They bit into bamboo like pieces of candy.

Went to a night of Muay Thai kick boxing. The ring was in the middle of a concrete stadium, chairs lined up around the sides. The night started with young boys (they were 14, but looked about 9) kicking the heck out of each other, then as the night on the contestants got older. Was a very exciting night, a sport of great discipline and bravery.

Spent the next day just hanging out, photos developed, flights to Phuket, nails and hair done (160baht, approx 5nzd). A nice relaxing day, ventured out to some markets in teh evening...it poured with rain, but before we were scared away Jodi and I managed to pick up some fabulous paintings from a young lad selling his wares. Magical.

Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

2008-04-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

So we entered sleepy Laos, what is, so far, the biggest surprise in our trip. This is a very poor country, with beautiful people, incredible food and stunning scenery. Lao (according to Lonely Planet the silent “s” at the end was added by the French) has been tugged at and intervened upon by many a nation, and the French influence in particular is very dominant in areas. It has only been sovereign since 1953 but has struggled to keep up with the rest of South East Asia since. In recent history, northern Lao was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War, endured trade embargoes and is now struggling to not be amongst the Least Developed Countries. Lao is in a landlocked position, and shares borders, some more official than others with China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, making it a transitional point for many.

We arrived in Huay Xai across the Mekong from Chiang Kong in five minutes and almost immediately the economic disparity was evident. Huay Xai is a tiny border town and there we spent our first night in a lovely guesthouse. We were exhausted from our bus rides out of Thailand and crashed onto our rock hard beds (really crashed, we didn’t expect them to be completely solid, and it hurt!) to nana nap for a couple of hours. The evening was pretty cruisey; we walked to the temple atop a hill where two beautiful little girls were playing and posed by a temple statue for a picture. When they saw the photo they giggled and ran off! We watched the sunset from our guesthouse restaurant overlooking the Mekong, and there really is no sunset like it, the hills blend into each other and slowly fade along with the red sun. Lanterns were hanging from the wooden beam ceilings and one particularly enterprising kitty purred his way over to our table where we were drinking a Beer Lao (their national beer, very nice) and helped himself to Scott’s lap and mine respectively. Needless to say, we were stuck there longer than planned… I think he knew when we wanted to stand up because then he’d purr louder to increase the guilt factor at disrupting his cozy slumber!

We had dinner at another waterfront restaurant (now keep in mind, the town is one main street, so all eateries overlook the Mekong, and this is Lao, so get that image of the foo foo, posh, waterfront restaurant out of your head. It’s much more basic and charming than that) where our new local guide, Kuan, showed up with bbq’d chicken feet… on a stick. Told you “Things you can put on a stick” was a fun game! We asked him how you ate it, and he pulled a foot off, bit off the nail (relax now, I can hear your groans) and ate the toes, bones and all. Of the four of us Katherine and I were game (I was healthy finally, and after 5 days of nausea and a staple diet of crackers and water I felt adventurous), and we proceeded to bite off the sharp little chicken claw and eat a toe. But only one toe. Ok, only half the toe, but I did try it. Surprisingly, it tasted like chicken. But crunchy.

We had all read that the Lao Red Cross offered massages given by locals and that the moneys went directly into community development, so off we went after dinner. Unfortunately only three therapists were available and Scott was chivalrous enough to sit it out. What to say about Lao massage? It’s not what you expect! You are kneaded, smacked, stretched and not so lightly punched into submission. I had my arms locked behind my head with my legs crossed at one point while she pulled up on my arms and cracked my back by digging her knees in. Youch! At one point my leg was bent towards my back and then the floor, I thought, “Nononono! My leg doesn’t do that, oh ok, you made it do it, yes it does now.” Needless to say, the massage style in Lao is chiropractic meets physiotherapy meets deep tissue massage meets extreme yoga. Despite the pain (or was it pleasure?) the three of us walked out laughing and energized, so obviously it worked.

Our next two days were lazy, romantic journeys down the Mekong in a long boat, starting at 9 am and finishing at 5 pm. It was a great opportunity for snoozing, photography, and hours’ worth of reading. So laid back and relaxed, it was an abrupt and very welcome change from the Thailand bustle. The first day we did a midday stop at one of the Hmong peoples’ village and it was a scene right out of a movie. Beautiful and curious children ran down to the riverbank to look at us silly, awkward strangers and took us to their little village dotted with thatched homes and farm animals. You wouldn’t even know the village existed until you climbed the banks and were led in. Many villages in Lao still lead a traditional life of self-subsistence, and this is one of them. All the adults were away working in the fields, so only the children were left and two elders, a very smiley and welcoming man and a tiny, gorgeous old lady. We got a mini tour from the kids, and having asked permission to take photos, they then got a lesson in photography from me as they absolutely loved the camera. They all took turns pushing the shutter and seeing what they took to then descend into giggles! Scott then showed them the video and so it happened, as does universally, the boys gravitated to Scott and the girls hovered around us females.

It’s difficult to explain how a moment like that makes you feel. You feel overwhelmed with happiness at their attention and laughter, deeply distressed at the poverty, guilty about your wealth, proud of their traditional life and culture, humbled to be allowed to be part of it for a small moment… for Scott and I, it was definitely a moment we will never forget and feel so fortunate to have experienced it. It further puts your life into perspective. I officially fell in love with Lao children at that moment, and I’m still feeling enamoured.

The night was spent in the small port town of Pak Beng; you may wonder what I mean by port as the country is land-locked. The Mekong River runs the length of Laos (a very brown river) and is one of the main forms of transportation in Laos. Everything is shipped on slow long boats, corn, oats and even live buffalo who have figured out to stand very still side by side on the boats. Goods are offloaded in Pak Beng and then sent by road into all parts of the province. The town is basically one unsealed street with lots of guest houses and restaurants. We chose a restaurant and had chicken curry and koy chicken, an excellent Lao dish consisting of finely chopped chicken heavy on coriander and lemongrass and the obligatory chilies and sticky rice, along with a small sip of Mekong whiskey, 70% proof, yikes! An effective way to sanitize the digestive system! We then headed back to our guesthouse, where the electricity is only available in the evening, dotted with frequent blackouts and very cold showers in the morning, super refreshing, and definitely woke us up!

On our second day, we visited another village. Nearly all the homes had set up little thatched market stalls selling their gorgeous, hand woven silk scarves, bags and assorted jewelery, and were clearly accustomed to boats arriving to purchase their goods. I was immediately sucked in and purchased some very nice things, not telling you what. Hold on, this next sentence is written by Scott: If expecting presents the sad thing is that everything that Jenn purchases in a village with someone in mind she inevitably decides is too nice to give away and keeps it for herself. Hmmm. Yes, he’s right, I cannot protest… if you were me you’d understand! Anyway… further down river we also visited the Pak Ou Caves. The caves were carved in the 1800’s into a Buddhist temple and are a place of worship for those from Luang Prabang and the surrounding Mekong villages. The four of us in our tour were suddenly shocked and deeply troubled at the caves when some of the local people began to dangle tiny little cane cages in front of us to buy. The tiny cages contained different species of live birds, many chicks that could barely move. They essentially wished for us to buy them to “set them free”. Unfortunately, this is some people’s form of subsistence, and upon silly tourists buying the bird to “set it free”, the vendor easily catches and cages it again after the tourist leaves as they are unable to fly immediately from prolonged confinement or because they have not even fledged. As difficult as it was, we ignored the little cages and walked on. That is definitely a moment in travel when you have to take a step back and reflect upon why people and cultures do what they do, and consider how you can help to change a situation in a mature and positive way. Reacting instinctively wouldn’t help the situation. Having said that, there are some incredible programs held by many organizations in Lao that employ, train and encourage the skills of local people to help them become self-sufficient. A cool brochure I came across listed all the projects including a weaving one I'll mention below called Stay Another Day, but I can't find the site! Another site with information on local programs is http://www.laoredcross.org/index_en.php

We arrived in Luang Prabang in the late afternoon and the French influence was obvious immediately. The town is a perfect postcard on the banks of the Mekong and heavily dominated by French Colonial architecture and Buddhist temples. Apart from the visual fare, the choice in food was overwhelming, ranging from the obvious French and traditional Lao to Indian, Thai and Vietnamese. And the prices! You know you’re in SE Asia when… we ate a traditional Lao bbq (food is cooked in the middle of your table over coals with spices, garlic, veggies, meats, etc) and the total food bill for 5 of us was $7.50. You almost feel guilty… we also ate the most delicious vegetarian buffet, set up by a street vendor for 5000 kip each. That’s .50 cents. I know! This is why all us tourists, even if traveling with Lonely Planet’s SE Asia on a Shoestring guide, truly are rich.

Approximately one hour from Luang Prabang were the Kuang Si Waterfalls, which were a fairytale in themselves. Pale blue and pastel green mirror waters formed in various pools down from the main wispy falls and we went prepared! As the locals swim in clothes we took our surf shirts and board shorts and braved the clear, icy water. It was amazing, so refreshing and clean. There was a tree overhanging one of the pools with a rope… crowds watched as an American guy went along the branch, grabbed the rope and swung in like Tarzan himself. That was it! I had to do it! I climbed up to the branch and got stuck by my lack of arm length and could not reach the rope, so the American guy came on the branch, grabbed the dangling rope and passed it to me, whispering as he went, “Don’t worry, there’s no pressure, nobody is watching!” I turned back to see the crowd of dozens that had gathered on the bank, cameras at the ready, waiting to see the silly girl fall. I looked down. Bad idea. I gripped the rope as high as I could, looked up and swung myself out and across to the middle of the pool where I performed a perfect rope dismount, and with a small shriek crashed into the water! Picture perfect, I didn’t let my fans down! I even saw a photo, and the woman that took it said I looked like Jane. Yessssss!!!! Naturally I had to go again, but first Scott, who was able to retrieve the rope himself and managed a spectacular Tarzan, with a bit of rope burn. No pain, no glory! It was a fantastic time and left us awake and ready for the rest of the evening, dominated by market shopping and a painful but effective Lao massage for Scott (we told him it hurt at the Red Cross!) while me, Katherine and Hannah ran across the street for cocktail happy hour!

Our last day in Luang Prabang we all rented bicycles, an incredibly effective way to get around, and visited the Museum, formerly the Royal Palace for the 1975 exiled, and never again heard from royal family. The family line continues, but cannot return to Lao and it is believed they reside in France. Slightly out of town we visited Ock Pop Tok, which translates into East Meets West, a community development project where Lao women’s weaving is made, displayed and sold, completely beautiful stuff. All silk worms and plants for natural dyes are on site, and courses, 1 to 3 days are even available and taught by the local women! Their on-site café also serves traditional Lao fare, and Scott and I tried the ginger and lemongrass refresher and the iced cinnamon bael fruit tea. We were incredibly impressed by Ock Pop Tok, and wish we’d visited it earlier.

Overall, Luang Prabang was incredible, and the first half of Lao has been a fantastic surprise. Everything about this country at a crossroads is so impressive, and more time could easily be spent discovering and visiting these areas. One of the cheesy tourist t-shirts sold state “I love Lao”, and I’m seriously considering buying one. We do love Lao!

Chang Mai, Thailand - Heading North....to the 'Jungle'

2008-04-02T17:53:00.000-07:00

ETA Chang Mai 7am.
Sleeper trains...a challenge for the freakishly tall people, although very logical. Its still light out when we leave Bangkok. So many people wandering along the train tracks, off home after work? Sitting down along the edge of the train tracks, eating dinner. Reflection of the counties wealth.
In the city people have little communities throughout, their temporary homes made up upon construction sites, under bridges, alongside rail tracks. The smells of the excrement stronger than you can imagine, and we're not even within spitting distance of them. (If Deken was here he wouldnt keep his lunch down for long at all) Classroom type setups under bridges, kids sitting listening and learning while the trains crash past overhead as does the traffic all around. Coming into Chang Mai in the morning, parents with their children, barefoot, side saddled on motorbikes and scooters on their way to school. Old women driving round on little motorbikes!

A swarm of locals flashing cards of hotels in our faces, we get picked out of the crowd as we disembark. A young lad takes us to a nice little hotel across from a playground, the grass is up to the waist of the children playing on the swings, but its a lush green and they're happy. I can recommend the HOLIDAY GARDEN VIEW HOTEL, the people are friendly and accomodating the rooms are of a good standard, they have a private pool out the back, and they have a small bar/restaurant. (Cost me 300 baht per night, single room w/ensuite...approx $10nzd)

Upon arriving we sign up for a 3 day trek in the 'jungle'...to interpret for those of you are New Zealanders, is simply a tramp in the forest. The ambience that is Chang Mai, quite the contrast to Bangkok. Wandered up the road for a look, a temple stands at the end of our road, the courtyard filled with people doing some form of meditation dance...Tai Chi maybe? Further down the road a young woman advertising laundry services, I took her a bag of clothes that were getting a little smelly, cost was 35 baht to wash everything in the bag...delivered with a smile, priceless actually. I get back to the hotel and sit down for a drink, look across to the playground and tehre are kids playing pingpong...using a branch as the net divider on their table. the streets of Chang Mai are a lot cleaner than those in Bangkok and the smells are sweeter. Mind you, I havent seen anyone come past selling fried chooks feet or insects since I've been in Chang Mai...maybe thats the key, the absence of the food stalls.

Chang Mai seems a little hotter than Bangkok, or maybe just more humid? Not quite as hectic here either, it is easy to notice the absence of motorbikes screaming round. Oh they're here...just not in the same numbers.

Chiang Rai, Thailand - Bangkok, Chiang Mai and to the border beyond

2008-04-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

We arrived alive in Bangkok around 9pm after a bumpy, nail-biting Air Asia flight (mainly the take-off) from Phuket. Naturally, that morning the sky was blue for the first time we’d been in Thailand, but by evening the looming, ominous clouds had rolled in and the rain kept falling in sheets just in time for our take-off. I wasn’t the only one nervous, as the lady beside me had her legs crossed and her head in her hands, displaying all the body language of a nervous flyer. Her husband across the isle was also nervous but trying to be tough about the situation. I sat in the middle seat holding Scott’s hand, doing deep breathing and humming “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin in my head. As for Scott… he didn’t give a crap! Just sat there, and then stated that it really wasn’t that bad considering the weather. Aaaargh! Irrational thinking aside, it’s good though, imagine if we were both anxious wrecks, we’d both have ulcers by now with all the flying we have to do.

Bangkok is a bit of a sensory overload, and being in a state of recovery from being ill in Phuket, it made things a bit more difficult to deal with. Everything is overwhelming, the traffic, the smog, the food stalls, the vendors, the crowds, the noise, the smells… it is definitely a city to be tackled in good health. I refrained from eating anything but crackers and fruit and only drank water and ginger ale when I could find it, as the thought of or the smell of any food made me nauseous.

In the evening we officially begun our tour with Gecko’s and met our guide Al (that’s the shortened version, his Thai name is very long) and one of the people we were touring with, named Katherine. All formalities aside, we told Al we wanted to go to some markets to have a wander, maybe get some dinner. Trying to hail a cab was one of the funniest experiences. Al, being a local, but surrounded by three tourists would stop a taxi, talk to the driver, shut the door in his face and flip him the bird. We giggled, wondering why this was happening, and Al responded with, “He’s %#@ing crazy”. The taxis, you see, saw us with him and were trying to charge an inflated amount for the trip, without turning on the meter. By the fourth occurrence, the three of us moved away from Al so he hailed the cab alone, and what do you know? The driver agreed to use his meter at which point the three of us came running over and piled into the back. Strategy strategy!

At the markets Katherine and I went on a quest to find knee-length shorts which are not offensive in conservative South East Asia, but were slightly turned off when the vendors said to us repeatedly “It’s ok, have your size, extra extra large!” Wow, thanks. That’s incentive to buy, can I buy a new self esteem along with that 'cause it is now extra extra small… In all seriousness though, compared to the local population we are larger women. We only wished it was only extra large, not extra extra. Bruised egos aside we looked for food and were surprised to find an open air hawker’s market, where Katherine and I shared the compulsory fruit plate and water while Scott had a Tiger with some satays. And guess what was on a big screen hovering above the market? Premier League football, Manchester United versus Arsenal. Who ever knew the Thai people were such Man United fans? Oh, the cheers, the screams of horror, the roars, the shouts they made at the big screen! They gripped their chairs and pounded their fists in the air for their favourite team! The tension was thick! Emotion ran high! I can go on with the clichés! I’ll stop! Thank goodness Man United tied, I can’t imagine the ruckus if they had lost. Our trip back to the hotel was pretty uneventful, and Scott only had to shut two doors in taxi drivers’ faces before we got one with a meter (he did shut the doors nicely though and say thanks, and there was no bird flipping, that would make him a very rude tourist).

