Two Go Hobo

Dear Blog...

2007-10-09T17:12:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry. We have so many stories to tell and many pictures to post, but I just can't find the time to do it. Needless to say, we're still loving Bangkok and are keeping oursleves very busy here.

Since my last post we have visited Cambodia, KL, the Perhentian Islands, but I always love coming back to Thailand and Bangkok. I honeslty wouldn't know where to start with all we've been up to since we moved into our appartment over 3 months ago.

So, we' ve been travelling (on and off) since September 11th last year and we'll be here in Bangkok until Dec 19th. Will be so nice to be home for Christmas. After that... well... I think you can guess where I'd still like to be.

Malay Munchies

2007-07-25T06:43:00.001+01:00

Eating out on Langkawi was a treat. Malay food has a strong Indian influence (as well as Chinese and European). Loads of delicious fruity curries and tandoori dishes. We had an amazing seafood curry on the first night. You order your gigantic tiger prawns by the gram, then choose how they're cooked and with which sauce. Delicious! Takes the prize for 'best curry tasted in life'. On the second night, we had a ten dish Malaysian feast... Beef, Chicken and Veggie curries, spicy squid, tandoori prawns, bbq barracuda and the delicious slow cooked melt-in-mouth Beef Rendang. AP could hardly fit under the table though...

I wont bore you all with more idyllic beach pics, but needless to say we had a great time in Langkawi, it's got so much going for it. The white sand beaches are stunning and the water is the warmest I've experienced anywhere. It's not overly developed... none of the tack we found in Phuket. Loads to do, but with such a chilled out atmosphere. Great food, lovely genuine people and no one seems to be trying to rip you off. We didn't want to leave. Hopefully we'll be back soon but Langkawi's going into the rainy season. We've got a taste for Malaysian culture now, so maybe Penang or KL will be next on the list. Who knows... : )

Escape to Langkawi

2007-07-25T05:53:00.001+01:00

Bangkok city living can start to wear you down after a while, but there are so many options for a quick weekend getaway. We decided to take a quick 1.5hr flight to Langkawi island. Arriving without accomodation, we did our usual 2hr walking up and down the beach grumpily with baggage in tow. In the end we had to settle for a pretty basic room for one night, but it was on gorgeous Pantai Tengah beach....

The next day we moved next door to the Sunset Beach resort, which was a bit more civilised...

We decided to hire a motorbike and drive up the coast to Datai beach. The scenery on the way was beautiful, the island is so green and the high pointed cliffs and islands just of the coast make it look really exotic. We passed little marinas, rice paddies and more lovely beaches.

At Datai beach we stopped for a snack at the luxurious Andaman resort and tried to wait out a rainstorm. When it rains, it really rains here - the heavens open and you are soaked to the skin in seconds.. but it's usually just one quick downpour. We headed off down the road once the it started to clear. About 20mins down the road, and in the middle of nowhere, the downpour started again. We couldn't even see to drive and ended up standing by the side of the road, soaked to the skin holding palm leaves over our heads as it started to get dark. We were worried we wouldn't get home before nightfall so got back on the bike and drove at about 5k/hr down the road.

After a bit, we saw a little fruit stall with a corrugated iron roof and decided to take shelter there. Behind the stall, there was a family living next to a little orchard... the kids came running out and invited us to shelter in their one room, makeshift home. There were about 15 people crammed into the little space.. kids, parents, brothers and sisters. We were offered coffee and fruit from the orchard and exchanged pleasantaries - the Malays all seem to speak some English. We eventually left when the Grandmother of the family arrived on here bike - if she could drive in the rain, we could! We were given a bunch of Rambutan (like big furry lychees) to take home with us. What lovely people. Could it be possible that the Malays are even friendlier than the Thais?

We managed to get home before nightfall, exhausted, cold, soaked to the skin but in good spirits. I realised that we had managed to get through this mini-drama a lot better than we managed to get through finding our accomodation. It's just the simple things that are a challenge!

The Neighbourhood

2007-07-17T17:32:00.000+01:00

Bangkok often seems to be about contrasts - our new neighbourhood is no exception. As I mentioned in my previous post, our street is just a weeeeee bid dodgy. I can usually completely avoid the dodgy portion of the street by taking a shortcut to the BTS, but now and again it can't be avoided. So, last night on my way home I walked past maybe 20 girly bars populated by 200 or so 'ladies of the night', (about 20% of which were probably ladyboys), 10 beggars (half of which were missing limbs), 20 makeshift stalls selling food/drink/g-strings/deep fried cockroaches and one baby elephant. This is Soi 4.

However, go across the road and down a street to Soi 3 and you step into another world. The scantily clad Thai temptresses are replaced with women in full black Burkhas with only their eyes visible. Men in long white robes with tea towels on their heads stand chatting in groups or smoke hooka pipes by the side of the road. The illegible Thai street signs are replaced by illegible Arabic ones.

The first night when we found this area, we went into a restaurant for a kebab (of course) and I was surprised to see women in Burkhas eating alongside the men. Well, I assume they were eating. They would slightly lift up part of their veil, a forkful of food would dissapear under the swathes of black cloth and then the fork reappered without food - not even a glimse of skin. What was even stranger was being in the bathroom standing next to two of these women. I swore I could feel their eyes burning holes into my naked shoulders - this was not the place to be wearing a strappy summer dress.

So, take your pick - ultraconservative Arab society or tacky Thai debauchery. In Bangkok, you can have it all, just walk across the road.

Bangkok Living

2007-06-30T11:06:00.000+01:00

Well, our plans have changed a bit. We were going to stay in Bangkok for a week or so while we sorted out our visas for India. However, AP landed a remote working contract with AMEX. That and the fact that Delhi is experiencing some terrible monsoon/heatwave type weather has made us decide the best option is to set ourselves up in Bangkok for a month or so. That way AP can get his work underway quickly and we can see how we like living in this huge crazy city that we have always been drawn back to.

So, we found a fantastic little hotel to stay in for a few days - 'The Residence', just of Petchburi road - a brilliant budget option if you're visiting Bangkok. AP started to get some work done while my task, yet again, was to start the apartment search. It took me a couple of days, trailing round Bangkok in a humid 37degree heat. I saw some parts of the city I had never seen before - it was an eye opener. Away from the flash centre around Siam Square parts of Bangkok look more like you would imagine Beirut. A mass of unpainted, dilapidated concrete buildings, polluted roads and construction sites.

However, as luck would have it, I called a number on 'CraigsList' and got hold of a property agent who seemed to know exactly what we were looking for. We moved into our apartment yesterday. It is fantastic. It's brand spanking new, perfectly appointed, spacious, has a wrap around balcony and views out over the Bangkok skyline. As if that wasn't enough, we have a pool, gym, sauna, steam room, snooker room, table tennis and a golf driving range in the building. The door staff wont even let you carry your own shopping upstairs and there's a driver at the door to take you to the skytrain or subway. It takes a bit of getting used to... but we're managing somehow : )

There is a bit of a downside though - the neighbourhood. We're living on a slightly dodgy street. Walk a couple of minutes up the road and there's the kind of bars that have made Bangkok infamous. Scantily dressed Thai girls practically spilling out off them.. that's if they haven't managed to pick up a 60 year old English bloke with a beer belly. Not the kind of scenery you want to walk past every day, but it's a small price to pay for a central location and an amazing apartment.

Pics to follow, I'm having a bit of laptop trouble at the moment. Bought some rip off Lost DVDs which crashed my machine - serves me right!

Ok.. here's one. The view from our appartment...

Flying Visit

2007-06-30T09:01:00.000+01:00

Well, we're back in Bangkok. Seems weird that last Saturday I was at home in Falkirk. Was great to be back in Edinburgh for a few weeks and catch up with friends and family. Nothing seemed to have changed that much, although there were a few new arrivals to meet. My cousin Lisa has the cutest little 9 week old baby boy, William. We all went down to London for my cousin Kenneth's baby girl Megan Sophia's christening - also very cute. My old buddy Richard has a wee one on the way with his girlfriend Lynsay, and there seems to be a few more in the planning stages. It's going to be a veritable sprog explosion!

Edinburgh is still the most beautiful city and I could picture myself living there again, but there are the downsides. The weather is attrocious. Although we did manage to have a couple of drinks outside in the sun, it's a rare pleasure. And everything is sooo expensive in the UK. Forget weekly facials, manicures and massages, all you can eat buffets for £1 and buying clothes so cheaply you can bin them if you decide they're not quite right. The lifestyle isn't the best (although I'd swap Sydney for Edinburgh in a second).

But we would love to have our mates out here in Asia. It's quite a different scene out here socially, which I'll go into a bit more in later posts. Was brilliant to catch up with you all - Mom, Dad, Ross, Aunt Joan & Uncle Jim, Lisa, Alasdair, Kenneth & Angela, Greg, Shark, Gary, Nalbo, John & Karen, Eddie, Zoe, Steve, Nat & Graeme, Caroline, Richard, Linzi - we'll miss you all. Sorry I didn't manage to make it up to see my mates in Aberdeen as well. But get onto Skype, it costs nowt to call internationally. A virtual Monday Night Jaki Club has already been discussed. Just might be a Monday morning Jaki club for me!

I had mixed feelings about leaving, but being back in Asia is fantastic. Loving it again already!

One Hobo goes Home

2007-05-19T12:31:00.000+01:00

Well, I've neglected the blog for quite a while. Not that we haven't been up to much, or don't have any pics to post. Sydney just hasn't given me that much inspiration I guess, plus we've both been pretty busy with other projects. I'll try to post some pics soon before I leave. I'm coming back to the UK in a couple of weeks, for a couple of weeks.
Hope to catch up with many of you soon - looking forward to visiting beautiful Edinburgh. Bit worried about how cold it will be. Standing out on our balcony in Sydney, it must be about 14c and it feels really chilly.
I think our next destination is Delhi - no chance of goosebumps there. We'll be taking a risk with the weather at that time of the year - up to 40c, but hey, after Sydney we need a bit of a challenge. Bring it on...

Picnic

2007-03-15T18:25:00.000Z

One thing you can't moan about when in Australia, is the weather. We decided to spend an afternoon in the botanic gardens with James and Sissi.

We made a trip to David Jones food hall for some picnic fodder - salami, serrano ham, brie, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes. It was a gourmet feast! We even managed to pick up the same onion marmalade that we usually get in Ian Mellis cheesemongers in Edinburgh. We had far too much food as usual. I think it's only a matter of time before one of us ends up on 'Austalias biggest looser'.

It was nice to chill out and watch the world go by. AP and James did some bird watching - not the feathered kind, there was a blonde in a skimpy bikini across from us) Sissi thought they looked like kangaroos. This is her pic...

Actually, she's a pretty impressive photographer and rarely seen without a camera in front of her.

Meanwhile the Chief Economist keeps an eye on the news...

Footballs are banned in the botanics. AP bought these shuttle cock things with spring on them in Vietnam. The kids used to kick them about in the street outside our appartment in Hanoi. Goodness knows how - it's practically impossible.

After our picnic, we headed down to Darling Harbour and had a couple of drinks at Bungalow 8.

Sissi's pic again....

A rare picture of Sissi without camera...

Afterwards we headed to chinatown for some sushi.

We sampled the blowfish, which can kill you if not prepared correctly - I know this because it was on the Simpsons, so it must be true. Anyway, it was very tasty and we're all still here. A lucky end to a great day out : )

Fashion Frenzy

2007-03-15T07:34:00.000Z

I have had a crazy week so far. I'm going to have a rant here, so it will probably be a long post.
It all started with an article I read in Marie Claire about how Stella McCartney was doing a collection for a store called Target. The clothes looked great and I thought I'd keep an eye out for it. Closer to the time of the launch, it started to get a bit of publicity on the news, but nothing prepared me for what I saw when I got to the store.

I was there early as I thought it might be busy, but people had been queueing since 7.30am and at 9.10, the time I arrived, there was hardly a thing on the shop floor. People had stripped the mannequins, the displays were wrecked.

Then, they start started to bring out more rails of clothes. Honestly, you would think they had rolled out George Clooney, naked. There was screaming as people saw which styles were being brought out and started running towards the clothes. There was pushing, grabbing, shouting. I saw some truly trerrible exhibitions of female behaviour. They're just clothes for crying out loud!

Like a few others, I stood back from all this and watched in disbelief. Eventually, the store security guards refused to bring anything more out. In the madness, I had managed to pick up a few random bits and pieces. As I walked around, I realised that there was a more civilised practice going on where people were trading the bits and pieces they had for other peoples bits and pieces. 'Anyone want the silk dress in a size 12?, I'll swap you for anything in a size 10'... you get the idea.

Also, people were trying stuff on and leaving it anywhere. As I wandered through rails of grannies nighties, I found tops and dresses that people had discarded. These, I swapped for more stuff and in the end I had myself a nice little haul without getting into any catfights.

But, the story continues. I took my haul home to try it on. Having a look on the web, there seemed to be a lot of international buyers looking for the stuff and a lot of people who couldn't get to the stores. So, I decided to put a couple of the items up on Ebay.

When I tried to post the first one, it didn't appear in the listing. Apparently this is because Ebay takes longer to index designer gear. I found a way round it and my item was one of the first to appear on the site. Within an hour, I had 2000 viewers - that went up to 12000. Madness! So, I was sitting looking at the listing, when I saw the same listing on a news program I was half watching. It was my listing and some ebay 'expert' was dicussing how people were putting Stella stuff on ebay and how much it would go for. Totally weird.

Now there was so much publicity on the news - about the catfights at the store, the Ebay sellers bla bla bla. I remember when Stella McCartney did a collection for H&M in the UK. I never heard anything about it on the news. It sold out quickly and some the stuff went on ebay. No big deal. But not here. On online forums some people were going mental that stuff was for sale on ebay. I didn't get much flack as I wasn't selling anything much and it wasn't at an inflated price. One girl said she had been e-mailed by an anonamous person calling her a 'capitalist pig'. Others had similar stories. It had all got completely out of hand.

Why didn't this happpen in the UK? What does this crazy behaviour say about the Aussies? I don't know, but that's my affair with Stella McCartney for Target over. I'm taking the remaining clothes I'm not keeping back to target. I wonder if I'll get stampeded? What a palarva!

OZ Pics

2007-03-15T03:19:00.000Z

You are all asking what we've been up to. I should stop blogging more often, it's a good way to get people to e-mail you! Anyway, heres a few random pics to illustrate our Aussie lifestyle...

Eating out is a major past time. The Australian Hotel is a posh pizza joint. Kangaroo or emu toppings anyone?

We're always in Chinatown shopping or eating. It was Chinese New year a couple of weeks ago, so it was the centre of activity in the city for a few days. Lot's of people hiding under dragon costumes...

People doing interesting things with vegetables...

We try to visit the beach as often as we can. Bondis pretty nice and there's always lots going on. Mr Bean was at Bondi this week promoting his new movie. That would have made a good pic, but you'll have to setttle for this one...

We took the ferry out to Manly beach as well. It was crap. The view from the ferry's nice though...

It does seem like we're very far from home here though. Thank goodness for Skype, we'd have a hell of a phone bill otherwise.

AP likes to look cool when he phones home...

Long time no blog!

