Around the World with Chris & Zaida

Whoops.....only 9 months late! We forgot to post this entry so here is VEGAS!

2006-03-30T17:13:21+02:00

Erm........well this FINAL entry is 9 months late in the posting as we ' hit the ground running' on our return the London and just never got round to editing it having written the bare bones way back in March 2006. So for the sake of ‘good order' .....here it is....

VEGAS!

We packed up our masses of snowboard gear, jumped in a HUGE hired 4x4 and barreled down the mountain into the desert to Carson City and onto Reno. Absolutely nothing to report on these two places - Carson City - capital of the state of Nevada and has nothing going for it as far as we can tell. Reno, much the same only notable thing is its fame for pylon racing - now that’s not electricity pylons racing round and round a giant circuit..... Its old war birds (spitfires and the like) racing at low altitude around a circuit made up of pylons. Quite spectacular methinks. None of this was happening as we passed through and all very dull.

One thing we did notice is the huge amount of slot machines there are in Nevada. They are everywhere!! Including the airports. Bling ching ching. "wheel of fortune"....rah rah rah.

Flight was a non event, had tons of luggage and as a result had to pay excess -boo! Arrived at Vegas on time, caught the bus transfer form the airport which was seriously busy! Then off the meet Alison!

Arrived at the Flamingo which is situated smack bang in the centre of the strip amongst all the hustle and bustle. Met Alison who was very pleased to see us (and vice versa)! Sat down to plan our Vegas extravaganza!!

First night had a great Italian meal then sleep. Nice to finally have some choice in the restraunt department after eating at the same three or four places for 3 weeks in Tahoe! Next day off we went doing some exploring, shopping in the huge malls which form part of the hotels. The best and most comprehensive being at Caesars place, the Venetian and also the fashion mall which is opposite the brand new Wynn hotel (most expensive hotel ever constructed at 2Bn dollars!! What!?). That evening we went see 'Cirque du Solei' for the second time on our trip, this time to see the 'Mystere' show at the Treasure island hotel - this was Awesome, truly spectacular and to be fair wiped the floor with Circ du Solei we saw in Hong Kong. We think this is because of the extra production available to a static show in a big theatre as opposed to a touring show held in a big top. If you get a chance to see this show anywhere do it, it's amazing!

Leaving the show we had some drinks then food and a little go on those bling chinging slots.

Next day more shopping and a walk down to the Stratosphere for lunch although unfortunately no tables were available. That evening (Mothers Sunday) we had another fantastic meal, this time in the Paris Eiffel tower restraunt which sits opposite the Belagio hotel and gives great views of the famous water fountains that errupt every 15 minutes. Brilliant backdrop to a very tasty meal. Again, we can heartily recommend doing this one if you ever visit. Later on that evening we played Roulette for about two hours - time really flies in the casinos, we would have stayed longer if it wasn't for some American hick going on and on and on about loosing his money and arguing with the croupier about it. He became soooooo boring in the end we had to leave the table. Not before Alison had tripled her money! We lost a grand total of 4 dollars - when you chuck in the free drinks the casino ply you with at the tables we were quids in!! OK so were not exactly high rollers but who cares - $4 for a night out fantastic value!

Next morning was a bleary eyed early start for us as we were booked on a very early morning helicopter flight out to the Grand Canyon for a champagne breakfast. Woooooo! Now this is fun! Taking off from McCarran airfield and then flying out over the dessert first to buzz past the Hoover dam then onto the canyon itself, zipping trough a section of it before landing at its base. Very exhilarating and the 45 minute flight each way was a great experience. Zaida wasn’t nervous at all, so relaxed that she even fell asleep in the helicopter on our way back to Vegas. The last section of the flight was directly down the strip and although it wasn't dark it was still spectacular.

Later that day it was a last chance for some shopping!!!!!! Chris ducked out and went for a lay down and accidentally ended up sitting in the bar for 3 hours - oops! Thing is if you play the machines at the bar (yup there are fruit machines and poker machines set into the bar top) they give you FREE beer (rejoice -it exists!!) OK it's not free really because you pump dollar bills into those machines at a fair old rate but for a while it seemed that way.

Our last evening meal in Vegas and in fact of the whole trip was spent in the Stratosphere restaurant which has fittingly spectacular views. The restaurant revolves to give you the 360 degree vista, much the same as the revolving restaurant those with good memories will remember we visited in Delhi. This one was different in that you could actually see out of the windows and the food was excellent! Vegas at night is truly awesome and it was a perfect way to spend the last night of our honeymoon!

So that’s it then, job done. Just over 6 months we have experienced the 'culture' of India, high altitude challenges of Nepal, crazy backpacker trails of Thailand, stepped back in time though Laos, the temples and culture of Cambodia, the colour of Vietnam, the train in China, shopping and nightlife of Hong Kong and Singapore, festive Aussie fun in Australia, loads of sheep in NZ, lying on beaches in the Cooks and Fiji, Loads of snow and burgers in the US of course, mixed in with a little Gambling......

Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to read this blog and share our experiences. We had a ball, and if you had a fraction of the fun reading this blog as we did writing it then I guess its happy days!!

The next stop is the last stop - LONDON - where this waffle terminates. All change please........and mind that gap.

C & Z.

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Snowy Mountains of Lake Tahoe.

2006-03-17T00:54:35+01:00

Sorry to anyone who finds snow or snowboarding incredibly boring, just to warn you - we go on, and on, and on about the snow in this one, hope you find it amusing all the same! Prizes to those who correctly send in the number of times the word 'snow' is mentioned in this post

After the beautiful snowy drive up to Lake Tahoe we checked into our motel directly opposite the gondola - Quality! We arrived 3 days earlier than we originally planned so that means a full 3 weeks on the slopes, yup! That's 3 weeks folks - the longest snowboarding holiday we have ever had!

The Heavenly village sits on the California/Nevada border and although a huge ski area, the town is quite sleepy. One thing you notice is the four massive casino hotels sitting just across the stateline in Nevada. Here you can gamble 24 hours a day as well as eat and drink all night.

Our first day on the mountain was quite chilled; we didn't want to go too crazy as we hadn't been boarding for a year. Even so, Zaida was linking turns just like last year on the very first run, which was a relief. She took a guided lesson in the afternoon to get her back into the swing of things and actually ended up being top of the class ;o) This gave Chris a chance to explore the mountain a bit and suss out the best places to board for the next couple of days. Due to the low cloud cover when we arrived we still hadn't got a good idea of the area or views, as visibility was pretty poor.

The main gondola lift takes you to an elevation of 10,000 feet and on a clear day you have fantastic views of the lake on the Californian side and the desert on the Nevada side. It wasn't until the 2nd day that the skies cleared and we saw the amazing vista in front of the backdrop of snowy mountains. It really is a sight to be seen and must be the best resort we have been to for views.

In addition to the fantastic landscape there are plenty of options for all levels of skiers/borders here. Loads of wide cruisey blues, plenty of steep blacks and no end of perfectly spaced trees to ride between. That coupled with the phenomenal amount of snowfall here means plenty of good riding. In fact we reckon that 3 out of 4 days spent here have been powder days! Unbelievable Amazing!! Fantastic!!! .....Ahhhh where was I?? Ah yes....

We arrived on a weekend in Tahoe and nothing prepared us for how busy it would get with people coming from the surrounding areas to take advantage of the recent snow dump (oh the joys of living near a mountain, lucky people). The resort had over 17,000 people visit that day, and believe us that is a lot of people trying to get down a slope. Although the 'Après Ski' is a bit average, we have been managing - just! One definite problem is finding somewhere to eat at the weekends - this place gets mobbed and there just aren't enough tables to go around. Our first Saturday we couldn't get a table anywhere and went hungry - only made that mistake once!!

After the rather traumatic Saturday snow rush we had a chilled day as we had to move hotels (bit of a pain as we now have loads of bags). Our new hotel was 'The Block'- the world’s first snowboarder hotel! We had both been really looking forward to staying here, it sounds great on paper and they have a very slick website, unfortunately the reality is that the block is a rather tired old motel albeit with flat panel TVs and playstations in the rooms. Being greeted with a "Sup duude" instead of "Morning sir" by the staff is all very well but after staying there three days and having the heating fail 4 times and waking up to no hot water on two consecutive mornings we decided to cut our losses and move, this time to a much nicer (and cheaper!) motel about 10 minutes walk from the gondola, just far enough to warm those legs up in the morning!

After a couple of days on the mountain and deciding that Zaida had improved on her board we went shopping for Zaida's very own snowboard, we ended up with a wicked girlie Nidecker board with a misprint (which made it a bargain). The rest of that afternoon Chris was busy setting up Zaida's board in the hotel room when there was a knock on our door. Chris got the biggest surprise when he opened the door to the one and only Darren Read ('Pikey Read' in some circles 'Dogger Read' in others and historically known as 'The NOID') was stood there with his buddy Andrew. Zaida and Darren had been planning this surprise for months, and considering her lack of ability to keep secrets she did pretty well. Chris was so surprised he was literally lost for words and quite freaked out for a couple of minutes!! Not only were Darren and Andrew in town but we also found out that Will Duke (a friend from London) was DJ-ing in Tahoe for the whole of March, and in our second week Jody and Claude were here so we now had a little posse - home from home, 'Après Ski' issues solved, ta-daaaaa!

Poor Darren bore the brunt of everyone’s humor for gate crashing someone else’s honeymoon, Darren - we'll get you back someday....No seriously it was great having you here!

After our first weekend getting our snowboarding legs back, Zaida booked herself into a 3-day ladies only snowboard school. She was the only woman signed up so had 1-on-1 tuition the entire 3 days which was a right result. The instructor really pushed her and she has now proudly ridden through the trees and even been down diamond black runs! With Zaida in school for 3 days it was a perfect opportunity for Chris to 'rip it up' with the boys!! Seriously, Chris has never seen snow like it. Unbelievable blah blah.... sorry I said that already. Anyways - big fun was had by all!

After a few days in Tahoe listening to all the locals raving about the conditions it was apparent they were unseasonably excellent, one newspaper headline stating some of the best seen in 5 years. A really huge storm hit during our 2nd week and Chris and Darren were out riding in it, wicked fun! It was snowing so hard that by the time you had made one fresh track run and ridden back up on the chairlift the tracks you left had been filled back in and it was fresh tracks all over again. I know it sounds like exaggeration but it's not. Seriously. The following morning there was 3 to 5 feet of fresh powder depending on location! We have never seen so much snow, which meant powder conditions even on the main slopes. When Zaida fell over you couldn't even see her it was so deep!

Darren and Andrew were due to leave literally the day after the big dump of snow and after a few phone calls to airlines and hotels Darren canceled his flight to Vail in favour of staying in Tahoe with us for a few more days. A wise and quite 'un-pikey-like' decision Pikey Read!

After purchasing some new 'rad' snowboarding gear to go with Zaida's gnarly board, new extreme tree riding by Zaida was achieved -it's amazing what a bit of shopping does for girls! By then end of the holiday the goal to keep up with Chris has almost been achieved, provided he doesn't step on the gas too much.

So there you go... slide, slide, slippidy, slide forgot about our worries and our 9-to-5's. Snow, snow, blah, blah sorry if ya found this one boring but we had awesome fun ripping it up dude.

Next stop Vegas!!

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Los Angeles, San Francisco and all that lies in between.

2006-03-11T21:30:29+01:00

After the final delayed flight with Air New Zealand (yay!) we landed at Los Angeles, having traversed the Pacific and crossing the International Date Line for the third time meaning we arrived before we left - very confusing. Our adventure began by realising that we hadn't perhaps prepared ourselves that well for America and had no guide book to help us (you really feel naked without one after a while). So after a little tour of the airport to try and find a helpful tourist info point (no such luck), we jumped on the bus to collect our hire car and then find a bookstore.

After the standard jet lagged cock up of forgetting your prepaid voucher at the car rental office, we drove off not really knowing where we were going - not a great idea in LA! After a couple of hours we got our bearings and decided to head for Hollywood where we booked ourselves into a cheapo motel on the slightly dodgy end of Sunset Boulevard (next to a strip club). We were so exhausted that we didn't do much on our first night, managing only to take a quick drive up and down the strip to take in the sights and sounds of Hollywood.

Next day after a leisurely start we spent the afternoon sitting in a LA cafe people watching and listening to people having LA conversations - hilarious! This friend is in rehab, that friend is having cosmetic surgery...blah blah. People here are so caught up in the whole celebrity ambience they all start behaving as though they are famous. Very funny to listen in and it was easy to spend the entire day gawking at the botox and hair dye strutting up and down Sunset Boulevard!

The next day we took a stroll up to the Hollywood Hills and also went for a spot of shopping, finally ending up in the famous El Capitan cinema. Well we thought you can't go to Hollywood without seeing a film can you? Our choice was 8 below which was pretty good, and made Zaida cry (such a girl). While we were there the Oscars were being set up and there were seating stands being erected along Hollywood Boulevard. No red carpets yet but it looked like a huge operation. They take this stuff so seriously don’t they?!?! We were planning on going clubbing that night but after a chat with a shop assistant decided that we wouldn't be glam enough, especially after she recommended that Zaida should 'really' dress up and then try and sneak Chris in. No trainers or 't' shirts here, strictly Gucci and Prada.

After a couple of nights soaking in the glitz and glam of Hollywood we drove around the famous 'home to the stars' - Beverly Hills and Bell Air. In our guide book it recommended a star spotting drive to various actors homes, we kinda thought it would be odd sitting outside peoples homes so didn't do that but took a nice drive through the area before hitting the shops on Rodeo Drive. We took a wander through the shops of Beverly Hills, only window-shopping as the designer stores and travelers budget don't exactly go hand-in-hand. We tried to get an 'al fresco' seat at a cool cafe for some more people watching but it seemed that everyone else had the same idea, or perhaps they wanted to be seen instead. We ended up in what appeared to be the most popular Italian restaurant in town, still no celebrities spotted but lots of wannabes. After leaving the restaurant we finally saw our first star, if you can call him that - remember the head teacher in Ferris Bulers Day off? Well it was him whatever his name is. He definitely wanted to be seen as he was cruising around in a vintage open top Jaguar. Does this mean he is officially a 'has been'?

After growing tired of being surrounded by millions of dollars and feeling like such tourists we headed for Santa Monica to keep it real and mingle amongst some normal people. Santa Monica is a really nice town on a huge beach where they filmed Baywatch. They have a huge park along the sea front, which is great for promenading at sunset and a pier, which is very much like the pier in Brighton. It even has the same magnetism to pikeys, vagrants and cheeky street performers - all good fun. They also had a restaurant called 'Bubba Gump Shrimp' which Zaida thought existed before the movie Forrest Gump(bless).

After our walk along the pier we noticed a huge stack of shipping crates in the car park with people queuing outside. We went over to check it out and realised that it was a photographic art exhibition called 'Ashes and Snow' by Gregory Colbert. There have been posters all around LA advertising it and we finally clicked it was linked to this. We went in to check out what all the fuss was about and it was pretty cool, we are sure the exhibition will come to London at some point so you must check it when it does. Anyway that was our bit of culture for the day ;o)

We stayed in Santa Monica that evening; the place has a really nice vibe about it with shops open until late and some cool restaurants and bars. Some of the pedestrian streets reminded us of Covent Garden as they had loads of performers (including a Physic cat, hilarious) and lots of people milling around - definitely a cool place to hang out!

We managed to see what we considered to be the main attractions in Los Angeles but couldn't do it all, well you can't in just a couple of days, its HUGE. It's a funny sort of place where celebrity is everything and if you don't care much about that sort of thing I guess you just won't get it; it was wicked fun all the same. With that in mind we decided to drive up the coast and head for San Francisco.

