Hello from "Happy Guesthouse", Siem Reap, Cambodia.
It is currently a cool afternoon with lots of evil thunder threatening us with rain which believe it or not is a nice change from the extreme heat we have been experiencing!
Now to pick up where I left off...
Our next stop after Hoi An, Vietnam was Nha Trang. We boarded another sleeper bus and set off on another long journey south to the beach town. We arrived at 6.am in the morning and to our suprise the beach was heaving with people. It seems that 6.am is a great time to play beach sports, do some aerobics, practice dance routines and swim in the sea! We found a hotel straight away and then decided to follow suit and head onto the beach our selves. We lay under huge thatched umbrellas on some surprisingly comfy sun loungers and read, caught up on sleep and when we were ready had a lovely dip in the sea! The sea was actually a lot colder than the sea in Hoi An and the beach wasn't as nice but I can't complain it was still lovely! The next day we decided to take a trip over to a small island called 'Vin Pearl Island'. Vin Pearl belongs to a millionaire who thought it would be fun to have his own theme park, sort of like Michael Jacksons Neverland if you ask me! We took the worlds longest over water cable car and reached the crazy island after about 15 minutes. Our first stop was the water park! We were all really excited and practically ran towards the huge gates feeling like little kids going to a theme park for the first time. Daniel, Chris and I decided to be super brave and go on one of the biggest slides (one that makes you go head first might I add) only to have a small disaster at the end! The ride is scary enough as you can imagine going head first, a million miles an hour, water splashing in your eyes only to get to the bottom and see that a strange lump has appeared on Daniel's elbow! We all automatically thought the worse,"the lump was bone, he has broken his arm, wheres the travel insurance!?" Fortunately he was rushed to the doctor who didn't speak a word of English who poked and prodded, bandaged him up and within about 10 minutes sent him on his way with us so we could all enjoy the wave machine. We went on a few more rides that we all highly questioned the security of before heading on to the aquarium for a little rest and relaxation. We enjoyed the long cable car journey back and that evening found something we had all been dreaming of...CHEESY CHIPS AND GRAVY! Oh yes! Who would believe it in Vietnam we could find a treat as good as that. It sounds very sad I know but when you've been away for a while its the small things you miss and it was a great taste of home!
We only stayed for a few days in Nha Trang before moving to our last city in Vietnam, Saigon (otherwise known as Ho Chi Min City). We had plenty to do in Saigon and we made sure that we made the most of it. We did lots of walking around, visited the war museum, found lovely parks to stroll through, made friends with a monk, enjoyed Edward Scissor hands style trees and bushes and visited the royal palace and this was only in the first day and a half. Chris and I had a great trip down the Mekong river visiting a coconut candy factory. We rode on a horse and carriage, rode down the Mekong in a tiny boat, ate "Elephant Ear" fish (well I did), tried loads of amazing fresh fruit, listened to the locals perform music, tasted coconut liqueur and honey tea and saw how rice paper is made. The next few days in Saigon were great, we met our dear friends Mike and Ellie again who took us to the most amazing street cafe where Steph and I ate the HUGEST most amazing prawns and lovely garlic rice. We obviously had a few beer and laughter filled evenings with our pals and managed to visit the amazing Cu Chi tunnels before we left. The tunnels were crazy, I cannot believe that people actually lived in the tiniest tunnels under ground for 20 years. Chris and I only managed to crawl through 25meters worth of tunnels before getting really claustrophobic but Dan and Steph managed the whole 100. Quite a horrible experience but 100% worth a visit just to see how brave the people who lived in them were.
By the time we were due to get our bus to Cambodia we were all VERY excited to be moving on. I loved Vietnam and really enjoyed all the different things it had to offer but after 3 weeks I was itching to see another amazing country. Arriving in Cambodia was wonderful, I experienced my first ever tuk tuk ride and we were taken to our $3 a night hotel...what more could you ask for!? The amok curries are delicious and even though the beer isn't as cheap as Vietnam you can still get a cold can for 50cents. We had a cultured few days in Phnom Penh. We visited a few difficult places like the s21 museum and the killing fields which were extremely hard to not be affected by. The brutality and murder that took place at these sites is just shocking and it is so strange being allowed to walk around mass graves and especially to see bones and teeth that the ground brings up every time it rains. The most awful thing to see was a huge tree called the killing tree where soldiers would hold children and babies by their feet and hit their heads against the tree to kill them. We also visited the Royal Palace and saw some beautiful architecture, strolled round the Russian Markets and sampled some street food, walked round the huge temples and checked out the cool museum.
Cambodia is such an amazing place and we wish we had loads more time here to visit all of the small towns and spend longer in the cities. I will write next time about our visit to Angkor Wat as my eyes are going a little blurry from the computer screen and I can hear Chris's belly rumbling for some food! We are off to Thailand tomorrow and I cannot wait!!
Until next time!
LOADS OF LOVE
E XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thursday 26 August 2010
Sunday 8 August 2010
Phosphorescent
Hello from Hoi An Vietnam!
Sorry again for the lack of blogs-it seems very hard to have time to sit down and tell you all about our adventures!