2007-03-10T11:32:00.000Z

I know, it's been a while. We've been pretty busy here in Sydney, plus, it doesn't really feel like we are travelling any more, so I've not had quite as much motivation to blog. No more excuses though, I'll get back to it.

We found an appartment, although it wasn't easy. The weird thing is, the appartment is in the same hotel we stayed in when we arrived in Sydney. It is a bit strange living in a hotel, but the location, just across from APs work, is perfect. Plus we have a great rooftop pool, hot tub and gym which we have to ourselfs most of the time. So, can't complain.

We're overlooking Hyde Park....

...and just a 10min walk to the harbour and the Opera House.

Our Friday night after work drinks spot...

Another bonus is how close we are to Chinatown. Otherwise, I think I would have suffered worse withdrawal symptoms from all things Asian. We have a brilliant selection of Thai, Vietnamese and even Laotian restaurants practically on our doorsteps. Our friend James (who lives a few minutes away) has been introducing us to the best of them.

Still, we're finding Sydney a bit tame. It is a nice city when the weathers good. The harbour's nice etc, but there's something missing. It can't seem to hold our interest as much as Thailand, Laos or Vietnam did.

APs job is going very well though. We'll be here for a few months yet and we plan to make the most of it. Maybe Sydney will grow on us....

Living in a Land Down Under

2007-01-28T08:03:00.000Z

(Scroll down to see new Hanoi,Bangkok and Phuket posts below this one. Including AP's blog debut entitled 'More Hanoi Pics'.)

Now for our news - AP has a job in Sydney! We've been here for a week now. AP has gleefully started work (he's crazy) and I've been on the hunt for an apartment.

So the hobo lifestyle is no more as we try out a life down under. I'm still going to blog though. It's addictive. Hope you will all continue to tune in.

x

Nelly the Elephant

2007-01-27T23:30:00.000Z

Ok, I wasn't going to post this picture, but my Dad was asking what happened to it, so I will. I did think the blog was lacking some humorous pictures. You know the kind - when you take them you are looking at the subject and not what is going on the the background. Then, when you look at it later...

It took my parents to turn up and provide us with one of those pictures : )

Everybody loves Thailand

2007-01-27T06:35:00.000Z

We had a great time in Phuket and Bangkok. The big difference in spending time with my Mum and Dad was that we felt like we were really on holiday rather than travelling which was a great chance to recharge our batteries. Apart from that, we all had such a good laugh.

Dad thinks about starting a small business on Bang Tao Beach...

It was clear that my parents had thorougly enjoyed their trip to Thailand and it was brilliant to see them. I heard my Dad say 'I'm sick of saying everything is fantastic'. But it was; the food, the shopping, the beaches, the people. Who wouldn't love Thailand?

Island Paradise

2007-01-27T05:46:00.000Z

We decided to head to Phuket with my folks. We caught the 2hr flight from Bangkok with Air Asia and headed for the Kamala Beach Resort. Our accommodation couldn’t have been better. We had beautiful apartments overlooking the Andaman sea. This was our view...

The resort was so quiet, we normally had the facilities to ourselves which was bliss.

The biggest bonus though was the onsite restaurant., Rockfish. It served some of the best Thai food and definitely 'the' best steaks I've ever tasted. Mom and I decided to do a cookery course there. It was just the two of us in the kitchen with the chef, rather than your normal class full of tourists, which made such a difference. We were plied with cocktails before being gided through the process of making Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai and Green Curry. All of the dishes were delicious. Hopefully we'll be able to replicate them at home.

It was a good thing that the resort was so idillic as Kamala beach it'self wasn't fantastic. It was obvious that a lot of building had taken place since the tsunami and it was all looking a bit tacky - lots of indian tailors, pubs and tourist-filled restuarants serving seriously substandard thai food.

Still, there were lots of other places to visit on Phuket. We decided to do a day trip to PiPi Island. Our first stop was at the bay where they filmed 'the beach'. Flanked by limestone cliffs, the location was stunning, but there were just too many people around..

I can imagine that this area would have been stunnning maybe 10 years ago when it wasn't saturated with speedboats and longtails trips. The water was beautiful though...

We stopped in a lagoon to do some snorkelling. Dad found out fish like bananas.

Pi Pi island itself was pretty stunning.

Although there was some developement going on, it was reasonably low key and mostly budget bunglows. We did think about staying there for week.

It was all quite peacefull, until a speadboat full of ladyboys arrived. Well, they weren't quite ladyboys - bikinis had been substituted for some very tight speedos and there were no fake boobs - but they were a bunch of girls none the less. While one of them jumped of the boat into the water completely starkers, the others wiggled ashore giggling and screaming to each other - 'look at Miss England'.

Miss England...

The peace shattered, we headed back to Phuket. I think I'll end this post with another Phi Phi beach pic..

Noi's Bar

2007-01-27T05:39:00.000Z

Our friend Noi has opened a bar in Bangkok. What luck : ) It’s called Lynx and is in Surkumvit, Soi 1. We dropped into see her and the bar is looking good.

It's surrounded by mirrors, so bit difficult to get a picture...

We’ve been back since and were there to see the sun come up. : ) No doubt we'll be back again...

Some Serious Shopping

2007-01-27T05:19:00.000Z

It’s no secret that my Mum and I love to shop – my Dad doesn’t mind it either as long as it involves shoes or golf clubs, or anything on sale. So we had to take them to Paragon.

I think I’ve gone on about Paragon before, but it truly goes where no shopping center has gone before. Sparkling clean and cavernous, it houses all the shops and restaurants you could ever need.

Need a some new wheels?

Might have been better with a tux....

We went to the Japanese restaurant, Fuji, for lunch. A first for Mum and Dad, but they are now sushi converts. After lunch we walked through Siam Square – an outdoor area consisting of lots of little independent shops. This was more what Mum and Dad had expected the centre of town to be like. From there, we plunged into the hectic indoor market that is MBK. We didn’t last long there before we decided we needed a break and we headed for my favourite cheapo massage stop – ‘Porntip’. They managed to find us four beds together. We couldn’t stop giggling…

While the rest of us had foot massages, Mum managed to get a manicure, pedicure and foot massage at the same time. I had a bit of a dispute about the price before realising that there were two masseuses, not one attending to Mum. This of course caused more hilarity.

We were all having a ball in Bangkok, as I knew we would. After a full day in the city my folks headed back to their civilised hotel and we went off to visit Noi at her new bar.

The Lairds do BKK

2007-01-26T05:33:00.000Z

Once more we found ourselves back in the glitzy Thai metropolis. We checked into a hotel called Trinity in the Silom area, just round the corner from where AP used to work. Our timing was perfect. My parents had arrived in Bangkok from Dubai just a couple of days earlier. They had visited

Thailand

a couple of years ago and spent a few days in Bangkok, but never got a real feel for the city. We couldn’t wait to show some them our favourite places.

It was kind of surreal meeting Mum and Dad at the sky train station after not seeing them for months. They were in good spirits though and had had a great holiday so far. We headed to the Vertigo at the Banyan Tree hotel for some Lychee Martinis….

From there we went to a restaurant on the river called Bang Klam Nam, (an old favourite of AP's), where we ate curried crab, steamed seabass and gigantic prawns. My parents loved the food as much as we did – who wouldn’t?

The next day we caught the skytrain and then a boat across the river to the Marriott resort and had a fantastic buffet lunch. Unlimited smoked salmon, sushi, oysters, you name it. Unfortunately this was later blamed for AP’s first dose of food poisoning since the start of our travels. Still, it was good at the time.

After lunch, Mum had booked her and I in for a massage at the spa. The treatment room was gorgeous. There were changing rooms, two showers, massage tables and separate seating areas. Everything in the room was perfectly symmetrical and all done in traditional Thai style. Great massage as well.

While we were being pampered, the men managed to entertain themselves somehow…

Everyone fully revived, we headed back into town to the visit the huge Lang Suan night market. The sheer size of the shopping area was a bit much for my folks, but we went to the food court and got a great feed for a few quid. Mum even sampled the Chang beer. It was very authentic Thai-style night out.

Goodbye Vietnam

2007-01-26T04:55:00.000Z

In our last few days before leaving Hanoi, we decided to try and cram in a few touristy expeditions. We finally managed to make it to the Ho Chi Min museum and mausoleum – just minutes away from our apartment.

The museum itself was pretty impressive and more like a 5 star hotel inside. The exhibits were pretty well done, but most of the text was in Vietnamese, so I can’t really explain why ‘Uncle Ho’ is so popular.

There were some other interesting buildings in the grounds around the museum. The one-pillar pagoda…

The mausoleum looks a bit uninteresting in this pic really, but the massive size of the structure makes it an imposing sight in the flesh. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see inside.

We also took a trip out to the museum of Ethnology. There are… erm… loads of ethnic groups living in Vietnam. They wear different clothes and speak different languages.. And stuff like that. Sorry, I wasn’t paying enough attention.

The most interesting exhibits were outside the museum where there where full size reproductions of tribal houses.

Some of these were being used as the backdrop for wedding photos.

We couldn’t quite work out if this was a fashion shoot or if they were real brides. I hope for her sake, she didn’t choose this dress herself…

It’s this kind of thing that I will remember about living in Hanoi. There were just so many times we were thinking – this is so bizarre, what on earth is going on here? People carrying pigs on motorbikes, couples dancing in the park at 5am in the morning, old men fighting cockrels in the middle of our street, the fun police raiding beer Hanoi corner. Vietnam is truly a different world.

Hanoi had been a worthwhile experience. We'd been so lucky to find the apartment and meet people like Billy and our neighbours, but when time came to leave, we were definitely ready for it. We left a cold, misty Hanoi behind us and headed back to the city where even the t-shirts are sunny. Did I mention I love Bangkok?

More Hanoi Pics

2007-01-24T10:51:00.000Z

My first post!!

Well, I have finally managed to get myself to post something on this blog that Jaki has been making such a great job of.

We have been having a great time on the trip, done so much it has all become a little surreal. Even if it is now work for a bit, I am sure there will be more hobo travel to come in the near future.

I have a heap of photos to edit and organise, and as yet not a lot of time to do it. However I did manage to sort out a set of photo's I took on a day out in Hanoi. Too many to post here, but you can get them from the link below.

Enjoy.

Hanoi

Around town

2007-01-07T10:19:00.000Z

I must get round to taking some more pictures, but in the meantime here's some random photos from our neighbourhood and around town.

Our island.

The view from our appartment..

Our local coffee stop overlooking lake Truc Bach.

The Opera. We went to a concert here, only to walk out half way through when we remembered we didn't actually like classical music.

The History Museum. Yellow seems to be the colour of Hanoi and this type of architecture is typical.

Lake Hoan Kiem

Note the wooly hats in the last picture. It is getting a bit chilly here, although by the way the locals dress you would think it was sub-zero. We have a week left in Hanoi before we head back to Bangkok where we'll be meeting up with my folks for a few days. Can't wait to see them and to get back to the warmth.

I don't BELEIVE it !

2007-01-07T10:10:00.002Z

AP has managed to find a bar playing test match cricket in Hanoi. It has to be the one of the smelliest, coldest bars in town with some dodgy looking clientelle. Just my luck. At least now when he disappears for a little 'bike practice' I'll know where to find him.

The Hobomobile

2007-01-07T09:38:00.000Z

The only way to get around in Hanoi is by motorbike. AP had been taking some bike lessons with Billy, so I decided to rent him a bike as a Christmas present.

It's not that the BMX bandit look is in here. The polution in the old town means that masks are essential if you don't want to sound like Dot Cotton after a night at the Queen Vic (not that I'm missing Eastenders).

It takes some skill to ride a bike in this city, but AP is doing very well. I put this down to his habit of analyzing every possible outcome before doing practically anything. This can be a bit frustrating when we're simply looking for a cafe or trying to book a hotel, but on the bike, being able to drive while anticipating other drivers actions is a big advantage.

I took me a couple of days to get used to being the passenger. I have about 20cm space on the back of the bike - Vietnamese bikes weren't made for AP's build. Now I'm used it and we're really enjoying biking around the city. We even managed to do the shopping and carry it back balanced on our knees like the locals. We are assimilating!

Foodies

2007-01-05T12:03:00.000Z

I was going to call this blog 'lazy tourists'. It seems that what we do most in Hanoi is sit on a street corner and eat. We really should be seeing more of the sights, going to more museums maybe or doing some day trips. The thing is it's just so interesting to sit by the side of the road and watch what's going on around us. Fruit sellers, knife sharpeners, shoe shiners, fighting cockrels, men pushing mobile musical scales, a family of four balanced on one motorbike. All of Vietnamese life seems to take place outside.

Then there's the food. Although Thai food will always be my favourite, there's so much variety here that every meal is an adventure. If you visit a different neighbourhood, you will find different specialities. On our island the choice is a delicious beef and veg stirfry served with little pillows of deepfried noodles or fresh beef and coriander spring rolls called 'Pho Cuon'.

I think my favourite - although not on a par with my first love 'Som Tam' - is Bun Cha. Pork dumplings in a sweet and sour broth served with chlli, garlic and herbs for seasoning and cold rice noodles which you dunk in the broth and slurp up. Sounds odd, but once you get the flavourings right it's excellent.

We had real problems with the menus to start with, but we're getting there now. There are certain things to watch out for - rabbit, snails, snake and dog are all possibilities. The word for dog is Cho. I actually saw a roast dog at a restaurant in the middle of town the other day. When you see something that doesn't look like any animal you have ever seen sitting on a plate, you do a double take. The shape was unmistakable. It still had it's tail intact and had a golden brown glaze to it like an M&S ready roasted turkey. Horrific. Who can eat these things?

And on that note, we're off out for dinner.....

New Year in Hanoi

2007-01-05T10:32:00.000Z

We weren't sure if there would be much going on at New Year in Hanoi. It's not New year on the Vietnamese calendar until some time in Ferbruary - the exact date changes each year, (just to confuse things). Somehow, we still managed to have a rather large night out.

We got a taxi into town with Colin and Becs and started off the night at 'Beer Hoi' corner. At a crossroads in the middle of the old town, there are 5 or 6 little shops selling locally brewed draft beer. It's usually heaving with groups of westeners crouched on the tiny plastic stools that spill out onto the street.

It's worth a visit for the atmosphere, but that's not the main draw. A glass of beer here will set you back...... wait for it......... 8p !

After a round of 18 beers which cost less than £1.50, (even our good friend Greg would buy a round here : ), we headed to a nearby restaurant called Little Hanoi. The food was excellent. We had deep fried squid rolled in sesame seeds, chilli prawns, fish, beef and endless spring rolls, all washed down with the very drinkable Dalat red wine.

After dinner we stopped at a friendly little bar called Mask before heading back to Beer Hoi corner to pick up a cheapo carryout. Just to be different, AP brought his empty beer bottle from the last pub to get a refill. As we were completing the trasaction, the fun police arrived. About 8 men in green uniforms jumped off a truck wielding stripey trunchons and blowing whistles. I have never seen a place shut down and pack up so quickly.

We headed to Hoan Kiem lake. Much to our surprise, there were some full blown New Year celebrations taking place. They didn't quite get the countdown right, but at least they were making the effort.

At 12.01am, about 1000 people started heading home - mostly on motorbikes. We escaped the crush and headed to a bar inapropriately named 'R&R'. It seemed that everyone here had been drinking for about a week. After a large american guy did some cartoon-like projectile vomiting, we moved on.

