So here goes entry number one....
Well after a farewell (emotional one!) with the parents at the airport, I am boarding the plane and the reality really hits home quite how long it will be until I am back and all the adventures that lie before me in the coming months....to say I was slightly scared would be an understatement! Anyway, not too long to ponder this thought as I quickly get chatting to the Aussie guy who is sitting next to me on the plane (who is flying home via Bangkok) which helps pass the time. Flight was alright - did some catching up with recent movie releases, got a few hours shut eye, and ate some very curious-looking in flight meals.
So 10ish hours later and we touch down in Bangkok, and the sweltering heat hits me for six as soon as I step off the plane. Got heat scanned for swine flu on the way in, which was slightly unnerving given my body was struggling to climbatize to the humidity as it was! Quite strange actually the number of people I have seen so far wearing face masks. Anyway got a taxi into town with a guy who was on the plane - I got particularly excited as it was a VERY bright pink comedy-looking taxi, only to later discover that these same taxis are actually ALL over Bangkok - what a blatant tourist I am! Very amusing to see the different rules of the road over here - or more or less, that there are no rules! Cars just swing between lanes with little concern for anything as sensible as indicating or blind spots. And apparently overtaking on the hard shoulder is perfectly acceptable behaviour! Anyway arrive at the hotel (which is actually quite nice) to meet up with the tour company who will be escorting me through Cambodia for the next 2 weeks. I am allocated a room with a really nice Aussie girl called Jamie who is now my permanant roomie which is good. Meet up with a tour guide, a Cambodian guy called Nak. Really relieved that we have a local taking us along- I think some chirpy Western (probably American) tour guide would have really taken something away from the experience. Also Naks family have personally fallen victim to the horror and torture of the Khmer Rouge regime, so as you can imagine he is a really interesting person to talk to (those who don't know about this, please do some reading up homework as I am sure I will be making lots of references to it whilst in Cambodia!).
So anyway the whole group go out for dinner at a restaurant nearby, all the food is very nice but VERY hot. I order a special that is allegedly osterrich - and I say this with some scepticism as it tasted EXACTLY like beef. I have my suspicions that they are simply masking it as osterrich to lure in clueless tourists like myself who think they are being really 'out there' by ordering osterrich! Either that or it was dog.... but that doesn't really bear thinking about. Being the dog lover that I am, I hate seeing all the stray dogs that are all over this part of Asia (fear not Mum & Dad I have been resisting the urge to pet any of them!). So after dinner a few of us go for a wander in Khao San Road (which is the backpacker district in Bangkok). It is a pretty mental area - lots of seedy bars, blaring music, neon lighting everywhere and lots of people constantly harassing you to buy variations of the same rubbish. Also, anyone who has been to Bangkok will know that there is just prostitution and sex trade everywhere, which I guess is just sad fact of life for a lot of people here. Bangkok is very close to what I had expected (if anything, maybe a little bigger) - it is fast-paced, humid, dirty, hectic....and generally quite bad smelling! But despite all that, it can't be said that it isn't a city with character and is a really vibrant place, and somewhere I will probably be passing through again in a few weeks. Also it is a city that appears full of contrasts (something I am sure I will see elsewhere on my travels) - huge elborate bridges and grand temples, right next to ugly derelict buidlings and loads of slums. The poverty is quite in your face.
So anyway, this takes me to the point where I am heading over on bus to the Thai-Cambodian border at Poipet where we will travel onwards to the city of Siem Riep. Some trivia for the day - Siem Riep actually translates to ''Kick the Siamese out" - by Siamese they are referring to the Thai - how very neighbourly of them! (Cambodian people hate the Thai). In other news, I have already managed to blow the fuse on my universal plug adapter and broken my new cheapo watch (nice 1 Pip!) - looks like some shopping will be in order.
Right then, stay tuned for more - although don't expect such lengthy detail next time (can imagine this is quite a tiring one to read + I am managing to hog the computer for quite some time!). Photos also to follow.....
So we rise early to cross the Thai-Cambodian border at Poipet, an easy enough process although immigration control is quite literally a metal shack set off from a muddy track. This sort of sets the scene for the type of buildings that can be found all over Cambodia. People had actually warned me off entering Cambodia by road as it used to be in such a terrible condition (Thai airlines used to pay to keep it so, so that tourists would continue to fly over instead). Fortunately enough the road has recently been redone so it was a reasonably smooth journey, as least as smooth as could be with Cambodian driving standards (similar to Thai, but with more horn usage!). Anyway we passed some truly spectacular scenery on the journey onwards to Siem Riep. We stay here for 3 nights and it is a city I really really liked, VERY diferrent from anywhere I have ever been and lots going on, it also has a very safe feeling about it as it is well supervised all hours of the day by a large fleet of tourist police. Although, nice a city as it was, it is where I saw people living in some of the worst conditions imaginable. It didnt really help that alot of their homes were flooded at this point but there were families everywhere who barely had 4 walls to their name, let alone food, water or basic sanitation. Gave me a massive culture shock. But despite all this, from those that I have met the Cambodian people seem to be some of the friendliest, and in many cases actually the happiest, people I have ever met. Anyway I won't go into too much detail about the 3 days in Siem Riep as they were pretty action packed, but highlights included....
Throw into all that quite a few $0.50 Angkor Beers (yes, thats 30p a pint!) and a lot of amazing Khmer (Cambodian) food and thats a pretty fair summary of things.
I'll also take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been adding to the message board - much appreciated, otherwise I think I would lose the motivation to keep writing this thing - keep it up!
Oh and to Clare - Well spotted, it is indeed the same temple that is in the tomb raider movie! Full marks!
Onwards from Siem Riep we stopped for a night at a town called Kampong Cham. This was far less trodden on the tourist trail - you could tell this not only because of the lack of people constantly heckling you to buy things on the street, but by the way everyone stared at you so intently for being white! Never have I felt quite so much like an alien! Very bizarre! That said, it is not a malicious sort of stare, people are obviously in the large part just intrigued, and most will smile or say hello.
Whilst here we visited the island of Ko Paen, a short ferry ride over the river - although I use the word ferry loosely as this was closer to simply a floating wooden raft, which actually temporarily broke down while we were on it in the middle of the Mekong river! Anyway once there we cycled through the island's very rural village, which was pretty amazing and really did feel like being on another planet. The children here were the friendliest I have ever met (for once they were not trying to sell you anything!) and they all come spriting out of their houses to sa hello as we came past - it was obviously quite a rarity for them to see Westerners.
One thing I loved in the town of Kampong cham - every evening from 5-6 there is a free aerobics class on the banks of the Mekong river (see photos!)- I went along to join in! It is very fast paced and so much fun - I wish I could finish every working day like this!
Got up the next day & made our way over to our home stay in a tiny mountain village called Chambok where we would stay in local homes and eat in the community. As we drove out there it was quite literally in the middle of nowhere, miles and miles from even a road! he fact that it was raining and slightly flooded as we drove out there did raise concerns in my mind about getting stuck out there longer than intended! When we arrive we made about a 6km trek up the mountain to a really impressive waterfall where we could swim, very refreshing. The food the locals cooked us was really nice and the accomodation not at all bad by Cambodian standards (wooden huts on stilts). And unique as experience though it was, I did struggle somewhat to adapt to the local sleeping schedule. As there is no electricity, it is heads down with the sunset by about 7-8pm and wake up time.....yes, you can guess it, with the sunrise - at about 4am (and as my parents could tell you, I am NOT a morning person!) And there really is no choice in getting up at this time given the 100 or so cockerels all going off around your hut, lovely! It is fair to say that after this everyone was really quite looking forward to the next few days we would be spending on the coast at Sihanoukville!
Also on the bus on the way south we were lucky enough to get to try one of the local delicacys - friend Tarantula with Garlic - not as horrendous as it sounds, although a little hairy for me!
So after a pretty busy week by the time our stay on the coast came round it was very welcome! To be honest there is not a huge amount to say about these 3 days as most were spent laid flat out in front of the sea! (I fear this is what most of my diary entries will consist of when I get to Australia!). Sihanoukville has nice enough beaches - although slightly ruined by the amount of children trying to sell you stuff (and skipping school to do so) - some of these kids are really quite persistant and in many cases, rude (particularly a young boy for whom we labelled 'ratchild'!) Ate a lot of nice BBQd seafood whilst there and of course some of the obligatory cheap cheap Angkor beers (I swear this country is going to give me a beer belly!) Oh and literally everyone in the group managed to get varying degrees of sunburn - for once I was actually quite sensible and slapped on the factor 30, but I still managed to come off with the typical 'Brit abroad' sun burn marks! (I think this was due to the malaria tablets everyone is on which make you more susceptible to burning!) - so the evenings were spent heavily dousing ourselves in moisturiser (everyone knows that the key to a good tan is is moisturisation!) So anyway it was up at the crack of dawn to make our way over to the countries capital Phnom Penh. Cue the bus journey from hell. We got a local bus which was really busy and as if it wasn't bad enough that the driver has the Cambodian kareoke TV cranked up to full (they have these on all their buses, listening to it for a few hours will make you go insane!) - but then the air con goes and breaks - now we are talking 30 degree heat with no air circulation. Needless to say it was NOT pleasant and felt like one of the longest 4 hours of my life!!
So after the bus journey of doom we finally arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital city. On first impressions it is quite an intimidating place - very fast-paced, very busy, hot, quite smelly in parts, and again, lots of poverty everywhere you look. But after having stayed there a couple days and discovered some calm within the chaos I started to really like the place and wish I could have stayed longer.
On the first day we were there we visited the Tuol Sleng S21 museum - the former S21 prison used by the Khmer Rouge regime to hold and repeatedly torture prisoners. As you can imagine this was a really quite harrowing experience and the brutality of the guards here really shocked me. I found the whole warped rationale for the regime really chilling - Pol Pot (leader of the movement) wanted to 'Start from year 0', from nothing. His intention was to kill all of the educated population within Cambodia - he thought that the uneducated would not think to question his actions. And not only that but he made no exceptions, killing the elderly, the young, the pregnant, babies even. It is estimated that during the Khmer Rouge Cambodia lost over 2 million, or 30%, of its population. Rarely will you find a Cambodian family today who did not lose a member during these 4 years. And all this happened only a mere 30 years ago. The most haunting part for me was staring into the faces of the hundreds of photographs displayed of people that were lost during this time. As in the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge were meticulous about documenting all they killed - often before and after torture. Furthermore you could see photos of the perpetrators who ran the prison - many of which were only young boys of around 10 and up - these were uneducated children, many of which who could not read or write, and were brainwashed into doing the Khmer Rouge's killing, brought up with absolutely no respect for human life. As you can imagine it was a really saddening experience. When the prison was discovered by the Viatnamese army and the Khmer rouge overturned there were only 7 left alive in S21 - 3 of which are still alive today. We were lucky enough to meet one of these who actually just happened to be visiting the Museum that day. He told us about his time spent their and how he was treated - How this man is even able to set foot in the place after what he went through I will never know. After the museum we went to visit the Killing Fields just outside of town - this is where the Khmer Rouge buried thousands and thousands of people in mass graves. Even as you walk about you can still see bones in the ground that have since been uncovered over time. Today the site has a memorial stupa to commemorate all those that Cambodia lost - the tower is full of hundreds of skulls that have been excavated from the graves (as you can see in my photos).
So after a very draining day (both due to the horrific bus journey and the afternoons activities) a few drinks were definitely in order so we have a few drinks by the river. Jamiee actually manages to clear a bar out of their passion fruit stock due to some particularly tasty Passion fruit Mai Tai's! After a massive lie in on Day 2, we venture through town to the Russian markets to see whats on offer. These are a HUGE maze of stalls selling anything and everything and again, at bargain price if your willing to barter. You say you want $10?! I'll give you $2! - this tactic actually works most of the time!So this takes me to the end of our stay in Cambodia as we rise early the next day to head to the Viatnamese border to go onto Ho Chi Minh city.
So, in summary, I loved Cambodia - amazing place, interesting history, lovely people, beautiful scenery etc. I was a little shocked by how much poverty is evident all over the country and it is hard to have to continually refuse beggars for whom everyday life is clearly a struggle for survival. Also, it is still very corrupt in many respects. Anyway beautiful place with lots of character - definitely worth a visit!
Now as I am very quickly becoming behind on this I am going to have to steam through the last week or so without missing out too much of the essential detail...
So my organised tour finished up in Ho Chi Minh city in the south of Vietnam. This is an aboslutely mental dam city (as I am coming to realise is a chracteristic of most cities in SE. Asia) and the roads are a constant sea of scooters racing in every direction. Now its ok to say this now as the strategy proved effective - but honestly, the best way to cross these huge roads is to simply stride across with no hesitation, which is often easier if you just dont look at the hundreds of scooters coming straight for you - they will always move around you. And I thought Italian drivers were mad...the Vietnamese take this to a whole different level! Anyway Vietnam was very different to having been in Cambodia the last 2 weeks - it is far more developed / built up - although a bit of civilisation was actually quite welcome at this point!
I had one night in Ho Chi Minh with the tour group - and of course as it was the last night everyone was keen to get particularly, how shall I say.. 'high spirited' (...smashed). And when you are starting dinner with $1 Tequila shots it is only heading one way really (please see photos for evidence). So I wake up the next day (stonking hangover) and have to find my way over to the guest house I have booked myself into (I nearly end up staying in some scummy place with rats / cockroaches....but thats a long story). By this point I was really welcoming the end of the tour and looking forward to going it alone - whilst it was nice to have things organised for me, there were some characters in the group I knew I wouldnt have been able to hack for too much longer! (I owe a thanks to Harry for warning me off doing a longer tour) Also I was welcoming the independence / being able to set my own pace.
So I had a nice few chilled out days in Ho Chi Minh, highlights of which included:
- Going to some amazing markets - got myself a tasty little new necklace & Jamiee made some little Vietnamese woman's year when she bought 6...yes 6...bottles of knock off perfume from her stall!
- Lots of good food - some of the best noodle soup I have tasted (and trust me, I have eaten ALOT of noodle soup here) and discovering this amazing Vietnamese BBQ place where you order up a load of marinated meat / seafood and then you cook it all up yourself on BBQ hotplates set into the tables
- Boat trip round the Mekong Delta - just a day trip out where I went on various boats and visited some island villages. Ok, but VERY touristy, there were clearly just bus load after bus load that passed through every day and so it sort of didnt feel that genuine.
So I flew up to Hanoi in northern Vietnam, the counties capital. Whilst I would have liked to have taken my time and worked my way up through Vietnam I am running on a VERY tight time schedule if I wanted to try and make it to Laos too. I managed to find myself a real gem of a hostel in Hanoi - really cheap (3 quid a night in a dormitory room) and really clean, large rooms and very sociable with a bar / movie room etc. Its nice to find somewhere with shared rooms not only as it is so much more sociable, but so much cheaper. I spend a couple days exploring Hanoi - first stop as usual being the HUGE markets (I swear I will have done the market tour of every city I visited!) Anyway needed to pick up an alarm clock as I broke the one I was using - by far the most useful thing I packed, without it, I would fall to pieces! Actually when I was in the market, for the first time I felt like there was a bit of hostility from the locals - people sort of looking at me like 'whats she doing here?!' Think it is because these were far less touristy than some of the other markets I had been too. It was good fun exploring anyway, although it smelt BAD as were full of stalls selling all sorts of dried fish and seafood. Actually the Vietnamese seem to really like drying out a lot of their food, fish in particular, which I simply don't understand - why ruin such a good thing?From Hanoi I also went on a 3 day trip out to Halong bay, which was amazing, definitely one of the best things I have done. Although it is absolutely jam packed with tour groups, once you get out in the boat it is beautiful. Also was a good group of people on the boat which made things. We did all sorts of things whilst there - swimming, kayaking, visited a cave, fishing (very unsuccessfully), getting attacked by Monkeys (Tom) and generally eating ALOT of seafood (as all food was included we were fed pretty much constantly!) You can tell the bay is set up for tourists by the women who row over to your boat in the middle of the night selling everything you could possibly need - vodka, beer, batteries, pringles! That is what I call convenience shopping! (although sad that these poor women have to do this). Also on one of the days of the trip we trekked up this mountain which made me happy to have actually got some proper use from my hundred pound trekking shoes - although we chose to take the hard quick route rather than the slow easy one, and it was literally like scaling a mountain face! Oh and also when I got to the top of the mountain I had a panic that I had lost my passport (was not in my handbag where I thought I had left it) - I then had to wait until we had carefully treated our way back down until I discovered that I had actually moved it into another bag (phew!)After the boat trip I went back to Hanoi for a couple more nights as it was such a cool & cheap city to stick about in. What I particularly liked about the Hanoi is that although it is yet again another crazy Asian city, where you can get lost in all the confusing streets, there is this HUGE peaceful lake right in the middle of all the madness - whenever I get lost, I just look for the lake! So I spent a couple days generally exploring the city, finding some amazing restaurants, eating ALOT of noodle soup, ticking off some of the tourist attractions & generally making the most of the all the little luxuries at this hostel (mainly the bar). Oh also we found this store that sells loads of Western food so went and splashed out on a cheese & cracker binge (rarely eaten in Vietnamese cuisine!) - it was incredible!Unfortunately I have just come to realise that I have barely any photos to show for my time in Hanoi (just LOTS of Halong bay) - this is mainly due to the fact that I never remember to take pictures, or that in the evenings I rarely take my camera out for fear of losing it (given my track record with looking after my belongings!) Also I don't want to become one of those irritating tourists who take pictures of EVERYTHING and then end up with thousands of photos I wont even look at properly! Anyway mental note to myself to make more effort with my photography as 200 odd photos to show for 3-4 weeks away is probably pretty feeble!So that just about brings me up to date with things, I am going over to Laos tonight via bus - which is a hellish 24 hour journey, but it was either that or a flight in a tiny little propeller plane at 10 times the price - no thanks!
After a week spent in and around Hanoi it was about time I moved onwards to Laos. The downside to this was that it would involve a 22 hour bus ride first (or an expensive flight in a tiny propeller plane which I didn't fancy much). So I arranged the bus ticket through my hostel which also incorporates a lift to the bus station. So out I trot to greet what I believe will be a taxi picking me up to take me there. But oh no, I was sorely mistaken - I soon discover that my prearranged lift is in fact the backseat of a motorbike. Whilst carrying my 17kg backpack. In Hanoi rush hour (mental!). This was a speeding 20 minutes racing through hoards of scooters and swerving from incoming buses/lorries (whilst wearing a helmet I might add for my parents sake!) Anyway the driver delivered me to the bus stop safe and sound.
The overnight bus was actually better than expected - with reclining seats, more like beds than chairs. However I have the misfortune of ending up sitting next to a particularly irritating couple (they had a very mother-son dynamic, & she was basically a bit of a sour-faced trout who was constantly nagging him and he was just a bit pathetic really...). Anyway, moving on....I fortunately enough am able to sleep like a baby on public transport (something to do with the whirring of the engines I think?!) and am out like a light for nearly the full journey.
We arrive in Vientiane late afternoon and I check into the closest, cheapest hostel I could find. As this hostel is pretty basic and cheap - I think to myself, 'you know what Pip, you deserve a treat' . And so I decide to live like a king for the evening - I take myself off for a massage (although only marginally better than the one in Cambodia!) & a 3 course French meal (lots of French influence in Laos). This dinner also involves one of the best steaks I have ever had - all at around £4 a head - incredible! Also managed to get chatting to an 'interesting' guy (and I use the word interesting quite loosely here) in the restaurant so that didnt look like quite such a sad case sat there eating a 3 course meal all alone! Then went and got an early night as had to get a bus to Vang Vieng the next morning. This didnt give me much time to explore much of Vientiane, but to be honest so many people had warned me off spending much time there, plus with my tight time schedule I needed to keep moving!
So I get up to catch a bus to Vang Vieng (3-4 hours) upon which I meet some friendly English guys (Jason & Luke) who will provide me some company for the next few days. Vang Vieng is a small sleepy little town by the Nam Song river, and is surrounded by incredible scenery - huge forested mountains as far as the eye can see.
