Old Hat

So, it's been a while, but I have been super busy since coming back to Sydney, and I wanted to blog about New Zealand in its entirety. Most of the news is old hat, but it might be new to some people so here goes...

Whats better than arriving at the airport and having somebody there waiting for you? Lots of things...but it's still nice. Philip (my cousin) had got a flight over from Auckland to spend the weekend with us, and was there waiting in a rental car at Christchurch. Arriving at the hostel was a bit bizarre. I haven't seen Luke in around 9 months, and god knows when I last saw Liam, so having them waiting there for us was great. It really livened things up a lot.

Christchurch was a nice place, but seeing the devestation of the earthquake was grounding. Hearing about it on the news it seems very disconnected, so you don't realise how bad it really was. I think Philip was a bit cut up about seeing his city/memories being torn down by huge bulldozers.

Our campervan was such a big upgrade from the one Alex and I shared in Australia. It had 3 double beds and even 2 "living rooms". At the end of the day, 4 lads who haven't seen each other for a while, it was going to get a bit messy. I think it needed a big spring clean after the first night of drinking.

Liam seemed intent on making us all swim in the freezing sea or lakes whilst we were out there. Most of the time after about 10 seconds in the water I was out and shaking underneath my towel. To be fair I was ill for almost the majority of my time in New Zealand. I think I am so used to hot weather that my body just went into shock for a few weeks with the brisk Kiwi breeze.

Most of the south island is so beautiful, the scenary is really impressive. We went on lots of walks, and lots of amazing drives. Theres not too much to report there, just lots of time spent walking up hills. The best one was probably walking up to see the Franz Josef Glacier. The going was a lot more slippy/steep than we expected but it made it more of a challenge so its all good.

Queenstown is very different to the rest of the south island, it changes from sleepy farmland to a tourist driven little town with lots going on. It is a lot of fun around there, although I was too ill to go on a night out really. Whilst there we did a skydive, which was amazing. We were all pretty nervous on the day, just waiting for it to happen, with the tension slowly building. I think I was most nervous being bundled into the plane and seeing the ground slowly departing. When it came to sitting on the edge of the plane the adrenalin kicked in, I start shouting like a madmen, then woosh, your off. The fall was amazing, if a little hard to breathe, and Queenstown is definately the place to do it. The surrounding lakes and mountains make for a fantastic view, you almost forget that you are plummeting to the ground at 200mph or however fast it is.

Liam took us to where he used to work in Milford Sound and we got to do the boat tour that he used to work on for free. The scenary there is awesome (suprise suprise!) but it is so isolated, I don't think I could live there myself.

Dunedin is a fun place to go, I think I could live there. It is a bit of a student town so theres more going on. It also is home to the worlds steepest street (according to some drunken Irish guy at Guiness) which was fun to bounce bouncey balls down. The Speights brewery tour was great fun as well, with as much free beer as you can drink for 30 minuets at the end. Everybody loves a challenge. We didn't actually drink that much as we had to drive back to Christchurch so Luke could make his flight. Luke couldn't drink hardly at all.

Once we had left Luke behind it felt a little bit like we were in Limbo, just waiting for our flights. We went to Hamner Springs to sit in some hot springs for a while and Akaroa which is a lovely little place.

Alex dropped the bombshell that he was flying back to England instead of coming to Sydney to work for 6 months with me. He looked pretty nervous about telling me, I think he was worried that I would be angry. I fluctuated between thinking that it would be good to move to a city on my own, a challenge, and thinking "shit". I wasn't angry at Alex, he has to do what he wants to, but I felt a little strange.

Getting out of Christchurch was a nightmare. By chance we were all on the same plane to Sydney, where I would be getting off and Alex and Liam would carry on back to England. However, as it taxied out onto the runway it started snowing so all flights were grounded. We were stuck at the airport for around 50 hours I think.

Alex had one night in Sydney so we went out for a meal. I bought him his steak birthday meal, as he was the only person who wouldn't have got his due to flying home, then before you know it he was gone.

I have been too busy to think really, finding a house, sorting things out for work, getting a bank account, getting my tax sorted etc. Luckily I have mums ability to write long lists, which has served me well.

My house is great, if a little expensive. I am in what you would call an "international" house, sharing with an American, German, French, Egyptian, Columbian, and an Italian. They are all nice people though.

I felt a bit inspired by Liam, talking about all the things he wants to do with his life. How every experience is worth while as long as it is different. I don't think I will be the kind of guy who will live my life on the road, but it really did make me think. I have entered the Sydney marathon, which will give me some incentive to get fit. My thinking is that now I'm here on my own I need to make the most of it. I am trying to fill each day, and have something to leave with...an experience. I will probably lapse back into laziness once I start work though.

So, "The Trip" is now on hold. I will be carrying on to South America in February, hopefully with Alex flying back out to join me. One thing I have learnt from travelling is that you can't make plans that far ahead, life just gets in the way. I have so many memories swirling through my noggin from the past 10 months. I have met some incredible people, seen some amazing sights, and been humbled by the fantastic cultures out there.

Tom

From one campervan to another

We have spent about half of 2012 in a campervan. By the end of 2012 we will have spent around 1/5 of the year living in a van. Its strange putting it into that context, as we haven't fallen out once, and it hasn't been a problem at all. Don't get me wrong, I long for a living room, and don't get me started on the bathroom. However, we have adapted nicely to the camping lifestyle, I kinda like it.

