Helloooooo! We have just 1 week left of our backpacking adventure.... and we have been totally crap at updating!!! Thankfully, there's not too much for me to type. :)
We spent lots of time in Dahab after Jordan, diving twice a day, eating yummy Egyptian food at local shops, reading, smoking (and buying our own!) sheesha... We were meant to head off to Luxor to check out the sights, but then.... Oli got the Temple trots, Cairo craps, whatever you may call them. Anywho, 18 hours on a bus (egyptian bus, no less) was not the best plan, so we decided to push our trip back a day... and the following day he was no better and I was worse for wear as well. Doesn't it figure, at the end of our trip!? Well, what better place to be ill than next to the Red sea, surrounded by the nicest locals yet. We made lots of friends at our hotel/restaurant/dive shop, and basically spent the rest of our time hanging out with them within running distance to the bathroom! Not what we planned, but not too shabby! We loved Egypt anyway, so we will be back, and next time we will head to Luxor first before we fall into the Dahab black hole. On the 1st we headed to Cairo for the night, hung out with an Egyptian friend of ours for the evening, and headed out the following day on a flight to Athens.
Dahab piccies:
Upon arrival in Greece, we headed into town to pick up a bag we had left in storage at the hostel, grabbed a few drinks, then "slept" in the airport. Of all the airports we have slept in (5, 6?) Athens was by far the worst. The shops never close, so music is blaring all night, and thoughtfully they have chairs with awkward armrests, so you can't even recline. I slept on a table, and Oli hunched over himself. We were please when 3:30 came and it was time to check in. Zoom forward, we landed in Chania, Crete! After a bit of waiting, our rental car arrived, we plodded on down to a grocery store to stock up on the essentials (taramasalata, wine, pita, and tzatziki) then to Almirida to meet Jo and get the keys for our new temporary home! We are staying at the holiday home of some friends of Susie and James', and we are so so pleased! Gorgeous views of snow capped mountains to one side, the blue blue sea to the other, a full kitchen, and a COUCH. We had some lunch, smoked our sheesha, then took a nice 5 hour nap. Luxury! Then next day we headed in for a wander around Chania, oblivious to the fact that Crete practices the ancient art of the SIESTA. Shops were closed for 4-5 hours, so we had a bit of a walking tour, grabbed more groceries, and headed home. And it was a home that we hibernated until today. Sleeping, reading, reading, sleeping, eating, relaxing. We needed a bit of down time after this past year, and as we will still be hopping around from parents home to parents home then moving to parents home, we relished the quiet and solitude. We emerged from our cocoon today to find everything closes on Sunday. Drats. Ah well, this next week will be busy- we gotta make our last week count! Next Monday, we fly back to London, then I head off to Melbourne until the day before Thanksgiving. We must enjoy this lovely weather while we can. LOVE and MISS you all!!! We're comin' home soon.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Seven of Seven
We’ve been very busy since we last blogged, even though we had to deal with the extremes of the Egyptian way!
After a very long and cramped bus ride overnight we arrived in the port town of Nuwieba at 7am. From here our task was simple – get over to Aqaba, Jordan, and then up to Wadi Musa where we would set up for Petra in the morrow. Sounds easy right? Well…… getting the tickets was easy, even waiting until 3pm for the ferry departure was relatively easy, the rest was not. After a long hot day sitting at a café we went to board the ferry, only to be kept waiting and waiting. And of course when we were finally able to board (45mins late) it was an absolute nightmare of tour groups and generally oblivious people! Next was the journey, despite paying for the fast boat AND being assured we were on it, the trip was not 1hr, it was 3. The pain did not even stop here! When we finally arrived at the other side we had to go through immigration, and despite being the 1st people there, this honour is reserved for the tour groups, however long it takes them…. All of them!! Of course, by this time we were seeing red and being told to “take a seat” in a room full of people where there were no seats, was not a great way to stem the flames of anger. At least from here it was just a short cab ride to town, albeit 3 ½ hours later than planned. Yet our luck had not turned and our cabbie did not intend to drop us off at ouyr hotel so we hopped out in town and here we were told where we were – but we weren’t! So a little wander led us to find a hotel and we were able to settle in for the night, FINALLY!
With no intention of staying in Aqaba, but also no intent to haul ass to Petra, we allowed ourselves to sleep in and casually grab some food before getting into a share taxi to Wadi Musa. The trip was under 2 hrs and we arrived in time to get a nice room and find some more delicious Middle Eastern food before retiring for the night. After a nice sleep, with great anticipation, we awoke at 7 for breakfast and hustled out to get to Petra for the day – and what a day it was!
We got our tickets to the site and started the trek in to the heart of it all. On the way we were given little tasters of what was to come as with carved facades and caves in the face of the sandstone rock around us. After a short time we entered ‘the siq’ a narrow gorge forged from the tectonic plates separating. At time the light was almost cut out as we ventured deeper inside and the anticipation rose as we got nearer to the end and the figure-head of Petra, The Treasury.
When we did arrive we were able to see how so many people fall in love with Petra right there. It was astonishing. The detail and the craftsmanship involved and then the natural beauty of the lined and swirled sandstone. Also, Indiana Jones connect helps! Despite the throngs of tourists we were able to enjoy our time here with smiles on our faces as we had reached our final of the 7 Wonders of the World.
From the Treasury we strolled down the ‘Street of Facades’, a narrow road with carved tomb fronts on either side. This led us out into an opening, from which we could gauge the enormity of the site. A large amphitheatre stood in front of us with carved tombs on either side, rising up the valley walls. We could also see the wide valley in front of us with more and more ruins to explore.
We continued our trek and went to explore some of the huge tombs that we could see, all ornately adorned and carved from the sandstone. As we walked to go and view them we saw that a guy that had shared in our ferry agony was sat with some local Bedouins, sipping tea at their trinket stall. We joined them and spent the next half hour sipping Bedouin tea and taking in the scenery. With brief goodbyes we started our hike to a secluded overlook of the treasury. This entailed us picking our way through crevices, climbing/scrabbling up worn out carved steps and pushing our way through bushes past the carcasses of donkeys! Not another person the entire time.
We arrived finally, feeling pretty hardcore, at the top of the cliff, with just a few minutes left until the overlook. It was here that we met some people finally, who had chosen the route we decided against. The view from the outcrop was fantastic; we sat and had our hiking snacks looking down on the Treasury and the bustling crowd below. We descended via the ‘proper’ route and decided that ours was much more fun then the hundreds of restored steps that lead us down, back to the valley floor.
We still had tons to see so we hurried on to explore the very Roman city centre, with it’s colonnades and free standing buildings. We stopped here for another rest before a long and strenuous hike up the Monastery. Although we soon found that it wasn’t as bad as people seemed to think and was a very nice, yet step-y, trek and we were once again rewarded heavily. The Monastery was as impressive as the Treasury, not as ornate, but larger, and of the same design – these guys were serious!
By the time we had returned to the valley we had only one thing left to do before the day was out – a hike recommended by our guidebook that a renowned US rambler claimed as being in his top 6. Well, as usual LP didn’t fail to provide a crappy part of the map at a vital point! We set off under my direction. We were having a lovely tie, with beautiful scenery when we happened upon a group of guys who wanted to check our map. This was when, after consulting our compass, we were on the wrong trail heading nowhere except for a 2 day hike to a village!! Needless to say, we pulled a U-y and went back the other way, forgoing our hike, my head bowed in shame! We did make it to the final destination, well I did. Jen, still fighting off a nasty cold, decided to wait at the bottom of the rock face and the staircase that lead to the top. So I left on my own, on weary legs to finish the day at the ‘High Place of Sacrifice’.
I was a rewarding hike up and, after forcing myself to quicken the pace, I was up in 20 minutes. The view was astonishing, as were the 2 obelisks, carved from the sandstone, yet being the only 2 objects on a flat topped pinnacle! With a little exploration I managed to find the 10 x 20 ft shallow pool, presumably there to catch whatever the ‘sacrifice’ ‘leaked’!
I arrived back down to find Jen, surprised to see me so quickly (Yes, I’m gloating – the book said 40mins each way, I was up and down in 45) and we took a leisurely walk back to the end of the siq, to take one final look a the Treasury before departing. We were even able to get a quick piccie with no one else in it! After a very long, hot, dust, sweaty, up & down, 9hr day we decided that we had better relax a little before going back to the hotel. So we had a nice cold beer in the Worlds oldest bar (Thank you Ranch Kids)!
So there we are, we have seen all of the 7 New Wonders and what remains of the Ancients. We even managed to finish on a favourite, Petra is a beautiful blend of natural beauty in the amazingly patterned sandstone and the natural landscape, mixed with the truly magnificent feat of the civilization that once lived here in constructing such an awe inspiring city. Magical.
Nothing left to do on our trip but relax – and so we shall!
We left Jordan the next day, much more smoothly than before, although we did have to wait a few hours for the ferry to leave, and, once back on Egyptian soil, Jen haggled a VERY good price for a ride down to Dahab, where we are now. For months this has been a place we have been looking forward to, a sea-side paradise of lazy days, sheesha pipes, great food, cold beers and wonderful diving. So far it has not disappointed. We have found a nice little ocean front hotel with a great bar/dining area on the water that looks over the glassy blue waters of the Gulf of Aqaba ( the Red Sea) to Saudi Arabia. And furthermore, we have had 2 days of fantastic diving and plan to have 3 or 4 more!
Unfortunately, we can’t get these computers to load Picasa and therefore we cannot post the pictures yet…. So you will have to wait! Sorry!
Bye, time for food, beer and another sheesha before bed!
After a very long and cramped bus ride overnight we arrived in the port town of Nuwieba at 7am. From here our task was simple – get over to Aqaba, Jordan, and then up to Wadi Musa where we would set up for Petra in the morrow. Sounds easy right? Well…… getting the tickets was easy, even waiting until 3pm for the ferry departure was relatively easy, the rest was not. After a long hot day sitting at a café we went to board the ferry, only to be kept waiting and waiting. And of course when we were finally able to board (45mins late) it was an absolute nightmare of tour groups and generally oblivious people! Next was the journey, despite paying for the fast boat AND being assured we were on it, the trip was not 1hr, it was 3. The pain did not even stop here! When we finally arrived at the other side we had to go through immigration, and despite being the 1st people there, this honour is reserved for the tour groups, however long it takes them…. All of them!! Of course, by this time we were seeing red and being told to “take a seat” in a room full of people where there were no seats, was not a great way to stem the flames of anger. At least from here it was just a short cab ride to town, albeit 3 ½ hours later than planned. Yet our luck had not turned and our cabbie did not intend to drop us off at ouyr hotel so we hopped out in town and here we were told where we were – but we weren’t! So a little wander led us to find a hotel and we were able to settle in for the night, FINALLY!
With no intention of staying in Aqaba, but also no intent to haul ass to Petra, we allowed ourselves to sleep in and casually grab some food before getting into a share taxi to Wadi Musa. The trip was under 2 hrs and we arrived in time to get a nice room and find some more delicious Middle Eastern food before retiring for the night. After a nice sleep, with great anticipation, we awoke at 7 for breakfast and hustled out to get to Petra for the day – and what a day it was!
We got our tickets to the site and started the trek in to the heart of it all. On the way we were given little tasters of what was to come as with carved facades and caves in the face of the sandstone rock around us. After a short time we entered ‘the siq’ a narrow gorge forged from the tectonic plates separating. At time the light was almost cut out as we ventured deeper inside and the anticipation rose as we got nearer to the end and the figure-head of Petra, The Treasury.
When we did arrive we were able to see how so many people fall in love with Petra right there. It was astonishing. The detail and the craftsmanship involved and then the natural beauty of the lined and swirled sandstone. Also, Indiana Jones connect helps! Despite the throngs of tourists we were able to enjoy our time here with smiles on our faces as we had reached our final of the 7 Wonders of the World.
From the Treasury we strolled down the ‘Street of Facades’, a narrow road with carved tomb fronts on either side. This led us out into an opening, from which we could gauge the enormity of the site. A large amphitheatre stood in front of us with carved tombs on either side, rising up the valley walls. We could also see the wide valley in front of us with more and more ruins to explore.
We continued our trek and went to explore some of the huge tombs that we could see, all ornately adorned and carved from the sandstone. As we walked to go and view them we saw that a guy that had shared in our ferry agony was sat with some local Bedouins, sipping tea at their trinket stall. We joined them and spent the next half hour sipping Bedouin tea and taking in the scenery. With brief goodbyes we started our hike to a secluded overlook of the treasury. This entailed us picking our way through crevices, climbing/scrabbling up worn out carved steps and pushing our way through bushes past the carcasses of donkeys! Not another person the entire time.
We arrived finally, feeling pretty hardcore, at the top of the cliff, with just a few minutes left until the overlook. It was here that we met some people finally, who had chosen the route we decided against. The view from the outcrop was fantastic; we sat and had our hiking snacks looking down on the Treasury and the bustling crowd below. We descended via the ‘proper’ route and decided that ours was much more fun then the hundreds of restored steps that lead us down, back to the valley floor.
We still had tons to see so we hurried on to explore the very Roman city centre, with it’s colonnades and free standing buildings. We stopped here for another rest before a long and strenuous hike up the Monastery. Although we soon found that it wasn’t as bad as people seemed to think and was a very nice, yet step-y, trek and we were once again rewarded heavily. The Monastery was as impressive as the Treasury, not as ornate, but larger, and of the same design – these guys were serious!
By the time we had returned to the valley we had only one thing left to do before the day was out – a hike recommended by our guidebook that a renowned US rambler claimed as being in his top 6. Well, as usual LP didn’t fail to provide a crappy part of the map at a vital point! We set off under my direction. We were having a lovely tie, with beautiful scenery when we happened upon a group of guys who wanted to check our map. This was when, after consulting our compass, we were on the wrong trail heading nowhere except for a 2 day hike to a village!! Needless to say, we pulled a U-y and went back the other way, forgoing our hike, my head bowed in shame! We did make it to the final destination, well I did. Jen, still fighting off a nasty cold, decided to wait at the bottom of the rock face and the staircase that lead to the top. So I left on my own, on weary legs to finish the day at the ‘High Place of Sacrifice’.
I was a rewarding hike up and, after forcing myself to quicken the pace, I was up in 20 minutes. The view was astonishing, as were the 2 obelisks, carved from the sandstone, yet being the only 2 objects on a flat topped pinnacle! With a little exploration I managed to find the 10 x 20 ft shallow pool, presumably there to catch whatever the ‘sacrifice’ ‘leaked’!
I arrived back down to find Jen, surprised to see me so quickly (Yes, I’m gloating – the book said 40mins each way, I was up and down in 45) and we took a leisurely walk back to the end of the siq, to take one final look a the Treasury before departing. We were even able to get a quick piccie with no one else in it! After a very long, hot, dust, sweaty, up & down, 9hr day we decided that we had better relax a little before going back to the hotel. So we had a nice cold beer in the Worlds oldest bar (Thank you Ranch Kids)!