We initially intended to take one week driving up the West Coast to San Francisco and then onto Tahoe, but by this time Chris was getting seriously itchy feet knowing that our snowboarding equipment had already arrived in lake Tahoe and that there was loads of snow. In the end the snow proved too much of a distraction and it was decided to cut short our tour of the coast and rush to the Mountains. Thing is there isn't that much to see in winter on the drive, the coastline is beautiful but not worth spending days shivering by the shoreline. Shivering on the top of a mountain is of course perfectly reasonable

Our first stop on the drive was Malibu Beach, which is still awesome in winter although very deserted. We did see some lifeguards hanging out in their yellow 4x4's and had to make a quick U-turn to go back and get a photo. Just like Baywatch, except less scantily clad women and muscle men bouncing around. Zaida did the Baywatch slow motion jog (fully clothed) to try and recreate the scene.

After our brief stop at the beach we headed to Santa Barbara. Driving along the highway it wasn't particularly obvious when we actually reached Santa Barbara so we ended up driving around until we reached the town which was really nice. We stopped for coffee and cake in the awesome bakery and chilled in the afternoon winter sunshine before deciding to make the most of the day and get some miles under the wheels driving 250 miles up to Pebble beach and the Monterey Peninsular which is a couple of hours drive south of San Francisco.

After spending a brief night in a random motel we took the scenic drive through their Monterey National Park, we jumped out of the car for quick walks along windy beaches and great look out points on the coast. In the national park there has a fantastic member only golf course where the US open has been played 4 times, people that live and play golf here are obviously wedged!

We left Monterey rather windswept and headed for San Francisco that afternoon, breaking into song 'with do you know the way to San Jose, lalalala' every now and then. We have been really looking forward to getting to San Francisco as we have heard such fantastic things about it, and like most people who come here we also fell in love with the place and think it might by our favourite American city (as well as New York of course). It has a very relaxed feel about the place, the people are friendly and sociable which is cool for a big city.

We found ourselves a nice, good value motel in the posh Nob Hill area that was a great central location for exploring Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown and the Downtown areas. On our first day exploring the city we rode the cable cars and trams around the steep hills of San Fran, unlike other American towns we completely understand why people don't walk as the hills are killers and almost vertical in some places. The streets look like the ones you get in car chase movies (see 'Bullitt' staring Steve McQueen for the best example) where you see cars literally taking off over steep intersections.

We took full advantage of the seafood on offer in the Fisherman’s Warf area and had the popular Dungeness crab at Joes Crab Shack (lush). The clam chowder in the bread bowls is a real delicacy in SF, we didn't manage to try this dish but it looks wicked! We did however sample some good local beers and San Francisco’s take on an Irish coffee, which certainly warmed us up! Fisherman’s Wharf has a fishing village atmosphere which still has some of its original charm with old boats permanently docked in the harbour and warehouse style buildings. As well as the boats there are hundreds of very smelly and noisy seal lions perched on pontoons. It really was a sight to be seen and loads of fun watching them lounging around, playing, grunting and barking at one another. After ten minutes the smell became too much (they really stink!) so we took a tour around Alcatraz which was really interesting. We loved hearing the stories of what went on in the prison, kind of like being on the set of the movie whilst visualising all the action. If you are ever in SF go take a look.

On our last day in the city we wanted to make sure we took in as much of San Francisco as possible so we decided to take a 49-mile scenic drive which takes you to various famous locations around the city. The best being awesome views of the golden gate bridge, golden gate park and what has to be the widest and longest beach we have seen. It was great fun, but you really had to be on the ball as the signs would often disappear resulting in loads of wrong turns. We didn't end up actually completing the 49 mile drive as we got so lost and it was getting dark, so we kind of made the rest up as we went along and ended picking the trail up again when we reached Chinatown where we decided enough of the tourist stuff and went for a slap up Chinese meal in a restaurant with fantastic views of the city.

Before leaving SF we drove over the Bay Bridge into Berkley to meet up with Chris's cousin Julian and his wife Jessica for a wicked breakfast. It was really nice to see them both and we wish we could have stayed longer but the drive to Lake Tahoe beckoned and the weather was closing in. On our way to the mountains all the weather reports were advising to only attempt the drive over the pass with snow chains or a 4x4, as we had none of these it meant a detour to Sacramento so we could swap our little toy car for a more capable vehicle. To Zaida's joy we got a brand spanking new V8 Jeep, which she drove smiling all the way up the mountains through the snow storm.

We were absolutely over the moon that we were arriving in Tahoe when there are perfect conditions on the mountain. Three weeks on the mountain with tonnes of snow - what more could we ask for!!!

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Pacific Islands - Rarotonga & Fiji

2006-02-18T01:51:02+01:00

Ah ha! Top prizes to all those who noticed the notes we had written to jog our memory when writing the Cooks and Fiji entry were - due to a little finger trouble, published for all to see! Bugger. Ah well, below is the finished article, as finished as it will ever be anyways.

Right, this one should be nice and short as we didn't do a whole bunch on Raratonga in the Cook Islands and achieved even less in Fiji. A proper holiday. After arriving at Raratonga international airport which is unsurprisingly tiny, we collected our baggage then went out to meet our pickup. Whilst waiting in the queue for immigration we were entertained by a little local guy playing calypso and singing which was cute - methinks he was a little worse for the local moonshine! Most of the other passengers were met by their accommodation reps who gave them tropical island flower necklaces which was a nice touch. Our driver however was a grumpy large local woman, who didn't come bearing flowers, wasn't into the island welcome thing and blatantly wished she was somewhere else! Never mind, this is backpacker hospitality. After a short drive we arrived at our accommodation which is just about on the beach and beside the beautiful lagoon about 3 feet deep that stretches all the way out to the reef about 1/2 a mile away. This lagoon encircles the entire island and as a result there is plenty of great snorkeling.

After spending the first day worrying if the rain would ever let up we were finally blessed with some decent weather (i.e. not rain!). To celebrate we booked ourselves on the Raro Safari tour which is a pretty good way to explore the island, it's not that big with only one road all the way around and you could drive the full circuit in less than an hour. Bundled in the back of a land rover we were driven to various highlights, the first major attraction being the sewage treatment plant (what?!) then onto a vantage point giving a birds eye view of the prison..... Hmmm, the guide seemed keen to show us these, finally we moved onto the more traditional sightseeing fodder of historical cultural sites and look out points with great views of the island. All the way round the driver kept stopping and telling us to reach up to pick the various fruit growing on the trees beside the road - scrumping is what we used to call it! It was amazing the variety of different fruit and veg we saw - and pinched! Finally we arrived at the tour depot (more like a lean to/hut) and were cooked a fantastic BBQ - the whole thing was a great day out and the guides were great even if there choice of highlights was a little leftfield!

The next two days we were virtually confined to barracks because of the rain. This gave us a chance to catch up on our reading, also to try to think of something to occupy us for the rest of our stay should the weather not change.... In the end we decided to do our PADI open water diving certificate, not because we wanted to do it that much but more because a) it was cheap, and b) it would give us something to do for 2 or three days and it really doesn’t make any difference if it's raining when you are 10 meters below the surface! Luckily on the first day of the course the weather improved significantly so there we were stuck in a classroom when the sun was shining! Nuts. After two days of hard graft in and out of the water both of us had pretty much had enough of it! This wasn't helped by the rolling seas that meant as soon as you got on the boat after a dive you got to feeling pretty seasick! That coupled with the 'I'm a dive master don’t you know' attitude of the dive centre staff was giving us the hump so we decided to take a day off - this is supposed to be fun isn't it? To cut a long and quite possibly boring story short - we are now qualified PADI open water divers but so sick of diving we probably won't actually use the qualification for a while! The whole thing did however solve the problem of what the hell to do for 8 days on a rainy tropical island!

During our stay Valentines Day came around and to treat ourselves we booked into reputedly the best restaurant on the island! Apparently just a short walk down the road, the restaurant forms part of a new resort. So off we set in good time just before dusk wearing our best 'going out to dinner' travelers gear. Now; on a cloudy night on a remote island that only has a casual attitude towards streetlighting it gets very dark, so dark in fact you can't see the road you are trying to walk along. Not deterred by the sudden and almost total absence of light coupled with the steady rain that, joy of joys, had now started to fall we walked on....and on....and on looking for a damn sign to the restaurant. Funny ha ha, apparently this new resort had neglected to advertise itself to passing traffic, and as a result we overshot by a mile. Realizing our mistake after walking around in the dark for 45 minutes and asking for directions we finally arrived soaked and muddy. On the plus side the meal was tasty, and the company good of course!

What with all the excitement of our crash diving course and impromptu glam night hiking, we opted to stay put for the last two days and relax by the beach. No great hardship and good practice for Fiji.

After another rotten flight on officially the worst airline of the trip 'Air New Zealand' - crap food, late again...ra ra ra, we arrived in Fiji, this time at 4am with no means of transportation to our accommodation until 8am. The cunning nightshift of tour sales people at the airport have caught onto this traveler’s dilemma and as a result we were sold a 3 night island stay on one of the Fijian island resorts that litter the area. Thing is, at 5am tired and hungry, the thought of an all inclusive no hassle stay with transfers included seems like a great idea! And it was. We even managed to get an upgrade - dorm price for a double room - bargain! No hassle, we were taken more or less straight there on a nice boat which cruises around several other islands first, so we had a little tour of the area too. We even passed the islands that were used for Castaway starring Tom Hanks and wait for it.... 'Celebrity Love Island' with a bunch of people we all wish we hadn't heard of.

On arrival we were greeted by the standard guitar playing locals and then at reception we were upgraded again - Reeesult! This time from our double room to a self contained beach bure, kind of like a little thatched cottage right on the beach. Very very nice – double bargain!

We really didn't do anything for 4 days, ate drank and layed on the beach. Perfect. What else is there to tell? Not much. There were mosquitos - big ones! Oh the weather was nice too.

So, that’s it for the beach then, between now and April its the American west coast winter with a little snowboarding and gambling thrown in for good measure!

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New Zealand - South Island

2006-01-31T05:24:13+01:00

Our journey into the heart of Middle Earth continued initially with a rather bumpy crossing on the Interislander ferry. We tried to take our minds off the heaving seas by watching The Cronicles of Narnia which kind of worked apart from the cinema having the distinct aroma of past breakfasts lost (if you get my meaning!). Still, it did give us the chance to spot some of the filming locations we were about to visit.

On the first day spent on the south island we hired some Kayaks at Kaiteriteri which is a popular beach resort in the Abel Tasman National Park. It was a very relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. Paddling slowly along the coast and tentatively nosing about the rocky coastline was great fun. Zaida was in the front of the Kayak whilst Chris sat in the back doing most of the paddling! The scenery was beautiful and although we didn't see any seals (boo) it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The weather was fantastic too! One thing we hadn't anticipated was the huge number of families staying in the area enjoying the end of the summer school break. Our campsite was overrun by children and we were literally surrounded by families with 3 or 4 kids apiece (don't these people have TV's at home?). It was far from relaxing. We lost count of the number of times footballs bounced off the camper. Pesky so and so's....

After sunning ourselves for a couple of days at Abel Tasman we hit the road and headed for the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers, stopping off at some awesome lakes along the way with stunning views of the mountains. The drive was breath-taking; every time you go round a corner you get a completely new perspective. We stopped at Franz Joseph first and walked right up to the terminal face of the glacier - which is tech speak for the crumbly end of it. There were plenty of warning signs not to go past the barriers - good job too as while we were admiring the icy facade a huge clump probably weighing several tons came tumbling down, amazing to think it had taken over a thousand years to make its way to the bottom. We then spent the night at Fox Glacier village which had awesome views of the mountains from our campsite and no pesky kids...which was nice.

Surrounding the glaciers are Fiord lands which are basically deep and very steep sided valleys carved out by glaciers over hundreds of thousands of years. Since the end of the last ice age the glaciers have retreated and left some rather large and spectacular lakes. We took a stroll around Lake Matheson which is now several kilometers from the Fox glacier that carved it, it was a perfecly clear day and the weather was beautiful - well worth the effort. This is one of the iconic kiwi photo opertunities and is apparently the most photographed spot in New Zealand. How on earth you can know that is anyones guess but there you go. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get 'the' photo of the mountains reflecting in the still water. You have to get up pretty early to get that one, and after 5 months at leasure early rising just doesn't happen. Never mind.

Some of the journeys through the mountains are pretty long but never boring with the fantastic scenery and the bluest rivers we have ever seen. This intense blue colour is because of all the minerals and rock sediment suspended in the glacial melt water refered to as glacial milk. Because of refraction the water then looks amazingly blue - so there you go. Whatever the science they are crazy features of the landscape. The rivers are flowing pretty fast too and it's scary to think that the glaciers are melting so quickly, even so they will be around for a few hundred years (go see em while you can). Continuing our journey south we traversed the trecherous Haast Pass, not so scary in the summer but we imagine it would be pretty hairy in the winter months. There were various waterfalls along the way and we even had time for a brief stop at the Fantail waterfall for a paddle.

Still heading south we passed through lake Wanaka town and on past the huge Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown sitting on it's edge. For those of you who don't know about Queenstown it is the self proclaimed adrenaline junkie capital of the world (Wicked!). Nestled in a glacial valley next to lake Wakatipu this year round playground had pretty much every conceivable extreme sport available including some we had never hear of! In the winter months there is wintersports in the mountains and in the summer the beautiful lake provides plenty of options for mucking about in boats, wakeboarding and waterskiing. Year round you can go bungy jumping, canyon swinging, skydiving, hang gliding, paragliding, jet boating, Downhill Mountain biking, etc etc. This place could bankrupt you in a couple of weeks so we decided to only stay 2 days....which of course turned into 4!!!

Take a look at the photos below for a taste of what we go up to. First up it was jet boating on the famous Shotover Jet (wicked!), then a quad biking safari up into the mountains to enjoy the view. After that it was Fly by Wire (absolutely barking! click 'here' for more info), followed by a bit of lugeing and then paragliding. Phew! After all that we had to leave as the buzz was getting addictive!

Our favorite drive on the whole trip has to be the road to Milford Sound. It's got it all. A crazy tunnel, steep hills, twisty roads and of course those incredible views. You would think that with the consistently stunning scenery it's easy to start taking it for granted but the views are so varied you somehow don't. After driving through the single lane rough cut tunnel that barely seemed large enough to accomodate our camper complete with water running from cracks in the ceiling to form little rivers running down each side, we arrived in the sounds. After a further half an hour of particularly alpine-esqe driving winding down through switchback after switchback, we reached Milford Sounds. We stayed in what was apparently the only campsite in the area perched on the banks of a rocky bottomed river - a great setting, very relaxing with the water gurgling past and pretty entertaining too as we were kept company by Kea birds. These are very large green parrots that are pretty inquisitive as well as bold! David Attenborough says they may be the cleverest birds on the planet and you can believe it when they look at you. After the Kea's grew bored of us it was off to the only pub in town which was predictably chilled before walking back which was very nice if a little scary. When it's dark its really really dark here, especially if you forget your torch. Ever the townies.

The next morning we were up early for our cruise around the Sound. The huge mountains rising out of the ocean are spectacular and even the dreary start to the day added a certain atmosphere. We didn't realise but Milford Sound is perhaps the wettest place in NZ recieving a massive 9 metes of rainfall a year and getting rain on 2 out of every 3 days! On the cruise we passed over the fault line that marks the boundry of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates - clearly visible as massive cracks in the mountains. Our boat driver also passed under the falls that cascade down the mountain and we finally spotted some seals although they weren't doing a great deal, just lazing about on the rocks - what a life!