So, I'm one hour outside of Sydney and we are flying out to New Zealand today after dropping off the van. Then we will upgrade to a bigger van in New Zealand, to a 6 berth with Luke and Liam. I'm excited about the 3 weeks ahead of us.

Australia

I think Alex summed it up pretty well when he said to me "I'm looking forward to getting travelling again". Because Australia doesn't feel like we are travelling - It feels like we are on a holiday, or just relaxing, or passing time. So we are excited about going to New Zealand, because it feels like we are going on a holiday to see Luke and Liam. We are excited about coming back to Australia to work for 6 months, because thats a whole new challenge in itself, and having a routine will be fun. However, we are most excited about getting to South America and seeing some amazing sights.

Writing it down has made me realise that I am not too enamoured with Australia. Sure, the weather is amazing, the beaches are special, and there are free BBQs everywhere, but thats about it.  The towns lack any character, the people are bigoted racists, and the drivers...don't get me started on how bad Australians are at driving. Asia felt special, like we were doing something great, Australia doesn't have that. It may just be because its a Western country, but to anybody thinking of travelling I would put Asia top of your list and Australia bottom. I hope Ant is still having an amazing time out there.

What we have been up to

We have still spent a lot of time walking around national parks, which are all amazing. The diversity in wildlife is incredible. In a 2 hour walk you can go from rainforest to scrubland to woodland to mountain ranges. We have seen plenty of Kangaroos, Wallabees, Koalas, Spiders et al. It becomes a bit of a blur, which park had what in it, so I will leave it at that. We did drive down "Waterfall Way" which is a beautiful drive with lots of waterfalls (duh) along the way.

Sydney is different, I like Sydney a lot. It was a very hectic time for us though after our chilled out lifestyle. I had my job interview, and my purchase of a suit was not a waste of time as I have been offered the job as a contractor for Accenture Health. The job sounds like a lot of fun (honest) so I look forward to coming back to that in June. The interview was very relaxed, basically just telling me what I would be working on. Having contacts back in the UK has definitely sorted me out on this occasion. It's not what you know, it's not who you know, it's what you know about who you know! Alex will be applying for jobs as a Videographer and hopefully will get one soon, otherwise he will be the househusband. He sounds confident of getting one though so it should work out just fine.

The strangest thing about Sydney was seeing my cousin Phil and my brother Danny. It is a very odd feeling being on the other side of the world and walking around with them. I had a lot of fun though and Phils knowledge of Sydney meant we could just follow him around like a tour group and see all the best of Sydney. The only problem was that for Danny he was on holiday whilst we are travelling, so we have a lot less money available. We couldn't afford the frantic spending Danny seemed obsessed with. I think I spent more in Sydney than the rest of Australia put together. On the other hand, Danny spent more in 3 weeks than we have spent in 3 months in Australia. It was great to see family and we had a lot of fun. I think Danny is a bit jealous of us.

After Sydney I was pretty ill, which wasn't much fun for Danny who came with us in the campervan. I don't think Danny liked our slow pace of life or the campervan, and he made us drive as fast as we could to Melbourne (with a whistle-stop tour of Canberra) and then checked into a hostel. We did stop off at the Blue Mountains and did a great walk.

 Melbourne was fun, if a little cold. We went on a "Alleys and Arcades" self walking tour and went to an AFL game. After about 30 minutes I think we understood the rules enough to enjoy the game. There was 40,000 people there yet it was oddly quiet. They don't chant and only cheer goals really. It doesn't have the same atmosphere as a Premier League game thats for sure.

After Danny had gone back to his job (haha) we went to see Tess and Phil who we had met in India a few times, then Laos, then Thailand. They had been working in Melbourne for a few months staying with Tess's Aunty. It was lovely to see them again. The highlight was going to Straws Lane. It is a crazy hill where you stop your car (or campervan in our case) on the hill, and put it into neutral and take your foot off the pedals. Instead of rolling downhill it rolls backwards uphill. Apparently it may have something to do with a magnetic field underneath the road. I loved it though. Don't believe it? Here's the videos https://vimeo.com/41834192 and https://vimeo.com/41834191 .

So, thats it for now. We are still fine, we are still enjoying it, and we still don't want to come home yet. Currently it looks like we will be home in summer 2013, but then my plans change more regularly than my underpants so who knows.

I will love you and leave you now.

Tom

I come from the land down under

G'day you bloody pommy's.

You know people say that nobody even drinks Fosters in Australia....well it is true. However, it is more interesting than that. Apparently they do drink it, but only out in the outback in Crocodile Dundee style bars. Which in my book makes it a little bit cooler. So go buy yourself a Fosters. 

Alcoholic beverages aside, back to the trip.

Australia Zoo, the home of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. They sure haven't let that one go despite his Stingray accident. First you cruise along Steve Irwin Road, before seeing huge billboards of him everywhere. Not that I'm complaining, I loved Steve Irwin. In the zoo each enclosure has a bit of information written by Steve Irwin "look at those Betty Davies eyes" about his favourite croc. The highlight is the Crocoseum which is a 5000 seater stadium where they put on a crocodile show. The Irwins even put it on, with his wife and two kids taking part. His daughter, Bindi, is one irritating little girl. The show was excellent though. 

