Graham and Mariana's World Tour

Week 50 to 51 - 26/06/10 Colombia

2010-06-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Bogota

We had to change planes in Bogota, which had a tiny airport similar to Luton, but it did have a dunkin donuts, so plenty of things to eat whilst passing the time, not to mention live football on every available tv screen. Bogota is dripping with cash, not surprising if you consider that 80% of Colombia’s GDP is exporting coco around the world.

Cartagena

Our second plane to Cartagena was on time, but without food this time, so we had to sit there smelling all the delights wafting down from business class. After an hour we were approaching Cartagena but the captain announced a slight delay due to bad weather. So we circled, and circled, and circled for about 40 minutes before the pilot had the courage to attempt a landing. Got down to about 750 metres and then was a sudden pull up to 2500 metres since the turbulence was just too much for the plane to land. The plane then circled again for another 20 minutes before we were re-directed to Barraquilla, some 60 miles north of Cartagena. There we sat on the tarmac for an hour along with 5 other planes that could not land, hungry, thirsty and bored out of our minds. Mariana was in a positive mood and was glad we landed elsewhere rather than being killed in a crash. A bit dramatic maybe, but certainly the correct decision was made by the captain. After an hour we once again took off headed for Cartagena. This time the pilot managed to put it down on the tarmac to the relief and cheers from the passengers. Mariana had 3 kittens by this time since flying is not one of her favourite pastimes, and this flight certainly was not for the faint hearted.

Arriving in Cartagena was a relief. We had called to reserve a room which was still available even though we were almost 3 hours late. The room had wifi, tv, ac and a fan. Normally, we don’t do the ac thing since it is just not necessary, not the case in Cartagena. Temperature 30 degrees and 75% humidity, an utter sweat box for sure. Ventured out in the afternoon in search of food. After about 15 minutes we found the veggie place mentioned in the book. Food was average, but you cannot expect much for a 75 pence set lunch. Came out to find the rain had once again picked up and the roads had turned to rivers, ankle deep of water in all directions, only the narrow footways looked like tow paths for horses. We found haven in a coffee shop and settled down for cookies of all shapes and sizes whilst drying off in the ac environment. In the evening, we headed to a small restaurant and had a fish supper with a good wine to wash it all down. Day 1 complete in Cartagena, back to the sanctuary of the room for couch potato relaxation in front of the tv.

The next few days didn’t amount to much as we were both very tired from travelling and hadn’t really rested much since Puerto Lopez, so we took the opportunity to stroll around the old town, eat amazing food in an Indian restaurant of all places, and plan our return to the UK.

Santa Marta and Tagana

Three buses and a taxi over 6 hours took us to Taganga via Barraquilla and Santa Marta. The journey was ok, but a little nervous on the final taxi leg since we didn’t know where the guy was taking us, and he had a gun, samurai sword and tear gas on the dashboard. Luckily we were pulled over by the police who checked us out and allowed us to move onto our destination.

Arriving in Taganga was a bit of an anticlimax. We had imagined quiet tranquil poweder blue ocean with the odd palm tree here and there, ....

Week 45 to 49 – 16/05/10 Ecuador

2010-05-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

Week 45 to 49 – 16/05/10 Ecuador

Guayaquil

Arrived in Guayaquil after what seemed like a very long bus journey even though it is only 5 hours from Tumbes. We had a group of students on the bus who were drinking and smoking, not to mention vomiting all the way. We pulled into the Terminal Terrestre at around 4pm and collected our bags. In search for our next ticket we headed to the Puerto Lopez counter and I suddenly realised that my phone was missing. I quickly dashed back to the bus but it had already left for the depot, so continued with a policeman to the bus. Shock horror, the bus had already been cleaned and there was no sign of the telephone, even though the cleaning team looked very guilty indeed when asked about it’s whereabouts. So had to call my father and ask him to contact the phone company to cancel the line.

Headed into town shortly after, somewhat disappointed with myself and little lost now we had no communication with the outside world. We decided to stay at Hotel California, yes like the song, produced in the 70s and never updated. We were warned to only walk along three streets in the entire city and never to venture away from them for personal safety, hmmm. Had a fabulous pizza dinner before returning to the safety of the hotel.

The following day we ventured around town and the Malecon 2000, a redeveloped promenade which is actually very nice. We took many photos of the street junction of 9 De Octubre and Boyaca, where Mariana’s grandparents lived almost 45 years ago, very strange. We went to the local history museum in the hope of seeing past photos but the history was more on the 16th century periods when the Spanish invaded and robbed South America of it’s riches

Overall, Guayaquil is very nice, a bit scary that you can only walk along certain streets, but as a hole a nice clean city with many beautiful colonial buildings.

Puerto Lopez

At last, we have found bliss by the sea. Puerto Lopez is a small fishing village which is the closest place to Isla De La Plata (poor mans Galapagos) and a perfect place to chill. For 5 days we decided to do nothing but chill on the beach, eat, stroll and sleep. This was so necessary since we have been travelling for almost eight months now without rest. We did plan to dive when we were here but the Manta Rays aren’t around till July and the whales in June so have decided to come back after our month on the farm and dive then.

Puerto Lopez is a true fishing town and every morning when the fisherman return to shore and few hundred Pelicans are lying in wait for them, to dive bomb the baskets of fish as they are being loaded onto the lorries. The fisherman somehow allow this to go on, maybe for luck, maybe because it keeps the birds happy and there is enough to go round.

We have found very nice places to eat in town, a Columbian café, a whale café with divine pancakes and a local fish restaurant, all really good food, oh and yes the beer has started flowing once more to help increase my weight since Mariana noted that I look like a bag of bones, true..

Sarampion

After 5 days in Puerto Lopez we headed to Calceta via Portoviejo on the bus. Panicked for a bit in Portoviejo bus station since we couldn’t remember which store we had left our packs but did eventually find them. Calceta is a small town of about 10,000 and looked much like the rest, a grand plaza, giant church, numerous mobile phone shops, a handful of bars and a supermarket. We took a taxi from the square to Finca Sarita and picked up a French couple along the way, whom were also going to the farm.

Arrived at the farm and met Servio, a really happy guy and made us feel very welcome. We were taken to our tree house just before dinner but we could hardly see a thing since there was no light and we couldn’t find the torch anywhere. As it turned out the French couple had been at the farm for 3 weeks prior and were coming back for a last week. They spoke fluent Spanish which made us feel quite useless since we were still struggling.

The first week on the farm involved harvesting a rice field, ploughing a field with little more than tea spoons, fixing an elevated bamboo herb garden, making chocolate from cacao and starting with our eco shower construction. The shower was going really slowly since we didn’t know what material we were allowed to use and Servio was not around much.

The next week was more enjoyable once the French couple had left, what can I say, they were French! Every morning we would go for a walk with our new dogs Tumbalo and Matalo, to the river to cut fresh reeds for the guinea pigs, goats, pigs and what looked like a large hamster which they kept on the farm. The dogs loved this routine and would jump all over you in excitement, not to mention that we started giving them food as well since they seemed a little thin when we arrived. After feeding the animals, we would take breakfast which would be fresh fruit with chocolate to taste, tortilla and fresh coffee. After breakfast we would work on the farm for 3-4 hours, take lunch then work on our own projects in the afternoon.

Amongst working on the farm, we went for treks into the mountains, took a trip to a reservoir, worked in the local school, and had numerous trips to Calceta for milkshakes and cakes from a Columbian bakery. It was very sad to leave the farm after almost a month since even though completely exhausted, we were use to sleeping in a tree listening to birds, iguanas, numerous insects and flowing river during the nights, and really didn’t want to leave the dogs behind, but that is life.

Bahia De Caraquez

We headed to the ocean after the farm, Bahia is a little over an hour from Calceta so not such a problem getting there. Bahia is a self proclaimed eco town, very clean, friendly people and commected to San Vicente and Canoa by boat. We spent the first day just chilling out and mainly eating whatever we could find. The following day we headed to Canoa just for the day. We were planning to go there for 2 days but heard so many reports of robberies, rapes and murders we decided a day trip would be just fine. After little more than an hour we were bored as the town really has nothing to offer other than getting drunk and surfing, so we headed back to Bahia for lunch.

Our last day we visited a bird santury situated in a tropical dry forest about 30 minutes out of town, which turned out to be a strange safe haven for America fugitives, well that’s what it seemed like. We reckon it was a cover for a drug smuggler ring, delivery merchandise to America via yachts along the river Chone and out into the Pacific. Whilst we were there a group of anti-terrorist police known as SARS turned up randomly to carry out safety checks, which seemed a bit odd for an eco nature centre containing mainly birds. They actually walked around on the guided tour with us which was even stranger.

Bahia was quite nice, but the food was terrible and not much on offer. Felt terrible having pizza 3 nights on the trot, but it was either that or fish which we had each day for almuerzo (lunch). It did make a nice change after almost a month on the farm eating little more than rice, corn and the odd egg here and there.

After Bahia, we returned to Puerto Lopez once more for 5 days of whale watching, diving, exploring Isla De La Plata (discovered by Sir Francis Drake 1528) and the Mantalilla National Park, which is the only surviving tropical coastal park left on the pacific, and it was amazing.

Quito

Arriving in Quito after a never ending 12 hour bus journey was exhausting, both mentally and physically. The bus terminal looked more like a space station, very modern, clean and conditioned, but typically a million miles out of town. Took a taxi to our hostel which was situated on the borders of the Old Town arriving around 9pm.

After chatting to the girl in reception, we went to the local store to buy our food for the evening as she quoted that if we go out at this time we will be robbed. What a wonderful welcome to a new city, instantly we had the vibes of fear driven into us, so decided to play it safe for the time being. The following day we got chatting to another English couple whom had been in the city for 4 days and hadn’t ventured out whatsoever because of the risk of muggings, so we decided to do just that.

Apart from going to the new town for lunch and an attempt of being drugged in an internet café, we hardly ventured further than the old town during the day time. This was fine since they had an ample selection of vegetarian restaurants, a great coffee house, and an ice cream parlour which had being making delicious ice creams since 1858, San Augusta.

Again we succumbed to the pizza delivery every night for 4 days and felt terrible by the time we left. Our flight was at 6.20am so we booked a taxi through the hotel only to be waiting outside at 4.30am with no taxi and no number to call. I eventually flagged down a taxi who charged us double fare but we didn’t mind since it got us off the street into safety. Arrived at the airport and were immediately spotted by 4 young Afro-Caribbean guys hanging around the taxi rank, who then followed us into the terminal. Managed to give them the slip, luckily only had hand luggage so very easy to move around with stealth at that time in the morning. Checked in, paid the extortionate departure tax and went to the lounge to wait for our flight to Colombia.

Week 40 to 44 – 16/04/10 Peru

2010-05-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Week 40 to 44 – 16/04/10 Peru

Arequipa

Where do we begin? Originally we came to Arequipa as it has the deepest canyons on earth so we thought we would spend a long weekend here. However our plans were scuppered since we had heard back from the volunteer coordinator in Cusco to say that there was no room for more volunteers for at least a week. So, in our insanity, we signed up for a month in an orphanage in Arequipa.

Our first day was interesting, but the rest of the week was really awful. The volunteer coordinator seemed to have certain privilages and sat in the baby room everyday since it required the least amount of mental or physical energy. The rest of us were either cleaning, washing, ironing or watching over the toddlers which is a handful in itself.

The second week was no better and by Thursday I had taken enough and wanted to quit. Mariana tried to talk me round but knew deep down it was the right thing to do. I went to speak with Carmen (TNT) and she wa very understanding with my decision. However on Friday we both had really good days so I decided to give it one last chance.

At the weekend we visited Cusco to give ourselves a well deserved break and to reflect on the past two weeks at the orphanage. Tuesday came round quickly and we were back at the orphanage, and I had a good chat with the director about the problems and for the first time she seemed to listen and take note. Ultimately, the orphanage cannot run without the help of volunteers, so maybe I felt like I had nothing to loose since they needed me more than I needed them. From then on our time in the orphanage went really well. The last two weeks seem to fly by, and by the end we were actually quite upset to leave the children, they had somehow grown on us over the last four weeks.