After our time in the Sounds we got back on the road stopping briefly to look at a chasm along the way which is this fast flowing river running through big bolder rocks then dropping deep underground. The power of the water overtime has carved holes through the rock to create something like a modern art piece from the Tate.

All the rivers and lakes we have passed on our travels have looked very inviting but we had yet to stop anywhere for a swim. Eventually we managed to brave the icey cold waters and went for a dip in Lake Manapouri. We had the place to ourselves!

Our visit to the Catlins was a bit of a wildlife adventure with the hope of seeing all sorts of creatures in their natural habitat. We did manage to spot some large sea-lions on the beach at Cannibal Bay looking like they had just eaten one of their own. We then went to Nuggets point, which is the southern most point we will visit on our trip in the hope of seeing some Penguins; we didn't spot any but got yet another amazing view, this time out onto the famous nuggets of rock pointing into the South Pacific Ocean.

Dunedin was a bit of a non-event as it was a public holiday. Even most of the pubs were closed, I mean come on that's what public holidays were invented for surely!? Who knows what the Kiwi's do on these days. The main thing we wanted to do in Dunedin(well Zaida actually) was visit the Cadbury’s chocolate factory, we couldn't do this either (closed on public holidays - sorry) so we decided to move on. Rubbish.

On the road again then, heading inland this time to get a final look at the snow capped mountains of Mount Cook from the eastern side. On our way we passed Lake Pukaki which has to be the bluest lake we have ever seen, the rivers on the west coast were amazing but this was even better and the view across the lake at Mount Cook was perfect.

Lake Tekapo was the last place we visited before heading to Christchurch. We found a great campsite right on the lake with breathtaking views all around and in the morning we hired some mountain bikes and went for a bit of an explore. No extreme mountain biking though just some leasurely cycling.

So here we are, our last stop in New Zealand - Christchurch. Compared by some to Oxford and other traditional English/Scotish towns, with the historic tram (great way to sightsee if it's raining - and it has been - alot), old buildings, punting on the river and botanical gardens all giving it a distinctly British feel.

We only have a couple of days here most of which was spent in a great Belgium Beer cafe on the the river sinking hoegardens so not all time was wasted.

So thats it then, time to return our beloved home on wheels ;o) She - according to Zaida, it - according to Chris, has taken us on a 3,500 km journey around both islands in comfort and style(?). A tip for those who follow; you really don't need a big campervan - a basic one is just as good as all the campsites have really good facilities. If you are really brave tents are also an option. (yeah right!)

Our next stop on the grand tour is Raratonga in the Cook islands - really looking forward to that one as it means some serious beach time!

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New Zealand - North Island

2006-01-24T08:09:16+01:00

After an initial disaster involving a ' misunderstanding' with the camper van company we finally hit the road a day late. To cut a long story very short, the office was closed when we arrived so we spent the first night not in our rolling home but in a airport hotel (note to you all - if you come to NZ and hire a campervan don't use TUI Campers as their service is terrible! I could go on (and on) but I wont). However, every cloud has a silver lining and we did get upgraded to a monster five berth camper (good shower, fridge and joy oh joy a colour telly!). Finally sorted it was time for a few domestic chores - even a trip to the supermarket entails a certain novelty value when you haven't had to go to one for so long. So after stocking up on all the essential grocery items as well as a fair few luxuries and a couple of Yorkie bars for good measure, settled in mobile domestic bliss off we went on our quest for the ring my presiousnessessesseesss.......(sorry).

Departing Auckland then, with the aim to see as much of the northern most part of the north island we drove up the coast to Whangerai for our first night under fiberglass. After an early start and a quick run down to the beautiful waterfall next to our campsite it was back on the road and onto the Bay of Islands. We had intended to take a boat tour of the area but in the end we didn't bother owing to slightly dodgy weather and the fact that we had already taken a tour of Halong bay in Vietnam - another bay chock full of islands. The two are probably hugely different but with so much to see and so little time available the decision was to push on up the coast onto the Aupori peninsular and towards Cape Reigna. This is the northernmost part of NZ and the tip is where the Tasman Sea meets the South Pacific. Driving through the countryside is a hugely enjoyable experience, there is so much to look at as you travel. Its kind of like driving through the nicest parts of the west country but without the traffic and on a bigger scale, the further north we drove the quieter it became until on the peninsular itself we found other road users a real rarity. It's incredible the amount of space Kiwis have here! The people are very welcoming as well although you do get some real oddballs at campsites!

We stopped short of driving all the way to the top of the cape as it's just one road up and down and we wanted to avoid backtracking if at all possible. So after spending a night in a quiet campsite in Pukenui we started heading south. We stopped briefly at 90 mile beach (bit of an overstatement as its more like 90 kilometres long) Lingering here only long enough to do a little exploring in a dune buggy hired with strict instructions that it was not to be used on the sand dunes!? Zipping along the beach was great fun even when it started coughing and spluttering about a mile from where we had parked the van - eek!

Our route south took us through the Waipoua Kauri Forest. This national park and world heritage site is all that remains of what was once a huge Forest of Kauri trees. These trees are massive. The size of the trunks have to been seen to be believed and as usual our photos can't really convey their scale. We couldn't resist a little tree hugging, if you are going to hug a tree it might as well be a big one.

Our next stop was Auckland having driven a mini circuit of the Northland. One of the highlights of the trip has to be the Dolphin and Whale safari we went on departing from the Harbour. After claiming our backpacker discount (given to anyone wearing a backpack?!)we boarded our Catamaran and headed out into the open waters of the South Pacific. We cruised around for perhaps an hour or so before our skipper spotted a large group of Gannets circling over a small area or water about half a mile away. This was a sure sign of dolphin activity. The Gannets have a birds eye view (obviously!) of what is happening under the clear water. The dolphins round up schools of sardines who's natural defence when being hunted is to swarm into a ball and hope for the best. The dolphins then herd this ball until it is tightly packed before charging into it to gobble up as many fish as possible before it disperses. Meanwhile the birds continue to circle overhead until all of a sudden they start diving into the water from great height and carrying some serious speed to catch their fish. Hundreds of them disappear under water, then 30 seconds or so later they all pop up on the surface together. Awesome! As if that wasn't spectacular enough, every so often a huge whale surfaces in the middle of it all having charged through the ball of fish from below. In the 2 hours or so spent watching we must have seen over 100 dolphins hunting together in this organised way as well as at least 2 whales and countless of those circling gannets. Our guide explained that below all the action there are usually a few sharks lying in wait for any fish that dive deeper in a bid to escape the feeding frenzy. As well as all the hunting there were plenty of dolphins riding the bow waves and jumping out of the water alongside our boat. An absolutely incredible experience, all it needed was David Attenbourough hypnotically explaining away to complete the picture! On some safaris swimming with the dolphins is a possibility but due to slightly rough seas it was deemed too dangerous getting off and on the back of the boat. Pity as the dolphins seemed as interested in us as we in them!

Our next stop heading south was the Waitomo caves. Although we spent a reasonable amount of time exploring caves in Asia we really wanted to visit these ones as they are full of little glow worms! Once inside the guide takes you on a little boat ride and when you look up there are so many of the little glowing lights that it looks like the night sky, albeit with a slight green tinge. Definitely worth a visit!

New Zealand is actually a very active volcanic region sitting on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates. This is the reason for the extreme variation in the terrain. In addition the NZ Southern Alps range is the fastest growing mountain range in the world. Because of all this Volcanic activity there are a fair few hot springs and mud pools dotted around. The most famous is the Whakarewarewa (Rotorua) which is a particularly spectacular Geyser which erupts every half hour or so. This was also worth a visit although we didn't stay too long as all the Sulphur in the water stinks like rotten eggs, don't care how therapeutic it supposed to be!

After a brief visit to Havelock North in the Hawkes Bay area to visit my good friend Tim and his family (thanks for the free camping - good to see you buddy!), it was an early start for a bit of an epic drive over the Taihape pass. This spectacular 160km drive over the mountains is the most direct route from the eastern side of the island over to MT Egmont on the west coast although over 30kms is unsealed and pretty bumpy! Not a problem this time of year but in the winter it must be pretty hairy.

Reaching the west coast we planed to spend a couple of days touring the Egmont National Park area but typically the weather closed in and shrouded the main attraction Mt Taranaki from view. We did get one picture before that happened though (see below - a bit average!). Mt Taranaki, also known as Mt Egmont, is virtually a perfect cone shape much the same as Fiji in Japan, so much so that Mt Egmont was used as a stand in for Mount Fiji during the filming of 'The Last Samurai'.

So with our brief tour of the North Island nearly over we headed south towards Wellington to catch the inter-islander ferry to the south island. Due to unseasonal heavy rain we didn't do much in Wellington apart from sit in cafes but that was all good! Splitting the time 1 week in the north island and 2 in the south has meant rushing around a fair bit to try and see as much as possible. Both of us are now looking forward to a more relaxed pace on the south island for the next two weeks.

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OZ -Cairns, Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier Reef!

2006-01-16T09:17:28+01:00

As a swansong to OZ we had a fun packed and fairly hectic last few days spent in Northern Queensland "Crocodile country".

After checking into our backpacker resort - yes you hear correctly it's a proper resort (big pool with a gym and everything!), we then booked ourselves onto a 3 day trip up to Cape Tribulation. Cape Trib forms the costal part of what is left of the oldest rainforest in the world and it's both a national park as well as a world heritage site. In fact it's the only place on the planet where one world heritage site (the rainforest) touches another (the Great Barrier Reef). The drive up to the cape is amazing and true to the nature of the surroundings it rained all the way up there! Our driver kept commenting "This isn’t rain y'know. Not proper rain anyhow, it’s just spitting out there mate!" Hmmm, looked pretty torrential to us. So much so that it downed a tree across the only route into the area and it was all hands on deck to move it out of the way. Eventually some 'blokes with chainsaws' turned up and made short work of what was left. Either side of the winding road is dense rainforest, kinda reminded us of Jurassic Park, I for one was keeping my eyes open for Dinosaurs. Very nice. The road also crosses several Creeks which with a bit of persistent rain wash over the road and can cut off the tourists on the cape for days at a time (or so our guide said!). During the journey we left the bus for a little rainforest boardwalk although it was raining so hard it was all but impossible to fully appreciate the surroundings. At least it was warm rain and not the miserable stuff we get back at home. We then stopped for a short boat ride up the Daintree Crocodile infested river! Our boat driver Bruce (seriously!) managed to find a female Croc for us to photo as well and a few rare birds and plenty of Flying Foxes. These are bats but they are huuuuge with wingspans up to 2ft!

We finally reached our accommodation which was a lovely little resort with cabins and bungalows. All very posh and surounded by the forest so you get to meet plenty of wildlife! Later that afternoon we went 'Canopy Surfing' which is essentially swinging through the treetops a little like Tarzan only wearing more clothes. As we were the only two people there we had the benefit of some very informative chit chat from the guides (both biologists). Some of the platforms we leapt from were 20 meters above the forest floor attached to 1000 year old trees - quite unnerving and great fun!

After all the excitement we went on a guided night walk in the forest with possibly the most 'Australian' Australian we have ever met. The purpose of this little stroll was to spot 'Critters'. Now, I'm not sure what a Critter looks like but apparently it can take many forms, sometimes looking like a Lizard or maybe a frog or toad, other times like a rat or wallaby or bandicoot (a small Kangaroo). Anyway, we eventually came to the conclusion that the forest is absolutely teeming with critters of all shapes and sizes. Fancy that! Our guide did ask us at one point what direction we should walk to get back to the minibus and fingers were pointed in all sorts of directions. None correctly, which was a bit of a worry. Sooooo easy to get lost out there!

Next morning it was an early start for our day trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We were very lucky to be one of only 8 people on our dive boat that day - the boat usually carries anything up to 24 people so we were very well looked after! We were taken out to the Mackay reef where there is plenty to see. One thing to mention here - I (Chris) was bricking it as diving and even snorkelling scare the Bjesus out of me. This is because I stupidly tried using an Aqualung in Cuba with very little instruction and it.... well it freaked me out. Ever since then I have been unable to even snorkel. Hmmm, so I wasn't feeling too optimistic about my chances of plucking up enough courage to try again this trip. However, after swimming about with a snorkel for 30 mins (and loving it!) looking at the fish and coral, I comitted myself to dive. Zaida actually did a dive in Cuba so this was our first dive together. It was amazing, not nearly as terrifying as I expected. We both enjoyed it so much that we had another go in the afternoon. We may even do our PADI diving qualification in Fiji although equally we might not......Who knows.
During the day we tried to take lots of underwater photos with varying results, just proves how difficult it is to get a good picture of Nemo (Clown Fish), but we managed to get one in the end

So that was that. Back to Cairns we went, very happy with our little tour of the reef and Jungle. This left just 24 hours to go before flying to NZ and crazy campervan action!

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The Whitsundays

2006-01-16T07:58:44+01:00

So here it is. What we have both been waiting for - a sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands! We booked ourselves on a 2 day 2 night cruise when we were in Melbourne, our Christmas present to ourselves. At the time we thought booking ahead would be a good idea seeing how busy everything seems to be everywhere we go! However, we soon found that there was no need and could have probably got the same cruise for much cheaper :/ Oh well we were never very good at getting things at a bargain.

We spent the evening in Airlie Beach which is a really lovely town with great views of the ocean wherever you seem to be. There isn't a beach as such and it's also high season for box jellyfish or 'stingers' which give a pretty unplesant sting so we didn't mind not swimming too much. That said, it did look very inviting.

Being surrounded by such beautiful views of the sea we were tempted into a slap up meal at one of the better if not the best seafood restaurant in town (sea views and all that) and we went ahead and orderd the seafood platter. It was wicked, the best one we have ever had and it was huge. After our bellies were full of all the seafood you could imagine we rolled home and got ourselves ready for the big sail the next day.

Our boat wasn't due to leave until the afternoon so we were picked up in town and taken to the harbour where we boarded our home for the next couple of days the 'British Defender'. The boat is a Maxi yacht about 80ft long and can hold about 26 tourists when it is not racing. The boat was used to race in the Whitbread Round the World boatrace by the British combined forces in 1989 and it actually started its journey from the lovely Southampton (jo-pops you would be proud). They have spent loads of money on it since then and it was a pretty cool boat (Zaida speak for very nice yacht).

All the punters were in bunk beds that were ok-ish apart from hitting your head or various limbs on the boat in the middle of the night. The food was wicked and there was plenty of it which was nice. The people on the boat were all very chilled too, in fact no pissed up 18 year olds at all ;o)

The first afternoon sailing was wicked. We had all the sails out and were tearing along the water at a 45-degree angle for most of the way. It was apparently the best sailing the skipper had experienced in over 12 months so we were pretty lucky! After a hard days sailing we moored up in a really nice bay and watched the sun go down and later on did some star gazing. Later that evening the weather started to come in which meant it was far too windy on deck to sleep under the stars. (Shame).

The next morning the weather really had come in and there were big black gloomy clouds everywhere (boo!). Shortly before we were about to lift anchors and get on our way, this customs speedboat came out of nowhere and an official looking chap in a long coat and Mick Dundee's bush hat boarded our boat - luckily there was nothing dodgy onboard otherwise we would have been towed home. But the skipper did get told off for mooring the boat in the wrong place which meant we were there for ages until they finished all their appropriate paperwork - doh! Our skipper who was a moody bugger at the best of times had the hump big stylee so the rest of the day was a rude and obnoxious bugger to everyone - Aaaagghh lilly livered land lubbers...etc etc!