Now we had kind of decided that the towns in Australia are pretty boring, desolute, soul-sapping places, so we stuck to the 'bush walks'. These are great, there are some fantastic walks, and even more fantastic for their price - free. A welsh man in the tourist information office told us to go climb a few of the glass house mountains, so we headed there.

What the Welshman failed to mention was that the mountain he had recommended wasn't so much of a walking-trail, but a climbing trail. The trail got pretty much vertical very quickly. The drops weren't huge by any stretch of the imagination but they were big enough that if you fell it would hurt a lot. Plus Alex and I aren't exactly experienced climbers, and you can take the word experienced out of that sentance if you like and it still makes sense. We got a bit of the way up before Alex said he didn't want to go any higher, and I didn't disagree with him. It was funny climbing back down as I was infront and when I turned around to look at Alex his legs were shaking. I didn't even know that that happened to people apart from in the Beano, knees knocking together. It was cracking me up. Alex had a big grin on his face but couldn't stop his legs shaking. We climbed an easier mountain and had some great views.

Alex has gotten into taking time-lapses again so we are finding lots of lookout points to film the sun slowly setting behind the mountains and various other scenes that look beautiful on camera. I don't mind it at all, setting up the camping chair with a beer in hand and watching the sun set whilst Alex plays with his camera. 

Next, onto a city, a real city! We were a bit excited about this, seeing as this was our first proper city since being in Australia. And we were not dissapointed, its an excellent place. The city is very modern and clean and cool looking. The scene there is very cool, with live bands on all the time and lots of "hipsters" mooching about. Queen Street is a beautiful highstreet. If you can't tell, I have a lot of good things to say about Brisbane. It has a great bus system, most of which is underground and exclusively for buses, so it is a bit like a subway. 

We parked up out of town and splashed out on a caravan park which had a pool and tennis courts. After much fun there, and setting a new keepy-ups record, we went out for a night out in the city. Its an ace night out, although I'm not sure my bank balance will agree with that. 

We did a walk in the nearby national park, and another time-lapse of the sun going down over the city. 

Surfers Paradise was next, and no surfing took place. The weather has taken a turn for the worse slightly, and it was unbelievably windy when we got there, like to the extent that you have to walk like an old man who has just followed through, otherwise the wind pushes you over.  The best thing about Surfers Paradise is that we got to meet up with Gary and Briege again who we haven't seen since India. It was great to see them and they haven't changed a bit. It felt like we had seen them yesterday, not 6 months ago.

We went on a pub crawl with Gary and Briege there, which was hilarious, but again, my bank balance may not agree. I will have to stop this enjoying myself lark, its not advised in Australia. Gary and Briege said they would come with us to Nimbin even though they are travelling North whilst we are heading South.

Nimbin is a bizarre place. It is a hangover from the hippy movements from the 60's, and is a small town in the hills where weed is legal, despite it actually being illegal. It is weird walking down the highstreet openly being offered weed by 70 year old men in leather vests with braids in their hair. It is a bit intimidating to be honest, I wasn't a fan of the atmosphere there. The view from our campsite looked like a Cravendale advert though, so that was nice. The office also had Risk, so we played some great games of that. 

And thats where we had to say goodbye to Gary and Briege after two days. Very sad, I liked having them around. They said they would send us the code so we can watch their wedding in Vegas online. That sounds fun. Shame we won't be there anymore now we have to work in Australia.

For some reason Byron Bay sticks in my head as one of the most famous places in Australia, but I don't know why. Gary and Briege hadn't been a big fan, saying it was full of kids, but we liked it. I guess the kids had left now that easter holidays is drawing to a close, and it just seemed a cool place, with great shops and lots of surfers about. The beach would have been great but the weather is still a bit iffy, so we avoided that.

The last couple of days we have been sat in a cheap caravan park ($20 for powered site = bargin) loving having a fully charged fridge and lights that work in the van. The weather seems to be clearing up a bit so we will move on tomorrow.

I have been trying to sort myself out a job for June. I have an interview a week on Friday in Sydney so wish me luck. I have to go buy a suit for it so I best get the job otherwise I have wasted my travellers budget on a suit I don't need. 

Thats all for now.

The land down under

Australia is split into 3 very distinct parts for me so far, 1 with my parents, 1 of stagnation waiting for our campervan, and then of being in the campervan heading down the coast.

The parents in Cairns

Ahhh parents visiting is great. I loved seeing them after so long and it is obviously also nice to be treated to some home comforts. It helped cushion the blow of how expensive everything is out in Australia (especially compared to Asia). I got to do a lot of trips which I wouldn't have been able to afford on my own, and I had a great time with the folks. Staying in an apartment is nice as well, having breakfast round a table, and it turned out that there were 2 spare beds so Ant and Alex could stay with us as well.