Arequipa itself is a beautiful looking city of approx 2 million people which is surrounded by three 6000m peaks, a volcano and two mountains. We were due to climb Mount Misti 5860m, but the weekend we were both very sick and were unable to go. The city is ruined by the smog that constantly hangs over it from the thousands of taxis and buses that buzz around all day and all night. Such a shame to see it happening, and it is so bad that it has created a large hole in the ozone layer because of it.

Cusco

For only three days we visited Cusco, what a mistake. The city is beautiful and does not have the smog problem of Lima or Arequipa. We arrived early evening after an 11 hour bus from Arequipa. Quickly headed into town and started searching for tickets to Machu Picchu. In the end we decided to do our own thing since the tour agents wanted too much commission for really doing little more than queuing at the rail station.

So day two started very early at the train station at 5.45am to buy tickets. By 7am I had tickets in hand and was rushing back to town to collect Mariana as we only had 30 minutes to catch the bus that takes us to the train station 80 km away. Ever since the torrential rains in February that closed Machu Picchu, only a third of the railway had re-opened which meant a replacement bus service was in operation.

We decided that we may miss the bus so negotiated a fare with the taxi driver to take us all the way to Ollantaytambo where the train began. We arrived with an hour to spare before the first train so had a great breakfast on the main square which is really nice. By 11.30am we were at last on the train heading for Agua Calientes, the gateway town to Machu Picchu.

Words cannot explain Machu Picchu, so the following photos should give some idea of the amazing experience we had at this lost inca city. We had already travelled over 6 hours from Cusco and 12 hours from Arequipa to get here, but it was so so worth it. By far the most amazing place we have seen since being in South America, truly amazing.

Lima

After a very short plane ride from Arequipa (cheaper than the bus and 16 hours quicker) we landed in Lima. Decided not to stay in Lima for 2 reasons, pollution and robberies. So many peopke had warned us of the troubles here so spent our day in the international airport lounge eating and chatting on the internet. A great way to pass 5 or 6 hours of free time.

We took a taxi to the bus company where we boarded our 19 hour bus to Tumbes. This time we booked executive class to ensure we received veggie food and a full cama seat the size of a house and get much needed sleep. After our dinner and 3 movies we feel fast asleep.

Tumbes

Tumbes was our last stop in Peru before crossing into Ecuador. After being in town for 5 minutes, we realised we should have continued north and cross the border the same day. Tumbes was awful, typical border town but with no activity, no food, zero. It was awful and could not wait to get out. Luckily, cable tv in the room saved us both for the evening.

Week 38 to 39 – 07/04/10 Bolivia

2010-05-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Week 38 to 39 – 07/04/10 Bolivia

Villazon

The border town of Villazon had lots more to offer than that of La Quiaca in Argentina. Lots of contraband, sacks of cocoa leaves and the odd restaurant here and there that caters for vegetarians. Unfortunately, we had to spend two whole nights here since we could only book bus tickets for the following day as we did not want to risk a night bus so early into Bolivia, there are many warning signs from the wreckages seen along the highways.

Didn’t really mind staying here for 2 days since we needed to acclimatise as Villazon sits at 3400m and our next stop would be at 4060m. We left the town early in the morning destined for Potosi, the highest city in the world.

Potosi

The bus journey to Potosi seemed to take forever, scheduled for a mere 10 hours, it took around 11 after we stopped in a small village for lunch, well most of the bus excluding Mariana and I that is, as we were not prepared to eat stewed goat, hen, chicken, small children or whatever they were serving with the rice.

Seeing the countryside was nice and the indigenous village folk are quite cool. All the women were exactly the same clothes wherever you go, shabby old bowler hat, hair in double plats, large pleated skirt, jumper and kitchen apron. Not forgetting the giant blanket turn sack that they carry everything and the kitchen sink in.

Arriving in Potosi was a struggle. At 4060m it is no walk in the park that’s for sure. We arrived quite late since we were on one of the slowest buses in the world, seriously, old men on unicycles were passing us going up hills. We checked into one of the first places we could find in order to get out and have some food, 12 hours on fruit and crisps takes it’s toll. Headed further uphill to a veggie restaurant which was a real struggle and I thought I was going to pass out. The food was great so a just reward for our efforts.

We spent the next few days exploring the sights and eating for England in the many veggie restaurants this town had to offer. One regret was not going to the mines for a tour, but LP made sure of that with the danger and annoyances section warning all asthmatics to stay well clear.

Potosi is a very beautiful city, which has a wealth of history dated back to the 16th century when the silver bullion was underwriting the entire Spanish economy for almost two centuries. Just a shame now that there are still poor Bolivians working the mines in torrid conditions, working for peanuts to make the owners even more rich than they need to be. This is very much the same in all parts of the world where the greed of capitalists societies is seen by other countries as a clear division of power and then persecute their own people and tear down their environment to fill their pockets with all important money, when will they learn?

Sucre

Our trip to Sucre was a mere 4 hours, and upon arrival the pressures of attitude were soon relieved. Sucre was very much the same as Potosi but a 1000 metres lower. We found a small bar for dinner and more or less crashed in our room straight away.

The following day we visited Jurassic Park, well it was a visitor centre with lots of plastic dinosaurs laying around. However, it was opposite a geological fault that had been exposed during the excavation of aggregate for the con crete plant which had exposed a collection of dinosaur foot prints from 25,000 BC measuring up to 1 metre in length. It is the largest collection known in the world but sadly will disappear within the next 10 years due to natural soil erosion.

It town we found a good dutch café to chill, eat and surf the net whilst we waited to catch our overnight bus to La Paz. We agreed not to do this, but had no option since the route did not run a day time bus trip.

La Paz

Believe it or not, we actually managed to get some sleep on the bus after having our dinner that we bought in Sucre. The journey seem to fly by and by 8am we were in the main bus terminal looking for a taxi into town. The strange thing about the bus terminals in South America is that they are always 2 or 3 km out of town. The reason for this you would think is to reduce pollution from all the traffic, well no, it is to generate more income for the taxi drivers, quite shocking but true.

La Paz is set on a steep valley with buildings everywhere like a crazy maze of concrete. We headed for the backpackers district which lies next to the Witches Market, where you can buy spells, dried lama faeces, varies animal feet and the odd potion here and there. Very strange watching the locals sitting there having their fortune told by a crazy witch doctor who charges only a palm full of cocoa leaves per reading.

Two days is plenty in La Paz, well for us anyway since we have found most cities to be the same all over the world. We left headed for Sorata, a small village about 4 hours away.

Sorata

We thought it might be a good idea to visit a hillside village and do some trekking, but once we arrived we felt like doing not much at all. Our bus journey there took forever and we really didn’t have the energy to go trekking, a glass of wine, dinner and sleep was about all we could muster.

Sorata was nice and remote, only about 20 tourists in town, but only stayed for a night and soon headed off to Copacabana.

Copacabana

Our last town in Bolivia was bliss. Copacabana lies on lake Titicaca at 3900m above sea level. The main food here is trucha (trout) caught fresh from the lake everyday. We chilled for the first day, drinking coffee, beer and even catching a game of premiership football.

The second day we visited the Isla Del Sol, which is about 90 minutes away by a small boat. The day was a real struggle as we set off at 8am after poor breakfast and didn’t really eat much all day even though we trekked about 10km in the midday sun after seeing the Inca ruins (The sun island is supposedly where the Inca gods first got their act together) at the north of the island

The following morning we were off again, this time crossing the border into Peru and onto Puno. Puno didn’t look that appealing when arriving by bus, so we decided to get another ticket and head onto Arequipa.

Week 29 to 37 – 24/02/10 Argentina

2010-05-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Week 29 to 37 – 24/02/10 Argentina

Bus from Chile - it took a while

Mendoza

Arriving in Mendoza we had booked a hostel but after walking 10 minutes from the bus station, we decided that it was too far from town so ditched it for somewhere a little closer. Immediately went out in search of food and ended up having a giant pizza and pop, not the healthiest of meals but anything to raise the sugar levels. Mendoza is a very low rise spread out city, with small neighbourhoods all interlinked. In the centre of town, there are grand plazas for people watching. Later in the day we came across a fantastic veggie restaurant by chance since the Lonely Planet book was of no help whatsoever.

Our second day in Mendoza took us to the vineyards for a cycle trip along a pleasant country road. It was our anniversary so we treated ourselves to a wonderful lunch at a little restaurant. The food and wine was absolutely divine and we are still searching to find the same wine again. The Malbec grape is most definitely the best in the world, but I am sure the French may beg to differ. After 2 vineyards and a chocolate factory we were ready to head back and sober up. After what seemed like a long bus journey back to the city, we headed out for dinner then straight home. It was an amazing day tasting the best wine ever, highly recommended.

Our last day in Mendoza was spent sight-seeing and relaxing in various cafes. The day seemed to fly by but we were excited by the fact that we would be heading to Buenos Aires very shortly. We collected our bags late afternoon and headed for the bus station, grabbed a few snacks and jumped aboard to start our 20 hour bus journey.

Buenos Aires

We felt completely ill prepared for BA since we planned to stay for a month yet we had not yet confirmed any accommodation. Only an hour before we left the bus we realised that there was wi-fi on board, so we quickly sent a few emails to arrange a viewing of a room in a shared apartment.

Arriving in Buenos Aires is an eye opener. The urban sprawl is huge and the buildings in the centre are reaching for the sky. It is a grid city so pretty easy to navigate, divided by a huge, and I mean huge Avenue 9 De Julio which has 9 lanes of traffic both sides. We made our way to Avenue Corrientes which is in mid town. The apartment appeared ok, but the room had bunk beds which we asked to change. It had a central location which was great for shopping, restaurants, gym and Spanish school.

For the next 4 weeks we studied intense Spanish which Mariana found quite easy since she had previously studied in Barcelona a few years back. I found it quite difficult since I am not the best when it comes to languages, but pressed on and completed the first two basic levels. Now I can order a beer and get change which is most important.

Buenos Aires never sleeps unlike London. The place has a buzz about it which is hard to explain. There are so many great neighbourhoods to go out for the evening, definitely a place worth considering to live if the chance ever arises. We did however, come a little unstuck when we went to Boca for a Sunday afternoon stroll. We tried to follow the guidelines but ended up outside the tourist zone and we approached by a gang of juveniles requesting deniro.. Even the taxis in the street turned around when they saw what was developing. Luckily a polite but firm no from me with no eye contact whatsoever bought us enough time to make a quick exit. Boca area developed in the 18th century by a few gipsy families from Genoa, and the colours of the neighbour are vivid red, violet and blues, with tango dancing a common theme all over. It is a beautiful place for two or three blocks, but outside this is a death zone. I didn’t chance going to see a Boca Juniors match since I wanted to stay alive for the rest of the trip.

For the last two weeks of our stay in BA, we volunteered at an animal shelter similar to Battersea dogs home. I was popping anti-histermines like they were going out of fashion but managed to get through ok. The shelter is called Protectoras Sarmiento and is situated in the heart of the city. It cares for around 50 dogs that all need walking each day. It was really great fun to take out the dogs for walks since they get so excited, especially Pluto with the floppy leg. On our last day volunteering I was bitten by one of the less friendly dogs and Mariana was convinced that I had contracted rabbies. The vet assured us that all the dogs were clean and I carried on with the walking. It was a real shame to leave that place since all of the people there volunteer in their free time and there was a complete love of animals, so nice to meet such people.

Met some lovely people in our Spanish school as well, our teachers were great and our class mates (Ana Nik Jasper and Sandra) were really nice and all had similar travel plans which was a bit weird. It seemed like we all had the same idea of learning some Spanish before exploring the rest of South America. It was sad to say goodbye since we had been chatting constantly for the past month but all promised to stay in touch, which we have to some degree.