Our next full day in Bangkok we met the other girl on our tour, the very tardy Hannah, and jumped on the local buses to visit the Wat Pho (the Banyan Tree Temple), which has a reclining Buddha which is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. Just take a moment to imagine the enormity. Massive! And covered completely in gold leaf, really stunning. We also visited the Grand Palace, one the King’s residences where also stands the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Now the Buddha is of emerald colour, but is in fact made of imported jade, AND, there are in fact, three of them for the seasons, summer, winter and rainy, so they are switched accordingly! Back to the Grand Palace: the King uses that palace only for ceremonial purposes, during the coronation, or when other heads of state visit. The Palace is of Victorian design with a Thai design roof, so the Thai people refer to it as the building with western clothes with a Thai hat.

Our time in Bangkok was rounded off with some walking and shopping around and with a newfound game invented by Scott and I called “Things You Can Put on a Stick!”. It’s lots of fun, you should try it some time! We saw many unidentifiable foods along the streets, and I did promise myself I would be more open minded with my palate, but… easier said than done, especially when already sick. There are endless little rolled balls of stuff (meat? multicoloured?) on sticks, whole fish on sticks, bbq banana on sticks, little eggs that are obviously not from chickens (pigeon or quail?) with shells and all on sticks (one stick fits four), chicken feet on sticks… shall I go on? We also saw endless amounts of seafood and sea life and various parts of a pig, we think, and the notorious and personally distressing shark fins hanging from windows for the popular shark fin soup. This is just the tip of all the food we saw, we couldn’t even identify or imagine what a lot of it was. There is definitely no fussiness in the Bangkok palate, essentially anything goes my friends!

Two days in we took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. Music suddenly blared from speakers when at the train station. We were sitting on the floor with our bags (Al joked that he’d reserved the semi circle painted on the ground just for us). A video screen lit up with images of the Thai flag waving and the royal family, particularly the King. It was 6 pm, and all over Thailand it is customary in public places to play the anthem and to stand at attention during this time. Being a savvy traveler, I already knew this and we behaved accordingly, standing up straight, keeping quiet, hands at our sides. Thanks Lonely Planet! If I’d only been savvy about not stepping on money… can’t win them all!

Our sleeper train was actually pretty excellent, but c-c-cold! Set up as a bunk, the bottom seats facing each other became a bed, and the top bunk clicked down. All beds and bunks were efficiently made and organized by a very nice, quiet, but grumpy-dispositioned crew member wearing a mask who is probably sick and tired of dealing with stupid tourists and their bunk beds. Although the beds were comfortable, the lights in the cabin remain on all night (for safety and for the crew I assumed) and the air con vents are strategically placed to blast out their -30 degree air directly above the beds and onto your numb, cringing face (face, what face? Is my head still attached, because I can’t feel it!), where you lie shivering miserably under your little summer blanket. Mental note: warm clothing must be accessible when in South East Asian transport! Ok, lesson learned. I think. Will inform if I remember next time.

Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air compared to Bangkok, and we were quite sad to only have one day there, we would rather have spent three days there instead. Our time in Chiang Mai was amazing. The city itself is much more relaxed and fresh, and the daily pace approximates that of a normal human. We tried a new and exciting form of transportation, the sawngthaew, which is essentially a covered pick-up truck (that’s a ute for all you Aussies) with benches down either side. You can even brave death itself and hang out the back if you wish. Alas, we were not feeling like extreme sports that day. Our trusty driver wound our way up to the base of the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara (temple) where we then further climbed another 306 steps to reach the temple itself. Once at top you were rewarded with beautiful buildings, mosaic art and a view of Chiang Mai. Our guide Al took us in to be blessed by a monk with spring water for a safe journey and then we split into male and female groups, the males to have a white string tied around their writs by the monk, and the females by the apprentice, and fully initiated monks cannot touch women. We also kneeled in another area to shake a tube with numbered, wooden sticks. The one that falls out then relates to your fortune which you take with you in paper. The whole experience was fantastic and like nothing we had ever done before. Scott and I both kept our fortunes, but ask me where I put it?!? One backpack and you can still misplace your things.

Our next activity was especially exciting and one of our favourite yet: Thai cooking lessons! The four of us went with our adorable teacher Pui to the markets where she taught us about different fruits and vegetables we had never seen before. We diligently followed her around with our little cane baskets, buying ingredients like happy little Vegemites (that’s like good, healthy little children for you Canadians). We then went to the fabulous outdoor cooking school where we learnt how to make Pad Thai (Yummy!), red and massaman curry (Yum Yum!), chicken and coconut and tom yum soup (Mmmmm!) and sweet sticky rice with mango (Ohmagawd!). Who knew it was so simple?!?!? It really is, we thought it was highly involved and complicated, mais non! We promise to cook you Thai food next we meet, sans food poisoning!

Our evening was dominated yet again by night markets where I devoted my time to buying trinkets from people whose photo I actually wanted. Fair exchange, I say. Both parties in transaction left satisfied!

The next mode of transportation was the local bus, of the fancier, and severely over air-conditioned variety to Chiang Rai where we then switched buses to the no frills, air-conditioning via open doors held by bungee cords variety to Chiang Kong at the Laos border. Personally, I preferred the latter after we all made a mad dash to the back of the bus where there was leg room. Now, we’re not being fussy “westerners”, but we literally could not fit in the other seats, Scott barely squeezed in with his legs stretched out over the two seats. The back was heaps of fun though I thought, five of us thrashing around over every bump and pothole of the unsealed road, our guide Al bobbing his head up and down excessively with a big grin on his face during the 3 hour journey. It was hilarious! Particularly with my full bladder! It’s funny how an uncomfortable, bumpy and slightly painful bus ride can become one of those favourite moments, but it really was for me.

And the end of Thailand was upon us already… we said goodbye to Al and headed to the customs office to get stamped and board our little boat across the Mekong into Laos, where I will continue our story…

Bangkok, Thailand - Arriving in Bangkok

2008-04-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Bangkok to meet Jodi, who's flight was due to arrive 15 minutes before mine, felt quite surreal. I was a little worried about trying to find her in the airport amoungst it all...as it turns out there wasnt really anywhere for her to hide anyway.
Easy peasy, and customs...not sure they know what it is in Bangkok.
Jode and I jumped in the que for the taxi, standing like giggling little school girls in the beautiful warmth that was Thailand. How exciting.
The hotel seemed to cater for most at breakfast time...an interesting assortment of fruit, potatoes, eggs (somewhat vanilla in flavour), bacon/ham stuff (well it tasted similair), pad thai, stir fried rice, stir fried veg, cocktail/breakfast sausages...they were Kinda scary looking, I gave them a wide berth. What a great feast though...if you're into that sort of stuff for breakkie.
We wandered the streets, ran into a man who 'has a friend in New Zealand', he was very nice and helpful...directed us to all the shops we should go to...even found us a tuktuk driver who'd take us right there, conveniently enough. It was extrememly humid, especially for us little whities. We must've looked like we were 'fresh off the boat', our skin slippery and slimey, drenched in our own sweat. MMmmmm.
So we were taken to a fabric shop where the tried to sell us clothing, make suits to fit us, skirts, shirts, you name it they'd make it for us. Tick number one off on the list of scams to experience. It was all a great time.
Our hotel had a pool we could lounge beside, close you're eyes and you're on a beautiful beach...open them and you're looking into the back of a block of cruddy apartments. Unfortuantely seeing how the Thai make a living on next to nothing, you can understand why they live as they do.
So what else is there to do other than to have a cold drink or two. Jode and I met some of the locals at a friendly bar down the road. The bar full of women making conversation, and hanging with us. Was nice talking to them about their work, when buying them a drink it costs twice as much as ours....got the picture now? But they were a great bunch of girls. Some a little young, so that was a little sad to see. Jode met a friend who had some birds trapped in a cage, and she got to make a wish and free them...dont remember how much it cost her. Tick number two.
Mark flew in from NZ, and quite rightly joined us at the bar. The women were even MORE friendly now.
The markets in Bangkok were unbelieveable...way too much to be able to see absolutely everything. There were pets galore there too, although somewhat upsetting to Jode to realise the squirells were actually tied to the cage. Crazy place to go, especially if you're clostrophobic...but the smells, the people, the food...an experience to embrace!
But leaving that all behind for greener pastures....we board the sleeper train to Chang Mai.

Sandakan, Malaysia - A tick on life's to do list

2008-04-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

How to begin writing about a time in your life that you have dreamed about? Being in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo was like a fantasy, I couldn't begin to imagine being somewhere equally exotic and wild as plagued with the problems of reality. Unfortunately for me, this moment was heavily marked with being as sick as I can remember in a very, very, very long time. Everything hit me at once, the never-ending headache, runny everything, plugged everything... couldn't see, hear, taste or really enjoy anything properly. Fortunately Scott was fine and I don't think I passed anything on to him. Nevertheless (do I have to say it?), Sabah is incredible, and the bigger the wildlife/plant or green anything enthusiast you are, the more you want to explode with happiness, whether healthy or sick. Wow, I have so much to write about, I'll try not to ramble on.

We stayed at a lodge called the Jungle Resort, set a 5 minute walk from Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, one of only 4 orangutan sanctuaries in the world. The sanctuary is protected jungle which covers several square kilometers, and where orangutans (one of the great apes, our 3rd closest cousin with a 96.4% genetic match to us) that have been injured, confiscated, or left as orphans are reared by the sanctuary staff, rehabilitated and essentially taught how to "be" wild orangutans again. Once they are mature, they are released (with some exceptions) back to government-protected forests in other areas of Borneo. The sanctuary has 2 daily feedings, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning the orangutans (which by the way, means "man of the forest") are fed bananas and milk, and they looooove it! About 6-8 of them made an appearance and they feasted on their fruit. When they eat their bananas they break the peel down the middle lengthwise and then push it in their mouth as they pop out. A very cheeky appearance was also made by wild macaques that would take turns, or not, making wild runs for any bananas that the orangutans didn’t down quickly enough! The macaques put in some great effort into stealing the show! The afternoon feeding consisted of milk and what looks like long green beans, and I mean LOOOONG, like vine stalks. If anyone knows what that was specifically, please pass on. In the afternoon session a mother and baby swung in, and the baby was hilarious, a total and complete trouble-maker. He jumped off mum and started pulling the fuzz on another orangutan’s head, he tried to wrestle, jump on him… mum didn’t give a crap, just sat there eating her food until about ten minutes in where she got up, picked up the scrappy little baby and sat him down beside her and in front of the food. As Scott said, she was telling him “Ok, enough play, time to eat your dinner”. And he did. Need I say, adorable!

Ok, this paragraph is where I get on my soap box, I have warned! And the following applies to essentially every animal I write about in this entry. There has been HEAVY deforestation in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo), most poignantly for palm oil plantations. You can drive for endless kilometers and see nothing but palm oil plantation, dotted with palm oil factories, harvesters etc. It’s so different to hear about it, as opposed to seeing it yourself; it’s just difficult to understand its extent. Palm oil is found in many, many, many food items we buy, i.e. cookies, crackers, chocolate etc., and it’s listed in the ingredients. The big issue is that native forests are cut down to make way for the plantations. In the process there is an enormous loss of habitat and sometimes animals, such as gibbons and orangutans are purposely splayed because they are in the way. That’s how many young are orphaned. The key issue is that the palm oil industry is not regulated, and companies don’t need to state where the palm oil came from, therefore the demand for palm oil continues and so does the deforestation and habitat loss. So, what YOU can do is write the equivalent of your Minister for Foreign Affairs in your country, and demand that food companies act responsibly in their purchase of palm oil and state where it came from in their ingredients list. It’s not about destroying an entire industry; it’s about responsible and sustainable growth, and consumers knowing what they are impacting when they purchase a product. Alright, jumping off my proverbial soap box now. See, that wasn’t so bad! Ah! PS: if you want to know about the Orangutan appeal connected to Sepilok, visit: www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk. Oh, here’s a link (I think this is it) to an ex co-worker of mine' documentary trailer, she made in Borneo. She knows a lot more that I do as she’s spent a lot of time there: www.youtube/watch?v=4sTyJ8PTwZc

Also on our wildlife agenda was Turtle Island which was a 45 boat ride from Sandakan. During the day we went snorkeling just off the beach and came across the feistiest fish you ever did meet. He was about the size of Scott’s hand, was black with a yellow stripe, and would NOT back down when we happened to snorkel over his little hidey-hole. Whack! He aimed towards Scott’s head! Thunk! He head-butted my goggles! He was screaming “Get away from my #$@& seaweed hidey place!” (Not making that up, I am a fish whisperer. Yes, I know, another talent…). Scott made the mistake of resting his knee at one point on a bit of sand off the coral, and he swam his little fins off towards him and nipped him on the knee! At least, we think it was him, if not it was his Italian cousin, Vinnie the mafia-fish. Scott after all, did get whacked! He won, of course, we went back to the land, where the humans belong.

That evening we were fortunate enough to see a greenback sea turtle come to shore to lay its eggs. The island has a conservation program and the rangers regularly identify and tag the turtles, remove the eggs once they have been laid and re-bury them in a controlled, predator-free area where the eggs have a much higher hatch rate. Once they hatch, the little ones are released into the sea again, hopefully so that a small percentage survive to the age of 30-50 when they are able to reproduce again. And yes, numbers of sea turtles have declined dramatically and they too are endangered, not because of natural factors, but because of us. It’s fantastic they have these programs in place to try to balance out our damage. Oh, do you want to hear a funny (well morbid, really) fact about sea turtle mating? I did not know this. The male has a “claw” on each flipper that allows him to latch onto the female so she can’t get away while they mate, and during this long process she has to swim him around, and come up for air with the male attached to her so they don’t drown. The funny/morbid part, is that sometimes more than one male wants the female, and they all try to latch on, sometimes dragging her to the bottom too long in their “Who’s the man?! I’m the man!” struggle, and drown her in the process... What the??? Another factoid from the fascinating world of nature.

The most surprising part of our trip to Borneo, as we enjoyed it soooo much, was the Kinabatangan River. We stayed in a riverside lodge where we had to use mosquito netting at night, and the wildlife, both plant and animal was profuse! We got to the lodge by crossing the river in a rickety, powered canoe tied to a half-submerged jetty. Wow, is it ever “fun” to walk on an angled, slippery half-drowned jetty with all your crap! Our limits of balance and coordination were tested to the maximum! Needless to say, success was our game, we were like Olympic athletes on a balance beam when crossing it. But with bags. And it’s wet. And we’re not Olympians. And my runners are soaked. Again. God they smell.

Ok my wildlife aficionados, here is a list, carefully compiled by moi and our trusty boat guide Aloy of what we saw that was identifiable! Before we begin though, we didn’t see the pygmy elephants which are found along the river also; apparently we were about one week too early from when they arrive in that area. Bummer. At twilight and sunrise (but not necessarily all in the same trip) we saw: Long-tailed macaques (TONS, they are sooo cheeky!), pacific reef and little egrets, Proboscis monkeys (which was a thrill and a half as they are endemic to Borneo and are very shy of passing humans but there they were, males with their harems in trees hanging over the riverbanks), white-bellied and house swiftlets, oriental darters, swooping swallows, stork-billed kingfishers, crested serpent eagles, lesser fish eagles, silver langurs (another primate), a monitor lizard, a mangrove snake and pied, black, bushy crested and wrinkled hornbills. And that’s only what we identified and saw! Imagine everything else! All the birds and crocodiles and insects and plants and frogs…. And this is with major habitat loss! Imagine what must exist and what has not even been discovered? Imagine what was there before? Incredible. Needless to say, those were unforgettable canoe journeys and wildlife lover or not, it’s thrilling, and I would HIGHLY recommend it. The morning boat ride was at 6 a.m. but how beautiful to be up before the sun and to hear the echoing sounds of frogs and insects first, only to die down and begin hearing bird calls you’ve never heard before and then to see hundreds of dragonflies begin their morning fly-around to dry off their wings and look for food along the river banks…. It was so beautiful, definitely a moment to never forget.

Then it was back to the city of Sandakan. We took the local bus into town from Sepilok where we were staying, and whatever you imagine a local bus to be in the middle of Borneo, you are correct. Chairs falling apart, overcrowded at times, people smoking, standing in the open doorway when the bus was moving… the 40 minute journey took a very bumpy and leisurely hour and a half, but what an experience! On the bus we met the self-titled “two distinguished gentlemen, who were from Kuala Lumpur and were in their 70’s. What a crack up those two were! The ultimate team, like Siegfried and Roy, Bonnie and Clyde, Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Seventy year old Hardy boys, agile as agile can be, full of smiles, and telling us tales of all the mountains they’ve climbed, and kilometers of world they have walked… and this is as senior citizens! We had dinner with them in Sandakan, and took their photo, they were so lovely. And yes, the photo is out of focus, I could spit! We also met two Canadian women doing some hard-core backpacking. They didn’t know where they were going, how they were going to get there, where they were going to stay, or where they would be next. We got lots of tips on packing light and South-East Asia from them. Again, such nice people. Ah, one thing I absolutely have to tell about the bus is the lovely music they blared, as loud as possible over the speakers: Malaysian metal. Oh yes, there is Malaysian metal indeed, and I can now inform you all that no matter what the language, all metal songs, somewhere within their lyrics scream in a very Smashing Pumpkins/Metallica/Guns and Roses manner : “HHHEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYYY, YEAAAHHHHH!”. Remember, sound must imagined with raspy, throaty metal voice.