After the mornings dramas we headed over to Whitsunday Island and moored at Turtle bay - which true to it's nick name we same a few rather large turtles bobbing around. Chris got a nice picture of a turtles head. Whitsunday Island is home to the very famous Whitehaven beach that is made up of pure silica deposit which is the whitest fluffiest sand ever - almost like flour! There is this great lookout point several meters above the ocean which looks down onto the crazy sand formations and out to the ocean - it really is so beautiful (the pictures sort of capture it - shame about the clouds though). After the trek up there we went for a nice walk along the beach - we couldn't swim though because of the stingers. Mer.

We only spent a couple of hours on the beach as the weather wasn't too good and the wind was starting to get a little bit stronger (typical) so we were all ferried back to the boat for lunch. From the moment we lifted the anchor the boat was moving up and down so much it was pretty difficult to move around but lunch on the move continued. At one point this huge wave broke on the front of the boat and flowed in through the open hatches (all marked "keep closed whilst underway'). As a result the top deck and dining area got pretty wet which drowned at least half of lunch - well at least you didn't need to add salt after that. All the bobbing up and down made Zaida a wee bit seasick and she had to take some seasickness pills - bless! The turbulent seas were all a bit too much and the skipper managed to get us into some shelter between some islands where the seas were much calmer.

When we reached calmer waters the weather improved and the sun even cam out which meant we could go for some snorkelling as well as some snoozing in the sun on deck. Chris still wasn't too keen on the snorkelling thing and managed to loose his snorkel when faffing with his mask Numpty.

As it was our last night together, the crew on the boat managed to encourage everyone to participate in drinking games. Chris wasn't so foolish as to join in but Zaida did and ended up having to down a whole mug of Jack Daniels with very little coke in it - unlucky! Later on that evening the heavens opened and absolutely chucked it down - a storm whilst in the sea was quite cool and the lightening was spectacular. The rain must bring all the fish out as we spotted a dolphin hunting and watched her swimming around the boat for ages. Beautiful!

Our last morning on the boat was spent chilling on the deck of the boat reading books and sunning ourselves - perfect! We were back on land by midday and got straight in our little car and drove to Cairns - 7 hour drive here we come!

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Brisbane & the Sunshine Coast

2006-01-16T07:53:22+01:00

After a rather hectic time in Sydney, we packed our bags as well as packed in smoking and drinking for a full on new year detox ;o) So far no smoking but have slipped a few times on the booze. (Try not drinking on holiday - it's impossible!)

We flew to Brisbane where we picked up our hire car having decided not to do Greyhound buses. In the end they ended up more expensive than some of the flights we found so we opted for the car as you can get off the beaten track a little more.

We didn't hang around in Brisbane too long as we have been getting a little bored of cities and wanted to make a break for the beach or countryside as quickly as possible. Having the car was wicked! Instead of heading for the 'Gold Coast' (party town) we decided to head north to the 'Sunshine Coast' as partying wasn't exactly in the 'detox rule book'!

The drive was amazing - lots of long roads in the middle of big open spaces, plenty of farm land with the odd mountain here and there. Along the way we stopped at the Glasshouse Mountains which are amongst thousands of hectares of commercial forestland. The highest mountain was just over 500m which when you think about the trek in Nepal is nothing, but they still looked pretty big!

Our main goal was to reach Noosa by early morning so we could find ourselves some cool backpacker accommodation in town. Noosa is really nice beach town with a suave village feel. What we didn't realise that the entire east coast Australian population (well it felt like it) love to go to Noosa for their holidays - this meant that we were driving around for hours trying to find a decent bed for the night. Eventually we found this wicked place just out of town that was also a winery (bonus), it was really secluded and had a lush pool. We even got to cook our own meal that night too as they allowed us to use our BBQ - you may think we are a bit weird getting excited about cooking for ourselves but seriously when you have visited as many restaurants as we have it is a real novelty ;o)

The beaches on the sunshine coast are really nice and there are plenty of them so we managed to get some chill time on the beach along the way.

We only stayed in Noosa 1 night and then we turned around and started our journey back to Brisbane. On the drive back we passed through this cute little town called Maroochydore where there is a huge lake and river heading out to the ocean. We hired a little speed boat which was fun and cruised about for a while. We were given a map and instructsions on what markings to look for so you don't drive into shallow water - we forgot these a couple of times and found ourselves in really shallow water. Luckily we didn't ground the boat (much) and got back safely without being stuck on an island or drifting out to sea. It was fun messing around in boats for a while anyway ;o)

Our last night on the sunshine coast was in Caloundra which is a rather non-descript town but nice enough. We had great fish and chips and watched the sunset on the beach - nice!

So with no rest for the wicked we were back in Brisbane within a couple of days to catch a flight heading further north where we will pick up another boat - this time a proper sailing yacht - sweetie darling.

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Sydney - Scorcher!!!!!

2006-01-06T08:54:39+01:00

After lots of relaxing in Melbourne we were ready for the big party action of Sydney.

The day we arrived was spent strolling around taking it all in and visiting the Opera House as well as admiring the Harbour Bridge. Both are truly spectacular (as most of you know), but you can't really appreciate it until you are standing in front of them. In the daytime the Opera house does look like it could do with a good scrub though (sorry but it does!) Good job for some 'community service' boys and girls maybe?!

Being in Sydney we visited the famous Bondi Beach. Thankfully there were no riots. We met up with Hobbo and the boys 'babe' watched all day whilst we all soaked up some good Aussie sun! (plenty plenty sunblock!) That night we met up with Amanda Wiley and her absolutely awesome fella Joe for a few beers and some great Seafood in Woolloomooloo. After a really lovely evening we went off the rails a bit and ended up in a local Kings X club called Moulin Rouge, as well as a few dodgy strip clubs for a giggle (soooooo ropey, don't anyone bother).

NYE was perfect, we spent the evening sipping champagne in this gorgeous park on Elizabeth Bay watching the fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Amanda, Joe and Jackie. NYE in Australia was far less stressfull than at home so we could just sit back and enjoy the atmosphere. We didn't go too mad on NYE as we were saving ourselves for new years day... Quite right too.

OBVIOUSLY....the above picture doesn't do the fireworks justice. We're not even sure why it's there really..... They were fantastic though and we had the best vantage point well away from those pesky tourists!

The 1st day of 2006 was an absolute scorcher at over 45 degrees and we had tickets to Field Day (out door dance festival) - ouch! We arrived at about 3pm and found what little shade was left and sweated our arses off for a few hours drinking gallons of water. We couldn't actually start boogying until the sun started to go down - that was when it all really kicked off! The main stage was rammed and there was some amazing DJs rocking the place (wont bore you with the list) - everyone was really up for it. At one point a storm came over and they thought they would have to stop the festival for a short time due to high winds - luckily they never actually arrived so we partied until the end. As you can imagine we got up to all the usual outdoor event shinanigans minus the mud and dodgy portaloo disasters. It really was a fantastic day we even forgot about the ridiculous tempreatures (as well as almost everything else!) after a while.

Amanda & Joe thank you both so much for some great laughs and looking after us whilst we were in Sydney - you guys are legends ;o) We cant wait to see you again soon!

A lot of our time in Sydney was spent partying and recovering so we didn't get to do all the things we had planned, like go to Manly or do the Bridge Climb (closed because of setting up fireworks - not just us being lazy!!). Our time there was wicked and we can't wait to go back. Quality. In fact double strengh Ker-wality just for good measure!

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Melbourne - Merry Melo Christmas

2005-12-23T02:52:30+01:00

At last we have arrived in sunny Oz and how great it is to be here!

Melo picked us up from the airport and it was amazing to see each other again. She took us back to her place where we have properly made ourselves at home (thank you so much Melo and Kevin). It is unbelievable how much you actually miss a bedroom, lounge with sofa and TV, kitchen and bathroom - yes we mean a proper house! It really feels like we have come home to English living in suburbia. As we are so relaxed it has meant that most mornings we haven't been getting up till about 11am.

Our first few days in Melbourne were spent chilling and catching up with Mel and Kevin, which was perfect. It was great arriving on a weekend as it meant we could spend more time together. Mel took us to our first Aussie BBQ and we met some of her friends in the area who are all wicked! Sunday M & K took us to the Zoo to see some lovely Aussie creatures - so in love with Koalas! We arrived just in time giving us 2 hours to whiz around and see the highlights before it closed. We tried to get them to give us cheap tickets as the Zoo was nearly closing, they were not having any of it and we were told they had been open since 9am you know - ha!

After the Zoo we went for a drink at Federation square which is a controversial new entertainment and arts complex - you either love it or hate it. We thought it was quite cool so gets our vote. Much like the millennium dome it was a complete political disaster when built and ran hugely over buget - the difference here is that federation square is now a lively commercially successful area enjoyed by the public - not some derelict white elephant/financial black hole. (sigh...)

We explored they city by ourselves during the week when M & K were at work. We went to the viewpoint at the highest building in Melbourne (55th Floor), pottered around the city and then got a tram back to St Kilda (where M&K live). The great thing about Melbourne is that not only do you have the city about 30 minutes away but you also have the beach, and in our case its only 5 minutes away. It was a hard decision to make but after another late start, our morning was spent riding bikes along the beachfront and sun bathing. Beach time has been a long time coming!

After touring the highlights of Melbourne city and beach we hired a car for a little trip down the Great Ocean Road. Well, this was absolutely amazing and we had a great time with the roads and views virtually to ourselves, this is of course if you don't count the 6 billion very friendly flies that are constantly introducing themselves! Both of us felt, and probably looked alot like 'Pig Pen' from the Charlie Brown cartoons. We managed to find a villa last minute on the tinterweb in a place called Apollo Bay. The view from our balcony down onto the coastline and to the horizon in three directions was possibly the best we have had so far. Absolutely stunning! Zaida did most of the driving (although it was an automatic), which was good practice for New Zealand when we get the campervan. We visited the 12 apostles that now unfortunately number only 6 due to sea erosion; one of them only fell down quite recently. 12 or just 6 it's still a spectacular view with these large rocks jutting out of a really ferocious ocean (not somewhere you can surf or swim). We also went to the other rock formations along the coast line Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge & Bay of Islands - after the last one we were well an truly rocked out.

On the night before Christmas Eve we all went to see Phil K play at some cool down and dirty breaks club that was wicked (the breakbeat bitches would have loved it!!). This left us with rather sore heads on Christmas Eve, but we still managed to drag ourselves to the pub and have some nice tasty food - hard life!

Christmas day was spent with Mel's family the 'Italian Mob' - such a lovely family and boy can they cook! The canalone was seriously the best we have ever tasted (thanks Mel's grandma). The weather on the day was a little cold and overcast - a mere 22 degrees! Later that evening Kevin's Mum, Sister and their little dog, Brother & Babs (girlfriend) came over for yet more food and booze, oh and a few games. A very traditional Christmas all in all what with all the food and drink consumed, the only thing that was missing was our friends and family from home. Besides, Mel & Kevin made us family for the day.

Boxing Day we went to Melbourne Cricket Ground - the world famous MCG (Jamie you would be proud) to see the boxing day test match Australia Vs South Africa. It was the 1st day of the 2nd test so there wasn't a huge amount of action on the pitch, there was however plenty of action in the stands, especially in the 'fanatics section' where our seats happened to be. Unlike football matches people can drink in the stadium which lead to all sorts of raucous chanting such as 'Skull, skull, skull' every time someone bought a tray of beers, followed by 'you are a legend' or 'you are a wanker' depending on whether the poor person mange to neck the beer they were carrying. Definitely an experience! After our little picnic and watching some of the game we decided the Aussie hooligans were getting too much so left a little early to miss the crowds.

Whilst we were there we hooked up with Leigh Heywood (she sends her love to everyone) and Leigh Doyle (also sends her love) which was great. Still the same lady trashbags ;o)

Melbourne was full of great Christmas festivities - mainly drinking & eating. It was great to catch up with Mel, Kevin and both Leigh’s who made staying in Melbourne even more fun than if we had been on our own. Melbourne is a wicked city, a lot smaller and perhaps quieter than we had imagined, everybody seems to know everybody so it had that nice community feel to it. It was definitely a Christmas to remember (Thanks Melo)!

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Singapore - Short but Sweet

2005-12-23T02:28:57+01:00

Please click below for the full set of China pictures.
Singapore pics.

After all the problems with flights our time in Singapore was shortened to just 2 days. Even though we had a short time here we managed to do some really cool stuff and had a wicked time.

Firstly, huge thanks to Daryl who kindly invited us to stay at his apartment. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet up as he was in Shanghai. Daryl's flatmates were extremely nice and made us feel really at home despite Daryl not being there. We must say the place is amazing - we think perhaps the best location and view in the city!

When we arrived we had quick showers and went straight out to explore the city. We didn't need to go to far before settling at a place called Clarke Quay, which is a restaurant/bar/entertainment complex, which has recently, been renovated. There were plenty of places to choose from so to help us decide we took advantage of the happy hour and made our way through a good few beers. After a Surprise Menu dinner - which turned out to be very impressive, we made our way to this cool funky bar call Indochine. The interior is wicked with beds, cushions and some of the seating has curtains so you can have a private drink ;o) they also had this Vodka ice bar which is behind glass and absolutely freezing.

After a night out on the town we went back to the apartment to catch the tail end of a party at the flat. It was funny as the guys weren't expecting us to walk in and had totally forgotten that we were staying, as a result we joined them all for a few drinks and there were more than a couple of casualties!

On the only full day we had in the city we walked around seeing the main highlights. One of them was meant to be the biggest water fountain in the world - but it wasn't working, ha! Despite the malfunctioning fountain, tourism around the city is unsurprisingly very well developed and you don't need a guidebook, just leaflets and handy maps that are available from most places. This made everything so easy! In the afternoon we rode the cable car over to Sentosa Island. This place is quite cool, a little bit 'theme park' but maybe that’s just because it comes with a map of places on the island and everything is gimmicky. The island has great beaches and it claims to be the southern most point of continental Asia, they even have a Bora Bora beach bar ;o) Unfortunately Bora Bora in Singapore wasn't like the Ibiza version, in fact it was closed for a private function which was very quiet. We did have a little fun riding the 'luge' with all the kids (Zaida wearing her kids helmet!) down to the beach front which although artificial is really quite nice. It's only spoilt marginally by the busy shipping lane just out to sea and the belching oil refinery complex across the water. It felt a little like Abu Dhabi or Dubai, lots of money is being spent here to turn it into a 'one stop' holiday destination appealing to the family sector. In a few years we reckon there will be rollercoasters on the island aswell. Very Disney!

We eventually found somewhere to park ourselves and watch the sunset. After sundown the island gets really quiet, we really felt like we had been locked in and everyone had gone home, so much so that we had a little difficulty finding our way back to the cable car (oops!). The cable car ride back was cool as we got to see the city at night. It's soooooo high and that evening it was quite windy, which gave us the heebie-jeebies! You can have dinner on the cable car in one of the little gondolas and we saw one couple that looked like they had been going round and round for ages!

Our last half day in Singapore was spent in the biggest shopping mall in Singapore before we went to the airport to do more shopping - YAY! Singapore airport is great fun. It has loads of shops, gadgets to play with, free Internet and massages - Quality!

So our time in Singapore was short and sweet but we guess it is the same for most backpackers travelling this region of the world. Yet again a good time had by all......

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Hong Kong - Big City Life

2005-12-23T02:00:07+01:00

Please click below for the full set of China pictures.
Hong Kong pics.

Arriving in Hong Kong after several train rides through Mainland China was a real relief!