Also met a lovely couple from Mendoza who introduced us to a wonderful guy, Paulo. Paulo took us everywhere in Buenos Aires as he enjoyed meeting people from different countries and was a truly wonderful host. He took us to Tigre for the day as well as many wonderful cafes such as Tortini which is the last of the traditional Argentinean coffee houses left from the 19th century.

Puerto Iguazu

We took a 20 hour bus trip from BA to Puerto Iguazu which was quite a bit of luxury with full cama beds and even vegetarian meals, can you believe it in a meat eating country. First impressions of the town were not good, a street full of tourist restaurants, a bus station and some hotels from the 70’s. Luckily we were staying out of town in an Oasis called Rio Tropic. Took a taxi and after driving through a strange area (immigrant avenue) we arrived at our hotel. The hotel was bliss, lush green plant filled gardens, pool, delightful cabins and wi-fi in our room, could really ask for more.

In the morning we caught the big yellow bus from the highway which took us to the Iguazu national park. Really expensive to get in the place almost £20 each but well worth it. Took a train to the Devil’s Throat first, a very impressive giant waterfall and I got soaked from the mist. Mariana and the camera were saved by a bright yellow poncho. After we visited the smaller, but equally impressive waterfalls and had a really amazing time.

The following day we ventured into town for lunch and coffee before chilling in the pool for the afternoon. A much needed rest before the next marathon bus journey.

Salta

After a mere 21 hours on an average bus, we arrived in Salta. Strangely after 7 months travelling we now never book our accommodation in advance since most hostels / hotels in the guide books normally have inflated prices and are not very good. The best way seems to be to stroll around town and follow your nose. Ended up in a small hostel (which was in lonely planet) but it was ok and had wi-fi, always a bonus.

We did intend to take El tren de la Nubes (train to the clouds) whilst in Salta, but it is so expensive now due to the mass tourism which the town attracts. Lots of overweight people in stars ‘n’ stripe tracksuits etc etc…

Salta is a traditional Argentine town with a main plaza, cathedral, church, cafes and restaurants. The restaurants are typically poor due to the number of tourists, but we did find some tranquillity in the town of Rosita just 30 minutes away by bus. Apart from the odd few others, we were the only non-argentines there which was a nice change. Great scenery up in the mountains, streams, treks, horse riding etc. Had a lazy afternoon sipping coffee watching the world go by.

We did go up to Cerro San Bernado on a cable gondola, which to start with was a good idea until Mariana remembered that she is terrified of heights. IT climbs up to 1454m, and the cable cars to tend to swing a bit in the wind. Coming down was a lot better than going up. The views were good apart from the slight smog, which is typical in most South American cities.

Humahuaca & Tilcara

Humahuaca is in the northen province of Argentina, and wow what a difference. The town has a population of about 12,000 and is really small. Set in a canyon with mountains on both sides, it is jaw dropping. We stayed here for 3 days, but in reality could of stayed for a week. Our hostel was more like a boutique hotel, rustic rooms surrounding a small courtyard, and the owner was such a lovely lady. So funny, she could stop talking. The restaurants in this town were great, wine was flowing even though we were at attitude and needed to take it easy.

We visited Tilcara for the day, just 90 minutes on a bus that did turn up eventually. I ate about 4 or 5 empanadas whilst waiting, too tempting to pass up. Tilcara is smaller than Humahuaca, just 5,600 locals but lots of history and sites to visit such as the Pucara Fort which has great views over the Rio Grande valley and beyond.

In all we spent 3 nights in the towns before heading further north to the border crossing with Bolivia.

La Quiaca

We were once again completely misled by Lonely Planet since it advised us to stay in La Quiaca rather than crossing the border into the Bolivian town of Villazon. What a mistake. All La Quiaca has to offer is an internet café, three maybe four restaurants, a shop and a bus station. It is a ghost town and believe it or not, they don’t really cater for vegetarian food, surprise surprise!!! We spent one night in a hell hole of a hostel before making our escape.

Week 28 - 17/02/10 Chile

2010-03-14T07:19:00.000-07:00

Week 28 – 17/02/10 Chile

Our flight from Auckland was really good, amazing food (yes I had to have NZ lamb) and Malbec wine, not to mention a zillion movies to choose from. It was 13 hours, but I seriously would have ignored my deep vein thrombosis to watch a few more movies and sample the delights of the Argentine grapes a little more.

We were a bit nervous about South America since we had only heard bad stories, but the truth is, if you have a little street smart sense it is no different from any other country. We took a bus in Santiago and headed for the centre but had no idea where to get off the bus. It arrived at Universidad De Chile which was the main bus terminal so we took the subway the remaining journey to Barrio De Londres (London Neighbourhood). Took a room in a grand hostel called Londres and went for a wonder in the city. Many people in Santiago and all seemed to be eating or drinking. There are cake shops and ice cream parlours everywhere, which we had to sample of course. Then there were these strange coffee bars, where men stood drinking expresso to girls wearing very short skirts in broad daylight, very strange indeed.

The following day we did the tourist thing and went on a long walk. Had lunch at a veggie restaurant which was very expensive but I think they may have cornered the market for the whole of Chile since vegetarian food is nt so [popular in this part of the world.

In the evening we headed to the bus station to book our tickets for Pichilemo for the weekend before heading to Barrio Buena Vista, a student part of town with great bars and nightlife. Took a giant beer and some empanandas outside a bar whilst watching the local drug addicts beg for cigarettes whilst exposing themselves (not intentionally I might add) before getting booted away by the owners.

We left very early in the morning, 5.30am to catch our bus to the coast. The bus finally left at 6.45am and by 10am we were in Pichilemo, a small surfers village on the Pacific coast. We jumped off the bus just on the outskirts of town, only to realise we had left the camera on the seats. Panic set in since we watched the bus speed off into the distance having no idea where the bus station was. Mariana attempted to ask for directions and all we understood was that it was 30 minutes walk so we opted for a taxi. We had the luck of the irish. Our bus was parked up and Mariana found the camera between the seats, such a relief to say the least.

We headed back to town and found a room in a quiet, but central guesthouse. The rest of the day was spent strolling along the beach watch the enormous waves crashing down on the little rubber people also known as surfers. We hadn’t been surfing since Indonesia and these waves were a lot bigger that anything we had experienced before. Also, the water was bearing above freezing, not to mention the outcrops of scattered rocks which did not give us good vibes about surfing here so we decided to give it a miss.

In the evening we discovered real empanadas, cheese and a filling deep fried in pastry, delicious and only about 3000 calories each. For the next 3 days we lived on this local delight whilst chilling, running, walking and sleeping loads. After 3 days it was time to head back to Santiago, so we took a bus.

Our second visit to Santiago was more of a stop over since our bus for Argentina was leaving at 7am. We just took some food and chilled out in an internet café. I decided to back up all the photos following the scare of almost losing the camera.

Chile has been expensive, lets just hope the rest of South America is not as costly since we may be returning home early.

Week 26 + 27 - 02/02/10 New Zealand

2010-03-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

Week 26 + 27 – 02/02/10 New Zealand

We landed in Auckland and then went through the same procedure as Oz, gave them our trekking shoes to be re-washed again. The thing was they were still in the Australian Quarantine bags from 3 days ago, but still they insisted on cleaning them. After about 2 hours we finally managed to get out of the airport and get to the car rentals and it was there that we picked up our limousine in the shape of a 1990 Nissan Sunny, cool.

The car had done about 3 million miles and the tracking was shot to bits, but it had character and we liked it. We headed off through Auckland to Remuera, a leafy suburb of the city and after just 5 minutes the rage started to return to me. Seriously I do not like driving one bit and we were about to start a 5000 km round trip.

Stayed the night at Sonia and John’s place, they are Mariana’s friend from University and made us most welcome. In fact they loaned us a complete set of camping gear which was a great help to us. Auckland seems so nice and we can see why so many people jump ship from the UK and head out here.

The next 3 days we travelled the North Island heading south towards Wellington. We stopped off at Lake Taupo and stayed in the most amazing camp site. Quiet, full of enormous trees set beside a fast flowing river towards waferfalls, whats more, it was free! Visited the craters of the moon and then set off for Palmerston North on our way to Wellington. Stayed in a Department of Conservation (DOC) campsite about 50km south of Palmerston to find that one of the tent poles had split in the trunk of the car, bugger. Made a temporary repair and camped in a strange little place with about just 3 or 4 other people. Early morning we packed up camp and headed off for Wellington. By 9am we were there a mere 4 ½ hours before our ferry left for Picton. It was Mariana’s 30th Birthday and we intended to take a sky dive in Taupo but were unsure of the costs so would wait until Christchurch. We wondered around town, got a new pole for the tent and had a terrible lunch since there did not seem to be anywhere that seriously catered for vegetarians. Wellington is a cool city, full of things to do but we had limited time so headed for the boat shortly after. We crossing was slow and Mariana was not in the best of moods and scoring just 7.8 on her floor exercises. Arrived in Picton then headed off towards White Sands Bay and camped for the night. Wonderful place on a secluded beach surrounded by cliffs. In the morning we went running before breakfast which was so nice since we hadn’t seriously exercised for some time now. I was half dead by the time we returned to the tent, but in good spirits.

We took an age to pack up and by 1pm we were off to Kaikoura, a small surfers village about 200km south. Didn’t stay there for long since it seemed a bit of a tourist trap so we headed a little further and camped at Omihi beach, where you could see seals lying below in the sun. It was quite noisey with the road beside you, but the background noise of the waves crashing outside the tent sent us to sleep, what a great place.

The following day we headed for Peel Forest via Christchurch. After panicking for the last 30km since we were running on fumes and not petrol we finally made it. Not sure why they called it Christhurch, maybe it’s an anagram for Let’s Copy Oxford!

Christchurch was really nice and we had plenty of time to chill and drink gallons of coffee. We reached Peel forest around 6pm so managed to set up camp in daylight. This campsite was like a palace with regards to it’s facilities, hot showers, Laundry room, kitchens the works. Had a lovely time getting clean and went running in the morning on one of the many tracks in the area. This campsite was expensive, a whole NZ$18 per night….

The following day was Queenstown via Lake Tekapo, where we had lunch. The drive as so boring since we were now inland with no sea in sight. Camped up in Lake Wakatipu about 12km south of town, had some food, got attacked (the first of many) by sand flies and crashed for the evening.

In the morning we started the epic journey to Milford Sound. Most normal people allow 2-3 days for this, but we did it in 6 hours via Te Anan for lunch. Found a campsite around 100km from Milford Sound and there we met some sand flies. The most enjoyable part of having dinner with sand flies is watching them go swimming in the pasta sauce, they must think it is their birthday and somebody has boiled up a large pan of fresh blood just so they don’t have cut through your skin. Our campsite was nice but too many people and we are glad in a way that we are camping in a tent and not in a camper van since life would be so simple and sand fly free!

The following morning we headed off to Milford Sound, stopping off at a view point and greated by 3 cheeky Alpine Parrots. Strange birds, beautiful colours and not shy at all. We gave them some nice oatmeal bread before continuing on the Sound to catch our boat. The boat trip was amazing, really empty since the main truck loads of Japonese do not arrive till 10am, so only about 20 on our boat. The views are quite something special with mist / fog everywhere and waterfalls, seals, etc. This was our first main activity of NZ since we were trying to stick to a reasonable budget, but it was worth every penny. We realised that they were serving free coffee on the boat, so I managed to chug away about 1 ½ litres before we pulled into the Quayside.

From Milford Sound we headed to Wanaka Lakes via Te Anan and Queenstown. We were meant to stay close to town but the campsite was full of gypsies so we moved on another 100km. Our campsite had many sand flies and Mariana decided to throw our lentil casserole dinner over the neighbouring campers (or very close to them) since she had not experienced the full force of the dark side to date. One thing to say about the south island is that it is beautiful, but the sand fly situation is bad, so I suggest a full chain mail suit if you visit in the near future.

