A glimpse of the world through Ella's eyes

The middle of the North Island... Lake Taupo!

2008-09-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

Now on our way to the snow we stopped off in Lake Taupo for a go at jumping out of a plane.... oh yes you read correctly now came the time for me to finally do something i have only dreamt of for years.... sky diving!!!! Yeeha!!! The delightful Kiwi weather did delay us slightly though so we had to bide some time and have a go at 'earning our keep' for a wee while... (see photo to the right for how we did this! :)

To be continued....

Rotorua

2008-09-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

Our road trip around New Zealand begun and we purchased an old Toyota to get us around... hopefully! :) After buying our little beauty we headed south a little, to Rotorua (a.k.a 'the smelly town') named so due to the rather potent smell of Sulphur no matter where you're standing! Here, we of course had to see what all the fuss was about, and where exactly this 'delightful' smell was coming from, so we went out to Whakarewa Thermal Village where we winessed spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and expolding mud pools which was all very exciting! We also learnt how the Maori people live amongst the geothermal activity and even got a taster of some traditional Maori dance and music which was interesting, if not a little scarey i hasten to add!

Welcome to the Kiwi country.... New Zealand!

2008-09-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

Next stop after Fiji, the country with a population of SHEEP that is 15 times the population of people.... 60 million sheep and only 4 million people...!
Something else I've certainly come to realise about New Zealand since arriving here, is that if you fancy a go at something unconventional, mildly life-threatening, and maybe a little crazy then this is the place to be...! Take for instance, throwing yourself down a hill in a giant inflatable ball, oh and why not throw in a load of water.... just for good measure! This being what is known as Zorbing, my first experience in New Zealand! No wonder the country has such a small number of people - they've probably killed off half their population trying out the next 'most extreme sport'...! The nutters! :)

Snorkelling in the Limestone Caves

2008-08-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Of course we didn't JUST lie in a hammock sipping cocktails, we did also partake in the odd activity or two, such as snorkeling, see kayaking, climbing mountains etc. Below you can see a pic taken inside a truly spectacular limestone cave which the locals say "you haven't experienced the real Fiji until you have visited these caves..." The water inside the caves was over 10metres deep and just around the corner from where this photo was taken you could access another part of the caves by swimming underwater for a few seconds and then come up for breath the other side, to what i was 'expecting' to be the same as where i had just left but oh no, they forgot to mention it was pitch black the other side...!!! (classic Fiji style) So you wouldn't be surprised to hear that there were a few girls having panic attacks the other side. I think i was just gripping too hard on to the edge of the cave (and the person next to me, who i couldn't actually see!) to have the energy to panic. After the initial shock it was pretty amazing, and like nothing I've ever experienced before.... (surprise surprise!)

Back on the road again...!!!

2008-08-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

With my Working Visa for Oz expiring at the end of July '08, meant that my time was up for living and working in the wonderful country of Australia and it was time for me to hit the road again - back to 'life as a backpacker'! This trip was to begin with (at least!), my Irish friend (Fi) who i met on my second day as a Child Protection Social Worker, and after a few glasses of wine on the Friday night after we met, found we were in exactly the same boats and both looking for a place to live so why not look together... then hey-presto we've been glued together ever since, how we haven't killed eachother i will never know....! Hee hee!

So, first stop - the beautiful Islands of Fiji. Of course there was not a chance of us getting out to visit all 300 of them, but we were certainly going to have a good stab at it! We started off on the West side, visiting 6 members of the Yasawa Group, then back down to the Mamanuca bundle which included a trip over to the Island where 'Castaway' with Tom Hanks was filmed.

Talk about the perfect way to unwind... and there was me thinking i'm not sure i'll be able to spend a month in Fiji - lying on blissful white sand beaches and swimming in crystal clear waters... but hey i soon adapted to this 'difficult' lifestyle without a hitch! :)

Over a year has gone by.....

2008-07-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

Slack slack slack all the way, i know, and i completely admit to it but what can you do.... it's been a busy time. :)

So my last blog entry was over a year ago when i was in Vietnam....
Here's a real nutshell of what i've been up to since July 2007 then (there is no way i am backdating my blog now as i would be here for another year just doing that!)

After 1 month in Vietnam Cindy (my Canadian friend) and i, took a 23 hour bus ride across the border into Laos where we spent the next 6 weeks and had an absolute ball....!!! This is also the point where my papa came out to join me to live 3 weeks 'in the life of a backpacker' initiall in the north of Laos and then continuing on to Thailand together before he had to fly back to the UK to live a 'normal' life again.

After just a few weeks in Thailand, where i spent some time near the Burmese border and had a go at teaching Burmese refugee children English, i then flew out of Bangkok to live life in the land of Oz for a year....! Oh yes, believe it or not i actually settled down and got a 'real job' for a while, and i even have a photo to prove it below.... (just for those of you who may doubt that i actually do do 'real work' every now and then.... hee hee!) I based myself in Melbourne for the year and worked as a Child Protection Social Worker.... To be continued...

The picturesque Halong Bay...

2007-07-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

I soon forgot about my 'delightful' meal when we were out in the ocean going between all the hundreds of Islets that are dotted around Halong Bay! Absolutely beautiful! Although it is obviously a big tourist attraction once we were actually out on the water you felt like you were the only boat for miles.... it was perfect!

For 2 days we just lay out on deck taking in the amazing views, dived off into the great open water, stopped off at a tiny floating village, and kayaked in and out of mini mini caves/tunnels. It really was pure bliss! I just wish we could have spent longer out there.

Hue

2007-07-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hue really was just a fly by stop-off where Cindy nearly lost her backpack, we took a boat trip down the 'Perfume River', and to save us getting soaked right through when visiting the Tu Duc Tomb we purchased 3 bright purple matching rain ponchos... very sexy i must say! Ha ha!
So that was pretty much Hue in a nutshell, as we then had to quickly continue on up to Hanoi with just enough time to squeeze in a very brief trip out to the beautiful Halong Bay and then trek across the mountains of Sapa in the very north! Oh yes, and of course, to unknowingly eat fish ovaries, which i actually enjoyed until i found out afterwards exactly what i'd eaten! Yikes!

Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi in a quick 5 days!

2007-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so now we're past the half way point on our visa deadlines so time to quicken the pace a tad...!! Next stop was a couple of days where everyone goes to have clothes tailor-made - Hoi An! Another lovely little Vietnamese town sitting by the river, with quaint small french streets and courtyards amongst the endless tailor shops all fighting for your business... how do you choose!?!?! It's a tricky one i can tell you but we found one good and one VERY bad!!!

Due to my indefinite travel plans i could hardly justify having a load of nice suits or fancy clothes made as who knows when i'll actually get to wear them, so i just opted for a simple pair of trousers to tide me over for now. Really just for the novelty of having them tailor-made.... all very exciting, and for a whole $8 you can hardly complain! :)

We also dragged ourselves out of bed to get to see the hustle and bustle of the morning fish market at 5am where you really do get to see where the term 'angry fish wife' came from... hee hee! Was a brilliant sight and atmosphere though - all the women selling and buying, lifting and carting their fish and pushing each other out of the way in the process while the men having been out all night fishing would now sit back and relax, watching the madness all around them! Fantastic! :)

We also tested our cooking skills in the Vietnamese kitchen which was entertaining in itself, and of course meant that we well and truly stuffed ourselves with all the lovely food that we'd prepared.... papaya salad, noodle soup, fish wrapped in banana leaf... you name it - we cooked it!!!! And it even tasted good too, somehow!?! That would probably be due to the help from our little lady. ;) My gosh we certainly got our moneys worth - i reckon we ate enough to keep us going for the next week!

Further up the coast to Nha Trang...

2007-06-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

As you can see, Cindy and I are now soaking here in the glorious deep sea mineral mud at a 'Hot Springs and Deep Sea Mineral Mud Spa' just outside the city of Nha Trang, which was our next stop up the coast of Vietnam. This was a rather blissful and luxurious day without the usual 'luxury prices' hee hee! I was actually a little apprehensive as to how good soaking in mud(!) would actually feel but it felt great, and i'd recommend it to anyone! :) The swimming pool on the other hand, being a 'hot spring pool' (obviously!) was not on the overly relaxing and 'feel good' side as to start with - it was a boiling hot sunny day so generally you jump into a pool to cool off, not completely scold yourself (ok - so slight exaggeration but it was crazily intense!).

Nha Trang was also a place of us having heaps of fun, and of course taking in some of the sights alaong the way! We met up with an English girl (Sarah) that we had briefly met in Saigon and a friend of hers (Huan), and spent a few days there altogether which was cool.

We spent many a nights in the Red Apple Bar which then lead us nicely on to Why Not?, both of which i'd recommend to anyone heading to Nha Trang! :)

One way to see four of the islands off the Vietnamese coast is by hopping on board one of the very popular 'Booze Cruises'... Maybe not the best way to actually 'see' the Islands, as all tends to become a bit hazy, but certainly the way to have a laugh whilst 'sight-seeing'!!! :)

Hmm... Beer in the morning followed by a floating bar of copious amounts of free(!!) local rice liquor, then Ella insisting on attempting to kayak out to one of the islands is maybe not the safest mix but boy it was fun! The boat alos provided an interesting array of entertainment - with their own version of a Vietnamese Boy Band (yikes!), then audience participation in a session of karaoke! Eeek! All extremely cheesy but naturally helped keep the alcohol flowing! ;)

Beautiful Mui Ne...

2007-06-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

After the madness of Saigon, we then had a few more quieter days along the sea front at Mui Ne which was just beautiful, and the perfect place for a bit of a detox! On the left is the view from the back of my motorbike as we drove along the coast watching the sunrise(!), to the right is as the sun was setting from our beach ...

From here we had a go at sand sliding which was wicked fun but actually pretty tiring, especially with a still rather 'wonky' leg. One may forget that after you've had the fun of sliding down the dunes you then have the joy of climbing back up them again...!!! Hmm... where's the chair lift i ask myself! hee hee!

We also took our tour on the back of 2 motorbikes to visit the rather impressive Red Canyon that has been formed simply by rainfall over many many years... so our guide told us anyhow! :)

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

2007-06-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

From the tiny Island of Ben Tre, Cindy and i then started to head North after many a trips along the Mekong and visiting the more rural parts of Vietnam, up to the vibrant city of Ho Chi Minh... a fantastic city! We stayed right in the middle of 'backpacker central' and behaved just like all the others arriving in Ho Chi Minh. Partying the night away in the local bars and suddenly finding yourself sat outside a bar as the sun started to come up and the city around us was waking up and getting ready for the day ahead...!

We went from one extreme to another during our stay here. One minute we would be up partying and singing and dancing, and the next we were walking around the War Remnants Museum seeing some of the most horrific sights i have seen (as i am sure you can imagine). Certainly moments where i just had to walk on by as it became too much.

We also clambered through the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, which in their day stretched out for more than 200km... (not one for the claustrophobic!!!). Pretty amazing to see how the Vietnamese planned it all out... a clever old bunch!

The small Island of Ben Tre

2007-06-09T04:36:00.000-07:00

After Can Tho we decided to take the road a little less travelled and visit the slightly sleepy island of Ben Tre where we stayed in a guest house over looking what basically resembled an empty concrete swimming pool which really was nothing to look at during the day but almost came alive at night. It was lit up beautifully and became the spot where an array of locals would take their evening power-walk (in their pyjama's!) around the lake while catching up on all the latest gossip with their friends! Was a great scene, which we enjoyed over a bottle of wine from our balcony.

I hasten to add that Ben Tre is also where we went on a rather touristy day trip along another part of the Mekong where i am sure our guide was determined to get us drunk; starting at 9am on the spirits was a little early even for me! :) Very entertaining though - sampling all the local liquors such as rice wine, coconut liquor, banana liquor, you name it we tried it! We even went a little too far and sampled the local, very specially made, snake wine!!!!!!! Ewwww! Certainly not one i EVER had any intention of trying. Cindy and i had seen it on a few occasions prior to this particular tour, and both decided it was one of the few indiginous liquors we would give a miss....!!! Hmmm.... so that didn't last long. Unsuprisingly i did not feel 100% after i had drunk the stuff, when it really sunk in (literally i guess!), what i had actually just consumed! Yuck! As you will see below, we also complied with 'the role of the tourist' by wearing our 'local hats' while sitting on the back of a horse and cart.... couldn't really decide whether to cringe or laugh!

All in all it wasn't a bad tour really, we got to see some more of the nearby Islands, and take a walk through fruit orchards, that then lead to some traditional singing and dancing... all good fun! :)

Gooooooooooood Morning VIETNAM...!!!!!

2007-06-09T04:16:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, so having recovered enough from my accident to get back on the road again Cindy and i took a bus then 2 small boats along the Mekong River to cross the border into Vietnam on the 18th April.

We started off in the very south at Chau Doc, a small town which introduced us nicely to the local life in Vietnam. We spent a few days here just getting a feel for the country, eating at the local markets and visiting Sam Mountain, before taking another small boat out to the fish farm and floating village as we continued on to a lovely slightly larger town/city - Can Tho.

From here we spent a really wonderful day where we hired a guide and a long-tail boat with a woman we'd met from Germany, to give us a real taster of life along the Mekong River. We started off on the water in time to see the sun rise through our sleepy eyes before arriving at the hustle and bustle of the great floating markets...

Here we saw every type of fruit and vegetable that you could imagine, being passed and sold between their wobbly little wooden boats... this really was where all the local business took place! Such a fantastic experience! After taking in all the sights of the market we then floated along the very narrow, and rather shallow canals, where we kept getting caught up and stuck in all the weeds and plants along the way. At one point we thought we were going to be wading back home but our fantastic little man got us back still nice and dry! ;)

The Killing Fields and Motorbike accident all in one day....

2007-05-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this is also the city where i got hit by a car... I was on the back of a motorbike and a car reversed straight into my left leg! Ouch! Bloody killed and was a major shock even though it was one of those scenarios when you can see it happening but just pray that it doesn't, and that the car is going to stop just in time but no, it didn't. So that was our evening spent in a Cambodian hospital which i would not reccommend to anyone!!! Thank god Cindy was with me though (cheers hun!).

Of course no-one spoke a word of English until we got to eventually see the doc who spoke just enough to tell me he was worried by the lump that had come up on my leg and that i needed to have it x-rayed in case it was broken! Yikes! Now i'm scared. This was also while we were in the 'Accident & Emergency' Unit of a Cambodian Hospital so lots(!) of blood, and people in seriously bad conditions all around us. Also, having spent the day visiting the 'Killing Fields of Choeung Ek', which is the memorial ground for the thousands of people who were executed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978, it was all just a bit too much and a little 'real' to be honest!

The nurse then made me hop(!!) half way across the hospital to the x-ray room where we waited for a while with all the locals sat there staring and laughing of course, Cindy (bless her!) then appeared with a wheelchair that she'd stolen, as she wasn't having me hobble all the way back again and there was no way i was going to be given anything by the docs/nurse, adn then continued to steel my x-rays as we were waiting for so long, before wheeling me back to the doc! X-rays came back all fine - no broken bones or anything just very bad bruising (and swelling) so just had to take it easy for a few days. Put a little delay on our movements but we still got to Vietnam at a not too later date....

Phnom Penh

2007-05-24T05:26:00.000-07:00

Cambodia's capital, that sits on the edge of the Tonle Sap and Basaac Rivers, where all kinds of bugs imaginable are eaten as 'snacks'.... yum yum!!! Anyone for a cockroach!?! Or maybe you'd prefer a chicken foetus if insects aren't your cup of tea...! eeek! Couldn't quite believe my eyes when i saw it in front of me!!!
We arrived here on the 14th April having left Tom to continue driving around on his dirt-bike out in the hills of Sen Monorom. We spent nearly a week here pretty much being very classic tourists - bit of drinking and partying at night, then taking in some of the sights during the day. All done at a fairly leisurely pace... just as the guide book told us too! ;)

Sen Monorom in the Mondulkiri Province

2007-05-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

After a few days in Ban Lung the 3 of us then headed south a little to the Mondulkiri Province where we continued to mess around on motorbikes along the red dirt tracks of Cambodia, sampled the local rice wine (an interesting one!), and stopped off in minority villages home to the Pnong minority where their homes were either built on stilts or very low straw huts (the name i have forgotten... again, oops!).

Waterfalls, lakes and the beautiful open countryside...!

2007-05-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

We based ourselves in a small very rural and untouristy town (Ban Lung) where the locals hardly spoke a word of English, and you could buy fresh clams by the bucket load from the local market! (something i didn't partake in i'm afraid).

The best way to explore the countryside of Cambodia is by hiring motorbikes so this is just what we did...! Great fun riding along the red sand dirt tracks out across the hills visiting the unspoilt volcanic lakes and waterfalls as we went. We swung from the vines, 'like tarzan', under Ka Tieng waterfall, which our arms took a long time to recover from!! Then had power showers under Chaa Ong waterfall where we were swimming and diving off the rocks, visiting the local villages and getting covered from head to to in red sand!!!

Thank god Cindy and I had at least purchased a local Khmer scarf each that managed to just about stop us from actually eating the dirt! :)

Heading north-east of Cambodia...

2007-05-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

After spending a few days in Siem Reap we then took a very bumpy and fairly untravelled route - heading east to the Ratanakiri province stopping off in a small town called Kratie along the way... Here we cycled through villages and past paddy fields to take a boat out to see some of the few remaining freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins.

The journey from Kratie to Ban Lung (Ratanakiri province) was an interesting one - 8 of us all squeezed into a toyota corola!!! No joke - 4 in the back, 2 in the passenger seat, and oh yes - the final 2 in the drivers seat!!!! How we ever made it in one piece we'll never know....! I guess just like we do everytime we get in a vehicle in Asia! hee hee! All good fun. Also, such a small world as one of the 8 was a guy we'd met briefly in Rajhastan (Tom from England), such a small world! So the 3 of travelled together for the next week or so which was cool.

The Angkor Wat

2007-05-07T02:58:00.000-07:00

Of course, just like the Taj Mahal - you can't really visit Cambodia without taking a peak at the monumental Angkor Wat so here it is...! I have to admit, Cindy and i were a little templed out by this point but we still managed to just about appreciate the wonders of the Angkor temples. I think one of our favourites was Bayon though, which consists of 216 giant gargantuan faces adn was just an amazing one to walk around.

CAMBODIA.... my ideal country - everyone wears pyjamas all day every day!!! :)

2007-05-07T02:14:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture taken in Siem Reap where we begun our travels around Cambodia. A classic scene on the streets of Cambodia - going off to work, shopping, a family day out, whatever, you can guarentee that they'll be wearing their pyjamas....!!! Something that completely boggled us the whole time we were in Cambodia, but also something i loved, and feel that i would fit in well in this country as i'd certainly live in my pyjamas if i had the chance! hee hee! Actually quite a boggling country in many ways, and there were many a times that Cindy and i had been dropped off in 'fake cambodia'...! :) I guess we didn't really know what to expect but it sure wasn't what we saw.

The country certainly presents the 2 extremes of the rich v's the poor.....

This really is how it is, you have the very wealthy families stepping out of there Lexus with all the 'mod cons', and then in the same street virtually you'll have families living in wooden huts on stilts with not even a bicycle between them.

Next stop THAILAND.... (for 1 day!)

2007-05-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah - sounds kind of crazy i know but i literally flew into Bangkok in the late hours of March the 28th and was straight out again by the 30th...! It was too much! After the chilled outness of Nepal and the waaah of India, Bangkok was just the biggest shock to the system, and something i just wasn't ready for! Even the flight in itself was enough to make me 'freak' - we were flying in to all the lights and flashing neon advertisments, huge grand highways and much more, all staring up at me... Yikes! I was just sat there thinking 'where the hell am i arriving into!??' Thankfully i wasn't the only one thinking this - i met a lovely German lady who was going through exactly the same as me, having also just spent the last few months travelling around India and Nepal. We were both stood in the airport in a complete and utter daze without a clue of what to do, where to go, or anything. Then i made the big mistake of checking into a hotel on Khao San Road - backpacker/prostitute/'Ibiza uncovered' hang-out! Omigod! Anyway, i just about survived the one day i had there before i got the bus over the border and into Cambodia where Cindy and i were reunited.... (canadian i travelled with for 6 weeks in India).

My last night in Kathmandu/Nepal...

2007-05-05T05:54:00.000-07:00

Here's just a couple of pics of 'me and my 2 boys' (Mischa from Switzerland & Jean from France) that i had met before in Pokhara and Chitwan, then we all hung out together in Kathmandu. They made my last night in Nepal truly perfect!!! We started the night with my last Everest beer and Dal Bhat (dal, veg curry, pickles and rice), then carried on to see some very good live bands at a local bar, and then finished up in our favourite place - 'the Tom & Jerry bar' where we danced and drank the night away... perfic! What more could you want for a last night in Kathmandu. (cheers guys - you're the best!) :)

What to do in Kathmandu.....!

2007-04-28T02:49:00.000-07:00

With it coming to the end of my time in Nepal, with my flight booked out to Bangkok it was time for Steph and i to go our separate ways as i head on to Kathmandu...! What a brilliant city! Unfortunately i only got to spend a few days here as time just ran out, but i had a great few days! I took a wander around the city, to visit all the old parts and see a few more Pagodas and temples... the usual! :) But all very interesting still and wonderful to see. Walked through the markets, had a glass of chai amongst all the pigeons in one of the old squares and witnessed the many pilgrims visiting Dubar Square leading up to another one of the many festivals that take place in Nepal (sorry completely forgotten the name of this particular one!).

The One-Horned Indian Rhino

2007-04-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

Yeeey - this time we got to see one really close up, and from not such a vulnerable position. This photo was taken when we were riding on an elephant through the jungle, so at a slight advantage than from being on foot! Was an amazing sight, we got to see quite a few on this day - some in the forest area, others in the water and a baby one amongst the elephant grass again. Perfect!

Bathing with Elephants

2007-04-28T01:55:00.000-07:00

As i mentioned briefly before, we got the chance to bathe with the local elephants who come down to the river for their morning bath every day at around 11am and we can join them if we choose... Why not we thought! Was such good fun and just completely mad we'd start just a little wobbly as we prepare for him to give us a shower....

Then it got to the point where he wanted to have some fun - 'lets dunk these tourists' he thought... Every 2 mins he'd be getting up lying down, splashing around, and just generally 'having a blast'!!! We couldn't even stay on if we tried, our guy would heave us back onto the elephant's back and then we'd be falling straight back off into the water...! Something like being on the back of a 'bucking bronko' i reckon! hee hee! Was hillarious and such fun! Here's a true action shot below!

The jungle walk....

2007-04-28T01:53:00.000-07:00

Looking pretty petrified i know.... i was!!!! I think the moment that really freaked me though, was when i got closer to 'mr croc' my guide actually handed me his big stick(to fight off the animals!!!) 'just in case' he said.... yikes! It was time to step away when he opened his eye to take a look at me and made a big sigh! What next was going through his head - lunch!?! Was pretty amazing to have been able to get so near though - you know me... i like to live life on the edge! hee hee! A little further on through the jungle and we'd come to an opening, we were then suddenly running like crazy from 3 giant rhinos...! Eeek! After a few minutes watching them peacefully from about 8 metres maybe, and our guide having previously warned us that if a rhino decides to attack then we need to either climb a tree or ruin in zig zags! No trees around at this point just open land and elephant grass in the distance, so when the rhinos soon spotted us and started to move closer - all we could do was run (and pray!!!!). Omigod! I know we'd heard about tourists having been chased after and attacked by rhinos but i didn't actually think we were going to get quite so close to experiencing it ourselves!

Pokhara to Chitwan National Park (22nd-25th March)

2007-04-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

Having spent a few days just chilling and recovering from our trek Steph and i then travelled east to Chitwan National Park. Home to the last few remaining one-horned indian rhinos, the indian tiger and elephant, many a crocodiles (aka the 'marsh mugger'!!), and lots more beautiful wildlife. We stayed at a perfect guest house right on the edge of the river that created the border of the park. We spent a few days here and took a canoe trip down the river, trekked through the jungle, bathed with, fed, and rode on elephants, and of course sipped cocktails while watcing the sun go down.

The final day!!!

2007-04-28T01:29:00.000-07:00

Having made it to Muktinath, we spent one night there before trekking back down the mountain again to Jomsom, where we were catching a mini mini flight (on a 10-seater plane) back to Pokhara (lakeside town). So after 11 days of steep climbing up and down, seeing so much beauty and experiencing every weather condition possible, and meeting beautiful local people we had completed our trek. All 123kms (at approximately 10-15kms per day, not inc. day off) worth was amazing and i am definitely keen to return to Nepal one day to do more.

Oh yeah and we certainly got used to making way for the donkeys carrying their loads across the mountains... it appears that the donkeys have the right of way in the mountains of Nepal, just as the cows do on the roads of India! :)

Muktinath!

2007-04-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

Wow... we actually made it! After 10 days of walking we made it to Muktinath Temple. Here's the 4 of looking a tad cold and wet having 'washed away our sins' by sprinkling our heads with the holy water for all(!) 108 fountains inside the temple! Freezing! Blomin glad we had our 'oh so sexy' puffa(down) jackets... which is just so not me but i swear it's the most valuable item i took on the trek! The temple was of course in the perfect location on the edge of the mountain surrounded by snow - so beautiful. People of all ages and abilities would come from miles (either by foot, horseback, or donkey) to pray and wash away their sins here.

Day 9 - and i blame it on the altitude...!!!

2007-04-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

Yep - by day 9 on our way to our final destination - Muktinath, Ella was really starting to loose the plot. Ok, so i couldn't not wear my 'lucky scarf' that our lovely little lady gave each of us at our last guest house but i guess wearing in on my head in this particular fashion was maybe taking it a little far. The others decided i looked rather like an easter egg...! How rude....! :) This was also the day i fell straight into an ice cold river up to my waist and only JUST managed to save my camera from being soaked! eek! For some ridiculous idea i thought i could just cross over to the otherside without even considering the mudslide riverbank that of course lead me straight in. Lee was just about to say to me 'are you crazy, you'll fall in!' and before he could even open his mouth i was in! Doh! (photo to come soon when lee emails it to me). I had to spend the rest of the day walking in wet clothes from my waist down and with my feet in plastic bags! Fun fun fun! So much for the 'lucky scarf' that i'd been so dedicated in wearing! :)

Day 8 - our 'day off'!??!

2007-04-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so because we'd just been marching on so wonderfully (ha ha!) we actually gained ourselves a 'day off' trekking, in terms of making it to our destination in time to fly back to Pokhara. So, for some crazy reason we thought it would be a good idea to 'make the most of our day off' by climbing a random mountain which hasn't even been named yet or had a proper path made going up it. Which reached 4000m (bearing in mind our 'peak' was going to be 3800m) via a steep zig zag route. Why i ask myself...i still don't know. Anyway, the views were amazing (of course!) and here's what we saw on the left.... looking out across paddy fields, and down into the willage where we were staying. Below, is me having nearly reached the top!

Day 6 - to Tukuche!

2007-04-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Lunch below the waterfall...

2007-04-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a view from one of our luch stops during the trek, where we sat below Rupse waterfall.

Then some of the truly beautiful Nepalise children, who were just 'over the moon' to have their photo taken. And didn't even ask for 'one sweet'... they were amazing!

Trekking in the pouring rain...

2007-04-19T04:21:00.000-07:00

By Day 4 the rain started coming and when it came it sure came hard...! Nothing stopped us though and we were still smiling (just about!) by the time we reached Tatopani. We'd have the evening to sit round a fire drinking hot chocolate and drying out our clothes after soaking our muscles in the hot springs... all in preparation for the next big day, so it was all good! :)

Sun then Snow by Day 3...

2007-04-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

Day 3 was one of my favourites, which started off by awakening to a beautiful sunrise out across the snow-covered mountains, then plodding and sliding through the snow in forests that reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia... i kept half expecting to see Mrs Beaver pop out from begind a tree after every few steps i took. Without sounding too cheesy, it really was a magical forest. We would then arrive at an opening where you could see out across the valleys and over to Poon Hill, without a sound or person in sight all around.

The 'scarey' jungles...! :)

2007-04-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Along the trek we also walked though some of the amazing jungles of Nepal, some like i've never seen before... Although i know the picture doesn't really do it justice but it felt as though you were on the set of some horror movie or something, with great thick and dark moss all over the huge winding and twisting branches of the big old trees. It was great.

I loved how as we walked the scenery just changed so dramatically and so quickly. One minute you'd be in the depths of a deep forest and the next you'd be right on the edge of a mountain amongst the clear blue skies, or even down in the desert-like valleys.

Our 1st destination...!!!

2007-04-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Not a bad spot for our 1st night trekking in the himalayas after a pretty tough first day of 5 hrs climbing, just to let us in nice and gently... ha ha! It was a bloomin killer on the old legs! But of course, well worth it when we got to see these kind of views so soon! :)

Trekking in the Himalayas!!!

2007-04-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

9th March 2007 Steph(from California), Lee(also from England), Krishna(our porter/guide), and I all set off on our 10 day trek across the himalayas...!!! Yes Steph and i did hire a porter to carry our stuff but who really treks for about 6 hours a day, 10-15kms up and down mountains,for 10 days solid with a big packon their back...!?! Not me! :) And besides Krishna was fantastic and pretty much lead the way for us, kept us safe, and was a great friend to us all so it was more than just hiring someone to carry our rubbish. hee hee!

Happy Holi Day....

2007-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so this has to be one of my craziest days so far... and maybe the most agressive i have experienced. Across India and Nepal they celebrate the day that 'god conquered evil' on the 3rd March, by basically, everyone going around and throwing paint at eachother, and of course being a tourist you're the biggest victim!!!! The kids, and even full-grown men i might add, were literally bundling me and smering paint all over me... i was covered from head to toe!!
Even despite the odd mouthful of paint or finger in the eye we had a brilliant time though - was such good fun and just completely mad!!! You honestly couldn't leave your hotel without being covered. I had pink hair for the week after the festival and now own a bright pink watch instead of a nice blue one. Joy joy! And this is all coming from a girl who doesn't like pink! (Keren!!)

Next stop NEPAL.......!

2007-04-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

I opted for 2 days of travelling on trains and local buses out of India and across the border into Nepal... whatever posessed me to take this option over a nice luxury flight i will never know!?!

It was all worth it though when i finally arrived at the beautiful lake of Pokhara, in the middle of the mountains on the 26th February...
More to come....

Time to say goodbye to the crazy world of India...

2007-04-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

After my one beautiful and perfect month on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with my visa about to expire it was time for me to leave India... It was the perfect way to spend my final month in India, although not very real india i guess. as you didn't really experience the madness of the mainland while out on the Islands. My journey out of India certainly took me back to how it really is though! After flying back to Kolkata i spent a few days in Kolkata with some friends i'd met on the Islands - all of us desparately trying to adjust back to the real world and life in Kolkata is certainly a shock after life in paradise... hee hee! And this is how we dealt with it.... :)

The 11 hour roller-coaster ride...

2007-04-01T00:36:00.000-07:00

Here is Iftah (Israeli firend met north of Andamans-Diglipur) and i on the most crazy 11 hour bus ride i have ever taken. We were put on the back sit of a rickety old bus right from the north to the south of the Andaman Islands where we were literally coming off our seats every 5 minutes.... it was madness!!! Hence why we called it our 11 hour roller-coaster ride as there is just no other way to describe it. All we could do is screem then burst out laughing everytime we got thrwon into the air, and of course being surrounded by locals who probably did this journey everyday-they found it very bizarre that we even flinched at the bumps. One tip - don't ever try to take a cup of chai on an indian bus, especially this one... clever old ella thought this was a great idea and couldn't understand why everyone was laughing at me as i walked passed them with my scoulding chai to the back of the bus. I soon saw why when the bus started moving again! Such a muppet! :)

One of my scariest moments....!!!

2007-04-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

The fatal 30 rupee haircut!!! Ok, so i'd put off having my haircut for the last 5 months as i was just too scared of the possible outcome, but now it came to the point after living the 'good life' and only bathing in the sea and basking in the sun that my split ends just got too bad... And as my friend had also pointed out that "he must be good as all the locals go to him." That's because he's the only(!) person who cuts hair on the island Izhaar, doesn't necessarily mean you get what you want. I guess i knew i was in trouble when i went to ask the cost etc and my guy didn't even speak a word of English... eek!!! But i still went for it...! Anyone who's seen 'Edward Scissorhands' - well that's what my hairdresser was like with a pair of scissors! No joke!!! Every 2 minutes i was 'showing him' how i just wanted a very little cut off, but before i knew it there was half my hair on the floor and i had a bob-cut! Yey! Wanted a layer or 2 put in but thought there was no way i was going to risk that one as i really would've come out with no hair!!!

2007-04-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

We literally made a tent out of 2 pieces of material and some wood that we'd collected and chopped down (with my saw!!!), we cooked over a little wood 'stove' we made and lived off fresh fish caught from the sea, coconuts and a fwe supplies we'd bought from the village - was a great life! We saw the most amazing starry starry nights and full-moons that lit up the beach!

Anyone for fesh coconut...? Who said i wouldn't be using a machete in the jungle...!!! (Simon!)

Below is one of the beautiful untouched beaches....not a hut or a sun lounge, or a lady selling beads in sight....!!!

Living the 'Good Life'....

2007-04-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

After saying goodbye to Cindy :( on havelock as she had to fly back to India to do the South, a friend i'd met on my diving course (Izhaar from Israel) and i started to plan our adventure. We were off to one of the far more deserted islands a little further north of the Andamans - Long Island. Here we found a truly perfect and untouched beach which was 1 hour and a half's trek through the jungle from the only village on the island. We 'set up camp' here for the next four days and had a go at living the simple life... it was great! More info to come but heres some pics in the meantime!

Above is what we woke up to every morning from our home-made tent!

Below is me collecting water from the local well!

Andaman & Nicobar Islands - PARADISE!!!

2007-03-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

After a fairly crazy few days in Kolkata Cindy and i took a flight on the 25th January over to the beautiful very unspoilt Andaman and Nicobar Islands which are just of the east coast of India. Time for a holiday we thought... hee hee! We spent the first week on the slightly more touristy island (Havelock) where we met loads of great people i had a go at scuba diving (whole other story though), hired bicycles and mopeds to go exploring and just genearally enjoyed lounging around in the sun and sipping cocktails at night.

Kumb Melah/indian trains!

2007-03-21T03:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a small glimpse of our 'mini adventure' to the Kumb Melah Festival, one of India's largest holy festivals which takes place every 12 years 140km north of varanassi... and what an experience it was!!! Cindy and i were bundled onto a train at 8 o'clock in the morning along with the other hordes of people all heading out to bathe in the holy waters where the 3 rivers meet. We then spent the next 8 hours (no joke!!) crammed in a carriage on extremely uncomfortable wooden benches, as the train crawled along to it's final destination...!!
Talk about a day in the life of a local - how to travel trains in true indian style! The only things missing were the chickens and the cows!
So, we finally arrived at the festival, making it just in time to see the pilgrims bathing at sunset, pretty amazing huh! It was well worth the adventure to get there.
Only having enough time to spend a couple of hours there we then made it back to the train station (which was a mission in itself!), in time to get the last train back to Varanassi. Little did we know (although i guess we should've presumed), that we were going to be crushed in the crowds getting onto the platform, only to then sit huddled in a cage(literally!) freezing cold, completely shattered and absolutely desparate for a pee for the next 5 hours(!). We were then shuttled out of the cage and back onto the manic platform as our train finally pulled up at 2 o'clock in the morning! And still the worst part was yet to come - Cindy and i were completely separated by the swarms of people literally fighting, pushing, pulling to get on the train - everything being passed over our heads, elderly people being crushed, my head was nearly taken off... I then shouted out the window to cindy so that she at least knew which carriage i had been bundled into so we were together again for the next painful 6 hours back on the wooden benches and still needing a pee but not able to actually move once we had our spot on the train. Even if i had wanted to risk it i would've been very unpopular climbing over all the peopl that covered every inch of the train...!!! 9 am we were finally safely back at our hotel in Varanassi after our biggest adventure so far we reckon! It really was an experience.... and although it was pretty amazing, and certainly an eye-opener, maybe not one i would repeat in a hurry!! :-)

The grand old Taj Mahal to the burning ghats of Varanassi

2007-03-21T02:47:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, we all saw this one coming.... of course you can't really visit India without taking a peak at the Taj! We were even lucky enough to find a budget 'hotel' with the best views in town out across to the spectacular building. It really is just like it looks in the pictures you may've seen of it, i couldn't quite believe it was real when we were stood there in front of it!

After marvelling at the Taj we then experienced India in it's most holy form.... at Varanassi. A city based all along the ganges river where hindu pilgrims come to wash away their sins and bodies are cremated out in public along the ghats. Yikes!

Was quite a shock i have to say.... but also truly amazing and a very special place.

The photo is taken from our sunrise boat trip along

the ganges.

Jaiselmer to Jaipur (by accident!), then Pushkar to Delhi!

2007-03-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

So our next move across india was via another joyous overnight bus ride hoping to get to Pushkar... But, Cindy and i having both overslept, actually ended up in the middle of Jaipur (Rajhastan's capital) at 7 o'clock in the morning.... half asleep and no idea where the hell we were! Doh! So, we spent a few days seeing the sights of Jaipur which was pretty crazy but cool, before our second attempt at reaching Pushkar which was a lovely small city all based around a beautiful lake.

We then headed slightly further north to Delhi, which i had no expectations for at all, and actually fell in love with it straight away....! Just so much to see and do, and with a really great feel to it. Ok, so if you've just landed in Delhi as your first stop in India then maybe it's all a bit much but if you're kind of used to the madness and the 'indian ways' then it's great!! We ate in revolving restaurants, visited the crazy spice markets, walked around one of the world's biggest mosques, and stepped inside one of the most spectacular, and most modern temples i have seen - the Bahai (lotus temple), see photo.

Christmas on a camel!

2007-03-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Next stop Jaisalmer where we spent the christmas and new year period. Pretty great place to be, being one of India's 'hot spots' for setting out on a camel safari across the Thar desert, so why not go for a slightly different christmas, and spend 3 days out in the beautiful untouched sand dunes bouncing along on a camel...!! We even managed to hunt down santa hats for the occasion, much to the suprise of our fellow safari people who i think thought we were maybe a little crazy.... but it's christmas!!! Why not!?!

Was kind of surreal waking up on boxing day to morning chai huddled in our sleeping bags having slept out under the stars in the middle of the desert. Yey!

Heading across Rajhastan....

2007-03-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

So, here goes... my travels across Rajhastan, in a nutshell...! Having successfully 'completed' our cooking course and completely and utterly stuffing ourselves with a 10 course meal(pretty much!), in Udaipur, Cindy and i then moved on to the beautiful 'blue city' of Jodhpur where we took a trip up to the grand Mehrangarh Fort, visited some of the nearby Bishnoi villages and even did a spot of christmas shopping for stocking fillers for one another...! All very entertaining in the indian markets, and way less stressfull than the christmas shopping i am used to...!!! Yep, after initially thinking we were going to let christmas just go by we kind of had a change of tune and thought ah what the hell lets get a little festive!

Welcome to my blog!

2007-03-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

Hello to you all!

Welcome to a small insight into my adventures around the globe.....!

Sorry it's taken me a little while to get this set up (more than 5 months - oops!) but it's here now so i hope you enjoy...

I'll start the blog as a follow on from my last big email update, which was around the middle of December '06 when i was in Udaipur, India.

If you click on the photos you can see them in a bigger size.