Alright until the next one….Over and out. Wait!!

Canaussie rating time my friends!

Jack fruit: 3, tastes good, but gives me tingly mouth and throat I’m so excited to continuously discover my many hidden allergies!

Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary: 5

Turtle Island: 3, it’s good to see what they are doing, but many things are difficult to see. Better to go diving if you have a certificate, it’s supposed to be amazing

Kinabatangan River cruise: 5++++

Malaysian Metal: hmmm, 2. Unless you really want to listen to metal in a bus in Borneo

Auckland, New Zealand - Blindly heading where many have gone before me

2008-04-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

Bag packed, unemployed and blindly heading where many have gone before me.

Dreams of fun, exploration and adventure.

First stop Sydney. For a bit of sunshine, R&R and whatever else I seek out. Although this is my second time in Sydney, the first time I was 15 and travelling with my Mummy, I must admit I am a little excited about things.

Georgetown, Malaysia - Salamat Datang

2008-04-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Penang very early in the morning, and having gotten up at 4:30 to go to the airport, we were exhausted. Our taxi driver was very friendly, welcoming us to Malaysia, and having a bit of a chat with Scott when he told him he had lived here. As we drove past areas our driver kept asking Scott if he remembered any of it, but since he was a child when he lived here, he didn’t remember much. The place where we stayed was called Hotel Mingood, and the staff there were incredible, wearing naught but smiles on their faces (and clothes, of course) and offering advice and brochures on what to do from the moment we stepped into their lobby. We went up to our room, spacious with baby blue walls and large windows, nothing glamorous, but right out of a movie where you see the major star staying “someplace, somewhere” overseas. Then we crashed. Until 1pm! Could not be helped, we were just so tired. Never fear though, readers, the adventure did follow!

We spent the afternoon having a bit of a walk around Georgetown. We were centrally located, and I’ll have to admit, I was a bit surprised by the narrowness of the streets and how run down the buildings were. Many buildings are of historical significance, and are as beautiful as they are old. Despite having been in countries where I have seen this before, I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it, or had a different picture in my mind from having heard stories of Malaysia.

We walked along Lebuh Chulia, which is a street dotted with guest houses, hostels, trades shops, mechanics…lots of variety! We stopped at a corner eatery which specialized in Tandoori, and very quickly learnt that the owner picked out for us what we were going to eat. “You will have Kashmir naan with Biriyani”. So we did. Then he dropped a small bowl with a sweet called kendali, which was quite good and said “try it, you will like it”. So we did. Overall, a yummy lunch experience, local restaurant, no thinking about menu items required! Our walk back met us with a downpour of rain. No, I digress, a torrent of water fell suddenly from the sky and left us dripping and laughing, and eventually not caring anymore as we walked under mother nature’s fully-powered shower head and back to our hotel room. (See attached silliness video of silly Scott in silly rainstorm).

Our next escapade is where we defined ourselves intrepid indeed! Having had a chat to our lovely hotel staff, they told us they could organize a scooter for us for the day and that would be the cheapest and best way for us to get around the island where Scott had planned. But of course, as I’m the one covered to ride a motorbike, little Jenn braved what I think of as the “relaxed chaos” (will explain later) of the Malaysian streets, bravely rode back to the hotel to pick up her husband and off they went! Super-scooter girl and her man! I will say that the attention you get being a female driving a scooter with a male passenger is insane. Workers calling out from their trucks, honking, staring, staring some more… did I say staring? It was quite funny and gave Scott and I a lot of enjoyment. Now by relaxed chaos I mean that there is no indicating, no following of lanes, no going in the right direction, lots of cutting people off, but it’s ok, like everybody is thinking, “no problem, man, cut me off, share a lane with me, cause I’ll do it to you later!”. They really don’t care.

We did a whirlwind tour of the north of Penang on our trusty little scooter, visiting the Wat Chayangkalaran (the reclining Buddha Temple), where Scott and I found the Buddhas for the year we were born. We then crossed the road to the Burmese temple. It’s difficult to describe temples in writing, because they are flashing with colour and vibrance, yet you feel peaceful and so much tranquility when inside them. In every temple, every corner, wall, statue is unique and completely beautiful. We also went to the kek Lok Si Temple, the largest temple in Penang, set up on a hill. To get to it you weave up through market and vendor stalls, selling everything from pins to t shirts to hand-made jewellery. It was a fantastic walk up, and the view of Penang once up there was worth the uphill trek in the heat.

The Botanical Gardens in Penang are not what we are used to in Canada or Australia. It is obvious that the lack of funds have made it difficult for them to maintain their grounds, and unfortunately many areas were closed when we went. However, the gardens are still beautiful like a family park and many families were picnicking there. A very interesting specimen to view in the gardens is the hungry monkey. What, huh? Hungry monkey? There are monkeys running rampant through the park! The second we got off our scooter Scott said, “Have you seen it?” There was a monkey at the entrance, and he proceeded very calmly to go and sit on somebody’s scooter. I had a very touristy reaction and shook Scott and exclaimed “There’s a monkey on the bike!” Unfortunately people feed them, which is against the law, that’s why they walk around closely to humans, and can become a bit aggressive. People, just DON’T FEED THE MONKEYS! DON’T EVER FEED WILDLIFE! Ever. Anywhere. Any type. Any country. Ok, got that off my chest.

We also went across on the ferry to Butterworth. We negotiated with a taxi driver to charge us per hour and take us to specific spots, such as the air base where his dad worked, his old house (it’s abandonded, up for rent, anyone interested?), and his old school which is now a school for the deaf. It was a task to get the taxi driver to take us back to the ferry again, as he was obviously milking the time we were in the cab with him. Here, let’s detour to this temple, oh, let’s go to the bird sanctuary, what was that restaurant you went to as a child? Yes, yes, thank you, that’s ok, we’ll go back to the ferry. Ok, ok, but now I’m going to drive safer and slower than every Malaysian owning a vehicle in this country, let’s go 40 km/h, like I’m 80 years old driving in the country on a Sunday morning and point out lots of sights again on the way back, are you sure you don’t want me to find a Thai restaurant? Thank you, thank you, ferry please! We did finally get to the ferry, where there were outdoor vendors, and I bought some type of battered, fried plantain, yummmmmm! About 10 pieces for 1 RM, which is 30 cents, give or take.

One of our favourite places in Penang was the Red Garden hawker’s market. Yes, food again, I know! But honestly, it’s just so damn good! We went 2 nights in a row and tried chicken wings (very different than the wings people think of) with very spicy chilli sauce, grilled corn, spicy green beans and char koay teow, which is an incredible noodle dish, made with some sort of egg noodles, and the flavour… incredible. We’re also in love with Malaysian coffee which is very dark and strong, but they sweeten it with something akin to butterscotch and put a bit of milk in. It’s just delicious. When they prepare it, they “stretch” it, pouring the coffee from the metal pot to the cup from up high, making it froth. I asked one of the guys at the market what the coffee was called and he wrote for me “copaly taray”. Stretched coffee! I repeated it back to him and he killed himself laughing, I’m not sure if we were laughing together or if he was laughing at me! That’s alright, after only a week Scott and I are getting used to that already. Ok, canaussie rating time. For scale, refer to blog #2.

Hot almond milk: 3+ it would depend on your mood. It’s like a steamer.

Char koay teow: 4

Fried plantain: 4+ what a good snack!

Dragon fruit: 3, not a strong taste

Kek la juice (sour plum): 1 too weird, almost salty

Riding a scooter in relaxed chaos: 2 for scary factor, 5 for cheapness and flexibility!

Sydney, Australia - Arrive in Australia, Visiting the Neighbours

2008-04-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

Off up and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to escape the hustle and bustle that is the city of Sydney.

Absolutely divine weather to do the bridge climb. We go through the brief training session, don our super spunky jumpsuits and caps. (Jumpsuits especially desgned to breathe, keep the warmth in and the wind out. Although I guess it depends on who you are and how much of the wind is actually OUTSIDE the jumpsuit...am I right Grant?) So for the next couple hours we spend our time climbing and descending ladders, oohing and ahhhing at the city and its surroundings. Loved it, also very infomative if your brain is a sponge (most unlike mine).

The rest of the trip was spent visiting friends and family, or for me...meeting some great people. Who I hope to meet again sometime in the near future.

Singapore - Immaculate Singapore

2008-04-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

The very first impulse I got upon arriving in Singapore's Changi Airport was, "Get out the camera!". Who does that? But this airport is different, it's so clean and picturesque, that you can't help but doing the old point and shoot. There are gardens, a spa, a theater, a transit hotel, free internet. It's like a really fun mall, and I don't even like malls! But that's not why we're in Singapore, so onwards.

Having arrived at night, we had no sense of orientation upon arriving at our hotel, but despite it being in a fantastically central area which was bright and clean we did figure one thing out right away: our hotel rented rooms out by the hour, if you know what I mean... If you don't, well, go ask mum or dad to explain it to you. Never mind, everyone was friendly and families and tourists alike stayed there, so we didn't think twice about it (maybe only once), and stayed.

Our first day we walked and then walked some more. We're gonna have smokin' legs by the end of this trip. To cover the longer trips we got tickets for a hop on/off shuttle and traveled around the city that way. We went to the Lao Pa Sat hawker market which is one of Singapore's original food markets. There we tried sugar cane and lemon juice (YUUUMMMYYY) which is made by grinding the sugar cane stalk right at the stall, and mixing it with freshly squeezed lemons and lots of ice. Yes, it does taste as good as it sounds! We also walked along Orchard Road, which you could say is the main street in Singapore, full of restaurants, clothing stores etc etc. On Orchard Road we stopped for a peek at the Orchard Hotel, where Scott did work experience way back in 91.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, where I had to cover up a bit more with a sarong (the lady at the entrance tied it for me, I had NO idea how to get it to stay on) and we offered a candle for our safe journey
A highlight of the day, and the you're-a-tourist-you-have-to-do-it-just-accept-it activity was going to the Raffles Hotel. This is a historic hotel in Singapore where (are you ready for this) the Singapore Sling was invented at the Long Bar!

Yes, of course we had a Sling at the bar! Particularly if it was frequented by the likes of Clark Gable back in the day... maybe a bit of the glamour wore off on us. Not. We also tried to go to the hotel lobby, as we'd heard that it was quite beautiful inside, but alas, we were stopped at the door, because Scott wasn't wearing pants. No lobby for you! I just wondered how the guests in their suites go back and forth from their rooms, uh, I mean suites? Don't they wear shorts? Do they have separate entrances to bypass the lobby? Ah, the mysteries of the rich and famous...

Night time led us to the Newton Circus hawker's market. Once inside the vendors provided a cacophony, very, very, very firmly urging you to purchase food at their stall. It's a blast! Now normally I would become upset if I wasn't addressed in any way by someone when I'm with Scott, but when there are an overwhelmingly large amount of vendors trying to sell you their satays and all they yell is "Sir!", I think, bring it on! Only my Sir has to answer, giving me more time to closely study the menu. Oh, the strategy! In the end, we bought Singapore satays (wow, the flavour), murtabak (a roti with meat and onion in it), and baby Kai Lan in oyster sauce (only my new, most favourite vegetable!) from a lovely lady name Gina (stall number 46 if anyone ever goes). We washed it down with a nice, frosty, big (650ml) Tiger beer and soursop juice, which is a fruit like guanabana in Colombia.

Ok, I'll stop talking about the food, but it's just so gooooood..... We then walked back to our hotel via Little India which is celebrating the Deepavali Festival, and wow, the lights! Beautiful!

Also on the agenda was Sentosa Island, Singapore's' resort island, where we could also step on Asia's most southern continental point. We went to Sentosa by monorail, and returned by cable car which goes up HIGH in the air, and I mean HIGH. Skyscraper high. It was a bit daunting once in it, but worth the views, and upon arrival (good timing too), Scott kindly informed me that the cable car had snapped once, carnage ensued, etc etc. But there were survivors. Ok, then, point is, we enjoyed the trip, all is still attached. However, that was nothing compared to the oh so unique experience we had on the island: fish reflexology. What is this, you ask? Can you even guess? Well, you wash your feet, then proceed to a large pond full of little Turkish fish that think your feet are a feast from heaven and go berserk eating your dead skin cells! Weeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh! (that's my squeal). You don't even have to put your feet in, just put your feet above the water, and they all squirm over eagerly over to where you are, ready to attack like tiny dead skin loving vampires! I can't even describe how I felt when I saw this and then put my FEET in there, but there was a lot of squealing, screaming (as soft as I could, it was a spa), wriggling, holding of my head in my hands, holding my breath.... I had to exercise incredible willpower to keep my feet in.

Scott, of course, got all this on tape, no doubt to use as blackmail one day. Then it was his turn. Similar reaction as me, but then he wished he'd gone to the pond with the more aggressive fish (the one where they take chunks, not nibbles). Tough Guy. Show off.

Regardless the end result is fabulous! Feet as soft as....a baby's bum? Can't think of another simile.
So that's Singapore! I've devised a canaussie rating of new foods and experiences from 1 to 5, 1 being blah, 2 so so, 3 ok, 4 very good and 5 excellent must do/have again or recommend!

Kanchanaburi, Thailand - Bathing Elephants

2008-04-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

We took a 2 day trip to Kanchanaburi which is North on Bankok. We saw a lot of hokey things on our first day, but stayed at an elephant camp where people can ride the elephants and stay in rooms on the river (that your toilet and shower runs from and into). We had a magnificent meal and great conversation with people from all over the world and looked forward to the next day.

In the morning we all hopped on top of an elephant's neck and rode it to the river where the elepahnt threw us in. We bathed the elephants and hung out with them for about 30 mins. Some elephants were very frisky and some were placid. We could tell that the elephants really enjoyed frolicking in the water, which made it more fun for us. Chelise had a very playfull one that kept thowing here off. While I had the biggest one (Male) that was pretty chill in the water, except for the occasional complete submersion. My elephant also lifted me up with his truck. The elephants loved having us wash them with brushes (my elephant handler took a bath on the elephant with a bar a soap that he also used on the elephant) The handlers could make the elephants spray waters at us like a gun on command. I even did a back flip off my elephant. I ended up just hopping from the back of one elephant to the next. It was truly a great experince.

After that we went on a little mini trek with our elephants which was kinda anti-climatic considering the fun we had just had. The next day we hiked 4.5 miles in the middle of the day to 7 waterfalls. At the top waterfall we swam and had it all to ourselves apart from the fish who would nibble aggresively at our feet. As a storm rolled in we were taken to a Tiger Temple run by monks who look after tigers they have raised to be vegatarians. These tiger are very placid and docile since they have never been fed meat. We got led into an area where they all were and took photos. I scratched some cubs behind the ears and then was ushered back outside the boundry. We watched 3 older cubs play in a puddle and it was great. The storm hit on the way back to Bangkok and it was so fierce that we should have really pulled over, but hey were in Thailand where safety is never an issue.

Tonight we leave on a bus to Ko Tao Island where I will get my Open Water Diving Certificate

Oh yes if there are spelling errors its Me (Ben) I dont have time to correct everthing, and of course if Chelise is writing it will proabbly look and sound alot nicer.

Luxor, Egypt - Imodium junkies riding donkeys...

2008-04-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

LUXOR :

Right, I remember leaving you in Cairo... Well Greg couldn't have been a better host - from taking us horse riding by night around the pyramids (more about this later), showing us some of his favourite haunts around the city, to introducing us to the shisha! Sadly all good things must come to an end, and after spending a wicked week with Greg, we had to depart for our tour.

Now before I go on about our adventures outside of Cairo, I'll take you back to our horse riding by night. One of Greg's favourite pastimes is to take friends up to this wicked little oasis, to ride horses through the desert - overlooking the pyramids. We had to catch a cab about 30 minutes out of the centre of Cairo, and as we were driving all of a sudden these huge, majestic shadowlike images appeared. It took a little while to realise that they were the pyramids... we were totally in awe! We were then met by a guy on a donkey, and he took us to the stables. I haven't seen anything so funny in ages - a large man galloping on a donkey who looked as if it were going to collapse under him. Our horses were selected (mine was quiet as I was being a chicken), and we headed into the desert. It was amazing, we rode over sand dunes with the moon and stars to guide our way, the only sounds were the horses striding along, and our whispers of amazement. The pyramids stood in the distance, huge yet eerie - every now and then they would light up, making the moment only more magical. After an hour and a half of riding were back at the stables... already I know this is going to be one of the highlights for this trip. Now, upon starting our evening I had no idea that I had an allergy to horses... though once I had come off the horse I was sneezing, my eyes were swollen and I had come up in some kind of rash. The worst thing for me was I had to wait another hour before we got back to Greg's so I could take an antihistamine - thankfully I didn't have a worse reaction... otherwise it could have been a short trip.