Our penultimate day in the South Island, we drove 1000km in a day. We left camp really early to avoid paying the fees, this was obviously Mariana’s idea since I am so honest and wanted to pay, but she insisted we drive off into the distance and spend the cash on cakes and coffee instead. We stopped for breakfast about 200km down the road and I was attacked (with what seemed like planned logistics of a full army) by sand flies. This was the final straw for me and I wanted out! Did intend to stay at Fox Glacier, but again this was a tourist trap and we wanted to save the cash so continued on after a coffee break. We headed for Lake Rotitti via Reefton Junction. Reefton Junction has one shop which happened to be a café and sold the best Chocolate Rough cake in the world. Seriously, the best slab of cake we have ever had. Similar to a chocolate brownie but with coconut and a biscuit base. To die for! Arrived at Lake Rotitti late and after setting up the tent went running. Cooked dinner in a little kitchen enclosure which gave us some much needed shelter from the sand flies, then went to bed quite early.

The ferry was leaving at 10am, so we had to be in Picton by 9am which was a squeeze. We drove endlessly down country roads, and watched a few hundred sheep being driven by 2 remarkable farm dogs. The farmer normally has 4 dogs, and alternates them since the drive is typically a few miles and dogs need rest periods. The dogs absolutely love it, really nice watching them in action.

The ferry back was really nice but the weather in Wellington was terrible, full rain. We headed off to Napier in the Hawkes Bay area (East Coast) and stopped off for numerous Wild Bean Café refills. Napier is an art deco town rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake which more or less completely destroyed the town. The town is gorgeous but we could find anywhere to stay since there was a motown concert that weekend, so we headed about 40km north and stayed in an awful place for the night. We set up camp in the dark and had dinner at 10pm, not nice at all. In the morning we headed back to Napier for the day. Went swimming, had a fantastic lunch, visited the museum and had ice cream, really nice day. Around 5pm we headed towards Lake Taupo and stopped off at a campsite on a river. Cracked open a bottle of Hawkes Bay wine and ate grapes, cheese and crackers, chilled out for the evening.

The next day we were back in Lake Taupo, and headed straight for Reeds Farm campsite. Pitched right next to the river with our duck family. Headed into town and sat beside the lake for the afternoon. We were still unsure about the skydive since Mariana is both scared of flying and heights, so not sure if it was going ahead. I called a skydive com[any the following morning and they said the weather was looking doubtful and I should call back around 1pm. Mariana was not in the best of moods since I had put her under pressure telling people that we were going to do it. Called back at 2pm and it was on so we had to quickly jump in the car and speed off to the airport. Within 25 minutes we wear in jumpsuits heading for the plane having signed our lives away on the disclaimer forms. Mariana was a touch nervous and I was very excited having signed up for a 15,000 feet jump. Mariana was going to 12,000 with a film crew. We all ended up jumping at 12,000 feet as the weather was bad and wind speed at 55 knots so could not go any higher. The jump was awesome, one of the best things we have ever done. Mariana was ecstatic and so happy she had overcome her fears top do it. If we had the money, we would continue this crazy hobby, but for now it was more than enough adrenaline for one day. The rest of the day just drifted past without notice as we could not stop talking about the dive.

Our final day on the road we headed off towards Auckland hoping to catch a glimpse of Lady Knox Geyser en route. We somehow manage to take the wrong highway and ended up almost 100km away, but it was for the best since they wanted NZ$55 per person to watch a bit of steam, no chance as it was only NZ$245 for a skydive. Arrived in Auckland at 2pm and walked around the city before meeting Neil for a coffee. Neil shared a flat with Mariana in Dollis Hill before packing up and heading off to NZ for a break. It was good to catch up and learn a bit about his travels before we headed off back to Remuera to see Sonia and John.

Sonia had personally baked Mariana a birthday cake which was a really nice surprise and we chatted for hours about our trip.

The next day we repacked our things, and headed back to Auckland airport for our flight to Santiago, the last 5 month leg of our journey.

Week 25 - 30/01/10 Australia (Bris-vegas)

2010-03-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Week 25 – 30/01/10 Australia

Our flight to Australia was amazing. Booked a cheap ticket with Air Asia in the 1970’s with the extra leg room and to our surprise they had just recently changes their planes to have a sort of business class section. Our seats were cool, fully reclinable into beds which made the trip so amazing. The food was terrible as per Air Asia standards, and we have promised never to eat a vegetarian meal again on Air Asia. Think of rubber, then pour soya oil over it and heat it up in a microwave for 10 minutes, that’s what they serve you.

During our 3 whole days in Queensland we ate many pies, saw koala bears and kangeroos, dingbats and tazmanian devils. The sunshine coast of QLD is very beautiful but there seems to be a shortage of shoes in the country as everyone seems to walk barefoot? It was sunny with rainy spells during our visit which is typical for QLD, and hence it has a beautiful countryside.

We didn’t see anyone wearing hats with pieces of cork on string, but I put that down to the fact that there were not many flies. Phil and Anne (our friends from London) made us most welcome in their apartment which is the size of the large family home in the UK. Also met up with my old boss from Skanska, Keith. He has been out their now for 2 years and loving it. Damian and Marcus have also made the jump but sadly I didn’t get a chance to meet them during my limited 3 day trip.

I cannot really make a fair judgement on Oz after only 3 days, but I will summarise as follows. It is big, expensive and full of 4-bangers, utes, sunnies, thongs and really silly rules at immigration, but we did get our trekking shoes cleaned for free.

Week 22 to 24 - 04/01/10 Gibbon Project Thailand

2010-03-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

Week 22, 23 & 24 – 04/01/10 Bangkok + Gibbon Rehabilitation Project

We spent just a few days in Bangkok to get thorough proper medical attention since the healthcare in India isn’t worth shit, you may as well go to McDonalds and ask for an operation, at least their prices do not change on an hourly basis. It was good to be back in Thailand at least now we could eat food without fear of bacteria infections.

Decided to fly down to Phuket and avoid the gruelling 10 hour bus journey from hell that we experienced early November. We have been doing so well to avoid flying everywhere, but there is a point that you say no more buses, and in Thailand, this has to be said. Flight was fine and we were picked up at the airport by Song, one of the staff at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP). The staff are so friendly and made us feel right at home.

Over the next 5-6 days we were trained at the quarantine section, rehabilitation and education centre. The work is really interesting, caring for the gibbons that have been treated badly by humans in their early years.

The GRP centre is typically receives gibbons when they are about 5 or 6 years of age from people that try and keep these wild animals as pets or the organised syndicates that use gibbons as tourist attractions in bars restaurants or as photo opportunities along the street. Gibbons are very cute and tame when they are young, but soon become aggressive when they reach their sexual maturity around the age of 5 or 6 years. It is at this point their illegal owners can no longer control them and they are given to the centre. However, more than often the gibbons are badly treated by humans that do not understand their sudden change in behaviour.

When the gibbons first arrive, they are kept in the quarantine section for around 6 months. This time is taken to monitor behaviour patterns in the presence of other gibbons, dietary needs and to test for diseases such as Hep A & B. These diseases are not typically found in wild gibbons, but the street peddlers inject their pet gibbons with amphetamines to keep them awake in the evening for human entertain in bars and restaurants. Gibbons normally go to sleep in the late afternoon till dawn, but this is no use for the individuals that continue to make a living from keeping gibbons as tourist attractions, hence the injection of drugs using used needles. There are 16 gibbons in quarantine, two of which are Hep B positive and will sadly go no further in the rehabilitation project, but all is said, their life now is much more comfortable and they are well looked after.

Once a gibbon has the all clear, they can be moved to the rehabilitation centre which is location in the Bang Pae Waterfall national park, close to the muslin village of Khao Pra Thaew on Phuket. This is a protected forest, one of the last in Thailand, and the GRP was given a piece of land in 1992 to set up the programme. In rehab, the gibbons are kept in cages and over a period of years are paired off to start families. If successful, the families are slowly moved up higher into the forest away from human visitors to the education centre. This process is used to teach the gibbons how to be gibbons again and not really on human contact. Typically, it will take between 6-7 years to successfully pair gibbons and start a family. Once this have been completely, the family will be released into the forest, but feed from an open cage for a further 12 months. Slowly, the gibbons food ration is decreased to ensure the gibbons forage for themselves and eventually move away from the cage to claim territory of their own. To date four families with 16 gibbons have been successfully released into the wild with a further two new born babies in December 2009. When you see these gibbons high up in the tree canopies, knowing what they have been through and the time it has taken to rehabilitate them, you get a real sense of happiness in the work you do at the gibbon rehabilitation centre.

Our month at the gibbon project went so quickly as it was one of the most enjoyable times we had so far on our trip. The month was rounded off in a strange way as our last day we were documented by the discovery channel for a show called Animal Asia or something similar. Mariana declined the offer to star in this programme and nominated me for the task, so for about 4 hours I took the crew around the rehab centre and into the forest to show them all the good work the centre does. At one point that did film Mariana with the ‘poo’ stick, but we will wait and see how this comes out on the dvd.

We are seriously considering going back to the project in the near future as they made us so welcome and we felt like one big family. All the other volunteers were similar minded people who are sick of being told what they should do, so instead pack their bags and enjoy the freedom of travelling.

Week 21 – 31/12/09 Delhi + Agra

2010-01-12T00:03:00.000-08:00

Week 21 – 31/12/09 Delhi + Agra

We arrived in Dehli around midday, but not in the train station that we’d expected. After a quick panic we established where we were and got an idea of the costs of a tuk tuk. Surprisingly, the tuk tuk driver did not rip us off, however he did try and take us to a different hotel which is the norm in India. We checked into Rak International hotel in the backpacker district of New Delhi. Looked very nice in reception but the rooms were filthy, but then again we were just glad to get a room on new years eve. Did a quick bag dump and headed off to another one of lonely planets recommendations, again a complete disappointment. In the evening we found a much better restaurant for dinner but I was not feeling any better as my chest was completed blocked up and Delhi isn’t the cleanest of places to breath. Like our Christmas, our new years eve party consisted of Mariana looking after me, but this time she was really annoyed since I feel asleep around 9pm.

For some unknown reason, when I booked all the train tickets, I decided 01st January would be a good day to visit Agra. Forget the potential hangovers and tiredness from the previous days travelling, there we were catching a 6.30am train from New Delhi station. The train itself was great, good seats, breakfast, the works, and in little over 2 hours we arrived in Agra. However, upon arriving we soon found out that the Taj Mahal was closed and could only be viewed from outside. This was disappointing for two reasons. Firstly, because we really wanted to go in and see it, secondly, because our return train was not until 8pm which meant we had lots of time to kill and only Agra Fort in which to do it. Stuff that, we went to the ticket office and booked an earlier 2nd class train ticket for 2pm.

We then took a tuk tuk for 4 hours, visited Agra Fort, went to a restaurant for a roof top view of the Taj, visited an awful park and was harassed by six separate child beggars, each with varying disabilities, before headin back to the train station an hour early.

The train journey back to Delhi was most interesting. Our 2nd class ticket did not guarantee us a seat, it was a first come if you are lucky status. However, we did manage to squeeze on a bench with three others and sat there patiently while the train chugged its way back to delhi. There was a constant flow of different passengers boarding the train, sitting above us on the racks eating dinner, constantly spitting out of the window and generally moving around as if they had ants in their pants. The train reached the outskirts of Delhi in about 2 hours, which was pretty good considering the state of the train, but then took a further 2 hours to crawl along at snails pace before terminating early. Again we looked in the book to establish where we were before agreeing a price to get us back top New Delhi in a taxi. The traffic was bad at 5pm and it took over an hour to get back, but we were so happy to be out of Agra and back to Delhi this early. We spent the rest of the evening chilling out, eating and generally reflecting on the day just passed. I deceided that the chest infection was not going to disappear so took some drugs from a local pharmacist and started popping pills.