For those of you unaccustomed to it, one of the big tourist pulls towards Vang Vieng is an activity called tubing. This basically involves floating down the Nam Song river in a huge tractor inner tube, stopping off at various riverside bars along the way. Now the potentially dangerous aspect to this is that you are handed a free shot (of horrific rice whisky!) at every bar you pass - and to be honest, maybe I am just weak-willed but it is pretty hard to say no to! So you can imagine that it is a quite slippery slope into inebriation. Whats more there are huge zip lines and rope swings that throw you into the river along the way - ordinarily I am not sure I would have the confidence to do these (they are pretty high!) - but a few shots down and I was insistent on doing every single one (most a few times over). A particularly amusing part of the day is at one bar where there is mud volleyball pitch - but it is so slippery you can't even stand up, so it ends up loads of us just rolling about in this mudpit - nice. So after a long day on the river, the final leg of which is in the pitch black we get back into town to change and then get back out again. In hindsight I would pick out this point here as where I probably should have drawn the line and said enough is enough - But I didnt of course, and went back out with everyone to the bars in town. This eventually ends up with me crawling back into my hostel (and this was quite literally crawling as they put big metal shutters down which you have to squeeze yourself underneath) and passing out with a DVD on in the hostel lounge area. Anyway I wake up an hour or so later and my bag is gone - including purse, camera, ipod (i.e. my life). After going into panic mode for a while I discover the overturned bag outside with none of the contents left. To cut a long story short, for a few reasons I am pretty sure this was by the hostel owner - a really shady english guy who conveniently appeared after it had happened (plus it is unlikely someone could have crawled under those shutters without making a hell of a racket doing it!) Anyway so I wake the next day not only with my most prized possessions gone, but also covered in cuts, bruises & aches inflicted upon myself from launching myself off every rope swing/ zip line. Its fair to say I had paid the price for all the fun I had had the previous day. I decide to move hostels at this point as I dont trust the owner as far as I could throw him. Also I cant report it all to the police in Vang Vieng as they don't work weekends (helpful!) and will not write a crime report unless I had lost my passport (which thank god I hadn't!).
Anyway not too much time to dwell on my loss as the next day we rent out motorbikes and go exploring to some of the nearby caves and lagoons which was good fun (although I did get surprisingly freaked out when inside these caves). After a day off from tubing I decide it has to be done one more time before I leave Vang Vieng (when in Rome n all that...). And although I have every intention of having a far more tame day this time - it never ends up this way and again I take on every rope swing (one - 8 times over!) - cue more bruises and aches the next day.
Anyway I guess thats everything really to say about that - oh except also that I probably managed to eat about my body weight in pancakes - they are sold my street vendors all over the town and are AMAZING! So after 4 nights there I decide I need to try and make it out of Vang Vieng without anymore bodily harm and with the remainder of my possessions in tow so I catch a bus to Luang Prabang (6-7 hour journey) the next day....
So I get a bus out of Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang - which is about a 6-7 hour journey. 6 hours... EASY, I think to myself, I'll have a nice little bus nap. But infact less than 5 miles down the road and one of the bus tyre punctures. So then everyone is hauled off the bus to sit by the side of the road while the driver and friends attempt a roadside fixture. Now I am just glad they did a decent job on fixing it, as unknown to me at this point I am facing 7 hours of the most treacherous roads imaginable. What I hadnt realised was this journey basically involved weaving our way through a huge mountain range - we are talking tiny winding roads with nothing to the side of them but sheer vertical drops. And to make matters worse this driver seems to fancy himself a bit of a boy racer, and is chucking the bus round the corners at a speed that I'm sure was not entirely safe. So I pretty much spent the duration of the journey clinging for dear life onto the seat in front and convincing myself that this driver must surely manage to complete this journey on a daily basis and everything would be fine! The only (and I mean ONLY) plus side to enduring this journey was that it did give us the opportunity to see some of the most incredible scenery Laos has got to to offer, which was truly spectacular.
Allow me to apologise at this point for the last of photos there will be to illustrate my stories for now. As the camera was taken by the robbing scum in Vang Vieng, I'm afraid the only photos I will be able to offer are ones taken on an old rubbish camera that I had taken as a back up (& has actually since broken...) and various ones that I will have copied from other travellers! I will have another camera by the time I go onwards to Australia!
Anyway after the horrendous journey we eventually make it to Luang Prabang which is a nice town on the Mekong river. I won't bore you with every detail of my few days here, but some of the highlights included; some incredible night markets (bought another amazing necklace), a few very amusing games of bowling, and a particularly 'heated' arguement with a tuk-tuk driver....
So my journey now takes me back to where it all started, Bangkok. And despite my insistence that I would not be getting there via a small propeller plane (which flight a lot of the routes into and out of Laos) I get to the airport and sure enough it is a a little propeller plane - journey is very smooth though.
After a bus journey from the airport into town I now have to traipse about Bangkok to find somewhere to sleep. Throughout my travels I have become far less organised about booking places in advance before I arrive, and although it is often better this way as you can scope places out and negotiate better prices - it is sure as hell not pleasant lugging 17kg about on your back in the sweltering heat trying to find a bed for the night. I usually find that the more time I spend staggering about under the weight of my backpack, the increasingly less picky I become about rooms! Anyway the hunt for a room in Bangkok is quite a hassle as every single one I look at is some overpriced prison cell with mould up the walls - I finally settle for somewhere that is marginally better than elsewhere.
On arrival in Bangkok I am really excited to be back, looking forward to exploring all the parts I did not have the chance the last time. However, despite my initial enthusiasm, things quickly take a turn for the worst in that I start to feel really under the weather. I think this can be attributed to a number of things; lack of sleep both due to nights out & the cheap nasty malaria tablets I have been on which have all rafts of side effects (one of which is particularly crazy, distrubing dreams, many of which involve waking up and feeling like I am freefalling through the air - not nice!) And to add to that I think I must have eaten something a bit off (I was getting a bit too cocky about buying all my meals from street vendors!) - but I guess this was inevitably going to happen at some point in South East Asia and I was lucky to have avoided it as yet. So I then spent the next couple of days in a bit of a blur of feeling terrible. And let me tell you, Bangkok is far from an ideal place to be when you are feeling rough as it is so loud, polluted, smelly with street stalls along every street (which I could barely even look at given I couldnt even stomach food).
One of the days I am there I drag myself out of sick bed, keen to actually achieve something with my day and trek over to the Grand Palace at about 3.30pm only to discover it closes at 4pm, so all the effort was in vain! I do, however, mange to get a crime report from the Thai police, given that they were completely useless in Laos! However, this involves me having to fabricate some story about how I was mugged in Bangkok so that the insurance will pay out (needs to be reported in less than 24 hours).
On the second day I am there I manage to get myself across town to the huge shopping centres in Bangkok (I think even if I was at deaths door I could still manage to shop!). I am pretty pleased with myself as I manage to negotiate the confusing local bus system to get there and end up spending 7 Baht (about 20p) on a journey that the taxis were quoting me 200 Baht (about £4). At the shopping centre I get my hands on a new ipod to replace the recently robbed one. Not until it was gone did I realise quite how dependent I was on my music collection so I was ecstatic to be reunited with it (little did I know it would not be long....but you'll have to stay tuned for that story...).
So after 2 nights in Bangkok and still not feeling myself (although ironically stopping taking my malaria tablets had shown minor improvements) I decide to head southwards to strand myself on a tropical island for a few nights....
After an overnight bus from Bangkok I find myself on the west coast of the southern gulf of Thailand waiting to board a boat to an island called Ko Tao. What the Bangkok travel agency had failed to tell me when I forked out my cash (of course they didnt!) was that the direct ferry route to this island was not operating due to adverse weather conditions. So instead of a 2 hour boat journey, it was in fact a 6 hour boat journey approaching the island from a different angle. The last 2 hours of this journey were particularly traumatic and I swear this boat route should also not have been operating - there were huge waves crashing into either side of the boat throwing everything within it from side to side. Gradually all the passengers were dropping like flies and even I, who does not suffer seasickness, was there with my head between my hands mentally planning out my escape route for when the boat would, inevitably I thought, be overturned. On that note - I think the one thing I will really not miss about South East Asia is constantly fearing for my life whilst on various forms of transport - from crazy driving techniques, to motobike rides, storming sea conditions - I have done the lot!
So anyway we eventually make it to Ko Tao, and as I am still not feeling well I had envisioned a couple of days laid out on a beach with nothing more strenuous than simply hopping into the sea to cool off. However, my plans are completely foiled when I arrive to 2 days of constant rain on this tropical island paradise! Needless to say, I was NOT happy and instead followed 2 days of feeling terrible and staying in bed watching rubbish movies in my room, which fortunately enough, had a TV for once.
However, after 2 days the sun came out and my mood came up and I spent a few days after this reclining on a beach as originally planned. Also went on a snorkelling trip one day where I saw some pretty cool fish, but unfortunately no reef sharks as I had been promised! Also enjoyed a few good nights out in the beach bars on the island which have fire shows every night where these young Thai guys throw firesticks around themselves at an incredible pace. It is also pretty funny watching pissed tourists have a go at this later on in the night - I bet a few of them were nursing some nasty burns as it is obviously no way near as easy as the Thai guys make it look!
Right, massive catch up needed on the blog as I am running weeks behind....
After a few days on Ko Tao I decided to head over to the Eastern coast of Thailand as there is more rain forecast for the west (no thanks!). I make my way (via overnight boat & bus - a far more steady journey) to Ko Phi Phi, another small island. On arrival I once again have the effort of locating a reasonably priced hostel. However, Phi phi has relatively little to offer in terms of budget accomodation if you are a lone traveller (expensive to rent a room on your own) so I end up in the only dormitory style accomodation on the island - unfortunately though, this place is a complete DIVE. Think - 16 people rammed into a far too small room, with 2 fans which were having no success at cooling down the sweltering, smelly room! You felt dirtier after using the showers than when you got in! But desperate times call for desperate measures, and since upgrading would have meant quite significant cost increase (by Thailand standards anyway!) I decided just to just lump it - although it quickly became known as 'the prison' amongst people I had met, some of whom were also staying there.
On the first night I was there I met a couple of girls from Leeds (Hayley & Liz) and we quickly bonded over some buckets of whisky redbull and so became my companions for the next few days.
After a heavy first night (which actually involved me running through a burning ring of fire!) we decided to book ourselves onto a trip onto Phi phi lay - the neighbouring island, and the very one on which "The Beach" (the film) was filmed - please see this link to get jealous http://www.imisstony.com/uploaded_images/thebeach-733014.jpg (to make up for my lack of photos!). As this is such a small island it has no permanant residents and so we thought it sounded like a great idea to go on the trip that camped out on the island for a night - imagining the idea of waking up on a, quite literally, deserted tropical island. So after an afternoon of snorkelling (yet again no sharks spotted) and cliff jumping we headed onto the beach to see our beds for the night. It was when we were shown to some big plastic barrels to use as a sleeping surface that we started to realise maybe this was a better idea in theory than actually in practice! Anyway after a lot of swimming in the bay the rest of the night was spent doing stereotypical traveller activities - playing drinking games & listening to Bob Marley. A real highlight was swimming in the bay in the dark and seeing all the tiny plankton that glows in the dark when you disturb the water around it (as demonstrated in a scene in the beach for those who are familiar with it!) - so its like swimming with hundreds of illuminious sparks around you, amazing. The downside to the trip was that as we had already dismissed the barrels as a sleeping option - it was agreed that the beach would make for a far more comfortable night. However, there were quite a lot of crabs on the beach that came out of the sea in the dark (plus there was the fear that the tide may come up to you), and if you moved up towards the back end of the beach there were quite a lot of rats that kept running out from the forest behind. It wasnt until we were awoken by a scream at 4am by a guy who found a rat crawling across his face that I decided I no longer wanted to sleep at ground level and opted for a wooden bench instead. Needless to say this was far from the best nights sleep of my life. And to make matters that bit worse - I awoke after my 2 hours of sleep to find myself covered in mossie bites (kind of asking for it sleeping on a beach wearing no insect repellent!) So as I say, unique experience - but perhaps better in theory than practice! - also given the cost of the trip it was actually ironically the most expensive nights accomodation I had paid for in South East Asia!
After that we head back to Phi Phi main island for some more time spent on a beach (although the beach here is actually something of a disappointment! - very low tide). And I have one final night out with Hayley & Liz before I leave the next day. Following numerous recommendations we have some amazing (and cheap!) curries at this restaurant on the island and then head to one of the bars to watch some Thai boxing. This is really quite good entertainment - although far more brutal than normal boxing. And what is particularly funny is they then let any willing tourists in the ring who will be rewarded with a free alcohol bucket. Anyway after a really good night at some of the beach bars it is back to 'the prison' for an early ferry to get back onto the mainland.
After my hectic few days on Ko Phi phi I headed over to Krabi on the mainland to get myself sorted before I flew to Singapore to meet up with Nim, who was to become my travelling comrade for the subsequent months. To be honest theres not really much worth saying about these few days as they were really what I would call 'admin days' - washing, banking etc. - all very dull but necessary.
So this brings me to the end of my solo travelling period and my time in South East Asia (although Singapore was yet to come, it is so very different it doesn't seem quite right to bundle together). I aboslutely loved my time in South East Asia - there were many highs (particularly Halong bay & tubing in Laos), lows (that ill period!), loads of incredible (and ridiculously cheap) food, and a lot of really friendly people in (most!) of the locals. Also saw so many ridiculous things in Asia that I just dont think would be found elsewhere - families of 5 riding around on one motorbike, live cats being kept in a fridge (seriously!), children eating mud, young kids with pet snakes - you name it, I've seen it. Although a lot of these bizarre sights often do simply highlight how much poverty is still evident all over the region, which is pretty sad to see. If I have one regret its probably that I rushed through SE Asia at such a pace - you could easily spend 3 months+ doing the route I took. But then if hadn't moved so quickly it wouldn't have given me sufficient time in South America next year which will be worth it I'm sure. And besides, I have no doubts that I will be returning to South East Asia at some point in the future, as there are a few places I already know I would like to revisit on a holiday (......& maybe next time I will be able to afford a slight upgrade in accomodation where necessary!)
Also I'll just say again - thanks to everyone for the messages (Keep it up!), and my apologies I have not been able to respond to everyone personally - keeping in touch is actually harder than I anticipated (limited internet time!)
So this sort of brings me onto the next leg of my journey which would be spent with my good friend Nim (or Naomi to those who arent familiar!). We successfully managed to track each other down in Singapore airport (which is no easy feat as the place is huge!) and headed into town using their amazing undeground system, the MRT - Singapore is every bit as clean as everyone says it is. We get to our hostel, which is a really nice place, great location and with loads of homely touches like free tea, coffee, toast and AMAZING showers (although after what I had recently become accustomed to in terms of showers, I am quite easily pleased!)
On our first full day in Singapore we headed straight to Singapore zoo, following recommendations from various people and guidebooks. We also managed to pick up a companion along the way in the shape of an Aussie guy named Ash - really nice guy, although probably one of the slowest walkers I have ever come across, he was constantly trailing about 10m behind us (those of you who know me, will know I like to walk FAST!) Anyway our zoo experience was somewhat tainted by the fact that as soon as we got there the heavens decided to let loose and it rained torentially for the next 5-6 hours. We bought some fetching green rain macs (check out the photos for evidence!) to try and make the best of the situation, but to be honest it was a bit of a dampener on our zoo trip as many of the animals had decided to do the wise thing...go in for shelter!
Having met a few people at the hostel we decided on our second night to see what Singapore had to offer in terms of nightlife - and it turns out, quite a lot - at a price though mind! After a nice dinner we went to an area called Clarke Quay, really swanky and nice, but with a high price tag attached. We went to a bar called 'The Clinic' where you were all seated in wheelchairs and drinks served in IV drip bags. But as most things were out of our price range Nim and I went and got takeout from the local offie (...shameful behaviour). We then went onto another bar/club and literally danced the night away to a live band that were playing - all in all, a brilliant night.
Final day in Singapore & we (again with Ash in tow) went over to Sentosa island (small tourist island just off from the city) although yet again the weather was not on our side and it was a bit of a grey day. Went on a sky lift to see view of the island and made our way back down on something called 'The Luge' - basically like toboggans that whizzed you to the bottom. After this excitement (and I say that with much sarcasm intended) we headed to Raffles hotel - a famous hotel renowned for their Singapore slings. This was an interesting place (bizarrely there were cracked peanut shells all over the floor of the bar) although we felt a little silly ordering just the one Singapore sling cocktail to share between the 2 of us - at $28 (about 13 pounds) a pop, this was as much as we could afford!
Later that evening we headed to the airport for our (supposedly...) 10.00pm flight. However we get there only to be told off for being later and informed that our flight had been moved forward by 2 hours and was taking off in half an hours time! This was something the airline had failed to inform us - helpful! After a bit more hold up over complications with Nims Visa (it seriously looked like we were not going to get on that flight), we eventually get checked in and have a mad sprint to the gate (which is a LONG way from check in) and managed to make the place by the skin of our teeth....a very close call! Have now made a mental note to check all future flights in advance to avoid the same panic happening again.
So onto the next continent then....
After a pretty horrible flight involving a 2 hour stop over in Darwin at 4 in the morning we eventually touch down in Cairns, Australia at around 8am. Conveniently a friend of mine from Newcastle, Nick, has been living & working in Cairns for a couple months so he was able to sort us out some cheap rooms in the backpacker sharehouse he was living in. This was pretty nice as we both got our own rooms, there was a pool, free internet, plus we got to stay with Nick & friends. It actually reminded me a lot of student flats in first year and to be honest it was just nice to be in a house, where I could leave my possessions about and make a cup of tea when I wanted etc. - having been in and out of hostels for the last month or so, this was a welcome break. And as Nicks landlord had done us a deal on the rooms, we decided to stick about in Cairns for a full week. Now, as this is the longest I had spent in any one place, and I am writing this a week on, all the days have sort of merged together in my memory, so I will try and briefly summarise what we got up to rather than trawling through a day-by-day breakdown!
That brings me to the end of our fun in Cairns, where we then had a very early rise (which we very nearly didnt make...) to get on our bus to Townsville from where we would be going onto Magnetic island.
Right I finally now nearly up to date with this...but you will have to stay tuned for the next gripping installment...
After a final night out in Cairns we were up far too early (7am) to get a bus down Townsville to hop onto a ferry over to Magnetic island just off the coast.
We had booked into a place called 'Bungalow Bay koala village' - which instantly lured us in with the promise that you are actually 'sleeping amongst the koalas'. This however, was a gross case of false advertising for 2 reasons: 1) The koalas are actually kept in a separate locked sanctuary which you have to pay more to enter, and 2) 'Koala village' was not a very apt name - there were in fact only 2 koalas as opposed to a whole community of them! However we son recoevered from our disappointment as the place was really nice, little wooden bungalows in a spacious forested area.
Our first day was spent generally relaxing in the pool / at the beach & as it is a very quiet, chilled out night, we had an early night for once. On our second day we decided to hire out a 'moke' which seemed to be the done thing on the island. A moke is basically like a large toy car (looks much like the sort of vehicle you may see Barbie driving around in! - see pics). However although Nim and I had our eyes on one of the topless numbers, pir stringent budget would not stretch that far! So after some bartering with the guy in the rental place we landed ourselves a little motor called 'Daf' (again, see pics!). And although she was essentially just a tin can on wheels, Daf quickly landed a fond place in ur car! We spent the day taking Daf all over the quiet island where we discovered many beautiful beaches - one of which was completely, 100% deserted & another which to our surprise turned out to be a nudist beach! We also took some fruit up to this particular point on the island where you can hand feed wild rock wallabies (although they actually seemed a little unnerved by me and seemed to keep a safe distance!).