So... we joined our tour, 24 of us in total - Kiwi's, Aussies and a few token Brits, the ages range from 19-31, and the group is awesome! On starting the tour, we were greeted by our tour leader (Jo) saying she was about to send out a search party. There had been some confusion, and she had us down as staying at their hotel the night before... Good start!

Our first day was spent exploring the pyramids, and they were just as amazing by day. We caught camels from the smallest pyramid down to the largest. The ride lasted about 10 minutes, and to begin with it was a frightening experience - I had never realised just how high up a camel was. We had an opportunity to enter one of the pyramids, though I became claustrophobic and had to turn around before getting to the end. Ant managed to make it to the end, and has told me that there was only a big room - nothing much interesting. We also visited a perfumery and a papyrus making factory. Both were nice, but overrated and too pricey - it was like being taken around by a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok he! he! Our first night was spent on a night train to Aswan. After having to fight to get on the train, it was then a bigger fight for our seats. The locals who had beaten us on thought they'd take the seats, and some weren't happy to move! After settling in though, we managed to have an okay sleep... though with it being Ramadam and people only eating during daylight, by 3.00am all the locals started gathering together to eat, and talk (loudly I might add). But we made it to Aswan all in one piece.

We had a couple of days in Aswan, where we spent our time checking out the local markets, and smoking shisha at a local cafe. On one of the nights we had a huge meal with our tour, and some local dances performed for us - what a wicked evening. After showing us some of their traditional dances, one which included a guy spinning continuously, with a huge colourful skirt spinning with him... they all got us up to dance. They spun us round and round, and made us some strange moves. It was a great night, for me a good icebreaker - allowing me become a little less shy.

We have visited Abu Simbel - a set of two temples near the border of Egypt with Sudan. Constructed for the pharaoh Ramesses II who reigned for 67 years during the 13th century BC (19th Dynasty)... To visit Abu Simbel you have to go in a police convoy, which leaves at 3.30am I might add! Abu Simbel was amazing (photo's to follow), though there were too many people... to try and imagine, how people back in this time were able to build things to such a scale, are beyond me...

From Aswan we spent 2 days sailing down the Nile on feluccas. For those who don't know what feluccas are, they are traditional Egyptian sail boats, that have a cloth cover for the night, a huge mattress where about 10 people sleep - there are no cabins, you sleep on deck. Not much to really report we just relaxed, relaxed, drank beer, swam, ate, slept... hmmm and that's about it really. On the first night of our ride, our group gathered around the camp fire and told tales of their most embarrassing moments... though mine was a crappy peeing on my shoe, there were some funny as stories. We also were entertained by Stacey (a wicked Ozzy nurse) teaching our felucca boat boys some classic Austrlian tunes - G'day, G'day; Give me a home among the gum trees... ha! all class and brilliant!

I've now had Egyptian belly for 5 days, I've been blocking it up with Imodium, anti-nausea pills, nurofen and some Egyptian anti-bacterial pills. I don't know how good it is for my system, but there was no way in hell I was going to have the runs whilst on the feluccas. I'm planning to go solo when we hit the beaches at Dahab.

We are now in Luxor, where Ant will enlighten you on the next leg of our journey.

So far the tour has been better than I could ever expect. In the first few days I felt like I was being herded around like a flock of sheep, but now as we get into it... all is good. It's just like travelling with 24 of your buddies from home, only you don't have to worry about arranging your own travel or food. I would still like to travel independently, but for a tour I can't complain.

Dahab, Egypt - Sunrises and Projectile Vomiting...

2008-04-01T14:07:00.001-07:00

DAHAB :Hey! Well we are here now in Dahab and the last 3-4 Days have been a blur so please excuse me if I am little vauge....

Also, we are miles from the bombs in Jordan so nothing to worry about:)

So we left the fellucas and went to Luxor to see the Vally of the Kings and Queens, (Pics last entry). We did about 2 hours donkey riding which was great fun, except my bloody donkey chucked me off 3 times. The temples were great but it was a long hot day. I started to feel a little queasy at 5pm and by 7 am I had vomited the colours of the rainbow (if you include dark grey)into our toilet. It was to my great selfish delight that I was not the only one and there were 3 others in the same state. Role on a 4 hour police convoy with one stop. I chucked back the motion sickness pills and managed to make it to the next hotel. I pulled it together, which was great as we had a 13 hour day in the back of the truck leaving at 2 am.

The trip was ok and we only had half of the usual rubbish of a police convey (waste of time, its there for looks only....) The highlight was seeing 2 ships in the Suez Canal - Ships of the desert - it was amazing, these massive ocean vessels sailing through the sand. Cant take a picture as there were sniper posts at every 50 metres protecting the place, they were very nice and the snipers waved at us...... (how strange...)

So we got here, had a snooze for 3 hours and proceed to climb Mount Sinai to see if the commandments were up there somewhere. The stars were amazing and we saw a couple of shooting ones as well. Just as we lay our weary heads from climbing 2000m on little sleep the sun came up from below. It was fantastic and Kodak made a lot of money from all the pics being taken, there was probably more light from the flashes of all the tourists cameras than the sun! We staggered down and went past the oldest monastry in the world. Didn't look inside as was too tired after all our lack of sleep.....

So we came back to our lovely room, had a nanna nap and then proceeded 30m to the big lights of Dahab. We started off with sisha and ended up at this great bar with an open fire and 80 egyption men keen to get it on with anybody with 2 legs (ratio of chicks to guys 1:10 - Scary). Narelle was itching for a fight if they touched her but the Egyptions luckliy survived the night. So off to bed at 2am and here I am after a big english breakky for 80 pence. (Flys were free........)

Notes so far...

It has been amazing, we have a great group of guys - (Actually 19 Girls and 7 Guys) Only one single guy - Go Woza go - he's gotta score!!! The tour is very busy and tiring but with the great bunch of people loads of fun. I am very over being sick but we are supposed to be thru the worst of it, all the tour talks about is bowl movements -Its very bonding!

See you next time and thanx for reading!

Issaquah, Washington - Home for now...

2008-04-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

4,280 miles later (10 hours this leg) we have arrived home near Seattle for 6 days until we fly off to Asia. The trip was fun but it was just the tip of the iceberg. My family have combined my belated birthday with mothers' day into one giant feast!!! (Flank steak, cheese garlic mashed potatoes, ceasar salad and garlic bread) The only thing left for us to do here is get all of our stuff organized so that we can find it when we get home. Wish us luck

Aswan, Egypt - Big Triangles, Dancing and The Toilet

2008-04-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

We we are here at the start of recorded living. Its fantastic and dirty. N and I both have the runs but not too bad. We are in Aswan at the moment and about to head off on our cruise down the Nile with nothing to do but drink and relax - Fantastic.

The big triangles were great and we even went inside to the tomb, no lara croft, in fact nothing but sweaty tourists.........

Must go, take care....

Bangkok, Thailand - We arrive in Asia!

2008-04-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

After changing planes in Taipei and ascending into lightning and huge turbulence, landing in Hong Kong and finally Bangkok we were ready to walk around. Approx 23 hours after we left Seattle we checked into a Hostel called Peachy just near Khao San Road. I don't want to make this a long one as we've been here nearly a week now if you can believe that so here goes: It's really hot and I'm talking hotter than Australia at about 35 C + the humidity which increases it by 5 degrees. It's very smelly (like poo) which I expected. The locals around this area try to wheel and deal you and try to sell you everything. We've fallen for people that were seemingly innocently informing us about the area and then directing us to a tuk tuk or a temple that wasn't open. The food is fantastically cheap and we've been eating Pad Thai for 15 baht which is about 30 cents US. Clothes, shoes, backpacks, souvenirs and all sorts of things are really cheap and everywhere. Some mornings you just wake up and feel sick. You don't eat a lot - I am rarely hungry from the heat.

Alot of you already know about this stuff so lets cut to the things we've been doing. Ben ate a fried scorpion and I tried some too. We have walked around a lot so we don't have to pay for a tuk tuk for shorter trips. The tuk tuk drivers cannot believe we want to walk. We've seen magnificent temples (they all start to look alike after the first few) and views from the Golden Monument which puts you 370 steps above Bangkok. We've seen real poverty with people living in shacks in alleys with concrete floors and the whole family in one room. It seems everyone is trying to make a living by making some kind of food - I mean everyone. We have walked down the sex street where you can buy girls and boys and watch a ping pong shows.... we did not go into any of those clubs this time but next time we are in Bangkok ( 2 or 3 weeks) we will defintely party it up there to see what its all about. Sorry I wont be able to take pictures there so you will just have to beleive me!

Cairo, Egypt - Middle East

2008-04-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well we made it... our 5 month adventure of the Middle East etc. has now begun!

We arrived into Cairo at 2.30am (25/10/05), flying into the city was simply amazing. The city seemed alive - even from the sky. There were thousands of white lights flickering through the streets, among them were also as many bright green lights (we were to discover later that green is the colour of Islam, and the mosques were actually lit up).

After hearing stories from fellow travellers, I was somewhat nervous to enter the arrival hall - in fear that I would be instantly harassed. Though to my surprise the men didn't seem that interested at all... they more wanted to get us to go in their taxis for the fares! After haggling with a guy for a bit, we agreed on a price and were taken to the taxi. Before long we were speeding through the streets of Cairo, listening to upbeat Egyptian tunes whilst trying to take in as much of this amazing city as we could.

Our driver got us considerably lost, and after asking directions from at least 7 locals, we were no better off. Finally by pure luck we found our friends apartment - the ride that was suppose to take 20 minutes, took well over 1 hour.

So... we are here - and this place is simply amazing!

Bozeman, Montana, United States

2008-04-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

We drove about 7 hours to the familiarity of Bozeman. This is the place where Ben had to try and squeeze his mountain of belongings into an already full car. When we got to Scott and Kim's, Kelley from Garmisch was staying there too so we quizzed them all on Asia etc. The next night, a group of us went out for Sushi and to a bar after that. Usually we BYO alcohol in Dave's sushi, but we were informed when making the reservation that this was no longer allowed as they had gotten in trouble recently (not licensed I guess). We stood in the carpark with our cartons of beer and filled numerous Nalgenes to take in with us so it wouldn't look 'suspicious'! DJ Ben from Garmisch is the best sushi maker in the world and he treated us to a new speciality only for VIPs - the Liger - it's like only his favourite sushi.....While we were partying we ran into one of our managers from the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. After a long night we all retreated (some in worse shape than others - Ben). The next morning we got up and headed on our next leg of the journey sad that we had to leave so soon, but we were on a deadline.

Rabanal del Camino, Spain - Astorga to Rabanal del Camino

2008-04-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

We were up again at the crack of dawn, leg muscles are hurting like crazy this morning - I was keen to give today a miss... but know that we have to go on!

This morning was the coldest day yet, I looked fashionable in my green pants, patterned knee high stockings, bright orange socks and socks as gloves! Ant had wanted to stick socks on his ears, but this I think was going a bit too far on the fashion stakes.

Getting up early and walking in the cold paid off though, we were able to watch the sun rise over Astorga - and what a wicked sight.

Today's walk was wicked, not too many uphill and the scenery was breathtaking. We made it to Rabanal del Camino by 12.40pm, and seeing as we were well ahead of time had decided to continue on to the next village Foncebadón (a further 5.8km. Thankfully we spoke to a fellow pilgrim, who on speaking to a local, had found out the Albergue at Foncebadón had now closed for the year... the next Albergue would be a further 10km.

After finding the Albergue at Rabanal del Camino, we were told that the doors wouldn't open until 2.30pm. The hospitalier told us that there were only 24 beds available for the night and that we would need to line our bags up in an orderly fashion. It definitely helped the time pass by - counting bags. Its was also funny to walk grown-ups finding so much amusement in watching bags being placed in a line.

The Albergue was great, clean, with good showers and most importantly everyone had a blanket!

Although my muscles are tired and sore, I feel surprisingly good.

Tomorrow we head up and over a mountain, in what will be our longest day of walking yet - 32.5km.

Fort Collins, Colorado, United States - Harry Potter and Fort fun

2008-04-01T13:58:00.001-07:00

As we headed closer to Ft Collins (6.5 hr drive) the rain turned into snow. We stayed with Good Andy (Harry Potter) who had other guests staying too: Susie and James. We went into town to watch yet another basketball game and ended up getting really drunk and silly. Andy likes to wrestle when he's drunk and tried to take down everyone. Next morning we went out for a huge breakfast and got into a couple of snowball fights. Tonight we will BBQ and stay out of the snow!

Cairo, Egypt - Hail to the shisha!

2008-04-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

So, we have now been in Cairo for 3 days... and we are loving it!

As some of you may know Ants friend Greg is currently studying in Cairo, so we've been lucky enough to be able to stay with him - and to have him as our tour guide!

This city is amazing, it seems to be awake 24 hours a day. At the moment it is the holiest month for Muslims - Ramadam (where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset). It is said that this is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Muslims think of it as a kind of tune-up for their spiritual lives.

As westerners your aren't expected to fast, and we are lucky enough to have restaurants, shops selling food. Ant and I have been trying not to eat out during the fasting, so by accident have at times been going without food for almost the whole day - doh!

We've smoked shishas, eaten local delicacies (vegetarian) and sipped Turkish tea along the Nile in a wicked restaurant called Sequoia. The only way I can describe this fantastic place is to imagine sitting in a huge Saharan tent, filled with sweet smells of the shishas, Arabic music and hundreds of people... simply magical! Greg has told us that this is where mostly middle-upper class Egyptians eat, but the whole night cost us about UK10.00.

Last night we went to Khan al-Khalili, the largest bazarre in the Middle East - what an experience. There are hundreds of stalls selling things like papyrus, scarves, statues, shirts, bottles of locally made perfumes - the list only goes on. And, even better everything is so cheap. I was somewhat composed with my shopping and only bought a scarf and a bottle of Sandlewood perfume - I spent a whopping UK2.00 - hey big spender!

By 12.00am the markets were in full swing (normally they will close at 10.00pm but because of Ramadam they are open until the early hours), I have NEVER seen so many people in one area - it was like a swarm of bees, but only it was people! At one point we were stuck in the mish mash of the crowd. A woman trying to sell tissue paper, threw her baby (not literally of course) toward Ant (weird yes), the baby then proceeded to pull Ants hair, and lightly bit his ear - what a scene!

After the hustle and bustle of the markets, we finished our night smoking shisha in a local cafe right by all the chaos and watched the night go by.

It's been a wicked adventure so far! I am surprised that I have not been harassed nearly as much as I was expecting - actually only 2 people have been a bit off. I have gone to wearing a scarf around my neck full time and am trying not to look the Egyptian men in the eye (this is said to only encourage them!)... I suppose though my time will come to be harassed, though at the moment I am lapping up the peacefulness!

Right, we are off to the markets again - woohoo! This time I am going to buy, buy, buy!

Salt Lake, Utah, United States - Mormons!

2008-04-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

We arrived in SLC about 7 hours after leaving snowy CO. We stayed in Launi & Pauly's new house with their 2 dogs and 1 crazy kitty. At sunset we went up to Ensign Peak & gazed over the darkening city. It was so pretty!!! SLC is huge including the burbs, it seems to sprawl further than the eye can see, but it's such a quiet city. The next day we got a lovely and informative tour of the city. Ben loved going to the Mormon info centre and even went back by himself later - I think the pretty Morman girls (tour guides) had him hooked or it could have been the really big statue of Jesus in the room eerily painted like the universe....Anyway, that night we found a sports bar (basketball) and Christie and Clark came from Park City to meet us. Tara and I met them during the Winter Olympics when we sold pins out their jewelry store. Chris Gentzkow and Ann also showed up a bit later and we had a full on rockin party! It was great catching up with everyone. The next night we stayed in Gentzkow's new house which he's doing up himself and went to a sports bar again to watch the Sonics kick some more ass!

Ponferrada, Spain - Rabanal del Camino to Ponferrada

2008-04-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

After eating a very bland, home cooked dinner (pasta, mayonnaise and sweetcorn), we headed to the church to hear the monks sing latin hymns. Although we are not religious, it was quite a moving experience - maybe it was because we couldn't understand what they were saying?