The next day my chest was much better and decided to go out and find a post office, Mariana thinks I have some sort of fetish about posting things home, I have been doing our whole trip, and I just don’t know where we get all this stuff from. Anyway, headed off to post office in order to get shot of more stuff (2 pairs of trekking poles, and Marianas clothes that she bought in Singapore 10 weeks ago!). The post office in India is an experience as it is so confusing. There was hardly anyone in there but it still took me almost 2 hours to send 2 parcels. This is how the procedure goes….

1) Hello mister, letter or parcel?, which country?
2) Fill in forms in duplicate
3) Find the package man, who lives in a shoe box in a road eating coal, working 23 hours per day, 8 days a week, to get parcels wrapped and stitched.
4) Go back to post office and glue on one form to parcel.
5) Go back to package man and he stitches the second form to the parcel
6) Go get copy of driving license or passport from a man in a alley with a Xerox machine (I wonder if he drags it home each night?)
7) Go back to post office and pay teller, and then remind him about the change due.
8) Smile, leave building and go and play with the traffic.

I then receive a text from Mariana as I have accidentally locked her in the room, but she managed to escape with the help of the hotel staff. She had already eaten lunch so I settled for more McDonalds. Got back to hotel late afternoon and we went for early dinner at the same café (good food and nice people). Packed our stuff and had an early night in front of the tv.

Our taxi was booked for 7am, and showed up around 7.20 which was fine. The taxi chief tried a little scam to double up our taxi, but seeing as we had paid for a taxi I wasn’t about to let someone make money from out discomfort. I had had enough of India and it’s people and was starting to kick back. I told the guy in a polite way to got lost and wasn’t having none of it. He came back a few minutes later to say that there was a shortage of taxis, I could believe this guy, I told him that if he tried to put someone else in our taxi I want my money back. With that remark, he closed the door and we set off for the airport.

Seeing as this is typically the busiest day of the year (the Sunday before people re-start work in January) I wasn’t too surprised to see the airport overwhelmed with passengers. They were everywhere but we did manage to find a seat seeing as we arrived at the airport a Swedishly 4 hours before the flight, you can never be too early. We then started the ridiculous airport security check in, and 90 minutes later we were through to the departure lounge. We found a spot, hooked up to the wi-fi and googled until our flight was boarding. Luckily our flight was not delayed or cancelled as were many others, there were passengers sleeping on every square inch of available floor. We boarded our Thai Airways flight, found our seat and finally left India and all it’s diseases behind us.

Week 20 – 27/12/09 Jaipur + Tilonia

2010-01-12T00:02:00.000-08:00

Week 20 – 27/12/09 Jaipur + Tilonia

We arrived at Jaipur Junction station around 11am and were soon on our way to our guesthouse which was a delightful villa with a courtyard filled with birds, pets and fish ponds. Checked in our stuff and had some lunch before setting out on a stroll to see a bit of the city. Found a real coffee house and could resist the urge for caffeine and a cake. I was still feeling weak, so to build up my protein I actually went to McDonalds and ordered some fillet o fish burgers to help me through india. They tasted awful, but I had little other choice in India as I certainly wasn’t going to eat any meat or fish in a restaurant as hygiene is the last thing on their minds when preparing food.

The next day we decided to do some sightseeing and after about 3-4 hours we had seen enough. It is weird when you travel for so long since you expect yourself to see everything in everything town or city, but after 3 months you really don’t give a sh!t anymore. So what if we don’t have any photos of that town, I been there and have a mental photo of it, and that is all we need. So we took a few snaps but didn’t go ape. In the evening we decided to venture out to an Italian restaurant recommended in lonely planet. There was nothing Italian about it, the food was rubbish and it was expensive. One good thing came out of the evening, as our tuk tuk driver had an uncle whom could drive us to Tilonia the following day, so we agreed a price and made a few calls to Barefoot College whom said we were most welcome.

Our day at Barefoot College, Tilonia was the highlight of our india trip. The college has been around since 1978 when Bunker Roy set it up. The theme of the college is to educate less fortunate people from surround rural towns to help them survive without the help from the government. I first visited Barefoot College as part of my studies in 2007 with the Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth Development Conference in India and since then have never stopped talking about it. The college itself is completely self sufficient, providing 45kW of electricity through solar panels, has rainwater harvesting and stores 700,000 litres of water which is enough for 100 people to live on for 10 months during the dry season. They have their own radio station, all food is cooked using solar cookers, and have a puppet show and theatre which is truly amazing. The best part about Tilonia is that all the people there really care about others and commit their entire lives to help others less fortunate. The college also brings over women from third world countries such as Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Bolivia to train semi illiterate women into solar engineers. After six months they return to their respective villages to install solar panels and provide much needed electricity for their everyday lives.

It was sad to leave Tilonia, Mariana could have stayed there for weeks, but our time was now limited in Jaipur since we had cancelled our volunteering and changed our flights to get back to Thailand asap. If, and I mean if we do return to India, Tilonia is number one on our list of things to do, and we will certainly not be visiting any cities, purely sticking to urban areas where they don’t see you as walking atm machines….

Our last day in Jaipur was spent chilling out since we were both very tired from our Tilonia trip and my chesty cough seemed to be getting worse, to the point where I was downing a bottle of cough syrup every 24 hours.

Early the next morning, we took a tuk tuk to the bus station, not sure why, but the driver didn’t seem to understand the word train. Anyhow, we eventually got there, boarded our train and headed off in the direction of Delhi.

Week 19 – 21/12/09 Gorakphur + Varanasi

2010-01-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

Week 19 – 21/12/09 Gorakphur + Varanasi

Crossing the border into India was a strange feeling since there was no real border control, just a few guys sitting at a desk in uniform. They could have been selling hash and chess sets for all we knew. Well we managed to get in and caught a bus around 11am headed for Gorakphur. The previous evening we had purchases some sleeper train tickets from Gorakphur to Varanasi, so all we needed do was get to Gorakphur. Our bus was local and full when we boarded. Mariana sat with Susan and I sat next to an elderly chap in cloth. The journey was quite fun seeing all the locals getting on and off, arguing about money and making OAPs stand so that men and children could sit down. In India, there are no rules or courtesey, that doesn’t exist. The order of rights is as follows, men, boys, girls, old men then lastly women and goats. The cast system is not a pretty sight to see, and I know it was really annoying for Mariana to watch, womens rights and all that stuff….

Arriving in Gorakphur, was like getting to work on Monday morning, you knew you had to do it, but really didn’t want to be there. We had lunch at a little hut which was really good and about 60 pence for a large feed. Then we had about 8 hours to kill in a place that was really one very long dirt track road and a few hotels and restaurants. We found a café and had some tea for a few hours, and finally found an internet café which was such a welcome sight. Around 8pm we headed for the train station to collect our bags and sit around for our train. Our train, had one first class carriage at the front, the rest were second or third. It was a relief to get on the sleeper train since it seemed ok and we could finally relax. Our train left around 11.30pm headed from Varanasi.

It was hard to sleep on the train fro fear of being robbed, but we were assured that first class is safe and our bags were chained to our beds, armed guards at the door and motion sensors in the train corridor. We did sleep on and off all night, but managed to rest as best we could. Our train arrived in Varanasi around 7am and we were greeted by our hotel rep on the train who swiftly took us to a tuk tuk. 30 minutes later we arrived in old town, the place seemed very dusty and dirty for so early in the morning but thought nothing of it. Finally managed to check into our room at 12.30am after sitting on the terrace overlooking the Ganges taking in the morning atmosphere. Our hotel has a great location for the sights but not so sure on the surrounding areas as there are signs warning us not to go out after dark. In the afternoon we took a trip out to Sarangot, the first place Buddha preached to his followers. Really nice historical site with a deer park adjacent. We arrived back in town around 6pm and Susan went back to her hotel in a cheaper part of town. Since we had eaten both breakfast and lunch at our hotel we decided to venture out as far as the next hotel where we had dinner on the rooftop restaurant. The food was fantastic but I was not sure about the bottled water, something didn’t seem to taste right so left it after just one sip.

The following day we took an early morning boat trip along the ganges to watch people ‘bring out ya dead’ (sorry but it did seem like a scene from Monty Python). Really nice trip that ended with me stubbing my toe on a rock and bleeding everywhere, catching diseases and all sorts from the dirt on the ground. Lesson one, do not wear flip flops in Varanasi. Headed back to hotel and get cleaned up, had some breakfast and then went out Christmas shopping. Mariana was feeling a little ill (stomach) so decided to rest whilst I went out. Susan and I came back mid afternoon and Mariana was much better, we had a late lunch together before Susan took off to catch her train back to Delhi. In the evening we decided to stay in the hotel and relax, and this is when I started to feel sick in my stomach.

The following morning all was well, went to yoga at 8.30am, but managed to nearly pass out 30 minutes into the class since I hadn’t drunk any water. Had a rest and continued with the class and felt really good afterwards. However, in the afternoon I became very ill, first with Delhi Belly, then a fever and exhaustion. The night was no better, it was if I had attached myself to a large bungey cord int eh bathroom since I was in and out of there every 15 minutes for the entire evening. At one point I did actually collapse and pass out which kind of scared Mariana, but I mentioned that this use to happen to me all the time (Ask Ben about the flight to Cyprus).

In the morning we decided I needed to go to hospital as I wasn’t getting any better and there was a good chance I had Malaria. We went to apparently the best hospital in Varanasi which was as clean as a dog kennel. After about 10 minutes I was seen by Dr Facebook (this guy actually had the cheek to update his status online whilst diagnosing my condition). He put me down for about 20 tests together with a shed load of drugs and said that I needed to go downstairs to pay before this could happen. We picked up the medicine from the pharmacy and enquired about the cost of the tests. They wanted almost £200 for these blood, stool and urine tests so we waited until speaking with AXA for approval. We then left the hospital and went back to the hotel so I could continue being sick.

Christmas eve was no different and my stomach condition had progressed into dysentery. Went back to hospital, paid the cash, had the tests and picked up more drugs to stop the bleeding. Mariana had now also started to feel sick and was worried that she too had the same stomach bacteria. She also went to see Dr Facebook, but he gave here completely different drugs to me, seems like a complete cowboy. Mariana was so pissed off that she was spending her Christmas looking after me and not being home in Sweden with all the snow and nice food. Our Christmas dinner was a toasted cheese sandwich…..

Christmas day I felt much better and we decided to get out of the room since fresh (well not really fresh, just fumes and dust) air should do me good. We took a tuk tuk over to Cantonment area (5 star hotel suburb) and headed straight for Pizza Hut. I know it is sad, but at least we could eat at will and not worry about any infections. We ate as much as we could before returning to our room which now seemed so depressing, only one more night to go before we get out of this rotten filthy city and onto pastures new.

Boxing day was a bit of a rush, had to go to hospital in the morning to pick up results from tests then get back to check out. Mariana stayed at the hotel and sorted out the room, I returned around midday and we headed to the station. Our train wasn’t until 5pm, but I just want to get away from that area. We dropped our bags at the train station and headed back to pizza hut for a second feeding. The food was such a nice changed to our diet of rice, vegetable curry and fried lentils. We boarded our 3AC sleeper to Jaipur, settled down and tried to rest. However, the 3AC trains are quite cramped and I became claustrophobic and struggled breathing properly. This went on all night and caused a minor asthma attack. Couldn’t wait to get off the train in Jaipur.

Week 18 – 14/12/09 Kathmandu + Pokhara

2010-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

Week 18 – 14/12/09 Kathmandu + Pokhara

Flying back to Kathmandu was a relief since we had bad weather and there were no planes coming in a one point. However, once back in all the dust and noise, this relief was soon replaced with stress.

We spent a further 2 more days in Kathmandu to sort out our gear to be shipped back to the UK since we had accumulated a ton of trekking gear for our time in the Himalayas.

Our bus for Pokhara left Kathmandu around 7am from a rotten part of town. Graham managed to fall over under the weight of his backpack which made me laugh since I enjoy seeing him in distress. Our bus (a tourist bus) was ok, we had seat numbers and were told the journey was around 5-6 hours. After 2 hours we managed to get out of Kathmandu borders and headed along a half tarmac, half rubble road. At around 10am we stopped in a small village, not sure why, but we grinded to a halt. There was a local dispute where a villager was upset by someone who had short changed him over something, so he wanted a police resolution.