After another quiet night, and having felt we had seen everything we wanted, the following morning we were ready to leave the isolation of the island (& a couple of its annoying inmates...) and head back to the mainland. So after another ferry we found ourselves back in Townsville, which to be honest seems like a bit of a ghost town, probably because it is a less trodden stop on the east coast tourist trail. However it did offer a really nice seafront walkway, with water parks, protected swimming areas, a lagoon and lots of free exercise equipment. All the locals seemed to come down here at sunset to walk/run. Again a pretty uneventful evening, it was our bad luck that we were there on a Monday night when everything seemed to close down at 9pm, so our eating/entertainment options were pretty limited.
Oh I also had a bit of a close call with my camera - got a virus on my memory card which seemed to erase all my photos - every travellers worst nightmare! However the genious guys at Townville camera store managed to retrive all the photos and back them up onto a CD for me - phew!
Next stop - Airlie beach, a nice touristy coastal town & the gateway to the stunning whitsunday islands. Me and Nim had a few days to kill here as we were waiting to meet up with our friends Kathryn and Lauren (who had been playing in the crazy world of heated toilet seats and cat cafes = Japan!!) and who would be joining us for the remaining Australia / New Zealand legs of our trip. I won't spend too much time detailing these few days before they arrived as it basically went like this - Get up. Go to the lagoon. Maybe browse the shops. Usually go out in the evening. - a routine I was quite happy to follow for a few days. Actually one day we did discover a pretty impressive christmas market, where there were some random camels (Australia's alternative to the humble donkey perhaps?!). I also bought myself another nice necklace (there has been a casualty in that my beautiful Viatnamese necklace had recently broken...).
At the end of the week Kathryn and Lauren turned up, it was BRILLIANT to see them (yes, that even deserves bold and caps!) - strange having gone from travelling alone, to half of a couple, then to a relatively large group. Of course a celebratory night out was in order in honour of our reunion. We also met up with a couple we had met in Cairns - Charlie and John, so had a really good night. The following day the 4 of us boarded our boat that was to escort us around the Whitsunday islands, a group of 74 small island scattered upon the Great Barrier reef. As we were keen to avoid the 'booze cruise' type boats (with 30+ paasengers) that many opted for & as Nim is a keen sailor, we had selected a racing yacht that held 15 passengers (this is a link to our boat: http://ozsail.com.au/our-boats/mandrake/). And although the leaflet had depicted the boat leaning up on its side, virtually at a vertical angle (apparently this is proper sailing!) I had convinced myself that this picture was purely for marketing purposes and was not the reality. But in fact I was wrong and within about an hour of getting on board the boat was tipped right over with us clinging onto the other side - this was good fun, but far from ideal on a hangover. Anyway the boat was really nice, a little cosy yes, but after years of caravanning holidays in my youth, I was used to this 'compact living' business! The yacht had 2 crew - a lovely French lady called Ginny & an amusing (....if borderline crazy) character called Dave (the sort of guy with many a long tale about years spent at sea!) We had a really good group of people on the boat too - a perfect mix of boys / girls and different nationalities - everyone got on well pretty instantly. Now this is more for my own record than anything else as I realise it will hold little relevance to my readers, but the group consisted of:
During the 2 nights and 3 days spent on board we were kept entertained with (in bullet point summary as usual...):
After disembarking the boat on the 3rd day we were all pretty gutted to be leaving - although all well overdue a good shower! We also didn't feel great due to lack of sleep, a touch of sun stroke, & a bad case of a rocking feeling having been on the waves so long! However we of course managed to buck ourselves up & smarten ourselves up for a final night out with our boat group. We had a really good time dancing the night away with the Swedes and Juul - perfect end to a perfect few days!
Something I might also start doing on this blog is making a note of any songs that will remind me of certain places/people/trips as I will love reminiscing when I get back. For the Whitsundays, this was definitely >>> Black eyed peas - Meet me Halfway <<<
Right sorry if that was a bit of a long winded entry - wanted to remember a lot of the details for my own record! Next installment - my 23rd birthday on Fraser island - due soon.....
Again massive essay of a read I'm afraid, but lots I want to remember from these few days - may be better as a skim read!
So we moved onto Rainbow beach, a 14 hour coach ride down the coast. After a long nap upon arrival we were delighted to discover that our hostel (which was aptly named 'Pippies'!) were putting on a free BBQ - after enough pot noodle dinners this was a welcome change!
The next day we moved to a different hostel from where our Fraser trip would be departing. Fraser island is the largest sand island in the world & travellers are generally put into groups, given a bundle of food, camping equipment & 4x4s let loose on the island, which boasts a 75 mile beach and various stunning inland lakes to explore. Unfortunately we were grouped with 5 other people who could not drive - leaving the responsibility of driving on the shoulders of us 4 girls and our new pal Graham (English guy from Brighton) - none of which had 4x4 driving experience! However this actually ended up being a blessing in disguise as we all LOVED driving and couldn't wait to get back behind the wheel.
On the first night before we went to Fraser we were unfortunate enough to be landed with a powercut due to bush fires a few miles up the road (temperature had got up to 41 degrees on recent days!) As Rainbow beach is such a small place, it has very little to offer in terms of entertainment when the power goes out. So a group of us (Mark,Ben,Sophie,Kayleigh,Sydney) took a box of goon to the beach and built a small fire - perhaps not entirely appropriate given nearby events!
The next day we rose very early for our first day on Fraser...which also happened to be my 23rd birthday! Thanks to all those who have passed on birthday wishes on here/facebook! The girls had splashed out and bought me not only a birthday cake, but also a giant inflatable flip flop (see pics!) - Nim & I have a history of a love of inflatables! Before departing we had to endure a particularly long speech about the many dangers on Fraser island ('If you do this...you will DIE') & how to handle the truck safely in the sand. Although this did seem a bit over the top at the time, in hindsight I am very glad that our company insisted on such a thorough briefing. Once we had passed the short ferry crossing to the island we started the long, treacherous journey to Lake Mackenzie. Its probably a bit of an obvious comment given that we were on the worlds largest sand island - but jesus, I have never seen quite SO much sand! Although Nim (first in line to the driving seat) quickly worked out how to expertly negotiate the sand conditions. We had a couple of hold ups on route due to a couple incidents of getting stuck in the sand - one occasion upon which a local had to help us unlodge it & kindly advised us to 'drive it like you stole it' - a catchphrase that we really over used for the next few days! Also we had to wait while 3 buses continually got struck in front of us which resulted in a huge arguement between one bus driver & members of our camping groups. However Graham (aka G-ster) managed to get us out of this sticky spot and deliver us safely to Lake Mackenzie. This place was totally worth the drama in getting there - it is a huge lake with white sand and perfectly clear fresh water (no stinger suits required!) - it actually rivalled the breathtaking whitehaven beach, something I had not thought possible. We had a blissful hour here - took a few comedy pics with the inflatable flip flop! We had to hurry back from the lake to set up camp before the sun went down. This time I had taken the driving seat for what was probably some of the most bumpy tracks on the island - it was SO much fun, although not sure the backseat riders enjoyed it too much! Spent the evening getting to know everyone (there were 5 vans of 11 people, so lots of us!). Also the girls put candles in my cake and the whole group sung me Happy Birthday which was nice! Also we had a delicious steak dinner cooked by the team - everyone pitching in, in true camping style!
We all wake up the next day feeling slightly the worse for wear - both due to goon consumption & a bit of a rubbish nights sleep & rise at 6am! Graham drove us to Indian head lookout point where there were some spectacular views of the island. If you looked carefully you could see sharks and stingrays swimming in the sea below you. We also trekked over to the 'Champagne pools' - small pools where you can sit as the waves crash over and make them bubble (...like champagne supposedly!) Us and G-ster held the rest of the group up a bit which I'm not sure they appreciated! In an attempt to encourage some team bonding Graham had been asking about most embarassing stories / celeb spottings, to which one member of the group, Karl, had piped up in his terrible Cockney accent with 'I once met Minty from Eastenders in a cafe'. This is perhaps one of those instances in which you had to be there, but this too became an amusing quote that was repeated multiple times over the next 2 days. After stopping off via a ship wreck, we all went to a nice freshwater creek to cool off. In fact we later had to return to this creek to fill up our water tank as we had run out off drinking water & couldnt find a tap - Nim drunk far too much of this creek water and it didnt quite agree with her! On this 2nd day we also managed to spot quite a few of the wild dingos that are permenant residents of Fraser. Although these may look like cute dogs - apparently they can be quite vicious creatures (well according to our warning talk anyway!) On the 2nd night, after a nice stir fry dinner, there was yet more goon consumption and socialising amongst the group. Particularly amusing memories include:
Third and final day & everyone feeling that slightly bit worse than the previous morning. But we got up, cooked up some scrambled eggs & got ourselves on route to another Lake - Lake Wabby (with both Kathryn and Lauren taking stints in the driving seat). After a long walk, this lake was again stunning, this time slightly murkier water but fine for swimming. Also if you lay still enough you could feel catfish nibbling the dead skin off your feet (for this reason I kept moving pretty constantly, as I wasnt sure I liked the idea of this!) There was also a huge sand dune here which we had great fun running / rolling down into the lake.
It was then time to head back to the mainland for an inspection of the car - something we were all a tad concerned about after stories about $3000 fines! - but fortunately it was all fine. Slightly unnerving thing on this last day, was that there has been a fatal accident that very same day with one of the many 4x4s on the island on one of the routes we had driven just a day earlier. This sort of hit home why the company were so thourough in their safety briefing & there are many rumours that such self drive packages will soon be banned due to the dangers involved.
On our last night in Rainbow beach before moving on, nobody was feeling too energetic after a tiring few days, so after a few drinks with the group we were all heading for bed at about 10pm!
>>> Song to remember: Mylo - Guilty of love <<<
After an early start we get a 3 hour bus down to Noosa. As we were quite late in making arrangements for accomodation here, there was no availability at the hostels we had been planning on. However, by a stroke of luck we actually discovered a 3 & a half * resort that strangely enough was actually cheaper than the usual backpacker digs. Unsure what to expect when we arrived, this place actually turned out to be a gem of a find - we basically had a small holiday villa for the 4 of us. To have our own kitchen, living room, bedrooms, washing machine etc was a complete luxury to us - not to mention to access to a shared pool, jacuzzi and tennis courts. Pleased to have such comforts for a change, we decided it fitting to have a few quiet days - chilling out, catching up on sleep/washing etc. We also enjoyed some decent meals for once - as we stayed 4 nights we each took on the task of dinner one night each (in true 'Come dine with me' style!) So we basically ate like kings for 4 days - it was going to be hard to return to tined soup and pot noodles after this! Noosa was a really nice place to get some downtime - a beautiful town with a nice beach and river running through it, it seemed like the sort of place you may come on holiday if you were an Australian.
Now as I am once again hideously behind in writing this blog (& I suspect that far fewer people are actually interested in reading when it becomes so outdated!) and as there was very little achieved during our few days in Noosa, I am going to brush swiftly over our time spent there. Perhaps the only really noteworthy activity was a trip to Australia zoo - the home of Steve 'crocodile hunter' Irwin for some more croc spotting. Saw lots of standard Aussie wildlife - koalas, cassowarys, snakes - and some not so traditionally Australian - elephants, tigers & my personal favourite.....goats! Kathryn & Lauren splashed their cash on the typical 'holding a koala' pic - Nim & I were too tight with our purse strings! It was a bit strange the way the whole place seemed to be sort of milking everything they could from poor Steves demise - pics, quotes & souvenirs of him everywhere you looked! There was even the option of having a super-imposed photo taken with him - a little bizarre maybe?! Anyway although he was a bit of a maniac, it is clear he did a lot of good work for animals & various conservation projects - but lets face it, he's no match for David Attenborough is he?!
We moved onwards to Brisbane, the first time we would be back in a proper city for a while. Again really not a huge amount to say on this one as our stay was pretty short, sweet and well....rainy! After weeks and weeks of glorious sun - it rained pretty consistently for the 2 days we spent in Brisbane, which put a bit of a dampener on our motivation to be honest!
The few things we did get up to here were:
....and thats about it! Wow, a short entry for a change!
We next crossed over between Queensland to New South Wales (which confusingly have an hour time difference between them!) to arrive in Byron bay - a really nice, chilled out coastal town (one of my favourite places yet!) and a pretty perfect place to be for Christmas. We were staying at a really nice hostel, right on the beach - well recommended to us by a friend of Nims.
First night here we took ourselves out to see the sights of Byron nightlife - ended up at a club called 'Cheeky Monkeys' that very much resembled your standard cheesy backpacker club. This was a particularly amusing night which ended with us all taking a refreshing dip in the ocean on the walk home at 5am! After a day on the beach (an activity I never seem to tire of) our second night was spent around a campfire with people from the hostel. We did a bit more stargazing, something we seem to be making a habit of in Australia. But this time there was a guy who actually knew his stuff about constellations, so we actually learnt a little for a change rather than simply pointing out 'Orion's belt' & making up the rest, as we usually do! Christmas eve, another day on the beach (this time plus the giant inflatable flip flop) & of course another night out in town, as would usually be the tradition at home. Met a really nice lifeguard called Rob, who promised to teach me how to surf (or try at least!) So another pretty late night for us all again - although it was doubtful Santa was going to be able to track us down in Auz anyway!!
We all woke up pretty excitable on christmas day with various small packages/envelopes to open from home. Particularly nice was the audio card I received with a self recorded message from Mum, Dad, Ben & Charlie...and even Dino (thats my dog!) We got out bikinis on and headed straight for the beach....thats right, bikini weather at christmas, it sounds too good to be true doesn't it? Took loads of amusing bikini plus santa hat photos for comedy value - apologies for the sheer quantity of these I have uploaded! We also did some body boarding / inflatable riding - I could quite happily start every christmas morning like this. It was really nice as our friend Juul (Belgium guy we met on the Whitsundays) also made it over to Byron & spent christmas with us and his Canadian friend Arian. For the sake of ease we had paid to have some of the christmas dinner that the hostel were putting on - the idea of doing a full DIY xmas dinner in a hostel kitchen doesn't even bear thinking about! However our meal turned out to be something of a disappointment - although the spit roast meat was good (lamb, ham & chicken) theres something not quite right about no turkey at christmas! Plus I think you'll all agree that half the magic of the christmas dinner is all those added trimmings - roasties, stuffing, pigs in blankets, gravy, bread sauce....I could go on... But unfortunately we had none of these & the salads provided were not much to speak of. The free Sangria went down pretty well though! So we spent a large proportion of the day talking about all the things we missed about english christmas food! We also managed to squeeze in a game of monopoly for traditions sake - although as usually occurs when you don't have any seriously competitive players (normally this would be my brother & cousins!) we quickly got distracted and gave up on the game altogether! Christmas day evening and I managed to fit in a call to the family (Dad gloatingly informed me that they were just about to tuck into their turkey - cheers!) and we all went down for another bonfire on the beach.
Spent Boxing day on the beach with Rob (...thats the lifeguard to those who have already forgotten!) where he taught me the basics of surfing - and at least I knew I was in safe hands with a lifeguard! To be honest, I was pretty rubbish at it, particularly when compared to him (although he has surfed most of his life!) However I did manage to stand up a couple times (...& fall off a lot more) and had a hell of a good time trying anyway.
The following day the 4 of us + Juul hired out a car and headed to Bangalow markets (really nice!) and Nimbin - a crazy little inland hippy village. Anyone who has visited this place will understand why it is pretty bizarre - lets just say we had a pretty amusing evening! On our return to Byron we also made it up to the lighthouse - a lookout point with outstanding views of the coastline and the furthest easterly point in all of Australia.
On the final full day in Byron went for a drive with Rob to see some local sights - however, he was not quite so familiar with the directions as he had initially indicated, and we got a bit lost on the way to some waterfalls called Protester falls. Got there in the end though and it was totally worth the detours! That evening I went for a Thai meal with Rob, which was amazing - the curry was actually better than a quite a lot of those that I'd enjoyed in Thailand! It was really nice to be out for dinner for a change too.
Final day in Byron and the weather was pretty grim - must have been our cue to leave! Unfortunately our flight down to Sydney was delayed by a ridiculous 3 hours leaving us far too much time to kill in a tiny airport. It was almost worth the delay though as not only did we get a free meal (bonus!) but we touched down in Sydney at sunset which looked amazing (see the pics if you don't believe me!)
>>> Song to remember - David Guetta - Memories <<<
We touched down in Sydney in the evening of the 29th - far later than expected due to delayed flight. This time the 4 of us were to be torn apart as Nim & I had booked our New Year accommodation back in July before the others had booked flights. At the time we were disappointed to be parting ways but this actually turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise as Nim & I had landed ourselves in a complete DIVE (I cannot quite stress this word enough!) of a hostel. The room slept 6 but was fit for about 2 and one of my first tasks upon entering was to get rid of a cockroach the size of a small hamster (ok...a mild exaggeration, but it was HUGE). It felt as if maybe you could catch something simply sleeping/washing in the place - a fear that later turned out to be justified as we both ended up with throat / sinus problems as a result of the shoddy air con which must have been fitted in the dark ages. However as accommodation over New year in Sydney is about as hard to come by as a needle in a haystack, we had no choice but to lump it. Fortunately the other 2 were staying in a (relatively nice) hostel on the next street Nim and I went there to eat and shower - we returned to our hell hole in the dead of night only to sleep then leave!
Unsurprisingly I took a pretty instant liking to Sydney as a city, and as there was so much to see/do it was not hard to find activities to keep us occupied & away from that hostel! Spent our first full day in the city ticking off some of the tourist spots - harbour bridge, opera house etc. and scoping out the best spot to watch the new year fireworks the following day. We also had a lot of amusement coming up with imaginative ways in which we could smuggle alcohol into the firework site as you weren't strictly supposed to bring it in (this seemed like a rule that was asking to be broken..). We tried all sorts of tactics - little plastic bags of vodka stashed in our clothes, in our picnic, and my personal favourite - the bottle of vodka hidden inside a hollowed out loaf of bread...can't say we were lacking in originality!
On New years eve we arrived at Mrs Macquiries point (where we were watching the fireworks) at 8.30am and had a long wait (until 12) to get into the ground to mark our territory. It turned out we were perhaps being a little bit too vigilant on the alcohol hiding as the security barely even checked our bags for drink when we went in. Anyway we managed to land ourselves a pretty decent view of the bridge and opera house in front and lots of really nice people sitting around us. However we then had yet more waiting around until everything started kicking off. If anything our only criticism of the experience was that the atmosphere during the build up was pretty disappointing - had expected more of a 'festival feel' - but there was not even any music and many people spent the afternoon sleeping off the early start! Anyway by the time the midnight fireworks came around they were most certainly worth the wait (and you'd hope so given that they apparently take 15 months of planning to put together!) The display was amazing - unbelievable how they can synchronise it so precisely. After the fireworks we met up with some friends we had met on the Whitsundays and their friend, a really nice called Julie from Perth. We all ended up at a very random party in the street, hundreds of people just going for it in the middle of a crossroads (streets were pedestrianised for the night!) - very bizarre. After a while the police showed up and started making a human wall around the revellers - it was at this point we decided to call it a night!
New years day and we achieved very little (a massively overdue blog update on my behalf actually) but in the evening we managed it out to meet up with Graham (who you may remember from Fraser Island) which was really amusing. Spent the next couple of days getting up to more typical tourist acitvities - Sydney aquarium (massive disappointment!) and Glebe markets (really good!) Nim, Kathryn & I managed an early morning run around Sydneys sites - over the harbour bridge, and round the opera house, botanical gardens & Hyde park. Also spent a day in Bondi beach, which had a really good beach, but the town sort of reminded us a bit of Newquay (and not necessarily for the right reasons!) - although it didn't really help that the weather was utter rubbish! We took a walk over from Bondi to nearby Bronte beach which was nice. That evening we went for a bit of a night out with Julie and Pippo in Kings cross (area of Sydney). Ended up at a bar called World Bar where you are served shots in teapots! The novelty factor of this was obviously quite a selling point for us as we managed to polish off quite a number of them! Next morning we were up early (& feeling the effects of the teapot consumption) - but the 4 of us + Julie headed over to Manly (nice coastal town about a 30 min ferry ride from Sydney harbour). Had a pretty chilled out day here on the beach as we had some good weather after a few days of clouds and rain!