So there we are, we have seen all of the 7 New Wonders and what remains of the Ancients. We even managed to finish on a favourite, Petra is a beautiful blend of natural beauty in the amazingly patterned sandstone and the natural landscape, mixed with the truly magnificent feat of the civilization that once lived here in constructing such an awe inspiring city. Magical.
Nothing left to do on our trip but relax – and so we shall!
We left Jordan the next day, much more smoothly than before, although we did have to wait a few hours for the ferry to leave, and, once back on Egyptian soil, Jen haggled a VERY good price for a ride down to Dahab, where we are now. For months this has been a place we have been looking forward to, a sea-side paradise of lazy days, sheesha pipes, great food, cold beers and wonderful diving. So far it has not disappointed. We have found a nice little ocean front hotel with a great bar/dining area on the water that looks over the glassy blue waters of the Gulf of Aqaba ( the Red Sea) to Saudi Arabia. And furthermore, we have had 2 days of fantastic diving and plan to have 3 or 4 more!
Unfortunately, we can’t get these computers to load Picasa and therefore we cannot post the pictures yet…. So you will have to wait! Sorry!
Bye, time for food, beer and another sheesha before bed!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
ruins and dips and friends and camels
The next day we troddled on over to the brand new Acropolis museum- mere steps from our abode in Plaka (did we mention we can see the Acropolis from basically anywhere?!)paid our 1 euro entrance, and battled the tour groups gone mad for a small bit of space. The museum was phenomenal and incredibly well done. Oli was particularly tickled by the short film, however there were no copies to be found in the gift shop. We enjoyed every second of it!!! Next up we visited the Archeological Museum- fantastic!! Then back to our hotel for another night of lounging on the balcony, avoiding the rain.
On Friday we hopped on a bus and headed out to Nafplio- a gorgeous seaside town with a lotta history. It was the first capital of the Hellenic Republic, has a massive fortress or 3, and is a very nice place to sit in a cafe over a coffee. My old friend Angelo, whom I knew back in the old days at CSUC, lives there, and we were able to meet up for a few hours. He gave us a fab tour of the town and along the water and we were immediately jealous of his living in this paradise. We climbed around the fortress a bit in the afternoon, then hopped on the bus then the metro then to the hostel then the metro to the airport to wait until our 11pm flight to Egypt!!!!!!
The flight was uneventful but when we arrived in Cairo things spiced up a bit. It was vaguely reminiscent of our landing in Chennai all those months ago. Hot chaos, people hassling, grabbing, begging for your attention so they can get your money. We hired a car from the Limo company so we wouldn't have to haggle over the price upon arrival at our hotel, and set off. The purported 20 minute ride was nothing of the sort due to our poor timing right after an accident with a flipped vehicle whose passengers they had to break out through the windshield and which caused gridlock for 90 minutes as we were on an overpass. Then off we went, zooming through the streets of Cairo only to realize that our cab driver had no clue where he was, no clue where the hotel was, and no clue how to get from point a to point b. Fabulous, especially at 2 am (3 am on our body clocks due to the time change). What was even better was that he couldn't read our map or let us direct him as he spoke no English. He had to resort to screaming out the car window at bums sleeping on cardboard boxes, reverse through many streets, and then barely believed us when we shouted that we were pulled up by the hotel. And then emerged another gem of Egypt-Baksheesh. Now, we have encountered this before, a bit of bribery here and there to make things run smoothly, but here it takes on a new level. As the average wage is 8 Egyptian pounds- less then $1.50USD, people rely on baksheesh to make ends meet. So every time someone opens the door for you, points out something (obvious as it may be) has any sort of social interaction with you, you are expected and socially required to give them baksheesh. Now this may range from a few pounds upwards to 10 or more, and they always want more. We fled from our stupid cab driver after he refused to take our measly few pounds tip, but what did he expect? The past 3 hours with him were not exactly pleasant nor did we think we would come out alive, and we had already paid him for the cab. However we did have to shell out to the bum who ran to our building and opened the elevator door for us. And so it continued.
We checked in and passed out.
The next morning we headed off to see the famed Egyptian Museum. Housing a massive unparalleled collection, we expected the museum to impress us as well. Unfortunately, no care is taken with the artifacts- they are all dirty and jumbled together. Many things are out in the open and as we have learned, with every "don't touch" sign there are 99% of people who will immediately touch once having read said sign. We were incredibly pissed watching the guards sit around and nap while all these priceless artifacts were desecrated. There were a few rooms that had obviously been recently renovated but for the most part everything was a shambles- disappointing after $30USD entrance per person. We did see the mummies, who looked a bit raisiny and had surprisingly intact eyelashes, and viewed Tutankhamen's royal burial goodies which was sweet. We may sound a bit jaded, but after seeing as many museums as we have lately we are becoming sticklers for quality.
The afternoon was mellow, dodging touts and overly friendly men, eating fabulous falafel and dips, and going to bed early to try and kick this cold that is just not ready to quit.
This morning we were up super duper early and hopped in our hired car to head out for a day of pyramid-hopping. We couldn't imagine a day of haggling with random cabs so we decided with a private driver from our hotel- a rarely afforded luxury. First we stopped at the bus station to buy our tix to Nuieba for TONIGHT, then (drumroll please) the Great Pyramids of Giza. Plunked in the middle of urban Giza, or rather having watched with Giza encircled them, the pyramids are as impressive as you could imagine. Massive and sandy. We tried to dodge most of the touts but Oli did get attacked by a man with Arab head wraps who wouldn't take no or running away for an answer (the photo says it all). After the obligatory baksheesh, we climbed on inside the biggest pyramid. The climb inside was surprisingly short and we only passed one woman hyperventilating from the claustrophobia. The final room was smelly and dark. I guess you just do it for the novelty- its pretty cool to be under all that stone. Not much of a view inside, however. We did our lap of the 3 pyramids, posed with the Sphinx, then hopped in the car for the rest of our adventures.
We visited the Steps pyramid at the Saqqara (oldest stone monument in the world), then off to Memphis with a cool old statue of Ramses II, then to Dashur to see the red pyramid (oldest pyramid in the world) where we climbed inside, it smelled like pee, but was a bit more impressing than Giza as the ceilings were vaulted. Back to the hotel for some reading and now here we are! Time for some dinner and sheesha, then off to sleep on a bus! Less than a month left....
On Friday we hopped on a bus and headed out to Nafplio- a gorgeous seaside town with a lotta history. It was the first capital of the Hellenic Republic, has a massive fortress or 3, and is a very nice place to sit in a cafe over a coffee. My old friend Angelo, whom I knew back in the old days at CSUC, lives there, and we were able to meet up for a few hours. He gave us a fab tour of the town and along the water and we were immediately jealous of his living in this paradise. We climbed around the fortress a bit in the afternoon, then hopped on the bus then the metro then to the hostel then the metro to the airport to wait until our 11pm flight to Egypt!!!!!!
The flight was uneventful but when we arrived in Cairo things spiced up a bit. It was vaguely reminiscent of our landing in Chennai all those months ago. Hot chaos, people hassling, grabbing, begging for your attention so they can get your money. We hired a car from the Limo company so we wouldn't have to haggle over the price upon arrival at our hotel, and set off. The purported 20 minute ride was nothing of the sort due to our poor timing right after an accident with a flipped vehicle whose passengers they had to break out through the windshield and which caused gridlock for 90 minutes as we were on an overpass. Then off we went, zooming through the streets of Cairo only to realize that our cab driver had no clue where he was, no clue where the hotel was, and no clue how to get from point a to point b. Fabulous, especially at 2 am (3 am on our body clocks due to the time change). What was even better was that he couldn't read our map or let us direct him as he spoke no English. He had to resort to screaming out the car window at bums sleeping on cardboard boxes, reverse through many streets, and then barely believed us when we shouted that we were pulled up by the hotel. And then emerged another gem of Egypt-Baksheesh. Now, we have encountered this before, a bit of bribery here and there to make things run smoothly, but here it takes on a new level. As the average wage is 8 Egyptian pounds- less then $1.50USD, people rely on baksheesh to make ends meet. So every time someone opens the door for you, points out something (obvious as it may be) has any sort of social interaction with you, you are expected and socially required to give them baksheesh. Now this may range from a few pounds upwards to 10 or more, and they always want more. We fled from our stupid cab driver after he refused to take our measly few pounds tip, but what did he expect? The past 3 hours with him were not exactly pleasant nor did we think we would come out alive, and we had already paid him for the cab. However we did have to shell out to the bum who ran to our building and opened the elevator door for us. And so it continued.
We checked in and passed out.
The next morning we headed off to see the famed Egyptian Museum. Housing a massive unparalleled collection, we expected the museum to impress us as well. Unfortunately, no care is taken with the artifacts- they are all dirty and jumbled together. Many things are out in the open and as we have learned, with every "don't touch" sign there are 99% of people who will immediately touch once having read said sign. We were incredibly pissed watching the guards sit around and nap while all these priceless artifacts were desecrated. There were a few rooms that had obviously been recently renovated but for the most part everything was a shambles- disappointing after $30USD entrance per person. We did see the mummies, who looked a bit raisiny and had surprisingly intact eyelashes, and viewed Tutankhamen's royal burial goodies which was sweet. We may sound a bit jaded, but after seeing as many museums as we have lately we are becoming sticklers for quality.
The afternoon was mellow, dodging touts and overly friendly men, eating fabulous falafel and dips, and going to bed early to try and kick this cold that is just not ready to quit.
This morning we were up super duper early and hopped in our hired car to head out for a day of pyramid-hopping. We couldn't imagine a day of haggling with random cabs so we decided with a private driver from our hotel- a rarely afforded luxury. First we stopped at the bus station to buy our tix to Nuieba for TONIGHT, then (drumroll please) the Great Pyramids of Giza. Plunked in the middle of urban Giza, or rather having watched with Giza encircled them, the pyramids are as impressive as you could imagine. Massive and sandy. We tried to dodge most of the touts but Oli did get attacked by a man with Arab head wraps who wouldn't take no or running away for an answer (the photo says it all). After the obligatory baksheesh, we climbed on inside the biggest pyramid. The climb inside was surprisingly short and we only passed one woman hyperventilating from the claustrophobia. The final room was smelly and dark. I guess you just do it for the novelty- its pretty cool to be under all that stone. Not much of a view inside, however. We did our lap of the 3 pyramids, posed with the Sphinx, then hopped in the car for the rest of our adventures.
We visited the Steps pyramid at the Saqqara (oldest stone monument in the world), then off to Memphis with a cool old statue of Ramses II, then to Dashur to see the red pyramid (oldest pyramid in the world) where we climbed inside, it smelled like pee, but was a bit more impressing than Giza as the ceilings were vaulted. Back to the hotel for some reading and now here we are! Time for some dinner and sheesha, then off to sleep on a bus! Less than a month left....
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hellenical Adventures
Another blog so soon...... unheard of! We have close to 200 pics from yesterday so we thought we'd share them with you!! We were blessed with a beautiful day and some of the photos came out wonderfully (if I do say so myself!), so please, have a gander....
Firstly, here are the remaining photos from our short time in St. Petersburg:
And just a days worth of Athens:
Off to 2 of the worlds great museums today, so they say. Strange to think that tomorrow evening we will be in Egypt!
Firstly, here are the remaining photos from our short time in St. Petersburg:
And just a days worth of Athens:
Off to 2 of the worlds great museums today, so they say. Strange to think that tomorrow evening we will be in Egypt!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Greece Bound
We have arrived in Greece!! Goodbye cold weather and somber faces, hello sunshine and pita bread! Before I get ahead of myself, lets recap the past 2 weeks, shall we?
We left Irkutsk for Tomsk in a lovely cabin on the train. We ate loads of noodles and bread, drank lots of tea, and napped. Upon arrival in Tomsk we were met by Nikita, our CS host. He drove us to his place, a very nice apartment which he shares with his wife, overlooking the city. Fabulous! We feasted on stuffed peppers (thanks Marina!), showered, laundried, and generally sorted ourselves out before heading into town with our lovely hosts for a grand tour. Tomsk is primarily a student town with gorgeous architecture overlooking the Tom river. We even went to the hill where Tomsk was founded! Lots of the buildings are adorned with wooden "lace", a characteristic of original Siberian architecture with Tomsk being having the most intact pieces. What a lovely time we had, strolling around and chatting. We went back to the apartment that evening for a dinner of solyanka, a delicious soup, and some mulled wine. We rounded out the night watching "Brother 2" a great Russian film.
The next day we continued our tour after a ridiculously great omlette brunch, and visited the campuses and parks in the southern part of town. In the afternoon we attended the annual meeting for the local branch of the Hospitality Club, an organization quite like CS. We even had to give a little speech and slideshow of our trip! The meeting was held in an awesome tiny theatre with the most fantasitc wooden puppets that move and talk to you electronically. Seriously awesome. We cooked our hosts dinner of Chili con Carne and wine, and enjoyed our last night in Siberia.
Two-point-five days on the train in 3rd class- woulda been grand had we not been plagued by this chick who decided to sit with us and talk to our neighbors all day and all night, regardless of the fact that her seat was down the cabin. Oli couldn't lay down when he wanted to and she was constantly crowding us!! ARGHHHHH.
Welcome to Moscow. Somehow, we found our way to the hostel without a hitch and found that Home from Home is not what it claims. We were met by a very confused staff, no record of our booking (a constant problem with this place, as it turns out) and then we were placed in the "dorm" in the common room- 4 saggy beds under the TV where the resident babushka sits all day watching the soaps. She also sleeps there and has a massive snoring problem, as we found out later. We headed out to grab a bite to eat (yummy blinys) and a night view of the Kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral. So picturesque!!! We rounded out the evening at a Cuban bar of all places, drinking extortionately prices drinks (thanks for the beer $ pops!!!!!) and avoiding our hellhole of a hostel.
The next day we went back to the Red Square to visit Lenin's Mauselium- creepy and sad, the past 85 years look like they were torture for the poor man. Lunch at a fab place in the famous GUM mall (Russians LOVE their buffet and cafeteria style restaurants!) and then the museum, afterwhich we were plagued with what to do until our 1am train to St. Petes. Oli decided on (what else) Tinkoff brewery! We lazed away the night having a few microbrews until our train. As we boarded our train, we realized that we had left our passports in the hostel's safe. Oh shit. Well, nothin to do but try to board the train with our photocopies and avoid the po-po at any cost! We boarded without a problem and slept the 9hrs to St. Petersburg.
Now this is a city we can dig! Immediately we loved the place, and were fortunate enough to be staying at the lovely Soul Kitchen hostel- nice! We checked in, grabbed lunch, and headed directly to the Hermitage. What a museum!!! We were there until closing, and saw every single room on both the first and second floors. It is one of the most fabulous museums we have ever been to and thats saying a lot after London, NYC, and the past year of globe trotting! Dinner at a local place where we munched on Ural dumplings and borscht.