This morning I was prepared for the cold, stockings, sock hands etc. I was slightly disappointed when it wasn't as cold as yesterday - not! It was a slow start to the morning, as the yellow arrows were almost non-existent. Ant and I walked aimlessley over paths for about 40 minutes, we were able to see footprints in the dirt with our torch... so felt some comfort that others may also have gone on the wrong track.

Once on track again, we made it to Foncebadón for sunrise. The view was amazing, Foncebadón looked down onto the hills we had just walked with the sun rising in the distance. There was a lone cross in a village that was all but deserted, you almost felt like there was no-one else in the world...

Today we would reach the highest point 1,505m. At the top is an iron dcross, that has become a symbol of the way of St James. For possibly hundreds of years, pilgrims have been bringing stones (or other icons)to leave as a sign of respect or gratitude. Ant and I had bought stones from London to leave in this magical place. We were lucky enough to be the only people there at the time, which made the moment even more special.

Montazuma, Kansas, United States - Backwards farming folk...bless their inbred heart.

2008-04-01T13:52:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Montezuma after driving for about 4 hours. It's a really small town with a population of somewhere under 1000 people (many people asked who we were because they'd never seen us before), many of which are farmers and Menonites (funny little religious people). Dave's family has a huge farm there and we went out to watch basketball after a hearty home-cooked meal. Over the next couple of days Ben helped work around the house (for some gas money) went to the driving range, and we went to the local bar and had mini bar olympics (I sucked and lost quickly). This was the only bar in town and was full of three people. The next day we went into the country and shot some clay pigeons. This was a true american small town experience!

Astorga, Spain - San Martin del Camino to Astorga

2008-04-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

We found that in San Martin del Camino on a Sunday, there were indeed no shops open.

We ended up having dinner with about 20 other pilgrims at the Albergue. We had someone translate to the hospitalier (owner of the Albergue)that we were vegetarians, and after asking 3 times whether we ate fish... I think he got the gist that it was vegetables only. So for our dinner we had a huge ensalada (salad), and patatas fritas (french fries)- it was a great meal, though we are now a little worried this is all we will eat for the next couple of weeks.

Being eager little walkers, we started our day at 6.30am. It doesn't seem to get light here until after 8.00am, so I suppose we'll have to get use to walking in the dark.

Today we've managed to find our way, and the yellow arrows have been kinder to us. Part of the walk this morning was to walk for about 3km through a heavy wooded area. Me being the baby I am was too scared for us to walk through alone, so we waited for other pilgrims to come along, before venturing in.

The scenery today has been wicked, we've walked through small stone villages and through fields of maize. Our legs are starting to really ache today - especially our shins. We've stopped quite a few times to take off our shoes, and massaged our feet.

After arriving in Astorga and dropping off our bags, we headed straight for a pharmacy to buy some deep heat. Thankfully we bought a Spanish translation book, so I was able to get across to the pharmacist what we needed. Ahh, the bliss of putting deep heat on tire muscles.

Today has been pretty cold, so I've invested in some black knee high stockings for the cooler mornings - I'm going to look a right sight, but at least I'll be warm!

Already we've met some amazing people. On the second day we are starting to feel more like pilgrims, I look forward to the days to follow.

Oklahoma, United States - Waffle House Virgins

2008-04-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Oklahoma late today to stay with Brian. We went out for some drinks at Bennigans to catch up and meet his girlfriend Laura. Turns out the Brian is working as a production assistant for the guy that directed Children of the Corn and produced the Godfather. It looks as though Brian is soon to be famous!!! Then next morning we ate breakfast at the infamous Waffle House. We have seen these restaurants everywhere on our travels and have never eaten at one. We have been warned by everyone that its nickname is the Awful house. It lived up to its reputation and it was one of the greasiest, cheapest meals of all time!

San Martin, Spain - León to San Martin del Camino - 24.9km

2008-04-01T13:47:00.002-07:00

Ant and I ended up being able to spend the night together, we found a room with double bunk beds especially for couples - boo hoo!

We were able to sleep until about 2.00am... this appears to be when others had fallen into a deep sleep, and started snoring. For a while there were only a few people snoring, kind of in an annoying melody - snort, snort, snooooort etc. Anyway, to start with the noise wasn't loud enough to totally interrupt our sleep, but by 3.00am there was a 'trumpeter of a snorer'... needless to say he then kept us awake until 6.00am - great start!

Even with our little sleep we managed to drag our sorry selves out of bed at 6.00am, as first planned. The Albergue but on breakfast of stodgy bread, home-made marmalade, biscuits and tea/coffee - just what we needed to kick start our day.

Now, to help guide your way along the Camino, and to each village you will find yellow spray painted arrows. These can be found all over the place - on the road, on telephone polls, walls etc.

We found early on that you have to have a keen eye for these little buggers, and managed to get lost within 10 minutes of trying to find our way out of León. Thankfully we met other walkers, and together we were able to find our way out, though about an hour later we managed to get lost again - doh!

So blindly Ant and I walked in the direction on west, in the hope that we would soon stumble across the 'already famous' arrows. Again we were saved by other walkers, a lovely Swedish couple (both the tender age of 70 I might add) who help us along our way!

After what seemed forever we arrived to our destination - San Martin del Camino for 2.00pm.

It's so nice to be able to take of our shoes to allow our throbbing feet to breath. So far there neither of us have blisters (early days yet I think), though our feet are tired and sore.

The accommodation is basic but nice. It's Sunday here, and in this little village there doesn't seem to be anywhere open. For now we just want to relax!

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

2008-04-01T13:47:00.001-07:00

Our drive to Atlanta took under 12 hours. There's lots of trees here. We're staying with Joel and Celina and their puppy - Hansel (so hot right now!!!) Ben went to College in San Diego with Joel and he and Cel are getting married next year. Yesterday was Ben's 28th. We found an Aussie bakery so we all had meat pies. I also bought a lamington and a milo bar mmmmmm...... We went to a park and played with Hansel and had a few drinks. Then we went out to dinner. I love not having a job. Happy Birthday Ben. It was really nice staying with them and checking out a new city.

Leon, Spain - Santiago here we come...

2008-04-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

We started our day by saying farewell to our beloved Goldie... quite an emotional experience to say the least, and headed for Stanstead Airport - destination Valladolid!

Had an interesting flight to Valladolid with Ryan Air, the pilot almost over shot the runway on landing. There were a few screams from fellow passengers, though I was so scared I forgot to breath!! I suppose... you get what you pay for aye!

Caught a bus to León, where tomorrow we will start our pilgrimage. We are staying in our first Albergue (cheap hostel like accommodation especially for pilgrims), but can't help to feel a little guilty that we are not yet 'real' pilgrims!

Ant and I have to sleep in separate accommodation, so I am to share a room with 50 other women. There are no pillows or blankets on the beds - though, I suppose this is the life we have resigned ourselves to for the next 2 weeks... am I really up for it?

Well it is 10.15pm, and time for bed. We've agreed to start bright and early tomorrow - 6.00am... welcome to the life of a pilgrim!

Madrid, Spain - Madrid

2008-03-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

The trip through beautiful, balmy Spain continued, and was rounded off with visits to Sevilla, Cordoba and the grand finale, Madrid. Word of caution to any future travelers to Spain: severely guard your pockets on the Metro, as we had our camera pick-pocketed, and we were incredibly vigilant during our entire trip. This vigilance didn’t mean a thing on the Metro unfortunately. Put locks on your pants if possible! Ok, that may be uncomfortable, but you get the idea.

Sevilla was the first time since arriving on the European continent where we took a breather by staying in one place for 3 nights! Whoa, 3 whole nights, just imagine our elation! By this point in our 4 month trip Scott and I started to get a bit tired, or better yet, lazy. We just didn’t want to HAVE to go out and do something, which is why Sevilla was perfect. I have no specific sights to report, and no flamenco shows to rave about because we made the conscious decision to just hang out. Sevilla is a gorgeous city though, lined endlessly with orange trees, shopping to make you weak at the knees, restaurants and cafes, medieval buildings, gardens, cathedrals… such an incredible Spanish city to visit, even if you are just being lazy, choosing to only hang out. However, with a bit more energy there is so much to see and do in this traditionally Spanish city, you really can’t go wrong. Time for a sigh: Ahhhhhhhhhhh……..

Off to Cordoba! Officially, after some discussion, Scott and I have decided that this is our favourite place in Spain and where we would live if we were Spanish citizens. Which we are not. Cordoba is best and simply described as cozy, medieval and fun! We could not get enough of the Moorish influence on the city. The intricate mosaic work we saw in the Alhambra was also present throughout many buildings in the city, including our gorgeous guesthouse. There is something about Cordoba’s casual eateries and little streets that make you feel comfortable, like you should linger a little longer and take in the relaxed, historical atmosphere around you.

The Mezquita, built in the late 700’s is one of the most unique places we saw on the trip. The inside is cavernous and comprises of two-tier arches made of white and red brick and this continues along the entire place. However, very oddly in the 1600’s a Roman Catholic Cathedral was built inside the Mezquita and so a giant centre section was destroyed to make way for this church inside a Mosque. A very, very, very strange sight. The entire Mezquita is fortressed, and within the walls there is a courtyard saturated with orange trees. Having seen orange trees lining the streets in Granada and Sevilla, Scott and I could resist no more! Scott jumped up and plucked a couple of oranges (we had spent our time just hoping one would happen to fall conveniently in front of us). After peeling through the two-inch thick peels we finally reached the juicy orange, took a bite and… spat! Ugh! Sour, sour, sour, sour, sour! And not in a good way. Sour. That would be why you don’t see the locals plucking oranges, maybe we should have taken their cue.

As we were wandering the lovely streets and the main centre of Cordoba Scott noticed a little market stand down a small alley. We made our way there wondering what it was and found a little square with several tables set up selling the BIGGEST cotton candy we’d ever seen, hand-made jewelery and odd crafts. But wait, how strange, the vendors are dressed like medieval peasants. We continued to walk, following banners hanging over the streets and discovered a yearly, massive Mercado Medieval, or Medieval Market! The main square of Cordoba was riddled with stalls selling everything imaginable. You could barely move there were so many people. It was ridiculously crowded but too much fun to miss. Acrobats juggled, beautiful women belly-danced, “court jesters” cracked jokes and purposely wreaked havoc, and knights in armor jousted. It was mad, it was fun, it was a total accident that we found it, even though it was enormous. The mulled wine made us a bit weak at the knees as well as the soft loaves of bread being baked in an outdoor stone oven. The line up to buy the bread was at least 6 people deep by 8 people wide, and understandably so, could bread possibly look more appealing!?!? We also tried a stiff shot called Aliento de Dragon (Dragon’s Breath) which had vodka, scotch, honeyed rum and chili flakes. You downed it and then breathed in the fumes left in the shot glass, and let us tell you, we did breathe fire and choke a bit. My eyes began watering it was so strong, what an insane drink.

Happy to have discovered a bit of Cordoba (remember, it’s our favourite Spanish city!), and sad to leave it so soon we took the lightning fast AVE train to Madrid, the grand capital. We arrived at our hostel to discover that the centre of Madrid is measured from a statue of a bear at the base of our pedestrian street, Calle del Carmen. We were literally at km zero in Madrid; it couldn’t have gotten more central. Madrid is a beautiful city; it’s clean, open, modern, people friendly and accessible. More importantly though, it may hold the unique title of being the only city on the planet to house the “Museo de Jamon”, or in English the “Ham Museum”. Huh? “The conversation went something like this:

Scott: “Um, does that mean Ham Museum?”

Jenn: “Huh? Where? Oh! Yes, bizarre. There’s no way it’s really a ham museum!

Scott: “Ah, of course, ham museum must be a metaphor for something, surely it is not a museum of ham!”

Jenn: “Surely not, that would be ludicrous, ha ha ha!”

We arrive at the window of the ham museum

Jenn: “Ew! There are pig legs hanging everywhere!”

Scott: “Hmm. It really is a ham museum, ha ha ha!”

Essentially the Museo de Jamon is a large deli, specializing in ham if you didn’t get that bit yet, and there are pieces of pig hanging from the ceiling, mainly legs. Mmmm, weird. But, in fairness to the Museo de Jamon, many restaurants have pig legs hanging from hooks, it is obviously a very Spanish thing. The Ham Museum, however, just takes it to the next level.

Apart from the ham museum which really captured our imagination, we did a self-walking tour of Madrid and saw many of its sights, the highlights being the Palacio Real and another lovely urban park (Spain is very good we notice at creating amazing public spaces) called the Parque del Buen Retiro. Over a lake where families and couples paddle, successfully and unsuccessfully in rented rowboats as the sun sets is a giant pillared monument where people lounge and sun-bake (yes, even in January, Spain has incredible weather) and picnic. It’s such a beautiful park, we said we’d spend lots of time there if we were Spanish. Which we’re not.

The diamond of Madrid however, was the Museo Nacional del Prado which houses a world-renowned art collection. Visiting it was overwhelming, there was so much to see and how do you discriminate between seeing one masterpiece over another? The painting that really caught our attention and we have not forgotten is Fusilamento de Torrijos y sus companeros en las playas de Malaga, 1888 by Antonio Gisbert. You can check it out on the Prado Museum website. Seeing it on there won’t do it complete justice so keep in mind this painting is 3.9 m x 6 m in size, so the reality of that painted moment in time is almost tangible. You feel like you can read the thoughts of the condemned men. Incredible, incredible painting. Another fantastic one is El Jardin de las Delicias, h. 1500 by El Bosco. You can check that one out as well on the Prado Museum website. AND, last but not least are the more surreal paintings by El Greco.

Two anecdotes before signing off Spain: as we wondered the streets we came across a Colombian coffee shop (I found so many Colombian foods in Spain, Scott sometimes had trouble controlling my excitement) where they were selling pandebono and almojabanas (I don’t know if I spelled it right). I bought four, I was beside myself. The second anecdote is the adorable little old man that stopped Scott on the street and said to him (I’m translating obviously), ”A girl like her (he points at me), you have to hold and carry, like this (he puts his arms up like he’s carrying, well, a woman).” And then he says to me, “If he doesn’t do this for you, you hit him! Give him some sense!” How funny was that? Just out of the blue, very random, and very sweet I think. Sweet for me anyway, not for Scott as I was instructed to hit him if he didn’t carry me. Anyway, it’s a nice comment/compliment to take away…

So, in short, here is what we feel about Spain. If we were European and could live there, we’d have lived there yesterday! It is easily our favourite European country. If you can’t live there and you haven’t visited, go!! And make sure to visit the Mirador de San Nicolas in Granada as mentioned in the last blog, one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Madrid, Spain

Hossegor, France - Saving a dog near Vox Bacow

2008-03-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

We have returned to Hossegor for two reasons. Firstly for the simple fact that we liked it the first time around, and secondly because the swell charts forcast a solid swell to hit in a couple of days. Our first few days were spent at the beach enjoying glorious sunshine and temps in the high 20’s. Small waves kept me and my 250 mates I was surfing with occupied and there was plenty to look at on the beach as well. From large groups learning to surf getting smashed in the shore break, topless women everywhere, large European men in (too) small speedos, and dogs everywhere.

One dog in particular caught my attention as I was paddling across the channel to the beach, because he was out there with me, franticly paddling against the current heading out to sea. He appeared to be a good swimmer but had been battling this rip for some time and looked to be struggling a bit. I paddled over to him and grabbed him by the collar and dragged him ashore. Once back on firm ground he seemed relieved and thankful for the help. No worries mate! Funny thing was, less than 10 minutes later he was back out there, but this time had gone up the beach further to avoid the rip and had made it out the back to the outer sandbank and was trying to catch waves. Seriously, he was paddling to try to catch waves and doggy surf them then paddling back out the back again

Monday the weather turned grey and cool, and the swell went from dead flat at 6 am to ten foot plus within 4 hours. The swell had arrived, and with it 40 knot onshores to create a massive washing machine breaking 500 metres out to sea. We spent the next few days cruising around the area, found a café with Wifi so we skyped Mum for her birthday and Shane and Kate (Abu Dhabi) and caught up with the worlds news. We also found a street market in the main street of Seignosse, the town right near our campsite.

Our campsite had changed a lot since our last visit. We were one of about 6 or so tents in the hole place the last time and there was only 3 staff members. Now the shop, bakery, pub, and kids club had opened, there was about 20 staff, and the campsite was packed. We were camped next to a German couple who spoke a little English so we could have short simple conversations with, and another German bloke named Alex who spoke great English and surfed. He was camping in his 1982 Ford van that he had decked out with three sunroofs and a DVD player and LCD screen that drops down from the roof.

Mandy has taken to the French language with her own interpretations. A town to the north of us is called Vieux Boucau (pronounced Voo Backoo) but has now been renamed Vox Becow thanks to Mandy’s Aussiefication of it. ( Aussiefication is a word I just made up and encourage all Aussies to use freely).