The night was finished off at a club on a boat on the Red River called Solice. It was a strange place to find a club and it all gets a bit hazy around this time, but I do remember a dancefloor, decent music and a good night out had by all. Don't remember when we got home.

BTW. The whole night out cost £30 for the 2 of us. Try that one in Edinburgh!

Christmas in Hanoi

2006-12-25T12:04:00.000Z

It's a bit difficult getting into the spirit of things, given that the whole of Vietnam thought Christmas was yesterday and have now taken off their Santa suits and gone back to work, but we're doing our best. We had a rough approximation of a Christmas lunch - turkey and pea puree anyone??

Thanks to our new neighbours, Colin and Becs, for inviting us to join in their celebrations.
Pic by Billy...

We're having a lazy evening gorging ourselves on NZ wine and Vietnamese spring rolls in our cosy little appartment.

Lot's of love and Christmas cheer to all our family and friends celebrating around the world. x

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T03:35:00.000Z

Festive greetings to all our friends and family. This is my first time away from home at Christmas and it does feel a bit strange being in Hanoi at this time of year.

We're trying to make it feel as Christmassy as possible.

We have our tree up and some pressies under it. Tonight we'll head into Old Quarter for a couple of festive tipples and probably sit on a street conrner eating noodles and watching the locals riding their bikes while dressed up as santa.

We've managed to find a place doing a traditional turkey dinner tomorrow. If past experience is anything to go by, the turkey will probably be served up flattened on the plate, with head and feet attached, but we'll give it a go. Our English neighbours had some mince pies this week, but they're like gold dust here.

It just won't feel like a real Christmas though and we'll be missing you all.

A special hello to my Mum, Dad, Ross, the McGuinesses and the Schekelton tribe. If there are any 'rusty nail' cocktails or karaoke machines on the go tomorrow, I want pictures :)

AP also sends a big Merry Christmas to all his family celebrating in Australia and New Zealand.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Settling In

2006-12-21T11:12:00.000Z

It’s not been straight forward moving into our wee hoose. We had problems with the heating, we couldn’t work the stove, we can’t get internet sorted out and I’ve still no idea how to put the rubbish out. Our landlord Mr Zhang is so nice and is often around, but by his own admission he speaks more English that he actually understands. Communication can be difficult.

It’s a challenge getting used to a city where everything is so foreign to both of us. We can’t speak the language, read signs or even find our way around yet, and we stick out like a sore thumb. Our Vietnamese neighbours stare at us as we try to go about our daily business. Well, I don’t blame them sometimes. I managed to order 40 spring rolls instead of 4 today. They make them up fresh and I tried to tell them that I wanted just 4 and not 4 boxes, but they kept blabbing away in Vietnamese and I couldn’t stop them. AP said they were probably asking if I was having a party. Ha ha. We sorted it out in the end.

Some pics from around our neighbourhood...

Our biggest asset here is still our friend Billy who has helped us with so many things we wouldn’t have had a clue about. Otherwise I think we would have given up and headed to Saigon by now, but we’re still here and enjoying being in Hanoi more each day.

Billy, we can't thank you enough. You are a star!

House Hunting

2006-12-21T11:07:00.000Z

After a noisy, sleepless night I left the morning house hunting up to AP and Billy and had a lie in. They found one available apartment, but AP said I would have killed him if he’d taken it. I didn’t ask any more.

We decided that the guesthouse option might be more realistic and set off on the bikes again to drop in some of Billy’s friends around town. We saw lots of rooms and drank lots of Vietnamese tea but nothing really suited us. There was a one last hope. Billy had arranged for us to view an apartment later that day.

On the case...

We took the city bypass road and we were a bit disorientated until we arrived at the Sofitel on Truc Bach lake. We had visited this area before and said that if only we could get an apartment on the island in the middle of the lake, it would be perfect. At the Sofitel, we met Billy’s friend, I swapped bikes and we sped off again. A couple of minutes later, we crossed onto the island and stopped in a quiet leafy street. It looked perfect. I crossed my fingers and hoped for a flushing toilet.

The apartment was perfect, well almost. Just one room with a kitchenette, seating and sleeping area, a high ceiling and French windows all round. It had character, the location was perfect and even the wet bathroom, (no shower cubicle), couldn’t put me off. Billy managed to negotiate a 1 month lease with the landlord ‘Mr Zhang’. We couldn’t have done it without him. We moved in the next day.

Our street...

Our new home...

Around town

2006-12-20T11:49:00.000Z

Billy met us at our hotel. He had a motorbike of course, but there was little chance of fitting both of us on the back so we had to hire a second motorbike taxi. They’re called ‘xe om’ – roughly translated as ‘hold on’. I was a bit wary, but after a couple of minutes started to feel at ease. The Vietnamese never seem to drive very fast and it was such a good way to see the city. The sun was shinning as we passed parks, lakes and wide tree lined avenues. Out of the old city, we were getting a completely different view of Hanoi.

We stopped at Billy’s friend’s house. It was a dilapidated mansion. 4 bedrooms and as many bathrooms spread out over 4 floors. It was far too big for us. I couldn’t even think about starting to spruce it up. We sat down and had some tea, then AP helped Billy with a bit of furniture removal before we left.

I mentioned that we hadn’t had any decent food so far in Hanoi. Billy took us to a great restaurant where we could see the different types of food being made before we ordered. Well, Billy ordered for us. We ended up with 4 types of spring rolls, a spicy beef salad and a bizarre marinated pork/prawn and rice cake concoction. It was all 10 times better than what we had been eating recently.

After lunch we got back on the bikes and sped off to do some sightseeing. We visited the Temple of Literature, the first university of Hanoi which dated back to the 11th century. The university grounds looked so typically oriental, like the perfect setting for a martial arts film.

Inside the temple, we listened to a traditional vientamese band. Strange instruments, but the sound was beautiful, a lot more melodic than Thai music.

We then visited the ‘Hanoi Hilton’. This was what Billy called the old Hanoi prison. Built by the French to imprison Vietnamese revolutionaries then later used by the Vietnamese to hold American prisoners of war, it was an interesting if not uplifting place to visit. If the pictures on the walls were to be believed, the American prisoners had it easy with regular medical care and even sports facilities, while, under French rule the Vietnamese prisoners had been shackled by the ankles in tiny crowded cells. There seemed to be a lot of politics going on behind the story laid out for the tourists here.

Anyway, we’d had a great day out and seen so much more of Hanoi than we had bargained for. Billy wasn’t giving up on trying to find us an apartment though, and promised to have more apartments lined up the next day. What a star.

Billy Hanoi

2006-12-20T11:43:00.000Z

Our plan had always been to find an apartment in Hanoi for a month - more to give us a break from travelling for a while that anything else. We had looked on the web for hours, but there were no obvious options. We wandered round the city looking for apartments but the few we found were either too expensive, in completely the wrong location or didn’t do short term leases. We checked the noticeboards in expat hangouts and called a few numbers to no avail.

I tried one last number and was surprised to hear a Scottish accent. Marianne was from Edinburgh. We had a chat and she said we would find it very difficult to get a short term lease on an apartment and that a guesthouse would probably be the only option. It wasn’t what quite we had in mind.

That night we ducked into a little restaurant to revise our plans over dinner. The meal was terrible. In fact, we hadn’t had a good meal since we arrived in Vietnam. We stared dismally at the plate of burnt spring rolls in front of us. There was little hope.

Two local guys sat down at the table next to us. They said hello, then started laughing at the state of our spring rolls. The ice broken, we started chatting about our experiences and our fruitless search for an apartment. Billy introduced himself and said that he could help us out. He had a French friend who was moving out of her apartment in a few days. We swapped numbers and agreed to meet Billy the next day. Maybe our luck was changing.

Traffic Skills

2006-12-20T11:41:00.000Z

There is a key skill that you need to develop in order to survive in Hanoi – crossing the road. There are pedestrian crossings, even the odd traffic light, but the traffic will stop for nothing. We had read on VirtualTourist that the trick is to slowly step into the road and calmly walk across, without making any sudden movements. The traffic will go round you.

When you have been taught to stop look and listen, walking straight into oncoming traffic is unnatural, but it works. While avoiding large vehicles is advisable, the locals are so skilful on their bikes that they seem to swerve round you effortlessly. It’s quite exhilarating the first time you attempt it. After a few times, it gets easier.

It’s best not to really look at what’s coming towards you, just have faith. This is made easier at the moment as I’ve managed to strain a neck muscle which means I can’t look round quickly anyway.

I think I’ll need to relearn my green cross code when I get back to the UK.

Good Morning Vietnam?

2006-12-20T11:40:00.000Z

After spending another budget blowing but fun week in Bangkok, (thanks again to Rory and Noi), we caught a 2hr Air Asia flight to Hanoi. We hadn’t done much in the way of research, so we picked up a leaflet for a hotel at the Airport and caught a taxi into town. That was our first and last night at the ‘Fortuan’ hotel. If we hadn’t arrived so late at night, we would have checked straight back out. The whole place looked dirty and smelt damp. The room was cold, noisy and our bed linen, we decided, had a distinct whiff of beef cup noodles.

After a poor night’s sleep we went to check out. The hotel staff seemed very unpleased that we were leaving so soon and added a 10% ‘government tax’ to the bill. We found out later that the government tax was a scam. What a cheek.

Not trusting the hotel staff with our bags, we walked out onto the streets of Hanoi to find new accommodation. We were in the heart of the Old Quarter – 36 narrow interwoven streets teaming with street sellers, makeshift food stalls and motorbike traffic. The first problem was the lack of pavement. Bikes were parked on every available piece of pavement not taken up by makeshift restaurants. Walking in the road was the only option and that was a pretty hairy experience. The traffic stopped for nobody. Dragging our luggage behind us we made it around the corner, saw another hotel, gave up and checked in.

Our first impressions of Hanoi weren’t great. The weather was overcast and a lot colder than we are now used to. Everything looked a little shabby and run down. The congested streets were dirty, smelly and incredibly noisy. Vietnamese drivers will sound their horns for any purpose - when overtaking, braking, before turning corners. Indicators are completely redundant. You can’t escape the noise. Not in the shops, not at a café or restaurant. We changed hotels 3 times when staying in the old quarter and still couldn’t sleep because of the racket.

However, aside from the chaos, it did seem like an interesting city; quite different from anything we had seen so far. We hadn’t given up on Hanoi yet.

Good Morning Vietnam!

2006-12-17T10:23:00.000Z

We're currently in Hanoi. We've had a bit of an adventure getting to grips with the city but with lots of help from our new-found friend, the unstoppable 'Billy Hanoi', we've managed to find an appartment in a great location. We'll be here for the next month. Lots to post. Coming soon...

Back in BKK

2006-12-08T08:11:00.000Z

Staying at the Banyan Tree was to die for. After weeks of living in thatched huts with cold showers, walking into the marble bathroom of our 2 room suite was almost too much for me. I spent about an hour soaking in the bath using every complimentary bath product I could get my hands on. Afterwards I put on my kimono style dressing gown and matching slippers and walked through to the living room to tell AP that I was never leaving the room - ever.

Many hours later, we left the lap of luxury to explore the city once more. I hadn't expected to be so relieved to be back here. I admit it, while Laos was incredibly beautiful, I missed the shopping, great restaurants, nightlife and general chaotic maddness that makes up Bangkok. I am a city chick after all.

We had a fantastic night out touring the flashy hotel bars. Great live bands, georgeous surroundings. It is all a bit artificial though. Most of these places are populated only by male expats and thai girls. I'm not saying it seemed sleazy, but it felt odd that there were only ever 2 or 3 western girls everywhere we went. Still, you have to have at least one night out like this if you visit Bangkok.

We're now back staying with Rory and Noi, just outside the city. Yesterday we went to the Vietnamese embassy to sort out our visa so we should be leaving for Hanoi early next week. I suspect I'll miss Bangkok though...

Vang Vieng to Bangkok

2006-12-06T09:40:00.000Z

I thought the bus journey to Vang Vieng was the worst we would experience, but no, the 12hr bus journey back to Bangkok was worse. We booked the trip all the way from Vang Vieng, stopping off in Vietaine then from there, across the border back to Bangkok in a oner.

First we found out we the bus from Vang Vieng had been overbooked and we had to take a mini-bus for 3.5 hrs to Vietiane. Fair enough. We stopped at Vietiane for 3 hrs. It didn't look that interesting. We were glad we had decided against staying over night here.

Finding where to get the next bus from was a trial, but we eventually worked it out. We then drove 30mins to the Laos border checkpoint, got out and stood in line to have our passports checked. We then drove another 15mins, got out and had our passports checked again, then finally got on the 'Special VIP' bus that we would be on until Bangkok. The bus was NOTHING like the pictures we had been shown of a bus with reclining seats, tables, plenty of leg room. We were given a seat at the front due to the length of APs legs, but it was still very uncomfortable.

We drove 20mins and stopped again for dinner. Dinner was a plate of rice with some diced carrots. The overpriced drinks were extra. The restaurant was a fly infested dump with dead beatles on the table. Lovely.

We stopped again at midnight at a grotty service station. The asian style toilets were like something out of a horror movie. I wont go into too much detail, but the thing that really flipped me out was the huge, slimy grey toad that was just sitting there looking at me. I practically ran out of there.

I think AP saw I was going to chuck a mental and decided to tell me that he had booked a the Banyan Tree hotel in Bangkok as a treat after our long journey. I had expected that we would have another journey out to Rory's ahead of us, so I was quite relieved. Plus, I have dreamed about staying in the Banyan Tree since we visited it's bar on our first stay in Bangkok.

I didn't get any sleep on the journey - our double-decker bus was even stopped for speeding - but at least there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Kayaking + Caving

2006-12-06T09:38:00.000Z

When we had recovered from tubing, we did the same journey down the river by Kayak. Have to say, the tubing was more fun but we did stop off and do some caving on the way down, which was a new experience. Yet again, there were no instructions for our Lao speaking guides. You just simply put on a headband with a torch attached to it, get into the tube and float off into the cave.
It might have been useful if someone had given us some kind of warning like, you will be crawling on your hands and knees through dirt in the dark, you might want to avoid this if you are in any way claustrophobic. It was a bit hairy. The caves were quite spectacular, but I have no idea why anyone would want to take up caving as a hobby.

Tubing

2006-12-06T09:35:00.000Z

tI'm willing to bet that tubing in Vang Vieng is as much fun as you can have in one day on a tenner. We walked into town to the main tubing station.

There, for $4 you sign a disclaimer (your life is in your own hands), a number is written on the back of your hand and you are given your tube - a giant rubber ring. The tubes are then piled up on top of a tuk-tuk and along with about 10 other tubers, you are driven about 20k north of Vang Vieng and dropped at the river.

There are no instructions on what to do and no safety warnings. You just get in the ring and float down the river. After 100m or so, we heard the music coming from the first riverside pub. All along this stretch of the river, there are makeshift bars with trapeze swings and flying foxes going out over the river. The largest one does food, has individual sun lounging decks and even a volleyball court. As you float past, the bar staff will throw you a rope or stick to hold onto and pull you into the tube docking area. The tubes are piled up in a stack and you just pick up any one when you leave.

You need some beer before attempting this....

