Survived one night in a dodgy dorm. My ear plugs are fantastic but V didn’t get much sleep even though it was quiet.

We decided to be typical tourists today and got on the ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tour. Taking trains, ferries and busses to see some of the sites. The Flåm Railway is scenic and it’s unbelievable what people can build but unfortunately it did not meet our expectations. I think we are still ‘high’ from Kjeragbolten – will be hard to beat.

The lavishly dressed Norwgian dancer up on the hill at a stop halfway down with folk tunes blarring from loudspeakers was insanely cheezy, and not necessary, the spot was beautiful in its own right.

The town of Flåm is a typical but quaint tourist trap made worse by the 3000 berth cruise liner from South-Hampton in the dock. The postcards at one of the tourist shops look like they haven’t changed since the 80’s and some contained odd subject matter – naked Weigie guys at scenic viewpoints !?

The weather forecast of cloud and rain was wrong. It was so hot (out of he wind) I think I got sunburnt.

We then took a ferry up the fjord to Gudvangen. Not as spectacular from the bottom as peering over 1000m drop – but beautiful none the less. V spotted some dolphins in the water. The bus ride back to Voss had an interesting and steep switchback section – crazy Norwegian civil engineers again. R20 for a packet of chips at Voss station – think they change the prices as a joke when they see a tourist bus offloading.

All in all it was good to be a passenger for a day. No thought, no stress – just follow the herd.

– Posted from my iPhone

So our fingers no longer hurt and we have successfully moved the pain to our bums. A very long day on a mountain bike will do that, but it was worth it.

We decided to rent some decent bikes (probably not necessary but we like nice bikes) from the most well known operator (Bike Asia). They charge £5 per day and you get a good bike, helmet and disc brakes (but no bell) where the others are between £2 and £3 – so not a biggie. They also supply a map that looks great but in retrospect they should be shot for it.

The hostel is very good at arranging free ‘activities’ and we decided to join their excursion out to Dragon Bridge. A 20km round trip that they estimate as 5-6 hrs with time for ‘rest, photo and lunch”. It seemed that the entire hostel was going for the ride which delayed the start but thankfully it stayed overcast. The way girls dress for this type of excursion boggles my mind (and V’s). Some of the group were in delicate white longs. Another was in black with gold pumps, full make-up and fashion sunnies – This for a romp through muddy rice paddies and rivers on a mountain bike !?

Getting out of town was chaos and I’m very happy that we did not rent bikes before. There are no traffic rules here with the biggest problem being the scooters that ride whichever direction they want, whenever they want. Outside town the roads were quieter and we cruised along in awe of the karst moutains all around. Heading ‘off road’ we were desperate to fly through the single track but being in a huge group that gets off to push over a few rocky bits kinda cramps your style. V and I resigned ourselves to plodding along the narrow pathways between scenic rice paddies – it was great (even better – it is pretty flat so easy to cycle).

The main attration of the ride is the ‘Dragon Bridge’. I guess because it is high (even though it doesn’t need to be) compared to all the other bridges. Everyone talks about jumping from the bridge – around 10m to the river, but there were no takers when we arrived. It only takes one to get the ball rolling – and yip – it was me. I could not resist putting all the kids to shame – even with my white undercoat and flab this rusk still has some guts 🙂

We left the group at the bridge, as they were returning to Yangshuo via the main road, we wanted to cycle the opposite river bank and head off to Moon Hill. A chance for a little adventure – boy did we get it !

Our map was beyond useless and in retrospect we must have taken a wrong turn very early on. Eventually we decided that we must be heading the wrong way and sure enough the gps on my phone confirmed it. Now out in the middle of knowhere, baking in the heat and running out of water we were both getting a little nervous. Our only options were to head all the way back or push on. We decided to push on. The road soon became a track and before long we were cycling through farmland and into rural villages. We hit a number of dead ends and spent ages doubling back and cutting across rice paddies and through pomelo orchards with no idea where we were. The few locals dotted around were always friendly but probably thinking ‘stupid tourists’ as they plucked their chickens and watch us pedal past.

The tracks kept leading us geographically futher away from Yangshuo and keeping our bearings surrounded by monstrous karst mountains was a nightmare. Out of water and getting late we were starting to panic a little. Relief came in the form of an isolated building with a fridge and a willing shop assistant. With water replenished and some idea of directions we pushed on into more built up farm areas until finlly we came to what you could call a road. A group of Chinese tourists were riding along and we confirmed the directions back home – only another 10km or so on busy roads !

So after about 40km riding (20km of which was getting lost and found) and not finding Moon Hill, I have never been happier to see a cold shower and a hard bed (BTW. Think I forgot to mention that the beds here are very hard – basically sleeping on a plank). We have the bikes for one more day – oh please let it be pouring with rain tomorrow 🙂

[Pictures: 1,2) Us out on trail before we got worried and lost all interest in photography. 3) Back on track – theme park on the main road – climb for a teddy bear ! PS. Some more pics from the day in the gallery shortly]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We were woken early by our first thunderstorm of the trip this morning and the heavy rain made us nervous to be spending the day out on the road. Out by 8h30 and nothing was open in the village so we skipped breakfast and flagged down the first mini-bus heading in the direction of Sanjiang. He dropped us on a main street in this awful town and with a vague hand gesture pointed us towards the bus station. We walked around for 20minutes – no bus station ! The few shopkeepers we polled could not understand what we were asking so V drew a bus and found the name of our destination in the LP – the ladies at a cell phone shop understood and pointed us in the right direction.

Shortly after arriving at the bus station Raffaele and Simonetta walked into the dingy terminal – good to have some travel companions again. Turns out that Simonetta teaches Nutrition in Florence and Raffaele is a Physics Professor in Bologna – a truly fascinating and entertaining couple. I could not resist getting Raffaele to tell me all about what he is working on. I did a lot of head nodding but it sounds amazing. OLED screens that are dirt cheap, super thin and flexible but his passion is material modeling. I guess that is coming up with new materials for electronics and other applications using complicated maths.

The road conditions were the worst we have seen yet. The bus bumped and ground its way along a large river and through mountain passes for a hour or so before we were ushered off the bus. The road ahead was impassable so we needed to walk 500m on muddy paths and across a rickety bridge to a bus waiting on the other side. Our new bus and driver had even less respect for Newton’s laws. A buttock tightening ride led us up, over and down treacherous mountain passes finally grinding to a halt at Zhaoxing terminal (an arb spot on the ‘main’ and only road through the village). We were happy to be once again in control of our direction and speed ! On the way we had seen new tunnels and massive bridges under construction – the rivers of concrete flowing as fast as water once again.

Zhaoxing is a bit of a dive. Not very charming and in a state of flux between new concrete, rebuilt drum towers (from the 80’s) and traditional cloth production. We watched a performance (singing and dancing) at the drum tower next to our hotel that had been prepared for a bunch of bussed-in domestic tourists. We were chased away by their guide who was asking for £5 to watch it – a bit cheeky in a public area we thought. We took a slow stroll around the village and up to the school/viewpoint.

The villagers seem to be almost completely involved in the production of dyed cloth. They extract a solution from plants which turns deep indigo after it oxidizes. Fabric is then dyed, dried and pounded with a mallet until it is shiny (ends up looking a bit like silk but not quite). No matter where you are in the village you can hear mallets endlessly drumming cloth on top of stone tablets – there has got to be an easier way. The ladies dresses are all pleated in a similar way. The fabric is carefully folded in ~10mm pleats, bound to a board and hammered. It’s a noisy place and not much escapes the dye – the hands of most are stained and even the dogs have the odd patch.

With not much else to do we had an early drink and a terrible dinner at one of the only restaurants offering WiFi before heading to our hotel. The included fan was not working so I repaired it with a piece of string and a bit of force but at least the beds were comfortable – the softest we have had in weeks. We’ll definitely be leaving in the morning – if only we can find out when the buses leave, and we won’t be alone, the Italians will be with us for at least another day.

[Pictures: V’s brilliant pictograms, One of Zhaoxing’s rebuilt drum towers, The view of the village from the school]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Day 2 of TLG turned out to be an epic through no fault of our own. We did not get lost again in case anyone was wondering.

Part 1: A lovely stroll
Not off to a great start with luke warm showers and a bland breakfast of scrambled eggs for Sim and rice porrige for me against Sims advice. Next time I promise to listen to my love when he tells me to pic something that’s good for walking instead of trying something new. Anyway we were back on the trail by 9.

The weather was cool with the occasional drizzle but it was a marvelous 2 hour walk from Halfway to Tinas guesthouse. We passed 2 waterfalls in full flow after last nights heavy rainfall, and the only people we saw on the trail were a couple of locals. It was great.

Part 2: Raging river and ladders in the sky
After arriving at Tinas which is located on the main road we continued on down to the river. It was quite steep and necessitated another ‘donation’ but we were pleased to find that the donation got us a clean path with regular bins and chain handrails in some of the more precarious bits. At the bottom we came across a huge rock in the middle of the river and some enterprising locals who had built a rickety walkway to it and were charging a fee to get across. This was becoming a trend on this trip. We declined payment and carried on along the path to where another local had set up shop. This time they were charging for the path to get to the actual Tiger Leaping Rock (around N27.25621, E100.16494 :gps:(GPS)::27.25621::100.16494:gps:) and to get out of the gorge on their path and ‘sky ladders’. This time we paid of course and if the weather had been sunny instead of drizzly we would have hung around at the lady’s makeshift cafe as it really had a wonderful view and was quite nicely done. The river not far below us was roaring away. The rapids looked particullarly vicious and you would not want to fall in.