Day two of St. Petes consisted of the Dostoyevsky museum (swoon), napping, and food at Yolki Polki- salad buffet for less than $10, a real feat in Russia, and where we found out later Obama had taken his kids to! Early night for us.
Final day in St. Petes was Hermitage time- had to finish up the 3rd floor! Hid out in a coffeeshop and then the ballet at the Mikaelovsky theatre- Giselle was on, and it was surperb. Russian ballet, can't beat it!! A bit fancy pants when you get down to it, and the men sure were proud of those tights they were wearing, but a great evening overall. Evening train to Moscow!
Final day in Russia, and it poured down with rain. We went to the armoury, where we saw a few Faberge eggs (I really don't get what the fuss is about), some awesome carriages, and a bunch of guilded things. Spent the afternoon in a coffee shop journaling and deciding on which Russian dolls to buy, then off to the airport for our 10:40pm flight to Riga, Latvia!
Slept in the Riga airport- I swear we were the only souls there. Not even anyplace to buy water, we had to suffice with sucking out of the bathroom taps. Slept surprisingly well for a few hours, had a cold pizza breakfast, and then caught our flight to ATHENS!!!
And here we are. We arrived yesterday and immediately had a beer at the rooftop bar overlooking the Acropolis, then found a market to buy dips and cheeses and pitas and wine, and spent the evening on our balcony enjoying the Grecian weather.
Today has been busy! We headed to the Acropolis first, where it was tour group hell, but still breathtaking. Of course, like every other fabulous thing in the world it was under refurbishment, but still- amazing. After that we popped in at a few other ruins around the city, ate a yummo Greek pita wrap, and decided to visit Nafplio on Friday. And that brings you up to date! Just a month left on our RTW adventure (then I'm off to Australia sans Oli for 10 days or so) and then Blighty for the holidays! Love and kisses.
We left Irkutsk for Tomsk in a lovely cabin on the train. We ate loads of noodles and bread, drank lots of tea, and napped. Upon arrival in Tomsk we were met by Nikita, our CS host. He drove us to his place, a very nice apartment which he shares with his wife, overlooking the city. Fabulous! We feasted on stuffed peppers (thanks Marina!), showered, laundried, and generally sorted ourselves out before heading into town with our lovely hosts for a grand tour. Tomsk is primarily a student town with gorgeous architecture overlooking the Tom river. We even went to the hill where Tomsk was founded! Lots of the buildings are adorned with wooden "lace", a characteristic of original Siberian architecture with Tomsk being having the most intact pieces. What a lovely time we had, strolling around and chatting. We went back to the apartment that evening for a dinner of solyanka, a delicious soup, and some mulled wine. We rounded out the night watching "Brother 2" a great Russian film.
The next day we continued our tour after a ridiculously great omlette brunch, and visited the campuses and parks in the southern part of town. In the afternoon we attended the annual meeting for the local branch of the Hospitality Club, an organization quite like CS. We even had to give a little speech and slideshow of our trip! The meeting was held in an awesome tiny theatre with the most fantasitc wooden puppets that move and talk to you electronically. Seriously awesome. We cooked our hosts dinner of Chili con Carne and wine, and enjoyed our last night in Siberia.
Two-point-five days on the train in 3rd class- woulda been grand had we not been plagued by this chick who decided to sit with us and talk to our neighbors all day and all night, regardless of the fact that her seat was down the cabin. Oli couldn't lay down when he wanted to and she was constantly crowding us!! ARGHHHHH.
Welcome to Moscow. Somehow, we found our way to the hostel without a hitch and found that Home from Home is not what it claims. We were met by a very confused staff, no record of our booking (a constant problem with this place, as it turns out) and then we were placed in the "dorm" in the common room- 4 saggy beds under the TV where the resident babushka sits all day watching the soaps. She also sleeps there and has a massive snoring problem, as we found out later. We headed out to grab a bite to eat (yummy blinys) and a night view of the Kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral. So picturesque!!! We rounded out the evening at a Cuban bar of all places, drinking extortionately prices drinks (thanks for the beer $ pops!!!!!) and avoiding our hellhole of a hostel.
The next day we went back to the Red Square to visit Lenin's Mauselium- creepy and sad, the past 85 years look like they were torture for the poor man. Lunch at a fab place in the famous GUM mall (Russians LOVE their buffet and cafeteria style restaurants!) and then the museum, afterwhich we were plagued with what to do until our 1am train to St. Petes. Oli decided on (what else) Tinkoff brewery! We lazed away the night having a few microbrews until our train. As we boarded our train, we realized that we had left our passports in the hostel's safe. Oh shit. Well, nothin to do but try to board the train with our photocopies and avoid the po-po at any cost! We boarded without a problem and slept the 9hrs to St. Petersburg.
Now this is a city we can dig! Immediately we loved the place, and were fortunate enough to be staying at the lovely Soul Kitchen hostel- nice! We checked in, grabbed lunch, and headed directly to the Hermitage. What a museum!!! We were there until closing, and saw every single room on both the first and second floors. It is one of the most fabulous museums we have ever been to and thats saying a lot after London, NYC, and the past year of globe trotting! Dinner at a local place where we munched on Ural dumplings and borscht.
Day two of St. Petes consisted of the Dostoyevsky museum (swoon), napping, and food at Yolki Polki- salad buffet for less than $10, a real feat in Russia, and where we found out later Obama had taken his kids to! Early night for us.
Final day in St. Petes was Hermitage time- had to finish up the 3rd floor! Hid out in a coffeeshop and then the ballet at the Mikaelovsky theatre- Giselle was on, and it was surperb. Russian ballet, can't beat it!! A bit fancy pants when you get down to it, and the men sure were proud of those tights they were wearing, but a great evening overall. Evening train to Moscow!
Final day in Russia, and it poured down with rain. We went to the armoury, where we saw a few Faberge eggs (I really don't get what the fuss is about), some awesome carriages, and a bunch of guilded things. Spent the afternoon in a coffee shop journaling and deciding on which Russian dolls to buy, then off to the airport for our 10:40pm flight to Riga, Latvia!
Slept in the Riga airport- I swear we were the only souls there. Not even anyplace to buy water, we had to suffice with sucking out of the bathroom taps. Slept surprisingly well for a few hours, had a cold pizza breakfast, and then caught our flight to ATHENS!!!
And here we are. We arrived yesterday and immediately had a beer at the rooftop bar overlooking the Acropolis, then found a market to buy dips and cheeses and pitas and wine, and spent the evening on our balcony enjoying the Grecian weather.
Today has been busy! We headed to the Acropolis first, where it was tour group hell, but still breathtaking. Of course, like every other fabulous thing in the world it was under refurbishment, but still- amazing. After that we popped in at a few other ruins around the city, ate a yummo Greek pita wrap, and decided to visit Nafplio on Friday. And that brings you up to date! Just a month left on our RTW adventure (then I'm off to Australia sans Oli for 10 days or so) and then Blighty for the holidays! Love and kisses.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Happy Anniversary to us!!!!
Well, it has now been one year since we flew to Mexico City from NYC and now we are in Russia - weird! It is also weird to think that in 2 weeks we will be in Cairo, after travelling the remaining few thousand Km of the Trans-Siberian, a brief stop in Latvia AND going to Athens!
Anyway, a lot has happened since the end of the last update, for this we have to go all the way back to Beijing..... but to the best part...
Catherine arrived!! We made our way over to the Hilton to meet her and we were greeted with big hugs and a ridiculous room!! We snuck ourselves in and went out to explore the city, now as a threesome. We went 1st to the Temple of Heaven Park, we had a lovely wander around the grounds and even got to witness a large group of locals having a nice Sunday afternoon dance! From here we went to go for a quick drink and to the Duck Restaurant that had been recommended to us.
We arrived and were greeted with something everyone can appreciate.... free wine! A good start so far. We were all hungry and ready to experience Peking Duck in Peking. Unfortunatly the free wine was the best bit! Despite being delicious, the duck was disappointing as, despite ordering a whole duck, we all only had 3 limply filled pancakes - no good. It was so shocking thas
t we even complained and the girl donned some rubber gloves and started tearing at the duck. "Extra Lean" duck my ass! Anyway, it was delicious and we did not let it taint our night. We went to find a drink and before we knew it we were witnessing a pole-off! That's right people, a guy one one pole, a girl on the other and them both going at it HARD! Genius. Suffice to say, we had a good night!
We awoke in our (thx Cat!) still wonderful room and ventured out to The Forbidden City. When we arrived we were suprised to find a Cartier exhibit (Catherine works in the antique jewellery business) and it was one of the most enjoyable exhibits that we have been privy too, particularly as we had a cute little walking jewellery encyclopedia with us!! We left this to view the rest of the beautiful City before heading across Tian'amen Square to wander around the old network of streets on the other sides. From here we went for a really fun hotpot, cook your own, restaurant before heading back to the Hilton for the evening.
After leaving the Hilton and sadly saying goodbye to Catherine, ouк new fave travel buddy, we went over to our hostel for our last night in China before starting the Trans-Mongolian Railway trip. We left from here the following morning and bee-lined for the train station where we settled into a vitually empty train, meaning we had our own cabin. Yay!! The train trip was really something else, exciting and visually beautiful, seeing the landscape change from the green, limestone mountains of China, to the rock Gobi desert and then to the undulating hills surrounding Ulaanbaatar. Particularly memorable was Jen's puchase of Jack Daniel's at the border... only to find it was Jack Daniei's, a "very convincing" fake - she was not happy!
Arriving at our hostel, and for the 1st time for a while private room, we finally conceeded to machine washing our clothes, much needed after China, and went to explore the city a little. Finally we were really cold and we relished the opportunity to don our new coats and jeans! The next day we explored UB more visiting the very interesting and extensive National History Museum and then onto the Natural History Museum - more of a taxidermists wet dream than a museum - We went for a few local brews (thanks Kev & Arya) before heading back and packing up for our 2 nights stay with a nomadic family in a tradition ger in the Terelj National Park.
After a few hours in the car we arrived at our new family's place in the beautiful National Park. We were greeted with not only amazing landscape but warm mare's milk, and homemade bread & butter! We were left to our own devices till lunch and we went for a very visually rewarding hike up the peak next to the encampment. It was an amazing sight and at this time of year the trees were all an amazing bronze colour. We returned from our hike for lunch and (I) enjoyed freshly cooked (& killed) mutton with potatoes, rice and pickles. We vegged and enjoyed the countryside for the rest of the day before settling in with Anna and Peter, our new Portuguese buddies, and a bottle of vodka in our wood-fire heated ger.
Our 2nd day was greeted with new people coming to stay and more warm mare's milk! Today was our day to go horse-riding, for 4 hours, my 1st time..... it was harrowing! Actually, after nearly falling off in the 1st 5 mins, I got the hang of it and we had a great time trotting to 'Turtle Rock' - you guessed it, it looks like a turtle! With a sore arse we returned and had another relaxing evening, it was only after reviewing the photos from the horse-riding that we realised just how reeeeeeeeediculous I looked on the tiny horse!
We returned to UB after a 2nd night in the countryside and went to get our tickets for the next leg of the train. We rewarded ourselves at the Chinngis Beer Co. and went to stock up on provisions for the ensuing journey.
The next part of the train was just as beautiful, but a little more painful as there was the border crossing at 1am that took close to 6 hours with Mongolians asking us to help them smuggle coats across by claiming that they were ours! Yay. But we did make it into Russia. We arrived in Irkutsk yesterday after several hours skirting Lake Baikal, the World's deepest lake and largest deposit of unfrozen fresh water, to our 1st Russian Couch Surfing host. We hung out with the hairless cats till Spike got home at 1030pm. We hit it off and at 4am, after a bottle of vodka, we finally retired to bed.
Today we were late getting up thanks to the vodka but still made it to Lake Baikal to dip both feet in and gain 5 years of extra life per foot. Take that smoking!
We leave in the morning for Tomsk and more Russian fun!
Anyway, a lot has happened since the end of the last update, for this we have to go all the way back to Beijing..... but to the best part...
Catherine arrived!! We made our way over to the Hilton to meet her and we were greeted with big hugs and a ridiculous room!! We snuck ourselves in and went out to explore the city, now as a threesome. We went 1st to the Temple of Heaven Park, we had a lovely wander around the grounds and even got to witness a large group of locals having a nice Sunday afternoon dance! From here we went to go for a quick drink and to the Duck Restaurant that had been recommended to us.
We arrived and were greeted with something everyone can appreciate.... free wine! A good start so far. We were all hungry and ready to experience Peking Duck in Peking. Unfortunatly the free wine was the best bit! Despite being delicious, the duck was disappointing as, despite ordering a whole duck, we all only had 3 limply filled pancakes - no good. It was so shocking thas
t we even complained and the girl donned some rubber gloves and started tearing at the duck. "Extra Lean" duck my ass! Anyway, it was delicious and we did not let it taint our night. We went to find a drink and before we knew it we were witnessing a pole-off! That's right people, a guy one one pole, a girl on the other and them both going at it HARD! Genius. Suffice to say, we had a good night!
We awoke in our (thx Cat!) still wonderful room and ventured out to The Forbidden City. When we arrived we were suprised to find a Cartier exhibit (Catherine works in the antique jewellery business) and it was one of the most enjoyable exhibits that we have been privy too, particularly as we had a cute little walking jewellery encyclopedia with us!! We left this to view the rest of the beautiful City before heading across Tian'amen Square to wander around the old network of streets on the other sides. From here we went for a really fun hotpot, cook your own, restaurant before heading back to the Hilton for the evening.
After leaving the Hilton and sadly saying goodbye to Catherine, ouк new fave travel buddy, we went over to our hostel for our last night in China before starting the Trans-Mongolian Railway trip. We left from here the following morning and bee-lined for the train station where we settled into a vitually empty train, meaning we had our own cabin. Yay!! The train trip was really something else, exciting and visually beautiful, seeing the landscape change from the green, limestone mountains of China, to the rock Gobi desert and then to the undulating hills surrounding Ulaanbaatar. Particularly memorable was Jen's puchase of Jack Daniel's at the border... only to find it was Jack Daniei's, a "very convincing" fake - she was not happy!
Arriving at our hostel, and for the 1st time for a while private room, we finally conceeded to machine washing our clothes, much needed after China, and went to explore the city a little. Finally we were really cold and we relished the opportunity to don our new coats and jeans! The next day we explored UB more visiting the very interesting and extensive National History Museum and then onto the Natural History Museum - more of a taxidermists wet dream than a museum - We went for a few local brews (thanks Kev & Arya) before heading back and packing up for our 2 nights stay with a nomadic family in a tradition ger in the Terelj National Park.