Finally the last night at our grotty hostel (we had been counting down every night!) and the following day Kathryn and Lauren were going to Tazmania for 10 days and Nim and I moving over to Manly for some quiet time at the beach - we would all be reuniting in Mebourne.
The hostel that Nim and I checked into in Manly was the complete polar opposite of what we had been staying in for the last week - this place was really small, friendly and homely, with this slightly crazy lady who seemed to assume a sort of motherly role to all the guests staying there - love it! Did something quite 'stereotypical traveller' on our first day in Manly and got my tongue pierced! This is something I had wanted done for a while but had always shyed away from as I didnt think it really looked very professional at work - but now kinda seemed like a good a time as any! However I dont think I really thought about quite how much it would hurt until I actually got into this tattoo place and it was too late to turn back...and believe me, it hurt. I had fully expected to be given some sort of local anaesthetic, but that was wishful thinking. Needless to say the memory of this large tattooed brute sticking a needle right through my tongue will stay with me forever for sure! So I'm afraid its a soup only diet for me for the next few days - rubbish!
So when I last left you Nim and I were in the middle of a short stay in Manly & I had just got my tongue pierced. Therefore on my behalf the next few days followed with a great deal of discomfort, a temporary lisp and a hell of a lot of soup! One particularly exciting piece of news during our days in Manly was that Nims sister had a little baby girl - Charlotte Elizabeth Weir, making Nim an aunty for the second time!
Our next stop from Manly was Melbourne, which would entail a 13 hour bus journey first. However, me being the bright spark that I am nearly managed to catastophically mess this journey up by cleverly buying an online ticket in the wrong direction (Melbourne > Sydney rather than Syd > Melb). Therefore although the lady at the bus station tried to console me by saying that this was a mistake that they saw happening alot (hmmm...) there was no getting round that fact that there were no available seats left on the bus I needed to be on - nightmare! However all hope was not completely lost and in the end they managed to squeeze me on in the seat right up front next to the driver! Now although I was very grateful as it meant I would make it to Melbourne on schedule - it did involve a pretty uncomfortable 13 hour journey in a completely upright seat (the rest of the bus had recliners!) and Michael the friendly bus driver chatting away to me for the WHOLE of the journey - he obviously just appreciated having some front seat company for a change! I have since come to pick out this pretty unpleasant bus journey as my first piece of badluck in a curse that seemed to follow me about for the coming days! (stay tuned for more details!)
Anyway on our eventual arrival in Melbourne we headed straight for St Kilda (a seaside suburb). To be honest we found this place a bit of a disappointment as it was a bit too reminiscent of a tacky english seaside resort - a far cry from the idyllic untouched Aussie beaches we had become accustomed to! So we headed into town to explore the city sights instead - cue my second bout of badluck. Out of nowhere a quite heavily disabled woman at a tram stop punched me! No joke, completely out of the blue, a hook to the right arm. I must just have one of those faces that you want to hit! Anyway that was pretty misfortunate, but obviously something that just had to be shrugged off!
On our second day in Melbourne Nim and I hired out a car for a road trip up the Great ocean road - a stunning ocean lined drive up the coast from Melbourne. This journey took us to various stunning beaches, viewpoints, a lighthouse and eventually.....(7 hours of driving later)....to the 12 apostles - the postcard shot of 12 pieces of rock rising out of the ocean. It was around here that I experienced my third (and hopefully final, given that these things supposedly come in 3's) piece of badluck. When down on one of the beaches a strange hillbilly looking man lurks out from behind a rock and asks me to take a picture of him on his camera. Yes, alright, at this point it still sounds pretty innocent, we all like photos of ourselves on holiday right? However after taking this photo he then aks me if I could take one of him in the nude! I was completely put on the stop and out of sheer discomfort and not wanting to create a scene - I simply agreed! In hindsight I probably should have thrown his camera right back at him (aiming for the crotch region while I was at it!) - What a WEIRDO! Haha. Anyway me and Nim both went totally overboard on taking photos of the 12 Apostles before we hopped back into our offensively yellow car and home via the shorter, (3-4 hr) non coastal route.
The following day Nim and I went with our friend Arian to visit some beaches on Phillip island (small island south of Melbourne). However we weren't able to stick it out on the beaches for too long given that it was an absolutely sweltering 43 degrees c heat. Now although that may sound preferable to everyone at home given you have suffered another downfall of snow - but trust me on this one, 43 degree heat - not nice! Even at night it was a ridiculous 37 degrees, one of the hottest nights in Victoria since records began - thank god we had a functioning air con for once!
The following day Nim and I headed over to stay with our friend Chloe who we met travelling in Greece 3 years ago and who conveniently for us lives just outside Melbourne. We were completely spoilt by Chloe and her parents whilst staying here - double bed, fresh towels, full home cooked meal every night and a cupboard we were told to 'help ourselves to' - the sorts of things you miss most when away travelling! We had a really nice, chilled out few days at Chloes that involved a visit to a small town out in the hills called Sassafras (amazing cream tea!) and a trip out to a town called Mornington on the penninsula south of Melboune. During our stay at Chloes I also decided to take the bold move and remove my new tongue piercing all together, after only one week! It was seriously impacting on my ability to both talk and eat - 2 of my favourite past times, and I was really struggling to ger used to the sensation of it so decided it had to go! On our final night with Chloe we headed into town and to the HUGE casino in Melbourne - I have never been in a casino so large, it was ridiculous the amount of money being thrown about there! Needless to say I do not have the budget to be frittering it away on gambling nor the skills to do so, so kept my purse strings well and truly closed!
After our stay at Chloes it was back into Melbourne town where I was expecting a visit from Rob (the guy I met in Byron...yes, I know what you're all thinking!!) for the weekend. Went out with Rob on the Friday night for a really nice meal in Lygon street (area with lots of restaurants). We then made our way onwards to a good club in town making an unplanned stop on route at a park we called 'Possum park' as it was full of wild, but surprisingly tame, possums. On Saturday Rob & I hired out a car and drove down the Mornington penninsula stopping off in a town called Frankston that had some sort of Summer festival thing going on (full of 'Carny folk'!). We then went onto another small town called Sorrento to stop off at a beach and had some fish and chips for lunch (Rob had total food envy as I ordered better fish than him - winner!) Finally we drove on to the very tip of the Mornington penninsula where there is a national park and we walked to a point called 'Nepean point'. Amazing views but very windy! Also walked past a beach (Cheviot beach) where a past Aussie prime minister called Harold Holt mysteriously went missing at sea (pretty sure this bit actually made Robs day...) Finally headed back in Melbourne direction and out for another meal - Chinese this time, and again really nice (I was beginning to get too used to eating decent food again!) Finally on Sunday woke up to discover we had managed to get not one...but TWO parking tickets on the hire car due to confusion over parking restrictions (I have terrible luck with parking fines!) Anyway managed to shrug off this minor disaster and have a really nice day exploring Melbourne town - a bit of shopping, cafe lunch, and a walk (randomly via this huge gay festival?!) in the Botanical Gardens, before Rob had to get back on a flight home so that he could get back to protecting the safety of Byron's beach the following day!
Right this pretty much takes me up to present day or thereabouts. We still have the Australian open tennis (which my Second cousin from Holland is playing in!) to look forward to before jetting onwards to New Zealand so I will add some details of that onto my next post!
.....and if you made it reading right to the end of this entry....well done, its a mammoth one!! Photos to follow soon....
Following on from my last essay of a post, we had a couple of days still left in Melbourne before we flew onto New Zealand. Over these few days we visited the Australian centre of Moving Image, a bizarre science museum come art gallery with loads of interactive displays & iconic videos. We also had a day out at the Australian open (tennis!) As I had previously mentioned my Dutch second cousin (Thiemo De Bakker to any tennis enthusiasts) was actually playing in this Grand slam - unfortunately though he got knocked out a few days before our visit by Andy Roddick. Anyway we got to see a lot of good tennis on our visit, first a successful match for Roddick, then a victorious Gael Munfils (LOVE this guy, very amusing to watch) and finally a thrashing by Murray. Also we managed to stake out some amazing courtside seats for the Murray match - we were literally front row! The court also had a really good atmopshere - far more rowdiness than you'd tend to see at Wimbledon (being a more regular football attendee this is more what I'm used to!) After the match Kathryn even managed to dash over to the tunnel to get right up close to Andy himself! We stayed after the game for drinks in one of the beer gardens before heading back to our hostel to grab our backpacks and straight onwards to the airport. As our flights were at 8am (Me & Nim) and 6am (Kathryn & Lauren) we had decided that paying for a bed for the night was something of a pointless expenditure - so instead opted for a long night curled up in a corner of Melbourne airport! Suffice to say it was not the best nights sleep I've ever had, but it went pretty quickly nonetheless and we were all boarding our flights to Christchurch before long.
Seeing as this pretty much brings my adventures to Australia to a close, perhaps it is fitting to conclude with a summary of the things I liked most about the this huge country...or the parts of it I was able to see anyway (a.k.a. 'Pips Top 10 reasons why I love Australia'...except theres only 9 on them!)
Anyway as much as I loved Australia I was already looking forward to a bit of variety in New Zealand...and then being thrown back into the 'deep end' of travelling when we moved onwards to South America in March!
Right, I kinda babbled on for quite a bit there (see what happens when I have the luxury of free internet!)...so moving swiftly onwards....
After our early morning flights we touched down into a surprisingly cold & wet Christchurch - conditions that we were not properly equipped for! Therefore the next day was spent traipsing round the shopping scene (which was pretty disappointing) to stock up on clothes that would provide better insulation. We also had a bit of a wild night on Christchurch nightlife scene - which involved about 3 bars, 4 clubs, and a whole lot of dancing! The following day was spent on another distinctly un-touristy activity - going to the gym! So we didn't exactly spend much time soaking up much 'Christchurch culture' - but if I'm honest it didn't look like it actually had that much to offer in that respect! Although we did manage a brief (and by brief I mean in and out within 5 minutes) stroll round the Cathedral & some quick viewings of performers in the World Buckers festival (which was taking place at the time).
This pretty uneventful few days takes us onwards to our stay further up the coast in Kaikoura (this parts a bit more interesting). Now the 'done' thing here is to go out whale watching - but most of us were too tight to splash out on this excursion (its a pretty pricey business!) However of course Kathryn being the die-hard animal enthusiast that she is refused to miss out and took herself off on a whale watching tour solo! In the meantime Nim, Lauren and I hired out one of those ridiculous-looking 4-man bicycle things - however due to financial restrictions we actually ended up trying to cram 3 of us into a 2 man one! Later that day we went for some drinks at a local guy called Jerry's house, where we were meeting a few fishermen who we had arranged to take us out on their boat the following day. At this house we were basically plied with a lot of amazing (&locally produced!) Sauvignon Blanc, crisps & sashimi (raw fish). Before we were then dropped home with a whole bag of fresh catch to cook up for dinner. And what a FEAST we had - starting with 4 fresh crayfish (a local speciality that would cost you around £30-40 in a restaurant) before we moved onto a main of sea perch, cod, chips & mushy peas! We all massively overate & drunk & essentially couldn't really move from the sofa for the duration of the evening!
The following morning we were up bright & early to get on our fishing trip (which had already paid for itself with the amount we had eaten the previous night!) We were picked up by Chris & Nick - 2 hilarious fishermen. Nick in particular was very much your stereotypical 'seaman' as he had lost a whole leg & half his hand in a shark attack in Australia (he actually lost the hand whilst he was punching the shark as it came back to finish him off - talk about survival instinct!) They took us out in there insanely fast boat, we would have been stright over the edge had we not all been clinging onto the sides for dear life! Anyway we had such a good few hours out at sea which involved some very hands on fishing for sea perch (Lauren showed herself to be quite the seasoned pro!) and collecting some crayfish from sea pots. We also got a bit of a wildlife spotting tour thrown in for free as they took us to see seals & albratross'....and the highlight, hundreds and hundreds of wild dophins. As Nick had suggested we could hop in and have a swim amongst the dophins if we so desired - so were were all in there in a flash. And as we were in such a rush not to miss out on the passing dophins, there was no time for such formalities as putting our swimwear on... and we were all stripped down to our underwear and hopping off the side of the boat faster than you can say 'indecent exposure' (Quote Nick 'This is the best fishing trip we´ve had in a while') However, nothing could have prepared me for quite how cold this water was, it literally took the wind out of you as you jumped in. So I lasted it out in the water for all of about....5 minutes (Nim & Lauren showed better staying power) and of course there was no getting Kathryn out in a hurry whilst there were still any dolphins about and she must have lasted a good 20 minutes in what was borderline freezing water...thats dedication!
Anyway we went home that evening with 4 more crayfish and a bag load more of freshly caught sea perch - there is definitely an element of satisfaction in catching and cooking your own dinner! That evening we headed down to a pub with a group from our hostel to watch the tennis (something that was quickly becoming an evening habit for us...).
After a few days in Kaikoura we moved northbound to Nelson, the bus stopping en route via a small winery (wine tasting at 1pm - nice). We were staying in this really nice hostel with this owner who went completely out of way for his residents - free internet, laundry, tea & coffee (all rarities in your average hostel) - he even gave us lifts into town as and when we required it! We spent pretty much every evening here watching the progress of the Australian open as Murray took down each of his next opponents. On one of our days here we hired out an 8-seater car with 2 German guys (Chris & Mattias) and a Dutch guy (Mark) that we met and drove over to the Abel Tasman national park, a large national park positioned along the northern coastline of the south island. When we got there we hired out some kayaks for 4 hours - and whilst I did warn that from my past kayaking experience 4 hours was maybe setting a rather high expectation of ourselves, as we were accompanied by 3 athletic boys...4 hours it was. We started making our way up the coast of the national park and it quickly became evident that Kathryn and Nim were perhaps (how do I put this kindly...) not a very 'compatible' kayaking duo in a twin kayak...not it we wanted to get anywhere in a hurry anyway! The group decision was quickly passed that these 2 would need to be separated if we were to make it even part of the way up the coast in our 4 hour limit. So they paired up with one of the boys each which seemed to get things moving at a far more respectable pace. Lauren and I, on the other hand, were quite the kayaking dream team - much to everyones surprise including our own. We made our way past some stunning beaches, all with a backdrop of huge mountains, something I had never seen before.
After a few nights here we got a bus onto Westport, which is a small town in the middle of nowhere where not much seems to happen (other than New Zealand's biggest drug bust back in 2008). We were only here for 1 night which to be honest was probably a good thing as there was very little to do. Spent the evening taking a nice run to the beach and then Chris (who we had now adopted as part of the group!) attempted to teach us a seemingly complicated card game. It was pretty embarrassing, he was able to explain it to us in great detail in English (not his native language) and we were all just too slow to pick up the basic principle of the game!
Next it was onwards to another equally remote destination, a hostel near a town called Hokitika, a place we had basically come for a prearranged party (organised by our bus). The party is run at this strange hostel by this crazy 84yr old man called Les who has been throwing these parties almost every night for the last 18 years. Les was made out to be some sort of urban legend, but personally I thought he was a very questionable character. Anyway as it was a dress up party, the theme was 'tight & bright' which we translated into wearing swimwear over leggings in a very 80's/superhero like fashion. The evening commenced with a huge steak dinner & continued on with much wine, jagerbombs, and in Nims case - a run through of the full shot menu! Met loads of really nice people and generally had a very amusing night.
After the random party in the middle of nowhere it was onwards from here (stopping via a formation on the coast called the 'Pancake rocks') to a tiny town, although its so small I'm not sure it would even qualify as a town, called Franz Josef, one of my favourite places in New Zealand so far. Pretty much as soon as the bus pulled into Franz Josef I was hauled off the bus to go and partake in the skydive I had already prearranged to do. Now I hadn't actually been feeling much fear or apprehension about the jump in the days leading up to it, or even on the actual morning when my first waking thought was an excited 'Yep, I'm gonna jump out of a place today!' However upon arrival at the skydive company, which was essentially just a small caravan park, with a metal shack where the whole operation was run from, its fair to say the fear well and truly set in. Everything started to suddenly become very real as I was skim reading over the disclaimer form, which read something along the lines of 'Parachutes are susceptible to malfunction, Skydive New Zealand accept no responsibility if this situation is to occur...please sign your life away below.....' So I'm listening to carefully to the safety briefing and the plane from which I will be throwing myself pulls up - and this thing is TINY, fitting 4 people absolutely jammed in like sardines plus the pilot. Meanwhile some silly girl asks one of the skydive instructors ' what will happen if my instructor (the guy you jump with) blacks out mid fall?' She is reassured with the answer....'You really don't want to know love' - I mean, what a stupid question to ask pre-jump?! Anyway although I was now feeling pretty terrified, something I guess is only natural in this situation, there was no way I was turning back now as this was something I had always wanted to do when visiting New Zealand. My skydive instructor Rod introduced himself and fortunately he was the kind of guy who made me feel at ease straight away, reassuring me that 'Pip you are going to love this' (yeah...its alright for you Rod, you do this about 13 times a day....). So after a getting properly suited up, and having a bit of a cringe worthy interview for the DVD I had paid for (Rod: 'Pip how are you feeling about jumping through the sky from 12,000 feet?' Pip: 'Hmmmm.....mixed emotions') it was into a plane with Stephanie, a swiss girl who was jumping with me, whilst thankfully Rod double checked my many harnesses. Fortunately we had a 20 minute scenic flight to enjoy before we got to 12,000 feet. The views over the Fox Glacier and Mt Cook (NZ's highest mountain) were absolutely spectacular, and it was quite clear why this jump is rated 2nd best place to skydive in the world - and thats second only to Mount Everest! As we hit the 12,000 ft mark the door right next to me was popped open and I faced the scariest part of the whole experience - on Rods instruction I was to hang myself entirely out of the plane, letting go completely and waiting there for a few seconds (during which a photo was taken of the sheer terror on my face!). And then suddenly out Rod jumped with me attached. Ironically once I was actually free-falling through the air, all the fear just seemed to disappear. Although it was in fact 45 seconds of free-falling with no parachute, it felt like about 5 - with such a rush of adrenaline rush, everything went by so quickly. Before I knew it the parachute was up and Rod was throwing it into all sorts of flips and turns in the 5 minute descent to dry land, followed by a surprisingly gentle landing. All in all it was a truly terrifying, but brilliant experience - to use Rod's words 'we had a ball in the fall' - and I have a pretty cringe-worthy DVD to remember it all with - featuring me pre, during & post jump - I will try and get this uploaded soon so everyone can have a laugh! In the meantime while all this was going on the other 3 were up to something only slightly less exhilarating.....pony trekking! (although in all seriousness probably more dangerous than skydiving!) However I have since discovered that the following day one guys parachutes failed to open - before to all gasp in panic, they carry a second chute so all was fine - still, glad I discovered this after my jump!
We spent that evening watching the tennis final, lots of very vocal 'Come on Murray' (said in Scottish accents). But unfortunately after a tense 3 sets, the Fed was just too good.
We were up early the following day for a full day of hiking on the Franz Josef glacier, something I had really been looking forward to. We got ourselves kitted out with walking boots, coats & crampons (detachable show spikes for walking on ice) & headed for the hills. Keen to push ourselves a bit Kathryn, Nim & I volunteered ourselves for group 2 of 6 to try and get a bit of a pace. However we didn't exactly move very quickly as we spent so much of the day waiting while our guide Greg (who we disliked at first, but was a bit of a grower) carved ledges into the ice for us to climb on. We had a really funny group with these 2 English guys (Jack & Paul) a Scottish guy (Stuart) and a couple (Chris & Marie). Us 3 managed to quickly make a bit of a name for ourselves within the group with our constant declarations that it was 'snack time' as we were constantly asked 'are you girls snacking again?' and 'everytime we look round you are in your lunchboxes'! We had a very amusing day getting ourselves stuck down various narrow crevasses in the ice, Nim managed to drop her ice pick down a crevasse and at one point she had to hold Greg's hand whilst going down a steep bit of ice! I, on the other hand, must have been stomping about on the ice a bit too enthusiastically as I managed to break not one, but two, pairs of crampons and had to walk the final leg of the return journey with only one on. All in all a very funny, but tiring, day - finished off with a few drinks in the bar & a pretty early night before we were back on the road the following morning.