The swell cleaned up but the banks had been destroyed after the swell of the previous days, so it was time to move on, towards the east and away from the temperamental Atlantic Ocean. Our friends Lozza and Seb awaited us in Luchon in the Pyrenees Mountains, about 3 hours drive away.

Beijing, China - Temple of Heavy Restoration

2008-03-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Met one other guy staying in the dorm this morning, Harvey from Australia, who arrived at some point in the night (like him already for being so quiet as to not wake me up) and who also happens to be the spitting image of Dominic Monaghan and does even sport some hobbit like hair first thing in the morning.

Continuing my tour of the Beijing sights it was the Temple of Heaven today which was on my hit list although like the Forbidden City the main building, Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, was closed for renovation, darn Olympics.

Walking around the park grounds in the sun it was a bit strange feeling like it was snowing at times due to all the willow catkins drifting through the air which are these snow like pieces of fluff almost which fill the air at this time of year.

On leaving the temple grounds I noticed that the main building was closed for renovation from May last year till 30th April 2006, in other words tomorrow - bummer.

Back on the subway you can't help but notice the sheer number of homeless and beggars in Beijing many of whom seem to have some crippling abnormality or disfigurement which you wonder how they can cope with apparently no support system.

After my first sweet and sour chicken dinner in China (was beginning to think it was just a British Chinese take away speciality) I decided to head for the Great Wall tomorrow. Since it required us to rise at a painful 6am for the long bus ride to the wall I took it easy tonight and watched a little CCTV, no not the local supermarkets security system but China Central Television which actually has an English language news channel even if its reports are a little slanted.

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States - Get Daddy the Rainman Suite!

2008-03-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

I arrived on a windy Wednesday, with turbulence all the way from San Francisco. The city came out of the middle of a desolate desert- just like in the movies. It really is a machine for extracting money from people, in the middle of nowhere!

On my first night, I decided to head from the downtown area of Vegas, a slightly rougher end of town, to The Strip, where the newer areas of the more commercial casinos and hotels are located- the hub of activity out here. Instead of taking the bus as everyone suggested, and thinking I knew better, I decided to walk to the strip.

Naive! As I headed away from downtown to what I thought was the strip, darkness came quickly, as did a severe sandstorm. And little did I know, that due to this, I was walking away from the strip, and into the very dangerous areas of the outskirts. One or two homeless people soon became a multitude, lining the streets where I walked, shouting some incomprehensible profanities at me. I of course reacted in my tried and tested way- I donned a cap and sunglasses (even though this meant I could hardly see) and tried my hardest to look menacing, whilst walking as quickly as possible. For of you who know me, looking hard is not my best talent! To top is all, there was a power cut due to the storm, plunging the area into darkness, meaning I was virtually blind in one of the dangerous situations I've been in on my travels. Having negotiated Cambodia and Vietnam, that's saying something!

Soon, out of the gloom of the sandstorm, and with my mouth and ears rapidly filling up with sand, the golden arches of Mc Donald's appeared! Never been so happy to see it in my life! I dived in and bought myself a milkshake and a cheeseburger to steady my nerves with a sugar rush, and asked the staff in my most polite English to call a cab for me. Needless to say, I took the cab home to the hostel, thinking if my luck was this bad in getting to a casino, I don't think I'll be in much luck once I get there! Not a great start, but I think I'll look back on this and laugh!

Cabs all the way from now on!

The following day, I took a trip to the Grand Canyon- One of my main reasons for visiting Las Vegas. To avoid a 12 hour round trip and get a better view of it, I paid the extra for a flight and tour with Papion alrlines to the west rim. This is in the deepest part of the canyon, but is also slightly more developed, having the 'skywalk' etc.

The flight was on a small 20 person propellor plane, which flew low over the canyon as we approached, showing its huge depth , taking millions of years for the river to carve out. The weather was perfect, allowing us to see for miles. The scale of it was breathtaking! After landing on the West rim, we spent some time walking around, going on the Skywalk, and trying not to stand too close to the edge as there's no protection from a 4000m drop! After taking in the dramatic beauty of the place for 3 hours and another all-you-can-eat buffet lunch (I often wondered why Americans are often overweight, and I think the all-you-can-eat concept is a significant factor!), we got back on board and flew into Vegas just as the sun was setting and the lights of the casinos were just coming on.

And so, it was finally time to hit the casinos, and loose some money. I headed to the classic- Ceasar's Palace- to try my hand at Blackjack. I still like to think of it as Pontoon, even to the extent of saying 'stick' or 'twist', which the dealer didn't really understand. Anyway, taking to the table the most I was prepared to loose, ($60), and taking full advantage of the free drinks, I soon found myself slightly inebriated and having accumulated over $200! Beginners luck, I guess, until I continued to play and lost the lot over an hour later! It's true what they say- in the end, they get it all! Still, fun while it lasted! I spent the rest of my time wondering while I didn't quit at the top, wondering around the casinos here, which are garish, immense and obscene buildings, designed for one thing- taking your money!

Paris, France - Bonjour Paris

2008-03-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

General guidelines/checklist on how to spend a perfect 24 hours in Paris, in point form:

- Travel to Paris from Madrid on the overnight sleeper train and enjoy dinner onboard. Retire to your cabin to enjoy a comfortable night’s sleep. Awaken just kilometers from Paris, but first indulge in your included breakfast in the dining cart.

- Upon arrival in Paris, gain orientation and begin using your French to realize that people really do understand you and are very helpful in the train station.

- Arrive on a misty, drizzly morning to your Parisian hotel room walking distance to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe and from which you can glimpse the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, as it is completely covered in fog!

- Depart to the Musée du Louvre, arguably the grandest museum in the world.

- Gaze upon the cheeky Mona Lisa (did she wink?), the sensuous Venus de Milo and wander through the opulent and majestic Napoleon III’s apartments. Consider some of Napoleon’s decorating tips should you ever become a gazillionaire.

- Walk to cathedral Notre Dame along the river Seine under a clearing, pink twilight sky mottled with grey and yellow clouds.

- Head to the top of La Tour Eiffel, now under perfectly clear skies to glimpse the end of the sunset and the lights of the city as night arrives. Purchase glow-in-the-dark Eiffel Tower condoms as souvenirs for your friends back home.

- Stroll back towards your boutique-like hotel and stop in a little restaurant with individual table lamps for a late dinner and a glass of wine. Brag to your partner about your ability to communicate with the waiters in French!

- Jump on the Metro to see the Moulin Rouge from the outside. Gaze upon its well-known windmill lights and choke when you discover the price of admission.

- Back to the hotel after a long, perfect day.

- It’s early morning, 6 a.m.!! The sun is yet to rise, but the streets begin to bustle

- Take a brisk walk to the Champs Elysees for sunrise and breakfast

- Allow speechlessness to take over. The Champs Elysees at sunrise near the Arc de Triomphe is one of the most beautiful sights a traveler can experience, and you are there!

- Take pictures, pictures, pictures, pictures!! Did I say take pictures?! Impossible to let it all soak in, it’s just too beautiful!

- Discover the revelation that is the Parisian café overlooking the Champs Elysees as you feast on the most wonderful breakfast of café au lait, fresh croissants, and warm baguettes with butter and preserves. Confirm croissants and baguettes really are THE BEST in Paris.

- Brag to your husband again about your wonderful French skills.

- Back to the hotel to pack but ensure to buy some freshly-baked pain au chocolat for the train ride to Calais.

- Realize how lucky you are to have spent the most perfect 24 hours in Paris and begin to plot your return as you wave a sad goodbye to this inherently romantic city and your penultimate stop on your round-the-world journey.

Hossegor, France - Camping, Broken Noses and Frisbee

2008-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

After the havoc of yesterday, we were both ready to get down to Hossegor and set up camp for a few days. We took the long way along the coast through a number of small towns, all with there own camping grounds, some really nice places but most of them not open for the summer yet. We settled in at Seignosse, just north of Hossegor. The waves were looking pretty good but we decided to go for a walk along the beach and wait for a surf in the morning. In the evening we realised that we had no lighter or matches to light our gas stove so we headed into town to pick one up, but no where was open so in desperation we went to an Irish pub and the barmaid gave us her lighter. It was almost empty but we gave her some change anyway. It wasn’t until we were walking out the door that we realised that we had just paid 3 euros (almost 5 bucks) for an empty lighter. Then we proceeded to get hopelessly lost on the way back to camp, mainly because someone didn’t have the map open most of the time, Amanda. In frustration we got to an intersection and I said “left or right?”, “Left” came the reply. So I turned right and we were home in 2 minutes flat. Nothing like driving for 45 minutes to buy an empty lighter for 5 bucks.

The next morning we woke to a thick fog making it hard to see what the waves were like, I could barely make a couple of surfers already in the water, but it looked OK. So I raced back to camp to get ready for my first surf in the Atlantic Ocean. I opened my board bag only to find that KLM Airlines had creased my nose and put a big hole in the bottom of my board. Well done KLM, you tools!!! Unfortunately we still have to fly with them to Mexico. Great.

So the morning was spent finding a ding repairer to fix the damage. My brother Mick and his mate OJ were due to arrive later in the day, but Mick would have to surf alone, because my board wasn’t going to be ready until tomorrow afternoon. By the time he had arrived though, the swell had virtually disappeared, and would remain that way for our entire time on the French surf coast. Not once did we even contemplate trying to ride the tiny wavelets for 4 days. Our main form of entertainment was Frisbee and some beer drinking as well. Our Frisbee skills have developed rapidly and we have now achieved almost perfect control of the Frisbee’s direction, bending it around trees and skimming hedges as well. We did venture from our campsite in different directions each day. We lunched in Hossegor at the Rock Food Café on the beachfront during a particularly thick fog. Middle of the day, warm and sunny in the main part of town 500 metres back from the beach, but on the beach itself thick fog, and cool. After lunch we played Frisbee. We had to do something, we’re all getting really fat!!!

On our last night in Hossegor we were lashed by a violent thunderstorm, and another first thing the next morning. We were camped under these massive pine trees and lightning was cracking all around us. We survived the night and made the decision to make a move south into Spain, to a place called Zarautz, a bit past San Sebastian.

Until next time…

Beijing, China - My Mandarin Stretched to the Limit

2008-03-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

The crowds from yesterday had convinced me to cancel my hard seat ticket to Pingyao. Hard seat, especially during the May holiday week, effectively means no seat, and with a 12 hour journey I did not wish to stand the whole way or share the floor with the no doubt piles of discarded chicken feet, sunflower seeds and a layer of hocked up phlegm.

If trying to book a train ticket in China can cause an anxiety attack I would advise not trying the reverse, getting a refund.

I knew it was possible and even with the small charge I also knew they would take I was determined to get but that made it no less straight forward and so I set off on my perhaps Mission Impossible minus the fancy gadgets and the slow motion effects sadly (though I was sure the long queues would make up for that)

Back at Beijing West Train Station and with the crowds no less dense I ventured forth to find where I get some Mao's back for my ticket. My first attempt at a counter labelled 'Sell Platform Ticket' led to a quick ushering away by the less than cheery looking women on the other side so I next tried the information desk. It always leads you into a false sense of hope when seeing a sign in English but on closer inspection you find the person working there probably does not even understand the English sign they are standing under.

After failing to explain as best as I could with gestures (how do you mime refund anyway?) I left with a little hope that their pointing to go downstairs meant they had at least an idea what I wanted, either that or they were just trying to get rid of me which was probably more likely.

Again finding no where to sell the ticket on the ground floor I stepped outside and noticed a sign saying to go to the transfer counter for refunds in the underground level, maybe I was finally getting somewhere. So there appeared to be no transfer counter in the underground level, typical.

A little more wandering and I finally spotted a sign way out of sight almost indicating ticket counters 11 & 12 dealt with refunds. On joining the queue/mass of people I was immediately offered 50 CNY for the ticket by a guy who was soon halted my a near by policeman, guessing they are doing something to clamp down on the black market ticket sales.

Getting my refund minus 20% charge I headed to Wangfujing Snack Street but thankfully I had already eaten as the range of scorpions, sea horses, crickets, squid skewers, grasshoppers and starfish did not really take my fancy.

Walking towards the subway I met a Chinese guy who like so many wanted to practice his English but since he was going to London next week on an exchange program I gave him a little time and he let my check my email on his school's computer which we were just outside after one of the other students stopped playing games on it as they all seem to do.

Just before reaching the subway I stopped to watch some people playing table tennis in a nearby park and after a quick invitation I was soon representing Scotland in quite a few games I'm sure were just as skillfully played as those that will be played here in two years time.

Airlie Beach, Australia - The Whitsundays

2008-03-31T11:56:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the highlights of my trip so far. 10 great people, an amazing little boat and a great Italian chef for a skipper, who shouted 'Simon!' so much at his first mate (assistant), we're all thinking of having it as a ring-tone!

We started out from Airlie Beach- another great spot- and headed out for 3 days and 2 nights of paradise on the Ileola, a 50 year old yacht, found sunk 15 years ago and raised and restored by the present owner.

Basically I spent 3 days sailing around the beautiful islands of the Whitsundays, snorkeling in some amazing reef, visiting the whitest beaches I've ever seen, drinking great wine and eating fantastic Italian food. The nights were spent on deck, looking up at an upside down star sky, with thousands more stars than normal! The tan is also coming along a treat and I'm as brown as I've ever been!

I brought a Santa hat with me- everybody took turns having their photo taken with it on. As everybody was European, we're all struggling with the concept of Christmas with the weather being is like it is out here. Not that that is to be taken as a complaint in any way of course!!

Not alot more to report than that really! I think the photos are self explanatory. It really is this good!!!

Rome, Italy - When in Rome...

2008-03-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

This entire journal entry is an understatement for what we saw, the heights of history, art and romance, one of the zeniths of past civilizations in the world: Rome. We had visited individually before, but this is a city well-appreciated when more mature and, well, sober.

We whirled our way through Rome’s spectacular sights including the Colosseum, the Forum, the phenomenally preserved and still used Pantheon (my favourite), the Palatine, the rich and glorious Vatican (technically another country), the numerous charming and well-known piazzas, and the Spanish Steps where – you need to follow closely on this one – a man obviously trying to con Scott into something (not sure what) simultaneously accused me of accusing him of trying to steal from us because I was grabbing our bag to get to my camera. Huh? I know, bizarre, we’re not sure what he was onto. Whatever.

Now, imagine a perfect evening in Rome: the weather is breezy and pleasant, and you take a stroll to the Trevi Fountain down cobbled alleyways and glittery streets. Once there, you ceremoniously through a coin over your shoulder to ensure a return to Rome, and then buy a genuine Italian gelato to have while sitting at the magnificent fountain as you watch the night take shape and the world go by. THAT was our first night in Rome.

The first time I ever came to Rome, the weather was ghastly; rain was pounding down so heavily you could not see a couple of meters in front of you. For Scott the weather was sweltering hot, almost unbearable. This time around it was overcast and occasionally rainy, and so a different experience for both of us. I was desperate to see the Colosseum in dry weather and my wish barely came true, as it started to rain minutes later. We did tours of the Colosseum and the Palatine which were led by two men, one an older Italian man that got so deeply involved in describing the barbarity and carnage of the games he would close his eyes when describing them, and the other, a New Zealander earning a Masters in History that was so animated, loud and excited about his topic that spit would sometimes gather around his mouth when talking (interestingly enough, this exact thing also happened to the PhD student that was my excellent T.A. in first year History, maybe it’s a physiological reaction to being a happy History major!). So, here are a couple of incredible facts. The underground labyrinth of the Colosseum had holding cells for animals and people alike which were winched up onto the main Colosseum stage by elevators. Incredible! Also, in the 100 day inauguration of the Colosseum the grounds were flooded to recreate naval battles, clearly to the death. If a seaman (ha ha, yes, get it out of your system) decided not to fight, jump into the water and swim away, hordes of crocodiles imported from Egypt no less awaited him below. So, the human enemy, or the croc? All took their chances with each other, even clambering onto “enemy” ships rather than become croc chow. Wouldn’t you? The barbarity of the other ground battles held there I won’t go into, just imagine the most inhumane (for man and beast) and vile clashes you can, and you are probably correct. As for amazing fact number two, the Palatine, which was the palace on top of Rome’s highest point, is acres in size and was completely covered by a roof which at points was 50 meters high, had a mirror fountain room and an indoor sports stadium, or as the spitty guide so amusingly described, the Roman version of a flat screen TV with a recliner for the Emperor. Needless to say, history in general is such an interesting focus but it’s all the better when being described by aficionados.

Rome restored our belief in Bella Italia. We were so shocked by Naples, we thought time had possibly changed things for the worse, but no, Italy is as glorious as ever and Rome couldn’t possibly disappoint, it is just too rich in everything sensory.