We continued on to the Tiger Leaping Rock which was basically 3 large rocks jutting out into the river. The LP says that the legend is that a tiger used the rocks to leap over the river thus escaping the hunter that was pursuing him, though where he would have gone once he got to he other side is a mystery as it’s a sheer rock face. I suspect that there may be more than one big rock jutting into the river and they are all trying to capitalize on the legend.

Regardless we had fun clambering over the rocks and staring at the rushing rapids, but since we were both getting a bit damp we decided to push on. Next we came to a fork in the path with a sign directing us to the ‘safe path’ and the ‘ladders’ no surprise which path we took hey. The ladders were made out of bits of welded reinforcing and wood taking you straight up the rockface. Probably would not have passed any sort of safety inspection in the UK or anywhere else for that matter, but they were actually quite solid and we made it up with no trouble at all.

Part 3: Beeeg rocks
We arrived back at Tinas at around 1pm. The descent into the gorge and back took us around 3 hours and was hard on us but well worth it. Though it had drizzled pretty much continuously since we had started down, the trail was still negotiable and we thoroughy enjoyed it even if my knees were starting to complain. We stopped in at Tina’s for a coke and had the intention of hanging around for some more hikers to share a taxi back to Janes. The info we had been given was that a taxi would cost us about £8 but on further enquiry we discovered that they were charging £20 as there had been some rockfalls on the road. We gasped at the price and opted to start walking as we had not seen any more hikers coming down. We calculated we could probably make it back to Janes by 4pm with a combination of walking and hitching. At worst we could walk all the way if we had to. About 10 minutes in, a taxi pulled up and we landed up paying £3 for him to take us to the first rockfall about 3 km away, an exhorbitant price in retrospect but it got us further along our way.

The rockfall was a serious one. Huge boulders had broken off of the vertical cliff face and had smashed down onto the road completely covering it. You have to check out the pics to understand. At first we though no way are we climbing over that but seeing some locals cross over we decided to press on. Sim went first with me not too far behind him. We got it over and done with as quickly as we could. It was not an enjoyable experience and when Sim loosened a watermellon sized boulder it reinforced the fact that this probably wasn’t one of our brightest ideas.

On the other side of the rockfall, was a large group of Chinese tourists who had evidently had part of their day tour upset by the blocked road. They cheered us when we got safely down and one of them kindly offered me a wet wipe after we had rinsed our filthy hands in a puddle in the road. The lady spoke good English and told us that there were a further 2 rockfalls disrupting the road but that they were much less serious than the one we had just clambered over. There was a fleet of stranded taxis (stuck between 2 rockfslls) a little further along the road and we paid £5 for one of them to take us 10km to the next rockfall.

The Chinese lady was correct, this rockfall was much smaller, just a couple of smallish boulders strewn across the road and was already being cleared by the workers who were constructing the road. We were still a bit nervous at the thought that there could be more rocks coming down, but the workers did not seem terribly worried.

There were no minibus taxis waiting on the other side though so we walked maybe half an hour before coming to a tunnel and the third and final rockfall blocking the tunnel exit. Serious construction was going on on the other side of the tunnel sending massive boulders flooding the tunnel exit so we waited with a French couple and some workers untill the excavator on the other side took a break.

A quick scramble over the rockfall along with everyone else and we were on the other side. We had hoped to be able to team up with the Frenchies and share the cost of transport if we found any, but they clearly were not interested in being anywhere near us and at first walked off very fast but then stopped and let us pass when they realized we were keeping up with them.

So we walked, and walked along the muddy half constructed road. When the wind let up and the rain eased it was rather pleasant and not at all difficult. We eventually managed to hitch a lift for £1 after maybe an hour of walking. You rarely get anything for free in this country and people who are going in your direction anyway will still charge you. The French couple passed us on the back of another vehicle along the way.

Part 4: More spiky French and getting to Shangrila
Back at Janes we retrieved our luggage and enquired about getting to Shangrila. There were 5 other people going that way, another French couple, a British couple that had hiked back from Halfway guesthouse plus a chinese girl. The French had already organized a minibus taxi for £20 and were sharing with the other three. We asked the French couple if there was space for 2 more, but got an evasive half answer. On further enquiry we were told that there was not enough room and that 7 people in the taxi was dangerous. Bear in mind that 7 people and their gear fitted just fine into the same type of minibus taxi that got us to Janes in the first place. This was the second time today that we had come across spiky (to put it politely) French people. Do we smell? Do we somehow offend them by our obvious lack of style? What? We always try to be friendly and at least polite to other people we meet along the way and would jump at the chance to share costs.

Sadly we also suspected that the staff at Janes were trying to get us into another £20 taxi. I say this because it took further prodding from us for them to eventually tell us that there are regular buses to Shangrila that leave from just up the road and cost £2.50 per person. Plus when the young girl told us this she immediately got an earful from one of the other ladies.

We trudged back out into the drizzle and down the road. A couple more enquiries along the way got us to a parking lot on the side of the road. We saw the Chinese lady who had given us the wet wipe and told us about the other rockfalls. As soon as she spotted us she came over to see if we needed help. Just goes to show that there are still goodhearted people out there.

We were on the bus by just after 4. Sims pretty good with his estimates of time and was spot on again. It took us around 2 hours to get to Shangrila. Along the way the scenery took on a decidedly Tibetan nature. The house styles changed (all have prayer flags on top) and we saw yaks grazing. Instead of fields of rice, some other grass like crop were being farmed (hey we’re not farmers ok) and the people’s faces seemed to have taken on a more Tibetan look.

Shangrila or Zhongdian as it was previously called until the government decided to change the name to something that would lure tourists to the area, was chillly and since we were dressed only in shorts, t-shirts and strops, we definately felt it whilst we waited for the city bus.

After an exhausting day we found our hostel to be a thoroughly charming mud brick construction, with a friendly owner, nicely decorated though windowless room and a super hot shower. We finished it all of with well deserved and delicious ‘free range’ yak burgers (probably thd best meal we have had in China) and went to bed, scrubbed clean and well fed.

[Pictures: V at the first waterfall on the way down from Halfway Inn. V Crossing a bridge at the bottom of TLG. The sky highway on the way back out of the gorge. Sim topping out of the insane ladders. The TL rock far below. Yak burger on the menu]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

A great breakfast to start the day and we were ready for our trip out to the jungle. No other travelers had signed on – but that didn’t bother us. Our Minibus driver was still having breakfast (Laos is so chilled out it’s great) so the manager in the tour office went through the plan. We started to feel concerned about the amount of time we were to spend with local families and in villages.

First stop was the local town market so that our guide (Alack) could buy a trail lunch for us. The manager in the office had said that if we wanted to ‘help’ we could buy books/pens for the village schools which V didn’t mind doing (next to backpacks it’s her next favorite shopping experience). The market was impressive and clean with wonderful smells. Fresh fruit, veg, spices, herbs etc. Nothing like a Chinese market. There were a few pots of live frogs, huge bull-frogs, frogs on sticks, deep-fried frogs, eels and roasted crickets – but in all it was a place I would not have minded shopping. A 30 minute hop in the minibus and we stopped to collect a local guide (we ended up with two) and headed into the jungle.

V and I have both been in the Amazon so we had some idea of what to expect. Travelers expecting to see animals or have a pleasant stroll in the woods will be disappointed. Jungles are about watching your feet, bearing the humidity and fighting off bugs. Any animals not hidden by thick bush will be scared off by the noise of traipsing tourists. That being said, there is nothing like bushwhacking your way through thick jungle – we had an absolute ball. Within 15 minutes our guide had hacked us a couple of sturdy bamboo walking poles (if we had know how useful they were to become we would have happily paid a fortune for them). The ‘trail’, more of a suggestion really, weaved it’s way along and up the river for the first few hours following our local guides. We gave up trying to stay clean and dry as often the easiest approach was to wade upstream. Lunch was great. Our guides gathered some banana leaves and laid out piles of food from the market. This along with sticky rice constituted a finger licking feast – when not chasing bugs off the leaves.

Our two ‘local guides, having carried water and food all morning, were to leave us at this point and return home. On packing up the food one of them tossed a piece of plastic into the bush. Alack immediately retrieved it and handed back to the guides to be carried out. We were very impressed and surprised, especially after China. After lunch we were guided past some huge trees, a tiny waterfall and up, way up, into a bamboo forest just as the rain started to pour down. The trail, already wet, muddy and slippery from yesterday’s rain, got even worse. We continued on using umbrellas (more suited to the urban jungle than the real jungle) where possible but in the thick growth it was often easier to just forge ahead. V managed to become the first leech victim. Aleck removed it quickly without a problem before any serious damage was done. For the rest of the afternoon the rains came and went in waves making sure we were thoroughly soaked, muddy and sweaty as we climbed and descended the hills eventually reaching the farm of Mr Phong :gps:(GPS)::20.918423::101.468117:gps:. Along the way Aleck had been instructing us, in his limited but reasonable English, about various fruits, nuts, plants and some of their medicinal properties. This seems to be a common thing to tell tourists while walking in a jungle and only mildly interesting. We tasted and tried a variety of things – not much took our fancy but we did enjoy chewing on some of Mr Phong’s sugar cane – haven’t done that for a very long time.