After an action-packed few days in Franz Josef we headed onto another tiny town called Wanaka. We stopped on route to take a walk to a beautiful lake, but my trusty flip flop broke mid-walk so I had to go it barefoot - bad times! Wanaka, like many of the towns we have seen in New Zealand, is situated aside a huge lake, this one in particular was gorgeous for swimming in.
As it was a pretty chilled time in Wanaka theres not really much to say - except that one night we had a very amusing game of Twister where Chris came very close to beating this girl we had nicknamed 'Strenuous'. On a bit of a tangent to that, she had earned this name by Chris's use of his trusty German-English dictionary - he has meant to describe her as quite hard work to talk to, so we found his use of the word strenuous in this context pretty funny. We got quite a bit of amusement whenever Chris pulled out the dictionary - you should have seen the look of shock on his face when he looked up the German translation of 'obnoxious' after we had used it to describe someone!
As we liked Wanaka so much we actually decided to extend our stay here by an additional night - on the plus side this meant we would finally be rid of the hugely irritating bus driver Joshi who we had been lumbered with for the last week. However it also meant we would be split from Chris, who we had become to used to having around - it was not for long though as we would meet up with him in Queenstown only a day later.
I had been really hoping that Queenstown was going to live up to all the hype it had received from people who had been there, particularly as we had 6 nights here, the longest period we would be spending anywhere in New Zealand. Anyway from the moment we arrived it was pretty clear that they were deservedly positive reviews - it is such a cool place, loads to see/do but with a really 'small town' feel about it & everything within walking distance. Also it is (surprise, surprise) built on the banks of a huge lake and with a backdrop of colossal mountains as far as the eye can see, so it ticks all the boxes in the beauty stakes too. As these were a somewhat hectic few days, I will revert back to my usual style of bullet pointing what we got up to whilst here:
I think that pretty much summarises things... Also we managed to fit in a couple of nice runs around the beautiful lake during the week. Queenstown really was somewhere that I did not feel ready to move on from, it is clear why it is somewhere lots of travellers seems to get stuck there for a while! Although that said we were very lucky with the weather, which definitely made the whole week even more enjoyable than it already was.
Song to remember >>> Chase & Status - Running <<< - We requested this pretty much every night we went out, on the last night I accidentally dived head first into a speaker in excitement when it came on - ouch.
After our hectic week it was sadly time to say goodbye to Queenstown & head back up north. Unfortunately this would mean (due to the bus routes) having to say hello to somewhere we would rather not be returning to, Christchurch. Now its not that we didnt have a good time in Christchurch the last time we were there, but its really not the most exciting of places & defimitely not somewhere I would pick out for a second visit! Also in true Christchurch form is was cold & rainy for our arrival, earning itself the catchphrase - 'Christchurch - The city that never smiles'.
The following day it was onto another familiar, but altogether nicer stop, Kaikoura. We resisted the urge to do the fishing trip AGAIN due to financial restrictions, although we later heard from Nivk (the infamous one legged seaman) that he would have happily taken us again free of charge (must have been the underwear-clad dophin swim that did it!) Anyway we had a very lazy afternoon in front of the hostel TV followed by a nice run along the seafront. We went to a local pub in the evening for a pub quiz, which was fun, but it quickly became evident that we didnt stand a hope in hell. There were obviously a few regular quiz goers in attendance, the type that call their team the 'No hopers' but then score full marks every round, shocker.
The next day we made the ferry crossing from south to north island and rolled into the city of Wellington mid afternoon. It was already very much living up to its national nickname of 'Windy Welly' with pretty strong winds as soon as we arrived. The alcohol detox that had been planned in the aftermath of Queenstown did not last long as we were out that night to meet up with a friend I made in South East Asia, Luke. Had a pretty funny night, although a lot of unnecessary tequila made for a pretty blurry head in the morning. However managed to make it out, battling near gale force winds (seriously, I thought I was in some sort of natural disaster!) to make it to a huge museum called Te Papa. This musuem was a bit of a mixed bag, some parts really interesting, some.....not so much. We then had another pretty lazt afternoon/evening before we headed onto Taupo the following day.
Next it was onwards to Taupo a town situated by yet another lake, but this time not just any lake, the mother of all New Zealands lakes - Taupo, a staggering 616 square kilometres in size. Some pub quiz trivia for you - this lake is in fact so big, you could fit the entire island of Singapore within it!
Immediately upon arrival Kathryn was dragged off to do her skydive, which after much deliberation & regret from Franz Josef, she had now decided she wanted to take on. Nim & I on the other hand, were off to take part in a not altogether different personal challenge - the tandem bungy jump! In a most fitting coincidence, it also turned out to be Valentines that very day - surely it doesn't get much more romantic than throwing yourself off a ledge whilst strapped to someone elses feet?! Now although we were both nervous about the jump, we couldn't have picked a more stunning setting for it - 47m above the Waikata river on a gloriously sunny day. Before we even had time to think about it we were both being strapped up around the ankles (although unnervingly with far less harnesses than Kathryn & Lauren were equipped with when they jumped in Queenstown) and staring downwards into a river that looked a VERY long way down. It was at this point that the fearreally peaked for me, having to spur up the courage to get myself over that platform, and to this day I still dont know if I would have gone had I not had Nim attached to me for moral support! However in a similar fashion to the skydive, once I was out & over & falling towards the ground at an incomprehensible speed, I LOVED it! Nim on the other hand, despite her strong start spent the first couple of bounces with her eyes tightly shut and shouting ' I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!' -although she quickly came round to enjoying it. We were fetched at the bottom by a boat where we had a conversation with the 2 guys that neither of us can really remember as we must hav been on a complete adrenaline high. It was such an amazing rush, that I immediately decided, 'Yep, I want to go again'. So as you can make a 2nd jump at a significantly discounted rate and as I was still completely buzzing from round 1, I was up there again in no time getting my ankles strapped back to that giant elastic band, but alone this time! This was once again, such a rush, and I felt I could really process the experience better this time as I was not completely consumed by fear. Also the bungy guys managed to get the weighting right this time so that I was dunked face first into the river as I hit the bottom. Honestly I think if I had unlimited funds (although its probably a good thing that I don't!) I could happily waste away a whole afternoon launching myself continually off that platform! It was not the same breathtaking experience as the sky dive, but boy oh boy was it an intense adrenaline rush!
Meanwhile Kathryn was feeling equally as ecstatic about her skydive over the lake. We all had a pretty early night that night because we had to be up the following morning at.....wait til you hear this one.....(dramatic extended pause)....5AM!!! Madness I know, but we were setting off for New Zealands (allegedly) 'best one day walk' called the Tongariro crossing - which took us up, up (lots of up) & over the between the Tongariro & Ngauruhou mountains during a 7 hour trek. Now being forever optimistic about the weather (given the gorgeous day previous) and being girls, we had all dressed completely inappropriately for climbing what I have since come to think of as 'My Everest'. It was freezing cold & we were all 4 decked out in short shorts & wafer thin leggings - nice one girls! Nim hired some particularly fetching waterproof hiking trousers & I bought some very 'Keen-hiker' looking long wooly socks and we were off. And if we though the weather was bad when we set off, it was only going to get worse from here on in and as we started the ascent the rain started to come down harder & the wind stronger. The trek company arent actually supposed to allow walkers on the track in such weather conditions & a couple of other buses that day had their trips cancelled - we were the fools they decided to send anyway! It turns out this trek really did provide the personal challenge we were all looking for, if anything a little too much and the only way to really describe it was as an 'emotional rollercoaster'! There were highs yes (admittedly these were few & far between) but combined with some intense lows (even some tears..). Our waterproofs did not prove resilient enough & we all got soaked to the skin in such cold weather. Nim really went beyond the call of duty when she actually had to fasten both mine & kathryns shorts after going to the toilet as we had both completely lost feeling and ability in our own fingers - what are friends for eh? There was one point near the crater of the mountain (it is volcanous) that the wind was so trong it felt as though you might simply get blown into the crater never to return. In fact the route sheet actually advised that it may be best to go on your hands & knees at this point - I think maybe I had a very rose-tinted impression of hiking before the Tongariro corssing! The views were pretty incredible though, huge turquoise sulphur lakes sourrounded by an eerie mist - it felt like being on another planet altogether. Anyway to keep ourselves going & boost the wavering morale we sung quite a lot of songs as we walked on - everything from primary school hymns, disney songs, 90s pop to modern day - we even started to receive requests from other hikers! It was a long, hard day but the sense of self achievement after was pretty good, only amplified by that we shouldn't actually have even been sent out in such conditions!
Our final day in Taupo was spent achieving very little (I find we need these days after periods of over-activity) but we did manage to have a proper pancake day this time! Nim wowed us all with her perfect pancake making skills & created some savoury pancake combos that rivalled all others. For the fun of it & sticking with the theme of personal challenges, for lent I have decided to give up:
I1) Peanut butter - I have got into a bad habit of eating this like a crazy woman since going travelling!
2) Unnecessary clothes purchasing - Admttedly this one is more to reduce the constant battering that my bank accounts have taken of late! Althugh people have since raised the very valid question about who decides what constitutes 'unnecessary' as I could probably justify almost anything to myself!
That evening we went to a local pub quiz with Luke (South East Asia pal) and others from the hostel. However once again we were lagging behind, it seems we really need to scratch up on our general knowledge if we wanted to notch up even a respectable score in these things!
We headed on from Taupo to Rotorua, and area renowned for its geothermal activity. The plus side this this - lots of impressive steaming scenery & spa baths a'plenty, the downside - the whole place stinks of sulphur (thats much like rotten eggs to the untrained nose). However we had a nice afternoon chilling out at the Polynesian spa baths, even if they were a little unbearably hot at times. Our evening here was spent having a few drinks with Luke & Chris (who we had been fortunate enough to have had a couple more meetings with since bidding him farewell in Queenstown).
I was then up early the following morning to get a bus to Auckland from where I would be making a return trip to Australia. Now this trip was planned in a very spontaneous manner, only 48 hours in advance in fact - an amusing reaction from my Dad when I informed him of my plans 'Pip, did you hit the water too hard when you did that bungy jump?!' To clear up any rumours or assumptions here, yes, this did have something to do with a certain lifeguard who lives in Byron bay! So, it was over for a minibreak in Australia for me, which I was quite happy with, I had missed those idyllic beaches. I must be among only a handful of Brits who can actually say they have ever nipped over for a long weekend in Australia! Anyway I will not be divulging too much detail here about these few days, both because they are the sort of special memories that it doesn't feel quite right sharing using the medium of an online blog...plus I don't think it would be of much interest for you to read anyway! For the sake of this record, I think it will suffice to simply say that I had a really nice, chilled out few days with Rob which involved; a spa visit (yes another, hard life right?) beach time, lots of good food & once again being treated to a break from the backpacker lifestyle! However it was to be a hard fall back down to this reality with a night spent sleeping in Auckland airport to save a few dollars in paying for a bed for only a matter of hours!
After my night spent in Auckland airport I met back up with the other 3 girls and we sadly had only one final night together before Kathryn & Lauren flew to South East Asia and our foursome would be no more. Despite having heard bad reviews of Auckland, we were actually staying in a really nice suburb called Mount Eden. In honour of our last night together we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out for a change. We discovered this amazing place that sold 1kg pots of locally caught mussels - plus it was half price night, meaning that the whole dish cost about £4 - bargain! It was going to be so strange travelling without Kathryn and Lauren having been around them pretty much 24/7 for 3 months.
The following day after an emotional farewell, the girls were off on their way to Asia (so jealous they would be enjoying all that amazing food in the coming days!). Nim & I however, still had a few more days left to savour in New Zealand, so based on recommendations, we headed to a small town on the west coast called Raglan. This place is renowned for being a prime surf spot, and it very much lived up to the stereotype - I think you would be hard pushed to find anyone living in this tiny place that doesnt spend their fair share of time in the waves. We were staying at this amazing hostel, very homely & full of hippy surfer types with lots of nice touches such as free equipment hire (kayaks, bikes etc) a hot tub, hammocks everywhere, stacks of DVDs...and a hostel first, an arts & crafts desk - amazing! Whats more everyone there was so friendly and down to earth (not sure if this perhaps something to do with the stereotypical surfing type?!) particularly this group of american guys who all worked part time at the hostel and surfed the rest.
On our first full day Nim & I decided that it was only right we should give surfing a shot. As Nim had a lesson in Oz and I had also been a student to Robs expert teaching we decided against any further lessons & simply hired out the boards & wetsuits and headed for the sea. I think we both surprised ourselves with how quickly we were standing up & riding waves all the way into shore - that said, this was not without a few monumental wipe-outs - one that involved me doing a complete back flip in a wave with my board flipping about above me. Anyway we had a really fun few hours persevering at it - what I liked about it is that (much like skiing actually) you can really feel yourself making significant improvements the more you are willing to try it. We went out that evening to a local bar and had a few games of pool - although our pretty pitiful pool skills were highlighted when a couple of locals came to show us how its done!
The following day we got up to find a torrential rain storm to greet us - this threw a spanner in all the outdoor activities we had planned. So we decided that instead it seemed like an appropriate day for a touch of baking, particularly as the hostel had a huge stash of baking materials & recipe books for us to dive into. So in true English style we made fruit scones, which went down a storm with our fellow hostel residents! In the afternoon we got involved in something I had never tried before - yoga! (I think we were actually becoming those hippy surfer types) One of the guys from the hostel ran the classes when both the surf...and his finances, were poor. It was pretty funny, and a harder work out than I previously would have given it credit for - Nim & I were feeling the after effects of continually having to pull one position called 'downward facing dog'! That evening we went to a local Open Mic night for a few drinks with people from the hostel which was nice - although we were knackered & headed to bed early!
We were also up early doors the following morning to get another surf in before we left. However, the surf was slightly disappointing this time as the waves were really messy and it was such hard work even getting our boards far enough out to catch a wave in- it was a constant struggle against the currents. However we had a really good time giving it our best shot anyway, although this did again involve A LOT of falling off in the process and at one point I actually landed on a rock, ouch. This time we had a lot more aches & bruises to show for our surfing session - or maybe its just that it wasnt followed by yoga this time!
Anyway Raglan quickly earned itself a place in my heart as one of the 3 places I simply did not want to leave (up there with the greats of Byron & Queenstown) - I could have easily seen myself spending a few months in this small town with lots of character. However, onwards we must go - this time for a stop over in Hamilton. This is pretty nondescript town, and we were staying in one of the most bizarre hostels yet - it was being run by these hilariously clueless Canadian girls & we nicknamed it 'Grandma's house' as the decor felt like you were stopping over at a friends Grandma's house - lots of doilys & ornaments adorning every surface, this provided much amusement!
This actually brings me right up to present day, where we are kinda twiddling our thumbs in Auckland waiting for the next chapter of our globetrotting to begin. As this draws our adventures in New Zealand to a close I guess a quick summary statement is in order as has been the tradition. Well, I really can't sing New Zealands praises enough, hands down some of the most incredible scenery there is going. Although its true what they say about the south island being significantly better than the north, as the views are so much more dramatic. Also I think all the activity & challenges were exactly what we needed after a lot of lazing about on beaches in Australia. Generally speaking the kiwis are all a really friendly bunch too (even if we did encounter a few questionable characters). All this said, although an ideal holiday destination, its not somewhere I could ever imagine myself living long term (not at this age anyway!) as all the towns, although nice, are so small and remote and New Zealands cities (Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton, Auckland)...well, they're all lacking a certain 'je ne sais quoi'!
Tomorrow afternoon Nim & I will be jetting off to Santiago in Chile to begin the South American leg of our travels - this really is going to be a challenge for our non existant Spanish skills! And get this for a head spin - because of time differences, we will be departing NZ at 4.30pm on the 298th, and although the flight is 11 hours, we will be landing in Santiago 4 hours before we left Auckland, at about 12.30 lunchtime on the 28th - I feel like we are somehow winning against time here!
Once again I have managed to get a bit waylaid on my blog writing commitments, so I will try and sum up what you´ve missed in a most concise and painfree manner (although we all know I am not very good at the concise part!)
I realise that it may have seemed slightly alarming that the last post I wrote explained how I was flying into Santiago (Chile) the following day, little did I know at the point of writing that the Chile was only hours (in fact probably minutes even) away from one of the strongest earthquakes of its history, a huge 8.8 on the richter scale. As I assume most of you know I was extremely fortunately still in New Zealand at the time it struck with about 20 hours before our flight was due to depart (a close call given we had already moved these flights forward, really lucky we didnt go any earlier). Oh and those of you who didnt already realise that I was safe and sound in Auckland at this point, where were all my concerned messages enquiring about my whereabouts eh!? Haha.
Anyway after a night of fretting about being flown into a complete destruction zone we headed to the airport the next day to find out our fate. After much hanging arund by the Quantas desk and being offered little assistance from their clueless staff the only option we were offered was a flight into Santiago a week later (as the airport was currently closed). However as we didnt actually want to fly into Chile at all anymore (what with the threat of aftershocks & looting!) there were more strong worded calls to Quantas HQ before they offered us a suitable solution, a flight into Buenos Aires, Argentina, the followng day. So after a further night in Auckland we faced a mammoth journey that would first take us back via Sydney (thats right...a 3rd time in Australia) followed by a 13 hour flight (that annoyingly went right over New Zealand before onwards over the south pole!) to Buenos Aires. It was a pretty horrific journey as the flight was packed & there was a fair bit of turbulence so I pretty much saw my way through the whole inflight movie selection.
Upon arrival in Buenos Aires (we were staying in a really nice hostel) we both immediately hit the sheets, it was really hard to adjust to local time as although it was about 11am there it was something like 4am in New Zealand terms. Anyway we nly had 2 nights in Buenos Aires both of which were pretty tame due to our jet lag (pathetic given its reputation for being one of the best party cities in the world). But also we took it easy as we would be heading back to Buenos Aires in a few weeks time to meet up with my friend Holly (who was flying out for 2 weeks) so would be ´going for it´ properly then! So we spent the couple of days wandering the city and getting our bearings - it has a really nice city centre & a really nice suburb called Palermo. And our evenings were spent savouring the other thing Buenos Aires is notorious for, amazing steak & wine (at insanely cheap prices). And believe you me, it did not disappoint. HUGE cuts of really nice meat which they sure know how to cook nice & rare - yum! and al at a cost of about £4-5! And that red wine...WOW. Some of the finest red wines in the world produced right here in Argentina & costing as little as £2-5 a bottle - this I could get used to. However it quickly became apparent from only 2 days here that we would need to scratch up on our Spanish skills if we were to get by (or at least not be those irritating English people that simply try talking English with a Spanish accent!) We had to do a lot of pointing, gesturing, guessing & reaching for our trusty phrase book during those first few days. It was a big victory when I managed to successfully purchase an Argentinian sim card on our first day there (the number for which is +541130957655 for anyone wishing to get in touch). Anyway hopefully things will quickly change as we headed next onto Mendoza to complete a weeks Spanish ´crash course´ (aka Spanish for dummies). The fact that Mendoza also happened to be the largest wine producing area in Argentina also gave it all the more appeal....
We headed on from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, the first of many mammoth bus journeys we would have to endure in South America, this time a fairly respectable 12 hours. We were pleasantly surprised by the standard of Argentinian buses as we were greeted with champagne as we boarded which was later followed by wine, dinner (admittedly it much resembled lower standard than plane food) & liquers - so I managed to slip into a comfortably tipsy sleep in the huge reclining seat.