After a few hours in the car we arrived at our new family's place in the beautiful National Park. We were greeted with not only amazing landscape but warm mare's milk, and homemade bread & butter! We were left to our own devices till lunch and we went for a very visually rewarding hike up the peak next to the encampment. It was an amazing sight and at this time of year the trees were all an amazing bronze colour. We returned from our hike for lunch and (I) enjoyed freshly cooked (& killed) mutton with potatoes, rice and pickles. We vegged and enjoyed the countryside for the rest of the day before settling in with Anna and Peter, our new Portuguese buddies, and a bottle of vodka in our wood-fire heated ger.
Our 2nd day was greeted with new people coming to stay and more warm mare's milk! Today was our day to go horse-riding, for 4 hours, my 1st time..... it was harrowing! Actually, after nearly falling off in the 1st 5 mins, I got the hang of it and we had a great time trotting to 'Turtle Rock' - you guessed it, it looks like a turtle! With a sore arse we returned and had another relaxing evening, it was only after reviewing the photos from the horse-riding that we realised just how reeeeeeeeediculous I looked on the tiny horse!
We returned to UB after a 2nd night in the countryside and went to get our tickets for the next leg of the train. We rewarded ourselves at the Chinngis Beer Co. and went to stock up on provisions for the ensuing journey.
The next part of the train was just as beautiful, but a little more painful as there was the border crossing at 1am that took close to 6 hours with Mongolians asking us to help them smuggle coats across by claiming that they were ours! Yay. But we did make it into Russia. We arrived in Irkutsk yesterday after several hours skirting Lake Baikal, the World's deepest lake and largest deposit of unfrozen fresh water, to our 1st Russian Couch Surfing host. We hung out with the hairless cats till Spike got home at 1030pm. We hit it off and at 4am, after a bottle of vodka, we finally retired to bed.
Today we were late getting up thanks to the vodka but still made it to Lake Baikal to dip both feet in and gain 5 years of extra life per foot. Take that smoking!
We leave in the morning for Tomsk and more Russian fun!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Chinese trains, terra cotta, and tea scams
Soooooooo we are super duper belated in our blogging, as China has banned many websites including blogspot! AND facebook! We had so much more free time while there :)
To start, here are some much belated pix from Hanoi:
We left off en route to Shanghai from Hong Kong...
The train was long and painless. Sleeper trains are far superior to sleeper buses. We slept well, and arrived in China to chaos in immigration/customs. Man, the locals are not fond of queuing! Additionally, we witnessed an old woman relieved of her fruit at customs, and she consequently spazzed out and started shrieking and lunging at the officials. No one really cared, and it was an interesting contrast to our fruit smuggling experience in Chile, as well as how the ol' US officials would have handled things had this incident gone down on our turf. Anywho...
We figured out the metro, and eventually landed at our hostel. We checked in and went for a wander- unfortunately Shanghai is plagued with tons of construction as well, so the views of the infamous Bund and walks through the old streets were tainted by bamboo scaffolding and banging. We spent just a few days in Shanghai as it was not really what we expected, but we did do some quality museum hopping. The Shanghai museum is top notch!! Unfortunately we were SCAMMED outside the museum by a nice little couple who we had a great chat with and they invited us to come and drink some tea with them. It felt a bit scammy from the start but I guess we were trying to believe that people actually want to talk to us! A big tip off for the scam was when Oli told he guy about his hobbies and mentioned Jujitsu.. the guy FREAKED out and looked terrified. Anyway, we ended up at this tea house and were informed that we should try a lucky 6 types of tea, at 8 bucks per person per type... yea, over $100 for tea. We politely excused ourselves. Another Shanghai highlight was our Crab ovary and digestive tract filled dumplings. They tasted like meatballs, but I could not get it out of my head how many little crabbies it took to feel that heaving queue of people. Though they were tastyish, I was a bit disturbed. Also please note we have lost our HK and Shanghai pix due to a "card error". Yay for cameras!!
Next stop- Suzhou. The "Venice of the East" is sprinkled with tiny traditional gardens, and we had such a lovely time exploring. We loved it there!!! Great little alleys, and a fab museum designed by IM Pei. Maybe the nicest and most atmospheric museum of the trip!?!?
Flash forward to Nanjing. We took another overnight train there, once again found our way on the subway, and got comfy in our hostel. We were pretty lazy while there, lots of hanging out and reading. We did make it to the Nanjing Holocaust Museum which was extensive and very well presented. On the way home we were tourist-napped by a cab that decided to take us on a wild ride in the opposite direction we wanted to go just to jack up the meter, and then pretend he didn't know where the metro station was. Thanks, dude.
We choochooed our way to Xi'an from Nanjing, and settled in one of the 10 most amazing hostels in the world according to Hostelworld. Set in a small neighborhood but within walking distance to everything, the seven sages hostel was awesome!! Great food, great drinks, poor music videos but hey, Vittis isn't for everyone. While in Xi'an we saw a few museums, ate kebabs in the Muslim Quarter, and saw the Terracotta Warriors!!!!!!!!! Self proclaimed 8th wonder of the world, it really was a fantastic visit. We viewed the 3 pits backwards, saving the main pit for last. It housed hundreds of soldiers in formation Life size, and no 2 alike, it was just amazing. We had a blast!! Oli left the guidebook on the bus there so we had to kind of make up our own stories. Thankfully Beijing is covered in our Trans Siberian books!!
Long train to Beijing, on which we tried but failed to make spaghetti in my thermos, and slept lots. Arrived in Beijing in the early morning, threw our stuff in the hostel, and hopped off to the Mongolian embassy to get Oli's visa. Afterwhich we skipped around the city attempting to book tickets to Mongolia, finally having success at CITS for double what we expected to pay. Too many beers (thanks pops!!!!) and off to bed far too late.
Woke up stinky and thirsty just in time for our tour to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!! We had booked ourselves on the Secret Wall tour to the unrestored part of the wall; no tourists, no touts, and definitely no toboggans to ride back down the hill. Three hours of napping in the van were topped off by getting dropped off in the middle of nowhere with a little Chinese man who spoke no English, and the fog encroaching on us with every gust of wind. Oooooh this should be good! We had to hike up the hills for about an hour. It should have been no big thang, but after last nights shenanigans we were huffing and puffing and sweating like madmen. Our little guide wiped the sweat from my brow, chuckled, grabbed my hand, and dragged me up at twice the speed. Ouch.
Our first view of the wall was sudden, as we were climbing switchbacks and the fog was so thick we were seemingly in a bubble. Suddenly there it was. Our 6th Wonder!!!! Wow, very exciting times. We climbed along the spine of the wall, snaking its way up and over the ridge, with little watchtowers at the peak of each hill. We had an absolute blast scrambling over the crumbling rock, dodging trees and weeds that were growing right out of the middle. And eventually, the fog cleared, and we were blessed with the most outrageous views. Good times!!!
We have booked our flights back to the states... Our little adventure will be coming to a close on Dec 30. However we still have to drive across the US to finish our second lap of the world, so we have that to look forward to too!!
To start, here are some much belated pix from Hanoi:
We left off en route to Shanghai from Hong Kong...
The train was long and painless. Sleeper trains are far superior to sleeper buses. We slept well, and arrived in China to chaos in immigration/customs. Man, the locals are not fond of queuing! Additionally, we witnessed an old woman relieved of her fruit at customs, and she consequently spazzed out and started shrieking and lunging at the officials. No one really cared, and it was an interesting contrast to our fruit smuggling experience in Chile, as well as how the ol' US officials would have handled things had this incident gone down on our turf. Anywho...
We figured out the metro, and eventually landed at our hostel. We checked in and went for a wander- unfortunately Shanghai is plagued with tons of construction as well, so the views of the infamous Bund and walks through the old streets were tainted by bamboo scaffolding and banging. We spent just a few days in Shanghai as it was not really what we expected, but we did do some quality museum hopping. The Shanghai museum is top notch!! Unfortunately we were SCAMMED outside the museum by a nice little couple who we had a great chat with and they invited us to come and drink some tea with them. It felt a bit scammy from the start but I guess we were trying to believe that people actually want to talk to us! A big tip off for the scam was when Oli told he guy about his hobbies and mentioned Jujitsu.. the guy FREAKED out and looked terrified. Anyway, we ended up at this tea house and were informed that we should try a lucky 6 types of tea, at 8 bucks per person per type... yea, over $100 for tea. We politely excused ourselves. Another Shanghai highlight was our Crab ovary and digestive tract filled dumplings. They tasted like meatballs, but I could not get it out of my head how many little crabbies it took to feel that heaving queue of people. Though they were tastyish, I was a bit disturbed. Also please note we have lost our HK and Shanghai pix due to a "card error". Yay for cameras!!
Next stop- Suzhou. The "Venice of the East" is sprinkled with tiny traditional gardens, and we had such a lovely time exploring. We loved it there!!! Great little alleys, and a fab museum designed by IM Pei. Maybe the nicest and most atmospheric museum of the trip!?!?
Flash forward to Nanjing. We took another overnight train there, once again found our way on the subway, and got comfy in our hostel. We were pretty lazy while there, lots of hanging out and reading. We did make it to the Nanjing Holocaust Museum which was extensive and very well presented. On the way home we were tourist-napped by a cab that decided to take us on a wild ride in the opposite direction we wanted to go just to jack up the meter, and then pretend he didn't know where the metro station was. Thanks, dude.
We choochooed our way to Xi'an from Nanjing, and settled in one of the 10 most amazing hostels in the world according to Hostelworld. Set in a small neighborhood but within walking distance to everything, the seven sages hostel was awesome!! Great food, great drinks, poor music videos but hey, Vittis isn't for everyone. While in Xi'an we saw a few museums, ate kebabs in the Muslim Quarter, and saw the Terracotta Warriors!!!!!!!!! Self proclaimed 8th wonder of the world, it really was a fantastic visit. We viewed the 3 pits backwards, saving the main pit for last. It housed hundreds of soldiers in formation Life size, and no 2 alike, it was just amazing. We had a blast!! Oli left the guidebook on the bus there so we had to kind of make up our own stories. Thankfully Beijing is covered in our Trans Siberian books!!
Long train to Beijing, on which we tried but failed to make spaghetti in my thermos, and slept lots. Arrived in Beijing in the early morning, threw our stuff in the hostel, and hopped off to the Mongolian embassy to get Oli's visa. Afterwhich we skipped around the city attempting to book tickets to Mongolia, finally having success at CITS for double what we expected to pay. Too many beers (thanks pops!!!!) and off to bed far too late.
Woke up stinky and thirsty just in time for our tour to the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!! We had booked ourselves on the Secret Wall tour to the unrestored part of the wall; no tourists, no touts, and definitely no toboggans to ride back down the hill. Three hours of napping in the van were topped off by getting dropped off in the middle of nowhere with a little Chinese man who spoke no English, and the fog encroaching on us with every gust of wind. Oooooh this should be good! We had to hike up the hills for about an hour. It should have been no big thang, but after last nights shenanigans we were huffing and puffing and sweating like madmen. Our little guide wiped the sweat from my brow, chuckled, grabbed my hand, and dragged me up at twice the speed. Ouch.
Our first view of the wall was sudden, as we were climbing switchbacks and the fog was so thick we were seemingly in a bubble. Suddenly there it was. Our 6th Wonder!!!! Wow, very exciting times. We climbed along the spine of the wall, snaking its way up and over the ridge, with little watchtowers at the peak of each hill. We had an absolute blast scrambling over the crumbling rock, dodging trees and weeds that were growing right out of the middle. And eventually, the fog cleared, and we were blessed with the most outrageous views. Good times!!!
We have booked our flights back to the states... Our little adventure will be coming to a close on Dec 30. However we still have to drive across the US to finish our second lap of the world, so we have that to look forward to too!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
China
Well it's been a while but we are now in China and our blog site is blocked!! Also, Hong Kong has a distinct lack of internet cafes as the place as an over-abundance of wi-fi. Nice.
So we are here, in the big red, having a great time. We arrived, very late, after a very long bus ride, in Guilin. A place that is coveted by the Chinese people as the most beautiful place in the country, and it was really close! We arrived late so we didn't get anything done until the next day inehich we had a good chance to explore. The scenery here is amazing, limestone peaks rising from valleys and the Li River winding through it all. We had a lovely day exploring and topped it all of with visit to the acrobats show - despite the rudeness of locals, a great show.
The following day we headed down the river by bamboo raft, a wonderful experience, weaving through the unbelievable landscape towards Yang Shuo, a small town, supposedly even more beautiful. And it really was! On the banks of the river, seperated from itsaelf from huge pinnacles of rock, with nothing to do but admire them and wander around. We spent our 1st full day here hiking the pinnacles for amazing views and enjoying the scenery. Day 2 brought bike riding out to "Dragon Bridge", 10km away. We rented our bike and got on it, only to find the road turn to track, turn to bare rocks 5km out! It was quite the trek there but the whole ride was littered with amazing natural sights. The bridge itself is 500 years old and quite spectacular. From the bridge we started our ride back, which became very eventful as we the track got smaller and smaller until we were pushing the bikes through orchards! Eventually we ended up on a raft to cross the river again before we the short, finally smooth, ride back to town.
We left that evening on another terrible night bus for Shenzen, to finally get us to Hong Kong. We arrived in the morning and after a little wander with our new Japenese freind in the wrong direction (his fault!) we were in a cab to the border. We finally made it into HK and to Kowloon, just across from HK Island, and our hotel - a very dingy little place that still cost us US$25 a night! So we decided to make the most of it and hit the town right away. We had to get our Russian Visas here and had no idea how long it would take and we still had not recieved our package from teh Russian travel agency.... so all we had was time.
We explored the area we were in and visited both the HK Culture Museum and the Science Museum, both very nice and different to what we had seen before, lots of VERY old Chinese artifacts. We finished our day with more wandering and a financial saving by going to see "The Hangover" instead of visiting one of the many expensive bars! HK is a very expensive place for day to day living!
For our 2nd day we decided to head over to Hong Kong Island and explore that side. With lots of Shopping Malls and Western commodities on offer we decidedd to head to The Peak for a view over the bay to Kowloon. The tram up was fun but the view was smoggy! So we headed back down to start the evening with a beer or two. Somehow we managed to find a great little bar that had both Sierra Nevada and Anderson Valley beers!! Crazy!
We finally got our Visa support so we went to the Russian Embassy to find out that we were able to get it in just a day! It cost us a lot but was worth it! So we spent our day essentially wasting time, wandering around Central and the rest of Hong kong Island. Returning triumphantly with our visas in hand... Trans-Mongolian, here we come!
For our last full day in HK we decided to visit a blast from the past for us...... Disneyland! So we spent a long, hot day cruising the rides and having a childish time, enjoying every minute!
We left the following day on a 20 hr train to Shanghai, where we would get back into the swing of things again!
More soon!!
So we are here, in the big red, having a great time. We arrived, very late, after a very long bus ride, in Guilin. A place that is coveted by the Chinese people as the most beautiful place in the country, and it was really close! We arrived late so we didn't get anything done until the next day inehich we had a good chance to explore. The scenery here is amazing, limestone peaks rising from valleys and the Li River winding through it all. We had a lovely day exploring and topped it all of with visit to the acrobats show - despite the rudeness of locals, a great show.
