Where has all the time gone?

Eeek! I'm already half way through my trip around NZ and time is slipping quickly past... Am currently trying to extend my time here as there is so much to see and it's an amazing place. A quick catch up....

Well, I arrived in Christchurch on the 26th Jan after an agonising flight - rather than my fears being slowly diminished through 'exposure' to my fear of flying, quite the opposite has been happening where the last flight from Sydney saw me gripping the seats and fighting back the tears for approximately two and a half hours. I visited a doctor - they gave me drugs for my next flights. Hurrah! Don't you love modern medicine?

Christchurch, what little I sawof it, was very, well, pleasant. It amazed me how few people there were and the streets felt almost empty - this was all in the centre of town on a weekend too. More importantly, it was when the 'World Busking Festival' was occurring, surely giving good reason for a few more souls to be about? Nope; still felt empty. However, what the Festival did mean was there was plenty of entertainment about for next to nothing (or free if you skulked off just before the end of a show - naughty, but hey, I'm on a budget).

Lady in a pink tutu

Met an Irish girl called Kat who seemed suitably at a loss for things to do too, and so we skulked around together, briefly visiting Brighton beach and also getting sun burnt watching a woman in a pink tutu throwing sharp objects around (Busker's remember). This also helped alleviate the void being felt at Jon's absence - yes, I was missing him terribly.

Tram in Christchurch

Also went to a 'Mouri Experience' type thing. Yes, it was very touristy, but the way they did was impressive and I've never felt quite so intimadated by someone at a tourist attraction before (one of the 'warriors' challenged the group). The Haka has to been seen in person too - very powerful and you can see why the use it before a Rugby game! All in all I enjoyed it even if I did make a pratt out of myself whe encouraged to 'learn' (eh hem) one of the dances.

Following this, I had a brief tour around the nature trail and 'Kiwi Experience' (also a project to help combat Kiwi extinction) - actually got to see one of the rare birds who was supposidly awake although it wasn't moving and looked suspiciously stuffed. I can see why cats like them so much - they have rather large backsides and can't fly away.

A Kea eating honey

On Monday morning I left Christchurch on the Tranzalpine train across the Southern Alps. A beautiful trip that gave me my first glimpse of some of the seriously oustanding scenery in NZ. A shame I fell asleep half way through the mountains!

Guess where I am

Sydney

Sydney, Sydney, Sydney. It's a great place. It's easy to get around and there is lots to do and see. However, after Asia, I can't quite get my head around how much everything costs! As such, I've done little except stroll around (in the rain no less!) and get drunk with some 20 something girls from my dorm room. I would say they led me astray, but I'm not sure who was doing the leading - me or them. I then had the pleasure of meeting Helen (of the LCA) and her husband Paul who are on their honeymoon here. In celebration of our meeting we frequented several drinking establishments where, after the initial pain of the first glass, I easily - nay readily - consumed several white wine booze type drinks. Oopps. How did that happen? Oh well, it's heightened my resolve to make NZ a truly wholesome affair from start to finish.

Helen and I waving the LCA flag

I can't help spend many a moment comparing OZ to Asia, which is bad. The cost aside, it's nice to be able to put loo roll in the toilet again, not run the risk or seeing dogs ready for cooking (or just cooked) and it's novel to know that drinking the water is not going to give me some kind of strange growth or make me glow in the dark... However, I miss the food (despite thinking I was getting fed up with fried food) the sights and sounds and the people. Everything here seems a bit 'brash', although this is odd as the senses were really overwhelmed on many an occassion in Asia. I really will have to return there as soon as I'm able - I suspect that Thailand will be one of those places I yearn to return to more than once or twice.

So, after the obligatory photos of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the opera house, I leave for Christchurch today. My timing is a little skewed as today is Australia Day and everybody is out and about having fun! Oh well, c'est la vie.

Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

Arriving in Hanoi was a bit of a shock after the quiet, relaxed charms of Hoi An... It was busy - very busy and this was at 10.30pm at night. We trooped round looking for accomodation with an Australian couple we had met en route called Pip and Peter. I have never met anyone who sounded as Australian as Pete and he used every stereotypical Aussie term in the book - it was all I could do not to laugh, but it wouldn't have done much for English/Aussie relations now would it?

Spent the first day chilling - when we weren't trying to get run over on the streets! They use the little pavements for anything but walking on - parking motorbikes, selling stuff, eating and cooking and the like. We also had time sitting by the lake in the old town... it was all very civilised you know. In the evening we went to Hanoi's Water Puppetry Theatre to watch a show - it was great! Was amazed what the puppeteers were able to get the puppets to do and the traditional music was fantastic - some odd looking instruments that make great noises... Perhaps I'll have to try one if I ever get round to mastering the flute.