Firstly I will tell you all about our amazing Ha Long Bay experience. It really was one of those trips that I will remember for the rest of my life! We booked our tour with an agency called Kangaroo Cafe- (I highly recommend if any of you are in Vietnam to check them out, not only do they do great tours they do the best breakfast in Asia!) We met our group, a lovely Dutch family, a Spanish couple, a newly wed American/Australian couple and two fellow Brits called Jenny and Pat. The bus journey was around 4 hours long to Ha Long Bay and we got to see some great views of the city and the more rural areas. Arriving at the dock we all got giddy with excitement when we saw our ship- it looked like an old pirate ship and we really felt like we were off on an exciting expedition! They fed us a HUGE lunch, bringing out about 8 courses including fresh crabs, prawns, salads and noodles. After lunch we were shown to our rooms on the boat which were spacious, lovely and clean. We freshened up, sat on the front of the ship and enjoyed the journey through the bay to the "amazing caves". The caves were really interesting to look through but we soon felt pretty weary as there were about a million other tourists there and it was SO hot we all looked like we had taken a shower! Our guide realised that we all needed a bit of a break and a cooling down so we got back on the boat- anchored for the day and spent the rest of the afternoon jumping from the top of the boat into the warm sea! The whole evening was lovely and we got to know our group really well over a few beers, we had another fantastic feast for dinner and the boys even took part in a spot of night fishing! Our guide told us all about this amazing coral called 'Phosphorescent Coral' that at night shimmers when you disturb it. (If you have ever seen the film 'The Beach' its the stuff that surrounds Leo and the chick when they have a little kiss in the water!) I have to admit I thought it was a bit of a myth so we all decided to see for ourselves if it was true! Laura and Stephen (the newly wed's) were brave enough to jump into the dark water first followed closely by Chris, Dan, Steph, Pat, Jenny and myself! We had two pairs of goggles that we shared around and crazily enough it was 100% true!The phosphorescent shimmered like bits of glitter when you waved your hands in the water and was really, REALLY beautiful! We all considered ourselves very lucky to have seen such a magical thing and went to bed very happy after having such an awesome day.
The next day was just as great- The boat took us to Cat Ba Island and we set off to look at some more caves. This time we were the only people there and we explored spotting bats and glittering rocks. Our guide realised that our group was getting along really well and we all liked going to places that weren't over run by tourists so he offered to take us to a different part of the bay where we could rent kayaks and find our own beaches! Apart from our little night swimming adventure this was our favourite part of the trip. We were taken to a secluded area where a guy had a little floating house surrounded by a fish farm (where the biggest fish I have ever seen lived). We all rented kayaks and after about 30minutes found a deserted beach that was completely empty. We swam in the sea again, collected a few shells and then set back off for the boat. The rest of the afternoon was spent jumping off a higher point of the boat (very scary but super fun!) and drinking beer with our new friends. We were left to our own devices for dinner and the four of us plus Pat and Jenny found a place to eat on the island where we had about a million spring rolls and great conversation.
The next day we got up early to get back on the boat to mainland, we had a buffet breakfast and I have to say 6am is a very strange time to eat noodles and soup (the Vietnamese don't do breakfast like we do!). When we got to the boat we were all greatful as the weather was amazing and we took the opportunity to do a little bit of sunbathing on the top deck. The views were incredible and we were so lucky to have perfect weather so we could see everything clearly, (apparently two days before we arrived it had been pouring down with rain and some of the tours were cancelled!). We took some photos and swapped tips with Pat and Jenny who gave us some great recommendations of places to eat/stay etc. When we reached mainland we had lunch and then set back off on the bus to Hanoi fully content with our personal wonderful trip!
After Ha Long Bay we stayed in Hanoi for another three days walking around checking out the sights and enjoying some good food (and margarita cocktails!). We decided to get an all inclusive sleeper bus ticket that you can use to travel all over Vietnam. Our first stop was Hoi An with a five hour stop over in Hue. We were all dreading the sleeper bus but when we arrived at the bus stop we were all very pleasantly surprised at the amount of space we had. The journey was fine and we felt pretty good when we arrived in Hue. We found a restaurant that served ice tea for 1000dong (about 3p!) so after about a million of them we passed the time wandering through the sculpture park until our bus was ready to leave to Hoi An.
Hoi An has been wonderful so far- we got to catch up with our friends Mike and Ellie who yet again showed us some great places to eat and took Chris and I to a beautiful beach. We have had some clothes tailored (the best being a navy blue duffel coat with gold lining and initials on the front pocket for Chris for 30pounds!) and eaten the best aubergine hot pot known to man. Next stop is Na Trang so updates soon!!!
Loads of love
E xxxx
Sorry again for the lack of blogs-it seems very hard to have time to sit down and tell you all about our adventures!
Firstly I will tell you all about our amazing Ha Long Bay experience. It really was one of those trips that I will remember for the rest of my life! We booked our tour with an agency called Kangaroo Cafe- (I highly recommend if any of you are in Vietnam to check them out, not only do they do great tours they do the best breakfast in Asia!) We met our group, a lovely Dutch family, a Spanish couple, a newly wed American/Australian couple and two fellow Brits called Jenny and Pat. The bus journey was around 4 hours long to Ha Long Bay and we got to see some great views of the city and the more rural areas. Arriving at the dock we all got giddy with excitement when we saw our ship- it looked like an old pirate ship and we really felt like we were off on an exciting expedition! They fed us a HUGE lunch, bringing out about 8 courses including fresh crabs, prawns, salads and noodles. After lunch we were shown to our rooms on the boat which were spacious, lovely and clean. We freshened up, sat on the front of the ship and enjoyed the journey through the bay to the "amazing caves". The caves were really interesting to look through but we soon felt pretty weary as there were about a million other tourists there and it was SO hot we all looked like we had taken a shower! Our guide realised that we all needed a bit of a break and a cooling down so we got back on the boat- anchored for the day and spent the rest of the afternoon jumping from the top of the boat into the warm sea! The whole evening was lovely and we got to know our group really well over a few beers, we had another fantastic feast for dinner and the boys even took part in a spot of night fishing! Our guide told us all about this amazing coral called 'Phosphorescent Coral' that at night shimmers when you disturb it. (If you have ever seen the film 'The Beach' its the stuff that surrounds Leo and the chick when they have a little kiss in the water!) I have to admit I thought it was a bit of a myth so we all decided to see for ourselves if it was true! Laura and Stephen (the newly wed's) were brave enough to jump into the dark water first followed closely by Chris, Dan, Steph, Pat, Jenny and myself! We had two pairs of goggles that we shared around and crazily enough it was 100% true!The phosphorescent shimmered like bits of glitter when you waved your hands in the water and was really, REALLY beautiful! We all considered ourselves very lucky to have seen such a magical thing and went to bed very happy after having such an awesome day.