The following day we headed down the river by bamboo raft, a wonderful experience, weaving through the unbelievable landscape towards Yang Shuo, a small town, supposedly even more beautiful. And it really was! On the banks of the river, seperated from itsaelf from huge pinnacles of rock, with nothing to do but admire them and wander around. We spent our 1st full day here hiking the pinnacles for amazing views and enjoying the scenery. Day 2 brought bike riding out to "Dragon Bridge", 10km away. We rented our bike and got on it, only to find the road turn to track, turn to bare rocks 5km out! It was quite the trek there but the whole ride was littered with amazing natural sights. The bridge itself is 500 years old and quite spectacular. From the bridge we started our ride back, which became very eventful as we the track got smaller and smaller until we were pushing the bikes through orchards! Eventually we ended up on a raft to cross the river again before we the short, finally smooth, ride back to town.
We left that evening on another terrible night bus for Shenzen, to finally get us to Hong Kong. We arrived in the morning and after a little wander with our new Japenese freind in the wrong direction (his fault!) we were in a cab to the border. We finally made it into HK and to Kowloon, just across from HK Island, and our hotel - a very dingy little place that still cost us US$25 a night! So we decided to make the most of it and hit the town right away. We had to get our Russian Visas here and had no idea how long it would take and we still had not recieved our package from teh Russian travel agency.... so all we had was time.
We explored the area we were in and visited both the HK Culture Museum and the Science Museum, both very nice and different to what we had seen before, lots of VERY old Chinese artifacts. We finished our day with more wandering and a financial saving by going to see "The Hangover" instead of visiting one of the many expensive bars! HK is a very expensive place for day to day living!
For our 2nd day we decided to head over to Hong Kong Island and explore that side. With lots of Shopping Malls and Western commodities on offer we decidedd to head to The Peak for a view over the bay to Kowloon. The tram up was fun but the view was smoggy! So we headed back down to start the evening with a beer or two. Somehow we managed to find a great little bar that had both Sierra Nevada and Anderson Valley beers!! Crazy!
We finally got our Visa support so we went to the Russian Embassy to find out that we were able to get it in just a day! It cost us a lot but was worth it! So we spent our day essentially wasting time, wandering around Central and the rest of Hong kong Island. Returning triumphantly with our visas in hand... Trans-Mongolian, here we come!
For our last full day in HK we decided to visit a blast from the past for us...... Disneyland! So we spent a long, hot day cruising the rides and having a childish time, enjoying every minute!
We left the following day on a 20 hr train to Shanghai, where we would get back into the swing of things again!
More soon!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Good Morning, Vietnam
Hoi An was fabulous, and we had a lovely time strolling the streets, enjoying yummy cuisine, and even had a date with the tailors to have wool coats made!! It was a cute little town, still intact throughout all the turmoil over the years, and though it was bloody hot, we had a blast. After Hoi An, we headed up to Hue, where we lounged for a few days, and viewed the amazing citadel in the center of the city, the purple forbidden palace, and more! So freakin hot though,.... we are getting a bit tired of this eternal summer we have been experiencing.
We arrived in Hanoi after a grueling 14hr bus ride,and have basically had a blast. We went to see the traditional water puppets and had our view blocked by some kids with huge foot long lenses and no concept of being polite, saw "the proposal" in the theatres and laughed about the visa/immigration/marriage problems that so reminded us of our issues, ate at Bobby Chinn's Restaurant, a fabulous place owned and run by an old friend of the family, and had a fabulous chat with him while we were there. We took a boat trip around Halong Bay and I came down with food poisoning for the second time in 2 weeks and saw more of the boats bathroom than the limestone cliffs in the bay. Such is my luck.
We have loved bia hoi junction, a crossing with a bunch of little shops with freshly brewed beer, at 3,000 dong per glass. Yes, that's 6 beers for a buck. Not too shabby! Never thought I would find a place even cheaper than Chico for a night out.
We are laying low today to make sure my tummy is decent, and planning on heading to the Moscow Circus tonight. Off to China in the morning!!!
Also- we have officially decided to work for SNWMF '10, so we will be temporarily relocating to Northern California when we return from our travels.
We arrived in Hanoi after a grueling 14hr bus ride,and have basically had a blast. We went to see the traditional water puppets and had our view blocked by some kids with huge foot long lenses and no concept of being polite, saw "the proposal" in the theatres and laughed about the visa/immigration/marriage problems that so reminded us of our issues, ate at Bobby Chinn's Restaurant, a fabulous place owned and run by an old friend of the family, and had a fabulous chat with him while we were there. We took a boat trip around Halong Bay and I came down with food poisoning for the second time in 2 weeks and saw more of the boats bathroom than the limestone cliffs in the bay. Such is my luck.
We have loved bia hoi junction, a crossing with a bunch of little shops with freshly brewed beer, at 3,000 dong per glass. Yes, that's 6 beers for a buck. Not too shabby! Never thought I would find a place even cheaper than Chico for a night out.
We are laying low today to make sure my tummy is decent, and planning on heading to the Moscow Circus tonight. Off to China in the morning!!!
Also- we have officially decided to work for SNWMF '10, so we will be temporarily relocating to Northern California when we return from our travels.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Love you looooooong time
Hello!
We are still loving it here in Vietnam, the people are great, the food is awesome and the beer is cheap!! We have moved on from Saigon now, but 1st some piccies, unfortunatly our memory card has been corrupted and we have lost some of our photos from the last week or so..... hence the lack in quantity :(
Here are the pics of the kids from NFO:
Next, our pics from Saigon, an awesome, crazy busy city with more scooters than an Asda car park near you! We finished our days here at the War Remnants Museum and the Independence Palace. Both interesting places with a lot of history to tell..... even if most of it is quite depressing and somber. Also extremely anti-US!
We left Saigon on a horrid bus to head for the highlands. It took us a while but, despite breaking down just 5km short, we did make it in time to check into our very nice hotel and grab another great meal before bed.
The hotel was renowned for its brekky and they did not disappoint..... bacon, eggs, bread, fruit and marmite!! Even avocados for Jenny too! So, full to the brim, we set out to explore this wonderfully weathered town - finally it was both sunny and cool and there was no need to bring a sweat-bucket with you for your day out! We headed straight for just about the only attraction here, other than the faux Eiffel Tower cell-phone antenna, "The Crazy House" - a guest house that is basically a giant, adult jungle-gym! Fun times. We spent our afternoon doing not much else other than hanging out dreading the bus ride the following day.
From here a long-ass bus took us to Nha Trang, a beach town with lots of promise. We had been recommended a Angel Dive here (Thx Alec & Kate) so got right on it and booked in for 3 dives the next day. And for $47 each including rental and lunch, how could we not?! Without any further a-do we got out of the sun for a beer and a treat - sushi!! And it was good!
Despite the early wake up we were excited to dive and on our way before 730am. With just a short(ish) boat trip we were in the water in no time and enjoying a very nice and different dive on a rock pinnacle. And another change from the last time we dove, we could see our hand in front of our face! The next 2 dives were also very nice, with good visabiliy and lots of coral and marine life. So much so that when we returned we booked in for more diving today!! Last night I decided to treat Jen and we went out to Le Petit Bistro, where we dined fabulously on steak tartare (for me), pasta for Jen and an amazing cheese plate for dessert (mmmmm, cheeeeeese). It was still only 25 bucks! But it was only half way through that I had a 2nd thought about the fact that I was eating raw beef in Vietnam.... no repercussions yet....
As mentioned, we went out on the boat again today and had 2 very satisfying dives, even if one was a little cold despite the full wet suit.
Unfortunately we must leave here tomorrow (no doubt on another shitty bus - we pre-booked them all from Saigon with the same company, cheap, but it shows) and head further north to Hoi An. Thanks to the Vietnamese border folks it looks like we will have to skip Laos as I have no room in my current passport for the visa & we have no time to back-track So we will go straight from Hanoi into China with a brand-spanking new one!
More soon....
We are still loving it here in Vietnam, the people are great, the food is awesome and the beer is cheap!! We have moved on from Saigon now, but 1st some piccies, unfortunatly our memory card has been corrupted and we have lost some of our photos from the last week or so..... hence the lack in quantity :(
Here are the pics of the kids from NFO:
Next, our pics from Saigon, an awesome, crazy busy city with more scooters than an Asda car park near you! We finished our days here at the War Remnants Museum and the Independence Palace. Both interesting places with a lot of history to tell..... even if most of it is quite depressing and somber. Also extremely anti-US!
We left Saigon on a horrid bus to head for the highlands. It took us a while but, despite breaking down just 5km short, we did make it in time to check into our very nice hotel and grab another great meal before bed.
The hotel was renowned for its brekky and they did not disappoint..... bacon, eggs, bread, fruit and marmite!! Even avocados for Jenny too! So, full to the brim, we set out to explore this wonderfully weathered town - finally it was both sunny and cool and there was no need to bring a sweat-bucket with you for your day out! We headed straight for just about the only attraction here, other than the faux Eiffel Tower cell-phone antenna, "The Crazy House" - a guest house that is basically a giant, adult jungle-gym! Fun times. We spent our afternoon doing not much else other than hanging out dreading the bus ride the following day.
From here a long-ass bus took us to Nha Trang, a beach town with lots of promise. We had been recommended a Angel Dive here (Thx Alec & Kate) so got right on it and booked in for 3 dives the next day. And for $47 each including rental and lunch, how could we not?! Without any further a-do we got out of the sun for a beer and a treat - sushi!! And it was good!
Despite the early wake up we were excited to dive and on our way before 730am. With just a short(ish) boat trip we were in the water in no time and enjoying a very nice and different dive on a rock pinnacle. And another change from the last time we dove, we could see our hand in front of our face! The next 2 dives were also very nice, with good visabiliy and lots of coral and marine life. So much so that when we returned we booked in for more diving today!! Last night I decided to treat Jen and we went out to Le Petit Bistro, where we dined fabulously on steak tartare (for me), pasta for Jen and an amazing cheese plate for dessert (mmmmm, cheeeeeese). It was still only 25 bucks! But it was only half way through that I had a 2nd thought about the fact that I was eating raw beef in Vietnam.... no repercussions yet....
As mentioned, we went out on the boat again today and had 2 very satisfying dives, even if one was a little cold despite the full wet suit.
Unfortunately we must leave here tomorrow (no doubt on another shitty bus - we pre-booked them all from Saigon with the same company, cheap, but it shows) and head further north to Hoi An. Thanks to the Vietnamese border folks it looks like we will have to skip Laos as I have no room in my current passport for the visa & we have no time to back-track So we will go straight from Hanoi into China with a brand-spanking new one!
More soon....
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
New Futures
We headed to Takeo and grabbed a tuktuk to the orphanages guest house. No one was around so we kinda just hung out with no real clue what to do! Around dinnertime everyone surfaced and we got the gist of how things were run. The next morning we has lovely egg sanwiches and then headed over to the New Futures orphanage. Upon arrival we were inundated with 52 kids shaking our hands, hugging us, and asking our names. So incredibly friendly and happy! We got a bit of a tour of the facilities, and then it was play time. We spent the next few days playing hardcore vollyball and football with kids who were about 4ft tall, and chatting about our lives. The kids are so incredibly amazing and driven, all want to learn English so they can get good jobs. The orphanage takes great care of them, they all attend school and take English lessons, everyone helps cook and clean, and the kids all look after each other. Ages 6-19, the kids look remarkably younger than their western counterparts, but can eat at least twice as much rice as the hungriest westerner in one sitting. They want cuddles and to hold hands, are interested in politics, and all have such a positive outlook on life. It was so heartwarming and incredible for us to experience this part of Cambodian culture, and it was absolutely one of the highlights of our entire trip thus far. We handed our camera over to the kids and they froliked around and took pictures of the orphanage in their eyes. Just amazing. We plan on staying involved with the orphanage in the future, and are in the process of setting up penpals in NJ at my mom's elementary school, and will also be setting up some sort of non-profit booth or something at SNWMF10. If you are interested in getting involved, have the lucky opportunity to be in the area and want to visit, or just want to make a donation, get in contact with us and we will help sort you out. $20 will feed the kids 3 meals a day for 2 days- a 100lb bag of rice. Oli's mate Andy is currently making a new website for the organization and we will post the link when it is completed.
With heavy hearts, and after postponing our departure for 2 days, we took a bus back to Phnom Penh and then to HCMC, Vietnam. Riding on the bus from 8am to 4pm, we arrived and grabbed a room at Madam Cucs in the backpacker district, $13/night for ac, fridge, hot water, and cable tv. Also includes breakfast and dinner! Not bad. We settled in that evening excited to explore a new country in the month ahead.
The next morning we headed over to the British Embassy to sort out a new passport for Oli since his old one has been filled. It was pretty time consuming, but on the upside, during the embassys lunch break, we headed over to the zoo to say whats up to the animals. We were walking along, and saw a deformed bunny hopping around in a cage that was entirely too large for it. Then we noticed a huge lion napping in the background. THEY HAD POPPED THE LIVE BUNNY INTO THE CAGE FOR THE LION'S LUNCH! We were horrified. Well, I was. Oli was excited to see the outcome. The lion was lazy and didn't really stir, so eventually we headed on without witnessing the carnage.
After finishing the passport process, most of the museums were closing within the hour, so we headed back to the hotel to chill. We had been laying low for the past 4 nights as I had gotten some sort of violent allergy/food poisoning to some delicious fish and chips whilst in Takeo and was still not feeling tip top.
This morning we headed over to the Co Chi tunnels, in which the Viet Cong has hidden out during the war. The whole thing was a bit less authentic than we wanted it to be, but it was kinda cool anyhow. We did end up climbing through the tiny tunnels, on our knees, which was pretty interesting. The tour took a long time, and we ended up grabbing some Indian food when we arrived back in the city. Yum!
We will be in HCMC for a few more days to check out the museums, then heading to Dalat in the north. Pix from the orphanage up soon!
With heavy hearts, and after postponing our departure for 2 days, we took a bus back to Phnom Penh and then to HCMC, Vietnam. Riding on the bus from 8am to 4pm, we arrived and grabbed a room at Madam Cucs in the backpacker district, $13/night for ac, fridge, hot water, and cable tv. Also includes breakfast and dinner! Not bad. We settled in that evening excited to explore a new country in the month ahead.
The next morning we headed over to the British Embassy to sort out a new passport for Oli since his old one has been filled. It was pretty time consuming, but on the upside, during the embassys lunch break, we headed over to the zoo to say whats up to the animals. We were walking along, and saw a deformed bunny hopping around in a cage that was entirely too large for it. Then we noticed a huge lion napping in the background. THEY HAD POPPED THE LIVE BUNNY INTO THE CAGE FOR THE LION'S LUNCH! We were horrified. Well, I was. Oli was excited to see the outcome. The lion was lazy and didn't really stir, so eventually we headed on without witnessing the carnage.