We found a great hotel/hostel in a very central location in the Kowloon district for only 24 quid. That is very very cheap for Hong Kong! It is a strange set up in most of the guesthouses in the area, they seem to be converted high-rise offices above the shops. The room we managed to find looked out onto the city - wicked! Just at the bottom of our road was the waterfront where you get awesome views of Hong Kong Island across the water from Kowloon - such a fantastic cityscape. We stayed in Kowloon most of the time as it was so cheap, but we wanted to spend some time on Hong Kong Island so we managed to find a reasonably priced serviced apartment in Central for our last two nights which was perfect. It was one hundred of your best British pounds but that’s nothing compared to several hundred pounds you would expect to pay in one of the big hotels in the area. The biggest bonus was being a stones throw from the centre of the entertainment district with all its bars and restaurants!

The rest of our first day in Hong Kong was spent walking around the huge shopping malls and looking around Kowloon. All the streets in Hong Kong are brightly lit by advertising, shop signs and TV screens, even at night it feels like daylight. In a funny neon kind of way it is quite cool and entertaining. You can't help but get sucked in by the advertising as it so big and there's so much of it. As a result we ended up buying to tickets to Cirque du Soleil which was advertised all over the city. The show was spectacular as expected and we would recommend it to anyone.

They really go to town with Christmas, which was nice to see, and we got into the spirit quite quickly! All the shopping malls have large impressive decorations everywhere and in Statue Square in Hong Kong Island they had Santa Land that had an enormous tree and various Christmassy displays. It was great walking around and soaking up the atmosphere as until now we had almost forgotten it was Christmas.

Getting around the city was really easy. We managed to use all the modes of transport on offer - Star Ferry, MTR (underground), taxi and the tram. It is all so cheap too, apart perhaps from the MTR that is a little more expensive way of getting around. The service is very good and everything runs like a Swiss watch.

On our first visit to Hong Kong Island we explored the Soho area that is really buzzy, full of city expats having a good time. Everywhere was so busy that we walked around for ages looking for a restaurant, in the end we opted for Japanese. The food was amazing although Chris ordered some random dish that he had to cook himself in boiling water on the table which later gave him a dodgy tummy (no one to blame but himself!) The bill turned out to be a shocking 100 quid - what was meant to be a cheap night out turned into an expensive one with a poorly Chris - oops! Despite the dickey tummy we headed to central Soho for a Mojito. The bar we chose was quite lively and turned out there was some sort of corporate xmas party and Zaida ended up getting dragged onto the dance floor to dance with a random old man (some things never change!)

The best views of the city were from the top of Victoria Peak and also from the top floor bar at the Sheraton Hotel with a couple more of those Mojitos - nice! We spent the afternoon at Victoria Peak walking around the trail at the top of the mountain, a really nice place and quite relaxing despite all the tourists. You get up there by travelling on the famous peak tram which runs on a really steep railway - it has been doing the same journey for over 100 years.

We ended up spending more time in Hong Kong than we planned as we had issues with flights; firstly getting from Hong Kong to Singapore, and secondly we found out we had to change our route for the end part of our trip which meant we had to wait until our tickets got re-issued. Damn-it! Still, we can think of worse places to be stuck for a few days!

The Hong Kong nationals seem to have a really great lifestyle, one can only assume they have huge disposable incomes with nothing but designer shops filling the streets around Hong Kong and Kowloon - it felt like there was Louis Vuitton on every corner which makes a change from McDonalds. There are loads of expats around and there is a great multi-cultural vibe about the city. It is one of the places you could work for a few months, fit in easily and have a lot of fun. The downside is that if you don’t have one of those huge incomes or a generous expense account it can, and probably will bankrupt you! Bring it on!

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Southern China - Eh? What's does that say?

2005-12-23T01:06:31+01:00

Please click below for the full set of China pictures.
China pics.

Our Chinese adventure started with a long overnight train ride from Vietnam broken up with a 2-hour border crossing and immigration epic. This involved all the passengers leaving the train to form disorderly queues then waiting around for someone to waive our passports at us so we could board the train again. When we reached the Chinese side we had to go though it all again. Scary Chinese immigration officials got on the train demanding our passports in Chinese. At one point one of these guys asked Chris if was actually him in the passport photo (at least we think that’s what he was asking!) - we had visions of being told we couldn't enter the country. In the end it wasn't a problem and we actually got a good nights sleep before arriving at Nanning. Obviously the 'pleasant and helpful' attitude now adopted by many countries immigration officials hasn't filtered through to China yet!

We arrived in the early hours of the morning along with, what looked like, the entire Chinese army. It must have been their homecoming holiday or something. We finally managed to get out of the station and started our quest for a hotel. Unsurprisingly this wasn't as easy as it has been in countries we have visited so far. We had been warned that there is little English signage around, but you think you will always cope. It was much more difficult than we anticipated and it led to us guessing what buildings were and what signs meant which would have been fun if it wasn't so stressful! So at 6am we were traipsing around with backpacks on trying to find a room. Our first attempt at looking at a room was funny - we communicated by pointing at sentences in the lonely planet (worth its weight in gold), as our Chinese pronunciation is evidently shocking (blank looks all round when we attempted a few simple phrases!) The room we looked at was an absolute slum, it has to be the worse place we have ever seen and that’s saying something as we have stayed in some pretty basic accommodation! After that the 'we are on honeymoon' mode kicked in so we politely refused and continued our search for a hotel. We walked along the street a bit further and started chatting to a local guy who could speak English, well if you count 'hello' as communicating! He then pointed to this hotel on the corner that turned out to be clean and fairly cheap which was a result. Phew.

Most of our time in Nanning was spent asleep as we were quite knackered after our journey. Once awake we read up on what there was to see and do in Nanning and the surrounding areas and decided that there wasn't a huge amount. This is when we realised that our desire to get to Oz was even greater ;o) with our plan firmly in place we went across the road and found a travel agent who luckily could speak English (hurrah!). She booked us on the next train which was leaving in 3 hours to Guangzhou where we could board a train to Hong Kong.

After a successful ticket booking we grabbed some lunch in a cafe on the corner of the road. Nanning is famous for it's 'canine' dishes so we were really worried that we were going to order dog by mistake by misinterpreting the menu. Luckily the cafe we ended up in had an English menu (wow), we both ordered beef dishes although we have a sneaky suspicion it was dog anyway as it was pretty ropey. So, we returned to the station a mere ten hours after we arrived and boarded another overnight train to the city of Guangzhou where train services to Hong Kong are available.

The trains in China are great - cheap, clean, comfortable and efficient - which made it a really pleasurable journey. Most of the time you get a cabin to yourself but the journey to Guangzhou was quite busy so we were sharing with another couple that were nice and kept themselves to themselves playing their Playstation PSP. After a few hours chilling in our cabin we decided to grab some food in the restaurant carriage - it was hilarious!!! We sat next to 4 very pissed Chinese men who were downing little bottles of whisky like it was going out of fashion. We were then handed a menu in Chinese that made practically the entire carriage burst into laughter as we looked at it blankly. After joining in with the raucous giggles we randomly chose something. Luckily one of the waitresses could speak a little English told us that what we wanted was too much food and she chose something for us instead. We ended up with fish (nice) and chicken noodles (minging). We then retired to our cabin for a game of chess (Zaida won, now at 4 all)

We all got a rather rude awakening by the guards who came in and turned the big light on and demanded our tickets - nice! When we got off the train we were greeted with yet more confusing Chinese signs so we just kept walking until we saw things that looked familiar. We needed to buy another onward ticket to Hong Kong and we soon found out that the Hong Kong train leaves from another Guangzhou station about 10km away (doh). The very moody and unhelpful ticket attendant eventually wrote down the name of the station in Chinese for us so that we could get a taxi. Arriving at the correct station we grabbed ourselves some brekkie (luckily they had photos of food so we were able to order by pictures - "'A wan thaa won") whilst we waited for the ticket office to open. So there we were about to buy our ticket in time for the 1st train to Kowloon (Hong Kong) only find out that they don't except credit cards. Owing to our really short stay in China we had next to no local currency so we set off walking around Guangzhou looking for an ATM machine that accepted visa cards. This was another example of the smaller provinces being behind the times when it comes to tourism as ATM machines are only enabled for withdrawals from local bank accounts. When we finally did find a machine that worked, it turned out to be empty even though it processed the transaction, this meant that we then had to wait until the bank opened to get our cash. Grrrrr! Patience was wearing seriously thin by this time, tired from marching around the city carrying our bags and frustrated by the local co-ordinated attempt to make absolutely everything near impossible for travellers, a sense of humour failure was inevitable! When the bank finally opened we explained what had happened they gave us a form (in Chinese) and asked us to wait for the only person in the bank that could speak English to arrive - yawn bloody yawn. Once this dude turned up it was quickly resolved and we were on our way (2 hours later). I suppose all of the above could have been avoided if we had had the forethought to get sufficient funds in Nanning but, well we didn't so wat to do eh? So we headed back to the station to start all over again (muttering under our breaths).

The Kowloon express train is a bit like the Eurostar. The train station is similar to Waterloo and the trains are the same except the Kowloon express is a double Decker. Our long search for cash meant we just missed the next train so we had to wait over and hour for the next one (....well i never heard such a so and so....rassafrassa.....grrrrr.....).

The few parts of China we did see were ok, however - they were small provinces and not really geared up for tourists. This made it difficult to explore the cities and don't get us wrong, we don't mind difficulties but it would have been better if we were in an area where we could have explored some of the Chinese highlights - Great wall, Beijing, terracotta army etc... Nanning and Guanzahou don't really have a whole lot to offer which is a shame but we do think China deserves another visit for a longer duration. This would give us chance to experience big city life as well as rural and see some of the proper highlights the country has to offer. Doing it the way we did it wasn't really giving it a chance, which is why we decided to move on faster than we originally planned. Sorry China - we can't do everything!

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Vietnam - Here comes the rain again ;o)

2005-12-02T11:48:21+01:00

Please click below for the full set of Vietnam pictures so far.
Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City and 'Mekong Delta part 1'
Vietnam - 'Mekong Delta part 2', HoiAn, Danang, Muine and NaTrang
Vietnam - Hanoi and Halong Bay

Flying out of Cambodia and into Vietnam was a short flight, landing in Ho Chi Minh city formally called Siagon before the countries reunification in 1975. Our first night was spent in one of the lively bars in the backpacker area indulging in a few BOGOF Tiger beers and free shots which unsuprisingly led to over indulgence and both of us ended up being quite sick on return to our room!!! Rookie mistake!

Next day we went on a tour of the Chu Chi tunnels which are the last remaining section of the tunnels used by the Vietnamese Communists (VC) during the Vietnam war. The small remaining section of just 100m is all that is left of the original 250km network. We both went down to crawl through the section which has apparently been widened a little to allow fat tourists to experince what is was like for the VC. Even so, it's still tiny down there - not to mention hot! Zaida bailed out after the first stretch, getting a little claustraphobic ;o)

Next on our itenerary was a 2 day Mekong Delta tour – this one was a bit touristy as we were ferried from one place to another esentially so we would spend money in the various gift shops or cottage industrial units. We saw everything from locals making coconut sweets and rice paper, fruit orchards, honey wine etc. all very interesting. A good couple of hours was spent with our guide ‘exploring’ the narrow nework of canals that run off from the main river, which was cool. After a night in a hotel we had an early morning visit to the floating market, supposedly the busiest in Vietnam which was very colourful and lively. We saw one poor guy shopping for veg in the market completely loose the engine off his boat, whilst he fell in with the engine the boat continued into the market - doh!! We drove arround on small boats all afternoon and even got to wear the traditional Vietnamese hats - very 'this season'! Then it was back on the bus for our journey back to Ho Chi Minh. We're really pleased we decided to do the Mekong tour even if it was a bit touristy. We have now completed our Mekong trip and travelled a fair stretch of the river in the past couple of months through 3 countries.

Back in Saigon we decided to go out for a few quiet drinks which turned into a late night bender, partying with some new Ozzie and Canadian friends. We all jumped in taxis and went to a so called night club, arriving there at 11.30pm just in time for the last slow dance!! More of an early evening club really! Dispite this we ended up in another bar having a great time until 3am, forgetting entirely that we had an early start the next morning at 6.30 for a 4 hour bus ride to a place called Muine up the coast. Oops! - try not to do this again!

After a decidely dodgy bus ride, lots of honking, swerving and bouncing with us quietly suffering our hangovers, we arrived in Muine. This is a very quiet beach resort with one big attraction, it’s the home of kitesurfing in Vietnam. Loads of people come here for just that reason, and while this means there are always a few people here, it’s still quite a sleepy place. We were both quite keen to try a bit of kitesurfing ourselves until we were told its a minimum of 5 hrs tuition + $200 each to get started (and most of that time is not spent in the water). I mean, when exactly are we going to go kitesurfing when we are back in London?? So we had a nice couple of days just chilling and enjoying the weather. Good thing too as since then it had been consistently raining!

After Muine we took another bus ride up to Nha Trang. This is supposed to be a bustling beach resort with quite a bit going on as well an some of the nicest beaches in Vietnam – Tourquise water and silver sands etc. Unfortunately, because of the season the sea was a bit murky and it rained hard for the 2 days we were there, the further north you go the wetter in becomes this time of year. We spent half a day searching for a travel chessboard in the shops then the rest siting in a really nice bar on the seafront drinking Mojitos and playing chess whilst watching the rain and the huge waves crashing on the beach wishing the weather was better!

Owing to the less than ideal weather we opted to cut short our stay and move on to our next stop up the coast – Hoi An. This is a really picturesque town with colonial french archtecture that has been preserved really well so it has a lovely oldy worldy feel to it (a little like Luang Probang in Laos). The other side of Hoi An we experienced was the hard sell tourist trap. There are literally hundreds of tailors selling hand made to measure garments of every type. Handmade shoes, handbags, suits ,tops, swimming shorts (Chris got 2 pairs), it is a bargain hunters paradise! We of course got sucked in and we found ourselves running between diferent shops for 2 days going for fittings! 2 DAYS WAS DEFINITELY ENOUGH! After leaving Hoi An we had to organise for a shipping crate to send all our purchases back - ooops! Kinda reduces the savings but who cares!

Moving on again with another bus ride this time only 1 hour to Danang. This is the famous China Beach area used by the Americans for resting troops before sending them back to the battlefield. We were the only people who got off the bus here and that attracted a few strange looks, but it was the right decision as we found a great little guesthouse – really chilled out and run by this cool 50yr old Vietnamese surf dude called Hoa and his Wife. Litterally had the beach to ourselves and were lucky with a decent day of weather. Next day it rained again and we went exploring on the motorbike, riding up to Moi An beach to have a look – nothing but a building site here, would have been so dissapointed if we booked to stay in this area. Later in the day Zaida had a cooking lesson and learned how to cook proper spring rolls - very nice. The next day we moved on again to Hue – nothing much here, just a convenient stop on our way up the coast and we only stayed 1 night before getting the 14hour overrnight bus to Hanoi the next evening. The bus ride was terrible! 14 hours is far to long top spend on a bus. A highlight was Zaida having some Vietnamese guy sticking his minging feet in her face by poking them round the side of her seat just as she was dropping off - yuk!

On our arrival in Hanoi the bus was boarded by a couple of guys supposedly from the bus tour company instructing us to follow them to the provided taxis that would ferry us to decent guesthouses. Well, the gueshouse we were taken to was ok but the owner was 'well dodgy'. He tried to add a mystery 'sales tax' to all our bills, didn't pay it though. The 2 day boat trip we organised through him around halong bay was also a bit roapy. When we turned up at the port to get on the boat which would be our home for the next two days all the boats looked fantastic and there were a fair few of them so we followed our guide to find our particular boat. We were a little dissapointed to find our boat was one of the smaller vessles which looked like it could have done with a bit of tarting up! Also, and this is what anoyed us, the boat looked nothing like the picture we were shown at the time of booking - still 'what do you do?' In retrospect the two day tour was really cheap compared to others we could have taken so I guess this is where the tour opperator saves the money. Wouldn't have minded if they had been up front to start off with but there you go.