The next day was just as great- The boat took us to Cat Ba Island and we set off to look at some more caves. This time we were the only people there and we explored spotting bats and glittering rocks. Our guide realised that our group was getting along really well and we all liked going to places that weren't over run by tourists so he offered to take us to a different part of the bay where we could rent kayaks and find our own beaches! Apart from our little night swimming adventure this was our favourite part of the trip. We were taken to a secluded area where a guy had a little floating house surrounded by a fish farm (where the biggest fish I have ever seen lived). We all rented kayaks and after about 30minutes found a deserted beach that was completely empty. We swam in the sea again, collected a few shells and then set back off for the boat. The rest of the afternoon was spent jumping off a higher point of the boat (very scary but super fun!) and drinking beer with our new friends. We were left to our own devices for dinner and the four of us plus Pat and Jenny found a place to eat on the island where we had about a million spring rolls and great conversation.
The next day we got up early to get back on the boat to mainland, we had a buffet breakfast and I have to say 6am is a very strange time to eat noodles and soup (the Vietnamese don't do breakfast like we do!). When we got to the boat we were all greatful as the weather was amazing and we took the opportunity to do a little bit of sunbathing on the top deck. The views were incredible and we were so lucky to have perfect weather so we could see everything clearly, (apparently two days before we arrived it had been pouring down with rain and some of the tours were cancelled!). We took some photos and swapped tips with Pat and Jenny who gave us some great recommendations of places to eat/stay etc. When we reached mainland we had lunch and then set back off on the bus to Hanoi fully content with our personal wonderful trip!
After Ha Long Bay we stayed in Hanoi for another three days walking around checking out the sights and enjoying some good food (and margarita cocktails!). We decided to get an all inclusive sleeper bus ticket that you can use to travel all over Vietnam. Our first stop was Hoi An with a five hour stop over in Hue. We were all dreading the sleeper bus but when we arrived at the bus stop we were all very pleasantly surprised at the amount of space we had. The journey was fine and we felt pretty good when we arrived in Hue. We found a restaurant that served ice tea for 1000dong (about 3p!) so after about a million of them we passed the time wandering through the sculpture park until our bus was ready to leave to Hoi An.
Hoi An has been wonderful so far- we got to catch up with our friends Mike and Ellie who yet again showed us some great places to eat and took Chris and I to a beautiful beach. We have had some clothes tailored (the best being a navy blue duffel coat with gold lining and initials on the front pocket for Chris for 30pounds!) and eaten the best aubergine hot pot known to man. Next stop is Na Trang so updates soon!!!
Loads of love
E xxxx
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Cosmic Collisions
Hello everyone!
Sorry I have been SO slack on the blog front! We have had a busy couple of weeks moving about from place to place and no time to catch up on the blog front!!
I will start where I left off and quickly explain about our relaxing trip to Pokhara. We had a long seven hour bus journey from Kathmandu to reach the sleepy town so when we arrived we were all desperate for food, a beer and a shower! We checked into our hotel and had a little explore noticing straight away how quiet it was compared to the busy city we had been used to! We got our bearings and found a place to eat and enjoy some mojito's! The rest of the week was pretty similar, we all took a chance to relax eat some good food and recover from the trek! We rented bikes one day and Daniel taught Chris and I how to ride a scooter! ( I looked SO good in my helmet haha) The hotel across from us had a great outdoor swimming pool so we took full advantage when the sun was shining! As you may have guessed we all really enjoyed our time in Pokhara and thought it was a great place to recover from walking up a mountain!
Arriving back in Kathmandu we spent our last day in Nepal eating at our favorite haunts where Steph and I had our first STEAK! (It was SOOOOO good!) We packed and prepared ourselves for flying the next day and had an early night. Chris and I had to be up early to get to the airport to check into our flight at 10.40. We arrived at the airport at 8.00 said our goodbyes to Binay (who had kindly come with us in the taxi!) and made our way into the terminal. Once we got inside we were pretty confused- there was NO sign of our flight- anywhere... After walking around asking about 5 people who all told us just to wait we got a bit stressed out (as by this time it was 9.30 and we hadn't checked in and our flight was leaving in just over an hour). Chris found a really helpful guy who told us that apparently our airline didn't fly in the morning and they had sent us a wrong conformation time, our flight was in fact the same flight as Dan and Steph's which was leaving at 4.00pm. Hungry, angry and sleepy we waited at the airport for D & S and gave them a small shock when they saw us still in the airport (slight payback for the shock they gave us!). Kathmandu airport is very small so to fly to Hong Kong we had to stop via Delhi. Once in Delhi Chris and I had to separate from D & S and find our flight to Hong Kong and once again there was no sign of our flight...very tired and grumpy from the previous problems I was about to throw my toys out of the pram until Chris found that our flight had just been delayed by two hours! Fortunately the plane was really comfy and we had loads of room - unfortunately due to lack of sleep, no food and all the emotions I didn't feel very well at all when we arrived in HK. Chris and I left the plane and in the next few minutes I had a lady tapping me on the shoulder, putting a thermometer in my ear and putting a surgical mask over my face! Chris and I were whisked off to a medical corner where they asked me loads of questions about my health - I actually thought they wouldn't let me in the country! After explaining I was probably just VERY VERY worn out due to flying for over 24 hours they let me go! A starbucks iced lemon tea and the amazingly clean and air conditioned airport made me feel instantly better and we got a taxi to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
Hong Kong in general is amazing. It was refreshing to go somewhere that's clean, air conditioned and modern, however because of these things it is also very expensive! Our accommodation was pretty gross and we resented paying 20pounds a night for a room we all shared. (This was the cheapest and nicest place amazingly) It was a good way of keeping us out of the room though and we spent five days exploring the cool city. I ate some amazing dim sum, bucket loads of ice tea and we found this crazy vegetarian restaurant where they serve fake FISH! We checked out all the big museums (watched a great imax show called 'Cosmic Collisions!'), caught a ferry across the harbor and watched the light show. We must have walked for miles just taking in the sites and smells of the streets. I would 100% recommend anyone to go to Hong Kong but if you can take lots of money with you so you can do it in style!