Cairns is a lot smaller than I expected but it is still a nice place. I think we are used to every town being so unique and individual in Asia, whereas here in Australia all the towns look the same, like some ghost town from 1950s America. The esplanade and lagoon are nice to walk around, having a free big swimming pool right on the coast is a great idea. We went on some day trips out to the beaches, and did some forest walks, all of which were fun. I think the things that stick out most in my mind are the skyrail (the worlds longest cable car...another worlds something or other) down from Kuranda over the rainforest, and snorkelling off Franklin island. Snorkelling was funny as we got all suited up and then mum suddenly decided "I am not going to do it" in her firm voice. After a bit of coaxing she got in and loved it (I think). I am glad both mum and dad managed to do it as they weren't too keen on it before hand.

I felt very stange watching my parents leave. I didn't want to quit travelling (look at me, talking like it's my job) but I didn't like watching them leave knowing I won't be seeing them for so long. It throws up all kind of weird emotions. I am glad they came though, I had a great time and apart from commenting on how skinny I look I think they were happy to see me.

Stagnation

So we have realised that we are going to run out of money, and there isn't any more magically appearing in my bank account. If only the whole world was as cheap as Asia. We have added at least 6 months onto our trip, coming back to work in Australia after we have seen Luke and Powers in New Zealand. Apparently you get $23 an hour just working in Mcdonalds, so we should be able to save up easily enough. Ant has decided to leave me and Alex and go back to Thailand to teach English. He is not sure what he will do after he has had a job, maybe travel Asia some more, maybe teach in another country in Asia. Either way he isn't coming back to us. Good luck to you Ant, we will miss you.

Alex and I booked a campervan for 60 days but had to wait for a while before it became available, hence the stagnation. We spent a lot of time just sorting out the money situation and watching films sitting around in a hostel. Trying not to spend a lot of money was made easier by the free dinner vouchers the hostel gives out, but the meals were god damn awful!

The van pt.I

She is a beauty, a graceful, elegant, powerful beast. A real campervan that you can stand up in and everything.

Ant didn't have his flight back to Thailand for a few days so we decided to cruise down the coast a little and then loop back up to Cairns to drop Ant off. We did a few bush walks through the rainforests and visited some waterfalls. The weather had gone terrible. There was a cyclone out at sea and we were getting the edge of it. 1 walk we did we got absolutely soaked. Raining in the rainforest, who would have thought it!? Ant and I got some leeches on our feet, all adding to the excitement. We were camping in free rest areas in the strangest places. Babinda is a strange town that feels like it was built in 1950 to film an American horror movie and hasn't been touched since. The locals all seem like they could be the killer.

The van pt. II

So we said our goodbyes to Ant, and left him behind. The weather wasn't improving and lots of roads were being closed down the coast due to flooding, but we managed to make our way slowly down.

We got a ferry over to Magnetic Island which was awesome. The weather cleared up just for that day so we were back in the sunshine doing some great bush walks. We even saw a koala chilling on the tree right next to us. That was pretty special. What a cool animal, so relaxed.

I think we have realised that most of the towns are identical and have no character whatsoever. Most of them can be avoided. It is all about the bush walks or the beaches. We stopped off in a tiny place called Alva Beach which is where Powers used to work for 4 months doing his dive master. I think I might go insane living in a place that small but I guess he is from mowcop. I asked for a discount for the dive and they replied "whose Liam Power?" Maybe he never even went to Australia, he just wanted to get rid of his friends.

The dive was awesome though. Diving the Yongala wreck. I saw the biggest turtle I have ever seen, as well as huge groupers and manta rays and sting rays. There was so much marine life there it was great. Schoals of barracuda and lots of sea snakes. Great dive but a bit pricey.

We tend to stay in free rest areas (we have a book) or just on the side of the road. Occasionally we treat ourselves to a paid campsite that has power (so we can keep the fridge charged) and a swimming pool, The problem is that we don't meet too many people, and when we do it is families or middle aged Aussies. They are nice but it would be good to meet up with some people are own age. Lucky Alex and I are easy going otherwise it would be a bit intense in the van.

Agnes Water is the furthest north surfing beach on the east coast, and a great little town. We spent a couple of days there just chilling out on the beach. I think a lot of Australia may just be beaches and BBQs...not that I am complaining. We are currently in Noosa which is our favourite place so far. It actually has some personality to it. It is a bit rich but the beach and national park is free so it is all good. We had a pretty big night and met some aussies (one was called Billie and was hammered...had bi-polar disorder....and hadn't taken his medication for 3 days...he was a bit insane but funny to hang around with).

Next we will head to Australia Zoo to hopefully see some tributes to Steve Irwin. We are having a great time and I would say more but my battery is about to die on my laptop so I best post it before it does. Miss you all.

Tom

Goodbye Asia, Hello reality check!

This post takes us through the last of Asia, and then onto Australia. Goodbye Asia, you have been a kind mistress, we will miss you. Hello Austrai.....what, you have to pay $12 to get from the airport, but that was 6 days accomodation in Asia?!? Okay okay, I'l have a bottle of water for the ride then....What?!?! $3.50. How much is a beer instead....(you can see where this is going) $7.50!!!!!!! Not that I am complaining of course. On with the informative post.

The last of Vietnam

Once Alex caught up to me in Hannoi we visited the temple on the lake which houses a fossilised giant tortoise. The legend goes that the first king of Vietnam was given a magical sword by a giant tortoise which helped him liberate the country from the Thai. When he had suceeded he was asked to give the sword back (presumably by the talking tortoise, who must have regretted giving it away) and so the sword was returned to the lake and is still there today. There are still 4 giant tortoises residing in the lake (apparently) who I am assured by the guide (in broken english) are over 400 years old.