Our time spent in Mendoza kind of fell into 2 parts as we stayed in 2 very different hostels. I will begin first with what I would call the 'party hostel', complete with attached bar and constant blaring music. This is what we got up to whilst there:
A very bizarre evening called the 'pizza party' - we thought we had merely signed up for a cheap and easy meal, but it was in fact aseemongly endless flow of pizzas accompanied by offensively loud hard trance music, followed by a free flowing supply of tequila being poured down everyones necks. Nim and I tried to avoid involvement in this as far as possible (although the photo of us both with tequila being tipped into our mouths would suggest that we were pretty unsuccessful in doing so!)
As we were staying right on the doorstep of the largest wine producing region in S.America, a visit to the local vineyards for some tasting was a must. So we hired out some bikes and headed for the argentinian countryside with map in hand (we had gorgeous weather for it too). Over the couse of the day we visited multiple vineyards where we sampled some truly amazing wines from which I can conclusively say that the Malbecs were the best in class. The standard of the red wine here has actually managed to convert Nim into a fully fledged red wine fan! We also visited vineyards that produced oils, chutneys, liquers, olives & chocolate - it was a good day for eating & drinking! And of course given our track record at least 1 puncture was ineviatble, but infact we managed not just one, but one each! We also managed to get ourselves lost at one point (quite an achievement given how straightforward the map was). Whilst on our little detour we came across this tiny puppy, that cant have been older than a month old. It was running about in the road as if it had some sort of death wish & was seemingly completely homeless and was continually making whimpering noises at us. Being the dog lovers that we both are, neither of us could bring ourselves to simply desert the little guy. So we scooped him up in our bike basket (he didnt look as if he could have rabies!) and seriously toyed with the feasibility of having a treavelling pet! However we quickly came to the sad realisation that this would not be possible and it took all the strength we had to cycle away while the poor little thing tried desperately to follow us along - it broke my heart!
A very spontaneous night out that began oh so innocently with some lovely pasta for tea (a top recommendation by lonely planet) & a lovely waiter (who reminded me a lot of the Chuckle brothers) who seemed to take a liking to us as he kept plying us with free champagne. We then went back to our hostel bar for some more drinks which began with a cocktail that was recommended to us by a new Argentinian friend (who spoke about as much English as we did Spanish!). Anyway I think this very bizarre argentinian cocktail was our downfall as the night was a bit of a slippery slope downhill from there, resulting in a rather nasty hangover the following day!
Anyway I will move swifty onto the next chapter beacuse so far this reads like a drinking tour of Mendoza, which was not my intention for this blog. So after a few nights at that hostel we decided we needed to move elsewhere to seek some much needed silence and solitude whilst we would be attending Spanish classes during the week. And we took our studies very seriously, up at the crack of dawn everyday for 4 hours of classes, usually followed by a much needed siesta, afternoons and evenings spent doing homework (thats something I haven't had in a few years!) and then early nights all round (and no wine!) The class size was small at 7 and consisted of a mix of English, American and Canadian members and our teachers were brilliant (2 lovely ladies called Andrea and Carolina) although we felt slight in the deep end when they started talking fluent Spanish to us on the first day - luckily one of the few things we did know how to say in Spanish was 'I don't understand'. Anyway by the end of the week we were so glad we decided to do the course, they fitted so much into the week and we came away able to slowly string sentences together & hold very basic conversation - all that was needed was much more practice! But I guess the beauty of learning a language whilst hearing it everywehere everyday it that practice is forced upon you. At one point we were put to the test when we got chatting to this Argentinian guy in the park one day (who was on his way to Chile to surf the west coast). Admittedly he spoke brilliant English but he encouraged us to talk to him in Spanish as far as possible which was helpful practice. We also went to a cooking class one afternoon which was taught in Spanish where we were taught how to make the local speciality, Empanadas (a sort of savoury pasty with various fillings). Anyway aside from all the Spanish practice, other events during the week included...
Meeting this really nice English girl called Hannah who had just left her job as a journalist to come travellling. She was a really strong minded girl with lots of interesting stuff to say for herself (and not that I am name dropping but after a few days of knowing her she let slip that her boyfriend is the drummer in prodigy, WOW!)
Getting to know the really nice Argentinian guys in our hostel (Tino, Mati, Christian, Sebastian, Paulo...) - funny guys with a very dry sense of humour. Although they all spoke brilliant english they forced Nim and I to speak in Spanish everytime we were coming or going as they knew we were learning.
After a long week of school, we felt we had really earnt our weekend for once, so decided that a bit of a party was only deserved. However I think maybe we went a bit too far when we agreed to attend a bar crawl with the guys at our hostel (dragging along a begrudging Hannah who 'didn't do' bar crawls - to be honest she probably had the right idea about this one!). It was a very funny night but I have since some to the firm conclusion that any night which begins with tequila is a recipe for disaster! Had a really funny night with people from the hostel anyway (2 18 year olds on Gap years who made me feel positively ancient, Cameron - a lovely English guy, and Mathiew - a hilarious French dude who provided a steady flow of comedy).
On our final day in Mendoza we went rafting on a river in the Andes which was really good fun. Thankfully it wasnt too 'handcore' rafting as I didnt much fancy dropping off the edge into that fast flowing water. In our boat were 2 really nice couples who were both on honeymoon (beacuse nothing says romance like white water rafting!) and also had a lot of laughs with 2 American girls (Jamie and Amanda, who we have bumped into a few times since!).
After 10 days in Mendoza it was time to move on, most people only stop of there for a few days at the most although as we had really made ourselves at home there we both agreed that we could have easily whiled away another month there! But instead we were south bound to Bariloche for a taste of what Patagonia had to offer...
As per usual I have landed myself in a downward spiral of getting behind on my blog, for that I blame the city of Buenos Aires (but thats in the next chapter). So once again I wil have to skim over the details of ourb few days spent in Bariloche so as to try and claw my way back up to date.
Bariloche is a smal town in the south of Argentina in Patagonia - its famous for mountains, skiing (in winter), lots of handmade chocolate shops, and seemingly randomly...St Bernard dogs (which I had to resist the imature urge to pay to have my photo taken with!) From word of mouth recommendation Nim and I were staying at this lovely hostel, real homely feel & with the most spectacular view out over the lake & mountains (photographic evidence to follow soon) as it was hidden on the tenth floor of a slightly shabby looking apartment block. As there is not a huge amount to do in Bariloche and as the hostel was so nice, we spent a lot of time chilling out and making the most of the view. We both also had some minor banking crises due on my part due to the shady Argentinian banking machines that took £200 from my account without consent (long story) and Nim had the misfortune of having her card stolen in most mysterious of circumstances and all the available money drained from her account (as they dont have chip & pin systems out here). So many an hour was spent making phone calls to useless banking helplines. Aside from this we also fitted in a walk in the nearby national park, tasting of much of the amazin local chocolate and a bizarre night out for St Patricks day where strangely the Argentinians seem to take their celebrations as seriously as the Irish!
Next we had to make the lengthy 22 hour journey (through which I might add, we were treated to the in-journey entertainment of the Phil Collins single collection DVD!) back to where we started in Buenos Aires. And as we were so jetlagged the last time we were there we were determined that this time it would be done properly...and with a whole 2 weeks to do it in, there was no excuse.
One of the big draws towards BA (excuse me here for slipping into the mildly irritating habit of abbreviating it to BA, its going to significantly reduce the type-load!) is undoubtedly the nightlife and suffice to say, we saw a lot of this. The thing with going out in BA is that everything is done a few hours later - dinner is at 10-11pm, you wouldn't even enter a club before 2-3am and so the sun is usually long up by the time you crawl back at 7am. The obvious problem with this routine being that the majority of the following day is a complete write off. I wont trawl through the ins and outs of all our nights out as I´m pretty sure you won´t be interested, but needless to say we had alot of fun with various people we stumbled across along the way.
Nim and I also managed to squeeze in some more Spanish lessons, with a private tutor this time. Our teacher Maria was really good (although she owned the creepiest cat in the world!) but once again it would be a case of practice makes perfect, which is the part we fall down on!
Also we made a visit to supposedly ´the best steak restaurant in Buenos Aires´ - ´La Cabrera´, recommended by guidebooks far and wide. This was worth the half hour wait for a table (which was generously accompanied by free champagne) and it certainly lived up to expectations. The steak, which they knew how to cook to my idea of perfection - dripping in blood, was such nice meat it almost melted in the mouth. And it came accompanied with tray after tray of condiments and sauces - all of which were delicious even if we couldn't guess what they all were. On the side of this was the obligatory bottle of Argentinian Malbec - which all added up to the best meal out I have ever had - and at a price of under 15 pounds a head all in.
We also took a bike tour round the southern side of the city, determined to visit the suburb of La Boca. A beautiful place full of these coloured houses that adorn all of BA´s postcards, but an area that the guidebook would warn you to ´enter only at your own risk´ supposedly due to danger lurking around every corner. So we decided that an organised tour was probably the way to go, which in hindsight was probably a wise move given that Nim had a stone thrown at her during our visit (and there was us thinking that the helmets we were supplied were to protect against cycling accidents!) It was a really good day though, our guide was brilliant and we came away knowing that bit more about BA´s sights than simply the nightclubs.
After a week and a half in BA & moves between various hostels in Palermo and San Telmo (we like a change of scenery!) Nim decided that her time in the city was done and she was ready for a change of scenery, so headed for the tranquility of Iguazu to relax before we would reunite later in the week. Meanwhile I stayed in BA to meet up with my friend Holly who was flying out to join me for a 2 week break from work. It was so good to see a face from home after so long! What was good was that as Holly was only out for a short period (5 days of which were in BA) although we still utilised the nightlife we made a real effort to tick off some of the tourist boxes that I hadn´t yet achieved, such as:
That pretty much summarises the 2 weeks I spent in Buenos Aires, most definitely one of the best cities I have visited. It was next onwards to Iguazu for a couple of days before our first border cross to Brazil...
Holly and I next moved onwards to Puerto Iguazu - right on the Argentinian-Brazilian border and home to the Iguazu falls (or 'IguaZUUU' to me and Holly!) - a tremendous cascade of water that includes 275 falls across a 2.7km stretch of the Iguazu river (thanks wikipedia).
Even though we had just endured a 16 hour overnight bus stint (fortunately enough on another luxurious Argentinian bus), as we didn't have long at this stop we forced ourselves to make the most of our day and headed to visit the Brazilian side of the falls. As the Brazilian side were only a mere 20 odd km from our hostel on the Argentine side, it was an easy afternoon trip over in a taxi (bus network was a bit complex as involved a border cross). Fortunately our nice taxi driver Ramon handled the whole process of passport control for us - we really felt like we were living the high life day tripping over to Brazil with our own personal chauffeur.
Rather than trying to explain to you in words quite how breathtaking the falls were - its probably better you look at the pictures (and even these dont do them justice!) Every view just kept getting better & better and we were really glad that we did the Brazilian side first as they offered a more panoramic view of the entire falls before we would get up close and personal to them the following day. We spent that evening chilling out at the hostel and bumped into a really nice Aussie girl (Riley) who we had met in Buenos Aires.
Next morning we were off to see the falls from another angle - on the Argentinian side. Once again, they did not disappoint. In particular there was a walkway where you could get right next to 'The Devils Throat', a spot right at the top of the falls, where you can hardly believe how much water is crashing down all around you. The thundering of the water is so loud you practically need to shout to hear each other. Holly and I took a whole multitude of photos, plus or Minus us in the foreground. I reached a personal best of a pretty sickening 180 photos over the course of the 2 days (I actually gave myself a small headache agonising over which were best to make it onto my blog). In the latter half of the afternoon we took the highly recommended boat trip into the falls. And when I say into...I mean literally inside all that water. They drive you so far into the action, I couldn't even open my eyes there was so much water falling upon us. When we got off we were DRENCHED head to toe - good fun through an fortunately it was a beautiful afternoon for it. All in all the falls quickly earned themself a top ranking in the highlights of my trip so far.
We spent that evening having a BBQ at our hostel (a BBQ with a seemingly endless supply of red meat I might add - not so good for Holly!) and watching a some samba dancers. This was a far cry from the tango we had seen recently and involved a lot of semi nudity and ass shaking (and those Brazilian women sure have a behind on them!) Funnily enough Holly and I politely declined when they tried to drag us to the stage to participate and got involved with another Brazilian tradition instead - Caipirinhas!
Final day in Iguazu spent chilling by our hostels huge pool - a welcome break after having spent a while in the city, before we had the mammoth overnight journey up to Rio de janeiro. So we set off early afternoon, had to take 3 buses just to get to the Brazilian bus station from where our main coach was departing. We managed this stage and everything seemed to be going a little too smoothly as we arrived at the coach station with a comfortable amount of time to spare. Little did we know the problems that lay in store for us as the journey progressed. Although the Brazilian bus itself was very average compared to the luxury we were accustomed to in Argentina (goodbye in journey champagne and dinner!) the majority of the journey was actually quite inoffensive - bar the bunch of shady looking Brazilian men who disembarked at Sao Paulo (we slept with our valuables cradled in our arms!) However when the clock started to tick past our expected arrival time of 4pm in Rio, we started to get a bit tetchy. The following 5 hours stuck in stationary traffic combined with the worst rain Rio has seen in 50 years resulted in a frustrating 9 hour delay in our arrival. Landing us in Rio bus station (one of the more shady areas in a famously shady city) in the middle of the night and torrential flooding. Trying to get a taxi was as the queue was (no exaggerations!) about 2 miles long and no taxis were turning up. So after much waiting about we eventually managed to negotiate the bus network and find the right route to take us to Ipanema, the beach suburb where we were staying. However this journey also took longer than expected and areas of the city were far more flooded than we initially realised. The bus driver fortunately enough seemed so determined to do his job he didn't care how many rivers it involved driving through to get there. There were cars conked out everywhere and at one point when the engine went I seriously thought we were going to have to swim our way out - there was a big cheer from all passengers when he managed to coax the engine back into action!
Anyway after an eventful journey that spanned a total of 36 hours we eventually arrived at our desired location...only about 9-10 hours late, it was an experience if nothing else!
After the nightmare journey getting there we finally met back up with Nim and Hannah (girl we met in Mendoza who Nim had been with) in our hostel. Unfortunately our hostel turned out to be, well...a bit of a dive - and we don't exactly have high standards, but this place seriously made me question the people who had described this place as ´clean´ on their online reviews. This, combined with the fact that Rio´s floods had not miraculously evaporated overnight and the rain was still coming down hard and fast induced a rather dis-hearted mood about camp. We couldn't get to see any of the sights, the transport links to town were down, sunbathing on the beach was out of the question & with the news speaking of landslides and advising those in less affected areas to stay put, there was only one thing for it - we would have to have some drinks to keep our spirits up, it felt like one of those situations where only laughter would pull you through. Conveniently 2 guys from home had just flown into Rio from London on the start of their mammoth 14 month round the world adventure (and they didn't exactly start it on a high with the flooding), & who were more than willing to raise a glass with us in absence of any sunshine. So we headed over to Robbie and Ali´s hostel for happy hour and a lot of caprinhias. The rest of the evening continued in a fairly predictable fashion, drinking games, tequila & bad dancing - but it certainly had the effect of cheering everyone up!
Unfortunately we had a couple more days of rain to endure before a turnaround was expected. During this time we managed to move out of our hovel of a hostel and over to an amazing one in Copacabana. On one of these days Holly, Robbie, Ali & I headed to a Brazilian football game - the local favourites Flamengo vs Universidad (Chilean team). The stadium itself I found a slight disappointment (paled in comparison to the Emirates!) as I had heard talk that it held 120,000+ but it actually seated approx 80,000 and I think the other 40,000 were accounted for by standing tickets. Also we probably didn't see it in the best light as it must have been less than a quarter full - a result of the rain & the fact that it had been rescheduled for a weekday afternoon. Anyway the lack of support certainly didn't dishearten the fans that had shown up - they made enough noise for all the empty seats & certainly lived up to the stereotype of South American fans being some of the most passionate there are going. When their team scores, they continue to shout, sing, jump about on their seats, set off flares & run to the front barrier, for a full 10-15mins after goal scoring. It was an exciting game that ended with a 2-2 scoreline.
Holly and I went out that evening for a nice Italian meal and a bottle of wine - we noted how once again I alone was asked to taste the wine (seemed to happen everytime we went out) - I must either give off the impression that I am very knowledge about wines or something!
Around the end of the week the weather started to brighten up and whilst there were still the occasional bursts of rain, these gave way to sun and blue skies. So at the first opportunity we headed up the the tourist trap ´sugar loaf mountain´, 2 steep mountains connected by cable cars that offer a beautiful view out over the city and coastline. Rio actually surprised me with what a beautiful city it was, built around steep cliffs & mountains, but with beautiful beaches all around - the view certainly made for some impressive photos. From this perspective you really see what a huge sprawling city it is, with hundreds of favela huts scattered with beside clusters of high rise buildings.
Friday night the 4 of us, plus Robbie & Ali, and 2 girls from our hostel (Laura and Bridget) headed to Lapa, an area of Rio well renowned for its street parties. But again the rain seemed to stifle the attendance to what is supposedly one of the busiest parties in Rio. Had a really funny night anyway and bumped into a couple of Dutch guys that we met in Buenos Aires.
On our final full day in Rio the weather was finally kind to us and the sun stayed out for almost the full duration of the day. Of course we headed straight for Copacabana beach - a really nice beach despite all the pests trying to sell you stuff you don't need! It had some crazy waves, absolutely massive - even the locals daren´t swim. Nim and I had fun getting continuously bowled over by the powerful waves but were careful not to go out too far (not sure the Brazilian lifeguards would be as attentive as those in Australia!)
Unfortunately it was then time to say goodbye to Holly as she had the responsibility of a job to get back to (unlike some of us!) It had been really nice seeing her & we had really made the most of her 2 weeks. It was a quiet Saturday night in for us, during which time I managed to make the fatal (& idiotic) error of padlocking my keys inside my locker along with all my possessions - this resulted in me having to get it sawn off! It provided some amusement on an otherwise quiet night if nothing else!
Next we (that's just me and Nim now) would be heading to the island of Ilha Grande - which translated means "Big island" - somebody really wasn't feeling too imaginative when they thought that one up! It is a relatively short bus & ferry ride from Rio, although I´d add that when you´re travelling in S.America your perception of what constitutes far becomes somewhat distorted and anything under 12 hours starts to look local. Anyway keen to maximize our beach time we decided to splash out on the 'express' transfer that promised to deliver us there in just 2 and a half hours. However the word 'express' turned out to be nothing but a big fat lie fabricated to get us to part with our real (Brazilian currency). With our pick up being very late and the speedboat we had been promised would whiz us across supposedly 'broken' (just our luck) the journey ended up taking over 8 hours. The only good thing to come out of this unbelievably frustrating experience was our new found companion in a Canadian guy called Todd (for some strange reason I was constantly fighting the urge to call him Scott). We bonded over the ironic use of the word 'express' in a transfer we had been cheated into paying for & many a joke about Calgary.
Pretty soon after arriving we were glad to discover that Ilha Grande was worth the journey - it is a relatively small island (contrary to the title) of which only a very small fraction has been built upon and the rest is covered in rain forest like vegetation & fringed with white sand beaches. The tiny town area itself reminded me a lot of Thai beach towns - very chilled out, geared towards the tourists, lots of street food available and everything within a stones throw away. To add to those similarities there were also many a stray dog about (which Todd became exasperated as Nim and I insisted on stopping to name each one) and lots of children playing in the streets all though the night - we joked that they were just waiting around to try and steal our possessions and nicknamed them '5 fingered discounts'. Anyway our hostel was run by this really sweet Brazilian family & as it was so small it kind of felt like you were simply staying at this house (although I guess in effect, we were).