After finishing the passport process, most of the museums were closing within the hour, so we headed back to the hotel to chill. We had been laying low for the past 4 nights as I had gotten some sort of violent allergy/food poisoning to some delicious fish and chips whilst in Takeo and was still not feeling tip top.
This morning we headed over to the Co Chi tunnels, in which the Viet Cong has hidden out during the war. The whole thing was a bit less authentic than we wanted it to be, but it was kinda cool anyhow. We did end up climbing through the tiny tunnels, on our knees, which was pretty interesting. The tour took a long time, and we ended up grabbing some Indian food when we arrived back in the city. Yum!
We will be in HCMC for a few more days to check out the museums, then heading to Dalat in the north. Pix from the orphanage up soon!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Happy birthday to me!
We wrapped things up at our little hut on the hill and grabbed a saengthaew to Lonely Beach, where we waited at the Treehouse restaurant for another truck to cart us to the other side of the island to Long Beach. After a few hours crammed into the back of the truck like sardines, 10 other farang and the two of us arrived at the new Treehouse resort. So cool! For $5 a night, we had a stilted hut with a balcony overlooking the ocean in the only isolated part of Koh Chang left. We spent the next 4 days, including my 25th birthday, reading classic novels, eating thai food, drinking beers, and swinging on treeswings. It was lovely, and a perfect way to relax and get back into the backpacker vibe after living in the lap of luxury with the fam!
Once we had recovered from an overdose of serenity, we hopped on the ferry and headed to Trat, where we took a minivan to the Cambodian border. We were screwed out of less money than expected for the visa, but were still bribed to pay 30% more than it should have cost. That border crossing is notorious for screwing over tourists!
Because we arrived in the afternoon, there were no more buses leaving for Phnom Penh, so we had to spend the night in the shady border town of Koh Krong. To get there, we had to hop on the back of a motorcycle for 15km. Both of us, one motorcycle, 2 backpacks, and one driver. It made for an interesting journey and surprisingly we were not injured! We bunked up at the Apex hotel, and enjoyed having hot water, cable tv, and ac/ It was a good thing that we got a nice room too, because there was a torrential downpour for most of the afternoon! In the evening we ventured over to Bob's Bar for magical chicken parm and english sausages with mash and veg. MMMMmmm.
In the morning we hopped on a VIP AC bus to Phnom Penh, napping and reading until our arrival at 2pm. We found a hotel right by the river, with the same amenities as the night before but lacking a window. We threw our bags down and took a moto to the UK Embassy where we were informed that Oli needed a new passport and could not just get pages added in, as his was almost full. Awesome. We decided to take care of it in Vietnam, then headed over to the backpacker slum for some awesome sandwiches and to be comforted in the fact that we went for nicer accommodation than usual- the $2 rooms in this neck of the woods were not anything you would put your worst enemy in! We headed back to our hotel, watched tv and napped, then headed over to Happy Herb's pizza for some yummy pizza minus the happy herbs, and then retired for the night.
The next morning we rose early, took a moto to the Vietnam embassy to drop off our visa applications, then wandered over to the Russian Market to peruse the stalls and knock off clothing. We then walked up to the S-21 genocide museum. Over 17,000 men, women and children were imprisoned there during the Khmer Rouge reign. The history of Pol Pot and the atrocities that his underlings caused it horrendous, and worth a much closer look than I could describe. The genocide museum is in the former high school that was occupied in 1975 by the "revolution"and became a prison for intellectuals, nonconformists, "enemies" of the revolution, and anyone in their families. Cruel torture and barbaric living conditions were prevalent for 4 years, and the prison was a sort of holding place before the victims were moved over to the killing fields. The museum contained the original jail-like structures, the torture beds, and photos of many of the former inmates. Almost every single person who was jailed there was put to death.
After S-21, we had a quick lunch before hopping in a tuktuk to the killing fields. About 15km south of Phnom Penh, the fields once contained a sort of holding cell where the prisoners were kept blindfolded and handcuffed before they were led one by one to the edge of hundreds of mass graves, bashed over the head with one of many cruel weapons, then had their throats slashed and their bodies thrown in on top of hundreds of other lost souls. The small children were taken care of in a different way- taken by the feet and slammed into a tree until dead. The idea was that all children, regardless of age, must be taken care of to ensure no revenge or retaliation attempts once grown.
Pol Pot had a grand communist plan to form the nation into a self sufficient agricultural based country, with a huge export of rice as their only priority. He wanted to exterminate all city people and focus on the villagers, enforcing almost slavelike labor and abolishing hospitals, schools, money, and personal property. Though the reign of the Khmer Rouge lasted only 4 years, until Vietnam envaded and took over, they killed hundreds of thousands of people, and every single person living here not over the age of 30 was affected in some way during that cruel time.
After the killing fields, we had a somber drive back to the Vietnam Embassy to pick up our visas, then met up with Oli's old roomie Andy for a few drinks and dinner. Andy was on his way out of town after volunteering for an orphanage down south, and as he told us about it we realized that we really wanted to go help. He gave us all the information, and we formulated a plan to do a bit of time down south and enter by the southern border to Vietnam in a week or so.
This morning we woke up and visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, then headed to a real genuine supermarket and drooled over all the cheeses and other imports. We had lunch at fatboy subs- YUM, and now are killing time in an internet cafe until our 2pm bus to Takeo. Love to all, we will update again soon! :)
Once we had recovered from an overdose of serenity, we hopped on the ferry and headed to Trat, where we took a minivan to the Cambodian border. We were screwed out of less money than expected for the visa, but were still bribed to pay 30% more than it should have cost. That border crossing is notorious for screwing over tourists!
Because we arrived in the afternoon, there were no more buses leaving for Phnom Penh, so we had to spend the night in the shady border town of Koh Krong. To get there, we had to hop on the back of a motorcycle for 15km. Both of us, one motorcycle, 2 backpacks, and one driver. It made for an interesting journey and surprisingly we were not injured! We bunked up at the Apex hotel, and enjoyed having hot water, cable tv, and ac/ It was a good thing that we got a nice room too, because there was a torrential downpour for most of the afternoon! In the evening we ventured over to Bob's Bar for magical chicken parm and english sausages with mash and veg. MMMMmmm.
In the morning we hopped on a VIP AC bus to Phnom Penh, napping and reading until our arrival at 2pm. We found a hotel right by the river, with the same amenities as the night before but lacking a window. We threw our bags down and took a moto to the UK Embassy where we were informed that Oli needed a new passport and could not just get pages added in, as his was almost full. Awesome. We decided to take care of it in Vietnam, then headed over to the backpacker slum for some awesome sandwiches and to be comforted in the fact that we went for nicer accommodation than usual- the $2 rooms in this neck of the woods were not anything you would put your worst enemy in! We headed back to our hotel, watched tv and napped, then headed over to Happy Herb's pizza for some yummy pizza minus the happy herbs, and then retired for the night.
The next morning we rose early, took a moto to the Vietnam embassy to drop off our visa applications, then wandered over to the Russian Market to peruse the stalls and knock off clothing. We then walked up to the S-21 genocide museum. Over 17,000 men, women and children were imprisoned there during the Khmer Rouge reign. The history of Pol Pot and the atrocities that his underlings caused it horrendous, and worth a much closer look than I could describe. The genocide museum is in the former high school that was occupied in 1975 by the "revolution"and became a prison for intellectuals, nonconformists, "enemies" of the revolution, and anyone in their families. Cruel torture and barbaric living conditions were prevalent for 4 years, and the prison was a sort of holding place before the victims were moved over to the killing fields. The museum contained the original jail-like structures, the torture beds, and photos of many of the former inmates. Almost every single person who was jailed there was put to death.
After S-21, we had a quick lunch before hopping in a tuktuk to the killing fields. About 15km south of Phnom Penh, the fields once contained a sort of holding cell where the prisoners were kept blindfolded and handcuffed before they were led one by one to the edge of hundreds of mass graves, bashed over the head with one of many cruel weapons, then had their throats slashed and their bodies thrown in on top of hundreds of other lost souls. The small children were taken care of in a different way- taken by the feet and slammed into a tree until dead. The idea was that all children, regardless of age, must be taken care of to ensure no revenge or retaliation attempts once grown.
Pol Pot had a grand communist plan to form the nation into a self sufficient agricultural based country, with a huge export of rice as their only priority. He wanted to exterminate all city people and focus on the villagers, enforcing almost slavelike labor and abolishing hospitals, schools, money, and personal property. Though the reign of the Khmer Rouge lasted only 4 years, until Vietnam envaded and took over, they killed hundreds of thousands of people, and every single person living here not over the age of 30 was affected in some way during that cruel time.
After the killing fields, we had a somber drive back to the Vietnam Embassy to pick up our visas, then met up with Oli's old roomie Andy for a few drinks and dinner. Andy was on his way out of town after volunteering for an orphanage down south, and as he told us about it we realized that we really wanted to go help. He gave us all the information, and we formulated a plan to do a bit of time down south and enter by the southern border to Vietnam in a week or so.
This morning we woke up and visited the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, then headed to a real genuine supermarket and drooled over all the cheeses and other imports. We had lunch at fatboy subs- YUM, and now are killing time in an internet cafe until our 2pm bus to Takeo. Love to all, we will update again soon! :)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Just the two of us...
For our last foray with the family we headed to "James Bond Island", where they filmed "Man with the Golden Gun", which was very touristy but great to see the amazing landscape amongst the hundreds of islands in The Gulf. We also got to learn how rubber was made, go on a sea kayaking trip that invlolved weird walking fish, and we went to a monkey temple where we got to feed (& pet!) the monkeys.
We hung out in Bangkok for a coupla days after the fam left, munching on 30baht pad thai and wishing for a bit more solitude than the city can deliver. We avoided the heat by going to the movies, HP6, and also finally made it to the Grand Palace and got to see the Emerald Buddha. Success!
Three days ago we hopped in a tourist van and scooted on down through Trat and then hopped on a big passenger ferry to arrive in Koh Chang. Our ultimate destination was Koh Mak, but as it is low season, things don't always go as planned. We took a sawngthaew down to Bang Bao, the fishing village on the southern tip of the island, and found that the inter island ferries are suspended during the monsoon season, so we ran on over to BB Divers to get the lay of the land before we found a hut to rest our souls. We head that the diving was still good, albeit a bit murky, so we signed up to dive on Sunday, and headed on off the pier, down a muddy little trail, and up a cliff to Cliff Cottages, where we rented a simple little hut for 4 nights. Back down the cliff for some crazy Korean BBQ- amazing. We bought some beers and went back to our place to enjoy the sea breeze and the oceans below. That same sea breeze began to roar, and I ran into the hut while Oli watched the rain come down. the rain and wind became a bit ridiculous and after coaxing Oli into the room, we both had to push against the door to keep the pelting rain from coming in- fierce! The lock didn't work, the floor was flooding, and the entire hut seemed to be lifting from the ground. I, needless to say, was not satisfied with our accommodation. The storm eventually subsided and we were not blown away. The view in the morning was unreal- from the porch we could see the ocean for miles.... a walk around to the other side of the cliff gave views of a gorgeous rocky inlet, and a little more walking gave us an unparalleled aerial view of the village. Not too shabby for 225/baht a night.
The day was spent napping in the hammock, writing in our journals, reading, and staring at the ocean.
On Sunday, we went diving off the coast of Koh Rang. The visibility was horrific, though there was tons of wildlife. It was so bad that we could barely see in front of us, so we had to crowd together so that we didn't lose the dive master. The pictures leave a bit to be desired. We did see a massive jellyfish, a fancy pants harlequin shrimp, schools of every fish imaginable, a nudibranch, and a humongous puffer fish. On the second dive we released two baby sharks given to the shop by local fishermen. They were so tiny and scared to be back in open water- it was so so sweet.
Back to the hut for a bit before dinner, then dined at a stilted restaurant over the ocean. On the way back my feet made some bad choices and somehow I found myself admiring the stars when I should have been walking across a bridge. Quick thinking helped me discover that the boards leading to that bridge were not so stable, and Oli was shrieking at me to get up- i was halfway off the embankment and dangling over the river. I hopped back up, ice cream cone still intact, and hobbled back to our hut to clean up the blood that was subsequently pouring out of my leg.
Today is another day for r&r. Gotta figure out what to do next!!!
Love and kisses.
We hung out in Bangkok for a coupla days after the fam left, munching on 30baht pad thai and wishing for a bit more solitude than the city can deliver. We avoided the heat by going to the movies, HP6, and also finally made it to the Grand Palace and got to see the Emerald Buddha. Success!
Three days ago we hopped in a tourist van and scooted on down through Trat and then hopped on a big passenger ferry to arrive in Koh Chang. Our ultimate destination was Koh Mak, but as it is low season, things don't always go as planned. We took a sawngthaew down to Bang Bao, the fishing village on the southern tip of the island, and found that the inter island ferries are suspended during the monsoon season, so we ran on over to BB Divers to get the lay of the land before we found a hut to rest our souls. We head that the diving was still good, albeit a bit murky, so we signed up to dive on Sunday, and headed on off the pier, down a muddy little trail, and up a cliff to Cliff Cottages, where we rented a simple little hut for 4 nights. Back down the cliff for some crazy Korean BBQ- amazing. We bought some beers and went back to our place to enjoy the sea breeze and the oceans below. That same sea breeze began to roar, and I ran into the hut while Oli watched the rain come down. the rain and wind became a bit ridiculous and after coaxing Oli into the room, we both had to push against the door to keep the pelting rain from coming in- fierce! The lock didn't work, the floor was flooding, and the entire hut seemed to be lifting from the ground. I, needless to say, was not satisfied with our accommodation. The storm eventually subsided and we were not blown away. The view in the morning was unreal- from the porch we could see the ocean for miles.... a walk around to the other side of the cliff gave views of a gorgeous rocky inlet, and a little more walking gave us an unparalleled aerial view of the village. Not too shabby for 225/baht a night.
The day was spent napping in the hammock, writing in our journals, reading, and staring at the ocean.
On Sunday, we went diving off the coast of Koh Rang. The visibility was horrific, though there was tons of wildlife. It was so bad that we could barely see in front of us, so we had to crowd together so that we didn't lose the dive master. The pictures leave a bit to be desired. We did see a massive jellyfish, a fancy pants harlequin shrimp, schools of every fish imaginable, a nudibranch, and a humongous puffer fish. On the second dive we released two baby sharks given to the shop by local fishermen. They were so tiny and scared to be back in open water- it was so so sweet.
Back to the hut for a bit before dinner, then dined at a stilted restaurant over the ocean. On the way back my feet made some bad choices and somehow I found myself admiring the stars when I should have been walking across a bridge. Quick thinking helped me discover that the boards leading to that bridge were not so stable, and Oli was shrieking at me to get up- i was halfway off the embankment and dangling over the river. I hopped back up, ice cream cone still intact, and hobbled back to our hut to clean up the blood that was subsequently pouring out of my leg.