We arrived at Mr Phong’s home in the rain and were greeted warmly by the family as they went about their business. The farmhouses consist of a few traditional wooden buildings on stilts surrounded by hills and rolling fields of sticky rice (like normal rice but grows in regular soil to about shoulder height and is sticky – duh – when cooked). Alack was right at home with the family, immediately getting to work helping around the place and making sure we were sorted. He took us down to the river to have a quick bath where we noticed a small turbine behind a 1m high dam generating enough power for a TV and a few lights – we thought that was very cool. On our return we found that a couple of mats had been laid out for us in what we guessed was the ‘common’ building (TV room, lounge and dining area to you). The original idea was that we would cook dinner with the family outside, but the rain put an end to that plan. Alack insisted we take a little nap while he busied himself with preparing dinner (very fresh duck). We were not planning on it, but the sound of the rain on the palm leaf roof and the muted sounds of chickens, ducks, dogs and people outside had us both snoozing happily – besides it was nice to feel dry, warm and horizontal after 6 hours of reasonably difficult hiking in the rain and mud.

Dinner was brilliant and not just the food. We sat down in the common area around a small table with the family and Mr Phong pulled out his bottle of Lao-Lao (a strong rice wine/whiskey). Two neighbors promptly arrived to join in the meal. Before starting to eat we were the subjects of a small ritual involving eating broken hard boiled eggs and rice and having twine tied around our wrists by each member of the group while mumbling a kind of blessing (our guide explained it as something to do with good luck – must look it up some time). It was not at all posed or uncomfortable, and that is saying something for us. It felt like we were just guests at a friends dinner table – brilliant. The food consisted of the ever present (and yummy) sticky rice with bowls of pumpkin and a couple duck dishes, one of which was too deep in colour to be anything but duck blood, chili and spring onions (It tasted spicy but the thought what it could be had us avoiding that plate). As dinner wore on we chatted to our hosts via Alack as the bamboo shot glass of Lao-Lao made it rounds lubricating the proceedings. Hearing about Mr Phong’s life story was very interesting. He was a monk before military conflict left him homeless, then worked in an airport and lived in the city before selling up and moving to the country with his wife, daughter and her husband (and now a baby too).

Alack was on a mission to get the group singing – he succeeded partially. Mr Phong with his guitar sang for us followed by his wife and one of his friends – all were excellent. V and I can’t sing (or remember the words to any songs for that matter) and managed to wiggle out of embarrassing ourselves. Alack had mentioned earlier in the day that a lot of Aussies visit – I pondered how many times the family must have heard a slurred rendition of Waltzing Matilda. Keeping quite was the least we could do to thank our hosts for such a wonderful evening.

The table was moved, the guests departed with smiles and sleeping mats in a cozy corner appeared behind us. Laos is impressing!

[Pictures: In the Jungle and Lunch on a leaf ]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Last day on the lines today 🙁 and luckily it was not raining. Jonny was looking terrible – we all felt sorry for him as we attempted to eat breakfast. There was a definite pain when re-attaching to the lines – I miss my comfy harness. We left around 8:30 and enjoyed a few new lines (Jacob and I snuck in a quick loop while waiting for everyone to catch up) in between the now well known trails before sadly unclipping from the last one. All of us have improved our technique – getting your body parallel to the cable increases speed (and hence distance) dramatically. A short hike got us back to HQ followed by another hot and muddy hour down to the village where we cooled off in the stream before discovering that cold drinks (containing Sugar!!) were waiting just 50m away. Jacob has an impressive talent – managing to keep his sandles clean and dry while the rest of us were ankle deep in thick mud. I suspect it has something to do with the size of his feet – like having snow shoes 🙂

The dirt road ride back had it’s fair share of dramatic slipping and sliding but the road overall was in a better condition than when we arrived. Lunch at the well stocked cafe/restaurant was tasty (I thought) but having to eat more rice put most people off. Again we can’t get over the toilets here. A tin shack at a roadside cafe and the loo was pristine! In China it would have been a disgusting trough. The ride back to town and hot showers was subdued – everyone was pretty knackered.

In the evening we all met up for dinner at the restaurant attached to the Gibbon Exp office. It was almost difficult to recognize everyone looking so respectable. Rice was not on the books – most (including us) gorged themselves on excellent oven baked pizza. Life is once again (and as usual) very good 🙂

Tips for the Gibbon Experience (or some hints if the owners ever see this blog)
– Keep your pack small (we had a 10l daypack for the both of us). Zipping with a big one is a pain (or one with stuff hanging off). 1 clean set of clothes, one ‘dirty’ set and enough clean undies to get you through should be fine.
– Sandles worked fine for us but most were happy with old trainers.
– The gloves are not really necessary but will save your hands if you accidentally grab a cable.
– Don’t take anything that can start a fire. Tree house #1 burned down not long ago because some idiots left a candle burning.
– Soap, toilet paper, toothbrush and paste, mozzie repellent and a torch are essential. Towels are provided.
– iPod – maybe your group will suck (but you will need to carry it around all day)
– Camera (and charged batteries) with a backup cord to attach to your harness.
– Sunglasses could be useful. You may drop them.
– A little cash to buy stuff at the villages.
– Water for the walk in.
– Some found the bedding smelly – maybe a sleeping bag liner.
– The food was VERY dull. If you want to be popular/make some cash take;
– Salt, pepper, chillies and any other condiments you like.
– Loads of munchies. Chocolate, Chips, nuts, raisins etc
– Some kind of powdered cold drink. The free water gets very boring after 3 days.
– I would not recommend booze – drunk people 35m above the deck is a recipe for disaster.
– Remember you have to carry it all in.

Some More Notes for the Owners
– Medical kits ? Emergency radio ?
– Waste basket for loo paper rather than having to drop it into the forest.
– Mini map for your guests.
– Our guides were good, if a little lazy, but we think the whole enterprise could use a little sprucing up. Possibly a better manager on site to crack a whip.

Just our 2 cents. It was amazing but we felt a little overpriced and that feeling could have been addressed with only minor changes.

[Pictures: Sim about to drop off the house for the last time 🙁 ]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Vang Vieng is known by all as just a party town and honestly it doesn’t have much else going for it besides a few outdoor activities and some extreme pancake vendors (think Banana Chocolate pancake with Milo, coconut and condensed milk) on the streets. They work until the wee hours for retiring revelers, but unfortunately not for breakfast when we needed them. After fighting with ATMs and finding a sandwich to replace the missing pancakes we headed out on our morning tour of some caves in the area. I was hoping for some serious spelunking, V not so much 🙂

Our guide was very good (Green Discovery again) and led us around a grotto/temple (Elephant Cave) and two other caves in the vicinity – about 100m and 400m deep. We saw beautiful sparkling stalactites in the large caverns. The caves were good but I was really, hoping for a little more ‘adventure’. The last cave on the morning long tour was the ‘Water cave’ that required floating inside on a tube through a tiny gap and up an underground river. Ditching the tubes we leopard crawled through narrow gaps and waded up to our waists while dodging overhanging formations. The cave did not run very far – maybe 100m – but it was a lot of muddy fun. Even V enjoyed it after overcoming her initial fears. We could really have done the caves ourselves if we had the time to find them but it would have probably resulted in me going too far and getting into trouble!

Back in town our friends were waiting for us to go tubing down the river. This is what Vang Vieng is about and what we came to gawk at. It’s a simple recipe (for disaster). You rent a tube in town, catch a tak-tak for 3km upriver and jump in. Along the river are dozens of bars well stocked with free buckets of booze and an alarming variety of drugs (all illegal). Each bar also has some kind of swing, zipline or slide to launch you back into the river. Most seem to just copy one swing style – if V and I worked here they would have far more interesting designs. Obviously the aim is to get as drunk as possible while tubing from one bar with it’s blaring music and assorted activities to the next. The combination of water, booze and big swings is a good enough reason for the waiver we had to sign before taking a tube and explains why idiots die here every year (apparently). Think of it as a functional ‘Gene Pool Control System’.

Our friends had run the gauntlet a couple of times already so it was easy for us to find the cool swings and slides. We immediately skipped the first couple of bars – they were packed with drunk kids and only offered dismal slides as attractions. The next stop had an impressive swing. I was like a kid in a candy store. Releasing at the highpoint gave you an estimated 8m drop to the rushing water. It was brilliant fun. Nick and I kept going back for more. The rickety platform that you swing from is possibly more dangerous than the swing itself – it felt like it could collapse at any moment. Christian (nursing a radio-active sunburn) and Jessica abstained having done it before and no amount of heckling could get V on a swing. As the drunken hoard started piling into our spot we opted to stay ahead of the wave.

As you go down the river the swings get bigger but we were continuously being caught by progressively more intoxicated crowds, so after Nick had his chest spray painted with an obscene slogan we decided to skip on down to one of the last bars. This one had a huge slide, zipline and the biggest swing yet – maybe over 10m to the water if you release at the highpoint. After a fruit shake with our friends I had a go at the zipline, swing and slide. The swing was awesome, the zipline dull and my technique on the slide left a lot to be desired – barely plopping of the end. Jessica and Christian perfected the slide, launching well into the river with all the style of Canadians on ice. All just too much fun. With the weather turning overcast we headed downstream and back to town. Around 30 minutes of floating through peaceful and stunning karst topography got us to a good exit point that Jessica and Christian had discovered (they had been hassled by locals on a previous excursion). A hectic and fantastic day, but not quite over !