On our first full day on the island, Nim, Todd and I visited the supposedly 'most beautiful' beach on the island - Lopes Mendes. As the majority of the island is undeveloped, this beach is either a 3hr trek or an hour boat ride + 20 min walk away - we went for the latter (aka easier) of the 2. But as this still involved a short jungle trek to get there, it only made the beach more impressive. As it is a locally renowned surf beach we hired out a board for the day and I was pleased that I managed to pick it up again pretty quickly. It even earned me some cheers from the Brazilian surfers, who I think were just shocked to see us girls out giving it a try. That evening Robbie and Ali turned up on the island so we had drinks with them before we all headed to Lopes Mendes the following day. This time the boys opted for the 3 hour trek and Nim & I lazily for the boat option again! Hired out boards again and we all had a lot of fun trying to stay up, with lots of falling off too. That evening we had some traditional Brazilian cuisine (Black bean broth) cooked up by our hostel owner before some more drinks at a local bar and a swift farewell to Robbie & Ali.
We could have quite happily stuck about on Ilha Grande longer but knowing full well that there were no ATMs on the island Nim and I had underestimated how much money we would need, so we kind of had to move on due to lack of funds!
So we headed on with Todd to Paraty, a coastal town a couple hours drive up mainland Brazil. However what we though would be a quick, comfortable nip up the coast turned out to be something more sinister - a jam packed (think crammed in like sardines) local bus where we had to sit on the floor clinging to chairs and sometimes peoples legs for stability as the crazy driver threw the vehicle round corners as though he had forgotten there was a whole bus attached behind him. Anyway we got there in one piece! Paraty is a small beach town - although the towns beach itself is not much to write home about (although maybe I'm becoming a beach snob as a result of my travels!). It was quite quiet everywhere though as though it was off season. We spent our second day on a boat trip that took us around some nearby islands for swimming, relaxing & supposedly snorkelling (although I think the snorkelling part was a bit of a con as I barely saw anything!) It was a really nice day anyway, very chilled out & nice to utilise what would probably be the last bit of beach in our travels! As we were on the coast, that night Nim and I treated ourselves to a seafood dinner (all Brazilian specialties) which was delicious. Then had a few farewell drinks with Todd & this Aussie couple from our boat trip before NIm and I faced one hell of journey the following morning that would take us back to Argentina (the north west this time) and span 3 full days on the road.
So, on a bright & early Friday morning Nim and I set off on the start of our mammoth journey that would take us across to Sao Paulo, back past Iguazu & into Argentina and finally underneath Paraguay over to the northwestern tip to a town called Salta – a journey that would cost us a total of 46 hours of our lives spent on buses. Now if you were to look on a map this may seem like a bit of a roundabout way of doing things, but reason being the words of warning we heard about attempting to cross through Paraguay (Lonely planet describes its border crossings as ‘schizophrenic’!?) The first leg of this journey to Sao Paulo was relatively pain free, however we then faced a 6hr wait in the bus station (fortunately not as shady as expected) until an affordable bus left. Managed to kill a bit of time chatting to a lovely Brazilian businessman (spoke perfect English) who was very excited as he had just received a call from his wife to say she was pregnant. The next overnight bus was pretty uneventful up until the point we got to the Argentinian border. Whilst we were there a Bolivian woman who was sitting in front of us got taken off the bus & search by the police for what Nim and I translated (potentially inaccurately) to be a result of the fact that she was trafficking…earrings?! It was all very exciting. However it also meant that we all had to haul all out stuff off the bus to be searched too. We disembarked the bus at a town called Posadas where we had planned to get straight onto another overnight bus. However as there wasn’t one running we had to stopover for the night, which to be honest was probably a good thing as we needed a shower and a proper bed – even though Posadas town itself had little else of interest to offer. Next day, next overnight bus (really uncomfortable one this time) and we finally arrived in Salta, our desired destination, a full 3 days after leaving Paraty.
We were happy to discover that Salta was definitely worth all that bus time – it is a large but attractive town set amongst the mountains. It felt quite different from other Argentinian towns and in particular the people looked far more Inca-originated than those we had met so far. After our first exploration of the city we headed up to the skies in another cable car to see the views on offer. However this cable car felt far less sturdy than the one in Rio and I cant say I enjoyed the ride too much.
We were staying at a really nice sociable hostel that included a free dinner so spent the evening talking to people there. During which we were introduced to the term ‘gap-yah’ to refer to some of the pretentious (not that I’m generalising but usually private schooled) types that you sometimes come across whilst travelling – this joke provided us no end of amusement.
The following day we were off on a day trip to an area called Cafayate which just to happened to be another wine tasting region of Argentina! The journey there took is through the most spectacular gorge with dramatically colourful rock formations and mountains all around. Again its probably best you look at this pictures of this, as for once I feel my camera was actually able to do its beauty some justice. Also we were happy to see some of our first glimpses of the wild animals in Western A.America – herds of goats and the occasional llama. Also in my photos be sure to check out the one of the withered looking man who owns one of the llamas (who I would add, he bears a striking resemblance to) – believe it or not this guy is just 54, this photo alone should be the face of a sun protection campaign! When we arrived in Cafayate town we were treated to another wine tour – I really should be so knowledgeable on wine production by now I could start my own operation! This was followed by an obligatory tasting after which Nim & I purchased a bottle of one of the nicest Roses I’ve ever had. Then for lunch we treated ourselves to an amazingly cheap (about 4 pounds a head) 3 course meal. After having spent half our morning photographing them, we both opted for a goat casserole, which tasted a bit like a down-market version of lamb. Nim was also brave enough to sample the local specialty of cows stomach – mmm. Wandered the town in the afternoon before heading back through the gorge to Salta.
That evening we had some drinks with people from our hostel, a real eclectic mix of nationalities actually – Italians, French, Argentinians, Palestinian & Polish. Went to a club but Nim & I left relatively early (and by that I mean 3am still) both because we were tired and people kept trying to twirl us about on the dance floor in a very over the top fashion. We are English, we don’t do flamboyant dancing.
Had a very chilled out day the following day that involved a bit of shopping (time to stock up on warmth before we headed for the chill of Bolivia and Peru). Also we had our final ‘farewell Argentina’ steak at a recommended local restaurant. Definitely left on a high as it was huge & probably the rarest steak of my life – I swear I could practically hear the thing still moo-ing (apologies any vegetarian readers!)
As we were heading onto Chile next, I feel Argentina was such an amazing country that it deserves a quick summary, particularly as we spent nearly 5 weeks there. So far I would say it is easily the most spectacular country I have been. As Nim and I describe it ‘it has the full package’. Really varied and outstandingly beautiful scenery (and we only saw a fraction of the highly regarded Patagonia area) with both tropical heat and opportunity for skiing in the winter. But it also has the vibrant and buzzing cities (the part I felt New Zealand fell down on) – Buenos Aires is probably one of the most fun cities in the world and I know most people who have been would vouch for that. The country certainly ticks all the boxes in terms of culture too. Then to add to all that you have; lovely people, a beautiful language, of course absolutely incredible food (as I haven’t banged on about this enough already) & some of the best wines in the world. And then the whole place is such ridiculously good value and really easy to travel because of the infrastructure. Now…if all that doesn’t convince someone that Argentina is worth a visit I don’t know what will….
On next journey took us through the north west tip of Argentina to the Chilean border. On a map this doesn't look like a significant journey, however this doesn't account for the huge huge mountain range you need to get past first. We passed some amazing scenery that only reaffirmed quite how breathtaking Argentina really is. So it was winding journey, twisting round corners as we ascended to the dizzying heights of over 4km above sea level at the Argentinian border. This was our first experience of any sort of altitude, so our bodies hadn't had a chance to acclimatise yet and it was quite a height to start at. I didn't feel too bad myself (minor dizziness) but Nim had a bit of a funny turn where she thought she was going to faint. But after sitting down for a moment with her head down started to feel better & also tried some of the local advice of chewing on some coca leaves which supposedly alleviates altitude sickness...although they taste horrific! Fortunately we then started to descend as we headed for the Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama (at 2.4km above sea level), just inside the border.
When we arrived we were slightly shocked (although not unpleasantly) to find that San Pedro is a tiny town - unpaved dusty tracks for roads, literally right in the middle of a vast desert like landscape. The backdrop to the town looks truly surreal. As we couldn't get into the hostel we wanted on the first night we splashed out on a twin room to ourselves in another hostel. This was a real treat to sleep in a bed that is not a bunk bed (it has been over 2 months!) and without a bunch of strangers to share it with! It made me realise that in fact my own bed is one of the things I most look forward to about returning (that's after seeing everyone of course).
The following day we met up with 2 guys Rich & Tom that I met back in October in Vietnam, a fortunate piece of timing for us to cross paths again in Chile. The 4 of us, plus 2 girls they were travelling (Brittany & Becky) and an Irish couple from our hostel all headed off to get involved with one of the local crazes - sand-boarding. This is essentially just snowboarding - but on a sand mountain. We were taken out into the desert in 4x4s which was quite a bumpy ride. When we arrived at the boarding spot the steepness of the slope initially seemed pretty daunting - particularly for someone who has never snowboarded before. However once you got past that initial apprehension & threw yourself over the edge, it was really quite fun. Had a really good time persevering at it, which involved a lot of falling over & rolling down the slope. Rich, Tom & I had the not so bright idea of having a race, but failed to leave enough distance between each other which resulted in a minor collision between Rich & I! The only downside to the activity is that unlike snowboarding, when you get to the bottom there is no chair lift to escort you back up. Oh no no, you had to clamber your way back up the slope, board in arms, sinking into the sand at every step - it was hard work to say the least. Actually I'd say there was just one more downside to it...you get sand everywhere, in your eyes, ears, mouth, nose - literally everywhere! After a few fun hours boarding we headed to a nearby area in the desert called Valle de la Luna - or 'Moon Valley' to watch the sun setting. I'm not entirely sure, but I am guessing it must be called this as the landscape of rock formations look like something you might find on the moon. It was absolutely amazing, never have I been somewhere that felt so much like you were on another planet - it was a perfect setting to watch the sunset with a glass of red wine. After sunset we headed to Rich & Toms hostel for a free BBQ (never ones to turn down a free meal us!) Had a really nice evening sitting around a campfire here with a few drinks and various people at their hostel. It is already really noticeable that we are at a higher altitude as it becomes so bitterly cold once the sun goes down and we had to layer up even when near a fire. I dread to think how we'll manage when we get up to the 3.6km heights of La Paz!
In our final full day in San Pedro we had something of an 'admin' day - sorting out our tour to the Bolivian salt flats where we would be going the next day, booking necessary buses/flights & generally binging on the Internet (hence why I am so uncharacteristically up to date on my blog). In the afternoon we went with the Irish couple from our hostel (Karen and Colin) to a pool just outside of town that is described in the guidebook as a 'tropical oasis'. This description could not be further from the truth - it was a filthy pool that needed a good refurb! It gave us a laugh anyway! That evening we were supposed to go on a star gazing excursion (its all the rage out here) but it looked like it was going to be cancelled due to clouds. So Nim and I went and spent the money on a Chilli con carne dinner instead (Chilli in Chile!....admittedly, terrible joke) Only to later discover that the stargazing was back on afterall, but we ducked out of it anyway as we had too much organising before our early start as we were Bolivia-bound in the morning.
We set off bright and early on a Sunday morning for our trip that over the next few days would take us on a 4x4 adventure across Bolivia via all sorts of stunning scenery & ending in the mystical salt flats. We met up with our group members who would be making the journey with us. These consisted of 2 couples, both older than us - Nadia & Pascal (German & Swiss) and Rodrigo & Monica (Argentinians). Everyone was really nice and between us we managed to bridge the gap between our languages. We took a minibus to the border and onto Bolivian immigration which was quite literally a small shack with nothing surrounding it but dusty mountains. After crossing into Bolivia we transferred to our 4x4 and met our tour guide, Ambrosi (a non English speaking Bolivian - a test to our Spanish skills). We then started the bumpy ride into the Bolivian national park, stopping first at the ´Laguna Verde´ (Green lake) a beautiful lake with a green colour. We then swung past a frozen lake where we got our first glimpse of something we would be seeing a lot more of - flamingos (know I never knew frequented such cold climates?!) I would add that at this point I was probably in one of the coldest bodily states since leaving the UK, which admittedly doesn't say that much, but it was up there with the Tongariro crossing (New Zealand). This chill was due to the fact that we had climbed from the modest 2.3km altitude of San Pedro to over 5km above sea level in a matter of hours. Fortunately enough neither of us (nor the rest of the group) fell victim to altitude sickness this time. In a slightly warmer spot we stopped by some natural hot pools. Whist the rest of the group probably quite sensibly opted out of stripping off for a bathe, Nim and I were straight in there. And the cool conditions only made it all the better when you got into those boiling hot pools - the only hard part was the getting out. In the afternoon we visited some natural geysers - lots of stinking sulphur-laden smoke seeping from the ground. We were then taken to what would be our home for the night. When booking the tour we had been warned that the first nights sleep would be cold and the facilities basic. Well thank god we were forewarned as there is no was I could have handled that cold unprepared (-20c supposedly). And when they said basic, well, they meant it. Our home for the night, which Ambrosi continually referred to as a ´hotel´ was a small unattractive concrete shack with no form of central heating. But then after all, what did we expect, we were in Bolivia, so it would suffice. We were being looked after by 2 rather strange Bolivians who weren't the friendliest of women. There was one in particular that hadn't teeth and who Nim was absolutely terrified of (to the point that she could barely eat any of the food that the creepy women produced us!) At one point in the afternoon the 2 ladies & Ambrosi disappeared without word for a few hours. When out on a walk, Nim, Nadia and I discovered them hiding in the jeep in a valley downing wine. Upon realisation that they had been busted they proceeded to throw an empty bottle aside before returning to the ´hotel´ and squeal like drunken school girls for the duration of the evening. Given the lack of entertainment and freezing conditions we hit the sack at probably a new personal best of 8.30pm - wild! All 6 of us were cosied up in one room with concrete slabs in place of bed frames and were wearing literally everything we owned. The ironic thing being that I actually found myself too hot, but was cocooned in too many layers to do anything about it!
On the second day of our trip we visited yet more beautiful lakes. I wont bother detailing each of these as I cant imagine they will make for a very interesting read - just check out the photos! We also visited this really bizarre set of rocks, one of which is famous as it is strangely shaped like a tree. That evening we stayed in one of the areas many salt hotels - that's accommodation made entirely of salt - beds, chairs, tables, walls etc. Fortunately this was positioned in a slightly warmer location this time (lower altitude). Had another slightly questionable meal and then played some cards with some other groups staying in the hotel.
On the final day we would be visiting the infamous salt flats - the main attraction for most people visiting this part of Bolivia. They did not fail to disappoint and the view of perfect white plains disappearing into the horizon is truly spectacular and unlike anything I have ever seen before. Like most tourists we had some attempts at perspective photos (making something in the photo foreground appear disproportionately large) but it was harder than we imagined and the output was a little disappointing. We then visited another unique scene - an island of land in the middle of the vast salt flats that is absolutely covered in cactus´ - some notching up over 1000 years old. Following this we visited the ´salt museum´ which to be honest was not the most informative museum I have ever visited and seemed top consist purely of statues made of salt. Finally on our arrival into Uyuni, the end of the line, we visited another very bizarre place ' a train cemetery. It is essentially just a scrapyard area in the filthy landscape (rubbish everywhere) of Uyuni that is filled with old abandoned & very rusty steam trains. As you can imagine this too was a scene that was very out of the ordinary and a hot spot for photo opportunities! We then bid farewell to our group (except Nadia & Pascal who were heading in the same direction as us) & went to arrange a ride straight back out of Uyuni (not the nicest place). Fortunately we could leave on a bus that same evening that headed to La Paz. And although the bus itself was quite nice by Bolivian standards the first few hours of the journey felt like driving on the same surface we had been on in 4x4s for the last few days...but in a coach! The Lonely planet sure hit the nail on the head when they described this stretch of the journey as ´bone rattling!´
Our bus from Uyuni rocked up in La Paz at the ungodly hour of 5.30am - hardly ideal. On disembarking we were accosted by a swarm of taxi drivers - all of which we ignored as you have to be a bit careful with La Paz taxi drivers as fakes will drive you to a cash machine and clean you out. We found a more respectable looking car to take us to our hostel who fortunately let us check in at 6am for a sleep. We had timed our arrival into La Paz in line with various people we had met along the way, Catherine & Jutta (from Buenos Aires) and Toby, Holly, Rob & Ruben (Salta). This was good fun as a big part of La Paz´s reputation is the nightlife, so we had a lot of good nights out with the crowd. Again, I will not go into any sort of detail as to the evenings out, both because it will not make an interesting read, and I would not trust the accuracy of my memory. We spent a lot of time in our hostel (or our friends one down the road) as it was really nice - best beds I´ve found since travelling, power showers, TV room, bar, good food, you barely need leave!
La Paz actually surprised me somewhat as a city as having previously heard mixed reports I turned up with little expectations. But it is a really striking city as it is set within a steep valley with slums scattered across the slopes that surround it and snow capped mountains in the distance. Everywhere you walk in the city is either up or down a steep hill and we were constantly finding ourselves out of breath due to the altitude (definitely nothing to do with our current fitness levels!) That said it is still a country that is classified as third world & the poverty is pretty evident.
Multiple days were spent wandering the steep confusing streets of the city and browsing many markets scattered along them. You could pretty much buy anything you so desired made entirely from llama wool. We didn't dare sample any of the local street food as it seemed to consist largely of some sort of unidentifiable meat (although I did get involved in some of the local avocados that are practically the size of melons!) We were also very freaked out by this translucent drink that was sold everywhere that looked like it had some sort of organ floating in it - to this day I am still unsure what it was (please feel free to clear this up for me anyone who has been). A particularly bizarre part of town was the witches market where they sell all sorts of delights such as llama foetus´! Apparently witchcraft is still popular in Bolivia, which doesnt really surprise me, the women are terrifying! Another strange aspect about La Paz is the sheer quantity of police officers there seemed to be patrolling the streets. You would think that this would be reassuring in a city such as La Paz, but given how many fake police there are rumoured to be they would probably be more of a hindrance than a help. Nim and I had a lot of fun trying to spot the fakes in the bunch! The only other activity that most tourists get up to in La Paz is the famous ´most dangerous road in the world´...aka. ´Death road´. This is a twisting downhill cycle ride on the side of a mountain 2hrs outside La Paz that has as large as 600 vertical drops at the side of some mere 3m wide tracks! However due to Nims promise to her Mum that's she wouldn't do it (her brother did some serious knee damage when he did) and a fatality only the previous week we sensibly (and perhaps wimpishly) opted out of it! However have slightly regretted it since given how many people have raved about it....and I know I will probably receive a lot of stick about it from my cousin on my return!
Next we moved on to Copacabana - that's the Bolivian not the Brazilian version, and whilst it still had a beach (admittedly less glamorous that its exotic counterpart) this was on the banks of the great Lake Titicaca. And heres the stats for you - the lake that is a HUGE 8,372 sq km in surface area, and supposedly amongst the navigable lakes at 3812km above sea level. This time we had travelled onwards with our friends Catherine & Jutta and also 2 girls that they knew, Anna & Becky. Having the 6 of us gave the following few days a very 'girls holiday' feeling which was nice. We had a bit of a hellish journey getting there as there had been some temporary blockades in part of the route so the bus took an alternative off road detour - this involved a great deal of being thrown about in our seats which hardly made for a pleasant early morning journey. At one point we also drove past an overturned bus which was pretty unnerving. However we got there safe & sound and had our first sample of the lakes local trout for lunch - something we would be enjoying a lot more of. We found this really sweet restaurant where you put your order in and the waiter hopped onto his bike seemingly to fetch supplies - In my mind he was off to catch the fish fresh for our lunch but maybe I am being a little idealistic. Either way, the food took a long time coming but was always worth the wait. Spent the afternoon exploring the small town, which seemed to have a bizarrely large quantity of swan shaped pedalos even though you barely saw one out on the lake. That evening we went for a meal with a group of very quick-witted guys that the others knew....cue, more trout consumption.