 We did the boat trip for 2 days 1 night around Halong Bay, as I suppose you have to whilst in Vietnam. It was very impressive to be fair. The hills were very like those in Yangshuo apart from they were sticking out of the water. Being on a big boat with a fishing line strung out the back fishing for squid (squidding?) at night was great. You couldn't really ask for a more atmospheric surrounding, as the fog rolled in around the hills dotted amongst the water. Kayaking and swimming was thrown in with the price, as well as a visit to a cave. I didn't realise how cold the water was until I jumped off the boat, that was a shock I tell you.












Sapa

We moved onto Sapa after that. The plan was to climb Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam. However, we didn't allow for the terrible weather conditions that high up. The fog was so thick at points I have no idea how the bus driver didn't plummet off the side of the mountain on the way up to the village. We couldn't do the mountain, but there was still lots of minority villages to visit and Sapa itself was lovely. Unfortunately I got pretty ill, so spent most of my time in bed whilst Alex, Hannes, and Toni went off on a 2 day trek. The staff at the hostel were really kind to me though, sharing their fruit with me and making me cups of coffee.

On the last day I felt better so walked out to the nearest minority village on my own. It was great trekking down little lanes, not being able to see more than 10 metres infront of your own nose because of the fog. That doesn't sound too great, but then out of the mist would loom a old woman carrying more bamboo than I would want to carry in a lifetime. Then a village of huts, with kids playing in the rice fields nearby. Makes you feel like an explorer, and thats what most travellers want I guess. I want to feel like I'm discovering some new land, and when you find a quiet, beautiful spot just to find a group of Germans there it kind of ruins it a bit.

Sapa was where we left Hannes and Toni behind. I'm not sure how long we have travelled with them, but it must be a month at least. They are great guys, and hopefully we will keep in touch with them. Who would have thought Germans could have a sense of humour? I think they may have single-handedly changed my opinion on an entire nation.

Crossing the border

A bit of advice, if you ever find yourself having to cross the border between Vietnam and Laos, do it further down South than we did, the journey is pretty terrible. The views are great, but not so appealing when you realise you have to travel through all those mountains, and the roads are mostly dirt and rocks, apart from where a river crosses them. A river poses no problem to Vietnamese bus drivers though, they just plow through them. When we got to the border we had to buy our Visa which we had drawn just enough money out for. The border police decided that the exchange rate was about 15% higher than it actually was, so we didn't have enough money. "What do we do then?" we asked, "We don't have any more money and we are in the middle of nowhere". Their succint reply was to put our passports in a drawer, and beckon forward the next passangers from the bus. Great. An Israeli guy on the bus thankfully agreed to bail us out, otherwise we would still be there now I think.

The first village we arrived in was ridiculous. There was a ferry accross the river, which was powered by a JCB and a peice of rope. Thats a transport link for international lorries to travel along. We managed to scrape together a bit of Cambodian Riel, Lao Kep, and Vietnamese Dong to pay the ferry driver to take us over. The village had 1 ATM, which only worked with Laos bank accounts. Luckily, Israel came to the rescue once again, lending us the money for our bus ticket to the next town along. We were otherwise considering getting jobs in rice paddies...I'm sure I could do that.

Luang Prabang

The first commandment for any traveller who finds themself in South East Asia is: "Thou must ride an elephant. Thou must enjoyest riding the beast, and much photographic evidence must be accumulated to place on Faithbook(Facebook). The owner of the elephant must be paid handsomely for this". I was in serious danger of burning in the eternal fires of Hell, so we decided to put that right in Laos just to be safe. It wasn't too long of a ride, but I think it would get pretty sore after more than an hour anyway (whoever just laughed at that sentance has a filthy mind). The elephant walked Alex and I into the river so he could bathe. It was a lot of fun splashing him with water and getting squirted back. They are intimidating animals close up, I was pretty wary of him at times to be honest.

We did a 3 hour kayak ride down the Mekong which was great, some fantastic views. We did get a bit tired of kayaking after a while, but you could just drift if you were feeling lazy. We visited a cave which contained 1000 buddhas. The first recording of the cave was by a French traveller in the 18th century whose sketches of the cave from his journal were on display (just photographs of them). It made me jealous that I can't sketch to make my journal look more creative. I guess photographs are the modern sketches.

Luang Prabang is a lovely town, I would like to have spent longer there. It is well worth a visit, even if it is just to spend days cycling around the town and along the river front, stopping in cafes for drinks.

Vang Vieng

Easy to sleazy in 4 hours. Travelling from Luang Prabang, a town with a 11pm curfew on drinking, to Vang Vieng is a good way to see the...diversity of Laos...yes...diversity. Vang Vieng is famous for its tubing, where you float in a tube down a river lined with bars. These bars throw you a rope and haul you in. All along the river are zip lines, big swings, slides etc all going into the river. They are pretty high, you just don't notice because you are hammered. All the bars in town are playing episodes of friends or family guy (I literally do mean all of them, if you sit in 1 bar you can even hear next doors) where people can recover from a hard days tubing.