We all met up for dinner at a quaint little grill spot. Vang Vieng has no shortage of western style restaurants and the one we chose wasn’t bad. Braaied kebabs – can’t really go wrong with that. Our next stop was one of the many bars. Nick got accosted into accepting a ‘Beer Bong’ – free if he could finish it in one go. He wasn’t at all phased by the proposition and set a about preparing the bong while explaining his intricate technique – it was almost a science lesson – hilarious 🙂 It was down his gullet in less than 4 seconds. All were impressed. Seems they have a lot of spare time in Belgium. Being the last night in VV, Nick decided to enjoy it. Even with more beer in him than the rest of us combined he stated “I can still do calculus. Come on… Give me something” – and I have no doubt he still could ! We left him to live it up while the rest of us headed for our pillows.

[Pictures: Busy day. Red bull required. It’s imported from Thailand and manufactured by a pharmaceutical company ! Not silly enough to take my phone on the water so you’ll have to wait for the photo uploads]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

The day dawned heavily overcast after a rainy night. Not ideal conditions for a tour on Ha Long bay but we were hoping it would clear. We boarded a 30 seater full of westerners and headed out of town. Over three hours later we arrived in Ha Long city. Only four of us on the bus had opted for the el-cheap-o trip (2 days, 1 night) and we were immediately demoted to another tour group. The bay at Ha Long was surprising – packed with tourists being led about in groups while junks jostled for position on the piers. Our new group made my ears itch instantly as the loud affected twang of SAFA accents bellowed forth. On board we were provided lunch as we drifted out into the bay.

Even in the heavily overcast conditions the bay is still stunning. Over 3000 karst islands of varying sizes fill this UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately without the sun the water wasn’t close to the deep turquoise you see on postcards. Our first stop was the recently (1994) discovered Hang Sung Sot cave. Beautifully set out and lit for tourists even V enjoyed the space (not at all claustrophobic). Our guide led us through a bit of the history and pointed out the well known formations – more dragons, lions, frogs, turtles and bits of anatomy. All required little imagination.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent cruising around the amazing waterways and formations before dropping some people off at Cat Ba Island and continuing to a floating fishing village and the promise of kayaks. By the time we got to the kayaks the wind had come up, the temperature had dropped and night had fallen. Pity – I was looking forward to a swim.

We anchored for the night surrounded by dozens of similar boats all being swirled around by the strong wind. Dinner was acceptable (although the ‘fresh’ seafood looked decidedly not) and we enjoyed the evening with an English/Irish couple before retiring to our cabin. A large celebratory scotch and a pile of M&M’s had me unconscious before we could get through two eps of The West Wing ! Tough life we have 🙂

[Pictures: Views of Ha Long bay ]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam] We had a bit of a lazy start to the morning and were only out of the hotel by mid morning. By the time we had walked all the way to the reunification palace (via the insane central market) it was closed for lunch. So we killed a bit of time at a coffee shop opposite the Notre Dame Cathedral and the central post office, then some more time people watching in the park outside the palace.

Finally we were able to get in after they had finished their 2 hour lunch break. It was mildly interesting and we suspect all the decor is original (from the 60’s) but Sim thinks they should park a couple of tanks in the front – you know like the famous picture? The palace also has a full sized model of a Huey on the roof to mark from where the last Americans were airlifted at the end of the war (and another famous photo).

Next up was the War Remnants Museum. Formerly known as the museum of American war crimes. It was pretty harrowing stuff. Mostly one sided pictures and details of what the Americans did to the VC. It was incredibly depressing but educational. It was a horrific war. [Sim: to quote the West Wing “All wars are crimes”]

We were too bumbed and exhausted to walk anymore so we grabbed two motorcycle taxis and headed home.  We had walked quite some distance so the 2 dollars it cost us was worth it. Sim took some video of the ride to give people an idea of what it’s like. Motorcycles are the only way you can really get around easily in this congested town. With a motorbike even the pedestrian pavements get used and driving on the wrong side of the road is ok if it gets you where you are going. At one point  I squealed when a car tried to cut in front of us, but my driver patted me on the leg and reassured me that he was a safe driver.

[Pictures: Enemies at the gate – okay, maybe it’s just us.]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Phnom Penh, Cambodia] Today we performed our humanitarian act for the week. We harmlessly (unless you are a coconut) disposed of 50 rounds of AK-47 ammunition. It won’t make much of a dent in the billions of bullets out there, but as Tesco says “Every little helps”.

We negotiated a small tour with a very polite and friendly tak-tak driver who had been waiting for us while we had breakfast. First stop was the military shooting range out near the international airport. Money talks in Cambodia and the military has decided to cash in by allowing tourists to assist in depleting their excess munitions. It was expensive, but well worth it. On arriving at the range we were seated in a restaurant type setting and presented with a ‘picture menu’ containing the various weapons we could try. Everything from hand guns to grenades and finally, for $350, an RPG! Hmmm… An international airport near twitchy tourists with an RPG – remind me never to fly into Siem Reap ! V and I ordered the AK-47. It’s the popular choice with over 100 million (including derivatives) manufactured world wide. Even with the mandatory sitting position, gun rest and assistant holding our shoulders, coconuts do have much to fear when we are behind the sights (although we did get a couple rounds in – embarrassing video clips to follow). It was a ball but over way to quickly.

Our next stop was bound to be a somber affair. We visited a mass grave site outside Phnom Penh known as ‘The Killing Fields’. Cambodia has over 19 000 mass grave sites and this area has been preserved as a monument and to those men, women, children and babies brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge regime. A huge Buddhist stupa has been erected to respectfully display all of the bones exhumed in the area. It is harrowing to see and designed to ensure that people never forget the atrocities. It was an emotional place to visit but I’m glad we did.

I HAVE to mention dinner. On a recommendation from TravelFish we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant. ‘Le Duo’ is, as advertised, a small piece of Italy in Cambodia. I had an amazing meal: Home made ravioli stuffed with turkey and aubergine in a creamy sauce with baby tomatoes and artichoke hearts. Desert was ice-cream with ricotta, almonds and hot chocolate sauce – it was brilliant. V was a little disappointed in her spaghetti alle vongole but we had a great evening in the end.

By the way. I know posts have been delayed a little lately. We have been very busy all day and tired in the evenings but the main reason is the iPhone apps I use to type and post. The ‘new and improved’ versions crash. I end up losing posts and having to rewrite them. It’s incredibly frustrating.

[Pictures/Video: Oue cool tak-tak driver Mr Samaly. And us… totally useless (two clips in a YouTube Playlist]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Siem Reap, Cambodia] Yeah its a cheezy title, Sim is better at coming up with them than I am.

WARNING – The next few posts have hundreds of photos

Anyway, it was an awful start to what turned out to be an awesome day. We both woke up grumpy. Me because I had the start of yet another cold and had had little sleep due to the rattly aircon. Sim because he had had a frustrating, but ultimately successful (thankfully) evening before, trying to recover all our Mekong River and Phnom Penh photos off of the SD card which for some unknown reason decided to freak out on us. Sim suggested we take a lazy day but we had agreed to meet our tuk-tuk driver at 8am and I was being stubborn.

Our first stop was at the ticket office. We were thoroughly impressed. There were loads of officials very politely directing people to the right que and our 3 day photo id passes were printed out within seconds of us handing over the cash (40USD per person) and standing in front of the camera.

Next up was the main attraction, Angkor Wat. It’s what everyone comes here to see. We had a bit of a brain fart when we inadvertently accepted incense at the entrance and got suckered into rubbing a statue (Vishnu I think) for luck to find they were hitting us up for a ‘donation’. They were looking for 10 dollars – cheeky! I gave some of my Cambodian Rials to avoid too much embarrassment. Guess it was a vengeful god as about 10 minutes later our camera battery died, and we discovered that the spare was flat too. We, and by we I mean Simon had forgotten to charge them the night before. In his defense though, I was supposed to have reminded him. There was no point in carrying on if we would not be able to take pictures to remember what we had seen, so we had to headed back to the hotel to kill a few hours while the camera recharged. We were both really upset with ourselves for having wasted half a day of our passes.

We headed back out just after lunch and saw everything at Angkor Wat before the post lunch tour buses arrived. Actually the crowds were not bad. I suspect it gets a lot busier later on in the year judging from the size of the carpark outside the Wat. The Wat itself was everything we expected. Surrounded by an impressive moat which dwarfs every English castle moat we have seen. We walked around the galleries admiring the detailed bas reliefs before exploring the interior. A lot of restoration is going on but the bulk of the complex was free of scaffolding.

We moved onto the Angkor Thom complex, passing through a gate with a massive four-sided face atop it. Very cool. The walls were also surrounded by another massive moat. There were a number of different sights within the Angkor Thom complex, including the Bayon, the Baphuon (closed for restoration), the Elephant Terrace and Leper King Terrace plus a number of smaller ruins that we did not bother with.