To compound our woes the weather was still less than good - so cold in fact that we were wearing all our warmest clothing, the same stuff we used when we were at Everest base camp! The Hanlong bay scenery is stunning and despite the above we are really glad we took the tour, even if we didn't do half of the planned activities - Kyaking and swimming in the arctic tempratures didn't really appeal! We did get to visit some magnificent caves although they wern't a patch on those we visited in Laos - these had been properly tourisimised(?) with lighting and pathways built right though them. We were supposed to spend the night on the boat but due to a forecast storm we were put in a hotel which was probably a good thing as the boat facilities were pretty basic. Apart for another group in the hotel deciding to have a bit of a kareoke session just as we were going to bed it was all good! In fact Chris wasn't having any of it and got out of bed to ask/tell then to turn it down - seriously, why do they have to have those things turned up so damn loud?? Still, it was an experience and we did get to meet some nice people so all's well that ends well.

On our return to Hanoi we spent the rest of the day generally looking around and planning the next few days of our trip. Getting a little bored with the weather and badly needing some proper beach time (sadly lacking during our time in Vietnam) we decided to high tail it out of there and booked ourselves on the overnight international train service into southern China. This wasn't because there are great beaches in China, but because it brings us one step closer to the magical land of Oz - beaches and barbies galore.

And that was it for Vietnam, one of the expected highlights which in many ways exceded our expectations. A very colourful country with friendly easy going people. Some of our time here was affected by the weather, although if we had researched thouroughly before we arrived it would have been clear that the weather wouldn't be 'all that'. Never mind. It was a great experience!

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Cambodia - Wat to do.....?

2005-11-15T07:26:47+01:00

Please click below for the full set of Cambodia pictures.
Cambodia - Siem Reap and Angkor Wat - part 1
Cambodia - Siem Reap and Angkor Wat - part 2 and Phnom Penh

Our 8 day trip in Cambodia started with a flight from Pakse in Laos to Siem Reap. We treated ourselves to this 'flash packing' element of our trip as we didn't fancy the long bumpy bus ride even if it would have saved us $100!

Flying into Cambodia provided us with fantastic views. As we came into land the scenery on the LHS of the plane was amazing. From the horizon to about a mile away looked like floodland, in fact this was the Tonle Sap lake which had swollen due to monsoon rains and engulfed quite a few of the villages dotted around its edge. Must be a hard life having to cope with this sort of thing year after year.

We stayed in a very nice hotel in Siem Reap which even had a pool!!!! Zaida did a brilliant job of finding this place on the net from Laos before we left, which was part of the birthday gift so luxury was allowed. So nice to have a hot shower after 5 days in a bungalow on Don Det. With the temperature in the high 80’s and high humidity making it feel like the high nineties, Cambodia is the hottest place we have been to so far. Sticky!

Our first day at Angkor Wat was an early start to beat the crowds (and temperature). It was very nice if a little exhausting exploring the grounds and the temple itself. At first we were disappointed and a little confused as we thought the whole thing would be buried in the middle of dense jungle. In fact it’s more like a theme park, well country park at least. Manicured lawns surround the main Angkor wat complex with army’s of gardeners tending the plants. There are new very swish looking (and efficient) pay toll booths to control entry of visitors and everyone is issued with a photo ID and 3D map. There is a lot of renovation going on at the moment so some of the Angkor Wat complex is covered in scaffolding. I guess we had both expected something a bit more raw, must have got that idea from some way out of date documentary showing it as it was 30 or 40 years ago. The plus side is that from a distance Angkor Wat looks probably much as it did when is was in use as a temple.

We spent 2 hours here before it started to become unbearably hot, there being little shade and the sun pretty damn fierce. So it was back to the hotel by 11am to cool down and relax before returning late afternoon to catch sunset.

The other misconception we had was how much of this area is given over to temples wat wat wat. Angkor Wat is just one of many temple complexes all within 20 square miles or so. Some are well preserved being either partially or fully restored. Others are in the process of restoration, overcome by jungle growth or were never completed by the original builders and stand as a testament to the fickle nature of the leaders at the time of construction. If a ruler died during the construction of a temple, invariably his successor would abandon that project in favour of an even more ambitious project of his own. Several of the most impressive sites in the area were never completed although to the untrained eye (ours) it's difficult to tell which ones!

Two features we found maybe not as impressive to look at but certainly comparable in scale to the Wat itself are the two reservoirs constructed by Yasovarman I during a 20 year reign. The largest measures 8km by 2km and were excavated by hand. One is now completely dry and covered with re-grown jungle, the other however still holds water and is seriously impressive. One big hole!

We intended to watch sunset from the top of a nearby hill, a spot so popular as many as 500 people can be found there at sundown! Unfortunately due to the humid weather and lack of traction of Zaida's Havianas (it was that hot we had sweaty feet - nice!) we didn’t make it as the climb is quite steep, opting instead to try the following day.

After sunset all the street sellers are out in full force and they tend to be children (sooooo cute), they come up to you with their best puppy dog eyes and are quite persistent. Zaida has now bought 5 or so of the little bracelets from the cute kiddies selling them where ever you go. Soft touch and sucker come to mind.

Next day we were woken by plinky plonky music and mister MC doing his mic check at 7.30am. What we really wanted was a leisurely start as we were quite exhausted after the previous days sightseeing. The reson for it was some sort of charity Buddist event where the faithful come to pray and donate money. They get a good meal out of it too and I think later on in the evening there was some sort of party. Anyway, all the money they collect goes to the local temple. They packed up pretty sharpish as when we went out for dinner at 8.30 pm it was in full swing, retuning at 10pm everything was gone...pif paff poof as if by magic.

Last day of our 3 day pass to the Angkor complex was another early start with the first stop a place called Ta Prohm. This is the temple with all the crazy trees growing through and over the walls - Fantastic! We were there so early we had the place virtually to ourselves. It’s really atmospheric. The place is a total ruin but what makes it special is the way the Jungle has reclaimed the land the wat was built on. Trees have literally engulfed the walls in places, some root structures are the only thing keeping sections of the building from collapsing. Chris was bitten by evil giant ants and what we think might have been a snake as it left 2 puntureholes in his foot. After all the dramas we then fled before the place was engulfed by busloads of noisy Japanese tourists.

By mid morning the whole of the Angkor complex has turned into a bit of a circus with the most popular points of interest mobbed by those crazy Japanese tourists who arrive simultaneously then march around in huge groups shrieking to each other – kind of ruins the atmosphere a little. Never mind, the worst of the groups can be avoided by making a proper early start and seeing the popular places then moving onto the less popular mid morning. We moved on to visit Angkor Thom, which is a huge fortified walled city containing many different temples ancluding the huge Bayon. We have to admit that we didn’t explore these fully as it was getting mental hot again so we retreated back to the town for the hottest part of the day. We were so delirious by the heat that we thought we had seen the Bayon when infact we had missed it completely - oops - we did see it from our air conditioned car though, so i guess we still get a tick in the box.

The Angkor complex was a real highlight for us both, but we can now safely say that we have seen the best wat in SE Asia and we are completely wat-ted out. Even though they are all absolutely stunning and each has it own history and ornate features there will not be any more wat's on our itinerary ;o)

So, onwards to Phnom Phen, the capital city. When we arrived we found out that the big annual Water Festival was taking place along the Tonle river. It was absolutely heaving, something like an extra 2 million people visit the capital for the festival and they come from all over rural cambodia. During the day they have dragon boat races with about 40 people paddling each boat - they really shift! In the evening they have fireworks and a concert featuring the traditional kareoke style Cambodian music with the backing tracks played on what sounds like a Bon-Tempi keyboard. We were so lucky to have been in the city at this time as it is a really big deal to all the Cambodians - a nice happy accident.

It is so hectic with all the crowds, most of the people that live in the city flee their shops and homes for the peace and quiet of the country, whilst the country folk, desperate for some craziness all converge on the city! Going out in Phenom Phen during the festivities isn't the easiest thing for tourists as most of the places in the guide books shut up shop. We decided to go out and party at 'the best bar in town' only to find that it was shut. We ended up driving up and down the road several times before someone we stopped told us it was closed, he did however recommend a bar which we quickly drove to as we were getting quite parched by this time. So we rock up at Tony's bar and had the place all to ourselves, not the lively atmosphere we were expecting as it was really kicking off down on the river and it was only 9pm. Tony and his punters had left town it seems.

Whilst in Phenom Phen we decided to visit the Tuol Seng Museum and the Killing Fields. This wasn't your 'happy honeymoon' day out but we felt compeled to go in order to try to understand Cambodian history and what the people have been through. It truly was a very sad, disturbing and harrowing experience. It's shocking to think all this happened so recently. Cambodians now appear happy and strong and we should have the utmost respect for this in light of the pain they have been through, the country is now beginning to develop and employment in areas other than farming is increasing as they try to put history behind them.

Our final day in Phenom Phen was spent mostly drinking and eating whilst we watched the world go by and the huge clean up after the festival. Sitting down for too long does mean that you get approached by every seller and begger. In the space of 2 hours Chris had his Birkenstocks shoe-shined, bought a copy of a Vietnam book, 5 postcards and gave food to children (and sank 3 Mojitos and 3 beers).

Here is a map of Cambodia with our 'express' route marked in yellow and you can click on the map for a bigger version.

And here is a map of the Angkor Wat complex (pretty big place). Click on this one for a map of the full area and all the wats you can shake the proverbial stick at.

That will do nicely for now then. Tata.

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Lovely Laos

2005-11-04T12:58:56+01:00

So our Journey into the unknown begins........ or rather into Laos which isn't unknown (it's just that not many people have heard of it - read on fans we'll tell you all about it!)

And here are all the Laos pictures in full technicolour!
Laos - Border at Huai Xai down to Vientaine
Laos - 4000 islands and Chris's Birthday - part 1
Laos - 4000 islands and Chris's Birthday - part 2

Our final night in Thailand was marked by Chris suffering from what Zaida terms a 'Man cold'. Now everyone knows a man-cold is a pretty serious thing, a thing in fact so serious that we decided to delay our departure into 'The Unknown' for 24 hours. All the men reading this will of course sympathize, the women however will think I was making a fuss (a man-cold is a nasty thing - you wouldn't know, you've never had one!).....Anyway...The following morning Chris felt a lot better and decided to 'soldier on' and make a break for the border.

From Chiang Rai to the border crossing at Chiang Kong is a 3 to 4 hour bus ride. This was on a public bus that closely resembles an American school bus with lots of little windows that had done more than its fair share of miles. Very retro. The bus service also seems to be the post service too or the Thai equivalent of parcel force. The back was full of various items to be delivered on the way - including 4 spare lorry wheels (when we got on we thought - 'how many punctures is the driver expecting to get?'). The burly woman conductor shouts to people at the side of the road then throws packages at them, sort of. All in all it was a pleasant journey...the bus gradually emptied out and we actually had a fair bit of room. Big open windows on the side to keep us cool and most importantly no goats, pigs or chickens to share our space with!

After our bus journey we met quite a weird bloke that looked a little bit like Jesus, he was traveling around for 6 months and his luggage consisted of a rucksack smaller than the bag we use during the day. Bless him, he really couldn't think for himself and was quite happy to tag along with anyone, unfortunately we were not that up for a new traveling companion. We have bumped into him several times since our first meeting which shows what a small place this is. In fact we have bumped into most of the people we have met a couple of times on the journey.

Our first stop in Laos was Huay Xai which is a very small village with consequently not much going on. People just seem to arrive from Thailand and move on rather quickly. Not wanting to break with tradition we followed suit, booking ourselves on a public slow boat to Luang Prabang which takes 2 days with an over night stop-over at Pak Beng. Most people opted for the public boat instead of the VIP luxury tourist boat or the speedboat option.

The next morning as we walked down to the river to meet our boat, we watched 15 new and pretty capable 4X4's being loaded onto the ferry to cross the river. All the vehicles were driven by Chinese, sponsorship logos down the sides, big lights, CB radios, GPS, winches etc.... all very 'big boys toys'. This was the 2005 Malaysia to Beijing safari convoy making its way into Thailand from Laos. Looked like great fun......they were taking an awful lot of photos though!

We found and boarded our boat and got ourselves comfortable with cushions and a bench each. Slowly but surely people just kept on coming. For a full hour we watched people walking down to the river hoping they would not be getting on our boat. Eventually the 30 seater boat motored off down the murky Mekong carrying about 70 people and luggage, sitting pretty low - maybe a little too low in the water. By this time, we both had half a bench each and 1 cushion. Note: bench designed for a dwarf. The first leg of our journey to Pak Beng took 6 looooooooong hours.

Apart from the length (and comfort) of the journey, traveling down the Mekong River was excellent. The views were stunning wherever you looked; there are just miles and miles of jungle and limestone hills, beautiful scenery - great for passing the time just staring into the wilderness. All very 'Apocalypse Now'.

Arriving at Pak Beng we decided to stay in the really nice bungalows on the river only to find out it cost $100 (WHAT???) so we checked ourselves into a nice guesthouse instead run by a cute family for $3 which also had a balcony overlooking the Mekong. Lucky we did as we met these awesome 2 girls (Cindy and Sandra) from Brussels who were traveling around Laos on motorbikes. We have now decided motorbikes would be a perfect way to travel in this part of the world as you are not tied to a schedule and are very mobile, you see more in a shorter time etc...(Finally Zaida is coming round to Chris having a motorbike, well only if driven in quiet places - slowly).

The next morning we had to be back on the boat at 8am so we set off with our Beer Lao hangovers and a packed lunch. This time in a different boat somewhat smaller than the first one and still carrying the same number of people - eek!!!! Chris managed to stand his ground this time and got a bench to himself whilst Zaida shared with a nice German lady. This part of the journey was longer (8 hours) but was better as I think we had our final destination in sight. After 2 days looking at the speedboats zipping past they didn't look so unsafe anymore (4 hours for the entire journey by speedboat versus 2 days!), but we are still too chicken/sane to go on one (Clarence, you rock for having the balls to go on a speedboat). Took a few pics of them whistling past.

So we arrive in Luang Prabang which is a really gorgeous place. It has a very strong French colonial influence in the architecture, restaurants and ambience. There are a lot of French tourists too. The place is one of the more luxurious places in Laos and you could really spend some money here. We hired some bicycles to check out the area which was really nice and watched sunset at Phu Si hill which is the highest point in the town.

Whilst in Luang Prabang we visited the Pak Ou caves which are full of Buddha statues put there by local people to represent their dead relatives. Along the way we visited a couple of villages which specialize in weaving silk, making paper and the crazy whisky with snakes in the bottles. We also took a trip to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall which was absolutely stunning and had a swim after climbing up to the higher levels. The water was so cold we both turned blue.

After 3 days in Luang Prabang we headed by bus to Vang Vieng which is a real backpacker party town 3 hours away. We arrived to find all the travelers sitting in these TV bars watching episodes of Friends, in fact you could sit in one bar and hear 3 different episodes playing in the same street - really funny. Not really immersing yourself in the local culture though admittedly. We of course jumped on the bandwagon and after 4 hours were quite monged out. Vang Vieng is just like a mini-Amsterdam with a 'Happy Menu' most places serving mushroom and hash shakes as well as other things like tea and cakes. We did hear stories of travelers’ holeing themselves up in their rooms for two days unable to speak after over indulgence (hmmmm. nice one.) All the bars have horizontal seating areas where people can lay down (to watch Friends), after consuming the local specialties. Surreal.