Alex and I agreed "lets take it easy, a couple of drinks, pace ourselves". As soon as we arrived we got playing beer pong with 2 guys from England and after that....I woke up at midnight with a hangover after going to bed at 8pm. Hah. Nah, I do remember it, but it was a bit messy. I was a stereotype and somehow hurt my neck going down a zipline, grazing it god knows how. There were no major events to speak of apart from the swings etc. I think I knew it was time to go home when I got skinned by a 5 year old Laos kid on 1 of the beach football pitches in a bar. I just fell flat on my face.

There are other things to do in Vang Vieng. 1 day I went to some caves to have a little explore. I didn't want a guide, assuming it was just your classic case of them trying to get money of tourists, however you definately do need a guide. The cave is pitch black, you need the flash light they give you, and there are loads of turnings to chose and holes to fall down (as well as bamboo ladders to climb). The walk into the cave was about 30 minutes there 30 minutes back. I would have been terrified on my own, it was even a bit creepy with my guide. At the bottom is a lagoon. I had pictured the cave opening up onto a secluded tropical lagoon with clear green waters. It was a muddy pool in the bottom of a dank cave god knows how deep under the rock. I was waist deep in the water when I casually asked my guide "are there any fish" to which he replied "nahhh, no fish, just snakes....really big snakes". He wasn't joking by the look on his face, and I was out of there pretty darn quickly.

Chang Mai

From Vang Vieng we travelled back into Thailand to a nice town called Chang Mai. We bumped into Tesse and Phil (who we originally met in Goa, India) again. We had bumped into them in Luang Prabang as well. Its a small world after all. It was great to see them and we all went round the night market together which is the highlight of the town. It is pretty extensive.

Singapore

We flew from Chang Mai to Singapore as thats where we had to get our flight to Cairns from.

Alex and I went to Universal Studios which was great. Not too cultural but still great.

My parents were in Singapore as well, having a few days between their flight from London to Cairns where they have come out to visit me/holiday. I met up with them for dinner, which was really nice. I didn't feel like I hadn't seen them for 6 months, I guess its never awkward with your parents. The following day we went around Singapore together, Alex in tow, and saw the sights. The crazy bastards have built 3 sky scrapers that have a boat connecting them on the top. Asians!

Turned out that my parents were on the same flight as us guys, which meant we could hop in their taxi with them to the airport. In the airport toilet my dad bumped into Ant (I don't know why he was hanging out in the toilet). It was good to see him again after so long. Alex and I figured out that we would probably have seen him more being at home than we have these last 2 months travelling. He looked really well, and groomed. I guess 5 star hotels agree with him. I felt a bit inadequete in my well-travelled clothes.

This update is long enough now, I will leave Australia for another day.

I apologise for my appalling grammer/spelling. I am writing this at 3am Australian time as we get our camperavn tomorrow so god knows when we will get access to the internet again. I have just had to bash this update out (poor me hey).

From Cambodia to Vietnam

Hello again. I am trying to be a bit more dilgent with the blog from now on. Expect a fortnightly update from today...honestly. Anyway, back to Cambodia.

Kampot
 
Kampot was a really nice, sleepy town. It was a bit dissapointing though, as the day we were supposed to go to the national park we found out that a tuc-tuc couldn't make it up the mountain so we would have to do a tour. However, the tour had already left that day. A round of free mini-golf at the guest house opposite ours only staved off boredom for an hour. Alex and Hannes fought the boredom bravely with alcohol, I just went to the room and read.

The national park tour was a farce, you should never go on it if you get the opportunity to. We were expecting trekking through jungle, but that had been banned since a casino had bought the whole national park. There used to be tigers, but they hadn't been sighted in 10 years, and then one of them was lame. There should be water at the waterfall, but it had dried up. There used to be tea at the tea plantations, but not anymore. What we did see was an old casino, and the new one being constructed. Not a great tour!

 -The waterfall with no water-







Kep
 
I made a very short stop in Kep, just one night, whilst Alex and the Germans stayed for an extra night. I am aware that time is running out as we have to be in Singapore by 2nd March and we still have to go through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand (again), and Malaysia. It just isn't going to happen. I got my ticket to Vietnam.

The bus to Vietnam was long, hot, and generally unpleasant. I did meet 3 people from Kent who were nice, as well as a lady from Chester who was travelling around working in orphanages since she had been widowed and lost her son in a car accident. She was pretty inspiring, and trust me I am not easily inspired.

The border crossing between Cambodia and Vietnam








Saigon
 
I spent the first day in Saigon walking around taking in the city, and to be fair loved it. It was nice just to have some time to myself and some silence. Don't get me wrong, I love travelling with Ant and Alex, but everybody needs some alone time (no sexual references intended).

I went to the war museum, which starts off very light-hearted with tanks and helicopters sitting in the courtyard from the Vietnam war. However, once you delve inside it all gets a bit morbid. There are some horrific images from the war, unnecessarily so. The whole museum is dedicated to showing how evil America is, and to be fair, they were pretty...nasty. The propaganda is a bit too jingoistic for my liking. I did like the quotes taken from the American declaration of independence juxtaposed with descriptions of some of their war crimes, highlighting the injustice of the war.