On the second day we set off for a two night three day tour of Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is the image of Vietnam that many people know but don't realise... It's where the coast is littered with small islands and rocky outcrops - there's litterally hundreds of them and only some are named as there are so many. You usually see a picture of them with a red-sailed junk sailing through the bluey green water. Unfortunately, as it was winter, we didn't get to see it at it's best but it was still breathtaking. The whole area is incredibly calm and serene. There's a gentle mist around some days and it gives the place a wholly magical feel.

Scattered amongst the islands are floating houses and fish farms. People (and numerous dogs) live on these platforms that are often strung together with a combination of planks, plastic barrels and bailing string. We had the opportunity to walk on one and it makes you realise just how flimsey they are. There was even a floating school which was novel to see. It was mad to see how people were living and it really made me realise how little they had.

We visited some caves and had an opportunity to swim on the first day - no one took it! It was far too cold. We also bought stuff from the 'floating' shops that arrived every time the boat stopped - women on baskets boats overladen with all sorts of food - crisps, chololate, biscuits and fruit... We then were deposited on Cat Ba Island (the biggest and populated island in Ha Long Bay) for a night in a hotel - the second night was spent on the boat. We got the chance to kayak around for a bit - it was great and incredibly peaceful.

On our return to Hanoi we decadently booked into a posh hotel in the 'executive suite' no less. Well, where else could we afford to do it? Was great to have a spa bath, mini bar, giant tv and bed along with the complimentary fruit and tea and coffee. What was it I said about landed-gentry? Jon and I enjoyed the room to the full before saying a very sad farewell, as I returned to Bang Kok before flying to Oz and he remained in Vietnam to then continue on to Sri Lanka.

Clothes, Clothes, lanterns and clothes...

Hoi An has to have been my favourite place in Vietnam. It was picturesque. The old town has a relaxed and cultural vibe that I hadn't yet experienced. There was an abundance of tailor, craft, coffee, cake and latern shops which meant the old buildings had a back-drop of colourful silks and wooden carvings - I loved it! The river ran past the old town too and whilst sitting enjoying a drink, meal or 'fresh beer' (about 10p a glass which made Jon very happy) you could see small boats where people lived, people trading and generally milling about on bicycles with large conicical straw hats (they really do wear them here). It was really nice to just stroll about too.

The food was good here - we had a five-course traditional Vietnamese dinner for 40 Dong - about 1 pound ten pence (no pound sign on these keyboards!). My chop-sticks skills are developing rapidly - I can almost cut fried fish with them the 'proper' way and that's saying something.

The majority of time in Hoi An was spent in a tailors shop having clothes made! It was an experience that almost makes you feel like you're landed-gentry and it's easy enough to get carried away (as I did!). The way it works is you decided what clothes you want, what detail is added and what material you want them in, then the shop makes it overnight - literally. You come back the next day for a fitting so any adjustments can be made and then, if needed, the clothes are ready on the third day. It was something else. For an idea of the cost, I had a full-length wool, lined coat made in dark green - it cost me $38 which is about 19 pounds). Not bad when it's made to measure!

I won't go into detail about Jon's suit, but let's just say it'll be perfect for his friend's gay wedding in November. The lady who made it developed a 'soft-spot' for Jon (which I warned him about - women's intuition is never wrong!). When I wasn't around, Jon was practically getting proposals of marriage. I would say he enjoyed the attention, if I hadn't found him sculking out of the shop desperately scanning the horizon for me. Tee hee.

Jon and I have shipped back our stuff, including some of our things that we didn't want to carry anymore. Actually, I should say we worridly left our things in the tailors shop to be shipped back, so who knows if they'll arrive or not!! Will have to wait until the end of April to find out as sea-mail was the cheapest.

Next stop Hanoi, but we chickend out of yet another horrendous bus journey and flew from the nearby airport of Danang - well, we are landed-gentry you know. ;-)

Mui Ne and Nha Trang

Jon and I 'steadily' made our way up the coast of Vietnam after having bought a 'tourist bus open ticket' for $11 - 'very cheap' (a phrase often heard) for covering half the length of a very long country. However, it soon became apparent why our particular company sold such cheap tickets. Effectively, every bus journey started like this: Wait in designated spot at designated time for bus to collect us... Wait a bit longer... and longer still... bus collects us (usualloy 30-60 minutes late) then proceeds to drive around the same block four or five times collecting other passengers and passing your collection point several times (Please remember, driving round the block is no quick turn about here... there is LOTS of traffic and people and dogs, wildlife, cattle, tourists and food sellers to contend with)... bus sets off on journey beeping loudly every few seconds, swerving gently (and sometimes not - see traffic considerations above!)... bus stops for no apparent reason and driver/staff leave bewildered passengers on board to work it out for themsleves as to whether they can get off and risk finding a toilet or not... bus continues journey and takes strange detours to pick up friends of the driver/staff en route... eventually you get to your destination much later than anticipated, but they won't let you off the bus until they've taken you to a guest house they receive comission from... you eventually get off and never want to see the bus again, but you know you have to go through the whole ordeal again in approximately 48hours. It's such fun. Really.