We did make more of our time than just sitting in TV bars though. We spent one day tubing which was wicked!!!! It involves renting a tractor tire inner tube and floating down the river getting pissed. After a few Beer Lao and free LaoLao whiskeys (moonshine) we were quite plastered. Amongst all the drinking we did explore a limestone cave (with our beer of course); following a couple of guys we met with torches which was quite handy. We then met a big group of people later on ending up quite messy as you can see from the photos (damn that LaoLao whisky). The guy that owned the bar must have been a happy man after all the money we spent on beer.

The next day we rented a motorbike and rode 15kms out of the town to explore some local caves and despite our hangovers it was well worth the trip. The first cave we went in is supposedly 3km in length. It's difficult to tell when you are underground. It took us about an hour to get all the way in and we have never seen anything like it inside, the stalagmites and stalactites form in such bizarre shapes - in places it seriously looked like a set from one of the 'Aliens' films. At the end of the cave was a pool which we sort of bobbed about in for a bit. Our camera is a bit crap so couldn't really get any photos. Soz. The 2nd cave we went to was a water cave where we hired tubes and pulled ourselves along on ropes, we went quite far in here too maybe 1 km but couldn't explore as much as the 1st cave as the water level was high. Caves are cool.

After Vang Vieng we headed further south to the capital city Vientiane. For a capital city Vientiane is quite a chilled place, quite similar to Luang Prabang with lots of nice places to eat and watch the sunset across the Mekong. We did have to pay an on the spot $10 fine (yeah right mister policeman - that's going in your pocket isn't it?) For almost riding a moped the wrong way up a one way street - no road signs, what to do??

From here we headed to Pakse (southern Laos) to catch a bus to take us to paradise on the Mekong - an area called the Four Thousand Islands on the Laos/Cambodia border. The local bus turns out to be a truck with tourists and locals traveling and piled high with everything from sacks of potatoes to furniture. After 3 hours we finally reached the Mekong again where we caught a little boat to the island of Don Det, our chilled out home for the next 5 days.

Don Det is one of the islands at the southern tip of Laos close to the border of Cambodia. People come here to relax and get into island life with the locals, everyone is so chilled they are literally horizontal in hammocks the majority of the day. There is no electricity on the island, lights are run by a generator and off by 10.30pm - perfect!

We stayed in some wicked bungalows right on the river called Th Na with the loveliest family. These were on the sunset side so we saw amazing sunsets and some cracking thunderstorms, also it didn’t get too hot in the mornings.......which was nice. We spent loads of time with Louise, Dam and Carly who we had met briefly in Vang Vieng, lovely people and we shared some great times with them. None of us did much apart from read books, swing in hammocks, eat, drink Beer Lao and Lao Whisky (only $1.50 a bottle - not too bad at all). Only on one of the days did we venture from our balcony and that was to cycle to the other island (Don Khon) to see a waterfall, which was kind of a little bit like a mini Niagara Falls (apparently! - maybe a very very small one!). Too damn hot for this sort of thing, the day was one long 'heat mental' - Chris had to relax for a full 3 days to recover.

Chris's Birthday
The main plan for the day was to do everything in the hammock; breakfast, presents and lots of beer drinking. Chris got a Beer Lao t-shirt as we think he should now own shares in the company after the amount he has consumed whilst we have been here.

We ordered a whole duck and a birthday cake for a surprise dinner with all the people staying at our bungalows. The duck arrived at about 4pm quacking away and was on our dinner table by 8pm, probably the freshest duck we've ever had. The slaughtering was caught on camera but we couldn't stomach watching the video back

Dinner was Lao style with all the traditional dishes served on a low table and everyone huddled round on the floor. The family at the bungalows really pulled out the stops and made this table arrangement which brings good luck. After loads of food and 3 bottles of whisky between us it was time for dancing. We had an iPod-party in the bar with everyone including the grandparents dancing to Joey-Negro - It truly was a memorable day!

Thank you all for your lovely messages definitely missed you all at the birthday party!

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Well Laos is truly an enchanting place which you really cannot help falling in love with. The stunning landscapes, the beautiful people and there is so much to see; from cruising down the Mekong to exploring caves, trekking and chilling - such a perfect place. 2 weeks is nowhere enough time to see all there is to see, especially when you spend 5 of those days in a hammock! Laos is somewhere we would love to revisit.

Our favorite things about Laos are: the beer, hammocks and the island Don Det. Oh, and the beer.

Here is a Map of Laos so you can see where we traveled...

Main places we stopped along the way...
- Huay Xai
- Pak Beng
- Luang Prabang
- Vang Vieng
- Vientiane
- Pakse
- 4 Thousand Islands, Don Det

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Thailand - Bangkok Craziness

2005-10-23T11:32:56+02:00

We arrived in Bangkok after a monster 20 hour journey! It was a bit round the houses, we had to fly Katmandu - Delhi - Singapore - Bangkok instead of the more direct Kathamndu - Bangkok! Never mind, we found an internet cafe at Delhi airport and Singapore is a lovely place to transit through!

So, we checked in to 'The Davis' hotel near Sukhumvit road for some serious R & R. So much so that we didn’t leave the building for a full 24 hours after arriving making good use of the rooftop pool, buffet and cocktail bar facilities! We had been daydreaming about this for a full 2 weeks not least when stuck in a cold tea house somewhere above 5000m in the Himalayas! We even used the gym - not used to sitting around all day!

The next morning we were off on a river tour which took in the main sights; some Wat's (temples) - "What Wat's that? What Wat....? That Wat..."etc etc... A snake farm and general Thai riverside living. On the way back form the tour, our guide took us to a tailor and as a result Chris has two new suits (I don't even wear suits!) loads of shirts and Zaida had two lovely new dresses!!! We have to say the quality of the tailoring is second to none out here and fantastic value. If you wanted to have 2 suits made you could fly out here, have them made inside 48hours and fly home cheaper than buying in London. Amazing! So Dad - expect a parcel from DHL in the next 2 weeks!!

We have been to Bangkok before, new years 1999/2000 was spent on or near the Thai island Koh Samui and we stopped in Bangkok before and after our island holiday. Because of this we knew what to expect - noise, crazy traffic, TUK TUK's everywhere (noisy 3 wheeled taxis) elephants in the streets and lots of general craziness. However, it seems Bangkok has had something of a transformation in the last 6 years, most of the TUK TUK's seem to have disappeared replaced by taxi's which has had a serious effect on rush hour traffic, the city is clean, everyone seems to be walking around with the latest mobile phones, wearing the latest fashions and spending money. There are no end of shopping centers in which to while away the days. The sky train metro system is clean (0 graffiti), efficient and accelerated reeely fast! (It’s a little like Alton Towers on there!). We love it!! We both say we could live here if push came to shove.

After 2 days of complete indulgence including a 90 minute massage each, we moved hotels to an area called Silom. This is a stones throw from PatPong and the riverside. This time we stayed in ' serviced apartments'. WOW! This is a proper apartment, certainly larger than our flat with a fantastic city view from the 20th floor all for 35 pounds a night!! This is the way forward - if we come back to Bangkok this is how we'll do it!

We then met up with Dom and Dan for cocktails at the Peninsula then we took a river taxi for a bit of Koh San road action - this is traveler heaven with a huge variety of cheap eateries, bars and stalls selling rip off gear and cheap t-shirts. The girls went of shopping whilst the boys drank cocktails - perfect ;o) We couldn't resist the temptation of a Tuk Tuk ride on the way home. We had a quality driver who was doing wheelies down the street - you can see the terror and excitment on our faces. We all had a great time; it’s so nice to have friends to meet up with on your way round the globe!!

Next night we all dined at the Peninsula hotel buffet which was fantastic - a riverside position with fantastic views and the best service we have seen anywhere made a truly memorable night. We then made our goodbyes and were waved off as we got on one of the complementary boats operated by the hotel to take us across the water back to our apartment - very romantic!! (D & D - thanks for a great couple of days!)

One more day was spent in Bangkok generally chilling out and preparing to move on. Next morning was a really early morning flight to a place called Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand. Checked into our cute little hotel and here we are. We have had a look around, checked the buses for tomorrow’s adventure into Laos and made plans for sight seeing and other fun stuff ha!!

Click here for all the Thailand photos!

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Nepal - On top of the world...well almost!

2005-10-16T16:14:10+02:00

We are now back at Delhi on our way to Bangkok but we have 6 hours to wait for our connecting flight so it's a great opportunity to get you up to speed with our travels. Nepal was amazing and we both successfully trekked to Everest base camp and climbed a peak called Kala Patthar for great views of the mountain itself!

We arrived at Kathmandu from Delhi a couple of weeks ago on Indian Airways and jumped straight into a taxi for the 'Kathmandu Guest House'(KGH). This is the oldest guesthouse in the city and is perfect for our needs! We had a spare day before our Everest trek meeting so we had a lazy breakfast at a great outdoor restaurant and then spent some time drinking beer in the KGH trying to spot fellow trekkers!

At the meeting we met our group - 12 in all, 3 girls 9 boys all below 37. After the meeting it was time for some speed shopping to kit ourselves out with the equipment and clothing we would need for our trek. Luckily you can’t walk more then 10 feet without passing a shop selling rip off North Face and Alpine Lowe gear! We actually managed to get everything we needed including head torches, waterproofs, 3 bags, walking poles etc for about 70 pounds!!! C-mon the rip off gear!!!

Early start the next morning to catch our flight to a little place called Lukla in the mountains. This was pretty interesting as it was a 16 seater; no flight deck door, and the air strip was only 250 metres long and sloped at 30 degrees with a brick wall at the end of the runway, a flight not for the faint hearted!

Our tour lasted 16 days starting at an altitude of 2700 metres walking gradually up to Everest Base Camp (5280m) and then up to Kala Patthar (5550m) then trekking back down to Lukla to fly back to Kathmandu. All our accommodation was in tea houses which are basic stone buildings, run a little bit like a guesthouse which is essentially a family home with extra rooms for tourists, with very very very thin interior walls made of ply wood - this means you don't get an awful lot of privacy and you are effectively living in each others pockets but it is a great opportunity to get to know new people!

The whole group managed to successfully complete the entire trek to all of the highest points which is apparently unusual. Some of the group did suffer from AMS (acute mountain sickness) including us, although the symptoms can be relived by a handy little drug called Diamox which seemed effective. At one point we both had quite bad headaches which make trekking even harder when you are trying to keep up with the group and breathe!

The first 3-4 days we didn't see much of the beautiful scenery we had come for because of such low cloud on the mountains. It got to the point where we thought we would never see the famous Himalayan peaks. On the day we made the final push from a place called Gorek Shep to Base Camp, the weather suddenly cleared and we were able to get a fantastic view of the summit of Everest and the surrounding mountains. In actual fact the weather then stayed really nice for our entire trek back down to Lukla.

Once the weather improved the scenery was breathtaking, you cannot begin to imagine the magnitude of the mountains around you. No other mountain range can compare to the Himalayas. The scale is truly of a different order. The shape of the mountains is so spectactularly irregular, apparently due to the fact the mountain range is relatively young in geological terms and still growing! We have taken absolutely loads and loads of photos almost hitting the 500 mark which we will take you through one by one when we get home ;o)

The trek itself is extremely challenging and requires an excellent level of fitness (so the guidance notes say!). Despite us not training at all and our not particularly successful practice trek in India we did brilliantly. We were at the back of the group pretty much most of the way but that allowed us to enjoy the scenery, chat to our new friends, take photos and spend time together instead of looking at the ground or someone else's back all the time. Our guides did recommend that we walk slowly to reduce the effects of AMS, which is exactly what we did! The hardest days were the 2 days at the top, effectively climbing staircases continuously at over 17000 ft is really hard work. The paths are not straight or level, a lot of the time we were jumping over boulders hopping from rock to rock avoiding yaks, porters, and yak crap.

When we descended we actually got a low altitude buzz from all the extra air to breathe. We feel soooooooooooooooooooooooo fit now, and have definitely toned up and lost a bit of weight in places – happy days!

The last 2 days of the trip we have allowed ourselves a some celebratory drinks which have lead to a few a stories…

• Trek leader polishing off 2 bottles of Everest whisky by 4pm

• Entire group commandeer local night club for live music and dancing action

• Chris takes over the decks (well actually one CD walkman) on the floor behind the bar to pull out the best ABBA dance floor fillers

• Zaida gives another group member (21 year old ice hockey player) a fat lip in comedy air guitar incident (oops)

• Dancing to Nepalese folk music in a guesthouse with guides and porters after necking special Everest coffee's (local brew)

• 2 porters having it to uplifting house music

We really have had the most amazing time! One thing that we have been blown away by is the Nepalese people. They are genuinely friendly and welcoming to us throughout the entire trek. We have made good friends with our guides and learnt a lot about their culture and lifestyle which they are more than too happy to share with us. Our experience of their warm nature has been celebrating the Hindu religious festival in Nepal called Dasai where we were invited in to dance with this family as we were trekking past their house – we think they had a few glasses of the local brew though ;o) It seems like Nepalese people are more than happy to party at any excuse.

We are sad to leave Nepal, but leave with brilliant memories and huge achievement. It also very exciting that we still have 5 more months of adventures ahead of us!

Chris and I not only celebrated 1 month of marriage, but it was also our 9 year anniversary since we met today - so we couldn't be in a more perfect place.

TTFN and LUMU
C & Z xxxxxxxxx

p.s. write soon with all your news!!

Click on the following links for the Nepal photos: basecamp trek set 1, basecamp trek set 2, Kathmandu.

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India - Rafting on the Ganges

2005-10-14T11:24:27+02:00

The next leg of our journey meant getting back on the train and heading to Haridwar for our first rafting experience. We had a proper early start which wasn’t helped by the driver who failed to turn up! We were up at 4.30 and waited for an hour before finally deciding to call a cab - just in time too! We did make the train although we were peggining it down the platform wearing our backpacks dodging the locals. When we finally got on the train it was packed leaving no room for our bags which we had to wedge down the back of our seats. The locals seem to take an awful lot of luggage with them, it seems like they pack up their house just to travel further up the country - No maximum hand baggage allowance on the Indian railway network!!

We were quite knackered after our early start and run, but we couldn’t sleep as we had to watch out for our train stop and you only get 2 minutes to get off the train. We took it in turns to snooze during the 5 hour journey - there was always something interesting to look at out of the window so it wasn’t bad at all. We're still reckoning travel by train is the best way to see a country.

At Haridiwar we were met by our guide Rana (really top bloke) and our driver who was taking us to camp. Unfortunately owing to the Ganges River level being unusually high for the season due to late monsoon rainfall, camp silver sands was effectively under water and they had to find alternative accommodation at another rafting camp in the mountains for us instead. Because of the weather, people booked on the same rafting trip had been told not to bother coming from Delhi so we basically had the whole team and place to ourselves which was quality. At first we thought it was a bit of a shame as we weren’t going to meet new people, but there were 4 people from the UK helping guide on the trip (1 ex-teacher and 3 gap year students - all very good fun and outdoorsy types) which was great. So there was the two of us with 8 professional rafters – happy days!

The first day we spent chilling out and a good night’s sleep was had under canvas in preparation for our first days rafting. Next day we were out on the river and after some guidance on how to paddle and stay safe we were off! There is so much to remember at first but eventually we got the hang of it. Rafting is quality, you move down the river pretty quick, quicker than you expect in fact, and although the river level was really high which had washed out some of the rapids there was still plenty of big waves to crash through. On the first run we covered about 20kms in about 1 ½ hours which apparently is really going some! As you can imagine the scenery is amazing through the gorges with little villages dotted up the mountains.