In Nepal, there isn’t really a legal system so people do whatever they can to get some interest from the authorities. A good way of doing this is by forming a blockade in the main highway between Kathmandu and Pokhara. For 3 hours we waited until eventually the army turned up to get things moving. We arrived in Pokhara around 5pm, still light thankfully, and a mere 4 hours late. We found a small quiet guesthouse, checked in and went for a feeding.

Over the next few days in Pokhara we did plan to do a long trek, however graham was still very weak from malnutrition so we skipped that and relaxed for two days. We did however, climb a high to the World Peace Stuppa which gave clear views of the smog over the city. The lake in Pokhara is huge, mainly because of the hydro-electrical dam that provides 20 hours of electricity. Yes, twice a day there are scheduled 2-hour power cuts. It is strange that everyone accepts this and does nothing about it even though it affects business, solar panels would be the solution but these people do not seem to see the wood through the trees on some things.
We left Pokhara on 19/12/09 heading for the border with India. On the bus we met a dutch girl (Susan) whom was going the same way as us so we became aquainted and started discussing the travels. Our bus was a local bus this time and the journey was hell since we passed so many smashed up vehicles in the ditches including a local bus. Our driver was a maniac and determined to break the world bus speed limit on a windy road with a shear cliff face to one side. To our relief we changed buses after 3 hours at the lunch stop. This change was just the first of four, not sure why but kept changing into smaller buses all the way to the border town. We finally ended up stacked high on a unicycle for the final 200 metres. We arrived at the border town at dusk, found a cheap very basis room and went out for dinner. There was no point crossing into India tonight since we were all tired and had had enough travelling for one day. The next day we planned to visit Lumbini (Buddha birth place) but there had been some Moaist activity in Nepal so the entire country was going on strike for 3 days. We had been very lucky to get to the border when we did, that’s for sure, but it did scupper our plans for Lumbini since there was no way of getting there unless we walked for 4 hours each way.

Week 16 + 17 – 30/11/09 Everest Base Camp Trek

2010-01-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

Week 16 + 17 – 30/11/09 Everest Base Camp Trek

Left the city at 6.30am this morning bound for the airport once again. However, this time we were flying to Lukla only 35 mins away. I had managed to keep a lid on the type of plane we were going in until we sit in the departure hall. Our plane a 16-seater propeller effort was the smallest plane either of us had ever flown. I was quite excited by the flight, whereas Mariana seemed to hide her emotions.

The next two weeks consisted of hard treks, amazing wildlife and lush alpine scenery. Viewing everest became an everyday norm, but it was only when you started to get close that you started to understand the shear size of the Himalayan giants.

Upon arrival to Lukla, we took three days to get to our first acclimatisation stop, Namche Bazaar. A strange place filled with Tibetan (basically Chinese) traders selling all sorts of goods made with babies tears. Namche at +3460m is the first place most people get ill, but we were fine and enjoyed the time to relax. From there we headed to Tengboche +3970m and passed about a hundred or so mentally insane people taking part in the Everest marathon. Following on we made it as far as Lebouche +4920m, then the following day we started heading up to Gora Shep +5160m which is the last town on the trek, when Mariana became very weak and dizzy. We returned to the tea house to relax for the day and to acclimatise. However, Mariana got progressively worse over the day and by the afternoon her breathing was irregular and her heart was pounding intensely. Noticing these signs of AMS I immediately discussed the situation with our guide and we were on our way down the mountain within 10 minutes. We stayed the evening in Dugla which is 300m lower to enable recovery. This did help and by the morning the guide was again asking if we were ready to go back up, but Mariana was not 100% so we decided to take it easy and descend further. There was simply no point risking the remainder of our trip to get a clearer view of a mountain which we had seen numerous times en-route. We had achieved reaching +5000m within 9 days of landing at +2600m covering about 40km of rugged terrain.

The way down was a lot easier I must say and it gave you more chances to look at the wildlife rather than worry about the amount ascended and energy to keep you going. Of the wildlife observed our favourites in no particular order were Vultures from Tibet, Golden Eagles, Yak, Mak (female yaks, the ones that make the cheese), goats, and stray mountain dogs which follow you for days on end if you show them the slightest affection or a scrap of food.

Our guide and porter were local sherpas which is a big plus for anyone trekking in Nepal, however it is more than easy to get by on your own since most trek routes are well grained into the mountains, just as long as you don’t mind carrying your own pack. The Khumbu valley is real Nepal and is quite amazing, a world apart from Kathmandu.

Week 15 – 26/11/09 Bangkok + Kathmandu

2009-12-16T01:11:00.001-08:00

Week 15 – 26/11/09 Bangkok + Kathmandu

Upon arrival in Bangkok international airport, I must say I was impressed. Picked up bags and on a bus within the hour. The 45 minute journey into Khoa San district was nice but I noticed a yellow cloud hanging over the city, smog maybe.

Our hotel was situated in backpacker heartland. I have never seen so many backpackers in my life, but a really nice vibe about the place. Strange thing happened during check in. Our hotel did not accept credit cards even though we booked online using the credit card, hmmm? I went to draw out cash but none of my cards worked either, very strange. We paid and checked in, our room was quite nice considering the complaints that were being voiced at the front desk, that was, apart from the lingering smell of smoke in the room. It later turned out that my credit card details had been stolen and my current account had been blocked, most annoying.

We headed out shopping for medical supplies and trekking gear, leaving the a/c on full blast to remove the smell of smoke. First stop was Boots, spent about £50 on drugs then headed onto MBK and Siam shopping centres. We caught a tuk tuk to the shopping district, quickest way in Bangkok given the amount of traffic, but we were hit by a 25 tonne juggernaut. The tuk tuk driver was clearly shaken, but extremely annoyed the lorry driver didn’t stop to check the damage, so for the next 10 minutes we were party to a car chase around Bangkok. It was clear that the tuk tuk driver was in no position to pull in front of the lorry to make him stop so gave up. There was no real visible damage to the tuk tuk, so we paid and harried into the shopping centre. Managed to get some really good day packs for the trek, but decided to buy the rest of the gear in Kathmandu as Bangkok was expensive. Shopping is exhausting so we needed to re-fuel on donuts on a number of occasions. Took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, this time with no accidents, touch wood, salt over the left shoulder and so on.

Our second day in Bangkok was again further shopping. We had all legal drugs on the trekking list but could not get any Diamox. Diamox is a product used by trekking drug cheats which allows them to continue higher without acclimatising. It is not fool proof but can ease a severe headache without descending 300m.

Found a great café outside our hotel that sold mashed potatoes, so we had breakfast lunch and dinner there, for once, good English food was a blessing in disguise. I had lost a considerable amount of weight over the past 3 months, down to 81kg at the last weigh-in, so really needed to eat some good old fashioned fat before the trek.

The final morning, we took the first bus out of the city destined for Kathmandu via the airport. Our Thai Airways flight was exceptional. The plane was huge and almost brand new, the saffron veg curry was delightful and we both felt really safe.

Arriving at Kathmandu airport gave me flash backs to Mumbai airport in India, absolute chaos! Luckily, we had pre-booked a room at the legendary Kathmandu Guest House, so was greeted by a Shapiro who whisked us away from the pleas of rogue taxi drivers offering you best price, my cousin owns a hotel, and I am a trekking guide. Upon arriving at the KMGH, we were very disappointed to find no rooms available. The poor excuse was that 6 of the guests had food poisoning and that they needed to stay another day to recover, which I didn’t believe for one minute. The hotel tried to put us in another place which was awful, so finally settled for the Kathmandu Resort Hotel.

The next two days were spent rushing around buying supplies, trekking gear and booking the trip itself. We finally agreed on a mid range price trekking company whom seemed to know about safety and acute mountain sickness. We were introduced to our guide Mochindra, whom was a real Sherpa which was satisfying.

Week 14 – 21/11/09 Vang Vieng + Vientiane

2009-12-16T01:10:00.000-08:00

Week 14 – 21/11/09 Vang Vieng + Vientiane

For those of you that have never been to Laos, which I guess is most, Vang Vieng is a place where 18-25yr olds come to get wasted. Most restaurants offer a special menu for people that like opium in their burgers or mushrooms in their shakes, not to mention the ‘tubing’ experience along the river. The tubing experience is a collection of bars that are along the river from the drop off point all the way back to Vang Vieng for approx 3km. Most people get completely wasted in the first 3 bars and don’t even bother with the tubing and take a taxi back into town. Being 38 and almost 30 (yes, I know you are in denial) we decided that trekking and kayaking down the river seemed the best option.

Our trekking, caving and kayak trip with a strange German guy was really cool. The trekking was about 3 ½ hours and we had lunch beside a waterfall. We went through a water cave below a mountain before kayaking back to town. Our guide mentioned that we should consider signing up for our national Olympic teams since he has never seen a pair get back to town in record time like us. I acknowledged his encouraging remarks but mentioned that I trained as a navy seal whilst deep under cover as a secret agent in the late 80’s.

The following day we signed up for another trek. This time we were with an Italian couple whom spoke German and a Swiss girl. Really cool trek took about 6 hours and had a fantastic barbque lunch.

We went to the elephant cave on the way back. We had now completed our Everest Base Camp training, 2 treks, a cycle ride and a bit of kayaking, no problem.

The following day we took a local bus to Vientiane which took around 4 hours. Met a really interesting American school teacher on the bus who told us a bit of history of Laos and there devoted culture to Buddhism.

Vientiane had a French twist to it, but not much was left. The city was quite low level, buildings of max 6-7 stories were typical. The Chinese seem to be investing lots of cash in Laos, so they obviously want the rape the country of it’s natural resources, it may become another Tibet, but who knows. There are various glorious buildings scattered around the city which were built by the Chinese as gifts to the government. These buildings have little purpose and the money would have been more deserving in other areas. The city itself is quite boring, we did the ‘walking tour’ for about ten minutes before Mariana was bored, so I continued in Chevy Chase style to the death. We found out that one of the cards had been scammed in Vang Vieng so made a formal complaint to the main Laos Bank. It was if this happens on a regular basis every day since the guy that took my details seem to acknowledge that this is a problem that had been going on for some while, so it made us wonder whether the bank wa raking in so much cash it didn’t want to rectify the problem?

Mariana was quite upset that we were flying to Bangkok, but I resisted the alternative of a 12 hour bus journey and we made our way to the airport at 5.30am. We arrived to see just one small café open in the departure so I asked an official about eateries through customs. He assured me that the food hall was open on the other side so we went through in true Swedish fashion 2 ½ hours before our flight. What greeted us on the other side was one closed duty free shop and a toilet…..hmmmm. For those of you that know Mariana, especially in the morning there are two important points to note to keep the mood in check. 1. Must eat, 2. Need sleep. This particular morning, Mariana was really tired and I had just convinced her to go through customs to find no food available. What’s more, as it turned out our plane was a 60 seater propeller job, with no released safety records for Laos Air. Let me just say that she was not pleased. The duty free opened at 6.30am so I was about to buy an army pack of breakfast bars for a million pounds.

The flight was ok and we landing in Bangkok at 10am in the morning……

Week 13 – 13/11/09 Mekong River + Luang Prabang

2009-11-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

Week 13 – 13/11/09 Mekong River + Luang Prabang

Entry into Laos was fairly straight forward via Huay Xai. All you needed was a passport photo, lots of US dollars and enough time to cross the border before 6pm

Our guestouse at Huay Xai had clearly been reviewed by lonely planter during the 70’s. The décor was bad, it was damp and the place was overpriced. We also suddenly learned that the atms in Laos had a maximum withdrawal of £4.57 inclusive of bank charges. We managed to scrap enough KIP together to buy our boat ticket and pay for our hotel and food.