It's a great atmosphere and you get talking to so many people on the way. People will latch onto your tube and float down the river with you for a chat. What a laugh. The whole process lasts about 5 hrs. At the end of it, you stop at a small island and take your tube across a bridge back to the tubing station. It doesn't end there. Most people then go back to the island and sit round a bonfire drying off, eating free food and drinking even more Beer Lao. We actually ran out of money. AP managed to talk a girl called Banana into letting us drink free for most of the night and we paid them back the next day.

We had been out from 12.30pm till about 2am the next morning. We spent a full day recovering, then a few days later we did it all over again.

Vang Vieng

2006-12-06T09:26:00.000Z

Vang Vieng is an infamous stop off for backpackers in Laos. We had heard it was a bit of a tourist trap, but our friend James had recommended it for the activities - tubing sounded fun.

We booked the 'VIP' bus hoping we would get a little bit extra leg room. We didn’t. It was possibly the worst bus journey I had been on in my life. They call the road to Vang Vieng the 'road of a thousand turns'. The route runs along the top of a mountain range and the scenery is unarguably spectacular, but with 5hrs of twists and turns it's a fair bet you will want to be sick on the way. Nobody talked on the bus - I'm sure they were all thinking the same as me - can I hold off till the lunch stop to be sick. In the end, I wasn't sick, but there is no way I would do that trip again.

We were dropped off at the bus station in the centre of town and greeted by a local guest house owner. Normally, we would go with the first person that offered us accommodation, but we were to exhausted to look anywhere else.

The decision worked out well. We stayed in a little $8/night bungalow at the Thavisouk resort. It was set in a garden overlooking the river and the limestone cliffs on the opposite bank. Over breakfast you could sit and watch the daily river traffic...

It's quite hard to explain what Vang Vieng is like. It's pretty unique. Part adventure playground, part tourist creche might be one explanation. The town depends mainly on tourism for it's livelihood. The limestone cliffs and cave systems running along the length of the river make it an ideal location for activities such as tubing (will explain later), kayaking, caving and rock climbing. It all sounds very healthy but most of these activities are combined with drinking large amounts of Beer Lao.

When you need to recover from these types of activities, you head into town and participate in the Friends phenomenon. There are numerous bars on the main street at which you can lie back on cushions at low tables and watch the whole Friends series on a loop.

We had passed these places a few times and resolved not to go in, but eventually we did. In these types of places, there is always a few pages at the back of the food menu devoted to 'Happy' versions of the most popular main menu dishes. 'Happy Pizza', 'Happy Garlic Bread', 'Happy Banana milkshake', 'Funny for you!'. We were pretty sure Happy Pizza didn't mean you got extra cheese. Well, how else could these people sit and watch friends all day?

Back in Luang Prabang

2006-12-06T08:59:00.000Z

We spent another couple of nights in Luang Prabang. We visited the Royal Palace and the hilltop temple, but apart from that we had a pretty lazy time. We both went for a massage at the Kamu spa. The Kamu people are from a hill tribe who have developed specialised styles of massage and treatments which are a bit different to the traditional Lao or Thai massages. They use a dry oil infused with camphor which has a menthol smell to it - a bit like vics rub.

The girls doing the massage are always very young, (about 13 or 14). They took one look at Andrew and decided to call in one of the more senior members of staff - she must have been about 16. One hour of back craking and toe popping later, we agreed that we had had the best massage either of us could remember. A bargain for £2.

Nong Kiaw - Nowt to do

2006-12-06T08:57:00.000Z

We could have done some hiking trips out of the town, but didn't get round to it. Our last day in Nong Kiaw was spent lazing about sunbathing and swimming in the river.

We didn't see any other 'Falangs' in the river the whole time we were there. The locals seemed to think it was a bit of a novelty and stared down at us from the bridge as AP tried to teach me how to bowl with an orange. I guess they don’t play cricket. : )

After another quiet night and noisy morning, we caught the boat back south to Luang Prabang. The boat was small, but we managed the trip downstream ok. Don't think I could do any more that 5hrs on these things though.

Nong Kiaw - Cave Guides

2006-12-06T08:51:00.000Z

On our first day in Nong Kiaw we decided to take a walk to the caves – the only signposted attraction that we thought we could manage without a guide.

Laos has the unenviable title of 'most bombed country in the world', mainly due to the US army who bombed the countryside relentlessly in order to try and flush out Vietnamese military hidden there. In rural towns like Nong Kiaw, the locals lived in the caves to escape the bombing. You can visit these caves all over Laos.

As we walked through the town, we started to realise how little in the way of possessions the locals had on this side of the bridge. On the other side the children were dressed smartly for school and had bikes or mopeds, over here the kids had holes in their dirty clothes and played a game which involved throwing their flip flops at a stick on the ground. Still, they seemed happy enough and shouted out to us as we passed.

After a short distance, we realised that we had picked up a little following of 6 wee boys. They came all the way to the caves with us pointing out assorted trees and insects on the way. There were hundreds of these funnel web spiders. Think they're poisonous..

Our guides couldn't speak English but we kept hearing them say to each other 60000 kip. They were only 7yrs old and were trying to extort $6 out of us to split between them. Well, fair enough.

After visiting the cave, the leader of the gang smiled and said 'give give'. We didn't think it was right to give them money and asked if they would like a football instead. They looked delighted. Somehow we managed to communicate that we would go up to the next village then back into town and bring them back a ball.

The next village up the road seemed poorer still and we had been warned that the locals weren't particularly friendly. However, we stopped at a little hut for a coke and were invited to sit in the back of the house/shop with the family. Two local boozers turned up completely wrecked on Lao Whisky (30p a bottle) and tried to get us to drink and smoke with them. We decided we didn't need to get quite that close to the local characters.
The village and scenery...

We headed back into town and were grabbing a quick drink when we realised we were being trailed at a distance by the 4 youngest of the 6 cave guides. They were making sure the deal was completed. I had a terrible thought that we might not be able to find a football, but we somehow managed to find a flash looking world cup ball and then had to find someone to pump it up. Our little cave guide team bounced off down the road with the best football in town - probably the only one in their village.

Nong Kiaw

2006-11-29T08:36:00.000Z

We wanted to see more of the Laos countryside and decided to head to a little place called Nong Kiaw. We’d heard that the scenery on the 7hr boat trip north was spectacular. The problem is though, that you never know what kind of boat you are going to end up with – it depends on the number of people who book. When we saw the boat the next morning, we decided to take the bus instead. It was tiny, the seating consisted of a few fold out picnic chairs and there was no toilet on board.

The bus worked out well, just 3.5hrs allowing for some seemingly pointless stops along the way. We were dropped at the bus station (a hut) in the centre of town (a couple of dozen huts) and set off across the bridge to our accommodation.

Nong Kiaw is a stunning little spot with the limestone cliffs encircling the town and the river cutting right through the middle. The modern bridge somehow didn't look out of place and gave us so many picture opportunities.

We stayed in a slightly overpriced bungalow at the Sunset Guesthouse overlooking the river. We realised quite quickly that there was next to nothing to do at night in the town. If you ventured out of your guesthouse, you had to take a torch, but everything shut down before 10pm anyway. Just as well really. I have never heard a place start up so noisily in the morning – drums, cockrels, music, boat engines, you name it. A lie-in was virtually impossible.

Luang Prabang - Nightlife

2006-11-22T12:36:00.000Z

This place doesn't cease to amaze me. Last night we went for a meal at a French restaurant. It was all dark wood, white parasols and Nina Simone playing in the background. I had pumpkin soup and buffalo 'Steak Frites'. AP had a smoked duck salad and 'Coq au Vin'. We pretty much had to order in French.

After dinner we stumbled across a couple of bars that wouldn't have looked out of place in London. The 'Hive' bar had a DJ playing chilled house music, a maze of little alcoves and booths inside and a cool garden outside that had made an ingenious use of old Beer Lao crates by covering them in leather to make little stools. The tables appeared to be made from oil drums. It was all so well put together though. This place sold the most expensive beer in town (still under a pound for a huge bottle). We got chatting to some other travellers and met a guy who had lived in Falkirk for 20 years. What's the chances !!?

I am stumped to think of anything that Luang Prabang doesn't have that you could want. There is a strict curfew though. Everything closes down at midnight - this is not Tenerife, and it's all the better for it.

Luang Prabang - Bike Trip

2006-11-22T12:13:00.000Z

The outskirts of the city are perfect for exploring by bike. We hired some decent ones and headed out to the local ‘Phousy’ market. It was here that we started to get an idea of how much poorer the Lao people are than the Thais. Apparently Laos doesn’t have the resources to make modern goods, so they have to be imported and are therefore much more expensive. There wasn’t really anything of a reasonable quality to buy at the market apart from food and some local handicrafts.

The food hall was a bit of an eye-opener as well. There was the chicken production line – live chickens, chickens with their legs tied together, dead chickens, then finally plucked chickens with their legs sticking out of a wicker basket. I like to know where my food comes from, but that was far too graphic.

Then there was the girl making little bags of blood from a big bag of blood. Her hands were red, it was pretty gross.

Then there were the pigs heads. This is AP's pic. If you are squeamish, put your hand over the pic before scrolling down. Seriously.

Out side the market we were stopped by an old guy with great English who talked us into buying some terrible ice-cream by showing us his NZ kiwi badge …

We headed further up the road and stopped off for lunch at a simple little shack with great views of the Mekong. I was a bit squeamish after the market and could only manage a salad. AP tucked into a hearty soup of noodles and water buffalo.

After lunch we headed back into town and got a bit lost. Eventually we found some beautiful old temples…

We cycled home, fulfilled but exhausted.

Luang Prabang - Waterfalls

2006-11-22T11:35:00.000Z

We took a bumpy 1hr drive to the Kuang-Si waterfalls 32k south of the city. As we walked through the jungle tracks we came across an enclosure of bears which a sign said had been rescued from local poachers. They were pretty playful and seemed to spend as much time on 2 legs as on four, which looked a bit weird…

There was also a female tiger. It had also been rescued from poachers along with it’s two brothers, who had later died from illnesses. Although the enclosure was large, it did look like it was going half daft in there on it’s own…

We got to the first waterfall and it was beautiful. The water was crystal clear. The second waterfall was so perfect it looked like a man-made swimming pool that you might have found at a resort…

The main falls were pretty impressive as well…

There were loads of monks out on a day trip. We’ve seen signs in Laos saying not to treat monks like animals in a zoo – which I guess means not to take lots of pictures without asking. These monks seemed to want their pictures taken though and kept waving and swinging their robes around. They seemed pretty chilled out.

On our way back into town, we stopped of at a Hmong village. These Hmongs looked much poorer than those we had seen in Thailand. There were so many kids running around, it looked like there had been a recent population explosion. Most of the kids needed a good wash. This one was a wee character…

The look of determination on his face when he spun the wooden top was priceless. Wish I could have captured it.

Map Updated

2006-11-18T10:05:00.000Z

If you look at the map page - link on right - I have updated the markers as far as Luang Prabang. So if you want to know where Laos is, just double click to the right of the clusters of markers for a better view.

Here's another map for you... it's from Google Analytics and shows where our blog readers are based.

So, no surprise there's a big blob around Edinburgh and a few over New Zealand. Not sure about the blob over Bangkok though - that can't just be me.

Anyway, hello to all our international readers - it's good to know I'm not talking to myself!

Big Pics

2006-11-16T08:21:00.000Z

If you look at the Mekong River post and click on any of the pics, they will open up full-sized on their own page. Better for seeing the detail.

I'm not sure why you can't do this with all of the posts, but I'll try to make sure you can from now on.

LuangPrabang - Day 2

2006-11-15T06:45:00.000Z

I don’t believe it, the locals across the river have a massive stereo in the garden and are playing what I can only describe as the Lao version of Queen – at 7.00 in the morning. If I could throw something off the balcony and across the river, I would. Don’t they believe in Karma ??

Well, we need to be up and packed today as we are being evicted from our rustic chic bungalow to make way for a tour group, and are moving into town. AP is happy about this. Can’t say I am. More to report later…

It took me a wee while to get used to our new accommodation, but I’m quite liking it now. Our room is small and panelled from floor to ceiling in wood. It feels a little like sleeping in a ships cabin, but it’s really comfortable and we get fresh towels and the room cleaned every day – which we’ve never had in accommodation this cheap before.

On day 2, we took another wander around the town. I’m still amazed by the French influence here – we had a baguette with ‘La vache qui rit’ (the French version of dairylee) cheese for breakfast. It’s not difficult to find restaurants here with Onion Soup, Coq au Vin and Fillet Mignon on the menu and even some of the shop signs are written in French – La Poste, Le Patesserie, l’Auberge.

That night we had a few drinks at a little beer garden down by the river and got chatting to some of the locals. They like a drink in Laos! ‘Sante’ they shouted at us and ‘Oooh la la!’.

We then had to participate in a drinking game which involved downing your beer then turning the glass upside down. The winner was the person who had the least number of drips left in their glass. ‘Ning, Song, Sam, See’ they shouted - the numbers in Lao are the same as in Thai.

It’s all a little confusing, but at least when you’ve had too much of the excellent Beer Lao, you can grab a Crepe Chocolat-Bannane on the way home. Beats a kebab and chilli sauce hands down…

LuangPrabang - Day 1

2006-11-15T05:44:00.000Z

I woke at 6.30am to the sound of drums and cockerels crowing – the local wake up call? I sat on the balcony and watched the gardening get underway again across the river. The locals have large allotments at the back of their houses. They must farm the land for vegetables to take to the market.

It took another 2hrs before I could get AP up and about and we headed down the river for the walk into town. On the way we passed little art galleries that seemed to be run by Europeans. No tourist tat here, but some lovely painting and sculptures – every shop looked interesting.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the river and ate spring rolls and sticky rice. The Lao food seems less spicy that Thai with more subtle flavours but still delicious.
The view from our restaurant...

All of the guide books rave about how beautiful and unique the Luang Prabang is. They’re not wrong. The city is situated on a delta of the Mekong and surrounded on all other sides by high green hills. Ancient temples sit high up in hills, as if keeping an eye on the action down below.

There’s not much traffic here. Even the centre of town has a sleepy quality to it. The streets are fringed by palm trees and there are no modern buildings.

As we walked further into town we passed some very French looking colonial style buildings; two stories, whitewashed with wooden slated shutters and arched doorways – like something you might see in Provence. The French once colonised Laos and their influence can clearly be seen throughout the city. We also passed a number of beautiful little cafes and bakeries – it all seemed so refined and civilised, not quite what I was expecting.

I wasn’t expecting the boutiques either. The city is dotted with the most amazing little shops selling fashionable, high quality versions of traditional asian clothing – silk dresses handmade in Vietnam, embroidered Chinese jackets, amazing accessories and handbags covered in the intricate cross stiches of the local tribes. Alongside the clothes there were antique teapots, carved wooden boxes inlaid with silver and gold and Chinese vases. If I came back here, I’d come with an empty suitcase. These gorgeous little shops weren’t cheap by Thai market standards, but you would pay an arm and a both legs at home for this exotic stuff.

AP dragged me out of the shops and we sat and had a Lao coffee overlooking the Mekong – they do good coffee too.

Everywhere we had been that day had been postcard picture perfect. This is what I had hoped some of Thailand might have looked like, but it doesn’t get a look in. Skip Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, head straight to Laos.