After all this clambering over and around half restored, mostly crumbling but all just amazing ruins, it was starting to get late. We headed over to the Bakheng Temple to catch the sunset. The LP and Travelfish guides both say that this is a good spot. They both warn about the crowds though. We thought they were mistaken about the view but spot on about the mayhem that was hundreds of people all trying to get up on top of the temple to catch the sunset. After getting to the top and seeing the disappointing view, we decided that sunsets were overrated and headed back down via the elephant trail. Yes, you can ride an elephant to the top if you want.

Tired and thoroughly pleased with the way the day had turned out, we headed back to our hotel. Topping off the day, we found that the staff at the hotel had decorated our bed with flower petals arranged in a heart. It was very sweet of them and we are glad we stayed here on our Gibbon friends’ (Jessica and Christian) recommendation.

More Angkor tomorrow…. Yes please!

[Pictures: Us at Angkor Wat, we made it ! The Bayon Temple, Sim fooling about on Phimeanakas. The crowds on Bakheng]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Siem Reap, Cambodia] 11:30 and we were still in bed – what a great way to start a day 🙂 We took a stroll into the tourist centre of town (‘Pub Street’ and ‘The Passage’) in search of a pastry and came across a dodgy DVD shop. We couldn’t resist asking for ‘Tomb Raider’. There must have been at least 100 000 discs in the shop but ‘salesman’ strolled over and plucked it out of the chaos with ease – so our entertainment for the evening is sorted. The ‘Blue Pumpkin Cafe’ is unbelievable. Great food (if a little expensive) in a beautiful setting. You would almost think your are New York or London. We followed the rocky road and coconut milk shakes up with a stroll around the local tourist market. Nothing took our fancy – most of it was exactly what we had seen in Vietnam and Laos (Same Same, but NOT different).

Our plan for the afternoon was to get a ‘free’ (should have been hint) bicycle from the hotel and head out to the Angkor balloon ride before chilling to a sunset overlooking Angkor and that’s pretty much where the wheels came off (well a pedal anyway).

At the security checkpoint outside town we negotiated our way past the officials without a ticket (since we were not planning on going into any wats) and were told that the balloon had been closed for ages. Seems someone burst our balloon. In place of the balloon we decided to suck it up and pay for the 8 minute helicopter flip over Angkor and continued riding out to the where the balloon used to be. A sign announced that the heli-flip company had relocated to the airport ! Not daunted (well maybe a little) we decided to cycle another 5km to the airport and try our luck there. Shortly after setting off one of my pedals sheered off completely and riding became almost impossible.

We eventually got the the airport exhausted and wet through with sweat. The place looked deserted. Security tried to assist us but in the end we discovered that to get a helicopter ride we needed to book with an agency in town. Arghhh! So it was back to Angkor for us. Odd that when you need one of the thousands of tak-taks you can’t find one (I guess they know the flight arrival times). I gave up trying to pedal with one leg after a few hundred meters and ended up switching bikes with V and pushing her all the way back to the Wat. We (well mainly me) arrived totally spent and collapsed on the moat wall to wait for sunset. When it finally arrived, the sunset was a little disappointing but we got a few shots and went in search of a tak-tak. There were dozens of them around the car park but all occupied or off duty save one (thankfully) We loaded up and headed home. What an afternoon!

In the evening we had planned to watch our Tomb Raider DVD. We made it as far as the scenes that were shot at Ta Prohm (too cool) before nodding off into a coma. I can safely say we have done Angkor. If there is a next time, that heli and balloon owe us a ride.

[Pictures: V on her bike – so cool to ride past Angkor. Not a great sunset at an amazing spot]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Siem Reap to Battambang, Cambodia] Yuk ! Pick up at 6am for our boat ride to Battambang. The earliest we have had to get up in a long time. After rattling around the back streets of Siem Reap picking up tourists we were deposited at the docks and escorted onto a boat which did not look anything like the speedboat on the ticket.

As soon as the engine fired up it became apparent that this trip was not going to be a comfortable one. It was insanely loud. We pulled out of the docks just as the red bull was kicking in – and just in time too. The scenery was wonderful. We ploughed through overgrown waterways teeming with bird-life and passed plenty of floating villages. The most stable looking structures around were the cell phone towers in amongst the floating houses, shops and schools. As the morning wore on villagers were getting on their way to work and school. Funny to see 6 kids in a boat paddling to school. Even funnier were the floating schools with dozens of boats tied up outside the busy classrooms. Just like I remember. Except we had bicycles.

Some of the waterways were extremely narrow with blind corners and obscured intersections resulting in a number of near misses (video to follow). V spotted at least one snake enjoying a tree branch close to our path and this made me nervous. Most of the morning involved being clouted by similar branches as we ploughed through. In the end everyone on board got bored and pulled the fabric blinds down – finally safe from inquisitive snakes and vengeful branches. The river widened as we approached Battambang. 6.5 hours of brain splitting noise – but it was still the most wonderful transit of the trip so far (we think).

Battambang is not impressive as a town with more poverty and beggars than Siem Reap but our hotel (the Seng Hout) is once again of high standard and overall good value. Not much else to mention for the day. We were shattered (literally) after the boat ride. Dinner at a local Thai/Khmer restaurant (The Smokin’ Pot) was very cheap and you could taste it ! Tomorrow we’ll see what the area has to offer.

[Pictures: Kids on the way to school. In the driver’s seat of our ‘speedboat’]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Bangkok, Thailand] Sleep, Shops and Sights. After our noisy night in the Orchid we got up early and went in search of better accommodation further from the noise of Khaosan road.

The roads were deserted and most shops closed since they are open until the early hours of the morning. We spent a bit of time checking options and settled on ‘The Happy House’ with better quality quite room. It’s not far from where I stayed 10 years ago but the area is barely recognizable. The street has been paved and is overwhelmed by flea market type stalls but at least they made an effort to keep the trees so it feels cooler. I was able to match one upgraded restaurant with my fallible memories. An obvious omission is the call of ‘Cold water, five Baht’. It seems the ever present ladies with buckets of government standard drinking water have been replaced with a 7-11 every 100m selling brand name bottled water and everything else a traveler could want in convenient travel sized portions. Our new hotel was comfy. Maybe too comfy… V passed out and didn’t wake up until it was dark 🙂 Now we’re on holiday!

Day 2 in Bangkok started off with a walk to the Grand Palace. We don’t normally get caught by scams but neither of us (me especially) were firing on all cylinders. At the entrance to the Palace we were directed away by an official looking guy and after walking some distance were told by another well dressed guy posing as a tourist policeman that the palace was closed until 13h. He then tried to hook us up with a tak-tak tour around some other sites. Confused and annoyed we decided (well thanks to V) to change our plans and head back to the hotel instead of being dragged around town in a tak-tak. Turns out the palace was open. All we needed to do was walk in. The entrance is not obvious and we guess these guys work in teams to get people onto the well known tak-tak tours of selected clothing and jewelery stores! After that failure and reboot we opted to go shopping instead and grabbed a taxi to the MKB shopping centre in the heart of the city. MKB is insane. It’s a packed with every shop imaginable and then stuffed with floors and isles of flea market style stalls. V found a couple of things she needed (like flip flops – so she can get rid of that strop tan!) and I got some more memory cards. For sups we managed to meet up with Manouk from our Tibet tour. It was great to see her again after bumping into her in Luang Prabang but she’s heading home now so we’ll just have to keep traveling around the world until we get to Holland 🙂

Okay. Day 3. Time to get serious about the sights (well just a little). We got to the Grand Palace and attached wats without trouble. The place is still amazing even with severe dejavue buzzing my brain. They are doing a lot of restoration work at the moment and I seem to remember it being much shinier close up but the overall effect is still one of WOW. Thankfully it was a little overcast and after walking our feet off around the Emerald (jade) Buddha, Grand Palace and museums we headed for Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha. Still lazing about after 10 more years – same silly grin. It’s a hard life being an icon.

With those sights ticked off we were starving and decided to make good on our promise to find an Outback Steakhouse. Siam Centre, the largest shopping complex in Asia, had an Outback so it was back to the city centre for us. We gouged ourselves on steak and polished off a monster chocolate brownie. Too stuffed to shop we headed back to the Khaosan area.

Bangkok’s been an interesting (at time challenging) stroll down memory lane for me and I think a great experience for V. We are both very excited about our PADI course in Khao Lak next week but that will have to wait. Tomorrow we head out early by train to Kanchanaburi so V can pet a tiger.

[Pictures from the gallery: Chicken Men and the Emerald Buddha. The Grand Palace and gardens. English guards paying Royalties 🙂 The Lazy Buddha.]

Pilgrims/Tourists making noise and apparently wishes at the Lazy Buddha

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

(more…)

[Railay to Phi Phi, Thailand] This morning we said our goodbyes to Railay as we boarded the Ao Nang Princess ferry to Phi Phi. The Pra Nang peninsula was marvelous in the end, even if the weather was terrible, we only had a cold water shower and the WiFi was expensive. The weather today started off perfect and it was an easy hour long cruise out to the island (not even a hint of sea sickness because it was so calm).

We were a little concerned about finding accommodation on Phi Phi (the place is always busy) but the touts at the dock had plenty to choose from and it was a relief not to have to schlep around looking for something. The hotel even came to fetch us and transport our luggage (first time that has happened). We’re happy with what we found (Uphill Bungalows) and it seems like a reasonable deal since we have hot water, aircon and most importantly free WiFi. We grabbed a quick bite and spent some time internetting ourselves in the bungalow. As luck would have it the wind and rains started up ferociously giving us no choice but to keep playing online (there is always something to download or news to read).