The boat trip along the Mekong from Huay Xai to Lang Prabang was a pleasure. We arrived on the boat before the Germans so quickly established the towel regime for the comfortable seats, real bonus. WE stopped overnight half way along river in a quiet little town called Pak Beng. Curry seemed to be a popular choice so we followed suit, many Indian nationals in Laos, not sure why. This place was amazing at night since the skies were so clear that most star signs were visible.

Finally ended up in Lang Prabang 2 days later what a picturesque town, Very French, very colonial….

We eventually stayed in Lang Prabang for 5 days in total since we needed a rest from the 3 days travelling and had many things to do. During our stay we hired mountain bikes and cycled 32km to Tat Kuang Si waterfalls, which was a complete shock to the system since we hadn’t done any real exercise for a while. Mariana had a hissing fit just before we arrived but soon calmed down after a feeding.

The waterfalls were spectacular and there was also a bear sanctuary down the hill, but sadly it was late in the afternoon and all were sleepy. It was agreed that cycling back to Lang Prabang was a stupid idea since it would be dark before we made it back, so we took a tuk tuk instead with the bikes tied to the roof.

The following day was a well deserved rest day before our next adventure, a hill tribe trek. We started early and headed out for about an hour in a van, our guide Kia took us on a 6 hour trek climbing about 600m in a straight climb which took there toll on the old man’s knees. The day was fantastic, the nature and scenery were really nice and I suppose (but only suppose) this gave us satisfaction for the $90 we paid for the trip. We had lunch in one of the villages Laos style, i.e with hands using banana leaves as plates.

The next day was again a rest day before heading off to our next destination, Vang Vieng.

Week 12 - 07/11/09 Chiang Mai

2009-11-29T07:54:00.000-08:00

Week 12 – 07/11/09 Chiang Mai

We arrive at Chiang Mai early morning at a petrol stations of all places. The so called VIP death trap from Ayuthaya which we boarded actually on the motorway looked glamorous enough on the pictures in the hostel, but in reality it was an old bus with a flashy paint job and they had stuffed in as many recliner seats as physically possible. However, seeing as we didn’t sleep much on the bus to Bangkok and after a days non stop sight seeing in Ayuthaya, our bodies would eventually give in to leg cramp and pass out.

So, we are no standing in a petrol station on the outskirts of Chiang Mai wondering what the hell happens next. Then like clockwork a squadron of taxi vans sawngthaew turn up to take us into the centre. We arrived at a mysterious guesthouse and we asked for directions but the owners did not want to tell us anything and just offered us coffee. This is a common trick to try and get you to either stay in their guesthouse or enrol on a trekking trip. I cleared the wool from eyes and started heading for the street since I was not prepared to listen to that twaddle for one moment. Mariana was quite annoyed since I had absolutely no idea where I was going, which was true. However, I would rather find my own way rather than wait around for these tricksters to offer us a bargain. After 30 minutes and lots of tantrums we found our guesthouse. Perhaps a bit early at 7am but they were open for breakfast and we feasted like cannibals. After check in we went for a venture around Wat city, temples and Buddhist monks everywhere, I’m surprise Tesco doesn’t start selling cheap copies…

That night we decided to go budget after pigging out in Jeruselum Falafel restaurant, so hit the street markets for a few snacks. After our noodles I was still hungry so went for a touch of sushi, how stupid I was. Looking back, eating raw fish off a market stall is not the best travelling advice I would give. The next day I became very ill with stomach cramps, performed an exorcism in the bathroom and continued to wail in agony on the bed. Mariana decided to look up the local hospitals and mortuaries just in case I got a little worse. After about 5 hours of continuous moaning and complaining all the stomach bug had been evicted from my body.

The following day we went for our first meditation lesson with a local monk. He was really cool and you sensed that he knew something about you without ever meeting you before. We turned up late as ever, and they were in full hum by then, which was quite embarrassing to say the least. Even so, really worth it since I sleep so much better now.

The next few days were really lazy and we didn’t do much at all other than cycling around the city visiting Bhuddist Wats, hospitals and coffee bars. Chiang Mai is a great place to do absolutely nothing, we were champions at this.

Week 11 – 03/11/09 Khao Lak

2009-11-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

Khao Lak was actually a nice quiet place along the coast a 2 hour bus journey from Phuket. The place still had tourist but not at all in the same way as previous destinations. We stayed in a place called Banana Bungalows and had a great time. Main reason for coming here was to dive at the Similan Islands. Again, because of the price for all dives we could only afford one day’s diving.

Similan Islands were beautiful with the turquoise water. Visibility was great even though the variety of fish we saw was not that great in the marine park. Best season for it is more from December to May. However it was great fun flowing with the current under the water. We hardly had to swim at all as were floating through the corals. Beautiful!! We finished our diving around 4pm and calculated that we had exceeded our safety limits on the 2nd and 3rd dives, so had minor decompression sickness. This was nothing compared to the journey back to shore. By this time the weather had turned and we headed off in the speed boat against 3-4 metre high waves, not pleasant. It took 3 hours to get back to shore as opposed to an hour on the way out. Everyone on the boat felt like performing an exorcism, but managed to keep it down, what an experience (that is why Graham is looking so happy on the picture)….

Khao Lak was one of the worst affected places by the tsunami (Graham’s comment: which is why Mariana felt compelled to go there, only joking. Mariana’s sister will be going there at end of November so we thought we would check it out seeing at is on the way and to see the Similan islands.). We went to see the 25 metres and 15 tonnes boat that was carried 2 km into the shore. It is unbelievable to imagine the waves being 10 metres high at the beach and 3 metres high inland. The force of the tsunami wiped out 100 of the 133 hotels at this resort, killing many men women and children. The thai people did not even know what a tsunami was before this event, but are now prepared for any unfortunate natural events. Mariana also took some precautions, but sleeping with a life jacket on and always wearing swimming goggles as opposed to sun glasses.

We took a VIP night bus from Khao Lak that was not that VIP according to us. We wanted a bus with a toilet but not the smell that came with it. Graham also started a silent fight with the German in front who wanted to take back his seat. He tried his best to point the air con at the Germans ( just to be annoying) and kick the seat with his knees the best he could;)

Week 10 – 29/10/09 Ko Phi Phi

2009-11-10T22:09:00.001-08:00

Upon arrival in Phi Phi it felt like an amazing place!! The water was crystal clear and it felt like we had landed in paradise. We made our way to the hostel we booked and soon realised that the hostel was a real s-t hole. So, in order to make our stay a bit nicer we upgraded to another room and got cable TVJ and a toilet seat not covered in old dried in blood…Every morning they were showing horror movies (during prime time for children). It did suit us perfect to wake up to this instead of BBC news (as back in London).

Compared to 2007, the place had developed even more to a tourist destination with more buildings and boats. The only disappointing thing with this is all the rubbish scattered all over the place and the risk of being ripped off all the time. We joined a snorkelling trip we thought was going to be amazing. The company promised it to be a total of ten people in the boat, otherwise they would use two boats. On the day we quickly realised we were instead cramped in 16 people in the boat. When we confronted the tour operator about it he was really rude and said we did not have to go if we did not want to. Stupid as we were, we went anyway. It took ages for the boat to go anywhere and we ended up not having time to go to all places that we were promised. At times it even felt like the boat was going to tip over…The “monkey beach” we were taken to, was so full of rubbish it was a bit depressing. It felt disappointing the place was not looked after more.

Disregarding this we had a lovely time in Phi Phi. The diving we did was still amazing full with beautiful corals. Because of things being quite expensive we could not afford to dive as much as we wanted. We still have many beautiful pictures from our trip. Unfortunately most of them are censored from being displayed on the blog as Graham has refused to upgrade his 80’s speedos.

During the days we went swimming in the sea at Long Beach. Graham decided for the second time to step on a sea urchin. He had about 20 spikes sticking out of his foot and we had to do first aid on the beach trying to remove them. Things are better now but Graham has still not managed to get all of them out from his foot.

Second thing that happened to Graham was when he injured his lower back falling on his bum on the rocks along the beach. My storey is that he fell after I tried to give him a caring hug. His version soon developed into me trying to throw him of the rock face.. Anyway, he survived limping all the way home.

Week 9 - 26/10/09 Ko Lanata, Thailand

2009-11-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

The journey from Hat Yai to Koh Lantha was a nightmare. We thought we could save some money making our own way to Koh Lanta instead of using the hostel’s travel company. We have since changed our opinion somewhat!! We left the hostel 7.30 in the morning to be able to catch a minibus to Trang 8am. In Trang we intended to change to another minibus in order to go to Koh Lanta. 45 minutes later the tuk tuk driver was still trying to find the main minibus station in Hat Yai, that was suppose to be 5 minutes drive from the hostel. One hour later we had ended up at a minibus station outside the city. We found a minibus to take us to Trang so that was good. Graham paid the tuk tuk driver three times as much as we were suppose to cause he felt sorry for the guy (and because he was fuming during the unwanted sightseeing of the whole city and could come across as somewhat aggressive…). Once in the minibus to Trang, the driver decided after half an hour to stop along the way and squeeze in another two people next to me and Graham. We did feel a bit targeted and Graham had another fit but tried to calm down to make sure we would not be thrown of the bus. Finally we arrived to Trang. Here we for some reason ended up on a big bus to Krabi. The ticket woman told us to get of at a crossroad in the middle of nowhere and pointed at a sign where it said Koh Lanta “ Take Minibus”. I did not really know what to think but eventually a minibus came and we managed to flag it down and get a lift to Koh Lanta. We saved no time in travelling doing it ourself, but we did save 90Baht, which is about £1.5. Yep, totally worth it…

Koh Lanta is a big island, we stayed in the south part of the island supposedly to be more scenic. We managed to barter down the price of the room. The bed was absolutely lovely and for the first time, in along time we slept really well. The beach was also nice disregarding the microscopic jellyfish that was stinging a bit:-D We soon realised that Thailand is much more expensive than the places we have been to previously. However, the Thai food is superb!

Week 8 - 19/10/09 Perhentian Islands

2009-11-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

After two days of travelling and an awful night in a hostel in Kuala Terranganu, we finally ended up at the Perhentian Islands. I can easily say the travelling was worth while! What appeared in front of us was a beautiful island with crystal clear water, and hardly any people. We found a bungalow on the beach for £6 pound per night that was really cool. Because of low season hardly any people were there, however the people that were there were really cool and we made some new friends.

The island allowed us to dive, go snorkelling, kayaking etc. Because of the time span since we dived last time we decided to take a refresher. Really good move as we on the second dive had do a kind of emergency ascend, using the alternate air source due to Graham running low on air. We soon discovered that Graham was consuming more air than the rest of us on all of his dives, most likely because of his asthma. The snorkelling was absolutely amazing and almost outweighed the diving. We saw turtles, sharks, stingsrays, barracuda, squid, anemofish, parrotfish, triggerfish, pufferfish, scorpionfish, clownfish etc etc

Instead of three days we ended up staying in this place for a week. We probably would have stayed longer if it wasn’t for the restaurants and dive shops shutting down for the season.

After this we crossed the border to Thailand and headed to Hat Yai with a couple we meet on the Perhentian Islands. We had a really wicked time in this place even though the Rough Guide adviced not to stay in this place at all. In the middle of the night we saw a man walking his elephant among the streets. Odd place..

Week 8 - 15/10/09 Melaka + Kuala Lumpur

2009-10-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

Week 8 - Melaka is a nice port town on the west coast of Malaysia. Lots of history and really the birth place of the south east asia boom when trading started with Europe and Africa in the 15th century. The Portuguese were the first europeans to arrive in the early part of the 16th century, bullying their way into town and burning the mosque. Quite interesting that the muslim culture was invited over by the malay people in the 15th century to attract trade from india in exchange for the eastern spices. The Portuguese only managed to keep this main port for just over ten years before being kicked back out, now only a single church ruin is all that remains of their colonial past. The dutch came over in the early 1800s and built their usual collection of churches, town halls ands coffee shops, and many of these still remain today, with locals still speaking native tongue such as hello mister and best price.....