That brings us to Vietnam! We love it here already and we have only been here for a few days. The accommodation is great and the beer is only 15p in some places! We made friends with a lovely Australian couple called Mike and Ellie who have shown us some of the best places to eat and drink. Tomorrow we are off on our Hal Long Bay tour which we are all SO excited about! Will update after then...I promise!! E xxxx
Sorry I have been SO slack on the blog front! We have had a busy couple of weeks moving about from place to place and no time to catch up on the blog front!!
I will start where I left off and quickly explain about our relaxing trip to Pokhara. We had a long seven hour bus journey from Kathmandu to reach the sleepy town so when we arrived we were all desperate for food, a beer and a shower! We checked into our hotel and had a little explore noticing straight away how quiet it was compared to the busy city we had been used to! We got our bearings and found a place to eat and enjoy some mojito's! The rest of the week was pretty similar, we all took a chance to relax eat some good food and recover from the trek! We rented bikes one day and Daniel taught Chris and I how to ride a scooter! ( I looked SO good in my helmet haha) The hotel across from us had a great outdoor swimming pool so we took full advantage when the sun was shining! As you may have guessed we all really enjoyed our time in Pokhara and thought it was a great place to recover from walking up a mountain!
Arriving back in Kathmandu we spent our last day in Nepal eating at our favorite haunts where Steph and I had our first STEAK! (It was SOOOOO good!) We packed and prepared ourselves for flying the next day and had an early night. Chris and I had to be up early to get to the airport to check into our flight at 10.40. We arrived at the airport at 8.00 said our goodbyes to Binay (who had kindly come with us in the taxi!) and made our way into the terminal. Once we got inside we were pretty confused- there was NO sign of our flight- anywhere... After walking around asking about 5 people who all told us just to wait we got a bit stressed out (as by this time it was 9.30 and we hadn't checked in and our flight was leaving in just over an hour). Chris found a really helpful guy who told us that apparently our airline didn't fly in the morning and they had sent us a wrong conformation time, our flight was in fact the same flight as Dan and Steph's which was leaving at 4.00pm. Hungry, angry and sleepy we waited at the airport for D & S and gave them a small shock when they saw us still in the airport (slight payback for the shock they gave us!). Kathmandu airport is very small so to fly to Hong Kong we had to stop via Delhi. Once in Delhi Chris and I had to separate from D & S and find our flight to Hong Kong and once again there was no sign of our flight...very tired and grumpy from the previous problems I was about to throw my toys out of the pram until Chris found that our flight had just been delayed by two hours! Fortunately the plane was really comfy and we had loads of room - unfortunately due to lack of sleep, no food and all the emotions I didn't feel very well at all when we arrived in HK. Chris and I left the plane and in the next few minutes I had a lady tapping me on the shoulder, putting a thermometer in my ear and putting a surgical mask over my face! Chris and I were whisked off to a medical corner where they asked me loads of questions about my health - I actually thought they wouldn't let me in the country! After explaining I was probably just VERY VERY worn out due to flying for over 24 hours they let me go! A starbucks iced lemon tea and the amazingly clean and air conditioned airport made me feel instantly better and we got a taxi to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.
Hong Kong in general is amazing. It was refreshing to go somewhere that's clean, air conditioned and modern, however because of these things it is also very expensive! Our accommodation was pretty gross and we resented paying 20pounds a night for a room we all shared. (This was the cheapest and nicest place amazingly) It was a good way of keeping us out of the room though and we spent five days exploring the cool city. I ate some amazing dim sum, bucket loads of ice tea and we found this crazy vegetarian restaurant where they serve fake FISH! We checked out all the big museums (watched a great imax show called 'Cosmic Collisions!'), caught a ferry across the harbor and watched the light show. We must have walked for miles just taking in the sites and smells of the streets. I would 100% recommend anyone to go to Hong Kong but if you can take lots of money with you so you can do it in style!
That brings us to Vietnam! We love it here already and we have only been here for a few days. The accommodation is great and the beer is only 15p in some places! We made friends with a lovely Australian couple called Mike and Ellie who have shown us some of the best places to eat and drink. Tomorrow we are off on our Hal Long Bay tour which we are all SO excited about! Will update after then...I promise!! E xxxx
Sunday 11 July 2010
Into the white blanket
Hello everyone! Its been a while since my last update so sorry about that! We've been in Nepal for 12 days now and are still having a great time. We've been busy bee's so we haven't been able to update so I will start from where I left off.....