In a nutshell, Mui Ne (a beach resort) was neither here nor there. We were a tad disapointed as we'd heard such great things about Vietnam and it's beauty. The upshot was that after places as beautiful as Koh Chang, beaches have a lot to live up too. The sea here was grey as opposed to blue, the breeze was more like a howling gale (hence it being a favourite spot for kite surfing)





A basket boat





and there wasn't much to do except eat and drink (not usually a problem I know!). We did dare a 'tour' to see some local natural attractions - a brief photo stop of the fishing harbour (very nice - they use round basket boats here as well as smaller boats) white sand dunes (very beautiful) red sand dunes (the same as the white ones, only red!) the red grand canyon (nice enough but you'd seen it in five minutes) and that was it. The highlight was probably the jeep drive - it was just like the ones you see in any Vietnam war movie... Oh well, at was at least nice to be out of a big city and by the sea again. We moved on after two days.

Jon on white sand dunes

Nha Trang is considered a great 'beach' town. The pictures of the beach looked nice but I didn't actually get anywhere near it to comment. Instead, we booked in on a boat trip - the done thing in Nha Trang - to see some local islands and potentially go snorkelling. Alas, we should have read the Lonely PLanet more carefully. It described two sorts of boat trip - a 'booze cruise' and a tranquil, more relaxed affair. We didn't think. 'Booze cruise' it was. The boat filled up and up with Japanese and Korean tourists and seemed to be groaning at the seems as it set off. The crew were determined that everyone was going to have a good time.... this surmounted to kareoke full blast at 9am ish, jokes about where people came from (Jon decided to say he was from Scotland and ran a ferry company) and general 'fun and silliness'. I stuck my bottom lip out and refused to enjoy it as much as I could (I am British you know and purely a point of principle you understand). In fact, at one point it got so much that I nearly hired a man and his basket boat to enable Jon and I to jump ship to one of the many other boats (that seemed infinately emptier in comparison) in the bays we stopped in. Incidently, snorkeling was out - too cold and no visibility and we didn't actually see anything other than a surreal and slightly upsetting aquarium. We endured. We did meet a nice Korean man during lunch who was happily holidaying after leaving his compulsory stint in the Korean army.

On the beach

We also got to sit on a beach for a while - a favourite past-time of mine - so it wasn't all bad, although I had to grimace when they got the 'floating bar' out. Basically, it was a rubber ring with a man sat on it pouring out booze from a dodgy looking bottle. You had to swim to get any and I can't say I was tempted!

The other highpoint of Nha Trang was walking two hours (in the mid-day sun - why do I always manage to do this?) to find the mud baths that are meant to be quite good. We didn't find them. I refused to walk back for another two hours. Jon conceeded and we got bicycle rickshaws all the way back into town. This I enjoyed - I felt like an 'Engleesh lay-dee' once again which always brings a chuckle as I think how much Suzanne and the LCA would enjoy it (hello ladies!)!

As our time in Nha Trang was leaning towards the less than 'great' end of the scale, we decided to try and do some good to balance things out a bit. A school for street children had been set up by the owner of one of the bars in town and they ask travellers to donate some time to help with English conversation, reading and the like. Donning our halos (er hem) we set off to join in. They didn't need us that day. Pah.

Well, so ended Nha Trang - we left on the overnight bus to Hanoi. Probably for the best.

Ho Chi Minh City

I didn't see it!!!! That's pretty much all I can say. Spent all our time there ill in bed and couldn't do anything but sleep and cough and keep Jon awake. As compensation, however, the room we rented had a strange pagoda type structure that made up the bathroom - it was very novel and meant I at least had some comedy element to my illness. Jon managed to get out to squeeze into the Cou Chi tunnels and be insulted by the guide - it sounds like he had lots of fun.

Next stop Mui Ne

Ill in bed - you can't see it,
but my bottom lip sticks out a fair bit!




Ho Chi Minh - The man himself.

Whistle-stop Cambodia

So 2007 began with a hangover best cured by the blue sea, the hammock and more good food - I expect anyone reading this to yawn at this point!