By 4 the rain had gone and the sun was back out. I managed to convince V to go and chat to dive school about completing her course. She was not wild about the idea, the fear is still fresh in her mind, but we found a PADI 5 star company (Barakuda Divers www.phiphibarakuda.com) online that made special mention on their website about giving more time to ‘nervous’ students. We went looking for them in the maize of streets that is Tonsai village where dive centres pay instructors on commission only. The result is that the western instructors lurking outside of the dozens of dive operators hardly let anyone by with trying to sell a course or outing. We found Barakuda and were greeted by Stephane (a French fire fighter and rescue diver who has been an instructor for about 25 minutes). Explaining that V needed to finish her course he got the branch manager involved. They were great to chat to and we felt completely comfortable in spite of Stephane’s recent graduation to ‘Instructor’.

So it’s all set. Tomorrow my brave little V will be facing her fears once again. I’ll be able to dive with them for free to just watch and fool about while they do the confined water dives. After That excitement we spent the rest of the evening strolling down the island and back along the beach. It is a beautiful place.

[Pictures: Cattitude at the local restaurant. Our new little ‘Bungalow’]

Goodbye Railay

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Tanah Rata, Malaysia] Backpacker package tour today so we were not expecting too much but they got off to a good start arriving to collect us in an awesome little Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer ATV.

This town is just full of cool old 4×4’s (mostly ancient but hard working land rovers) and our ride was obviously ex-military still with rifle mounts, turret hatch and ammo boxes. We were followed out of town by a landy with more tourists in search of the largest flower species in the world (Rafflesia Arnoldi). About 40 minutes out we left the main roads and started an insane climb up what looked like impassable tracks. The recent rain has completely destroyed the dirt roads up into the forests but our driver was keen to give it a try anyway. On the steepest section we all climbed out to give the Puch a fair chance and it eventually made it – what a machine! The Landy didn’t even bother trying. The Austrians won that round without a doubt. Pilling both groups into the Puch we continued on followed by the local guides having no trouble on little 125cc road bikes – it was hilarious.

The two (total) hour hike in the forest was reasonably easy but sweaty. No bugs or leeches either but the kids along with us still call it ‘trekking’. The flower I have to admit was a little disappointing. They open for around 10 days so I guess you are lucky if you catch one that has just blossomed (a loose definition for such an ugly, smelly ‘flower’). In any event it was good to see.

Next we moved on to a local ‘village’ with a few bamboo huts for a blowpipe demonstration. The village is in the process of upgrading – backaktors at work with stone and concrete so it was hardly authentic. After they had given the kids a go with the hand made blowpipe (at a range of 3m) I got one of the guys to demonstrate from around 25m. Very impressive hitting an A4 sized target. You can see the traditional techniques and form are still practiced although I doubt they use them for hunting – easier to pop down to the local store.

After a typical Indian curry at a local canteen we headed out to one of the many tea plantations. Our guide informed us that this one was over 80 years old and owned by a Scottish family. Every possible square metre has been cultivated – up and down the valleys and hillsides. It was picturesque and we learn a few new things about our favorite hot drink with the visit and a tour around the factory. Better than that was the chance to have tea and scones at the beautiful (and very popular) cafe overlooking the vast plantation. The tea was excellent and the scones were missing the clotted cream but I think it’s fair to bring England even for the day.

Final Score: Austria 1, England 1

Our final destination was a ride up to a viewpoint at 6666ft on one of the higher hills in the area. It was windy and chilly on the exposed tower so after snapping a few shots we got down quickly and headed off for a short walk into ‘the Mossy Forrest’. An unusual spot straight out of a fantasy novel with thick cloud adding to the atmosphere. Our guide pointed out the differences between the high and low altitude forests along with obvious blankets of moss and unusual ‘Pitcher’ plants. Because of the cold we finished up in the forest pretty quickly and our guide threw in an extra stop on the way home at a strawberry farm to make up the time. The cafe and shop were packed with just about every strawberry product imaginable. The milkshake was amazing. Seems the English did a good job out here.

Tomorrow we head for Kuala Lumpur. V’s been feeling the cold a bit but I’m not really looking forward to being all sticky again. I suppose it is Asia!

[Pictures: What a Machine. More flop than flower. Tea and scones :)]

Short clip of our Pinzgauer tackling a steep section

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Kinabatagan, Malaysian Borneo] 6am is not a good time of the day for us but V was up in a beat and off to the ablutions (no showers btw) some 400m away – not fun in the middle of the night I can assure you. A quick cup of tea and we hit the river. These river safaris are the best and most comfortable way to see the jungle in our opinion.

As we headed down stream the sun started to chase the clouds away. We didn’t see much for some time – mostly birds (Kingfisher and Fish Eagle) and more macaques. The jungle here is not primary rain forest and is dotted with the evil palm oil plantations (but we like marge a lot) but most leave corridors connecting the pockets of jungle – I assume they supply the animals with maps. Sightings improved dramatically: a troupe of Gibbons, some Proboscis monkeys and three Orang Utangs. The gibbons are the coolest of the lot in our opinion. Such amazingly long arms and impeccable skills. One was showing off swinging around the trees with one arm. The Orangs were off in the distance perched on their nest high in a leafy tree. We were lucky to see them – a youngster, a mother and her baby (that was only visible after zooming in on the photos). The Proboscis sighting wasn’t too good. Hope we get a closer look at the ‘Dutchmen’ later on.

Back at camp we munched a large breakfast around the swam of bees that were desperately trying to reclaim the honey on our pancakes. Our little group is pleasant and chilled. A Frenchman and a French-Dutch couple. Joep (the Dutchman) used the ‘off’ time to school everyone, including the staff, in table tennis. The guy is a master. Our next activity was a jungle walk. Knowing what to expect we were not looking forward to it. Jungle walks mean muddy shoes, mozzies, sweat and sightings of plants and insects. The walk lived up to expectations but the guide was knowledgeable and interesting – we even learnt a few things in between swatting mozzies (the mozzies here are so viscous that they even go for V).

An afternoon snooze with a table tennis ‘World Jungle Championship’ going on in the background and we were keen on getting going on the evening boat safari. We did get to see the Proboscis Monkeys up a little closer but not much else and in the fading light photography was useless. The flying foxes however, were impressive. Thousands of them heading off overhead to feed. With a wingspan of up to a meter they are the largest flying mammal. The ride back to camp was interesting – speeding along the river in the dark – lucky the moon was out!

After dinner we were scheduled to go on a night jungle walk around 9. With the rain setting in and weighing the chances of seeing something interesting with the discomfort level, V and I decided to opt out and headed to bed early. Good call I think. The others came back drenched after spotting one frog and a bird sleeping with it’s head under it’s wing 🙂

[Pictures: Will Upload]

Some Flying Foxes and a lot of boring clips from the river safaris

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Mabul, Malaysian Borneo] Apparently (I had my earplugs in) there was a huge storm during the night that had V a little worried. At high tide and with a little choppy sea the water almost touches the deck so a storm or tsunami and we’re in some trouble. When we got up it was still drizzling incessantly so we decided to postpone our diving to another day (we have the time). I spoke to the staff and to Uncle Chang about it and was told it was not a problem but you do get the sense that nobody really knows what is going on. So our first dives here will now be at Sipadan – and the weather better be good because we can’t change the permit dates!

We spent the entire day relaxing around the ‘resort’, enjoying the cooler weather and watching the preparations for the evening festivities. The extra chairs and live band suggested it was going to be epic. As evening approached the weather cleared giving us a great sunset. We were joined by UC’s office staff and some others for what I guess was their company Xmas party. The kitchen staff pulled out all the stops for Xmas dinner. Instead of the usual (and by now extremely dull) three bowls with rice, chicken and fish we got an assortment including salad, turkey! even a choice of desert. It was a real feast.

From the sound of Uncle Chang’s speeches it seems that he is heavily involved in charities and does a lot of work for orphans. He’s genuinely proud of his ‘kids’ accomplishments boasting about their performance in football and basketball. It was heartwarming. The band cranked it up – ‘it’ being vaguely familiar and badly rendered covers – but it is their second language. The staff joined in as the guests looked on with grins and Uncle Chang went around distributing cool drinks to the kids and bottles of 80 proof rum to the staff and guests. Not sure what to do with ours we had a little rum and coke but it’s not really to our taste. No problem there – one of the boatmen emptied our bottle into his mug and with a big smile bid us ‘Merry Christmas’.

Sitting on our piece of porch we had more visitors in the neon lit water. A monster turtle cruised by. Beautiful creatures. Although our room is the closest to the common area the band did not play on too late. I think after a day of diving most people are just too tired for all-nighters. It was a pleasant evening but we are missing our friends and families, we’ll have to make friends with some fish tomorrow 🙂

[Pictures: Another shot from around the island. The fancy resort on the other side. Beautiful]

The staff and kids at Uncle Chang’s enjoying their xmas party

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Curio Bay, New Zealand] Wow what a day! We set off for Nugget Point around 10:30 after enlisting the help of some Poms and Germans from the camp next door to give us a push (the van got a tiny bit stuck in the mud getting out of our secluded site).