Speaking of richness, I believe we “discovered” a secret. Quickly, think of Italy’s famous cities… Done? You named Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan didn’t you? Did you mention Verona? That is the secret. Maybe not so mysterious, it is the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but we did not know of it as a must-see destination. It MUST be seen. Verona is inarguably beautiful and quaint with its perfectly preserved historical buildings, immaculate cobbled and tiled streets, mouth-watering bakeries, faultless piazzas and river views to rival those of Rome.

After a two hour wait to get into our guesthouse (long story) we bused it into Verona for the evening and were dumbfounded by how beautiful the city is. Fair Verona is an understatement, you could spend hours simply walking around its streets taking in the views. This city is a postcard come to life, and the people seem to have a healthy and relaxed attitude towards living, walking their dogs, riding their bicycles to the cheese shop, sitting at outdoor tables, drinking wine, eating olives... the drinking at an outdoor table experience was a no-go, as it costs up to four times more to drink or eat while sitting. An example was a coffee we purchased, it cost 1.20 Euro to take away or drink standing up (at the “banca” as they call it) or 4.50 to drink it at the table! So, take away and standing was the name of the game for us in Italy. Maybe one day, when we grow up, we’ll get to sit!

There were two highlights to our Verona visit. The first was Juliet’s balcony and house, who’s gated entrance is an eruption of graffiti from people professing their love for each other. Now, it’s not really Juliet’s balcony, but it’s the house that has been traced back as belonging to the Capulets of literary fame, and Shakespeare apparently did research into the feuding history of Verona and these two families (names were spelled a bit differently) were bitter enemies. If there are any literary geniuses reading this, and I’ve recounted this all wrong, you can correct me in the comments. Also, a bit on the morbid and strangely appropriate side, the balcony was originally a sarcophagus. Hmm. Why not? I’ve always been one for recycling, why NOT sarcophagus…es? Sarcophagi? I think the second one’s right.

The second highlight, a complete visual delight was the Arena, or old Roman amphitheater in a large piazza which is still used for concerts this day. It is stunning, amazingly preserved, and to add a modern, glittery touch, a white shooting star is seen to be coming out of it. At night it is all lit up and gives an enchanted appearance to the plaza. Gorgeous. Inside the amphitheatre people had written the countries they had come from in the sand, Australia and Colombia already represented! Down I went to do my patriotic duty, and in giant letters added “Canada, eh” to the sand list. One problem: the jump down to the arena base was quite high and there was no way for me to get up again, it was horrifyingly funny. Scott came over to try to pull me up, but nope, not possible. I tried to use my wall climbing skills (if they’re called that!) from when in university, but nope. Big surprise. Finally, another girl jumped down into the sand, turned out she was also Canadian and wanted to add Quebec below the Canada I’d written in the sand, so her boyfriend and Scott pulled us up one at a time. Too funny, I was getting ready to camp out in the sand!

Oh, I almost forgot, how could I? No food to report, except a very important one: it is called a something or other “mela”. Ok, get ready: it is a whole – peeled and cored though – apple filled with custard, baked and enveloped in thin, soft pastry, sprinkled with icing. That is a dessert dream come true! Even Scott snarled like a rabid squirrel (a rabid dog is an overstatement, he didn’t look that scary, plus he likes squirrels, which has nothing to do with this) if I even glanced at his and he doesn’t love apple pastry-type things as much as I do.

And then we were off to Barcelona, Spain. Pretty uneventful stuff on the train really… we played “Spot the model” during our layover in Milan. We only spotted 3! C’mon! Then Scott kindly reminded me that models don’t do trains, they do planes, in first class. Ahhhhh. Of course, what was I thinking? Once on the overnight train we sat behind two older Argentinian ladies that were like little children, couldn’t sit still, looking out the window (and taking pictures with a disposable through glass, at night, from a moving train), exclaiming with excitement! Such talkers they were, and very sweet. It was really fun being in the same compartment as them, they made us smile.

San Vicente, Spain - San Vicente in the North of Spain

2008-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Once again it rained overnight to leave us with a wet tent to pack, at least when we woke up there was not a cloud in the sky. The weather has been quite cool at times along the coast, but today we had the sun. We were up earlier today compared to usual. It’s very easy to sleep in past 9, mainly because we just don’t seem to go to bed before midnight, and because we’re on holidays and we just don’t have to get up. We were on the road by 9 and headed further west. We stopped off at Santander, which I think is the capital of Cantabria, the region we were heading through. We stopped here to stock up on food and to visit Decathlon, the store where we have bought most of our camping gear. The pump we bought to inflate our airbed had carked it after only 3 inflations. They swapped for a new one no questions, so no more manual pumping for me… hopefully.

Our camp for the next few days was only another hour up the road. San Vicente is a small coastal town, complete with a 16th century bridge, a castle and a monastery, and a beautiful white sand beach, which gets good waves apparently, but as it’s still flat so I’ll never know for sure….

The campsite is sandwiched between the beach and the river. Upstream from the bridge at low tide there’s mud flats over 200 metres wide, then you go for a drive a bit later and the whole thing is river. The tidal variations are massive. Surf or no surf, it’s a nice place to be.

We arrived here Friday, and since then have explored the area in both directions, including the far end of the beach, where livestock enjoy million dollar views. They were good enough to share the view with us while we had a picnic of fresh ham and salad rolls. We’ve walked the beach, town and monastery and thought we had seen all there was to see, until Sunday morning broke clearer than the previous days to reveal the Picos de Europa mountain range just inland to the south of us. We were lying on the beach (warm as), swimming (cold as) and behind us were snow covered mountains. Tomorow we leave the coast to go and explore them…

Beijing, China - Beijing Blitz

2008-03-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

Unlike back home the streets here are already buzzing with activity with vendors selling their wares from the back of bicycles, street stalls cooking up a variety of early morning snacks, people ball room dancing and others heading off for a little Ti Chi and some people walking backwards. Now the ball room dancing is a little weird but perhaps acceptable if that is your thing but the walking backwards, which I first saw in Chongqing and took it as a one off, had me do a double take. On seeing a women walking backwards down the street at 6am carrying a bag of shopping, as if it we all walked this way, I wondered what side of the bed I got out of this morning especially when everyone else seemed to treat it as perfectly natural, guess I'm the odd one then.

My flight with China Eastern Airlines was as cheap as any budget flight back home but with far greater service and legroom and even some complimentary snacks and drinks. Landing at Beijing airport though I waited ages for the flight number to appear on the board telling you which conveyor thingy to pick up your luggage at but after 30 minutes I gave up and lucky just noticed it going around on the conveyor marked as Chengdu (where the heck had my luggage been).

With the May holiday fast approaching I wasted no time in cramming in as many sights as possible before the craziness started so after checking into the very nice Red Lantern Hostel I headed straight out for the Forbidden City.

Beijing immediately struck me as very different but also very similar to Shanghai, gone is the modern subway system and western feel about the place to be replaced with a more aged metro rail (no ticket machines here, you have to actually buy a ticket from a real flesh and blood person, weird) and many more bikes but at the same time it still had the same busy feel about it even if you were more likely to be knocked down this time by a cyclist carting a load of chickens rather than a taxi cab.

The Forbidden City is big, very big. After walking a good 10 mins from the Gate of Heavenly Peace with Mao's mugshot hanging above it I finally reached the entrance of the palace with the huge walls reminiscent of the city of Troy or some such.

Although certain parts of the city were closed or covered in scaffolding as it undergoes renovation (the main hall is completely covered) the city is still an amazing place. Walking around the grounds for hours I was still finding whole areas I had not explored with the yet to be renovated sections looking far more impressive than the bright, colorful painted sections that look brand new and really kind of tacky.

Walking past a group of soldiers drilling, no doubt just as a show of authority, I soon reached Tiananmen Square spread out in front of the city. I did a lap of the square and saw plenty more soldiers marching about among the crowds which is quite a sight given the history of the place.

Heading back to the hostel the government certainly lets you know that the city is hosting the next Olympics with countdown timers and huge posters and billboards everywhere (don't think I saw a company advertised that was not an official sponsor).

Met the only other guy staying in the dorm room, John from Canada, who seemed to keep himself to himself which was fine by me tonight as I was too tired to go through the whole where you from/been/going routine.

Gili Trawangan, Indonesia - Paradise Island

2008-03-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

I caught the speedboat to the Island of Gili Trawangan for 2 days to escape the hassles of Kuta. This took 2 hours at high speed and I got completely soaked on route as the boat smashed through the waves! The boat broke down about halfway along and I wasnt really sure if we'd have to swim ashore, but the assistant driver managed to pump water out of the engine that had cut out. The best part was seeing a pod of dolphins that must have been 50 strong, swim alongside the boat.

The Gili Islands are a kind of secluded, but by no means quiet as there's lost of water sports on the go, as well as bars and restaurants, including an Irish bar of course! There's a population of 500, intermittent electricity supply (everywhere has candles for the daily switch off!), and no cars. Everybody gets around by horse or cycling.I've spend my days snorkeling and hanging around the beach mostly, but I'm looking forward to catching up with my friends in Kuta for one last night tomorrow before heading off to Sydney.

Granada, Spain - Granada and the Alhambra

2008-03-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

For some really odd reason, or lack of, the only thing I really remember about the first time I visited Barcelona is the post office near the waterfront, and Scott vividly remembers Las Ramblas. Imagine our surprise then when we finally arrived in this strange and amazing city to really discover it. First of all, the weather was incredible, sunny skies, warm weather, lovely breezes, etc. The winter jackets came off, yeah! And I could talk to people! Language barriers gone, at last! However, since my Spanish is limited to that of an eight year old, I quickly discovered I didn’t remember ridiculous words like “track” (it’s “via” by the way, duh), and change room (I forgot the name already, it was weird, I think it was a Spanish from Spain thing). Also, I was being thrown off track by words they use to refer to common things like “zumo” for juice (I know it as “jugo”), and bocadillo for sandwich (I know it as, well, “sandwich” ha! And bocadillo to me is a guava sweet from Colombia). Anyway, it was a good lesson in the Spanish language for me, and I even tried sometimes to mimic the accent, es muy dramatico

Speaking of language lessons, I had NO idea how prominent the Catalan language is in Barcelonan life. Catalan, from what I understand is a bit of a hybrid of French and Spanish and it is bizarre. The n’s or vowels get dropped at end of words, abbreviations are common and sometimes words appear to be a perfect mix of French and Spanish, for example the word “exit”. In Spanish it’s “salida” and in French it’s “sorti”. What does it equal in Catalan? Sortida! Taa daaa! It’s very cool.

Before I go into where we went, I have to introduce you to some people we met known as: the-couple-that-really-really-really-needs-to-get-their-own-room; the-rumbling-snorer-that-sounds-like-he’s-about-to-choke-to- death; the-obnoxious-and-loud-drunk-British -guy-that-wakes-everyone-up-at-4a.m.-and-brags-about-it. They are also known as our roommates in the Barcelona hostel, the absolute worst people we got stuck with. Without ado, we checked out the next morning and went to a cheap hotel.

Anyway. Hostel aside, Barcelona is incredibly interesting and quirky. One of Europe’s best known streets, Las Ramblas is lined with “human” statues, people dressed up as fairies, pirates, trees, the grim reaper, etc. Every day they are there for hours on end, it’s their work and they look amazing. We wandered the street and the neighbourhoods of La Ribera and Barri Gotic for hours and helped ourselves to some tapas and paella in a couple of restaurants while people and human statue watching. We also, unfortunately and fortunately developed a bit of a sangria problem, we pretty much felt compelled to help the Spanish economy by drinking some everyday. One variety we bought in the supermarket, Don Simon, states on the bottle it’s the best in the world. Please, who are we to argue??

Quirky is an understatement when describing Gaudi’s influence on Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia, an insane-looking, exceedingly elaborate cathedral still under construction after 100 years, is a major landmark. There is also Park Guell, also of Gaudi’s design and originally intended as a playground for the rich. Abstract and psychedelic are the words that come to mind to describe this beautiful park overlooking Barcelona, there really is nothing like it. It looks like you could eat it, like it’s made of gingerbread.

After four easy-going days in Barcelona, it was off to Granada on the overnight train. Now, when I was 13 years old, I read a historical fiction novel from the school library called “Alhambra”, the Moorish palace situated in this city. I never got over the descriptions and the history of this place and decided back then that one day I would see it. Guess what??? Done! A tick on life’s “to do” list! It is everything I imagined it to be. As would be the recurring theme in Spain, we had balmy, sunny weather, and the Alhambra grounds were phenomenally preserved and magnificent to look at. Water flows through the entire palace, in fountains, down staircases, along canals… The Generalife which means the “architect’s garden” is a work of art with stone mosaic grounds, fountains, hedges, orange trees and flower beds. The jaw droppers though were the Alcazar which was the original fortress built within the Alhambra walls and the Palacio Nazaries where the Sultans and then the ruthless Spanish royal family lived. Mosaics cover every wall, mirror pools reflect the grounds, and courtyards splashed with trees and fountains are visible from the rooms. The Alhambra is a phenomenal place to visit, the ultimate high in beauty and history. If seeing the inside of the Alhambra is a lifetime treat, seeing it from the Albayzin, the old Moorish quarter on a hill opposite the Alhambra, is the bonus of two lifetimes. Amongst its many cobbled and mosaic streets, filled with wine and coffee drinkers and flamenco guitar players, you arrive on a courtyard called the Mirador de San Nicolas overlooking the white-washed city of Granada, and in front of you on the opposite hill is the Alhambra. It is difficult to describe this sight, except to say that I couldn’t believe such a thing could be real. Accompanied by the sound of a guitar player (just playing for his own enjoyment), we sat on a bench of one of the most beautiful courtyards overlooking one of the most stunning sights in the world. After all that we have seen on this trip and throughout our life, I can easily state that it is one of my favourite places on the planet, and I found it very difficult to leave.

Once Scott pried me away from there, we headed down to town for dinner. We found a self-serve restaurant with a lovely waiter that was more than happy to speak Spanish slowly for Scott so he would understand. You should have seen Scott go! He understood everything the waiter described and answered in Spanish too. I was super impressed, and I must admit, I purposely put Scott in situations where he had to use his little bit of Spanish. He did know what I was up to obviously! The end result was fantastic though, he did incredibly well in Spanish, muy muy bueno!

Luxor, Egypt - Crazy heat in the Valley of the Kings

2008-03-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

To get from Hurghada to Luxor is an interesting process. We had to be on the road by 5.45am to get to the meeting place by 7.00am. All tourist buses making the trip to Luxor have to go in a police escorted convoy that leaves at various times throughout the day, the earliest being at 7am. We were given a number of lame ass excuses as to why, but security was barely mentioned. Driving in Egypt can be fairly sketchy but even more so when you’re in a convoy of 50 tourist buses of varying sizes and speed capabilities. Being overtaken by a coach with oncoming traffic closing in is fairly scary, so we decided we would be better off not watching out the front. Halfway to Luxor we stopped off at a toilet and refreshment stop, all 50 busloads of us, so tranquil. You could even get a camel ride here if you want to. The good part about the convoy was that the local police close down the traffic along the way so there is no stopping or traffic problems. We arrived in Luxor in one piece and were immediately hit by a wall of heat. After a few days on the Red Sea coast the heat here is a shock to the system.

Late in the afternoon, after it had cooled down to only 39 degrees, we were taken by Calesh (traditional horse drawn carriage) to the Karnak Temple. It’s a remarkable place that dates back 4000 years, consisting of 134 giant pillars rising 20 metres, etched with hieroglyphics. Two massive solid granite obelisks tower over the ancient site. It can be easy to get blasé about the Egyptian monuments but then you stop and think, pharaohs have walked where we walked today thousands of years ago…amazing.

Early Sunday morning we walked down to the River Nile to catch a boat to the west bank. From there we were picked by a 1970’s Peugeot taxi which we somehow squeezed 8 of us in for the 20 minute drive to the Valley of the Kings, where over 60 Pharaohs were entombed.

All the big names are here Thutmose 1-4, Rameses 1 - 10, and the star of the show, Tutankhamen. (That’s why they charge an extra 80 pounds to enter his tomb) We went into three tombs – Rameses II and Rameses III, both quite large tombs containing clear and colourful hieroglyphics. The third tomb was that Thutmose III, and it was a different story altogether. After walking up a large metal staircase, you enter the tomb via a staircase that descends back down into a narrow low tunnel. About halfway down the lights went out and we were plunged into darkness, absolute pitch black. Mandy started to freak out a bit but after 15 seconds or so they came back on. A guy on his way back out said it was the third time it had happened since he went down. Great!

The tight tunnel opened up into a large room with a massive stone coffin and more hieroglyphics. The air was very hot, humid and stale so we didn’t stay too long, and by the time we climbed all the way back up and out we were all overheating but at least the lights stayed on.

Another 70’s Peugeot took us to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (pronounced Hat Cheap Suit – just like a day at the races). By this stage the temperature was over 40 degrees so we didn’t last too long here. The setting of this temple is what really makes it special, with a back drop of a sheer cliff face and the front staircase it’s main feature.