The following day we took a boat across to one of Lake Titicaca's islands (yes it is THAT big it has habitable islands too) called Isle de la Sol (Island of the sun). This involved being delivered to one side of the island and trekking across to the other, with a route that stopped off at various views and some Inca ruins - the Isle de la Sol is supposed to be the birthplace of the Incas. A top quote from Miss Naomi Tayler as we are about to embark on our adventures in Peru and thus all things Inca, 'I'm just not sure about all this Inca stuff you know!' However contrary to these low expectations, the Inca ruins were pretty impressive. After a relatively hard (in parts) day trekking that evening we treated ourselves to...guess what...a trout dinner!
On our final day in Copacabana we climbed the towns mountain viewpoint which was totally worth all the huffing and puffing as the views over the town and gigantic lake were amazing. And of course another bout of physical exercise deserved another trout lunch (& I'm not even exaggerating this now...it was just really good!) That night we took an overnight bus to our first stop in Peru, Puno, the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.
Puno itself has little to offer, but it has established itself a spot on the tourist trail due to its proximity to Lake Titicaca's floating islands. Allow me to explain what a floating island is as it seems the term may cause some confusion - 'Catherine 'but don't all island float?' Mills'. These islands are constructed using layer upon layer of a lake weed called Tortura (the locals gave us quite the comprehensive demo of how this was done) so that it creates a floating structure. Huts can be built upon this bizarrely bouncy reed surface which requires topping up a couple times in a month. Given the unique nature of these settlements, the tourist agencies have cottoned on a way to make a quick buck by offering tours to the islands. You could tell the habitants were used to tourist visitors (& the money that usually came with them) by the way they ran to the island banks to beckon our boat over to their patch. Who can blame them however, as I doubt there are a wealth of sources of cash flow when you live in the middle of a lake. First we listened to a talk from the village leader who was just 22! After this the local ladies beckoned us into their huts to show us around. Nim, Jutta & I ended up being lead of by a rather unfortunate looking, but very sweet, woman with no teeth. After showing off her bed, which is essentially all her hut consisted of she started forcing clothes into our hands. After initial confusion, followed by much laughter she had the 3 of us us dressed up head to toe in full Peruvian attire. You can imagine our amusement when we went outside to find Catherine, Anna & Becky in an identical situation - the photos of us look like some sort of bizarre pantomime scene! After this the local women coaxed us over to their stalls of handicrafts - we all ended up buying some of their overpriced wares as we felt too guilty not to! They then waved us off with a strange rendition of twinkle twinkle little star. All in all it was admittedly a quite staged experience, but really interesting and enjoyable nonetheless.
This brought us to the end of our 'girls holiday' period as the others were off to Cuzco and Nim & I to Arequipa. And what better way to bid each other farewell than with a final trout dinner...
We rolled up in Arequipa after yet another horrendous bus journey - the buses are a far cry from the comfort and safety of Argentina, it makes me glad we have so few journeys left. We were relieved to find that Arequipa itself was a really nice city as we would have nearly a week to spend there.
We spent our first weekend exploring the city and as usual scoping out the selection of tourist tut shops. We also had a sample of Arequipa nightlife with the help of a free bar at our hostel (in honour of 'ladies night' supposedly). However after a relaxing weekend we decided that with the new week should come a new challenge in the form of a trek of the Colca canyon - a canyon that is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. And which would be the perfect training for our up and coming Inca Trail trek near Cuzco.
Unfortunately as the canyon was a few hours drive away this involved a gruelling 3am pick up on a Monday morning - see travelling is not all just one long holiday you know! After breakfast we started the 4hr trek into the depths of the canyon. Although this was all downhill I personally found this the hardest stretch. Given the steep slope of the path and the sheer drops that lay next to you, you had to really focus on where you placed each step and after a few hours of it i felt like my knees were going to give way. Strangely our first impressions of the rest of our trekking group were not great (3 very laddish English guys in particular) but little did we know that they would quickly grow on us over the course of 3 days spent in the canyon. Our tour guide Jessica (who was Peruvian despite the very English name) was brilliant - you needed someone as bubbly as her to greet you when there is a 6am trek to plough through. In the afternoon we stopped over to stay at a small village in the base of the canyon. Fearful after our salt flats experiences we were pleased to discover that the meals involved on this excursion were really good. That evening progressed with a few games of cards and a much needed early night.The second day began at a far more sociable hour and involved a trek across the canyon through a few small villages and ending in what was called 'the oasis' - a particularly lush area set in the depths of the canyon that had multiple swimming pools (although not particularly warm ones). One again, with no electricity, it was an early bedtime by candlelight in preparation for a 5am start the next day. We were making an early start to get up the other side of the canyon before the midday heat struck. This would entail an ascent of 1.2km along an 8km path - something Jessica had told us would take just 3hrs - I was skeptical. However we all soldiered on (with the aid of our ipods to keep us moving) and Jessica was most impressed when we all managed the climb in just 2hrs - except April who hired a donkey to carry her up (something that looked like a truly terrifying experience). We made a few stops on route back to Arequipa to break up the nail biting journey (lunatic driver) one at which we had the opportunity (at a fee of course) to hold what I believe was a condor - either way it was huge and very impressive. Finally all our hard work was rewarded with a visit to some thermal baths to relax our tired legs. All in all it was a really fun 3 days and I shocked myself with how much I actually enjoyed the hiking parts - finally buying those obscenely expensive hiking shoes had paid off!
Upon our return to Arequipa we avoided much more physical exertion and had a few chilled out days enjoying the city itself. On one of these days we decided to tick off one of the cultural boxes by going to visit a museum dedicated to this Inca girl that they discovered frozen on a nearby mountain. I was greeted with a look of shock and horror at our hostel when I asked where I could find 'that dead girl they found on the mountain', as they mistakenly thought I meant it was something that had just happened! Anyway this is her brief story - Her name is Juanita and she was sacrificed to the Inca gods aged 12 in approximately 1450. Child sacrifice was common practice in Inca culture and happened periodically during holidays and when it was believed the gods were 'demanding' a sacrifice (which usually coincided with when the volcano started erupting). Whilst they have found many remains from the practice of child sacrifice, Juanita is of great significance as when they found her in 1995 her body had been frozen and therefore preserved. Anyway they have her on display at this museum and whilst she still looks a log way from human and the whole topic itself sounds pretty morbid, it was a really interesting experience - and the locals are very proud of her!!
So fortunately our final long distance bus journey was of far better quality than our recent experiences - apart from the slightly bizarre part where they made a video of all the passengers prior to departure. Once again out arrival into our destination of choice, Cuzco, was at the far from ideal hour of 5.30am. This was followed with 7 hours of camping out in the hostels DVD room before they would let us check in at 1pm. We had timed our arrival into Cuzco in line with various others we had met along the way, including once again, our favourites, Catherine & Jutta amongst others. What was also really nice was that we got to meet up with Jack and Paul who we had met way back in New Zealand - although Jack had fallen victim to a post Inca trail stomach bug during our reunion. During these first few days there followed a few nights out and hungover lunches at our favourite Cuzco haunt - Jacks cafe. However it was in the aftermath of one of these nights out that Nim started to become sick - something that has initially looked like a particularly nasty hangover but would turn out to be far from it.
On one day whilst poor Nim was bed ridden I got involved with a volunteering programme arranged by the hostel which you can help out on a day by day basis. We went off to entertain the children of a village that had been destroyed by recent flooding and who were currently living in tents. I volunteered myself for the role of face painter (something I feel is a bit of a hidden talent of mine). And within a matter of hours I had created a full pack of young boy tigers, and every piece of my bare skin they could find, the young girls had decorated with their attempts at flowers and hearts. Catherine and I looked quite the picture returning to the hostel covered in body graffiti. In the meantime our Inca trail departure was drawing quickly closer & Nim was showing no signs of a speedy recovery. So she checked herself into a Peruvian clinic who started all sorts of tests and checks to get to the bottom of her troubles. Unfortunately after suspecting a parasite (which seem to be all too common out here) they decided to keep her in overnight, which very sadly closed the door on any chance she had of making it on our Inca trail - such a shame having been something we had booked months ago. In between dropping stuff over to the hospital for the patient I was running around Cuzco like a mad woman trying to sort out rental hiking gear (stick, sleeping bag etc.) and make it on time (which I didn't!) to our evening group briefing, all in advance of a 4am departure the following morning.
As I boarded the bus the following morning (although 4am I would technically consider to still be the previous night) I was shocked to be greeted by a round of applause by the team of porters who were adorned all in red (earning them the title, the 'red army') - I wish I could be this warmly congratulated everytime I ever had to make an early start! After a breakfast stop and time for the red army (who I would add, are not just all in red, but a full football strip attire, matching hats, shoes, everything) to sort out their carrying loads and we set off for the start. This is where my problem arose. Nim and I had booked our trail under the pretense that we were still students, which with the aid of some fake student cards I picked up in Bangkok entitled us to a hefty discount. Now these cards we had already used all over the world without so much as anyone batting an eyelid, so why would Peru of all places be any different?! But 10 seconds under the scrutiny of the Inca trail control desk and my card was (very embarrassingly) declared a fake. After arguing my case as far as was feasible the wench behind the desk was having none of it & I was told that I would have to purchase a new full price entrance ticket if I wished to continue. I had no choice but to bite the bullet on this one, however then arose problem two - I didn't have the cash on me to pay. So then, as the rest of the group began the trail I was escorted away like a convict by one of the guides - Juan Jose (or 'Double J' as he was always known) to catch a lift to the nearest ATM - nearly a 2 hour round trip. JJ and I eventually entered the trail 3 hours behind the rest of the group, making sure I swung a death stare at that wench on the ticket control office as we passed. I was told we had a lot of ground to cover and we would have to miss lunch. Marching swiftly onwards & with no stopping (apart from when JJ asked if I wanted to go and 'make pee pee' in the bushes) we miraculously managed to cover in 2 hours what the rest of the group did in 5, and caught them up for lunch. However on arrival JJ was moaning to out other guide Roger, that I had walked too fast and they gave me the nickname 'Speedy Gonzalez' - something I am taking as the highest possible compliment to my hiking capabilities. The reunion with the rest of the group came with many a joke about my, well technically, 'fraud' - questions about my 'jail time' and the funny ways of karma! It quickly became evident that we had a group with a good sense of humour. Unfortunately at this point 2 Canadian girls had to duck out, as one of them was really unwell, bringing out supposed group of 12 down to just 9. This consisted of me....and 4 couples, all a bit older, 2 English, 1 American and 1 French, and all really, really good company.
The afternoon felt like something of a breeze after JJ and I's morning dash and when we arrived at camp we were greeted by more applause by the red army who had our tents set up and bowls of hot water & soap waiting for us to wash in. I'll take the opportunity here to say just how AMAZING the team of 16 porters were. Ranging from about 20 to 50 in age, they all carry up 25kg on their back and they sprint, and I mean sprint, up through the trail to set up for our arrival. There was nothing more encouraging than when you saw the 16 of them (they are the only group of porters that walk it all together) meandering their way up the mountain like some sort of red caterpillar. Once of the reasons we had selected this company is for the way they pride themselves on taking care of their porters and there is an evident difference between them and that of other companies. All of the red army have proper hiking footwear as opposed to sandals that look like some sort of Inca relic, they carry smaller loads (yes others carry more than 25kg!) and they have proper carrying straps to distribute the weight. So anyway after a long day hiking not only is there hot water waiting, but there is also 'happy hour'. I was delighted to discover that this was not alcohol related (one of the last things I'd want hiking) but in fact translated to fresh popcorn, biscuits and hot chocolate - amazing. The straight after, the wonderful chef Cecilio would dish up some sort of 3 course culinary delight - all cooked using just a pot (how on earth do you cook a pizza in a pot...?!) Seriously I bet there are a lot of top quality chefs who could learn a thing or too from Cecilio's 1 pot cooking techniques. It was always a topic of much suspense as to what origami animal the napkins would be folded into today! The highlight of that first evening being when Cecilio appears in full chefs uniform with a pan of flaming rum soaked bananas for us - the man was nothing short of a genius.
So whats going to drag you out of your tent at 5.30am for an early morning hike in the bitterly cold? Why, a tea in bed of course! And that is exactly what the porters provided -actual tent door service! Day 2 is renowned for being the most challenging - a steady 3 1/2 hr incline, a 2hr decline then another relentless 2hr incline. However, no denying its difficulty, I actually found this day the most rewarding of the lot - at this point I was still full of energy and embracing the hiker within! That night was a cold night as we were at a high altitude, which involved a restless nights sleep for me with no body to help warm the tent like the rest of them!
The following morning was a bit of a highlight as we had a company ritual, the porters introduction ceremony. During which the whole team introduced themselves and told us what they were carrying up (2 of them had gas canisters and one a chiller for the meat - wow!) Although we introduced ourselves too, I didn't have the heart to tell them that I was carrying, well, very little as they had most of it! Although Roger referred to Day 3 as a 'happy hiking day' this was actually the one I struggled most with, finishing on 3 hours of steep downhill - my legs were a trembling mess by the end of it. But that evening we were treated to the luxury of a much needed (trust me on that one) shower. And Cecilio again showed off his culinary arts by decorating dinner with a pair of perfectly sculpted cucumber birds (see pics).
The following morning our 3.30am (!!) start was greeted with a fully iced pot-baked cake - is there no end to this mans talents?! We were up so early to get a good spot in line for the opening of the trail gate at 5.30am for the 1 hr remaining walk to Machu Picchu's viewpoint. Although quite frankly I think I'd rather have just got a few extra hours in bed and turned up later! The 1hr walk was pretty stressful with other hikers running to get there first - I couldn't even stop to tie up my shoelace for fear of being trampled over! One amusing moment was when one super keen hiking justified his line jumping with 'I've come a long way to see this' - because Machu Picchu is local to everyone! Anyway we got these and saw the sunrise over the Inca ruins which was really quite breathtaking in setting and scale. We then had an informative tour around the ruins by Roger, followed by some free time to explore the ruins or trek up some of the nearby peaks if we so desired. Opting for the easier option I spent my free time sleeping on a patch of grass! We then all got the bus down to the nearby town of Aguas Calientes where we reunited for a final lunch with the group. One of the English couples, Ben and Laura, arrived with a cause for celebration, Ben had popped the question at the top of the Inca ruins - what a setting! So the group of us went for a couple rounds of Pisco sours (local cocktail) to toast their news before we got a train back to Cuzco. All in all it was an absolutely brilliant, albeit expensive, few days that I would highly recommend to anyone.
I have saved the next Chapter of my time in Cuzco for a later date to save from boring you half to death, particularly given as I was ill for the coming few days...I'm sure it will make for a gripping read!
I arrived back in Cuzco in the dead of night to discover that, although she had made it out of Peruvian hospitals with a handful of antibiotics, poor Nim was still far from 100%. Therefore in my absence she had made the decision to fly home to London a week early to recover - after all everyone just wants to be looked after by their Mum when they are under the weather! So my trip would finish as it had started - solo. So we had a very brief exchange of stories from the last few days - Nim had a very similar story from trying her fake student card out when she visited Machu Picchu! before she jetted off early the next day.
Unfortunately I too had come back with from the Inca trail with an unwelcome souvenir in the form of a dodgy stomach. Therefore the next couple days involved a lot of time spent in bed, feeling a little lost and generally sorry for myself. At this point I was staying at this guesthouse Jack and Paul had recommended us where a private room with cable TV was cheaper than sharing a room with 8 strangers in a hostel. This was great while I was feeling ill, but after 2 nights spent in bed watching back to back dated movies I decided that such social isolation was probably not healthy and moved to a really nice hostel in town.
I spent some of my last days in Cuzco trying to tick off some of the tourist sites that I hadn't got round to sooner. This included a walk up to the Christo Blanco - a white status of Christ that looks over Cuzco from a hill on the outskirts of the city., a wander round the very grand cathedral and a visit to the Museum of Popular art (which was pretty strange). I also took a day trip out to the 'Sacred valley', an area outside of Cuzco named such for the scattering of Inca sites that lie within it. This was really good, and we had a beautiful day for it, but it was, as I would say, very 'tour' - crowded, lots of mildly irritating stereotypical tourists (not that I'm generalising, but usually American) and very robotic in the way we were hustled from place to place. There were a few really sweet couples (one Peruvian and one Argentinian I think) who seemed to sort of take pity on me as I was on my own. The Argentinians kept asking if I wanted them to take a photo of me and then began requesting that I be in their photos too! Then the Peruvian (?) lady asked me (what I have vagued translated) with a sizeable grin on her face if I was a 'good Christian girl?' Also, you'd think I would have learnt my lesson with the whole student card debacle on the Inca trail. But no, on the Sacred valley tour, faced with the appealing option of half price entry for students, I gave my fraudulent card another shot - and got away with it this time! I'm sure karma will come back around for me for that at a later date!
Other than that I spent more time exploring the streets of Cuzco, and it really is a nice city to do so (apart from all the ladies trying to sell you massages) and enjoyed some of the cities eateries aside from just Jacks cafe. One day I happened to stumble across a parade in the main square, where locals were adorned in all sorts of colourful attire as they danced towards the cathedral - it was pretty impressive and a nice surprise. They also had fireworks one evening as part of the festivities, which I have since come to learn are the festival for the Mountain Gods. I also managed to fit in another day of volunteering at another village that has been destroyed by floods. This involved mass production of flower drawings for the little girls, and lots of skipping & running about with children on my shoulders. This was again, very tiring, but rewarding - the smiles of these children really are infectious.
This sort of brings me to the end of my time in Peru (bar the 10 hour wait I still have in store at Lima airport) a country which surprised me with quite how much I loved it. It definitely held some of the most spectacular scenery, a proud history, traditional culture & values and some of the nicest, smiling people I have seen in South America. Which brings me onto try and attempt to summarise my time here in South America - something I have deemed not feasibly possible. I actually started writing out a list of Top 10 things I loved about this continent as I did with Australia, but quickly realised that this list could stretch to 100 plus before it comes anywhere close to exhaustive (plus I am writing this from Lima airport where Internet time seems to be more expensive than gold). All I can really say is that as each country is so drastically different in its own right, it is a continent that really offers it all - the mountains, the cities, the tropics, the beaches and such different cultures and cuisines. In 3 months I feel I was barely able to scratch the surface of this huge continent, and there's still so much I'd like to cover. What was nice was that although there is a quite firmly established backpacker route (which is quite irritatingly referred to as 'the gringo trail') as it is such a large continent with huge cities, it feels far more like you are travelling amongst someone elses culture. Which differs from South East Asia, where everything and anything is geared towards the backpacker. In that respect, South America felt more 'real' - which is definitely the sort of cliche traveller statement which I will look back over and cringe at having written! Also it has been really rewarding, albeit challenging, to try and take on learning another language. Admittedly I am still a long way from fluent, even conversational, but I've enjoyed the opportunity to piece together conversations with locals from the broken Spanish that I can manage!
Well, that's nearly it from me - stay tuned for one final installment...
Well, that's all folks.
There's not really much left to say except I made it back safely to reality (Heathrow) after a gruelling 2 days, 4 airports (FYI - Madrid airport: AMAZING) & 3 flights worth of travelling - the traffic filled route back from Heathrow being the most stressful part...ahh yes, now I remember what England is like! (at least the sun had come out for me!) Also I think I must have set a new record for the longest stakeout in Starbucks in Lima airport. By this point I felt pretty ready to come home (admittedly I'm sure the novelty will wear off once the reality of unemployment sets in!) having tired of living out of a backpack continuously. The list of things I most looked forward to about returning home read something like this;
All that really leaves me to say is thanks for everyone and anyone who took the time to bother reading this. I am still quite in the dark as to who these elusive 25 or so readers are - although I have my strong suspicions that it could simply be my parents reading a good 10 times each! Either way, it has provided me a rationale to stick at it when otherwise I probably would have given up long ago, and as a result I have a memorable (& lengthy!) record of an amazing 8 months, so thank you.
I'll leave you with a couple things to make you laugh - finally managed to upload my skydive and bungee videos, links below:
* Skydive, Franz Josef: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg6KJi6xk0I
* Bungee Jump, Taupo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGzhVh_os8