LuangPrabang - Rustic Chic

2006-11-15T05:17:00.000Z

When arrived at our accommodation with an Aussie couple that we had met on the boat who were headed for the same place. As luck would have it, they only had one room and it was above our budget. The Aussie couple thought the same and called and booked another hotel. In the meantime, the friendly guy at reception knocked a whack of the room price and offered it to us. Feeling slightly guilty, but very tired, we took it.

ThongBay is like a mini resort full of thatched bungalows set around a small but beautiful tropical garden. The place is gorgeous. If I could have dreamed up my perfect idea of accommodation in Laos, this would be it. Our bungalow is huge, with a bathroom you could swing a cow in and best of all, we have a balcony overlooking the river flowing into the Mekong.

Our male readers will probably want to stop reading now, but I have to rave about our bungalow. The décor is fabulous dahlings. The bedroom walls are made from chequered panels of bamboo and dark wood, the bathroom walls are solid rock and there are skylights so it feels like you are taking a shower outside. Our bed is a four poster with colourful silk scarves wrapped around the posts. There are silver engravings of Lao temples hung on the walls and on the balcony there are elaborately patterned thai-style mats with triangle shaped cushions for your back. Next to these there are low wicker tables, just perfect for resting a cold beer on.

As I sit here drinking my Beer Lao as the sun goes down, across the river I can see the locals still working in their gardens and their kids taking soap down to the river for a bath. Yes, I realise this is what I was looking for – rustic chic : )

The Mekong River

2006-11-12T06:22:00.000Z

I’ll never forget this journey. As we left Thailand behind and cruised towards Luang Prabang the scenery got more and more incredible. On either side of us there were lush mountainous jungle dotted with bamboo huts, towering limestone cliffs and embankments of white sand by the river. There was always something to new to see – kids playing in the shallows, fishermen’s nets, water buffalo, herds of black goats and pale pink cows.

Too much to describe, I’m just going to post heaps of pics…

Our journey was 10hrs long, but it was very comfortable and there was plently of space to walk around the boat, sit at the dining table and play cards or do some sun lounging up front.

We had brought some of our own supplies, but there was a cook onboard and we had a hot lunch of fried rice and eggs. We were very gald we had chosed the 1-day boat option. On our way, we saw the alternatives. The slow boat…

Nice seats. Not. The speedy boat…

When the locals wear crash helmets, you know that your life is in the hands of the gods.

* If you are thinking about doing this trip, check out the Chaing Sean River Hill Hotel website. http://www.chiangsaenriverhill.com/. You can book the boat to Luang Prabang directly through them. *

So, the day had passed quickly. I would do this trip again, even if we had the choice of flying instead. The scenery and the feeling you get when you are nearing Luang Prabang as the sun sets over the Mekong river is magical and unmissable.

Chiang Saen into Laos

2006-11-12T06:21:00.000Z

We left early for the hour long drive in the morning mist to Chiang Kong. Chaing Kong itself seemed ok, but I was glad we had stayed in Chiang Saen. We caught a simple longboat across the river to Laos and the border check-in.

We had given our passports to the owner of the hotel who was accompanying us on the trip, along with the $30 required for the visa. I think if we had tried this ourselves, the process would definitely have been more problematic. However, all of the paperwork had been filled out for us in advance and we breezed through immigration control without much trouble. Also, we received a 30 day visa and were sure we would only get 14 days. I’m not sure if this was because it had been arranged through the hotel, but I’ll try to find out.

We drove a short distance down the river to where our boat was moored. We had seen pictures of the slow boats – loaded to capacity with tourists sitting on the floor, or on hard wooden benches. Our boat had comfortable cushioned and reclining seats, a dining table at the back and an uncovered seating area up front to take full advantage of the views. There was even a TV, like we needed that - we were about to go on the most spectacular journey into Laos.

Chiang Saen

2006-11-12T06:15:00.000Z

We didn’t know what to expect from Chiang Saen as it was hardly mentioned in the guide books. We arrived at the Chiang Saen River Hill hotel and checked into a comfortable room with lovely Thai furniture and the best bathroom we had had in weeks. The staff at reception were very helpful and suggested we hired bikes to explore the small town.

Chiang Saen was beautiful. Sleepy, green and it just felt so much more authentic than our previous locations. The town is right on the Mekong river. I had some romantic notions of the Mekong, but was prepared to be disappointed. I wasn’t. As we rode our bikes down quiet roads looking across to the river to the palm fringed banks of Laos on the opposite side, I started thinking – ah yes, this is what we signed up for.

We stopped of at a simple restaurant and sat on bamboo mats. Having no idea what we had ordered, we were presented with a small cauldron full of hot spicy broth, a plate of raw fish, some noodles and herbs. We threw everything into the pot and cooked up a delicious soup. We were loving this…

We returned the bikes and sat at a dusty little bar across the road from the hotel. As we drank our Chang Beer, ducklings ran under our table, the local cat jumped onto AP’s lap and we watched the fishermen and field workers return home on various bizarre modes of transport.

Later that night we walked up the road to find a restaurant and stumbled across an all you could eat 69 baht (that's just 99p!) buffet. A kind of metal barbecue, surrounded by a moat of boiling water was placed in the middle of the table. All the meat on the buffet was raw – you just picked whatever you wanted and placed it on the dome on the top. Later on, the water had turned into soup which we scooped out and drank from small bowls.

The best bit was the make your own Som Tam counter – I LOVE Som Tam. I was a bit useless at guessing quantities, but the locals were soon helping me out and I managed to make something edible. Needs work though.

Chiang Rai to Chiang Saen

2006-11-12T06:14:00.000Z

After Chiang Rai we had planned to go to Chiang Kong, the nearest point to cross the Mekong River and the official border crossing into Laos and from there, to travel to the isolated city of Luang Prabang. Guide books and numerous websites told us that we had two options – either take the slow boat for 2 days stopping overnight at Pak Beng or the 'speedy boat' for 6 hours. We had heard numerous horror stories about the speedy boats crashing and were going to take the slow boat. By chance we saw an add in a travel agents window for a 1 day luxury boat option.

When we went in to enquire, we were told that it was a package deal. We would stay overnight in a hotel in Chiang Saen, then drive to Chiang Kong the next morning to catch the boat. It seemed like good value and we were keen to get to Luang Prabang quickly, so we booked the package and caught the local bus for a pleasant 1.5 hr drive to Chiang Saen the next day.

Chiang Rai

2006-11-12T06:08:00.000Z

I had enjoyed Chang Mai, there was so much to going on, but it was hellishly noisy and we hoped Chang Rai would be a little slower paced. We had the most luxurious bus for the 2.5hr drive north. There were fully reclining seats, T.Vs, air-con, complimentary water, banana bread and warm hand towels. I’d rather this that fly economy.

We arrived in Chang Rai and it looked hopeful – busy, but less hectic than Chang Mai. However, we had a nightmare finding our accommodation. The Lonely Planet’s recommendations were pitiful and we ended up, (after 2 hours trailing the streets), checking into ‘Pam’s guesthouse’ as a last resort. The room was ok and it was cheap as chips, but the place had a creepy feel about it. Most of the guests never seemed to leave and were permanently glued to the TV in the tiny lobby. Also, the bathroom had an unplumbed sink – so if you brushed your teeth and rinsed, you ended up with toothpaste on your feet. Nice touch.

We spent 2 nights in Chang Rai. It didn’t leave much of an impression on us. The food market was interesting enough, selling everything from tomatoes to slimy toads and turtles. In the evening, there was a choice of some naf tourist bars or the outdoor food hall.

The food hall was a good idea. Loads of local vendors selling barbecued seafood, simple noodle dishes or soups. We avoided these local delicacies though…

You picked up what you fancied and grabbed a table in the middle of the square. There was even free entertainment – those LadyBoys again, but this time the singing kind.

Chiang Mai - Day Trips

2006-11-12T05:41:00.000Z

There’s loads to do in the area around Chiang Mai. We took taxi up to ‘Doi Suthep’, one of the most revered Wats (temples) in Thailand. It was in a beautiful setting, but the interior was even more impressive.

There were so many different representations of Budda...

Some of the Thais gave donations just to one, others hedged their bets and dropped coins or left flowers in front of each one.

There were a few customs to observe inside the temple - no shoes, cover your shoulders, don't point your feet towards buddah and don't have your head higher than that Buddah or of a Monk. This meant sitting in some awkward positons if you wanted a closer look inside.

Then we headed up to the one of the King’s residences, higher up on the hill. It was unexpectedly low key and reminded me of an old 70s style resort. While we looked out over the Queen’s fountains, there was cheesy lounge music playing from speakers hidden in plastic boulders.

We then drove a few k further to the Hmong village. This was pretty interesting. Although the village was definitely geared up for tourists, you could easily imagine how these people lived and how beautiful and scerene the location would be without the tourists.

The gardens were tidy and colourful...

The museum was a museum in itself. No ‘Do not touch’ signs here...

There was also a museum of what I could only describe as pickled genetic mishaps. A Siamese monkey, a pig with a face like and elephant ??! All of these were just too horrible to photograph. On the brighter side it was 10 baht for a game of hit the mango. AP was particularly good at this...

It was 20 baht to dress in the taditional Hmong dress. I was going to post the pic, but it’s just tooo cheesy.

I wanted to rent a house here, stay overnight and wake up in the mountains – not necessarily dressed as a Hmong. We’re going to try to do that later on in our trip when we can find Hmongs that don’t have mopeds.

Chiang Mai - Under Seige

2006-11-12T05:23:00.000Z

Sunday was the last night of the Longkran festival in Chang Mai. This was what the whole town had been building up to all week. We heard that the main action would be down by the river, so headed there to find a restaurant with views of the festivities.

We pushed our way through the crowds and processions leading up to the bridge. The noise was deafening. There were more lanterns in the sky that stars and huge fireworks hung in the air.

The unofficial fireworks were more of a problem...

We both went deaf for a few seconds after bangers went off at our feet. Most of the local men were drunk and people crashed into us as we tried to make our way across the bridge.

Finally we reached the opposite bank and found a strategically placed restaurant overlooking the river. We had to wait an hour for a seat, but spent the time watching the madness, which looked a lot prettier from half a mile away.
All along the banks of the river, the locals were lighting candles on top of colourful flower displays and letting them float downstream.

They are supposed to symbolise getting rid of your troubles and worries. I lit one and let it float off with my worries (of which there are fewer and fewer these days) and lit another for those who may have a few more worries at the moment – you know who you are. x

After a fantastic dinner of sushi, red curry and Chang Beer, we had to make a mad dash across town so that AP wouldn’t miss the All Blacks game showing at the local pub. Some things never change…

LadyBoy Dentistry

2006-11-12T05:19:00.000Z

I noticed when in Bangkok that there were many cosmetic dentistry treatments on offer at a fraction of the price we would pay at home. After years of red wine, caffeine and ciggies, I had always fancied getting my teeth whitened. In Chang Mai, prices were even cheaper and I decided to take the plunge and dropped into a dentists round the corner from out guesthouse.

There was a very pleasant girl at reception who gave me some info about the treatments on offer. Looking more closely I decided that the girl was actually a boy. It was the lady-boys who gave me the best prices with least the hassle in Bangkok, so I decided to stick with my feeling that I could trust what she/he was telling me and returned after lunch to make an appointment.

They could take me straight away which suited fine. As soon as I agreed, the lady-boy receptionist simply grabbed a white coat, put on a surgeon’s type head net and mask and showed me to the operating table… I mean dentist chair. I was then fitted with a mouth guard and some strategically placed cotton wool before a sci-fi like blue laser contraption was placed a few millimetres away from my teeth.

In the end, I had no reason to be worried. The process took about 40 mins and the lady-boy dentist seemed to know his/her stuff and talked me through the whole process. I now have a pretty white set of wallies to show in my holiday snaps. There was only one side effect. Later that night, when the escalating noise of the festival boom box got to a ridiculous level, I would get strange nerve twinges. I almost went back to dentists to check this was normal, but later in the night it had subsided, or maybe they had just stopped playing the ‘Crazy Frog’ song.

Chiang Mai - Goes Mental

2006-11-05T08:22:00.000Z

When we got to Chiang Mai, we could sense that the city seemed to be building up to something. There were workmen setting up water displays, stages all over town, little kids letting off bangers. The traffic coming into town was also building up and our wee guesthouse, right in the middle of things, was turning into a very noisy place to be.

As we sat having a quiet beer and saw some girls with really weird hairdos walk past, someone finally told us that the 6 day festival of – something – was about to start.

The city now seems to be in the middle of it’s own Mardi Gras. There are bands playing in every square, elaborate street processions and fireworks going off all around us.

I think this was the winner of the beauty pageant we watched. ‘Miss Yee Peng 2006’…

This girl's show was very popular. Chiang Mai’s answer to Kylie…

Chiang Mai’s answer to ? ...

The other thing is these massive lanterns that they light. There are more of these in the sky every night now than stars. Sometimes they attach firecrackers to them. It would never happen at home as it’s all completely unsafe. They tend to drip hot wax on the people below, or occasionally hit trees and explode. They’re supposed to be lucky, so we had a go anyway…

Chiang Mai - Flower Show

2006-11-05T08:06:00.000Z

We’re not usually the type to go to flower shows, but the 2006 Chiang Mai Flora Exhibition was advertised everywhere and seemed like a big deal. We took the shuttle bus out there from the railway station.

The show was spread out over a huge with a massive temple in the middle, built by the Singa Beer Company…

We went inside and gave thanks.

There were gardens created by various countries, like Qatar which did a good free tea…

There was also a Traditional Thai village where you could watch fabrics and skin products be made by hand, while sipping endless cups of ginseng tea. Very relaxing.

There were tribal marriage ceremonies to watch…

The monks were pretty interested in this...

and the giant bug greenhouse…

Ok, it was all a bit of a school trip, but it was good clean fun.

We seemed to be an attraction in ourselves for the locals. There were hardly any farangs around. The older ladies seemed interested in Andrew and in particular in the size of his feet. School kids stopped and asked to have their photos taken with us. Weird...

Chiang Mai

2006-11-05T07:57:00.000Z

On our first day in Chiang Mai, we woke early and went looking for a new hotel. The city seemed peaceful and the temperature was quite a bit cooler – a welcome change from the heat and noise of Bangkok. Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand though. There was still lots going on.

After walking for hours and checking a few hotels and guesthouses, we were at a bit of a loss. We saw a guesthouse overlooking the canal that encircles the old town. Good location, but the rooms were only 180bht (£2.50) and we almost didn’t look in as we thought they would be awful. On closer inspection, the guesthouse was basic but spotless and our room, with a big comfy bed, a fan and - yipeee – a flushing toilet, was more than adequate.

Across from the guesthouse there was a market, providing some good shopping by day and some fantastic food by night.

Cooking quail eggs at the night market...

This is our average dinner now… usually eaten on a concrete bench at the side of the market...

The quailty of the food in Thailand doesn't seem to be related to the price - it's more the environment you are eating it in that you are paying for. Street food is as good as any.

I love the spicy salad – Som Tam – it’s getting to be an addiction. It’s best to find a street seller that only sells Som Tam and nothing else, then it has to be good. You need to look out for the ingredients – Papaya, green beans, tomatoes and peanuts – and the large gourde and pestle they use to make it…

I love it ! I’m not going to be able to come back to the UK unless I find someone to teach me how to make it. The UK restaurant version just doesn’t cut it.