SO the day after we visited the Monkey Temple we decided to visit a few more tourist sites. Binay sorted us a driver for the day who turned up at 9.00 am blasting Akon and Justin Beiber from his stereo. We got in the sporty looking black car (with leather seats that are not great to sit on when its 35degrees!) and set off for Boudhanath. It really does take a while to get used to the way people drive in Nepal. There doesn't seem to be a particular system at all and its pretty scary especially when you come to a cross road and everyone seems to just drive and weave in and out of each other! I've taken a small video that I will upload at some point so you can see! After the crazy drive we got to Boudhanath to see a large 'Stupa' and beautiful temple. The sun was beaming down and we enjoyed walking around casually taking in the culture! Our driver picked us up after an hour and we made our way to Pashupatinath. Some of you may have seen or heard about this place as it is where family's hold funerals for their lost ones and burn the bodies at the side of the river (kind of like a cremation ceremony but out in the open). The deceased are bound with herbs and spices and are set on fire whilst the family's mourn and cry next to the large plynth's that the bodies are rested on. It's a very strange place to visit as you feel like you shouldn't be intruding into such a personal ceremony, we were a bit shocked to find some Chinese tourists filming the event as we thought it would be disrespectful even taking photos. We didn't have as much time here as we wished as we had another stop to go to - Durbar Square in Thamel. After wandering around the square we went for lunch at our favorite haunt 'Small Star' and spent the rest of the day relaxing.
We had a relaxed few days and our driver came back on the Sunday to take us to more tourist sites. We visited Patan Durbar square and looked round a lovely little museum. We sunbathed for the rest of the afternoon on our little open air rooftop terrace at our hostel and then went for dinner and 'Tungba Beer' (look it up its mad!).
We had a day to prepare ourselves for the trek- Binay came to see us at our hostel and told us all about what we would be doing which made us very excited and nervous! We packed and got an early night ready for the hard five days ahead! We woke up at 6.00am and met Binay downstairs in our hostel. We walked to the local bus station which was mad organized chaos. Its not anything like a UK bus station- there are literally hundreds of old buses with no signs on just people shouting random destinations and trying to get you to board their bus. We found our bus and managed to get a seat. I think we were probably the only tourists there and everyone who got onto the bus just stared at us the whole way. The bus journey was an experience in its self- there seems to be no regards for health and safety as we found out when a bus that was probably fit for 40 max had about 200 people squished in every possible space and hanging off the roof! The buses are not like UK buses either - they are pretty much little tin cans with windows! We saw so many different people get on the bus - school girls that giggled at the boys, small children hanging off their parents, two men with two HUGE baskets of tomatoes, the ticket collectors hanging out the windows, people as old as 80 climbing up the side of the bus to sit on the roof- it really was a memorable journey! To get to the village we were starting the trek from we had to drive on small mountain roads- sometimes so close to the edge I had to close my eyes. Once we had reached the village (a place near Dulikel) and my knuckles had turned back to a decent shade of pink (!) we sat relaxing in the sun whilst our crew sorted out some lunch for us. When we were called over for lunch we were sitting in what I can only describe as a cow's stable where they had laid out something for us to sit on- we all found it quite strange as our crew didn't eat with us and instead our dining guests included a dog, some chickens, a little trumping child and a very drunk Nepali man who had one of our cups of tea. We all turned to look at each other in a "what have we let ourselves in for" kind of way. After the strange lunch experience Binay and Raju (our second guide) took us on a great walk round the bottom of the mountains along the river. We jumped from dirt mounds and walked through rice fields waving and greeting all the workers. We stopped to rest at a small Hindu temple and met a very stoned holy man called Baba. We walked for about 3 hours in total and by the time we were walking back towards the village we were in desperate need of a cold drink! We found a lady selling pepsi (warm but still greatly appreciated!) and stopped to relax. We set off again and sadly realised our walk wasn't finished as we still had to climb a portion of the mountain to get to our camp! We finally made it and had a great evening getting to know our crew (10 people in total all there just for us!). We ate pizza for tea (yes pizza!?!) made by our amazing cook 'Basanta' and slept as well as we could sleep on a mountain in a really hot tent!
Day two was the hardest of days. The heat was almost unbearable and we had to climb a mountain...halfway up Chris's shoes that Binay had given him broke and the soles fell off completely! We all found it SO hard and all had a little moan to ourselves- the worst thing was that our crew (who were carrying all our equipment) didn't even break a sweat and considered the walk "easy". We trekked through corn fields, climbed up rocks, walked on thin edges on the side of the mountain and covered miles and miles of ground. We passed through loads of little villages on the way up and met loads of friendly smiley villagers (i don't know how they stay so happy having to walk up a mountain every day!). We finally reached our camp which was outside an old house and a pond and were greeted by loads of children who found us all fascinating. Our crew loved to sing and dance (Raju is the greatest dancer I have ever seen) and provided great entertainment for us all!
I am running out of time on my Internet so I will just keep the rest of the trek story short! The next few days were good apart from Steph being very poorly. An old medicine man performed a mad ritual on her that seemed to work!! (well that or the water, rest and juice?!). We camped at some more interesting places and at one point were actually inside a cloud (Binay called it the 'White Blanket'). We encountered LEECHES as well as some other HUGE horrible bugs that decided to sometimes land on my head (eeeeerrrruuuggggghhhhhhhhh), we danced on top of the mountain in the rain, visited a local cheese factory, went to Binay's village and met his whole family (who were AMAZING), were given loads of Malia (flower necklaces) by the villagers, encountered sunburn (mostly poor Chris), drank Mustang Coffee, ate with local people, joked and laughed with children, chatted to our lovely crew and probably all lost about 1/2 a stone in weight!
All in all it was a great experience! SUCH hard work and boy are our legs paying for it today! Sorry I've had to cut it short but I'm sure if any of you want to hear more we can chat about it over a coffee on an afternoon in England! That brings us up to date too! Tomorrow we are off to Pokhura for 5 days so will update after then!