On a day of interesting transport our next form probably takes the cake. To get back to the restaurant for lunch we spent an hour riding …..Donkeys. Enjoyable at first, bloody uncomfortable after 10 minutes, and downright painful after an hour. As I was the largest of our group weighing in 5 kg’s above the recommended maximum weight, I was given the biggest strongest donkey, the alpha male, to ride. I had to be forceful because he didn’t like taking orders or being at the back. At varying intervals he started eeehaawwwing very loudly, especially when he noticed a particularly attractive female donkey tied to a post at one of the farms we went past, that’s right I got the horny donkey to ride. Mandy wasn’t the most proficient donkey jockey, and went to pieces a bit when another girl went over the handle bars of hers, landing with donkey on top of her. (It was quite serious but looked very funny from behind). From then on Mandy had the donkey guide assist her. She hung off the right side of her donkey so she didn’t fall off the left side, that’s how she explained the logic anyway. Upon dismount at the end the pain and relief were incredible. With no stirrups, your legs just hang down each side and when you try to get out of this position after an hour, that’s where the pain and relief are simultaneous.

Our last dinner as a group was at a riverside restaurant on the Nile. The next day we all went our separate ways. After a great trip with our new friends, we are ready to see some greenery, maybe a cloud or two and leave the heat and sand behind. We’re off to Amsterdam to start the next leg of our trip, 4 months in Europe…

Chengdu, China - Hunting Panda

2008-03-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

The train actually arrived an hour early at 5:30am but that still did not stop the train attendant grabbing my leg and shaking it to the point of almost pulling it off at 4:30am probably so the Chinese have time to make their breakfast instant noodles.

We were met at the station and taking to the Mix Hostel but then immediately jumped into a taxi after checking in, along with a French guy who has also just arrived, to go to the Panada Research and Breeding Centre just outside of town (darn Panadas are only active in the morning and then tend to sleep all day, at least they have it half right anyway).

We got out of the taxi as fast as we could not so much to rush to the Panadas but to escape the French guys apparent dislike of soap. The center was deserted as we walked around so early which was great and got some good undisturbed Panda viewing in before going to check out the Red Pandas which were more like raccoons or foxes than bears.

Lihi got to hold and feed one of the Red Panadas for 50 CNY which we reckon may have been done under the table kind of since the park was so quiet as the cost just to have your picture taken with the Giant Panadas was 1200 CNY!.

Once back at the hostel, after sitting in the back of the taxi with my head out of the window rather than having to share it with the French guy's err...fragrance, I ended up having a little downtime after a really great shower.

Lazing around the hostel for a while and catching the end of Kill Bill Vol. 2 that some people were watching I had some grub before we sat down to decide whether or not to take the four day horse trek in Songpan to the North. Instead we decided we would head to Emei Shan to climb the mountain there as 4 days away was a fairly hefty chunk of time which Idan and Lihi were unsure they could manage with them planning on getting their visa extended soon. Truthfully I think we all know the reason why we chose not to as we checked the Songpan temperatures for the next few days - brass monkey time.

Christchurch, New Zealand - A New England?

2008-03-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Christchurch yesterday, geographically on the other side of the world to England and wondered immediately if I had accidentally landed in Cambridge or Canterbury. The temperature was lower (16deg), it was overcast, and there was a real feeling of England here- an Anglican cathedral, statues of Victoria, Scott of the Antarctic and Captain Cook, cricket pitches and even punting down the river amongst weeping willows- it was all too familiar! I even asked for Vegemite and toast and got Marmite!

I'm here for 2 nights awaiting my pickup with a tour company called 'Stray', which promises to take me off the beaten track and show me the 'real' New Zealand.. along with the 100 or so others taking the same route! Still, it will be a good way to meet new people along the way and get involved in some activities.. not too sure about bungee yet though! On the down side, I'm back in dorms again, roughing it after the fantastic place I had all to myself in Sydney, thanks to my Cousin's parents in law!

Hurghada, Egypt - Ras Mohommed to Hurghada

2008-03-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

Day 4 – Left Dahab early only to be held up at the Tourist Police station because our drivers didn’t have the right paperwork. After a hour of stuffing around we finally left for the dessert. We drove in two Landcruisers through sandy tracks that led us to a narrow canyon. We had to walk the last 1500 metres in 40 degrees heat but the scenery was just spectacular. (see photos) We had to climb under, over and around massive boulders and scramble up the canyon sides to get past them. The sides were vertical walls rising 50 metres straight and the gap between the walls was as narrow as 30 cm in some parts. Very cool.

We had lunch at an oasis, palm trees everywhere but not a lot of water. Then it was back on the road to our campsite at Ras Mohammed, a national park on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. We camped out right on the beach with dessert on one side and coral reef just off the beach. Spent the late afternoon snorkelling through the reef in crystal clear warm water. Very hard to take…

Day 5 – Woke up early enough to catch a spectacular sunrise this morning. We went snorkelling at another spot in the park in a deep bay. The coral was spectacular but there were a few stingers on the way back in. Mandy and I were both stung on the way back in.

More swimming and snorkelling after lunch until it was time to catch our ferry across the Red Sea to the port city of Hurghada. Walked down the road from our new hotel for dinner and found a cool restaurant called Café del Mar. Nice pizza’s.

Day 6 – Lazy Day…..oh yeah. No plans, nothing to do, beach 100 mtrs down the road, pool downstairs, lunch back at Café del Mar (where they offer free wifi internet if you have your own laptop, and where we are updating this blog right now) and what ever else we feel like doing. We have seen and done some amazing things on this tour and we have squeezed a lot in so far so a day of cruising is just what we need. We leave on the last leg of our Egyptian tour to Luxor tomorrow and the Valley of the Kings.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada - The End - for real this time

2008-03-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, after procrastinating on finishing the last blogs, I am now in denial that our travels really are over and will follow through on my promise to write this last entry (the last, last) from Canada, “our true north strong and free”.

We literally squeezed into Toronto in between snow storms, as they had had a dumping two days before our arrival and then another storm of freezing rain and relentless, continuous days of snowfall to follow. It’s great though! There really is nothing quite as beautiful as waking up in the morning and seeing every single thing under a perfect blanket of white. Yes, it’s winter, and yes, we did miss it. However, Scott did not expect to have to shovel a driveway 20 times within a week, and I didn’t expect to have to re-learn to drive in deep snow conditions on the other side of the road the day after arrival. No time like the present though

This is apparently the most snow Toronto has gotten in just under a decade when the then mayor called in the ARMY (!) to dig us out. We were the laughing stock of the country. At least this time the high-maintenance Torontonians are toughing it out and the city workers are working around the clock to transport the snow to fields around the city (there is too much snow and there is no longer a place for the plows to pile it onto).

Anyway, a few things that make Canada so… well, Canadian that we once again get a kick out of:

- The weather being the top story of the evening news discussing the performance of the snow plows for about 15 minutes, how much more snow is to come and how much cold we have to endure. Honestly we were laughing so hard a tear rolled out of my eye. In Australia it’s like “Sunny all week, back to you Bob!”

- I bumped into someone by accident at the shopping centre and they said sorry to me

- Tim Horton’s coffee and apple fritters

- The hot dog vendors on the street, specially the dude at the corner of Yonge and Dundas that sells the BEST regular and veggie dogs with a million toppings

- A nation completely obsessed with ice hockey even when the home team is performing pathetically the current season

- Caesars! For those that don’t know it’s a drink

Ahhhhhh! To all of you in Australia though, we miss you so much… and we miss Australia too. Both places are equally our home. Please keep in touch...

Shanghai, China - Shanghai Noon-ish

2008-03-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Joan had offered to get her Dad to take me to the Captain's Hostel in Shanghai were I planned on staying, she was annoyed I did not visit her hometown for longer than a few hours and giving how kind the people I met there had been I wish I had been more than just passing through.

With the madness that is Shanghai train station at noon I was so glad to be chauffeured to my hostel where Joan's Dad was so concerned they would not have a room for me he was already inside inquiring on my behalf while I got my pack back out of the car.

The hostel is pretty good with a unique maritime like theme running through it as if I had not spent enough time in a seafaring atmosphere lately. The main plus for me at this point though was having the best shower I'd had all week and finally getting a load of laundry done - trust me it was a close one!

I headed out on the hunt for somewhere to check my e-mail that was less pricey than the hostel (20 CNY per hour) to get in contact with the outside world again.

Shanghai is definitely the most western feeling place I've been to so far in China and in many respects maybe more western than some actual western cities with more than enough McDonald's, KFC (the Chinese absolutely love KFC which out numbers even McD's here) and Starbucks to keep the capitalist bean counters happy no doubt.

No longer being the only foreigner around the attention has waned a lot here with many English speaking Chinese similar to Hong Kong, a city Shanghai desperately wants to trump.

Having a gander at The Bund, Shanghai's river front promenade, although impressive with it's heritage architecture and modern high rises across the river including the garish Oriental Tower (wonder what the approval board for that was drinking the day it got the go ahead), it still doesn't stand above Hong Kong for sheer wow factor or international presence despite having the city having a really good vibe about it.

Queenstown, New Zealand - Adrenaline Town

2008-03-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in Queenstown was a sign of things to come- the AJ Hackett Bridge, as it's become known- the sign of the first Bungy. It's 45m high, plunging most people into the river below. Bungy is essentially an insane practice of tying elastic to one's feet and jumping off something that would otherwise kill you instantly. It's supposedly inspired by a Mayan initiation ceremony, but I would rather think it's down to the crazy nature of kiwis, pushing extreme outdoor activities to ever greater heights!

I chose to chicken out of the bridge jump, but would later undertake something far more extreme, as the addictive adrenaline rush of activities in Queenstown took hold. It started off with downhill cycling, but found that wasn't enough..

Fly By Wire was next.. sort of a human pendulum on a massive scale, fan powered to gain as much height as possible (80m or so), and swing from side to side inside a canyon. This was great fun, but more adrenaline was needed...

Next up, Hang Gliding- something I've wanted to do since seeing it on TV in the 70's. I went with Lise, a girl from Denmark on my Stray bus, to give each other some backing- something we needed when we got to the top of the mountain and saw the incline we had to run down, strapped to a canvas and aluminium wing with no engine! After a brief analysis of the conditions by the instructors (looking intensely at the sky and holding a wet finger to the air), they decided it was all go for launch.

We dressed up in some sort of heavy duty apron with a single rope ladder rung attached to the end, all of which was to be hung from the delta wing whilst we glided gently to the ground.

Soon enough, after a practice run and some brief instructions ('run like hell and keep up with me'), we moved the wing to the top of the hill/mountain, where I got very nervous.

'3..2..1.. Go!' And we were off, running like a pair of idiots at break neck speed down a mountain with a wing! Before long, my legs were running in the air as we gained lift, and the sound of pounding feet on shingle was replaced by the sound of the air against the wing as we soared upwards. Flight!!

The fear was replaced by sheer amazement as I was allowed to take control and precariously direct us where I wanted simply by moving the triangular tubing in front of me. It was an awesome feeling! Sweet as, bro! After some acrobatics and spirals shown to me by the pilot, it was time to land- a very fast approach quickly leveled off with my face about 1 feet from the ground which we maintained over some distance before touching down. One of the best landings I've ever experienced and equally exciting as the one with Laos Airlines! The whole experience was incredible.. If only being an hang gliding instructor was my day job!

Next up was the big one- a canyon swing. This is something I managed to persuade Peter to join me in, who is very afraid of heights on the premise that it's just a swing, rather than a more extreme bungee. The reality was far removed from this. It is a swing, but one that is 109m high, far higher than the statue of liberty by comparison! After jumping off one side of the canyon, you freefall 60m next to the canyon wall, reaching 100mph before finishing on a 200m arc at the base where the 'swing' kicks in. No Worries! After watching videos of others doing it, we were decidedly worried, but we didn't want to chicken out by this stage, so pressed ahead with our booking. After a restless sleep which of course involved my personal favourite recurring dream of.. falling.., we headed down to our fate on the awaiting transfer bus. In terms of an adrenaline rush, it didn't disappoint in the slightest, and to say I was scared is a massive understatement!

The jump itself was scary enough and I would have trouble jumping off at the best of times, but somehow the staff persuaded be to jump off.. backwards! Sometimes it scares me how gullible I am! 'You'll see more' they said, 'Much more fun to see the platform disappearing away from you'.

And wouldn’t you know, I took all this in and agreed that, yes- it's much better to jump 108m down a canyon, putting my life in a harness and wire, backwards!

As I approached the edge and the moment of truth, the best was yet to come. I must have had some of the most sadistic staff in charge of encouraging me to jump off! Instead of counting me down and letting me go, they held me backwards over the edge and told me to smile for the camera and then look down- one of the more terrifying sights I think I'm likely to see. They then started playing with my mind, saying that I wasn’t tied on properly, my harness was loose, worn out etc, then when I was ready to jump, they'd pull me back, to wind me up some more! Finally they let me go, and I underwent a few of the most terrifying seconds of my life, legs kicking and screaming, before the swing and harness kicked in and I realized I was still alive after all! Sheer exhilaration!! One of the scariest yet fun things I think I'll ever do! Peter joined me in jumping off shortly after, wisely choosing to go forwards, and let out an 'Oh Jesus!' as he jumped off in the true Irish way!

Finally, on our way to a return stop in Christchurch, we stopped off at the Rangitaga River for some white-water rafting. Luckily, the team consisted of all the people I have been closest to during travelling over the past few weeks including my partner in crime, Peter and his sister Sue. It was a great day with perfect weather, managing to get thrown out of the boat twice, on one occasion taking Peter out with me (see pics).

Sadly, after a final night out in Christchurch, I had to bid farewell to Peter and Sue, who are returning to Dublin and Australia respectively. It was very sad to see them leave, as they've become such great friends, although I hope to meet Peter (&Sue) again either in Dublin or London.

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New Zealand - Glaciers

2008-03-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

After Kaihoura and swimming with the nicest dolphins I've ever happened to have met, I traveled around Abel Tasman National Park for 2 nights. I met some great people from Dublin County, Peter and his sister Sue, who I've been traveling around with since on the Stray Bus.

Unfortunately we arose too late for the sea Kayaking (I blame the Irish I'm traveling with!) and instead hired out mountain bikes for the day. We climbed 1500 meters before plummeting down over mountain bike trails through the National Park at high speed. We arrived at a beach with 'split apple rock', a huge rock that looks like an apple, split open!

We immediately jumped in and swam out for some photos, little knowing that there had been a rare sighting of a Great White in the area a few days before! Ignorance is bliss!

We finished the day by joining the others for a barbie and drinks by the camp fire, making many new friends also on the bus tour. The age group on the bus ranges from 18 to 45, with a very diverse range of nationalities, evenly mixed, so it makes for a very friendly atmosphere without one age group, demographic or nationality dominating.

After Abel Tasman, we headed down to a tiny village called Barrytown. However, the whole of the west coast of the south Island only contains 30,000 people, so it may be viewed as very large by NZ standards! Here, it was time for an overnight stop, and a fancy dress party! I chose carefully- going for a pimp outfit, complete with staff which was also a prop in the film 'Lord of the Rings' - Gandalf's staff! It was a great night, and everybody got into the spirit of it, from the youngest to the eldest (including the 32 year old pimp!)

The next day we were off again, this time to Franz Josef, another small town near some dramatic mountains and a glacier. After an early night (we all need one sometimes!), we headed off for a fill day trekking of the Franz Josef Glacier one of only 2 in the world to finish next to a tropical rain forest at the base! It was a hot day and surreal to be standing on 150m thick ice in shorts and a t-shirt! It was pretty dangerous in places and all of my fitness was needed (!) to scale up over peaks and crevasses, some over 60m deep. the weather was beautiful, with waterfalls coming off the valley hills, and a deep blue sky. I managed to fall twice leaving a couple of cuts on my arms and legs, but nothing to write home about! If anyone else plans to walk on a glacier, beware- ice is sharp! One of another party, however, managed to dislocate her arm and had to be airlifted off the glacier- a helipad was quickly carved out of the glacier by our guides, and we all watched as the unfortunate girl was rescued to what I'm sure would be a great view- if it wasn't so painful!

Taupo, New Zealand - A Sad Loss

2008-03-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Taupo to the sad news of a backpaker's murder the day before in the town. Her name was Karen Aim. She was a young Scottish tourist who was on a working holiday over here. Many people here knew her personally and are extremely distraught.

It appears she was attacked on her way home from a night out. This is something totally unexpected in New Zealand, even more so in a town like Taupo, a laid back tourist town of 30,000 people. It is hard to think, even in a place as safe as New Zealand, a country of such beauty, in terms of both its landscape and people, evil like this exists. My thoughts are with her family and friends.