Packing Skills

2006-11-05T07:49:00.000Z

I’ve been asked by one of our blog readers about my packing. It is obvious from my posts that I have been buying new gear, but anyone who knows me would know that I left the UK with cases packed to full capacity with outfits for every possible eventuality.

The thing I got my head round pretty quickly was that if I didn’t have any spare room in my pack, I couldn’t buy new stuff – and that would be a disaster. So, we originally had our two backpacks, a large suitcase and assorted hand luggage. We left a pile of clothes with AP’s mum on the Gold Coast – didn’t need stilettos after the wedding – and we left the suitcase and more clothes (including some of my Singapore purchased outfits) with Rory in Bangkok.

I was ruthless with my re-packing. I bought a load of small plastic bottles and filled these with travel size amounts of shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser etc etc. I restricted myself to 1 of each type of clothing – 1 beach dress, 1 long sleeve top, 1 casual skirt, 1 dress skirt etc. I ditched anything that was too bulky or heavy including my jeans and my favourite long gypsy skirts.

When clothes cost just a few pounds, you can always buy things along the way, if you find you really need something. Yesterday I really needed a turquoise pashmina, black cotton thai fishermen's trousers and an silver ankle bracelet. : )

I still have my electronics; laptop, camera, i-pod, psp, web cam, but everything now fits into my small backpack. AP’s pack is larger and he’s struggling, which gives me a warped feeling of satisfaction.

I am now considering ditching my hairdryer. I haven’t used one since we got to Thailand. It’s just too hot to blow more hot air at your head - or to wear much make-up for that matter. I probably look a state, but the mirror in our room is totally inadequate, so I can’t really tell.

Koh Phangan - Chiang Mai

2006-11-05T07:43:00.000Z

We had a few discussion as to where to head next. We could either go up through northern Thailand, to Laos then onto Cambodia and Vietnam or down through Malaysia, Singapore and from there onto India. We’re pretty keen to get to India, but we decided to stick to the original plan and head north to Chiang Mai.

There are so many travel options in Thailand, but flights are really cheap. We took the boat back to the mainland and stayed a night in Surat Thani – a busy little port, but not much to see. We then flew from Surat Thani to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The flight each took about an hour and cost around £20 for each leg.

It was still a long journey from the islands to the north and I was pretty grumpy by the end of it. We had booked a guesthouse in Chiang Mai for the first night and their driver came and picked us up from the airport. Our room smelt damp and looked grotty, but we would have slept anywhere by that point. The place was called ‘SK-House’ by the way – don’t stay there.

Koh Phangan - TNP Yai

2006-11-05T07:35:00.000Z

We took a taxi over to the next bay. Thong Nai Pan Yai...
The beach was just as beautiful and the village even more sleepy with hardly any shops or restautants open. This was definitely the low season.

We found accommodation at a resort called Dreamland. This time we had a little wooden cottage with a balcony overlooking peaceful gardens just a stones throw from the beach. We had a flushing toilet, thank goodness, but no hot water. We’ve worked out we can do without air-con or hot water, it’s no hardship.

With not much to do but laze about, we decided to put up a hammock. First we discovered that we needed extra rope, then one of the hammock hooks came away from the ceiling, but after about an hour, AP managed to put it up. Then he got in it…

We lay on the beach instead. Read books during the day and went to explore the village at night. Hardly anything was open and there were no street lights, so we had to take a torch just to find somewhere to have dinner.

We found a tiny little place called Memory which served the best food we’ve had so far in Thailand. There was a large menu, but only a few dishes were ever available. Everything tasted incredibly fresh. The cook had a little herb garden beside the restaurant which she went and picked from after you had ordered. We ate here every night we stayed in TNP Yai.

Next door to Memory was a really cool pub called bar Nu. It was practically deserted every night. I think we’d like to come back here in the high season. We enjoyed our stay, but would have stayed longer if there had been just a little more action.

We're Here !

2006-11-02T06:55:00.000Z

I'm making an addition to the Map page - link on right hand side bar. It takes a wee while to update the map, and sometimes there's only time to write a couple of lines, so I have added a bit about our current location to that page - primarily for the benefit of my Mum, who still likes to know where I am at all times : )

I should add, that we might not always have easy access to an internet connection, so if we haven't updated the page in a week or so, it does not mean that we have been abducted. Ok Mum? x

Koh Phangan - TNP Noi

2006-10-29T11:01:00.000Z

We escaped from Bottle Beach, over the hills in a 4x4 taxi. It was a spectacular if bumpy ride to Thong Nai Pan Noi.

I swear, these pictures aren't very good. The beach was even more stunning in the flesh. It gave Barbados a serious run for it's money.

Although a lot more developed than bottle beach, TNP Noi was still pretty quiet. We never saw more than 10 people on the long white sand beach at any one time. Behind the beach was a small village with a few small shops and a handfull of sleepy bars.

There was a fair amount of construction going on which did spoil the look of the place a little, but nothing major...
As for accomodation, we had to splurge a little to get anything decent, but we got pretty good value for our little cottage 50m from the beach. And I got a flushing toilet and hot water!

There's not much to do here apart from read books, eat and sleep. Although there was a quirky little german run bar next to us called Flip Flops which kept us well fed and gave us a place to hang out for a couple of beers in the evening.

From our beach, we could see another bay round the corner. We decided to go and see if paradise over there was any nicer than paradise over here, just for a change of scene...

Koh Phangan - Bottle Beach

2006-10-29T10:58:00.000Z

Leaving the port, we hopped on the back of a little truck taxi with an Austrlian couple heading the same way for the bumpy ride to the port. When we were dropped off, there was no obvious way to find a boat and hardly anyone around. We asked one of the locals, who made a quick call on her mobile and said the boat was on it’s way. By this time, we had decided that we would head to Bottle Beach rather than Thong Nai Pan as it was the closest and it had already been a long day.

The boat arrived – basically just a simple fishing boat…

It was so low in the water that we were absolutely soaked by the time we arrived in Bottle Beach, but the journey was fun and the beach looked beautiful…

Having thrown our luggage ashore, AP settled down for a beer while I (as Chief of Accommodation) scoured the beach tasked with finding a room for under 400 baht. During this time it started pouring rain and I looked like I’d gone for a swim fully dressed. Still, someone eventually gave us a room…

We were right on the beach, but our hut was very basic. Inside was a bed on a raised platform, a fan and a grimy mirror. The bathroom was small and dingy. The toilet had no manual flush, instead there was a large plastic bucket of water with a scoop thing that you had to fill with water and then chuck down the pan. I found out later that the best way to flush the toilet was to turn the shower on. It sprayed directly into the toilet bowl. Did I mention there was no hot water and no electricity before 5pm?

The beach was lovely – exotic and remote, but I couldn’t cope with the bathroom facilities. Sleeping was also difficult. It felt like the hut was about to be blown down at any minute. Exhausted, but unable to sleep, I started imagining there were bugs in the bed. I reached up to switch on a light, but the electricity had stopped again. I went to open the door and in the dim moonlight I saw a giant beatle running down the door. For most of the night I stayed up with the magi-light torch and woke up still clutching it. Thanks to my workmates for that pressie!

The next day, we decided to leave in search of civilisation and a room within out budget with a flushing toilet. I now knew my limits.

Surat Thani to Koh Phangan

2006-10-29T10:45:00.000Z

We didn’t get much sleep on the sleeper and arrived at Surat Thani feeling a bit jaded. The buses for the ferry were waiting at the station and it was a quick 20min ride to the port. There were maybe a couple of hundred weary looking backpackers waiting for a boat – goodness knows what it’s like in high season. We were given a pink sticker to show we wanted to go to Koh Phangan.

The boat was sturdy enough, but the crossing was rough. It would have been nice if we could have seen the islands we were approaching. Inside the boat, we ended up in first class by accident – this meant comfier seats and a ripped off copy of Mr & Mrs Smith playing on the TV. The crew changed this to a gross Thai horror movie after out stop at Koh Samui.

By the time we docked at Koh Phangan, the weather had cleared and the island looked pretty promising. Lush, green and undeveloped. We grabbed a quick lunch at Thong Sala port and decided our best route across the island. We planned to go to Thong Nai Pan – a double bayed beach area which looked idyllic on the web. AP (chief of transport) reckoned we should take a taxi north and then catch a boat round to the first bay.

Hua Hin - Sleeper Train

2006-10-29T10:31:00.000Z

I’m writing this post from my bunk in the first class sleeper from Hua Hin to Surat Thani. AP is currently away taking a video of the toilet.

Our cabin has one bunk, a small sink and that’s about it. When we got on the guard asked us if we wanted breakfast, then offered us two huge bottles of Heineken. The next thing we had to do was find the toilet. There is a little door in the middle of the cabin. An en-suite perhaps! We tried to force it open before the guard came and asked us what we were trying to do. “Toilet” we said. “No”, he said, “down there” and started laughing. We were trying to get into the next cabin.

AP said I should go and check out the toilets first as he was in for a long visit. On the upside, there was toilet paper, a powerful flush and a good lock. On the downside, it was of the hole in the ground variety (feet to be placed either side) it was very smelly and there was a resident cockroach.

AP has now returned and I've realised why he took the video camera. Next to the toilet from hell, there is a western toilet. He’s still laughing…

Map Updated

2006-10-27T17:06:00.000+01:00

I've updated the map. Double click to zoom in and you can probably see the beach we're sitting on now. : )
Lots more to post, but need a faster connection...

Hua Hin - AP is 30 !!!

2006-10-27T12:25:00.000+01:00

Well, it had to happen. AP has hit the big 30. He's still not to keen on the idea and very much in denial. He shouldn't be stressed though. Not everyone gets to spend their 30th on a beautiful beach in Thailand, showing off their footie skills to the locals...

I couldn't get a room at the Sofitel, or any other swanky hotel in town so I took a chance and booked a room at the Anatasila hotel which was on a beach called Ko Takib, about 7km south of Hua Hin. It was the right choice. The hotel was beautiful. Our room was huge with 2 balconies, an outdoor sunken bath and we could literally walk off the balcony and into the pool...

An even bigger bonus was the beach. It was everything that Hua Hin was lacking - naturally beautiful, a relaxed atmosphere and to AP's delight there was hardly a Farang in sight...

At night we ate delicious seafood at little restaurants on the beach. On our second night here (we couldn't drag ourselves away) we watched the locals light these huge lanterens and let them float off towards the stars..

The Anatasila was quite a find. Yet again, it wasn't in the guide books, or even reveiwed on the web. I guess sometimes the best places are kept quiet. Hope it stays that way...

Hua Hin

2006-10-27T08:44:00.000+01:00

I had expected Hua Hin to be a little more low key. Most of the town seemed to be geared towards tourists with lots of restaurants adverstising western food and happy hours. There were almost more 'Farangs' - as the Thais call westerners - on the streets than locals. AP doesn't like Farangs. I think sometimes he forgets he is one.

The main beach was ok, a bit commercial, with massive chain hotels taking up the best of the beach front. AP liked the look of the Sofitel though - so I planned to book it for his birthday.

That evening, we went to the night market. I got another outfit for like £4 and we sampled some more bizzare local food. Although I'm not sure how local Japanese pizza is...

Bangkok - Leaving Town

2006-10-27T08:07:00.000+01:00

We had planned to take the sleeper train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, where we would connect with the boat to Koh Phangan. However, we hadn't realised that it was both a long weekend for the locals and the annual vegetarian festival down south. This meant that we couldn't get a train south out of Bangkok for at least another 3 nights.

We were keen to get out of the city, so decided to head down the coast to Hua Hin by bus. We planned to catch the train from there a couple of days later.

Before leaving town, AP went to the local hospital to sort out our malaria tablets and I went to get AP's birthday present. The hospital AP went to was near to where he used to live when working in Bangkok. It was more like a hotel than a hospital, with restaurants and cafe's in the lobby. He had to register there and have a quick check up before he could get a prescription, but it was well worth doing that here rather than at home where it would have cost us a small fortune for our tablets.

In the mean time, I went to the MBK electronics market to negotiate the best price for a video camera. I found that the shop run by the lady-boys gave most realistic starting prices - they were more concerened with touching up their lipstick and tweezering their moustaches to be bothered with trying to rip you off. Still, there were literally hundreds of stalls and it took hours to seal the deal. I hoped AP would like his present!

After checking out of Hotel Reno, we jumped in a taxi to the bus station. The driver was quite a character and ended up persuading us to let him drive us the 3 hours to Hua Hin - it was cheap anyway. I had hoped to get some kip in the back, but was woken up by shouts of 'Monkey Driver!!', which was what our driver called every other driver that overtook us on the road.

We arrived at Hua Hin. It had been a major problem finding any accomodation in the area beacause of the holiday weekend, but the TiengTong guest house, on a quiet resedential street back from the beach, worked out quite well...

We had a spacious room with a seating area, small balcony, TV and free broadband. Not bad for 500baht (£6). The lady who ran the guesthouse couldn't have been more friendly. I got a lift on the back of her motorbike to drop our smelly clothes of at the laundry. The next day I got back a bag of spotless, perfectly pressed clothes that smelt faintly of flowers. For 80p - it's not right.

Bangkok - Just Pics

2006-10-26T09:12:00.000+01:00

The shopping centres are spectaular in Bangkok and have some of the best restaurants...

Boat taxis are the fastest and maybe the most dangerous way to travel...

We went for a meal in hectic Chinatown...

There's nothing more off-putting than having an elephant put it's trunk in your lap when you're trying to eat...

Bangkok - One Night In...

2006-10-21T04:36:00.000+01:00

On our first night in the city we though we would start off with a couple of swanky drinks. We went to a bar called Vertigo which is on the 59th floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. This bar may be my second most favourite bar in the world : ) The panoramic views over Bangkok are incredible…

Difficult to get a picture!

When we stopped feeling dizzy, our super-friendly barman Rattasan chatted to us about working in the clouds and showed me how to work my camera…

Rattasan - if you are checking the blog, thanks for the smoking cocktail. Delicious...

It was about 400baht for a glass of wine at vertigo – not much more expensive than on George Street at home, but when you then go and get your dinner (roast pork, noodles and iced tea) for 40baht from a street seller, it gives you some perspective.

We then headed for Patpong night market, a buzzing gauntlet of fake watch sellers, go-go bars and lady boys. It's not just food they have menus for in this area. I lost count of how many times we had to say 'No ping-pong show'.

Anyway, the hard sell is not too full on and the market is lots of fun. In amongst the rubbish, there are some amazing bargains to be had. Just get the price down 4 or 5 times before you buy.
All in all, we spent about £30 between us for drinks, dinner, taxis etc. Not bad, but we’re not nearly on our budget yet!

Bangkok - City Living

2006-10-21T04:15:00.000+01:00

We moved into the city to experience Bangkok close up for a few days. Wanting to get started on our hobo budget, we took a local bus into town.

You'll see a lot of yellow in Bangkok as it is the colour of the King and the Royal Family. The current king, unlike prime minister Taksim, is very popular here as he is seen as having done many good deeds for the people. A huge number of the Bangkok population wear yellow polo shirts on a Monday to show their support.