LOVE YOU ALL
xxxx
SO the day after we visited the Monkey Temple we decided to visit a few more tourist sites. Binay sorted us a driver for the day who turned up at 9.00 am blasting Akon and Justin Beiber from his stereo. We got in the sporty looking black car (with leather seats that are not great to sit on when its 35degrees!) and set off for Boudhanath. It really does take a while to get used to the way people drive in Nepal. There doesn't seem to be a particular system at all and its pretty scary especially when you come to a cross road and everyone seems to just drive and weave in and out of each other! I've taken a small video that I will upload at some point so you can see! After the crazy drive we got to Boudhanath to see a large 'Stupa' and beautiful temple. The sun was beaming down and we enjoyed walking around casually taking in the culture! Our driver picked us up after an hour and we made our way to Pashupatinath. Some of you may have seen or heard about this place as it is where family's hold funerals for their lost ones and burn the bodies at the side of the river (kind of like a cremation ceremony but out in the open). The deceased are bound with herbs and spices and are set on fire whilst the family's mourn and cry next to the large plynth's that the bodies are rested on. It's a very strange place to visit as you feel like you shouldn't be intruding into such a personal ceremony, we were a bit shocked to find some Chinese tourists filming the event as we thought it would be disrespectful even taking photos. We didn't have as much time here as we wished as we had another stop to go to - Durbar Square in Thamel. After wandering around the square we went for lunch at our favorite haunt 'Small Star' and spent the rest of the day relaxing.
We had a relaxed few days and our driver came back on the Sunday to take us to more tourist sites. We visited Patan Durbar square and looked round a lovely little museum. We sunbathed for the rest of the afternoon on our little open air rooftop terrace at our hostel and then went for dinner and 'Tungba Beer' (look it up its mad!).
We had a day to prepare ourselves for the trek- Binay came to see us at our hostel and told us all about what we would be doing which made us very excited and nervous! We packed and got an early night ready for the hard five days ahead! We woke up at 6.00am and met Binay downstairs in our hostel. We walked to the local bus station which was mad organized chaos. Its not anything like a UK bus station- there are literally hundreds of old buses with no signs on just people shouting random destinations and trying to get you to board their bus. We found our bus and managed to get a seat. I think we were probably the only tourists there and everyone who got onto the bus just stared at us the whole way. The bus journey was an experience in its self- there seems to be no regards for health and safety as we found out when a bus that was probably fit for 40 max had about 200 people squished in every possible space and hanging off the roof! The buses are not like UK buses either - they are pretty much little tin cans with windows! We saw so many different people get on the bus - school girls that giggled at the boys, small children hanging off their parents, two men with two HUGE baskets of tomatoes, the ticket collectors hanging out the windows, people as old as 80 climbing up the side of the bus to sit on the roof- it really was a memorable journey! To get to the village we were starting the trek from we had to drive on small mountain roads- sometimes so close to the edge I had to close my eyes. Once we had reached the village (a place near Dulikel) and my knuckles had turned back to a decent shade of pink (!) we sat relaxing in the sun whilst our crew sorted out some lunch for us. When we were called over for lunch we were sitting in what I can only describe as a cow's stable where they had laid out something for us to sit on- we all found it quite strange as our crew didn't eat with us and instead our dining guests included a dog, some chickens, a little trumping child and a very drunk Nepali man who had one of our cups of tea. We all turned to look at each other in a "what have we let ourselves in for" kind of way. After the strange lunch experience Binay and Raju (our second guide) took us on a great walk round the bottom of the mountains along the river. We jumped from dirt mounds and walked through rice fields waving and greeting all the workers. We stopped to rest at a small Hindu temple and met a very stoned holy man called Baba. We walked for about 3 hours in total and by the time we were walking back towards the village we were in desperate need of a cold drink! We found a lady selling pepsi (warm but still greatly appreciated!) and stopped to relax. We set off again and sadly realised our walk wasn't finished as we still had to climb a portion of the mountain to get to our camp! We finally made it and had a great evening getting to know our crew (10 people in total all there just for us!). We ate pizza for tea (yes pizza!?!) made by our amazing cook 'Basanta' and slept as well as we could sleep on a mountain in a really hot tent!
Day two was the hardest of days. The heat was almost unbearable and we had to climb a mountain...halfway up Chris's shoes that Binay had given him broke and the soles fell off completely! We all found it SO hard and all had a little moan to ourselves- the worst thing was that our crew (who were carrying all our equipment) didn't even break a sweat and considered the walk "easy". We trekked through corn fields, climbed up rocks, walked on thin edges on the side of the mountain and covered miles and miles of ground. We passed through loads of little villages on the way up and met loads of friendly smiley villagers (i don't know how they stay so happy having to walk up a mountain every day!). We finally reached our camp which was outside an old house and a pond and were greeted by loads of children who found us all fascinating. Our crew loved to sing and dance (Raju is the greatest dancer I have ever seen) and provided great entertainment for us all!
I am running out of time on my Internet so I will just keep the rest of the trek story short! The next few days were good apart from Steph being very poorly. An old medicine man performed a mad ritual on her that seemed to work!! (well that or the water, rest and juice?!). We camped at some more interesting places and at one point were actually inside a cloud (Binay called it the 'White Blanket'). We encountered LEECHES as well as some other HUGE horrible bugs that decided to sometimes land on my head (eeeeerrrruuuggggghhhhhhhhh), we danced on top of the mountain in the rain, visited a local cheese factory, went to Binay's village and met his whole family (who were AMAZING), were given loads of Malia (flower necklaces) by the villagers, encountered sunburn (mostly poor Chris), drank Mustang Coffee, ate with local people, joked and laughed with children, chatted to our lovely crew and probably all lost about 1/2 a stone in weight!