It was only after the second day that we noticed the signs warning of dungue fever, and that was after we had been bitten on numerous occassions. So far so good, no nervous twitching, licking the walls, or swinging from the light shades just yet, but we will see, even though Mariana has an ache in her entire body, but this is definitely not from the swimming nor the 6 hours sightseeing walk in flip-flops!

After the culture of Melaka we headed for the bright lights of Kuala Lumpur which was only 2 hours by road. Stayed in a place in Chinatown called, what for it, the Red Dragon Hostel. There is a large gold gong in reception that is blasted everytime a new guest arrives. We are a little worried about security since we have noticed many people wearing all black and ninja slippers, so will bolt the doors to feel safe.

Kulala Lumpur is nice, a bit dirty on the edges but all the same a good city. The Petronas Towers are really nice even though we will not be getting up at 6am to get a ticket for the viewing gallery, seriously what do they take us for.

Week 7 - 12/10/09 Singapore

2009-10-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

Week 7 - Singapore, a truly amazing place. Very clean, efficient, friendly people, great food and thousand miles an hour, right up my street.....

We stayed in China town even though the photos would not reflect this. Much a world apart from the UK chinatown, this is clean, food is good, and there is not a stench of cooking fat.

On our first day we took a guided tour of NUH (National University Hospital) and met Professor Wong who examined Mariana's eyes for any signs of retina detatchment. Thankfully, all was well, so we decided to hit the shops on Orchard Road. Seven hours later, and absolutely nothing to show for it, except sore feet, we headed off to little india for a curry. Little india is great and the food, well I will let Mariana explain that one.

The colonial parts are really nice and the Asian Civilisation Museum gives a really good insight as to when the various cultures arrived in Asia, that was until the British turned up and started putting flags everywhere.

There are plenty of parks everywhere and people even walk in this city, even though the humidity can be a challenge. We even saw a few locals on cycles, yes this place is definitely somewhere I would consider living.

Week 7 - 09/10/09 Pangabdaran + Jakarta

2009-10-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

Week 7 - whay a memory. We went to Pangandaran on southern coast to learn how to surf. All was going well on train journey from Jogjakarta until we met a dutch baboo who would not go away. We thught we had lost him since he got off at a different station only to find him sitting at the gates of Pangandaran, what a loser. Pangandaran was very quiet, since it is now low season and it suffered tourism since its last tsunami in 2006 where 700 people lost there lives, but all the same we thought this would be a good place to learn to surf.

Only managed to last one night since the following day after a mornings surf, I (graham that is) had severe abdominal and lower back pain. Mariana quickly went through our medical encyclopedias which we have been carrying around the world, and we agreed that I may have a kidney stome or three. Called sickly Ben since he has had evereything, and he confirmed the symptons were kidney stones. Hopped on a moped and was taken to the local witch doctor who prescribed me with anti-biotics, paracetamol and big dose (other end) painkillers, which we later found out were for haemorrhoids.

After a few hours of more extreme pain Mariana decided we should go to Jakarta and see a specialist at one of the hospitals. I agreed since I would do anythging to get rid of this pain, so we chartered a mini van to drive us 7 hours. After 5 hours of pain endurance and many more pills I finally passed out. Woke in Jakarta and the pain had stopped, so we went directly to the hotel for some rest.

The following day we went to see a doctor, all fine just stay on the antibiotics. WE did wonder around Jakarta, but it is basically a complete shit hole. The majority of people seemed very hostile towards us and we felt very nervous walking around. Very glad to get out and fly to Singapore.

Week 6 04/10/09 - Central Java

2009-10-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

Week 6 - Solo, Merapi, Jogjakarta and so on.....

Week 5 27/09/09 Camp Leakey

2009-10-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

Week 5 - Most of this week was spent in Tanjung Puting National Park and Camp Leakey where we viewed Orangutangs. Camp Leaky is the place where the famous Birute Galdikas carried our here reseach (similar to what Jane Goodall did on the Gorillas etc). Sadly Tanjung Puting National Park is one of the few places where Orangunags can live relatively peacefully (at the moment). Palm oil plantations have eradicated much of the orangutang's habitat elsewhere, only about 25% of their habitat remain. People in the park constantly have to safeguard the area as well due to illegal logging that has been happening. We learnt during our trip that saving the orangutangs is not an easy things. There are so much more to learn abut it all and still so much that needs to be done. For you at home, please try to use product with sustainable sourced palmoil if possible...

Anyway, It was soo incredible to see the orangunatgs and wish I could go back. It was really peaceful sitting in the djungle and waiting to see if any Orangutangs would appear. Me and Graham could have spent hours there. Most of the oranguinatgs try to stay away from humans though which is a good thing!

We can add that we also saw crocodiles in the river within the park! Not good water for swimming...

Week 4 20/09/09 Kahingai

2009-10-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Week 4 - It is an amazing thing waking up to the sound of all animals in the jungle including the Gibons. We also always knew the morning was sneaking up on us when the cock started singing 5 in the morning. Week 4 was adventures! We got the opportunity to do jungle treks, klotok trips up river, rice blessing. There are not enough words to explain this amazing place. The leaches during the jungle trek was a bit uncomfortable, especially as they started sucking blood from us. I did wear my leach socks (that we got from Felipe and Corinne, thank you very much!) and that did help:) The experince was fantastic though. The close encounter with the spider was Grahams achievement. I have to add the the locals had removed the poison prior as a precautionay measure during the rise planting. We did also discover a Scorpion nest when building the toilet. Scary...

In addition to building the dam and the only community toilets in the village we held english lessons for the children. Graham was a very popular teacher and all children was cheering hurray when he came into the classroom. He also went under the name "The Giant" in the village. I did try on a bit of teacing myself. My lesson was about litter and trying to communicate the benefits of not throwing rubbish in the river and everywhere in the village. Can admit it is complicated with no infrastruture for waste in place at all. We had to ourself wash us and all our cloths in the river everyday. It did not feel great seeing all the washing powder going downstream...

We has a farewell ceremony the day before we left the village. It included dancing, drinking rice wine and recieving blessings. It was loads of fun but tiring. Graham did some funky african dance moves with his notorious hip twitch. Think he forgot the theme of the evening. Maybe he got himself confused with a night out in Essex as well, not sure where it came from...

Week 3 13/09/09 Kahingai

2009-10-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

Week 3 - more hard labour on the toilets that we are building. Currently the locals extend their bottoms out from the edge of a piece of wood and left rip into the river. Yes, the same river that they bath in, wash their clothes and take drinking water from. Saying that, we also had to wash our clothes and bath in this same water each day. The toilets are being provided to give them an alternative to the river and further incentive to stay in the village.
The rice field trip was a bit of a religious ceremony, Graham thought it was a race to see how many seeds could be sown in 30 minutes. All the locals were making fun of him since he was sweating profusely and was about ten metres ahead of everyone else. The whole point of the day was to slowly put the rice in the fertile ground and pray for the rains to come. We went and had lunch in a long house, then sampled the local rice wine, basically rocket fuel.
Mariana struggled to eat any food since she was sitting next to a basket of smoked meat including head, hoofs and arse which once was a deer called bambi.
As before, we were all engrossed in the topic of diseases, and one of the volunteer coordinators actually got malaria and typhoid.

Week 2 06/09/09 Kahingai

2009-10-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Week 2 - Arrived in Kahingai, which is about 7 hours from Pangkalan Bun. We travelled by ambulance and stopped off at a town called Nanga Bulik. The views on the journey were disturbing, acres of palm oil plantations seen for the the first 5 hours. It is so sad to think just 20 years back all of this was primary rainforest.

The last two hours of the journey, thankfully we found the rainforest, but there is only an estimated 25% left on Kalimantan.
We were warmly greeted by the rest of the volunteer group in Kahingai. Kahingai is one of many small villages located in the rainforest with about 70 families living there. The aim of the project is to encourage the locals to stay put and not give in to bribes from the logging or palm oil corporations.
The first week on camp consisted mainly of hard labour, digging holes, mixing cement, fixing reinforcement cages, all needed for the dam construction. Many of the group, whom had been there for 4 days before we arrived were getting injured or sick. It was quite funny since the main topic of conversation was infection, diarrhoea and malaria.
The food was really nice, but we had only been eating rice noodles and vegetables for one week and the others soon pointed out that it does get boring.
The week past quickly and we were rewarded we a trip to a rice plantation.

Day 5+6 05/09/09 Pangkalan Bun

2009-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Day 5+6 - two nights in this hell hole, well that is what we thought at this point in time. Found a good place to eat local the Hotel Bone. So much so, we returned for dinner after a delightful lunchtime buffet. However, things turned a little sour when mariana discover some chicken's feet in the vegetable soup which we previously gobbled during lunch. Dinner ended in a hasty fashion and I went on a quest for Pringles and Ice Cream.

Day 4 - 03/09/09 Last day in the real world

2009-10-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

3rd September 2009 - Last day in Java before heading off to Kalimantan. Had a hissing fit this morning during check out as I was getting stressed that we would miss our flight. In reality we are just starting to understand how indonesia ticks, i.e very slowly. Arrived at airport a convincing swedishly 2 hours before our flight. Our ticket did not match the scheduled flights on the board and no check-in desks were open, typical. Managed to check in and we took off only one hour later than original departure time.
Arrived in Pangkalan Bun just after lunch and grabbed a taxi into town. We had a reservation at Hotel Bone (prenounced Bone'). I cannot explain what a dump this place is, shared mandi and wc facilities with blood and brown coloured stuff on the walls. Our room did have a window, well mosquito screen. Since it is ramadan, there is absolutely nowhere to eat in this town so we managed to somehow order egg noodles from a local shop. Food was as good as it gets....

Days 1/2/3 - 31/08/09 to 02/09/09

2009-09-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

Really exhausting journey to say the least. Travelled from Stockholm (Skavsta) to Stansted, waited for 4 hours before flying to Kuala Lumpur. Then, wait for it, had an 8 hour lay over until first flight to Jakarta the following morning. Drank more coffee than the normal weekly intake. Found a great 24 hour coffee house that sold amazing veggie pies and great cheesecakes, oh and fat free water, what ever that may be.....

KL seems like fun but very busy, we will pop in here on the way through Malaysia during October, but may only stay for one night since the human body can only inhale so much carbon monoxide.

Arrived at Jakarta early morning, very impressed with Air Asia... Jakarta seems somewhat different to KL, less air conditioning for one, but still very busy. Met our travel agent at the FM7 hotel and picked up air tickets for Pengkalanbun (Borneo), yippee we now have all in place.

Tomorrow will be an adventure, will keep you posted.

Graham och Mariana

Follow our trip on Google Maps

2009-07-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

View Graham + Mariana World Tour in a larger map

Graham and Mariana's World Tour Itinerary

2009-07-27T05:10:00.000-07:00

Indonesia (Borneo) - 6 weeks volunteering building an aqueduct in jungle for local villages.
Indonesia (Java) - 1 week travelling
Singapore - very short visit
Malaysia (all) - 2 weeks travelling
Thailand (all) - 3 weeks travelling
Laos (all) - 2 weeks travelling with 12 year old guerrillas
Back to Bangkok for flight to Nepal
Nepal, everest base camp trek (oh yes bloody please) + a bit of sight seeing - 3 weeks
India (Rajasthan / Delhi / Northern regions) - 3 weeks travelling + 3 weeks volunteering in environmental education programme just outside Jaipur
Australia (Gold Coast) - just 3 days, this is brilliant I love telling aussies that I can only spare 72 hours of my entire life to see their wonderful country.
New Zealand (North Island) - 2 weeks in a camper van travelling
Chile (all) - 2 weeks travelling
Argentina (North East) - 3 weeks travelling
Bolivia (all) - 6 weeks volunteering
Peru (Inca trail) - 3 weeks
Ecuador (Cloud Forest) - 4 weeks
Ecuador (Galapagos Is) - 2 weeks holiday
Back to Sweden/UK to get married and continue life in the rat race...