Today is another day for r&r. Gotta figure out what to do next!!!
Love and kisses.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sad in BKK :(
We are back in Bangkok and dealing with the loss of the Miller's leaving :( so right now we are just posting some more (& maybe duplicates) of the underwater pictures.
We will update more thoroughly soon.
Peace.
We will update more thoroughly soon.
Peace.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Phuket or Bust!
Before we continue with our escapades in SE Asia with the Millers here are the photos from SNWMF '09 from Brian's wideangle:
Disclaimer: Sorry but there are so many photos in this blog that we haven't had the time to caption and rotate.... hopefully soon though!
We were all delighted when the millers finally arrived in Bangkok after a grueling trip over from NJ. We celebrated with cocktails in the beautiful evening warmth before retiring to bed to recuperate for the site-seeing ahead of us. We slept in a little and enjoyed a delightful riverside breakfast at the hotel in beautiful sunshine before setting off to the sights. We started off with a ferry ride up the river to visit the Temple of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
Wat Pho was amazing, so intricately decorated and adorned with hundreds of Buddha images and amazing carvings. It was the perfect place to start the Miller's vacation. After exploring the grounds a little we decided that it was time to see the main attraction, the Reclining Buddha that is 46m (140 ft) long and 15m (45 ft) high. It was enormous! After we had marveled at the Buddha we decided to make our way around the grounds to see the Grand Palace. As we strolled along the street a very nice guy came up to us and started chatting. As we had learnt previously there was a long religious holiday that weekend and apparently, because of this, the Grand Palace was closed for the weekend and therefore we could not go in. So the guy helped us out by showing us some other good places to go on our map and we all hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to head off. We arrived at the 1st of the temples that was the supposedly the earliest temple in Bangkok and we sat down in front of the idol and took in the surroundings. It was very peaceful. That was until our tuk-tuk driver started talking about taking us to a gem market that was "for this week only" 300% off. This is where we started to get a little suspicious..... we explained that we didn't want to go shopping and that we wanted to go straight to the next temple, leading the driver to get very upset, shout at us, swear at us and even lunge at us!! We were needless to say soon on our way on foot to find a taxi!
After our harrowing experience we decided to mellow out a little and took the taxi to Jim Thompson's house. He was a pioneer in the Thai silk trade and a great collector of art. After disappearing in the jungle one day, never to be heard of again, his house was opened as a museum. The tour was great, very relaxing and with some very interesting stories to go along with it. When we had finished here the skies were starting to darken and the clouds close in for the daily dose of rain so we hopped on the skytrain just in time to get us to the ferry stop before the heavens opened. We took the hotel ferry the short distance back to the hotel for a few cocktails before heading to dinner across the river. The meal was fantastic Thai food and we even had the chance to experience authentic Thai dancing before retiring for the night.
We started the next day off with another great breakfast before heading to the Blue Elephant cooking school for our day's lesson. Our teacher David took us to the market before we began the class and we got see, hear and taste the experience! When we returned from the market we sat down in the classroom for our lesson. David showed us how to make the recipe and then we went into the practical room to do it ourselves. We had a great time making yellow curry, spicy beef salad, banana leaf baked fish and other delights. After the class we sat down in the restaurant below and ate the food that we had prepared.... it was all delicious! We had another great meal that evening out by the river on the terrace.
The following day was our last full day in the city before heading to Cambodia for the Temples of Angkor. We went again to the Grand Palace and made it in this time, however, The Emerald Buddha Temple was closed (legitimately!), so we decided to skip it before and come back in the morning. So we went for a wander around one of the market area in Bangkok by the palace and then up to Ko San road so that the family could get a feel for the backpackers area. Here we shopped, ducked into air-conditioned bars for a cold beer and ate Pad Thai from street vendors. When we returned to the hotel I picked up the suits that I had had tailored for me and we went out for a lovely dinner in the main business district. After which, the ladies went home and Michael and I went of to meet Alasdair to watch some Thai kick-boxing. Only when we arrived at the stadium we found that it was $45 a ticket to stand!! So we decided to go for a few drinks instead. We bar hopped and saw the sights that Bangkok's nightlife has to offer, which included a very brief stop at one of the "lady-boy" bars!!
Here are both our's and The Miller's photos from BKK:
After our breakfast we all decided that it would be best to relax for the few hours before our flight rather than rush around doing anything. So we hung out and explored the magnificent hotel that we had been staying in before heading to the airport for our trip to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival in Cambodia we were picked up by Pat at the airport where we found out it was a 5-6hr drive to Siem-Reap and the hotel!! We napped and watched the countryside go by and arrived to another great hotel and a delicious meal. We rested ready for Temple hopping in the morning.
We were picked up at 10 and we headed out to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples here. Just as we started up the steps our camera batteries ran out and the spares were in the van! Thankfully Michael had his camera and we could still capture the sheer amazingness of this wonderful place. It really was unbelievable to see such huge complexes that were built so long ago and so intricately. Every wall has elaborate carving on it that tells a story from either the Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. The whole experience was out of this world.
After Angkor Wat we traveled to Ta Phrom, a temple complex that is pretty much as it was found. The jungle sprouts out of the ruins and the ruins sprout from the jungle. Truly awesome. This temple is famous for the "Tomb Raider Tree", from one of the movies, a huge network of vines and trunk emerging from the rocks. This was again a wondrous place.
The next stop was beautiful pyramid temple that Michael and I climbed up. The view was amazing. We also visited anther smaller temple in the jungle before heading on to the last stop of the day. The Boulevard of the Elephants and Bayon, the next complex to be built after Angkor Wat. This place has faces all over the building and we were just getting into it when the heavens opened and we decided that it was time to leave! We had had a great day so far and we were ready for more tomorrow, when we knew that we would be riding elephants into the park to see Bayon again! We went out for a fabulous meal at Madame Butterfly's where we had authentic Cambodian fare and a wonderful time before heading off to bed to prepare for another day of temple trekking.
Here are our pics for the 1st day minus Angkor Wat:
The next day started earlier and we were on the road by 8 0'clock for our 1st stop....... the elephants!! Karle & Jessy got onto theirs and then Jen, Michael and myself followed. It was a great experience, if not a little bumpy, and we arrived at the other entrance to Bayon for another go at it! This time around we were far more successful and didn't get the rain coming in..... yet! This complex was again amazing and we had a wonderful time exploring the parts that we couldn't get to the previous day. When we had finished we headed out of the main area of the Angkor Temples to visit one that is further out of town but very special as it is made from red sandstone.
The ride was short out there and the temple was worth it, very intricate and very different from the other that we had seen. It was much smaller and didn't take us very long to go around, but that left plenty of time for Michael to shop!! It was hilarious to see the hoards of children all trying to get him to buy their scarves and in many cases succeeding! The next stop was another pyramid style temple, although this one was made from brick. It was truly unique to the others and was believed to have had 4 crematoriums on the top. This is when we got hit by the rain!! We ran back to the car and headed off in the direction of the hotel to call it a day and relax before another hellish day of traveling in the morning.
Here our 2nd day pics and the Millers from our stay in Cambodia:
Edit: Here are Jessy's pics from the sandstone temple:
And so the day began, 6hrs in a van, 2 delayed flights, and lots of airport food later we had another 1hr ride in the most luxurious van ever to arrive at the Kata Thani Hotel, Phuket at 1am. A cocktail or 2 later we were asleep and looking forward to the days ahead, relaxing and diving here. The following day, after a little confusion as a message was not passed along by the front desk, we got ourselves booked on a dive trips for the next 2 days and Jessy starting her certification that afternoon.
Since then Jen and I have done 5 great dives and Michael and Jessy 4. They were all spectacular too!! Karle came on the boat with us yesterday to snorkel and we all had a great day in the water. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday where we fly to Bangkok so that the Miller's can leave :( and we carry on to Koh Chang.
Here are the pics so far from Phuket:
Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: Sorry but there are so many photos in this blog that we haven't had the time to caption and rotate.... hopefully soon though!
We were all delighted when the millers finally arrived in Bangkok after a grueling trip over from NJ. We celebrated with cocktails in the beautiful evening warmth before retiring to bed to recuperate for the site-seeing ahead of us. We slept in a little and enjoyed a delightful riverside breakfast at the hotel in beautiful sunshine before setting off to the sights. We started off with a ferry ride up the river to visit the Temple of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.
Wat Pho was amazing, so intricately decorated and adorned with hundreds of Buddha images and amazing carvings. It was the perfect place to start the Miller's vacation. After exploring the grounds a little we decided that it was time to see the main attraction, the Reclining Buddha that is 46m (140 ft) long and 15m (45 ft) high. It was enormous! After we had marveled at the Buddha we decided to make our way around the grounds to see the Grand Palace. As we strolled along the street a very nice guy came up to us and started chatting. As we had learnt previously there was a long religious holiday that weekend and apparently, because of this, the Grand Palace was closed for the weekend and therefore we could not go in. So the guy helped us out by showing us some other good places to go on our map and we all hopped in a couple of tuk-tuks to head off. We arrived at the 1st of the temples that was the supposedly the earliest temple in Bangkok and we sat down in front of the idol and took in the surroundings. It was very peaceful. That was until our tuk-tuk driver started talking about taking us to a gem market that was "for this week only" 300% off. This is where we started to get a little suspicious..... we explained that we didn't want to go shopping and that we wanted to go straight to the next temple, leading the driver to get very upset, shout at us, swear at us and even lunge at us!! We were needless to say soon on our way on foot to find a taxi!
After our harrowing experience we decided to mellow out a little and took the taxi to Jim Thompson's house. He was a pioneer in the Thai silk trade and a great collector of art. After disappearing in the jungle one day, never to be heard of again, his house was opened as a museum. The tour was great, very relaxing and with some very interesting stories to go along with it. When we had finished here the skies were starting to darken and the clouds close in for the daily dose of rain so we hopped on the skytrain just in time to get us to the ferry stop before the heavens opened. We took the hotel ferry the short distance back to the hotel for a few cocktails before heading to dinner across the river. The meal was fantastic Thai food and we even had the chance to experience authentic Thai dancing before retiring for the night.
We started the next day off with another great breakfast before heading to the Blue Elephant cooking school for our day's lesson. Our teacher David took us to the market before we began the class and we got see, hear and taste the experience! When we returned from the market we sat down in the classroom for our lesson. David showed us how to make the recipe and then we went into the practical room to do it ourselves. We had a great time making yellow curry, spicy beef salad, banana leaf baked fish and other delights. After the class we sat down in the restaurant below and ate the food that we had prepared.... it was all delicious! We had another great meal that evening out by the river on the terrace.
The following day was our last full day in the city before heading to Cambodia for the Temples of Angkor. We went again to the Grand Palace and made it in this time, however, The Emerald Buddha Temple was closed (legitimately!), so we decided to skip it before and come back in the morning. So we went for a wander around one of the market area in Bangkok by the palace and then up to Ko San road so that the family could get a feel for the backpackers area. Here we shopped, ducked into air-conditioned bars for a cold beer and ate Pad Thai from street vendors. When we returned to the hotel I picked up the suits that I had had tailored for me and we went out for a lovely dinner in the main business district. After which, the ladies went home and Michael and I went of to meet Alasdair to watch some Thai kick-boxing. Only when we arrived at the stadium we found that it was $45 a ticket to stand!! So we decided to go for a few drinks instead. We bar hopped and saw the sights that Bangkok's nightlife has to offer, which included a very brief stop at one of the "lady-boy" bars!!
Here are both our's and The Miller's photos from BKK:
After our breakfast we all decided that it would be best to relax for the few hours before our flight rather than rush around doing anything. So we hung out and explored the magnificent hotel that we had been staying in before heading to the airport for our trip to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival in Cambodia we were picked up by Pat at the airport where we found out it was a 5-6hr drive to Siem-Reap and the hotel!! We napped and watched the countryside go by and arrived to another great hotel and a delicious meal. We rested ready for Temple hopping in the morning.
We were picked up at 10 and we headed out to Angkor Wat, the most famous of the temples here. Just as we started up the steps our camera batteries ran out and the spares were in the van! Thankfully Michael had his camera and we could still capture the sheer amazingness of this wonderful place. It really was unbelievable to see such huge complexes that were built so long ago and so intricately. Every wall has elaborate carving on it that tells a story from either the Hindu or Buddhist belief systems. The whole experience was out of this world.
After Angkor Wat we traveled to Ta Phrom, a temple complex that is pretty much as it was found. The jungle sprouts out of the ruins and the ruins sprout from the jungle. Truly awesome. This temple is famous for the "Tomb Raider Tree", from one of the movies, a huge network of vines and trunk emerging from the rocks. This was again a wondrous place.
The next stop was beautiful pyramid temple that Michael and I climbed up. The view was amazing. We also visited anther smaller temple in the jungle before heading on to the last stop of the day. The Boulevard of the Elephants and Bayon, the next complex to be built after Angkor Wat. This place has faces all over the building and we were just getting into it when the heavens opened and we decided that it was time to leave! We had had a great day so far and we were ready for more tomorrow, when we knew that we would be riding elephants into the park to see Bayon again! We went out for a fabulous meal at Madame Butterfly's where we had authentic Cambodian fare and a wonderful time before heading off to bed to prepare for another day of temple trekking.
Here are our pics for the 1st day minus Angkor Wat:
The next day started earlier and we were on the road by 8 0'clock for our 1st stop....... the elephants!! Karle & Jessy got onto theirs and then Jen, Michael and myself followed. It was a great experience, if not a little bumpy, and we arrived at the other entrance to Bayon for another go at it! This time around we were far more successful and didn't get the rain coming in..... yet! This complex was again amazing and we had a wonderful time exploring the parts that we couldn't get to the previous day. When we had finished we headed out of the main area of the Angkor Temples to visit one that is further out of town but very special as it is made from red sandstone.
The ride was short out there and the temple was worth it, very intricate and very different from the other that we had seen. It was much smaller and didn't take us very long to go around, but that left plenty of time for Michael to shop!! It was hilarious to see the hoards of children all trying to get him to buy their scarves and in many cases succeeding! The next stop was another pyramid style temple, although this one was made from brick. It was truly unique to the others and was believed to have had 4 crematoriums on the top. This is when we got hit by the rain!! We ran back to the car and headed off in the direction of the hotel to call it a day and relax before another hellish day of traveling in the morning.
Here our 2nd day pics and the Millers from our stay in Cambodia:
Edit: Here are Jessy's pics from the sandstone temple:
And so the day began, 6hrs in a van, 2 delayed flights, and lots of airport food later we had another 1hr ride in the most luxurious van ever to arrive at the Kata Thani Hotel, Phuket at 1am. A cocktail or 2 later we were asleep and looking forward to the days ahead, relaxing and diving here. The following day, after a little confusion as a message was not passed along by the front desk, we got ourselves booked on a dive trips for the next 2 days and Jessy starting her certification that afternoon.
Since then Jen and I have done 5 great dives and Michael and Jessy 4. They were all spectacular too!! Karle came on the boat with us yesterday to snorkel and we all had a great day in the water. We have extended our stay here until Tuesday where we fly to Bangkok so that the Miller's can leave :( and we carry on to Koh Chang.
Here are the pics so far from Phuket:
Enjoy!!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
holy cow..... we suck
Hello friends.... it's been a while.
We have just been having so much fun stuffing our faces with curry and riding elephants that we haven't had the time to update. C'est la vie. Now we can torture you with a super duper update!!!!!!!!!
So where did we leave off?
We arrived in Chiang Mai, and enjoyed the lovely Pak hotel- awesome suite, complete with our own computer. So instead of updating the blog, we downloaded the most recent season of Lost, drank beers, and enjoyed our evenings! The temples were awesome,fod was fabulous. On our anniversary we had a lovely 2.5 hour spa treatment, then had lunch in town where we met an odd old farang and were offered an indecent proposal- to go home with him and meet his thai lesbian ladyboy girlfriend for some fun. Though we were offered unlimited funding to stay in Chiang Mai, we politely declined and ran back to our hotel. Now that's a memorable anniversary!
We enjoyed Doi Suthep but we had bad timing and ended up there on the day that the entire freshman class of Chiang Mai Uni were there doing their prayers. Miles of students walking up the hills, people singing and dancing and boozing... it was nuts. It took a bit longer than we expected!!! Headed to the Saturday walking market afterwards and bought some fisherman pants and paintings, then lounged for our last day in CM.
In the morning we had our last amazing breakfast at Pak, then hopped in a tuktuk and went to the bus station. We rode for 5-6 hours to Sukhothai and settled in at our little bungalow. Had a fabulous curry down the road, bought some Chang beers, and played cards all night on our balcony. In the morning, we hopped in a songthaew to Sukhothai Historical Park, where we viewed amazing ruins and frolicked in the rain.
After lunch we returned to the bus station and headed down to Ayutthaya where we stayed in an 80 year old restored teak hotel right along the river. In the morning we rented bikes and toured the city and ruins in the blazing sunshine. It was gorgeous, and Mr. Map Reader Oli made the mistake of leading us down the wrong road which was fabulous- we were right in the north of town where the residents live, and we saw them fishing, planting crops, laughing and smiling. It was a great detour and much better than the way we were supposed to go to the temple!
After a great day and a sore butt we headed to the train station to catch a train to Bangkok. The train was delayed and we spent our time drinking some beers at a local place with a guy who knew great English and even better bar tricks. I got a star up on the wall for my handy rubber band trick completion, and we walked away very satisfied.
The train was short and sweet, and we arrived in Bangkok surprised to see it so modern and well kept! We moseyed our way down to the river, hopped on a ferry, and headed up to Khao San Road, because as a backpacker, why not? We checked into our seedy hostel which was reminiscent of Leo's room in The Beach, then headed our to contact Oli's old friend Al. We rang him up and met him at a local bar, where we drank beers out of paper cups and chatted. We had a lovely evening with him, and experienced the backpacker culture for a bit, then retired to our room.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast, packed up, and headed back to the ferry to The Oriental stop. We got off the ferry, walked down the road, and were immediately whisked in to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where they grabbed our bags, gave us juice, and showed us to our lovely lovely lovely riverfront room. So luxurious!!! I wanted to collapse in the fluffy white pillows but we got our bearings straight and headed out. We went to a local tailor where Oli got fitted for some gorgeous suits, then hopped in a cab in the nick of time before the heavens opened up. We headed to the mall to look for some Mandarin Oriental appropriate shoes for me, but go figure- couldn't find a place with my size! Never thought an 8.5 US was large, but now I know!!! We killed time at the mall, then headed back to the hotel to lay around and watch Dexter and wait for the arrival of.... THE MILLERS IN BANGKOK.
We have just been having so much fun stuffing our faces with curry and riding elephants that we haven't had the time to update. C'est la vie. Now we can torture you with a super duper update!!!!!!!!!
So where did we leave off?
We arrived in Chiang Mai, and enjoyed the lovely Pak hotel- awesome suite, complete with our own computer. So instead of updating the blog, we downloaded the most recent season of Lost, drank beers, and enjoyed our evenings! The temples were awesome,fod was fabulous. On our anniversary we had a lovely 2.5 hour spa treatment, then had lunch in town where we met an odd old farang and were offered an indecent proposal- to go home with him and meet his thai lesbian ladyboy girlfriend for some fun. Though we were offered unlimited funding to stay in Chiang Mai, we politely declined and ran back to our hotel. Now that's a memorable anniversary!
We enjoyed Doi Suthep but we had bad timing and ended up there on the day that the entire freshman class of Chiang Mai Uni were there doing their prayers. Miles of students walking up the hills, people singing and dancing and boozing... it was nuts. It took a bit longer than we expected!!! Headed to the Saturday walking market afterwards and bought some fisherman pants and paintings, then lounged for our last day in CM.
In the morning we had our last amazing breakfast at Pak, then hopped in a tuktuk and went to the bus station. We rode for 5-6 hours to Sukhothai and settled in at our little bungalow. Had a fabulous curry down the road, bought some Chang beers, and played cards all night on our balcony. In the morning, we hopped in a songthaew to Sukhothai Historical Park, where we viewed amazing ruins and frolicked in the rain.
After lunch we returned to the bus station and headed down to Ayutthaya where we stayed in an 80 year old restored teak hotel right along the river. In the morning we rented bikes and toured the city and ruins in the blazing sunshine. It was gorgeous, and Mr. Map Reader Oli made the mistake of leading us down the wrong road which was fabulous- we were right in the north of town where the residents live, and we saw them fishing, planting crops, laughing and smiling. It was a great detour and much better than the way we were supposed to go to the temple!
After a great day and a sore butt we headed to the train station to catch a train to Bangkok. The train was delayed and we spent our time drinking some beers at a local place with a guy who knew great English and even better bar tricks. I got a star up on the wall for my handy rubber band trick completion, and we walked away very satisfied.
The train was short and sweet, and we arrived in Bangkok surprised to see it so modern and well kept! We moseyed our way down to the river, hopped on a ferry, and headed up to Khao San Road, because as a backpacker, why not? We checked into our seedy hostel which was reminiscent of Leo's room in The Beach, then headed our to contact Oli's old friend Al. We rang him up and met him at a local bar, where we drank beers out of paper cups and chatted. We had a lovely evening with him, and experienced the backpacker culture for a bit, then retired to our room.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast, packed up, and headed back to the ferry to The Oriental stop. We got off the ferry, walked down the road, and were immediately whisked in to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where they grabbed our bags, gave us juice, and showed us to our lovely lovely lovely riverfront room. So luxurious!!! I wanted to collapse in the fluffy white pillows but we got our bearings straight and headed out. We went to a local tailor where Oli got fitted for some gorgeous suits, then hopped in a cab in the nick of time before the heavens opened up. We headed to the mall to look for some Mandarin Oriental appropriate shoes for me, but go figure- couldn't find a place with my size! Never thought an 8.5 US was large, but now I know!!! We killed time at the mall, then headed back to the hotel to lay around and watch Dexter and wait for the arrival of.... THE MILLERS IN BANGKOK.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Better really late than never!
So, finally we are letting you guys in on the last 3/4 weeks of our travels. Well to say the least, it has been crazy busy!
We had a great final few days in Kuala Lumpur, staying with Mo, our 1st couchsurfing buddy, exploring the city (particularly the air-conditioned parts!) and hanging out with old friends. Gav, a guy that we both new from Brighton, is now living and working there, so we were able to catch up over several very expensive beers in the local Irish Pub - fantastic!!
After KL we spent 30 odd hours in transit - KL to Bangkok, Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to sunny California. And after a little questioning from the immigration official who couldn't understand "why" we were travelling, we were finally stateside again, awaiting the arrival of Warren and Tessa! Tessa was apparently very excited to see us which was demonstrated by her urinating all over the pavement of the arrivals area, thankfully Warren greeted us with big hugs instead of following suit! We spent a wonderful weekend at the ranch decompressing after the long journey and enjoying the company of family once more. And we definitely enjoyed the trip to in'n'out too!
On Monday we left the ranch and cruised over towards the Bay Area to Tiburon to see Aunt Rayna and Uncle Jimmy. We had a great afternoon and a wonderful home cooked meal and great company in the evening before getting another great nights sleep. Tuesday we had another lovely day, went on a great hike where we snuck into the brand new, not yet open, marine wildlife centre, saw "UP" and mentally prepared for the Trivia Night at La Barca that evening. It was a blast! The food was great as usual and it was great to see Vance and Lori as well.
Next we ventured South even further and stopped in SLO to see Grams. We tortured her with a couple hundred of our photos, cooked dinner and ate Ollalaberry Pie! We also spent a great day touring Hearst Castle and looking through more pics and enjoying the opportunity to cook once more.
Come Friday we were rolling down to L.A. in time for lunch with our old work places. But 1st we had to swing by the old apartment in Westwood, completing one full revolution of the World heading East!! We both had great lunches and visited the LACMA for the 1st time before heading over to Erin's to start the night of fun. We had an awesome night meeting up with just about all of our great friends from L.A. and despite having at least one too many drinks we made it home and were up in time to leave L.A. once more. Not before a trip to the legendary Apple Pan for lunch though!
We made it back to the ranch in the early evening and detoxed before heading up to Boonville on Sunday to start pre-show for the festival. We spent the next 4 days working long hours, with short nights, enjoying more family time and getting everything in shape for Thurs/Fri. On Thurs our friends arrived and we celebrated heartily! It was amazing to see everyone again and we had a wonderful weekend with everyone. It was a really spectacular weekend with too many good moments to list them all but we thank everyone from the Vets Hall Camp for coming to Boonville and seeing us again. Even though it meant working the early or late shifts! We love you guys!
Come Monday, the show was over, we all felt great about the weekend but it was now time to start the clean up. Cue the long days and short nights again! Finally on Friday we were able to leave Boonville for another year and relax at the ranch with Warren, Gret, Bette and all the animals before our early start on Sunday.
Well, 34 hours of transit later we arrived here, in Chiang Mai, at our hotel on Tuesday the 30th. Yes, a hotel! We are splurging for our anniversary(Thx Mum & Dad)! We spent thye day lounging around in our suite, sleeping and eating the amazing food. Yesterday we explored the city a little, saw the amazing "Wats" (temples), ate more great food and finished the evening with a few drinks. Today is pretty much a repeat of that! We love it so far in Thailand and are looking forward to seeing Michael, Karle and Jessy on Wednesday and exploring more of it with them.
For now, that seems to be us caught up, so until next time.....
We had a great final few days in Kuala Lumpur, staying with Mo, our 1st couchsurfing buddy, exploring the city (particularly the air-conditioned parts!) and hanging out with old friends. Gav, a guy that we both new from Brighton, is now living and working there, so we were able to catch up over several very expensive beers in the local Irish Pub - fantastic!!
After KL we spent 30 odd hours in transit - KL to Bangkok, Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to sunny California. And after a little questioning from the immigration official who couldn't understand "why" we were travelling, we were finally stateside again, awaiting the arrival of Warren and Tessa! Tessa was apparently very excited to see us which was demonstrated by her urinating all over the pavement of the arrivals area, thankfully Warren greeted us with big hugs instead of following suit! We spent a wonderful weekend at the ranch decompressing after the long journey and enjoying the company of family once more. And we definitely enjoyed the trip to in'n'out too!
On Monday we left the ranch and cruised over towards the Bay Area to Tiburon to see Aunt Rayna and Uncle Jimmy. We had a great afternoon and a wonderful home cooked meal and great company in the evening before getting another great nights sleep. Tuesday we had another lovely day, went on a great hike where we snuck into the brand new, not yet open, marine wildlife centre, saw "UP" and mentally prepared for the Trivia Night at La Barca that evening. It was a blast! The food was great as usual and it was great to see Vance and Lori as well.
Next we ventured South even further and stopped in SLO to see Grams. We tortured her with a couple hundred of our photos, cooked dinner and ate Ollalaberry Pie! We also spent a great day touring Hearst Castle and looking through more pics and enjoying the opportunity to cook once more.
Come Friday we were rolling down to L.A. in time for lunch with our old work places. But 1st we had to swing by the old apartment in Westwood, completing one full revolution of the World heading East!! We both had great lunches and visited the LACMA for the 1st time before heading over to Erin's to start the night of fun. We had an awesome night meeting up with just about all of our great friends from L.A. and despite having at least one too many drinks we made it home and were up in time to leave L.A. once more. Not before a trip to the legendary Apple Pan for lunch though!
We made it back to the ranch in the early evening and detoxed before heading up to Boonville on Sunday to start pre-show for the festival. We spent the next 4 days working long hours, with short nights, enjoying more family time and getting everything in shape for Thurs/Fri. On Thurs our friends arrived and we celebrated heartily! It was amazing to see everyone again and we had a wonderful weekend with everyone. It was a really spectacular weekend with too many good moments to list them all but we thank everyone from the Vets Hall Camp for coming to Boonville and seeing us again. Even though it meant working the early or late shifts! We love you guys!
Come Monday, the show was over, we all felt great about the weekend but it was now time to start the clean up. Cue the long days and short nights again! Finally on Friday we were able to leave Boonville for another year and relax at the ranch with Warren, Gret, Bette and all the animals before our early start on Sunday.
Well, 34 hours of transit later we arrived here, in Chiang Mai, at our hotel on Tuesday the 30th. Yes, a hotel! We are splurging for our anniversary(Thx Mum & Dad)! We spent thye day lounging around in our suite, sleeping and eating the amazing food. Yesterday we explored the city a little, saw the amazing "Wats" (temples), ate more great food and finished the evening with a few drinks. Today is pretty much a repeat of that! We love it so far in Thailand and are looking forward to seeing Michael, Karle and Jessy on Wednesday and exploring more of it with them.
For now, that seems to be us caught up, so until next time.....
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Peace. Love. Music.
Hi everyone, we are still alive and well! We have been so busy since we arrived in California that we have not had time to update, but it has been 2 weeks so we wanted to say hi.
We have been down to L.A. and back, therefore completing a full loop of the World since we left in September!!
We are now at the family show, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival (www.snwmf.com) working hard and having a ball!! Good music, good vibes and good people.
We will have a proper update soon, peace, love, music.
Jen & Oli
We have been down to L.A. and back, therefore completing a full loop of the World since we left in September!!
We are now at the family show, Sierra Nevada World Music Festival (www.snwmf.com) working hard and having a ball!! Good music, good vibes and good people.
We will have a proper update soon, peace, love, music.
Jen & Oli
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