On the second of Jan we set off for Siem Riep in Cambodia - the city closest to Angkor Wat and surrounding temples. To get there, we left at 7.30am from Koh Chang, with the assurance we would reach Siem Riep by 5pm. Ha. That's all I can say - literally. Anyone who's travelled to Siem Riep from Thailand will know exactly what I'm talking about... The Lonely Planet guide describes the road from the border point to Siem Riep as the 'boulevard of broken arses'.... no prizes for guessing why... Not only that, but the journey is strife with various 'scams' designed to make you accept the accomodation you are dropped off at, rather than hunting round for something far more suitable (there's always a reason why the hostel/guesthouse needs this extra help!). You are so emotionally and physically strung out by the time you hit your destination, you literally don't care anymore as long as it's got something resembling a bed... All I can say is we arrived at approximately 11pm after a 'puncture', bouncing around like the National Lottery balls for six hours (The Cambodia leg of the journey only) and irrate passengers, drivers and scam artists...

The first thing to hit me about Cambodia (one of the poorest countries in Asia) was the stark difference to Thailand... Stepping all of the ten metres across the border crossing seemed to land us in somewhere so completely different it was almost a shock. The smell was overwhelming at Poipet and the rubbish stood out after the relatively clean streets of Thailand. There is an obvious difference in the infrastructures of the two countries, but then considering Cambodia's horrendous (recent!) past, it's hardly surprising.

Siem Riep was a great place with a really nice feel to it. Obviously used to the drones and drones of tourists visiting the temples, it was pretty easy to navigate our way about. The 'hub' of the town for tourists was around the old market (more shopping!!!) and had many bars and restaurants, including 'Angkor What?' bar - a firm favourite... The French colonial link showed everywhere too - loads of colonial buildings and many people speaking French.

We hired a tuk tuk and driver who was called Mr Lucky (possible as he was born around the time of the famine in the early 80s). He took us to Angkor Wat for sunset on our first day and then for a mammoth tour the next day, which lasted from 5.20am to 4.20pm!!

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

We still didn't manage to see half as much as we'd have liked, but time was precious so we squeezed in as much as possible to one day.... I can't begin to describe the temples - they are awe-inspiring, beautiful , powerful, phenomenol (to give it a try and still do them no justice!). They do look like they are out of film sets (used in Tomb Raider etc) or like the entrance to rides at Alton Towers.... you have to keep reminding yourself they are very real. The Cambodians take such pride in them. They have a picture/emblem of them on the flag, on beer labels, on money, on pretty much everything.... and I'm not surprised. I would truly love to see them again someday; watching sunrise over Angkor Wat was something else.

Bayon Temple (Temples of a thousand faces)

The Jungle takes over

In the evening after a hard day at the temples, we were recommended a 'buffet' dinner and cultural show by Mr Lucky - the deal was he got to eat free if he took us and as most Cambodians live on less than 50p a day, this seemed like a fair deal. The 'all you can it' buffet was great - the show ok (lots of singing and dancing but the usual 'tourist' do).

Our final day was spent catching up on sleep, internetting and general necessities like travel arrangements. Wanted to go along to one of the many schools that are asking for help and donations from travellers - one in particular which took ophaned children (the majority orphaned through AIDS) and gave them a free education - but regretfully ran out of time. Still hope to contact the school and see if I can't muster something from the UK... There is currently 25% of the population who are illiterate and it usually costs to go to school.

On 5th Jan we left for Ho Chi Minh City via Phonm Penn on yet another horrendous 14 hour bus journey... this time it wasn't so much the roads, but more the fact that I developed the worst cold/flu like sympotms I have had in years! I felt guilty for even being on the bus - coughing and sneezing and generally spreading disease. The worst point being the border crossing to Vietnam. Should I have checked the 'yes' box when asked if I had any flu/temperature/fever symptoms? I think not! Remember SARS? They do here. There was a momentary moment of concern when waiting in the border crossing buildings - Jon had to keep telling me to put my tissues away as we were getting quizzical looks from border guards. I just felt like collasping on the floor. As I wasn't locked up in a high-security quarantine ward, our travels in Vietnam started....

Boxing Day, Jon's birthday and old year

The days after christmas went something like this.....

Boxing day: Lots of looking for a 'big bike' but without much joy... what it did mean was that we got out and about on the Island a little... went to a place called Bang Bao which is a fishing village at the south tip... an interesting place as it's a bit like a mini Venice (only not so picturesque or grand I imagine!) as it's all on water... there's a concrete pier or jetty (about two foot wide) that all the buildings are ajacent too... I've never seen - or smelt - so many different kinds of fish/seafood in one place before. Most of it's still alive in tanks and buckets too.