Afterwards I headed to the reunification palace which is just funny to be honest. I didn't have a guide, so I probably didn't understand the significance of many of the rooms I saw. Just walking around its 1970's decadance reminded me of Tracy Island from Thunderbirds. Unfortunately I did not see Thunderbird 1 blast out from the roof.

In the evening I met up with Tom and Kev, two guys who we originally met in China. It was great to see those guys again. They had bought motorbikes in Hannoi and spent a few months biking down to Saigon. It sounds amazing, and I would love to come back and do that. I'm not sure how mum would feel about it! We went out to a few bars and I bumped into the 3 people from Kent who I met on the bus on the way into Vietnam. We ended up having a big night out in a reggae bar. I am a big fan of Saigon.

Alex, Hannes, and Toni arrived the next day. They did not have a good introduction to Vietnam as Toni had his backpack stolen by the motorbike driver who took them to their hostel. Fortunately, the hostel staff knew who he was, so went around to his parents house to tell them. The guy brought back Toni's passport and cashcards but not his $200, bag, camera, ipod etc. He claimed he "found them somewhere". Toni reported him to the police and he got arrested, and according to the policeman will go to jail for a year. No sign of any of Tonis possessions though.

I got to ride around on the back of Kevs motorbike around Saigon (which is an experience in itself) whilst everybody else went to the war museum. We went to find a snooker hall which was in the middle of nowhere. It was great fun despite losing 4-0.I blame it on me drinking whilst Kev had to drive.

Thats right, you get a snooker glove so the cue doesn't stick in the hot weather.







Dalat
 
Next we headed up to Dalat, a mountain retreat for the French to escape the heat of Saigon back in the day. The town is quite European, and good to walk around.  However, the best of Dalat is out in the countryside. We ended up booking a canyoning day after rave reviews by some Australians who had just done it, and we weren't dissapointed. It is one of the best days we have had whilst travelling so far I would say.
You start off with some absailing down dry walls, in some beautiful countryside, before heading over to the river. Then the real fun begins. It starts off with you absailing down into the river before floating down it for a while and "watersliding" down some rapids on your back. After some floating down the river and splashing about in a waterfall you have a 20 minute trek (feeling very much like vietcong) through the forest alongside the river.

They say you shouldn't swim for 30 minutes after eating, and I think that should apply to absailing down a 30m waterfall as well, which is what we did. It was the first time I actually felt that fear in my gut, but a lot of fun. I got a good video of Alex falling over which I have uploaded to Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/36634627). After lunch was definately the more extreme half of the day. After the waterfall you can do some cliff jumping from 12m alongside another waterfall into a pool at the bottom. Alex didn't do it because you had to have a running jump to clear the cliff below and he didn't trust himself not to trip over or "forget how to use his legs" as he put it. I loved it, and did a few more jumps from the 9m high one as well  (http://vimeo.com/36269935). The day finished with a steel toboggan run which was also great fun.

Nha Trang
 
Nha Trang is a beach resort area which is apparently famous for being a party town (it isn't much of a party town). The area is nice enough, but we have seen enough amazing beaches by now that the beach just seemed okay. I just spent my days here lazing around and swimming in the sea. I had a bad neck so got a massage for 30 minutes. It didn't fix my neck but it was amazing, the best massage I have ever had. I moved on a day earlier than Alex and the Germans again. I have kind of accepted that I won't be able to catch up Ant anymore though. He is too far ahead of us and whenever we move he seems to have moved on twice. Its a shame really but we will see him soon enough.

Hoi An

I arrived in Hoi An after a pretty horrific overnight bus ride. It was a sleeper but it was all very cramped. I was just grateful that I had an attractive girl next to me and not a big hairy bloke. We got sheparded into a free taxi which took us to a hotel. I ended up sharing a room with a girl called Angelina because it saved us both a fair bit of money and neither of us minded. Turns out she is really nice anyway.
We spent the day walking around Hoi An, which is a beautiful place. It has lots of old buildings all painted yellow, and sits nicely alongside a lazy river. There are over 400 tailors in the town, and you can get anything custom made...anything. You can get a very fancy 3 peice suit made for $99, all custom tailored. You can pick any design out of any magazine or internet image and they will copy it. To put them off asking me I said that all I was after was a pair of swim shorts, but turns out that they can make them as well. I'm not sure I really need a tailored pair of swim shorts! Another plus is that beer was 3000 dong per half pint, thats about...10p. We got a bit drunk in the market and Angelina got her palm read by a Cambodian who couldn't speak English so it had to be translated by the waitress.
Angelina bumped into a friend called Adam who she met in Saigon, and we all went to the marble moutains the next day on scooters. That was a lot of fun. Afterwards we walked onto a 5 star resort and used their private beach, not a soul in sight apart from us. The staff didn't seem to mind for some reason.

Hoi An by the river









I saw Alex, Toni, and Hannes again in the evening and I went to a few bars with Alex. I moved onto Hannoi the next day though, whilst they are sticking around in Hannoi for a few more days. It has been funny being a day ahead of them, seeing them for a day, then leaving again. I kind of like it. It is a good mix between time alone and time with good friends.

I flew to Hannoi Saturday morning, opting out of the 18 hour bus ride. A flight was cheap enough for it to be worth while. Although to be fair, I spent most of Saturday holed up in the hostel. In the minibus from the airport to the hostel an old Malaysian lady befriended me and even ended up chosing to stay in the same hostel as me instead of the one she had booked. she is sweet. The hostel is really great though. Hannoi Backpackers is the place to be. I met a guy from Melbourne called Sam in the dorm who had 3TB of films on his laptop so I stole a lot of them and just spent the evening skyping the family. The next day (today) I did a free walking tour of the city. There wasn't really any information but it was nice to see the old quarter and just walk about. You get to meet a lot of people as well. After I walked to the Temple of Literature, which is a great temple, but I am still a bit templed out from Asia.

And that takes us to today. I have just been out for an Indian with Sam and 2 girls in our dorm. I'm still having a great time, and Alex will appear tomorrow with the Germans (hopefully). I did actually miss everybody a lot for a bit...but it passed. I'm joking of course, I miss you all!

Cambodia so far

So, lets get the travelling situation out of the way first, before explaining where we have been, and what we have seen.

Currently, Alex and I are travelling with 2 guys from Germany, one called Hannes who we originally met in Hampi (India) and his friend, Toni, who met up with Hannes for South East Asia. Ant, on the other hand, is currently travelling with a guy from Thailand called Sab, whom he met in Thailand on new years eve. Sab is pretty loaded, as he gets given money by some guy from Singapore for coming on holidays with him. It works out great for Ant as Sab is paying for everything for him, including the 5 star $260 dollar a night hotel. Not that I'm jealous, in our $2 a night hostel. Ant is now in Vietnam, so hopefully we will meet up with him there.


First stop in Cambdoai was Siem Reap, probably the most famous place in Cambodia for being home to the place they dub (like a hundred other places we have visited) the eighth wonder of the world, the Angkor Wat temples. We hired bicycles and travelled out there, occasionally hitching rides on the back of tuc tucs. It was a great day cycling around, temple to temples, stopping once to feed the monkeys some banannas a local kid sold us. The first temple we saw, the most famous was impressive, and supposedly the largest in the world. However, it would be more interesting with a guide to explain the carvings to you, but being lowly travellers thats the kind of luxury we do not extend to ourselves.

Our favourite temple was the one where some of Tomb Raider was filmed. Nature is slowly taking over, as huge tree roots snake their way through the ruins, making for some crazy sights. Whilst it is amazing, the pictures make it look better than it is. In Hampi you felt like a proper explorer, climbing over temples without another soul in sight. In Angkor Wat there are lots of tourists around, and your imagination cannot run away with you as much when a Chinese person shoves past you hitting you with their 20 inch camera lens on the way past.

The rest of our time spent in Siem Reap was less exotic. We played counter strike in an internet cafe a few times (England vs Germany of course) and got a couple of fish spa's ($1 for 20 minutes with a free beer). The Germans had friends who are also travelling who we met up with and one turned 20 years old whilst sat in a fish spa. That was a surreal experience for me, sat with a beer in hand, having my feet nibbled by fish, whilst a group of Germans sat around me singing happy birthday in German.

After we had exhausted the extensive cultural opportunities of Siem Reap we travelled down to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Don't get any mistaken ideas of a bustling metropolis however, it isn't particularly busy. I met up with Ant that night to watch Man United in a bar. Sab came and kindly bought me a few beers and some tea. The next night they came on a night out with us and Sab paid for all our drinks pretty much (including a $40 bottle of gin) as well as paying for Hannes to get completely into a fish spa.

Our cultural experiences in Phnom Penh involved going to the killing fields, one of the sites where Polpot murdered thousands of Cambodians as part of his genocide. The tuc-tuc drivers offer a trip there as part of a package where afterwards you go to a shooting range, which seems like some kind of sick humour. It is essentially just a field, but it has a great audio guide explaining everything, making it worth a visit. The worst bit is the teeth lying on the floor, where the rains have washed them up from the mass graves, or the killing tree, which soldiers used to swing babies against before chucking them into the graves.

Whilst in Phnom Penh it was my mums birthday...happy birthday mum.

We moved onto a place I cannot pronounce or spell next...please wait whilst I google the name...thank you...Sihanoukville. When we arrived we could not find a room for love nor money. It was Chinese new year and the place was packed. Eventually a guy in a hostel told us he had been sleeping in the attic of a bar, so we headed there and slept there for a few dollars. It was literally wooden floorboards, with a plastic mattress but it was better than sleeping outside.

After a few beach days we rented scooters and headed out to some waterfalls. Whilst crossing over one Alex fell over and lost his sunglasses and a sandal over the edge. We managed to retrieve the sandal but the sunglasses are probably sitting atop a 5 year old Cambodian kid. I happened to catch Alex mid fall in a photo.

The day after I went diving with Hannes and Toni which was a lot of fun. for $65 you got a 2 hour boat ride, breakfast, 2 dives, lunch, and a 2 hour boat ride back. I had a really bad stomach (if you know what I mean) and everytime I equalized I nearly followed through. I was sick on the boat on the way back, and for some reason felt the need to explain to everybody that 'Im not sea sick'.




And that almost takes us up to today. We are now in Kampot, where we will explore some caves in a national park before moving onto Vietnam.

We are having a great time, and hopefully we will meet up with Ant again soon. 150 days down...so far so good.