Getting off the bus, we took the skytrain which stopped close to our hotel. We had found a guest house on-line earlier – "the Wendy House" – and booked by phone.

When we arrived, the choice of rooms was a 20sqm double for 900 baht or a 30sqm for 1000 baht. We went for the larger room. We hadn’t expected much, but the room was like a prison cell - dingy, depressing, no windows, horrid. If this was what we were getting for our budget of £10 each a day, I was getting very worried. AP could see I was about to have a mini-fit and went to look at the hotel next door. 5 mins later, we moved out of the Wendy House and into Hotel Reno. The room was the same price, but 10 times better – shabby but spacious room, plenty of light, even a balcony.

With everything being so cheap so far, I suspected we were being ripped off at the first place. That just goes to show... The Wendy House was given a great write up in the Lonely Planet guide, listed # 1 on TripAdvisor under ‘other lodgings’ and it was still shockingly bad.

As AP is always saying, you can't trust the guide books. That is, until he writes one. : )

Bangkok - Mosquito Murder

2006-10-20T12:03:00.000+01:00

On our last night with Rory & Noi we had a lovely meal at an indoors/outdoors restaurant. Big comfy sofas, cooling breeze and unfortunately, some murderous midges.

They got as big a feed as we did. Until we were supplied with these things.

Electrified tennis rackets. If you swipe them quickly, the midges are zapped and killed instantly. Move more slowly and you can watch the beastie barbecue. Great fun for all the family.

Thanks to Rory and Noi for putting us up for a few days. No doubt we'll see you again soon.

p.s. Noi takes a great picture - appologies this is the only one I have at the moment.

Bangkok - Barbecue Bedlam

2006-10-20T11:39:00.000+01:00

I was going to spill the beans on the civilised barbecue that went on till 10am the next morning, but I will not wind up our gracious hosts here – so AP will be posting the videos on YouTube instead :)

The barbecue was excellent though. You know when your food is fresh when it crawls of the plate. Really. The prawns were squealing when we put them on the barbecue. Cruel? Maybe.Tasty? Deffinitely.

Still a bit travel weary, I went to my bed around 2 that night – before the whisky came out. At 6am I peaked downstairs to see everyone was playing rugby in the living room. At around 10am I was woken by wailings from Alice Cooper. Hmmm. It's not often that am I out-partied, but I was kind of glad I was.

Bangkok - Market Shopping

2006-10-18T08:55:00.000+01:00

We had already established that Thai food was ‘cheap as chips’ – well, cheaper really – so I couldn’t wait to go on a proper shopping mission. Rory and Noi took us to a local market which sold everything from food to clothes to garden furniture to pets...

Whether it's a cat you're looking for...

or maybe a puppie or two...

It seemed a strange place to be buying pets, but all of the animals did look comfortable and healthy. Most of the Thais are Buddhists, which means they believe anyone can be reincarnated as an animal and as a result even the street dogs are fed and looked after.

Well, if your great-grannie came back as a squirrel, you’d want it to wear a knitted hat wouldn’t you???

Apart from that, there were enough clothes stalls to keep me happy. Everything seemed to be priced around 200 – 250 baht, (£3/4 pounds), and it’s nice stuff. You could easily compare the quality with the UK high street stores. For around £20 I bagged a haul of 3 tops, a jacket, a denim skirt and a dress. You get used to the prices so quickly though. I bought my dress at the end of the day and when the lady on the stall asked for 700 baht, Noi and I both gasped in disbelief. £10 for a dress – the cheek of it!! After Noi helping me to barter in Thai, and also walking away and returning later, we managed to get the dress for 450 baht. Result. I was now hooked on shopping Thai style...

Bangkok

2006-10-18T08:53:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Bangkok on the 13th and stayed for 4 nights with AP’s old boss from SAS, Rory. Not that Rory is old, you can see from his fine head of hair that he is actually very young and hip…

Rory lives about 45mins from Bangkok city. His house is part of a gated community which has security guards at entrances and exits and it’s own shops, sports centre, spa etc. It’s a very calm and quiet environment, miles away from the Bangkok noise and traffic. There was still a fair bit of construction going on nearby though. How can they work like this in the heat?

Staying with Rory and Noi (his girlfriend) was a good introduction to Thai living, shopping and eating. Although we were essentially in the suburbs, everything was so different to anything I’ve seen before on my travels (I’ve never been to Asia) that even the local supermarket was fascinating.

On our first night at Rory’s we got stuck into the local food. Actually, in a single day we probably ate about 20 different dishes. If you go to a local market you will find individual stalls specialising in a particular type of food. That might be curries, noodle dishes or just a particular type of salad. If you can manage to work out how to order, it will quickly be cooked up in front of you. Fast food with a difference.

The standard of market or street food is pretty high. You might find an unidentifiable vegetable, a chicken foot or even a bit of congealed blood in your curry, but hey, that’s part of the adventure. We’ve been eating everything under the sun and, although at times we have blown our mouths off with chillies, we haven’t had stomach problems yet.

Another thing you need to get used to is how incredibly cheap the food is here. There’s currently 70 baht to the pound. A dish from the street market will cost you anything from 15 to 40 baht. Pennies!! for fantastic, authentic Thai food. Love it.

Sydney - Lost Purse

2006-10-18T08:50:00.000+01:00

Can’t forget to post this story. I lost my wallet with all my cards and money in it while wandering around Darling Harbour. Later, I pin pointed the moment when I lost it – I was bent upside down doing a yoga thing to help my back and it must have dropped out.

Couldn’t believe how silly I’d been to lose my purse so early on. After asking in a couple of shops and being told I had no chance of getting my purse back in that area, I called the UK to cancel my cards. They were about to be cancelled when I was told that there was a note against the account. Someone had rang my bank in the UK and said they had found my purse.

We had a name, Carolina Guerra, but they had taken the phone number down incorrectly. We went to the nearest internet café and looked up the phone book to see if there were any similar numbers. There was! We called and spoke to Carolina, who lived out of town. We managed to meet up with her in the city before we left and exchanged my purse for the flashest box of chocolates I could get my hands on. How brilliant is that – I love the Aussies - although I think she was South American.

Sydney - My Birthday

2006-10-15T13:08:00.000+01:00

Spending my birthday in Sydney was almost worth getting a year older for - almost.
We started off with breakfast overlooking Bondi beach. ..

I could have sat here all day and watched the surfers, sunbathers, footballers, skaters, korean school kids??...

Batteries fully charged, we headed back to the harbour to climb the bridge. I hadn't realised what a big deal this was when I suggested it. You need to wear a ton of safety gear, including a dodgy boiler suit and a harness type contraption that connects you to a low railing. It's not too tough a climb really and the views are worth it. You can really get an impression of how vast Sydney is and how the suburbs are laid out around the harbours and waterways. Wish they had allowed us to take pictures!! They do of course allow you to purchase pictures takes by the group leader - hmmmm. We have a dodgy one that I'll try to remember to scan in..

After a rest at the hotel, AP, James and I headed out to the Opera House bar, then jumped on a ferry to our restaurant destination. Taking a ferry across the harbour is cheap and gives you a brilliant view of the city. It's gorgeous at night, but almost impossible to take a picture of...

The boat produced this effect, not the chardonnay - honest.

We ate at the Bathers Pavillion, right on Balmoral Beach. The building was lovely as was the meal, until I got a very dodgy oyster. It actually looked a bit dodgy, but managed to get as far as my mouth before I spat it out. Gross. The restaurant did not deal with it well at all. A free cheeseboard which was cheaper than the oysters? - I think not. We had to have a bit of discussion over the bill, which is really poor for a restaurant that thinks it's top notch. Avoid!

After dinner, we reckoned we needed some cocktails to stop us thinking about scabby oysters and caught a taxi back across to the other side of the harboour and headed up to the bar at the Shangrila hotel which has panoramic views over the city. The night was rounded off by visits to another couple of venues on the way home - the names escape me! Still, it was a pretty civilised night out... nothing compared to the Bangkok house party..

Sydney – Top Tips

2006-10-10T12:43:00.000+01:00

From now on, I'll try to do a brief tips post for each country/city from now on. We’re getting quite a few readers now, so maybe someone will benefit from our experience.

I must mention that in Sydney, we were lucky to have our friend James as our personal guide. James at Bondi...

Being a dedicated foodie, keen shopper and connoisseur of ‘non-bogen’ (explain later) drinking establishments, we didn't have to do much searching..

Sleep –

We stayed at a hotel on Goulburn Street called Vibe. Given that it only cost about £20 more than a ensuite room in a backpackers hostel it is great value. Modern, spacious rooms, big beds and a decent location. You should get better rates if you search discount sites. http://www.vibehotels.com.au

Eat –

The general standard of restaurants in Sydney is very high. We really didn’t have a bad meal there. On our first night James took us to a restaurant just round the corner called ‘Spice I Am’, an informal, café style restaurant with the best Thai food I’ve tasted in years. Highly recommended. http://www.spiceiam.com

We followed this up the next night with more Asian food at Lemongrass. This restaurant had a much flashier feel with low lighting and a trendy crowd sat at long dark wood dining tables. The food was more experimental than traditional Thai, but there were some amazing dishes. Beef Massaman, deep fried Baramundi and a delicious desert platter have stuck in my mind. http://www.longrain.com/

I’m supposed to be keeping it short!

General food tip - go for ‘Yum Char’ in Sydney. If you haven’t tried it at home, you don’t know what you’re missing. Many of the Cantonese restaurants will serve yum char. Waitresses circle your table with trollies laden down with bite size Chinese delicacies from dim sum to desert. You just point out what you want each time. You’re guaranteed to eat far too much, but it’s not expensive.

You can tell we like our Asian food!

Drink –

The bar below the Opera House overlooking the harbour may well be my favourite bar of all time - and I’ve been in a few. The view is ‘to die for’, the atmosphere buzzing and the house chardonnay very moreish : ) If in Sydney, don’t miss this one.

The bar at the Shangrila hotel also has stunning views over the harbour. Worth a visit if you can be bothered waiting your turn for a window seat.

Shop –

Head to the Paddington area for brilliant boutique style shopping. You’ll find fantastic dress shops, one-off handbag designers, unusual jeans brands etc etc. Clothes are generally a bit cheaper compared to the UK, but not much. Also, don’t buy your bikini before you visit Australia – the choice here is 100 times better.

Unusually, it was the guys who did the most shopping on this trip. According to James, AP has started dressing like a ‘bogen’. If you’re from New Zealand you might know what this means – I don’t fully understand. James's explanation was ‘someone who would like a Harley Davidson but doesn’t have one’. Anyway, James managed to do what I haven’t been able to in years and got AP to buy some new shirts - thanks James! AP will now mainly be wearing Ralph Lauren polo shirts while his other outifts are reviewed by the bogen police.

Sydney

2006-10-09T06:44:00.000+01:00

My Sydney post may be shorter than planned as we’re in Bangkok now and I want to get onto that. Not that Sydney wasn’t great. It has that big city buzz about it that I was missing in Wellington. Lots going on, a mix of so many different cultures with the choice in shops, restaurants and bars that goes along with that. It feels quite like London in a way, but with fabulous weather.

It has quite a few other things that London doesn’t have to boast about – the harbour area is spectacular…

The opera house dominates the harbour and is just as stunning close up. It’s amazing it was ever built – apparently the original design involved stacking the ‘shells’ up on top of each other. When building got underway this was found to be technically impossible, so a second designer came up with the current design. You can’t imagine it being any other way really.

One thing spoils the view of this amazing building – some complete muppet decided it would be a good idea to build flats at the back of it…

It was all grass before leading up to the opera house. Why anyone wanted to detract from the city’s most recognised icon with these monstrosities is beyond me.

Wellington

2006-10-07T01:49:00.000+01:00

‘Windy Wellington’ people call it – they’re not joking. In just a short, bumpy 3hr flight from the Gold Coast you can go from glorious sunshine and 27 degrees to 11 degrees, driving rain and a wind-chill that makes it feel nearer freezing point. We weren’t prepared for this - as you can see, fashion considerations go out the window when you are forced to wear everything you have in your suitcase at once.. and that’s just to go to bed…

Note unmatched socks and classic kiwi bedspread.

So we’re staying here in Miramar with AP’s dad Tod and his partner Margaret. We’re being well looked after given that AP forgot to tell his dad I was coming - he was a bit surprised!

I can see that Miramar could be beautiful in the right weather. Tod’s house sits up on a hill overlooking a green valley and the hills on the opposite site which are dotted with multicoloured wooden houses. On a half clear day you can see down to the airport and the bay.

We would have liked to have seen more of the island, but the weather was pretty atrocious, so our exploring has been limited to in and around Wellington – mainly in inside a car.

Apart from exploring, we have been busy catching up with the Andrew’s family. Andrew’s aunt Prue bravely flew in from Christchurch with her friend Mary. Aunt Pleasance had less of a journey from Karaka Bay. We dropped in on Pleasance on our way to the Chocolate Fish Café (highly recommended lunch spot). Her house is lovely, looking out over the bay…

Apparently Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson likes the neighbourhood as well – he lives a few doors down…

Yes, apparently he does really live here - sometimes. He’s also building a massive house at the back of this one and owns most of the houses between this and Pleasance's house, which were home to the Lord of the Rings actors when filming in New Zealand. Pity we were too late to do some Orlando Bloom spotting.

On our way back, we passed the boat used in King Kong – this one’s for you Mr Miller….

…and the Miramar film studios…

So, when the weathers bad, we did what we would usually do and went out on the town – big style. Saw a fair selection of Wellington nightlife and some pretty cool, cosmopolitan pubs. Still recovering this morning..

Maybe we’ll come back to Wellington when the weather’s better… brrrrrrr…

Gold Coast - Byron Bay

2006-10-01T09:11:00.000+01:00

Byron bay is actually in New South Wales and nearly and hour’s drive south from AP’s mums. A backpacker’s favourite, the area is also home to movie stars such as Russell Crowe and that bloke who played Crocodile Dundee - apparently. It has to be the most naturally stunning location we’ve seen yet in OZ...

The main beach is on the bay below…

Back from the beach, the town is low rise and full of seafood restaurants, trendy bars and irresistible little boutiques selling the uniform cute sundresses, giant specs and straw cowboy hats - must get some of them also : )

Then there’s lot’s of quiet little coves round the corner. I’m not saying I'm planning to live in Australia, but if someone offered me a house on Byron bay it would be a difficult decision…

So many picture opportunities…

Ah, it’s tough this travelling lark…

Gold Coast - Currumbin Zoo

2006-10-01T08:56:00.000+01:00

We had meant to visit Australia Zoo while we were here but we too busy in Noosa, plus it would have been a bit strange given the massive publicity that was surrounding Steve Irwin’s funeral last week. Terry Irwin’s interview seemed close to Princess Di’s in terms of media interest and hype. We all watched it of course.

So, Currumbin Zoo, 10 mins south of Varsity Lakes, was a good second best. There was far less of the ‘animals behind bars’ feel that would put me off going to a Zoo in the UK. Everything was very much hands on. A couple of dollars bought you some kangaroo feed, or wallaby feed I should say. These are wallabies….