Ban Bao on stilts

The joy of the place is jumping out the way as someone drives a scooter down the two-foot jetty from one place to another... I'm sure they must have lost one or two overboard, so say nothing of small children.
Jon's birthday: a day on the beach eating and drinking and having lots of fun (it's a hard life - honest!). We had a Thai massage whilst watching the sea and enjoying it's breeze... Jon enjoyed the presents and cards I had bought over from England and especially liked the present from his mum and a chocolate cake that we had on the beach at tea-time.

Jon eats cake

Even I liked the cake, which of course means it must have been good as I don't normally like cakes, sweets, chocolates, anything with sugar at all. In fact, it was a bit of a struggle to try it... really it was.... So, it was much enjoyed by all and precipated a bit more lying around in the hammock and drinking beer before getting ready for yet another (can you guess?) slap-up meal at the Treehouse followed by a few more buckets - I'll try my best not to mention them again but remember I haven't written about New Year yet! All in all, a good day I feel...

The next few days involved a lot of looking for 'big bikes' (with no joy in finding anything I would entertain the idea of - I have not come directly from the set of 'Éasy Rider') some diving (for Jon) and snorkelling (for me) a try-dive in a pool for me which I really enjoyed and seemed to take to like a duck to water - how wrong can you be (read on!) - and some 'travelling' around the island on an extremely dangerous moped/motorbike that struggled desperately with the hills, or rather, near vertical ascents which sent any self-respecting tourists and vehicles squealing in all directions (literally). We only managed to get anywhere through a combination of Jon's bike expertise, my utter fear and will to live and a lot of leaning forward and backwards depending on the incline..... it didn't help that on the first corner we took, we witnessed an accident that had happened seconds before. My confidence in the mode of transport we had taken rapidly waned. The stories of three 'farang' (tourists) killed the week before didn't help much either.... We survived despite the odds and arrived at New Year's eve...

We booked onto another dive trip for the day - Jon doing his usuall 'Í'm a dive master and therefore am very good at this and can pretty much do anything I want in the water' trick and me doing the 'Discover Scuba Diving' try dives with an instructor. All the stories of mis-haps and difficulties Robert (Norwegian - 'hello') and Jon discussed on the boat on the way to the dive site did not phase me a bit... in fact when another girl turned green and expressed (rather uptightly) that the tales we're making her nervous, I wandered what on earth she was on about. Discussing underwater signals and stuff I needed to know with the instructor was fine too... Jon had already taught me everything I needed to know and so I was well versed. Getting kitted up was fine too (suit felt a bit tight as did weight belt, but that goes with the territory right?) and getting into the water was text-book. My BCD (jacket) needed a bit more air and so was blown up to the point that I couldn't breathe properly but this is fine too - didn't want to sink at the wrong point did I? Then the instructor started to take me under the water. That was it. Panick set in. A panick I have felt rarely in my life. The sort where you literally think you're about to suffocate... After a little reasurrance from Ollie (instructor) and a few cheesy grins from the guy who was with us doing his Padi course, we went down. The whole way I was fighting the 'fear' that it was all going wrong and I was about to drown... We managed to swim (actually I was being dragged at this point) towards a sandy, shallow area and to try and stem the obvious blind panick I was experiencing, Ollie tried to point out some colourful fish and wonderfull marine life around us... The only thing I can say is I was thinking 'Sod the fish, I want to get out of here'. It was at this point it all became too much. I had to get out and so desperately waved my hands in the 'go up' signal. I went up. I got out. I was so relieved! I don't think I'll try that again in a hurry. Duck to water, my foot! I spent the rest of the day either floating in the sea trying to alleviate sea sickness or snorkelling. So ended the day time....

In the evening we headed out having got our glad-rags on. We joined company with a number of others and ate, drank, danced and were merry. Nearing midnight the bar further down the beach from us starting letting off sky laterns (or wish laterns - giant paper laterns that float from the heat of a candle lit and held at the bottom.... you can write wishes on them before letting them off). There was a constant stream of them for at least an hour and they were truly magical (sorry - the hippy in me coming out here!). The whole night sky was full of them stretching into the night. We also had fireworks (but no thatch burning this time!) sparklers and lots of good cheer.... The highlight had to be watching Jon dancing on a podium with a semi-naked Canadian who wore sparkly pants and a bow tie (alas - no picture!). So ended 2006.

Next step - Cambodia....

Fire twirling on Lonely Beach

Going to try and add a few pics to old 'posts' but technology in Asia keeps getting the better of me!