All in all it was a great experience! SUCH hard work and boy are our legs paying for it today! Sorry I've had to cut it short but I'm sure if any of you want to hear more we can chat about it over a coffee on an afternoon in England! That brings us up to date too! Tomorrow we are off to Pokhura for 5 days so will update after then!
LOVE YOU ALL
xxxx
Thursday 1 July 2010
Namaste!!
Greetings from Nepal!! It is amazing here- we are in love already!
Just a little update to let you all know how we are doing! Firstly what an amazing last few weeks we have had in England. Seeing all our friends and family has been so great and we have been totally spoilt by everyone! Thank you to you all for making it AWESOME!
SO the flight from Heathrow to Delhi was pretty good! Had two curry's on board the plane (one for dinner one for breakfast (!?!?) ) Was pretty relaxed and managed to get some zzz's! Once we got to Delhi we had to wait for 6 hours till our next flight to Nepal. We came out of the arrivals area to go to the departures lounge and automatically the heat just took over! It really was like walking into a huge oven. After waiting in the nice air conditioned lounge we boarded our next flight. It was only an hour and a half and we were given another curry on board....this three curry's in 24 hours beats the 2 fish and chips in one day (thanks Ellie Higgins ;-) )
We got off the plane, bought our visas, collected our bags and then had a MASSIVE shock! Walking to the taxi area where our driver was meeting us, looking out for a Mosley sign I spot someone very familiar holding the sign with my name on it.....DAN AND STEPH! The cheeky buggers had kept it a suprise that they were going to Nepal the whole time and meeting us there. After shouting for Chris's attention (who had the best shocked face i've ever seen) we ran as fast as we could (suprisinigly fast considering our huge backpacks!) and gave them the biggest hugs ever! Along with Dan and Steph was their Nepali friend Binay..he welcomed us with huge flower necklaces and is one of the nicest people I have ever met!
We met our driver who was taking us back to the hostel we are staying in and it was probably the most interesting car journey of my life. Everyone drives like nutters in Nepal and people (and cows and dogs etc) just walk into the road, there are constantly horns tooting and complete chaos. It is so much fun though- as there is so much traffic and people no one drives fast so its pretty safe! The journey was amazing- I can't describe how colourful it is here, there really is so much to take in. Kids try and sell you stuff through the car windows and it really is complete hussle and bussle. The whole place smells of incense and there is so much to see and take in.
Our hostel is in the middle of Themal in Kathmandu. Once at our hostel we dropped everything off in the room and went outside for a beer! The weather is gorgeous - really hot, it is monsoon season but so far it has only rained at night...I'm slowly working on a tan! We went out for some dinner to a nice place called New Orleans where we feasted on veggie burgers and coke. Yum yum.
Today we have been up since 7.30. The amazing Binay came to meet us at 8.30 to show us round a bit of Nepal. In total we walked about 6 miles (and a million steps!) and visited this amazing place called 'The Monkey Temple". It was up the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen and I don't think I have ever sweated as much in my life but it was totally worth it! There are monkeys all the way up and when you reach the top you can see over the whole of Kathmandu. There are beautiful statues and prayer flags and it is just an incredible experience. I will put photos on facebook soon! After our hefty walk we went to Binays favorite place for some traditional Nepali food called 'Small star'. We ate thupka and momo's which are YUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMYYYY. Thupka is a spicy noodle based soup with egg on top which costs 35rs for a HUGE bowl (35rs is about 30p!) and momos are these amazing steamed dumplings which are also 30p for about 10! For five of us to eat with two drinks it came to under a fiver....thats a Max Mosley bargain there!
So that is pretty much us up to date now! I apologise for my spelling and grammer! I hope you are all well and I am missing you all loads but having the BEST time. I LOVE NEPAL!!
LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!!! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Just a little update to let you all know how we are doing! Firstly what an amazing last few weeks we have had in England. Seeing all our friends and family has been so great and we have been totally spoilt by everyone! Thank you to you all for making it AWESOME!
SO the flight from Heathrow to Delhi was pretty good! Had two curry's on board the plane (one for dinner one for breakfast (!?!?) ) Was pretty relaxed and managed to get some zzz's! Once we got to Delhi we had to wait for 6 hours till our next flight to Nepal. We came out of the arrivals area to go to the departures lounge and automatically the heat just took over! It really was like walking into a huge oven. After waiting in the nice air conditioned lounge we boarded our next flight. It was only an hour and a half and we were given another curry on board....this three curry's in 24 hours beats the 2 fish and chips in one day (thanks Ellie Higgins ;-) )
We got off the plane, bought our visas, collected our bags and then had a MASSIVE shock! Walking to the taxi area where our driver was meeting us, looking out for a Mosley sign I spot someone very familiar holding the sign with my name on it.....DAN AND STEPH! The cheeky buggers had kept it a suprise that they were going to Nepal the whole time and meeting us there. After shouting for Chris's attention (who had the best shocked face i've ever seen) we ran as fast as we could (suprisinigly fast considering our huge backpacks!) and gave them the biggest hugs ever! Along with Dan and Steph was their Nepali friend Binay..he welcomed us with huge flower necklaces and is one of the nicest people I have ever met!
We met our driver who was taking us back to the hostel we are staying in and it was probably the most interesting car journey of my life. Everyone drives like nutters in Nepal and people (and cows and dogs etc) just walk into the road, there are constantly horns tooting and complete chaos. It is so much fun though- as there is so much traffic and people no one drives fast so its pretty safe! The journey was amazing- I can't describe how colourful it is here, there really is so much to take in. Kids try and sell you stuff through the car windows and it really is complete hussle and bussle. The whole place smells of incense and there is so much to see and take in.