Feeding them was a strange experience. It felt as if they were wearing false teeth and they slavered all over your hand – a bit minging. At first I thought the wallabies were kangaroos, but side by side they aren’t much alike. Kangaroos are far more chilled out…

Doesn’t this one look like such an old man…

The other star attraction was the croc. It didn’t move an inch the whole time we were there but the sheer size of the thing drew the crowd. The pictures don’t really show how huge it was. Apparently they only eat for 6 months of the year, but which 6 months? Crikey mate…

On the cuter side, you’ve got to love Koalas…

Ok, no more animal pics please...

Gold Coast

2006-10-01T08:50:00.000+01:00

We were a bit sad to be leaving Noosa behind. Our first stop in Oz had been more than we’d hoped for. After dropping Boydie and Kerri at Brisbane airport, we headed south towards the Gold Coast and Varsity Lakes where we would be staying with AP’s mum for a week.

The Gold Coast has a different feel to the Sunshine Coast. It reminds me of Florida – high rise buildings, lots of malls, you have to drive to get anywhere. The nearest town to APs mum’s is Surfers Paradise which is pretty touristy and full of teenagers on holiday looking to party and hang out on the beach. I don’t think it’s going to be one of my favourite places.

Pete – I can see why you liked Surfers though. It was those girls in the gold bikinis wasn’t it – the meter maids? – I’ll need to get a photo for you : )

Anyway, it’s nice to be staying with AP’s mum and getting a taste of the Aussie lifestyle. It’s no surprise that sport and the surf are major players. The surf clubs are a big part of the social scene here. Often located right on the beach they serve food, have subsidised bars and are a big draw for all age groups in the evening. They also seem to be financed by the ‘Pokies’ – slot machines, which seems a bit odd in the environment of a sports club.

I must mention the Nobby Beach surf club. AP’s uncle Mark is president of this newly renovated club with beautiful views over the beach. We had a very successful night out here meeting some local characters and even won our dinner in the raffle. Time for a barbie!

Noosa - The Wedding

2006-09-26T03:30:00.000+01:00

Well, we wouldn't have ended up in Noosa if it wasn't for the main event - Boydie and Kerri's wedding. Boydie and AP both grew up in Welllington and have been good mates for many years. Being best man, AP had been working on his speech, on and off, all week.

One thing which struck me about my first Aussie wedding was how unbelievably relaxed everyone was - well the guys anyway. Boydie and AP finally started getting ready less that half an hour before the wedding car arrived. The weather was of course beautiful and sitting in the church - which was full of orchids and lillies - with the doors wide open and the sun streaming in was lovely. As was the bride. ..

Doesn't Kerri look gorgeous. Here's the full Boyd clan - I should point out that the Boyd getting married was Antony Boyd - known only as Boydie to me until today...

The ceremony over, the wedding party headed down to the beach for more pics.

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed to the reception for some bubbly. I wish I had some pictures of the reception. The tables and chairs were decked out in pure white, with round white lanterens hanging from the ceilling. There were more flowers than I have seen at any wedding - all white lillies or green orchids - in table arangements, on napkin holders, lying about for the girls to tuck behind their ears. Beautiful. The meal was class as well - pumpkin soup and roast lamb. Mmmm...

The venue was 'the Boatyard', a restaurant right on the Noosa river which was so open that it felt like we were sitting outside the whole night. Just as well as some of the wedding party needed a breeze to cool them down during AP's best man speech : )

A big thanks to Boydie and Kerri for giving us the best reason to come to Noosa. We thoroughly enjoyed your wedding day and it was lovely to catch up with you both and meet your families. Hope you guys are loving Malaysia. x

By the way, this what the happy couple will be returning to post honeymoon..

.. kind of like a being on a permanent hooneymoon if you ask me!

Noosa - Golf Pro

2006-09-26T03:07:00.000+01:00

We took a drive down the coast to watch APs wee brother playing golf . Just another day at the office for Julian...

Not usually my scene, but with weather this good it was hardly a chore.

My golf etiquette wasn't up to much according to AP. No talking, moving or niosy snaps allowed when the game is in play. That's a bit difficult when crab-like flying beasties are jumping on you.

Something told me Julian wasn't too happy about his performance that day. We headed off for a seafood lunch by the sea.

Over lunch, Julian told us of his plans to supplement his 'office' job with some TV work. Career diversification indeed...

Across the road was a stretch of dark sand which I said would qualify as a decent Scottish beach - Julian informed us it was an estuary, not a beach. Exactly.

Noosa - Fraser Island

2006-09-26T02:10:00.000+01:00

We decided to take a day trip to Fraser Island, a natural sand dune famed for it's 70mile long beach, freshwater lakes and rainforest. Unfortunately the weather, which had been either sunny or really sunny since we arrived, turned cloudy and overcast. It took us an incredibly bumpy 2hr drive to get to Fraser Island. After driving up about 50k of beach, it can get a bit monotonous - who would have thought you could get sick of the beach.

We then drove across forest tracks to Lake McKenzie. The minerals in the lake make your skin so soft - I was dying to go for a swim, but it was just a bit on the chilly side.

After a barbie for lunch and a walk through the rainforest, (didn't see any of the famed pure-bred Dingos), we headed back for the ferry then down the coast to Rainbow Beach.

Rainbow beach is named after the coloured sands that line it's cliffs. They may look pretty, but we were informed people have been killed climbing up the dunes which can result in massive sand avalanches.

On our way back to Noosa, we passed a small Kangaroo family. Kangaroos look a bit daft at the best of times, but this one needed a 'This Way Up' sign...

Noosa Life

2006-09-26T01:45:00.000+01:00

I don't think we could have started off our visit to OZ in a better location. Noosa is idyllic. The lifestyle here, for holidaymakers and locals alike, revolves around the beach.

It's busy, but not in the same way as those beaches where the British line up like sardines to bake in the sun. Here, everyone on the beach seems to be active - playing footie or cricket on the beach, swimming and practicing surfing techiniques. Surfing is a big thing here. It's a subject at school and the kids start out very young.

Away from the beach, there is a more laid back scene by the Noosa river back from the beach. This gives you an idea of the layout of the area. Not my pic : )

.. and next to Little Cove where we were staying is the National Park which has forrest walks and quiet beach coves to explore.

At night, it's pretty quiet. The sun goes down about 6 each night and people eat early and don't stay our long to do much boozing afterwards. Well, who wants a hangover when the weather is this good.

Noosa - Koala Trouble

2006-09-21T06:10:00.000+01:00

After settling into our apartment we went for a walk towards the National Park. Within a couple of minutes I spotted a Koala high up in the trees…

Apparently it’s pretty rare to see one in the wild so I was quite amazed. I stopped so suddenly that AP ran into the back of my heels and took part of his toenail off…

A delicate nail operation had to be performed with tweezers and scissors, but the patient is recovering well.

Maybe a pic wasn't required here...

Brisbane to Noosa

2006-09-21T06:08:00.000+01:00

Brisbane airport is pretty non-descript, full of grumpy Scots just off a long haul flight and of course their Aussie relatives in shorts and jandles. It was 15 degrees and raining in Brisbane – it didn’t look good.

Picked up the hire car and headed up the coast to Noosa. The closer we got to Noosa, the greener the scenery became. As we drove into town and the sun started splitting the sky, things started to improve considerably. Our first impression of Noosa was of a sleepy, low-rise, laid back holiday town. Lovely beach, pretty green, all good.

We had booked an apartment in an area called Little Cove, just minutes walk from the main beach and street, and next to the national park area. Given that our apartment was one of the cheapest on offer we weren’t expecting much, but it is perfect. Great location, clean comfortable, beautiful view, well chuffed…

Singapore – Sentosa 2

2006-09-21T06:07:00.000+01:00

Today, I had a day at the spa planned (a treat which AP had arranged - x), which was just as well as the weather had turned dodgy. I had a full body aromatherapy massage and then was covered with 3 types of mud before being ‘baked’ in a dry heat then steamed in the ‘Galaxy’ room. It was so amazingly relaxing, I dosed off twice while looking at the twinkling lights on the ceiling of the room and listening to bird music. Afterwards, I had never felt so clean in all my life – AP said I smelt of mud though.

Had lunch at the hotel before heading off to Changi airport to catch our flight to Brisbane. Changi airport is excellent – loads of different areas for relaxing, watching TV, free internet connection and nice places to eat.

The 7hr flight to Brisbane was a breeze after our last journey. Having dozed through most of it, it was a little hard to believe that we had finally arrived Down Under…

Singapore - Sentosa

2006-09-21T06:00:00.000+01:00

On our third day we checked out of the wonderful Oriental – I could have stayed a month - and headed across to Sentosa Island. Sentosa is accessible by a bridge within 15mins drive of the city centre. On approach, it really does look like a paradise island. Lush, green and with some enticing looking beaches. When you’re actually on the island, things look a little different. The beaches are man made, there is still a lot of construction going on and, as Singapore is a hugely busy port, you can always see cargo ships close by the coast – which kind of ruins the paradise island illusion.

Anyway, our hotel was lovely – more a beach type resort with beautiful gardens and a huge infinity pool. (Only thing about infinity pools is you can’t tell where the edge is and end up smashing your nails doing front crawl.)

Gardens…
Pool…
One of the flashier guests…
We took the bus along the south of the island and had a shot at the Skyride - a kind of ski-lift up to the top of the island and the Luge – a toboggan-type ride back down. It’s all a bit Disney (but not as good).

By night we were shattered and had Cup Noodles for tea in our room while watching the giant plasma TV.

Singapore – Day 2

2006-09-21T05:42:00.000+01:00

I'm realising I need to make my blogs a little shorter so I don’t send you all to sleep. Bear with me, I’ll get there…

After a hearty breakfast on a fully recovered stomach, we headed to the Mall next door to find a bookshop. Unfortunately, it was the clothes shops I couldn’t resist.
The local fashion is quite western, very smart, prim and a little bit girly. The tiny, slim Asian girls looked great in their pencil skirts, lace blouses and kitten heels. I had to have some!!

In many of the shops we visited, a shop assistant would follow you round. A bit off-putting at first, but they’re there to help in any way. They were brilliant at suggesting outfits and honestly telling you what they thought suited you and didn’t. If something was a little to long, or maybe you didn’t like the trim – no problem, come back in half an hour and it would be altered. This was in shops where the average price seemed to be about £10 for anything – skirts, tops, shoes, bags. Great quality stuff as well.
Given that I have no more space in my backpack, I managed to leave with only a couple of outfits. Would return to Singapore for the shopping alone.

We had a cheap lunch at a sushi bar – sushi is so cheap here, around £1 for a plate that would cost 4 times as much at home - then headed back for an afternoon at the pool. What a pool…

Just when you though you needed a drink, the bar staff would appear with iced water and mango smoothies. Bliss.

At night, we had arranged to meet AP’s old workmate from SAS, Kaye. We headed down to Clark Quay, an unusually modern riverside area with loads of bars and restaurants. Kaye had arranged to meet us at a microbrewery. I hadn’t thought Asian people were really into drinking but was proved wrong ; ) A couple of pints later we headed to a Seafood restaurant a few doors down. Kaye asked us what we would eat. We said anything and shortly a bowl of live boiled prawns, some stir fried frogs legs and a plate of chilli crab arrived at the table. All were delicious. I wouldn’t normally eat crab at home, but it was so fresh and the sauce was incredibly tasty.

After dinner we grabbed a coffee and headed back to the hotel for a nightcap.

Many thanks to Kaye for taking us out in Singapore and introducing us to some things we would never have tried ourselves. Hopefully we’ll see you on our way back… x

Singapore - Day 1

2006-09-21T05:40:00.000+01:00

Breakfast at the Oriental was a bewildering affair that took a few minutes to navigate. With all tastes catered for there was everything from full English and continental to curry, noodles, dim sum and even miso soup to choose from.

Unfortunately all I could manage was some fruit that morning –not like me, but my stomach wasn’t feeling on par and was soon to get much worse. It appears that our first stop at the Hawker stalls was more of a culture shock than my belly could handle. A few hours in Asia and I already had a dose of food poisoning – great. Anyway, it didn’t ruin our day. The stomach pains came in waves every few hours and in between I could manage to stand up straight and walk about successfully. (I’m not looking forward to Delhi belly)

Singapore is almost unnaturally clean. You can be fined if caught dropping any kind of litter and there seems to be a small army of cleaners on the go wherever you look.

Almost every building in the centre of town is new, modern and high-rise, giving the city a futuristic look. AP says a lot of Asian cities are like this. Compared to the UK, even London City doesn’t look this flash. We wandered along Orchard Road – the main shopping area. On both sides of the street there was nothing but huge, gleaming shopping malls.

We then caught the underground to little India. This colourful area was a contrast to the sky scraping centre of town. If anything, you would think that it would be a little more dirty and run down, but it was just as pristine. Every shop and restaurant we passed here was Indian. For backpackers on a budget, (think we’re supposed to be), you could pick up a pair of trousers, a watch, a bikini, almost anything, for 2 or three pounds. The quality wasn’t great, but at those prices you can’t complain.

We stopped at a vegetarian Indian restaurant for lunch. There are heaps of vegey restaurants in the area and a meal for 2 will set you back about £4. Thought my stomach could handle the vegey fodder, but not for long.

After lunch, we headed to the Mustafa Centre where we had heard you could get a decent price on electronic goods. Everything here actually has a set price, which is handy if you can’t be bothered bargaining. We were a bit disappointed to find prices no lower that in the UK, Well, lower than high street prices, but certainly not lower than on Ebay. AP managed to leave without purchasing any new camera equipment.

We then headed to Sim City, another electronics store where haggling was the only way to get a decent price. We just new we were getting quoted ridiculous prices as obvious tourists. Anyway, the gremlins in my stomach put a swift end to our shopping trip and we had to head home.

Back at the Oriental I’d booked in for a massage to combat the jetlag. The spa and treatment rooms were beautiful. Must have been one of the best massages I’ve had, but still nothing compared to the treatment at the Sentosa Spa (later post).

Fully relaxed we headed out for a drink at the New Asia bar in the Stamford hotel. On the 70th floor we had panoramic, Blade Runner style, views of the city. I seemed to have found a cure for my stomach – margaritas – no honestly! Must have been the ice…

Drinks were pretty pricey, and the scene a bit touristy, so we soon headed off for dinner at the Thai Express. These outlets are everywhere and are kind of a Thai version of McDonalds. Definitely not up to the standard of Edinburgh’s Thai restaurants, but hit the spot.

Headed back to the hotel to sleep for Scotland…

Singapore - Arrival

2006-09-21T05:33:00.000+01:00

We arrived at our hotel, the Oriental in Marina Bay after a short 15min taxi ride from the airport and were surprised to be greeted by a handful of security men carrying what looked like machine guns. We then had to put all our hand luggage through an airport type scanner and step through a metal detector before getting to reception. We were informed that there was an IMF (similar to our G8) conference being held in the building behind our hotel that week and that most of the delegates were staying at our hotel.

Apart from the unusual reception, the hotel definitely lived up to expectations. Our room was immaculate, luxurious and the view was to die for.

After settling in, we decided to get some food from the Hawker stalls which AP spotted from our window using his new binoculars. Not sure why they’re called Hawker stalls, more like our food courts in the UK, but open air and with far more exotic fare on offer. We settled for some huge barbecued King Prawns and a type of noodle salad steamed in bamboo leaves. Pretty delicious for a midnight snack.