Next day back it was back on the river again with a reasonably early start so we could get a head start on any other groups. This time we paddled a different 20 km section of the river finishing at Rishkesh, which is where the Beatles stayed when they were getting spiritual. In Rishkesh the river is lined with concrete steps down to the waters edge where the locals and pilgrims bathe in the holy water of the Ganges. Amongst all this, there we were bobbing down the river in our bright blue raft – quite surreal!

You think that after rafting for a couple of days you would be pretty trim, but seriously we have never eaten so much food, they must have fed us about 5 times a day!! The food was amazing - lots of curry and rice with other traditional Indian nibbles in between. We also drank muchos chai tea which is delicious!

We were actually due to leave for Delhi that evening but we were having such a great time enjoying the peace, tranquility and beautiful surroundings that we opted to stay a further night. This time we actually stayed in a tent on the beach under the stars as the Ganges flowed beside us. As we were still the only guests we had the entire beach to ourselves which was really romantic!

The next morning (day 3 at camp), thinking about our imminent trek in Nepal we decided to do a little hill walking and the one opposite our camp looked pretty high so we thought we would give that a go. From the other side of the river it didn’t look too bad, but we changed our minds after climbing for 3 hours and not getting anywhere near the top. It also didn’t help that it was about 35 degrees!! That said we walked through some beautiful little villages all the way up and met some lovely people, we even came across a cute school which was singing their national song (ahhhhh). They were very welcoming if a little bewildered by the pasty white people who stood before them. One of the teachers came over to speak to us and invited us to come and visit whenever we liked which was lovely!

With the top not getting any closer, we decided to turn back arriving a full 5 hours after setting off - dehydrated, exhausted and feeling more than a little worried about our trek in Nepal! After a bit of a rest we made our farewells to the rafting team and were driven back to Haridwar to catch the train back to Delhi.

We were both feeling a little under the weather after our treking in the heat experience so Haridwar station was not the best place to spend an hour, but we had fun passing the time watching cheeky monkeys steel food from vendors and random people sat on the station floor. Once the train arrived we all boarded, unluckily for us we sat behind the most irritating children who screamed and fought the entire 5 hour journey!

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So that ends our India experience. We saw some absolutely amazing stuff and traveling trough India is definitely an experience we are glad we had. There were some highs – seeing the Taj Mahal, rafting, clubbing in Delhi, and meeting locals on our mini trek. There were also some more challenging parts to India, mainly the attention you get from street sellers and Indian men’s fixation with western women. All in all we're so glad we came here although as a first stop is it pretty hardcore!! As we move onto Nepal we're remembering more of the amazing things we have seen and people we have met. India has left a definate impression!!

Here is a map of India so you can see where traveled. Click on the map for a bigger version.

Our main stops were in the northern parts of India
- Delhi
- Shimla
- Jaipur
- Agra
- Haridwar
We covered only a fraction and there is still so much to see!

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India - 'The Golden Triangle'

2005-09-25T17:05:12+02:00

Zaida - "Why does everyone have a Welsh accent?"

So now we have completed the famous ‘Golden Triangle’! That would be Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. The three represent the historical highlights of this part of India.

After spending a very relaxing two days in Shimla where we took loads of photos and made a few impulse purchases (four pairs of shoes between us – what were we thinking?!), we headed back to Delhi. To get down the mountain we used a taxi rather than the toy train – bad mistake! Never, I repeat NEVER do this…..The first half hour was ‘entertaining’ the following 3 hours were severe ‘admin!’. Lots of twisty poorly laid roads with loads of traffic and little overtaking opportunities - this didn’t of course deter our driver from attempting at every non-opportunity. It was pretty scary at times as you almost always have a sheer drop to one side of you. We found tapping the driver on the shoulder every so often and gesturing 'slow down' eased the pace a bit - if only temporarily. The one saving grace was the poor driver’s horn broke about 20mins into the journey (see previous entry for horn use in India! - no indication used at all just lots of horn action!) It has to be said he was distraught!! We of course were ecstatic!

So taxi journey over, it was back onto the train for our ride back to Delhi. We were on the Shatabdi Express which is pretty comfortable and in the 5 hour journey they fed us 4 times! Next morning was an early start for our drive to a place called the Neemrana fort palace (check the link it’s unbelievable! www.neemranahotels.com). This is in the middle of nowhere but is such a nice hotel we had to stay there. Had a very pleasant stay and even treated ourselves to a bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pape (Dano – you reading this?).

Next day after a swim it was back in the car for the 3 hour journey to Jaipur. Now Jaipur is in Rajasthan, one of the least affluent and staunchly traditional parts of India (According to rough guide). The city itself has many fantastic forts and palaces, one that is semi submerged dubbed the ‘water palace’. Again loads of photos taken and we also had a ride on an elephant – tick in that box! The street sellers in Jaipur are very insistent and everywhere. No sooner are you out of your car than several are trying to sell you postcards, little boxes, model elephants etc….. No problem but they just don’t understand the concept of thanks but no thanks…….. It’s unfortunate really because it soured our experience of the city. It became so bad that we cut a couple of our sightseeing visits short to avoid the sellers and binned the idea of going to the bazaars, which is a shame as there are famous for gemstones and textiles. Still – you can’t win them all!

Next on the list was Agra – home of the Taj Mahal! Another 6 hour drive was needed to get from Jaipur to Agra, time to enjoy the paper and have a little snooze while the driver took the strain! Good job too as it looked like HARD work! The M40 it was not - no more than a dirt track in places! After checking into our hotel we headed straight to the Taj. I have to say it is an incredibly beautiful building – even the huge crowds don’t manage to detract from its impact. We did try to replicate the Lady Di pic which was funny although you do have to fight to get a clear picture! A huge rainstorm then rolled in and soaked us but this just added to the experience – truly fantastic. Everyone should do this!

So then next morning (that’s today!) we had a look around Agra fort which is huge but unfortunately only a small part is open to the public (I was quite happy with this as I’m a bit ‘looking around old fort-ed out’!) to be honest – excuse me, which way to the beach? Back into the car again heading to Delhi, bit of internet time to sort out accommodation at our next few destinations and we are off to a revolving restraunt later on tonight – what a life eh?
Tomorrow we set off by train again in the direction of the mountains for two days of camping and white water rapid riding down the Ganges! Quality.

TTFN and LUMU C & Z x

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India - Delhi and Shimla

2005-09-19T11:47:50+02:00

"We’ve come backpacking by mistake!!!! We’re not from London you know!!!!"

Woke up on Saturday a bit knackered. Probably something to do with throwing vodka down our necks like it’s going out fashion until 3am. We definitely had a random Friday night!

Story goes something like this…

After we finished our 5 hour internet session on Friday, we got chatting to another couple (Nelson & Anna) staying at our guest house. Turns out they are musicians from Brazil doing a concert for the ambassador at the Brazilian embassy in Delhi. They kindly invited us along so we rock up at the Brazilian embassy dressed in our traveler’s gear, whilst everyone is dressed in almost cocktail outfits for the exclusive embassy staff.

Anyhow, we learnt some fascinating stuff about Brazilian music and then watched the concert with the Brazilian ambassador (Ferro Roche was passed so of course we said to the ambassador that he was spoiling us). The concert was amazing, Nelson www.nelsonlatif.com played with an Indian musician called Zamir Kahan (think he is quite famous in India) to produce Brazilian-Indian music fusion, seriously it was quality!

We swerved cocktails at the embassy and hummed our way to The Claridges hotel bar Aura (not very backpacker like we know), to sip on crazy cocktails with chilli and basil vodka. Here we met up with some of Choppy’s friends (the legend that organized our India trip). Rahaul & Imran (who are both absolutely wicked fun) took us to some very glamorous Indian clubs and we danced the night away with some great people we met (all of Choppy’s posse apparently) including a Bollywood actress and a film director. To top it off we even managed to blag VIP - Happy days!!!

To say we had a hangover in the morning is an understatement, it felt like we had been run over by a rickshaw (seriously, proper not joking!!!). We stupidly told our driver to collect us at 10am which meant we had to shower, pack our bags & eat breakfast within an hour. All this rushing about made Zaida throw up which was not the ideal start for a day's sightseeing! Tried to maintain it was Delhi belly, but after being called ratbag a few times had to admit is was the vodka!

As you can imagine we did not leave the hotel until almost 11am after all the palaver. Our drivers then took us to the Red Fort in Old Delhi. This was the centre of the old Moghal government. What a beautiful place, it took over 10 years to build in the 1600’s, which really is no surprise when you see the detail that has gone into the architecture it is truly amazing! It is a really tranquil place compared to what is outside the fort walls.

After the peace and lush surroundings of the Fort we ventured outside where we bravely walked the crazy road of Chandni Chawak, well… what a place! We were completely gob smacked, we told to prepare ourselves for ‘humanity’ but nothing can.
People are bumping into you, shouting at you, harassing you, and unfortunately in our case giving us a little abuse ;o) The smells are outrageous masked by the occasional jos-stick or street food. Our guide came with us thankfully, after a while we did wus-out and asked him to take us back to the car – hehehe! Crazy, crazy day. We even saw an elephant walking down the street like we were told, perfect tourist photo…

We have plenty of photos of clubbing in Delhi, our trips to the Red Fort and Old Delhi on the photos site click here to view and please leave a comment!

So there ended our tour of Delhi. Next stop Kalka and onto Shimla the former summer capital for the British Viceroy.

To get to Kalka we caught the overnight sleeper service from Delhi. This involved navigating our way around Delhi train station which was a bit of a nightmare, the train was however really comfortable and we both got a great night sleep – much needed after our late night the previous night! Arriving in Kalka at 6am we boarded the narrow gauge toy train which takes you up the mountain to Shimla. Shimla is at 2100 meters above sea level in the foothills of the Himalayas and is much cooler than the plains of Delhi. This was the reason for its original settlement and use as the summer HQ for the British during the days of the Raj.

The toy train journey takes about 5 hours and the scenery is breathtaking! Check the photos for some examples. Michael Palin did this journey at some point but had the foresight to book the ‘deluxe first class’ service as opposed to the “first class” service we were on. Boarding the train there were a few “are you sure this is right? Surely we should be on that train with the nice comfy seats……are you sure you’re sure??...etc”. Anyhow we’re now in Shimla and it’s beautiful. Much less hectic than Delhi. Our hotel is great and has fantastic views!

Happy days, and still no Delhi belly……….

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Thanks, and TaTa........

2005-09-16T09:28:54+02:00

It’s been an amazing couple of weeks since our first post! Now Zaida and Chris are the new Mr. and Mrs. Whittington - your roving reporters (think Uncle traveling Matt/Alan Whicker/Patsy from AbFab and you get the general idea)!

Thank you all so much for making our wedding day so special - so many great memories that will be with us for ever.....great weather, lovely speeches, Richard's heckling, Dawsey's bingo mic action, music from the 3D's (no names needed...legends!), Clarence and Tim break dancing, plenty of pissed casualties (if evidence is needed check the photos - Shiv what happened??), not to mention the fact that we are now married!!......the list goes on!!!(and on!!).

So......here we are then.....THE HONEYMOON – Whittington’s on tour!

Our 'get upgraded' tactic didn’t quite work at Heathrow but we did manage to blag some exit row seats so plenty plenty legroom and a gratis bottle of bubbly ta very much Mr Branson!

So after a pleasant journey we have arrived at our first destination Delhi!! So what can we say about Delhi? Well we have only been here 3 days but have already got a taste for the place....... They drive on the left (sort of!) they like to use their horns, loads of traffic...

......great curries (unsurprisingly!), and it rains a lot! That said it is the end of the monsoon season and the rain keeps the temperature at a reasonable 30deg. Also the time difference is 4 AND A HALF hours – what’s that all about?? I’ve never heard of a place that has a ‘half hour’ difference to GMT. Maybe I’ve had a sheltered upbringing!

We have already been to a few of the cultural highlights of the city including the Qutb Minar complex - an amazing collection of temples and tombs, and Humayun's tomb which is a beautifully restored building set in amazing lush water gardens - Charlie Dimmock eat yr heart out! Apparently this building is the precursor to the Taj Mahal. As soon as we can we will upload some photos. We have made a note to ourselves to remember to charge the camera before going out next time, as 5 mins battery life just isn’t enough for a full days sightseeing!

We are both settling into a life of leisure with ease, bit sightseeing - snooze, bit food - snooze, little sleep - snooze etc etc..... but I'm sure you understand these things can't be rushed....

After day three we have managed to avoid the infamous Delhi belly although writing this is probably too much temptation for fate to resist so watch this space. We are sticking to the vegetarian options as advised and there is plenty to choose from. We had the best curry last night in a lovely restaurant for about 2 squid each. Then a few local beers in what was described as a 'blues bar' not much blues to be had, more Nirvana than Nina - good fun all the same.

Its raining this morning and were feeling a little lazy so we thought a little blogging wouldn’t hurt before this afternoons outing to ‘Old Delhi’. This should be interesting as it’s rumored to be a little chaotic!!

Delhi is a city of great in-equalities. Kids living on the side of the street being passed by affluent Indians in big 4x4's. We haven't had much bother from beggars although we are being chaperoned most of the time by our guides, which I suspect are keeping us away for the worst areas (probably a good thing as we haven't developed that hard traveler outer skin yet). Something worthy of note is how so many different religions seem to co-exist here; there is no definite Sikh, Christian or Muslim area just a mish mash of society seemingly living happily side-by-side. Other societies could learn from this we're sure.
Another thing to mention is the huge amount of construction and development currently going on. Massive infrastructure and road building schemes are everywhere. A population of 1.1 billion with upwardly mobile aspirations demands this I guess. It will be interesting to see what the country holds in store for us outside of the city – Delhi is after all a huge urban sprawl; the real Indian countryside is some way away. Our train ride to Kalka and then onto Shimla in the foothills of the Himalayas tomorrow evening should give us a perfect vantage point!

Remember to visit www.jhardy.co.uk/zaida for the latest pics. There are some corkers on there from the wedding!! Please leave comments on the photos website. You can also comment here by using the 'comment' link below.

C and Z x

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Welcome!

2005-09-01T11:56:59+02:00

Welcome, welcome, welcome to our travellers blog!
We have now officially finished work and our start date for travelling is fast approaching!! We get Married this coming weekend on the 3rd of September and then set off 10 days later for a 6 month honeymoon returning at the end of March 2006 (maybe ) and here is where we are going..........

Fly from Heathrow to.......
India - Shimla and the 'golden triangle' (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) and white water rafting down the Ganges
Nepal - Trek to Everest base camp
Bangkok + northern Thailand (Chiang Mai)
Laos - Norfff and Saaaaf
Cambodia - Angkor Wat, Siem Riep and the killing fields etc
Vietnam - on train up the coast
Southern China
Hong Kong
Singapore
Australia - Melbourne for Xmas, Sydney for New years, East coast travel up to Cairns
New Zealand Camper Van tour of north and south Islands
Fiji + Cook islands (to lay on beaches for 2 weeks!)
Los Angeles then hire car and drive up to Lake Tahoe for 2/3 weeks snowboarding.
Drive back to Vegas for 2/3 days then return to Gatwick

If you have any tips, advice, comments, messages, recommendations, suggestions of places not to miss (or to avoid!) then please add a comment to this blog.

Please visit this blog regularly to check for our latest posts and there will be a few pictures on here as well.

C & Z

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