Our hostel is in the middle of Themal in Kathmandu. Once at our hostel we dropped everything off in the room and went outside for a beer! The weather is gorgeous - really hot, it is monsoon season but so far it has only rained at night...I'm slowly working on a tan! We went out for some dinner to a nice place called New Orleans where we feasted on veggie burgers and coke. Yum yum.
Today we have been up since 7.30. The amazing Binay came to meet us at 8.30 to show us round a bit of Nepal. In total we walked about 6 miles (and a million steps!) and visited this amazing place called 'The Monkey Temple". It was up the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen and I don't think I have ever sweated as much in my life but it was totally worth it! There are monkeys all the way up and when you reach the top you can see over the whole of Kathmandu. There are beautiful statues and prayer flags and it is just an incredible experience. I will put photos on facebook soon! After our hefty walk we went to Binays favorite place for some traditional Nepali food called 'Small star'. We ate thupka and momo's which are YUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMYYYY. Thupka is a spicy noodle based soup with egg on top which costs 35rs for a HUGE bowl (35rs is about 30p!) and momos are these amazing steamed dumplings which are also 30p for about 10! For five of us to eat with two drinks it came to under a fiver....thats a Max Mosley bargain there!
So that is pretty much us up to date now! I apologise for my spelling and grammer! I hope you are all well and I am missing you all loads but having the BEST time. I LOVE NEPAL!!
LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!!! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thursday 29 April 2010
Under the map - 61 days to go
We have been busy bee’s recently! Working hard to save for our trip and enjoying time with our wonderful pals in the sunshine. I have been a bit lame on the blog front (Papa and Chris told me off)- I need to make it more of a regular thing ! Underneath our huge world map on our bedroom wall we have made our very own travel corner which is nearing completion, we have pretty much got everything we need including:
Two backpacks, travel towels, walking boots, film and camera, medication and pharmaceuticals, light clothes, sun creams, money wallets, hats, mosquito repellent, ultimate travel wash, first aid kit, adaptors, torches, guide books (thanks ma and pa!), anoraks, fleeces, penknife, wash bags etc etc!
Here are some pictures of me and Chris looking super rad (ahem) in our backpacks:
I’m pretty impressed with our organising skills - jabs are sorted, visas sorted, flights are sorted (which are):
29th June - London Heathrow – Delhi India
30th June – Delhi India – Kathmandu Nepal
19th July - Kathmandu Nepal – Delhi India
19th July - Delhi India – Hong Kong
31st October – Singapore – London Heathrow
So far there is no set plan apart from 2.5 weeks in Nepal then meeting Dan and Steph in Hong Kong, after that we are just going to float along enjoying the different tastes and cultures Asia has to offer!
We have been keeping ourselves busy with trips to London, walks out (testing out the new boots!), eating great dinners and great conversation with Ma, Pa and our friends, watching loads of new films from love film (I recommend “Sunshine Cleaning”!) and planning our trip. I’m getting too excited reading all of the guide books, looking up hostels and trips for us to go on. Luckily we have a nice few weekends planned too- both Chris and I have 4 days off (thanks bank holiday!), were off to a family wedding this Saturday; next week the wonderful Alice and Elliot are coming to stay and then two weeks after that the amazing Sara is coming for a cheeky visit too.
Things are looking good! Here’s a nice picture of us all in the sunshine.
Keep well! Love to you all E. x x x
Saturday 3 April 2010
Rubbldibub - 87 days to go.
Why Hello!
Well I have decided to be all modern and pro active in setting up my very own blog. I don't know how it will turn out, who will read it, how interesting it will be or if it will make any sense but I am doing one all the same.
As most of my dear friends and family know, Christoph and I are off on a small 4 month asian adventure at the end of June (!) This is pretty much the reason for the blog, so I can keep everyone updated, however I will also add entries on our build up to the trip, how we are getting prepared, nice things like recipes and all that jazz.
We've had a busy two weeks, we had the wonderful Daniel and Steph to visit who came on the 20th of March and stayed til' we drove them back to St Annes on the 28th. The week consisted of amazing chats, great food and even better margarita cocktails (Steph and I have become quite the experts). My birthday was on the 26th and I was totally spoilt by everyone, Steph, Alice and I were kitchen geniuses and provided a good spread for all, whilst indulging in a few tequila sunrises! My mum also made the most delicious cake - almond with amaretto buttercream...it went down a treat.
The next week we spent in St Annes, Daniel and Steph are starting their adventure before us so we went up with them so they could say their goodbyes (actually its not goodbye its "see you later") We had a great week with the lovely crew, Stephs family are awesome especially her Gran who is a master of the Wii! It was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones- Dave is a legend! After drinks, dinners, breakfasts, a quick drive to the airport and some teary "see you laters", we parted from Dan and Steph as they left for their new home...the rest of the world!
Next stop was Chris's mums to be spoilt even more! We always get so many treats at Ute's and this time was no exception. I met his german Oma (Gran) and his Tanta Barbra (Auntie) for the first time, who were lovely. I picked up a few german phrases..."Hallo", "Tschuss (Bye)", "Danke (Thanks)", "Bitte (Please)" and my favourite "Rubbldibub (apparently there isn't an English translation for this one...)" - These came in super handy!
Now we're back safe in Brighton, we have been busy getting our room back in order, and creating a travel corner! Going to a family lunch tomorrow, backpack shopping on Monday and back to work unfortunately...boohoo, but got to think of le savings!
Got some 'True Blood' to catch up on, so I'll write soon.
Tschuss, E. x x x
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