Nugget point was lovely. A tiny little lighthouse perched on some cliffs at the end of a bluff with seals cavorting in the rock pools far below. The DoC had also put up some thoughtful information plaques which had been written in the form of poems. Very different.

Then we were off to Cannibal bay. A nice bay with soft sand and a solitary sea lion basking in the sun that had finally come out. He was encircled by half a dozen tourists all taking photos. We did not stay for long, backtracking up the dirt road, back to the main road, heading for Owaka for fuel and milk.

In Owaka we found Teapot Land. Someone had collected a huge number of teapots and arranged them all in their garden facing the main road. It was slightly bizarre, but we were happy to donate a dollar and take a picture of this unexpected quirkiness.

After Owaka we hit Jacks Bay and after a quick bite to eat (chip sandwiches) in the car park looking out at the beach, we took the 20minute hike up to the blow-hole. Jacks blow-hole is 200m inland, 55m deep, 144m long, 68m wide and other dimensions as well. It wasn’t really much to look at, but Simon really enjoyed himself.

By now, the usually chilly weather had turned positively hot and when we got back to the beach, the water actually looked enticing. There were a couple of kids body boarding in it so how bad could it be? It was freezing! Sim got in as far as his knees, I only stuck a toe in. Hardcore Kiwis, they seem to be immune.

Back onto the scenic highway, we called into Purakaunui Falls which was nice but not too impressive, and passed loads more scenic coves and bays as well as the obligatory sheep of which there are gazillions of. In Papatowai we visited the Lost Gypsy Gallery.

What an absolutely brilliant little spot. An old bus and a back yard full of creative mechanical/electrical ‘artwork’. It was the best ten dollars we have spent thus far. Fabulous. My fave was the simple hand wound whale out front. Sims was the bizarre keyboard hooked up to all manner of odd things from electric toothbrushes to doorbells.

We debated calling in at Cathedral caves, but since you can only walk thought he cave at low tide (2 hours later) I decided to move on.

We reached our campsite at Curio bay at around 5. An amazing spot. Its high up on a bluff overlooking the sea. The individual camp spots are hacked out of the vegetation and we have found ourselves a nice little one with a view of the sea with waves that crash onto a rock outcrop below. What a view. It’s on a bit of a slope, but Sim is determined to figure out a way to get the van level.

It has been a long day, but it was still not over. After dinner we popped down the road to the petrified forest which also happens to be the spot where a small colony of yellow eyed penguins nest. We watched a couple of them come ashore and spend ages pruning themselves before waddling and hopping across the rocks to their hillside nests to feed their kids.

We have spent a good part of the day on dirt roads (we have been on lots). They are in good condition, but everything in the van including us is feeling a tad dusty. Cell signal is also pretty patchy. We are starting to recognize some of the other tourists along the way. It’s hard to get off the tourist trail when there are not that many roads to choose from.

[Sim: BTW. I got the van perfectly level with a ditch made by wheel-spinnig and a rock under another wheel]

[Pictures: The stunning view from Nugget point lighthouse. Peering into Jack’s Blowhole. Techno-Gypsy bits and bobs. Scared trees. Spot the penguin]

Couple clips from the Gypsy Gallery

– Posted from my iPhone via 3G

[Tuatapere, New Zealand] A less hectic day today but we did do more driving than average. Our total distance is now just short of 2000km and the van is doing fine. We left Curio bay after a luke warm shower and under perfect blue skies (it was even hot). We headed for Slope Point :gps:(GPS)::-46.67388::169.00143:gps:, the southern most point on south island and by default the southern most point on our trip. A short stroll across sheep filled farmland got us to the markers and the obligatory photo. The wind was starting to pick up and by the look of the hunched over trees around it is not a wind to do battle with.

Invercargill was our next ‘city’. It’s the 3rd largest city on South Island (Southernmost city in the world) but the wide streets devoid of traffic made it feel like a dorp as we drove past the outskirts on our way to Bluff at the end of the peninsula. We lunched at the Bluff view point with sand-flies and the smell of a burnt clutch (the road up was almost too steep for the van). After taking in the 360 degree vista we headed down to Stirling point and the very end of the road. A sign post indicated 18 958km to London (it’s only taken us 8.5 months!). We were also lucky enough to spot a small pod of dolphins playing just off the point. The public loo deserves special mention with it’s automatic door complete with Star Trek sound effect, 10 minute usage countdown and bowel relaxing music. I just want to know what it does to you when you have used up your 10 minutes ?

We stopped briefly in Invercargill on our way back for fuel and supplies. We like the ‘New World’ food stores – you get a discount coupon for petrol from them which comes in handy. We took a walk/run along the main street just as the rain started to bucket down, snapped a few photos and bailed back into the van. Seems we are getting fussy. Campsites at Riverton (the oldest town on the South Island) and Colac Bay did not reach our ‘standards’ so we just kept driving.

On the way to Tuatapere is a ‘Gemstone Beach’ where you’re encouraged to collect a few stones. We were the only ones there. Not surprising the rain was pouring down. I think we lasted around 5 minutes. Tuatapere is another tiny town but declares itself ‘Sausage’ Capitol of the world… Hmm… Wonder what the Germans have to say about that? Anyway we found a campsite (after checking 2 that were wither closed or not acceptable) and took shelter from the rain in the common kitchen. ‘Shooters Backpackers’ campsite was empty but the rooms were full of much older folk and a young German couple on touring bikes. Riding in the rain today could not have been much fun! V made good use of the kitchen baking us up a pizza as I relaxed at the dining table. These camp facilities never cease to amaze – you really don’t need your own stove, pots, pans, cutlery or crockery when you go ‘camping’ in New Zealand.

[Pictures: A view from Bluff (yip it was overcast). It’s another sign ! and Invercargill town centre in the rain]

Some Not very extreme sheep herding

– Posted from my iPhone via 3G

[Queenstown, New Zealand] We can only spend two full days here in Queenstown and have to balance that with our budget, which is running tight, and with the plethora of ridiculously fun activities around town. After pouring over the brochures last night we have decided to do some Jet Boating, Canyoning and Downhill Mountain Biking. We figured 8.5 seconds of bungy is just not worth NZ$280 each!

First order of business was to walk into town and make some arrangements. Queenstown looks and feels like a purpose built resort town (something like Whistler). As we headed down to the centre under perfect clear skies we could hear screams of terror/joy from the half dozen or so tandem para-gliders up the mountain. We booked the canyoning for tomorrow morning and the bikes for the afternoon. What luck! The gondola opens for bikes tomorrow. That should be a blast.

We debated the jet boat options and settled on the one which looked the most life threatening (albeit more expensive for less boat time). The Shotover Jet boat operation is one slick machine. We arrived at their main office (they have many), paid, and within 10 minutes were on their bus out to the canyon with promo video and seat-pocket instructions in every language you could think of. 20 minutes later we were at the riverside kitted out with life vest and spray jacket staring down one very steep and narrow but beautiful canyon.

Now a bit of advertising for Shotover Jet. The boats are brilliant. Capable of navigating in 10cm of water at speeds up to 85km/h through some very tight canyons. Two 3.8l V6 Engines are hooked up to simple water jets developed in New Zealand allowing for the shallow operation and 360 degree spins. Apparently the company was one of the first ‘adventure tourism’ operations in Queenstown and has ‘thrilled over 2.5 million people since 1970’. That’s not hard to believe.

The ride was exhilarating to say the least. V and I scored the front seats and V, being on the outer side was screaming like a little girl as our pilot came within inches of the canyon walls and mid-river boulders at crazy speeds. The 360 spins were brilliant – resulting strained necks and the entire boat being soaked. Without a rudder or directional prop and a flat bottom you are just sliding around on the water in whatever direction the jets are pushing. Fantastic fun that was over too soon but well worth it. Within a minute of getting off the boat the operation had a video and photos of our run ready to purchase. Like I said, slick. We hung around a bit and took some video and pics of other groups hurtling through the canyon before catching the bus back to town.

With a town full of outdoor gear and toy shops it was impossible to stop V from doing a little window shopping. We spent a good hour checking it all out and getting a little frustrated – gear here seems to be more expensive than in the UK – that just doesn’t seem right. Guess most of it has a long way to go to get here. We ‘splurged’ on a delicious ice cream (V tried the local fave ‘Hokey Pokey’) on our way back to the campsite and passed a Queenstown icon, Fergburger. A burger joint that always has a queue out the door, it must be really good or cheap, but nothing is cheap here so we suspect the former.

We spent the afternoon cruising out along the lake towards Glenorchy. The drive along the windy lakeside and the views were magnificent – we stopped again at just about every viewpoint to take a pic. Glenorchy is a tiny little village with not much to look at so we continued out towards Paradise. The road soon turned to gravel and that was that, we were done for the day (honestly – who would put paradise at the end of a gravel road?)

Tomorrow should be a lot of fun, but you can be sure we’ll be completely knackered by the end of it.

[Pictures: A ‘wide’ part of Shotover Canyon – Spot the boat? V is such a chick sometimes, shoe shopping again! A view of lake Wakatipu]

Shotover Jet Boating.. Yeee Haaa

– Posted from my iPhone via 3G

[Fox Glacier Village, New Zealand] Longest amount of driving thus far-360km from Queenstown to Fox Glacier. We opted for pancakes at McDonald’s for breakfast instead of weatbix, mainly because we knew there was free WiFi there. Except the unlocked WiFi from the other day had now been locked and limited to half an hour access. Pancakes chomped we headed off for some supplies and onwards to Fox, stopping first at Arrowtown and then at a bungy spot further down the road. Arrowtown looked quite charming if that’s the right word for it. An old gold mining town that has been nicely restored. We cruised through town but did not really stop.

Our next point of interest was the LOTR filming location for the pillars of the kings scene. We pulled off the road at a likely spot disturbing a family of Californian quail ( I looked them up in the bird book the Ewegs lent us) but could not get close enough to the edge off the gorge. So we carried on down the road until we saw the AJ Hackett bungy centre located on an old bridge over the Kawarau river. Another slick operation. Nice modern building built into the cliff side with a viewing platform so you can watch people hurl themselves off the bridge. We watched a few people do this very calmly without any screaming before we got bored and moved on.

We took the Crown range road to Wanaka. It was quite a climb up over the pass in our little van. We could smell the clutch struggling a bit. The plaque at the top said it was the highest paved road in NZ.

Wanaka looked like a smaller more chilled version of Queenstown. We might have stayed to explore it but we had a glacier to get to. We found out later that some of the countries best rock climbing is in Wanaka. Will have to check it out at a later date.

Sim and I swapped over at Wanaka with me behind the wheel for the 140 odd km through the southern alps to Haast on the west coast. It was a beautiful drive first along the edge of lake Hawea then along lake Wanaka before heading through the tree filled Mount Aspiring national park. It seemed to be a popular route with cyclists and hitchhikers alike.

The national park was really a treat to drive in. The road followed the Makarora River upstream then at some point we crossed a watershed and the water was flowing the opposite way and we following the Haast River. Both rivers had the beautiful blue green colour we are so fond of and we stopped to admire numerous waterfalls along the way. At one point we crossed over a bridge at a point on the river named the ‘Gates of Haast’. It was a picturesque steep cliffed gorge with the blue green water thundering through some rapids. We will have to look up the history on that one some time.

Arriving in Haast we were finally in Westland, the rugged, sparsely populated western coast of South Island. Haast had nothing to tempt us with except a fuel station which must do very well as it’s the only one in a 120km radius. We filled up and drove on stopping only at Knights Point lookout to check out the stunning view and sample the sandflies.

When we got to Fox Glacier Township (not the same thing as an SA township), the guide shop was still open so we popped in to find out about the weather prospects for the next 2 days. Sim had phoned Fox Glacier Guides up a couple of days ago and booked us on a heli ice climbing trip. The idea is we get flown up the glacier in a helicopter which will then land on the glacier dropping us off for a day of ice climbing before picking us up again later and flying us back. How cool is that? The critical thing though is the weather. If the weather is bad, the chopper can’t fly. Since it’s a rather expensive treat for us (£600 ouch) we want to make sure the weather is optimal so we have set aside a couple of days that we are prepared to hang around. So the good people at Fox Glacier Guiding have made some back up bookings for us to make sure we get what we want. The staff have been brilliant and it makes a big difference when you mention you have been climbing for the last 15 odd years as these guys aren’t just doing a job, they are climbers getting paid to do what love. Anyway, we had a chat with one of the guides and looked at the weather for the next 2 days. Tomorrow is not looking so great but who knows with the weather. We will have to check in tomorrow morning to get a better idea.

P. S We have discovered the twin joys of the West coast. When the sun goes down and the blood sucking sandflies go to sleep, the blood sucking mosquitoes come out. They are pretty slow moving though and we still spent quite some time squashing them against the inside of the van roof before we went to bed.

[Pictures: River gorges, bungee bridge, more gorges with white water, pretty waterfalls and sea views]

Last little snippet of a Loony Bungy jumper

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi

[Fox Glacier, New Zealand] When I got out of the van the moon was hanging high in the dark sky. It was early, but most importantly, the sky was clear. We walked over the street to Fox Glacier guides by 7:30 and got confirmation from Richard the dispatch guy that the good weather was expected to hold for the day – our flight out to the glacier was scheduled for 9:30. Excellent. Jonathan, our guide for the day, set about kitting us out with the required gear. Packs, gloves, caps, sunnies, boots, gaiters, crampons, helmets, jackets, harnesses and the coolest things of all – ice axes. The rigid boots are not the most comfortable things to walk around in (something like snowboard boots) and all the gear was top notch and well maintained. We got word that a flight slot had opened up (some people were late) so we stuffed our gear into the packs and headed out to the heli pad just down the road.

V had never been in a helicopter before and was just too excited. Our ride was a decently sized machine. A 6 seater, so V and I got to ride up front with the pilot. It never fails to amaze me how smooth these things are. The ride up the glacier was stunning but very short (We have lots of video from today – will upload when possible). We past the terminal face and continued over the lower sections where the guided day walks play before being deposited much higher up the 13km long glacier on a roughly flat and pristine piece of ice not far from the upper ice-fall. The ‘pad’ was busy with a large group of Heli-Hike clients being flown in for their 2 hours on the ice (We were on the ice at 9 and were not scheduled to leave until 16:30). After the last chopper left we were able to kit up and finally stand with confidence. Ice is slippery (no kidding) and crampons are amazing!

Taking in the surroundings we trudged up towards the upper ice fall leaving the Heli-Hike groups behind. The ice on the upper fall moves around 5m per day so no two days are alike. First up a short ‘bouldering’ session to get us used to the crampons and picks. Not too difficult but we immediately felt that our toes, calves and forearms were going to take strain today. With the basics under our belts in no time Jonathan led us on up through the gullies towards the ice falls. After scrambling and climbing our way through beautiful blue ice tunnels we stopped at a short (8m) off-vertical wall for our first toprope session. What a blast. After just having a whack at it we got some technique pointers. It’s amazing how little ice the picks and crampons need to provide a solid hold, but to learn to trust it is another issue. I also had a go at placing a couple of ice screws to simulate leading. My forearms where absolutely hammered after that attempt.

We carried on up the glacier as the terrain became steeper and much bigger – so much so that we were required to rope up on some sections. Another cave and hole got us out to a bigger and much steeper ice wall with a decent bulge in the middle and a slightly overhanging top section :gps:(GPS)::-43.50995::170.10144:gps: .”Jonathan has too much confidence in us” we thought. V had a good whack at the route while I found myself a loo with the ultimate view over Fox Glacier 🙂 V and I both had a hard time with the climb on our first attempt (forearms burning) but after some more coaching we nailed it. Nothing quite like the “Thunk!” of the axe going over the top lip.

Besides being fit (obviously) and having a little extra gear we reckon the biggest thing in ice climbing is understanding ice in its various forms and the terrain. Jonathan fed us a lot of information, from geology to anchors, but we were having so much fun that most of it did not stick. I do remember him explaining that in hot weather like this the screw anchors for topropes would need to be checked every 20 minutes (ice has a habit of melting). A good reason not to hang around for long on the rope.

The cloud started working it’s way up the valley as we started back down. Jonathan spotted a beautiful ice cave and set up a line for us so that we could get through without falling into the gushing stream below. Once again we have been impressed with the professionalism of the guiding in New Zealand. Safety was always first. Jonathan spent some time ‘preparing’ the tunnel for us by knocking off dangerous looking overhangs and cutting steps in critical spots. V even got to have a go knocking a big chunk off – who needs global warming to destroy glaciers when you have a huge mountaineering axe 🙂

The penultimate feature that we found to play with was an insanely deep hole carved out by water. The water was still gushing in down one side. We could not tell how deep it was from above (probably more than 20m) so the plan was to lower us into the hole and let us climb out (or haul us out if things went wrong). As usual I was first up. I don’t usually have a problem with heights or tight spaces or water or ice (in scotch) but at around 7m down the waterfall was raging at arms reach and the ice walls had turned clear (I think that means that it is very hard ice). Any deeper and I would have gotten wet from the waterfall and I was nervous about climbing the hard steep ice so I had a look around (it was maybe another 10m to the bottom) and signaled up that I would start climbing out. It was an awesome climb out and it’s always good to have some form of motivation under you. V’s lil arms had given up on her for the day so we carried on down towards the heli-pad (a flat piece of ice). Jonathan found one more stunning blue-ice cave for us to play in before we had to return our cool sharp pointy gear (we are going to have to get some of our own I suspect).

There was one final little treat in store for us. The helicopter that was collecting us had a ‘scenic flight’ customer on board so we got to see a lot more of the glacier. The pilot went almost up to the cloud layer before circling back around. He came in close (very) to some huge boulders that were part of a recent rockfall and took his time getting out of the valley so it was a much longer flight than the ‘Taxi’ ride in. It was the perfect end to yet another perfect day. Ear to ear grins on both of us once again (I think they are more or less permanent now). We’ll suffer tomorrow, but it was well worth it (even at the price).

Thanks Jonathan (and Fox Glacier Guides). It was an incredible experience and we both loved it. Yet another thing to add to the list of cool sports we enjoy. We’ll be back, but probably with our own gear hehe.

[Pictures: Our snazzy ride, Mt Cook in the background. V playing around on some features. Jonathan setting a toprope and V looking back up to the icefall. We have loads more awesome pics and vids to come]

The heli ride onto the glacier

V having a whack at the Glacier

Us climbing through an Ice Tunnel

Sim in the Moulin

The Ride out

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi