blog

India Continued

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:08:29 +0100

Otty

Arrived in one piece as the bus ride was a disaster. Tried to get off the bus while loads were trying to get on the bus. I had to hit someone to get them out of the way just so I could get off. Again no organisation in this place. The girls had found a hotel so we went there. The rooms were alright as I had stayed in worse and they had a TV. As it was fairly cold in Otty we changed into our colder clothes and headed out to get some dinner. We went to the Sidewalk café and had a dinner of sugar based pizza and bought so homemade chocolates on the way home. Early night had by all.

Up early and we headed off to find a good place for breakfast. I, Damien, Erika & Ryan went to Daddy Cool Café where they served the most disgusting food; it was all micro waved even my sandwich was!!! After that we walked a bit of the town and found a sports ground where we had our Otty Olympics. Ryan & Erika raced one lap which Ryan won and Damien did the long jump which he won as no one else did it. We then went onto the Botanical gardens to meet the girls. When we got there as we had to pay in we decided against it. While deciding I got handed a child and our photo taken by an Indian family. Never stops making me laugh… we decided to go get some lunch where everything on the menu we tried to order we couldn’t get so we just went for some fried rice. Ryan went for the Thali which he had to eat with his hands on a banana leaf. Left there and headed to see the church which wasn’t open so we couldn’t go in. we walked for about an hour in search of the fun fair but instead ended up back at our hotel where Ryan got another room and Myself, Damien & Erika went to see the Threat Gardens. On our way there we found the funfair called Jolly world but this was India style. They had a racing track for go karting which was a small circle and the cars/bangers/lawnmower engines went really slow so we decided against it and kept walking trying to find the gardens. We got there and it was impressive, the whole garden flowers and grass were made out of threats. It took 12 yrs to make and was trying to get into the Guinness book of records. After there we went for a Chai in a shack where the women tried to over charge us. We were onto her and just paid the correct amount. Got back and chilled out for a while and then headed off to have dinner. We went to a place the 4 of us had found earlier and as the food had been so bad I and Damien went for cheese on toast and it was lovely. We walked back home stopping at a supermarket to get food as we had a long journey ahead of us tomo. Watched some TV and went to bed.

Fort Cochin

I, Damien & Ryan got on the bus at 9.30am in Otty. Was a nice bus so was a comfortable ride and got to Coimbatore at 1pm where we got on another bus to Kerala. Got to the Ferry in Ernakulam at 8pm which was only a 20 min journey and got a rickshaw to Princess street where we were hoping to stay in a home stay but they were booked up so our driver knew a place called the Brown house (he got commission if we stayed) so we went there and it was really nice. The three of us had to share a room but that was fine. We met Charlotte, Adam, Lex & a German girl who were staying there. We went out for food which was really expensive and they had to serve us “special tea” (beer in a mug) as they had no licence. We ate our food and as the beer ran out we went walking and found a bar where we weren’t charged high prices. We got some take away beers and jumped into a rickshaw. Luckily Damien had got a card from the guy cos otherwise we would have never known or found our way back. We were actually only around the corner but we only found that out later. Had our beers with the others and the owner Kamdu (can do as we called him) and headed to bed.

Had a lie in till 9am and then had to wait and hour for Damien to get a bucket of hot water for a shower. We headed off for breakfast at the Kashi Art Café where we met the girls. We headed off then to a massage place but we found it a bit expensive so decided not to get one. Nikolina & Anika went off to find another place while we 4 went to see the Chinese fishing nets and look at clothes. On our way there we stopped into a shop where our driver got 300 Rupees commission for bringing us in. Our driver brought us around for free cos of doing it. After the nets we headed off to the Kerala Kathakali Centre where we got coffee and me & Damien booked to see the show later. We all headed back to our place and chilled for a bit. The 2 girls came back after their massage and then we headed off for dinner in talk of the town. Our rickshaw driver came to pick us up to bring us to the show. When we went in we saw them putting on the make up which can take up to 2 hrs per person and then to the show which was a traditional story in Kathakali dancing. It was really fun. Finished that and on the way back we had to stop at another shop for commission for our driver. Came back and Ryan & Adam were drinking so we stayed up with them for a while.

Alleppey

Got up and went for the most horrible breakfast where we met a couple we had met in Baga. We chatted with them for a while and then headed back to collect our laundry and get the bus to Alleppey. Got on the first bus where the lads chatted to a bunch of school boys. Got on the second bus for 45 mins and we where there. Very short. The girls were taking the train and we delayed. Arrived there and we were met by a nice lad called Ami that told us he had a great place to stay in and would even pay for a rickshaw to bring us there so we took him up on the offer. Got there and the place was lovely, really clean and as the girls where coming we had the whole house to ourselves. He told us we could cook there later and he had a house boat to do the back waters too. A bit expensive so we said we’d think about it. The girls arrived and we all went out for a late lunch. Ami brought us to a lovely restaurant and then he took us down to the beach where we watched the sun set. Everyone was out flying their kites!! On the walk back to the hse he bought us through the market so we could buy some food to cook later but the fish market was closed so no prawn masala for us L got back to the hse and the lads went to the bottle shop. We sat down and all played cards and told riddles and got really pissed!!!

Slept fairly late and went for lunch with Erika & Ryan in Kream Korner. We went in hunt of a cheaper deal on the house boats but nowhere was open. Headed back home to say good bye to Nikolina & Anika. We chilled in watching TV and then headed out for a take away dinner and some take away drink. We got a good feed although it was too hot for me to eat so I ate the rice. I and Erika watched a movie while the lads watched the football. After the footie we played more cards and went to bed.

Up early as we had to decide on the house boat so Ryan & Damien went to see Ami’s house boat while myself & Erika stayed behind. The lads liked the boats so we left for it. Unfortunately for me I got stung on my eye so my eye was swollen shut and I had to keep my shades on. Not a good look for me if I didn’t wear them. We headed off at 11.30am and moored up to have lunch at 1pm. We headed off again at 2pm and moored up for the evening at 5pm where Ryan and Erika went off to a village and we stayed behind on the boat. Had dinner at 7pm and then watched a movie.

No one slept very well as it was really hot in the boat loads of bugs. Up early and we had breakfast which I couldn’t hold down cos I was sick and needed some Anti’b’s!! Headed back to the harbour and got a rickshaw back to Ami’s. Had to get the train at 3pm so chilled out for a while. Got to the train station at 2.30 as we had to buy our tickets and then had to wait 3 and a half hrs as the train was delayed. It seems that is all you do when travelling – Wait.

Valkara

Arrived there at 9pm and a driver from our hotel was waiting for us. He bought us back to the hotel called the Skyline which was owned by an Italian (Aldo) & French guy (Bruno). Erika settled in and went out for dinner with them. She spoke Italian so that was helpful. I & Damien got brought into town to buy Anti’b’s for me and we went to bed.

Up and both myself and Damien were not well but we ventured out to the Hungry Eye Kitchen for some breakfast where they actually had homemade brown bread. After that we went down to the beach for a while but as it was really hot we headed back. I & Erika went on the internet while Damien went back to bed. We organised to do Yoga but Erika was the only one who went as we were unwell. We went out for dinner in Calfouti which was nice but as we weren’t feeling the best we didn’t enjoy it that much. Went back to our hotel where we bumped into the owner of the hotel we had stayed in, in Fort Cochin. He was friends with the guy who ran our hotel and was staying for 2 nights. Damien went to bed and me & Erika sat up and chatted for a while and then she went out for a drink with the Italians.

Up and out for food. Went onto the internet and said good bye to Erika as she was heading back up to Mumbai. I and Damien sat in.

Feeling a bit better today so we headed down to the beach for a while but again it got very hot so we headed back to the hotel. Have to stop going down at lunch time. Did some more internet work and chilled in.

Up and the usual beach action and on the hunt for a TV to watch the football. Kind of hard as not many places had it on. Found a nice place and settled in with Aslan (guy who runs our place) for a few beers and 3 matches. Met Eddy, Christine & Becky there and chatted with them for a while. Went out after the matches to rock and roll but they had run out of beer and didn’t put alcohol in their cocktails so we headed home and had a beer with Aslan & Ashok.

Got up late and headed down town where we went on the internet and bumped into Adam & Charlotte. We had stayed in the same place as them in Cochin. We organised to meet them later as we had organised to meet Eddy & girls later for dinner and a few drinks. Chilled out and then headed off to meet the others. Eddy had met 3 girls from England and another guy Ollie so they were all there and then another 2 Paul’s that Ollie knew came later. After dinner we headed to Rock and Roll to meet Charlotte & Adam and had a drink with the owners of our hotel and the owners of a restaurant that was opening in a few days. We all headed back to our place for another drink and then to bed.

Went into town to the ATM and the bottle shop/hole in the wall. Booked our train tickets out and went down to the beach to meet Charlotte and Adam. Lay there for a while and then went back for a shower before Yoga. Went to the place for yoga but the guy who did it was gone so we looked around for another place. 2 Oz’s came with us as they had met Charlotte & Adam doing a commercial in Mumbai. We couldn’t find a place to do Yoga so we went for dinner. Had some amazing sea food and then the 6 of us headed back to our place to have beer as it was too expensive to drink in the bars. After we finished off the beers me, Damien & Adam went to Rock and Roll for apparently 1 more drink but sure we all know how that ends….7am in the morning.

Got up at 3pm and headed off to get food and a massage. They are supposed to be amazing. It was really good but they put so much oil on your body when I went to turn over I nearly slid off the bed!!! After that we bumped into Charlotte, said our goodbyes and headed back for dinner.

Up early and headed out for breakfast, packed up and got a rickshaw into the train station. Got the train to Trivandrum and then got the over night train to Villupuram and then a bus to Pondicherry.

Pondicherry

It was raining a lot when we got to Pondicherry so we got a rickshaw to a hotel in the French quarter. We went for breakfast after we dropped off our bags. It’s very expensive here for food & accommodation. As we hadn’t got that much sleep on the train we went for a nap. When we got up it was still lashing rain so we went to Pizza Hut… yes Pizza Hut. Came back and just chilled with the TV.

Up and went out for some food and some sightseeing. We walked the promenade looking for a restaurant that was in the lonely planet but as we have found some places are closed down and this one was. We went to a nice café and shared a meal. We walked down some of the back streets and got our photo taken. Went to a nice internet café and then looked at the canal that smelled really bad and considering there was so much rain it was very dry! Headed back and showered and then went to Rendez Vous for dinner. Lovely food. I had roast chicken & chips and it was as good as at home.

Up and got a rickshaw to the bus station. It was lashing down and we had to leg it onto the bus. Got seats and settled in for the 2 hr drive to Mamallapuram.

Mamallapuram

Arrived there and got a rickshaw to a hotel. The town was flooded and we just about made it to the hotel. We found a cheap hotel that had a TV so we chilled out as it was still raining. Went out for dinner and watched TV.

Up and still raining but we wanted to see something so we headed out to see the temples. We saw the Krishna’s butter ball which is a massive bolder on the side of a rock hill. We saw 5 other temples which had amazing carvings in all of them. One of them was called Arjuna’s Penance and another Krishna Mandapam. They had all been created on big rocks and looked over the town. Unfortunately on our way to see the 5 Rathas the skies opened up so we had go home when it eased off. We went back to the hotel and had a hot bucket shower and then went for dinner in a nice French restaurant. Got back to settle in for the match of Chelsea V Man Utd. 40 mins before kick off though the power went in the hotel and Damien got a bit nervous but low and behold it came back on just in time. 10 mins before the end though the power went off and didn’t come back on till 5.30am which was not good as it was hard to go asleep with no fan. Too hot!!

Up for another day of rain. We checked out of our hotel and went for breakfast. Walked up to the bus stop and got a nice air conditioned bus to Chennai.

Chennai

Arrived here at 4.30 and got a rickshaw to the “backpacker” area of town beside the train station. Got there and Damien went to look at 2 hotels which were not nice at all. We went to another few but they were earlier booked out or really expensive. An Indian man stated chatting to Damien and told him there was a cheap clean hotel about 5 mins walk away so we went to see it. Damien went up to look at the rooms but he said it was disgusting so we decided against it. The guy that brought us there told us of others but as he thought that was clean we decided not to trust him and found a lovely hotel just around the corner from that hole. We went for a cheap dinner and chilled in as up early for sightseeing and massive train journey of 33hrs to Delhi!!

Delhi

Arrived in New Delhi station at 7am and made our way to our hotel which was just a 5 min walk away. At the top of our road which was the Main Bazaar they had wooden mental detectors that no one actually walked through!! Got our rooms and we went off in search of breakfast. Went to a nice place and planned our day. Got the metro, which puts London to shame in the amount of people getting on. Had to go through metal detectors there but these were in use and had to get our bags scanned. Arrived at our stop and went to see the India Gate. It was really over cast and we were followed by a rickshaw driver the whole way up trying to get us to do business with him. Took some photos and then headed to the place where Gandhi was shot. Really nice and very good museum, a lot better then the one we saw in Mumbai. Had all these futuristic displays. Got a rickshaw back to the metro and headed home. Went to the New Diamond restaurant for dinner which served really good pasta. As we were eating our meal the guy who spoke to us outside sat down across from us and hen one of his friends along with a guy from England joined him and started talking to us. They were trying to get us to book a tour for 35,000rupees which of course we kindly declined and then headed home.

Went in search of Mc Donalds today as we had seen loads of ads for chicken nuggets and we were now craving them so we got the metro to Connaught Place. When we arrived everything was closed because of a strike to pay less tax. We found a café place and bought a sandwich and a muffin and headed to Old Delhi to see the Old fort and the biggest mosque in India as it was free in. When we arrived at the mosque we couldn’t find entrance 3 for tourists so we went into entrance 2 for the Indians. We weren’t stopped by the police outside so we walked up the steps. I took my shoes off, carried them in my hand and headed in. I noticed Damien giving his shoes to someone to pay to look after so I told him to just take them in his hand. When he tried to take them off the man another guy came up saying he had to pay 200rupees in and leave his shoes there. Damien told him it was free in and he said he was the tourist police and couldn’t come in without paying. The guy then came in after me and told me to get out as it was closed to which I replied no it wasn’t and he then told me he was the tourist police which I knew he wasn’t as he wasn’t in uniform. I couldn’t be assed arguing so we both left but we did see other tourists paying the 200 each. We walked back to the metro and made the journey home pissed off. We went to the Metropolis for dinner which was really nice and then headed back to our hotel. Rachel a girl we had met in Valkara had left us a massage at reception to meet her and Emily at a 5 star hotel so off we went to meet them for a drink. Rachel had done a seminar in egg plants at the hotel and was finished up that evening. We met 2 of there friends from the seminar. 1 guy from Germany & another girl from Columbia. We had a drink there, went up on the fancy lift and headed back to the Main Bazaar for cheaper drinks as our one glass of beer each cost 480rupees. We met a journalist from Denmark at the bar and when the place closed we headed back to his room to finish our drinks along with 2 Indian lads who were very nice. Got to bed at 3am.

Up for the check out but they allowed us to keep the room till 5pm as that was when we had to go get our train. We got the metro which was even more over crowded cos it was Saturday to Mc Donalds and got our Mc Nuggets. We went back to the hotel and napped till the train. Got to our carriage and the 4 other people in our bunks were all foreign too which has never happened before. Got some sleep and arrived in Varanasi at 8.30am

Varanasi

Arrived at the train station and called our hotel to come and pick us up. Got to near the hotel on the rickshaw but as the roads are too thin we had to walk the rest of the way. The streets were so thin but there were still cows and dogs in all the alleyways. We arrived at our hotel on the Ghats and checked in. it was a nice day so we decided to leave our bags and head out. We went first to the Ghats were they burn all the dead bodies. It was mental. Mass cremations. They burn bodies 24/7 there. After we watched we did a bit of shopping and then headed back to meet a couple staying in our hotel for dinner. Nice food and headed to bed early to get up for the sunrise.

Got up at 5am and of course as we are Irish it was raining so we went back to bed. Got up later and it was still raining so we chilled in for a while and then ventured out to get some food and use the internet. Headed back and decided to get up early again to see if we could catch the sunrise the next morning.

Alas it was still raining but later on it cleared up so we went out on an hour boat trip just to go on the Ganges’s!! Walked to our rickshaw and headed to the train station in a massive traffic jam. Had to run for our train.

Agra

Arrived in Agra in the morning and got a rickshaw to a hotel in the book. Had breakfast in the rooftop restaurant while looking at the Taj Mahal. After breakfast we took a nap cos as usual we didn’t get any sleep on the train. Got up and went for lunch in the most amazing restaurant/shack called Joney’s. It was so lovely and really cheap. After that we walked around to get some information about going to see the Taj in the morning. At the ticket counter they told us it was free tomorrow but as we are in India we didn’t believe them. Another early night to get up for a sunrise which we were hoping we would see this time.

Luck would have it that it wasn’t raining so off we went. We queued up and met some Oz’s that had been told it was free today too and there was no ticket counter open so we were hopeful and again luck was on our side and it was free in. we spent 2 hrs in there. It was amazing. A postcard doesn’t do it justice!! After that we headed to Joney’s for breakfast and back to bed for a nap. We then had lunch in Joney’s where we met Daniel from Spain and said we’d meet him at the train station or in Jaipur as he was heading there tomorrow as well. We started the haggling game for a driver for the day. We picked a cycle rickshaw and we went off to see the Fort which was also free. After that we went to the baby Taj and again free and then to the gardens at the back of the Taj to watch the sunset. The sunset wasn’t that good cos unfortunately there is a lot of pollution in India so the sun disappears without going down. Still an amazing experience. Headed back into town but of course that took a while as our driver wanted us to stop in 1 shop or so we thought. As he was cycling all day we decided that we would. We spent 10 mins in the shop and had a good laugh with the guys working there. We headed back to the rickshaw after that to go home but he stopped at another shop and he told us he wanted us to go to this one and 3 more as he got money for bringing people there. Unfortunately we hate this cos we don’t wait to buy anything so we had to put the foot down and get him to bring us home. Of course when we dropped us back he wanted us to give him more money so we gave him a tip and got some dinner in Joney’s. Headed back for a shower and watched a film.

Up early and went to Joney’s for breakfast where we met Daniel and organised to go with him to the train station. Packed up and got a rickshaw to the station where of course our train was delayed 3hrs so we hung out.

Pushkar

Arrived here Ajmer train station to get the bus to Pushkar. We knew that we only had to pay 5 rupees each so eventually we found someone to take us for that. It was actually a rickshaw bus…madness!!! Got on the bus and what are the chances but the young guy sitting beside Damien had a hotel for us to stay in that had a pool as well. We got off and went to his place where the pool was empty and rooms weren’t too nice so Daniel went off to find a better place to stay so we went there. We dropped off our bags and headed for food in Baba restaurant. We strolled the town after that. It’s very small but that’s what we wanted. Unfortunately the main attraction is the lake and there was no water in the lake but sure what could we do. We headed back showered and went to Laura’s café for dinner. The food was really nice, fairly expensive but Laura was a Canadian and was really nice. After dinner Laura and her boyfriend invited us to go dancing as there was a wedding in 3 days so they danced every night until the wedding. It was so much fun and the Indian’s danced so crazy for guys who don’t drink!!

Next day we went to Funky Monkey café for breakfast and then chilled on the net & looked in book shops. Later we had some dinner and headed back to Laura’s for a drinking game called “have you ever?” we weren’t drinking but it was still fun. There were about 15 of us. A mix between Indians and westerns. We met Louisa & her brother Greg from Oz, a Spanish girl called Laura, the 2 Canadian girls from last night, 2 Israeli’s and a guy from South Africa. Fun night but didn’t get in till 3am.

Up for lunch with Daniel and walked around the market a bit. Went for Falafel’s in the Falafel stand which were amazing and when dancing with the lads.

Bought a few more pressie’s in the market and headed to see the temple in town where we were given flowers to throw in a river but of course they first said it was free but then we were told we had to donate if we wanted to throw them in the river so we opted not to. Headed home and got ready for the engagement party. We decided to get dinner first which we shouldn’t have cos as soon as we arrived at the party they were all giving us food. We had that and danced the night away. We met Laura from England & Jacinta from Oz there. Got in about midnight.

Got up and met Louisa and the 2 other girls as we had decided to have a few drinks tonight for the wedding as a few of the lads had a few the night before. We met Harry the street boy who brought us to his house and then the 2 lads went to get the booze while we played with his family. His mother made us Chai and then we headed off. We stopped at the Bangle shop and ordered our bangles for the next day. Got some food at the Falafel stand and headed back to change our clothes and head to Louisa & Greg’s for drinks. Of course the Indian lads were drinking there too as this hotel was owned by Pinto who’s sister was getting married so we had a laugh with the lads too. Between 6 of us we drank 2 bottles of rum and were fairly pissed by the time we got to the wedding. Unfortunately Damien wasn’t feeling too hot so we headed home.

Got up and walked Daniel to the bus stop, got breakfast and hung out with Greg for a while. Picked up our Bangles and then went to Eyann’s hse as he said he wanted to do some business with us. Louisa was there already and the 5 of us watched You Tube for a while. As Eyann had just got the lab top new I showed him a few things and taught him how to download. We left there and went to the Falafel stand for one last one before getting the bus onward. Eyann came down looking for us as he wanted to know a few more things before I headed off and he gave me a silk scarf to say thanks for helping him which was nice. Packed up, said our goodbyes and headed off to the bus. At the bus stand we met a couple. Shanti from Ibiza and Juan from Argentina. Got on the bus and we were charged for our bags which was a big ordeal!! Got into our double sleeper and tried to sleep which is fairly impossible as the roads are so bad!!

Jaisalmer

Arrived at 6am fairly tired and in the middle of nowhere. Just before we got off the bus a guy got on telling us he would bring us to our hotel for 5 Rupees each. We got his taxi with the Spanish couple. Neither of us had a hotel booked but we had been recommended by Pinto to go and stay in Hotel Titanic. Our taxi tried to make us go to another hotel but we told him we wanted to go to Titanic so in the end he brought us. As it was so early in the morning we had to wait and see was anyone checking out as he was full. The 4 of us headed up for breakfast to wait. As we hadn’t seen the rooms we decided to have a look at some other hotels after breakfast. Shanti and Damien headed off to look at other places while myself and Juan stayed with the bags. They came back after an hr but the hotels were pretty much the same price so we hung on to look at the rooms here in Titanic. Paulo was the owner and he was really interesting. He had 2 rooms for us and so we stayed there. Myself and Damien headed for a nap as we hadn’t slept much on the bus. We headed out for some lunch and a look around. Wasn’t much to the town and everything was closed early enough so we decided to do some sightseeing the next day. Back to the hotel and had some food with Shanti & Juan. Damien & Juan had a special Lassi but unfortunately us girls missed out!!

Got up and went to see the fort. We asked a few places about Camel Safaris and went to a jewellery shop. Went to get a Chai in a restaurant where we met an Indian guy called Sewri who was restoring the fort. We chatted with him for hrs and he brought us to some spots in the fort we didn’t know about. After that he brought us to a place to watch the sunrise and we organised to have dinner with him later at his hotel. His driver dropped us back to our hotel where we showered and changed and the driver picked us up again and brought us to the hotel. It was a hotel that used to be a palace so was really fancy. We had drinks and food by the pool. He told us some good stories and we got a rickshaw home about 11pm. Lovely evening.

Got up and headed out to try and get some alcohol for our safari. Unfortunately the beer shop wasn’t open but Paulo gave us a bottle of rum for the 4 of us so we set off in the jeep to the camels. Arrived there and put our stuff on our camels. Damien’s camel was called Tiger. Don’t know the name of mine but he was 6 yrs old! Damien was let by the main camel guy till lunch. They cooked us some Dal and Chapatti. It was nice and then we got back onto our camels. Mine had all the food on it and after lunch they put the fire wood on mine as well. I was way too important now to lose!! I couldn’t walk beside anyone as then the wood would stick into them so was a bit of a lonely ride. Along the way we stopped to give the camels some water and then headed to the dunes. Unfortunately my camel didn’t like going very slow and wouldn’t listen to me so it kept hitting this one girl in the face with the fire wood. I felt really bad but it was fairly funny!!! Arrived at the dunes and we took some photos. The guys made us Chai and we found 5 puppies in our camp. They must have been about 3 weeks old and were so cute. The 4 Koreans that were with us didn’t like them too much but the 4 of us loved them. Myself & Shanti played with them while the 2 lads went off to collect firewood. The sunset was amazing. When the lads came back we settled in for the night. We got the fire going and got given dinner. We drank our bottle of rum and sat around watching the fire and talking. When we used up all the firewood we went to bed. It was so beautiful; it was too bright to see the stars but was such a good experience. We got woken up in the middle of the night by the puppies. Damien got licked on the lips and I found some in my bed. I kicked them out and went back to sleep. In the morning I found 1 asleep beside me in my bed. I didn’t mind cos he was so cute!! We got up and had breakfast then got back on our camels for the journey home. We got back at about 11am and got the jeep back to the hotel. We were given a room in which to shower and change so we threw our bags there and then headed out for some food and to use the internet. Got back where we chilled out for a while. Headed out for dinner and then had showers and Paulo dropped us to the train station. Train wasn’t very full so we didn’t have to listen to too much snoring!!

Jodhpur

Arrived at 5am in the morning but Paulo had recommended a hotel to us so they had come to pick us up. 2 Canadian lads that we met on the train came with us in the rickshaw. When we got to the hotel they only had one room that was empty so we took that and the lads went off to find another place. Our room wasn’t clean though but they said at 9am they would give us clean sheets and towels so we put down our sheets and went to bed for a few hrs. Damien woke up before me and went off to find Daniel. When I got up they came back and we asked for our sheets but they told us they hadn’t come back from the cleaners yet but would be there later so we went out to see the palace. We then went for dinner and headed back to Daniels hotel where we met an Irish couple Helen & Peter. We chatted with them for a few hrs and then headed back. When we got back to our hotel we asked about our towels and sheets again. The owner was pissed at this stage and a bit aggressive so we decided to just stay and move hotels in the morning.

We got up and checked out and went to Daniels hotel which was really nice. He was checking out as we were checking in so we said another goodbye to him and headed off to see the fort and temple which was really good. We booked our bus tickets for the morning. We walked back and I wasn’t feeling too hot so I went to bed and took some paracetemal. Unfortunately I got worse so we stayed in and got room service.

Next day I still wasn’t any better so we didn’t take the bus and I spent the day in bed. I eventually got up to make it out for dinner but I couldn’t eat much as I had the usual sickness wrong with me. Dodgy water must follow me around.

Udiapor

Got the bus at 8.30am and was going to take 6hrs to get to Udiapor. Wasn’t a bad journey and when we got there we got a rickshaw to the Lal

Ghat guesthouse or so we thought… we were brought to the Lal Ghat Haveli but they had cheap clean rooms so we took it. After we settled in we went for a walk and found the actual guesthouse but it was too expensive so we decided to stay in our place. We walked to the palace but didn’t go in as we were hungry so we went for food on a roof top and then headed off to find a cooking class we had been recommended by the Oz & English girl. We ended up finding it right beside our hotel and booked for 2 night’s time. It was called Shashi’s cooking class. We checked our mails as Shanti & Juan were still there and we wanted to meet up with them. We found them at a restaurant and had a few beers with them and said our goodbyes. We headed back to our hotel for an early night.

I still wasn’t the greatest but we needed to decide on whether we were going to go to Daman or Diu so we headed off to the internet café but unfortunately I only ended up out for about 20mins. Damien stayed on the net and met Helen & Peter and said we’d meet up with them later. About 6pm we headed to Helen & Peter’s hotel and went out for some dinner & beers with them.

Got up and went for breakfast then headed to the palace for a look around. Was very good but as we didn’t take a guide we had to guess a few things!! Headed for some Chai and then back to our place to have a shower and head off to our cooking class which started at 5.30. The class was brilliant. There were 5 of us in the class. We all cooked even thought it was in her hse. She gave us a hand out which was really helpful and as we had cooked so much we all couldn’t finish the food. Got back to our hotel at 11pm full…

Up and went out to book our bus to Ahmedbad for the next day and did some work on the net. We also met the Israeli’s that we had met in Pushkar. We went to Helen & Peters and left them a note of where we would be for dinner. We went for some yoga which was ok. Not the best but was only the 2 of us in the class and as Damien had never done yoga before it was good for him. Came back to the hotel and showered and headed up to the restaurant on the rooftop to have dinner and watch Octopussy as it was shot here in Udiapor. Helen & Peter found us so we had dinner with them. After the movie we said our goodbyes to them but are hoping to meet up with them in Mumbai as they will be there when we are there. Packed up and headed to bed.

Got up early and got on the bus for 8.30am to Ahmedbad. Arrived there and as usual we got dropped at the side of the road no where near the bus station!! Got a rickshaw to the bus station or so we were told but we were actually just brought to a travel agent. We booked our ticket but it was only to Vapi which was annoying cos we could have got a bus from Udiapor to Vapi instead of going to Ahmedbad but we were assured that we could get a bus to Daman from Ahmedbad. Our fault as we should have learned by now that they don’t know!! We had to wait from 2pm till 10pm for our night bus to Vapi. We hung out at the travel agent reading and playing cards and then went to get food and got on the bus. The trip wasn’t too bad we just didn’t sleep too well.

Arrived in Vapi and had to play the rickshaw game to get us to Daman. We thought our rickshaw was bringing us there but he actually brought us to a taxi stand where you can get a shared taxi. At the time we didn’t know that not every rickshaw could go into Daman.

Daman

Arrived there and headed to a restaurant for breakfast. We could see that we were only tourists there but it was hot so we didn’t mind!! We ate breakfast and then Damien went off in search of a hotel while I watched the bags. He went to a fair few and picked one. Most were really expensive but he found one for cheap. On the way to the hotel we saw a guest house and it was cheaper then the hotel Damien had found and so we decided to stay. We decided to crack open a few beers as they were only 80c here but as we hadn’t drunk in so long we got pissed after 3 and fell asleep!! Up and got some food and then back to bed.

Got up and had breakfast/lunch. Got a rickshaw to Jampore beach to check it out. Wasn’t very nice at all. Had black sand with dirt everywhere and the water was not one you would go swimming in. we found a bench where I lay and Damien on his towel on the sand. Unfortunately as there was no other tourists I couldn’t get down into my bikini so it was hot day for me… at one stage Damien got a group of lads hanging around him for a while at the end of the day but other then that no hassle. Got a rickshaw back and showered then headed out for dinner. We went to the restaurant up above the one we had breakfast in cos it was in the lonely planet but even though it was called a different restaurant it had the exact menu as the one downstairs. Luckily we had liked our breakfast!! Headed back and watched a film.

Got up early as we wanted to head to the other beach. Went to find the tourist information place as well but it had been moved and as it was Sunday there was no other travel agents open so we headed for breakfast and got a rickshaw to Dervka beach where again I couldn’t get into my bikini as there were a lot more Indians around and no westerns. The same black sand so after a while of lying on the beach we headed off to find a hotel with a pool and have some lunch. We found one hotel that would allow us to use it so we were going to go tomo to get all day use. We walked back to our hotel which was 3km away. We showered went out for dinner in Nano’s beside our guesthouse and then chilled in watching TV.

Spent most of the next few days at the pool sunbathing!!

India

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:59:08 +0100

India 02/20/09 – 20/12/09

Mumbai

Arrived at 2.30am and after we went through the many checks and scans we made it out of the airport to a sea of people with signs. We tried to find our names but to no avail so someone came over to try and help us by telling us to book another hotel. Another man was help though and found our driver so all was well. We made our way back to the hotel at full speed making sure not to stop at any red lights… Got to our room which had some nice air con and we settled down to sleep.

Up early and went down for our first Indian breakfast and some Chai which wasn’t too nice but had better get used to it!! Decided to venture outside for the first time and our hotel got us a taxi. It took of 45 mins to get to the Gateway of India alive. Mental over here, they make 5 lanes of traffic out of 2 and again no stopping at lights. They also have people walking onto the road and getting off moving buses. We arrived and took some photos and we got offered Hash, postcards, tours and more hash. We went to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and then went to Leopold’s café for some food. That is where all the tourists are if you can’t find any on the streets. After lunch we went on a walk about and took loads of photos. We didn’t go in anywhere but we found out later on we passed loads of things to see and do. We headed back to the hotel after and decided to get dinner. We looked in the book and found 3 places of interest to eat but alas we couldn’t find a single one so we went a place that looked busy. We chilled out in the room that night.

Went over to Elephant Island today which was nothing like the book said. It was actually only 2 caves and I got attacked by a monkey trying to take my water. It was funny afterwards but I was terrified at the time and the poor locals who tried to help me got attacked too… we came back and decided to go for dinner in another place recommended by the “bible” but that was nothing like what the book said. The food was nice but we ordered too much. Went back to the hotel and watched TV.

Had a driver ordered for today and lucky as it was raining heavily so went off with him to see the Dhobi Ghats where they do all the washing, Hali Ali’s Mosque, Mahalaxmi Temple, Gandi’s museum, lunch in Mc D’s where there were no big Mac’s… Prince of Wales museum and then to Leopold’s for dinner. Back to the hotel to collect our bags and then got a taxi to the train station where our Rickshaw broke down just before we got to the station (only in India). Arrived there and our train was delayed so we had to wait around while everyone stared at us and tried to take our picture on their photos secretly but actually not so secretly… Got on to our 2A/C and found our beds for the night. It wasn’t too bad as they gave us pillows and sheets which we thought were clean but the next morning they picked up all the sheets folded them up and put them back on the beds…

Goa

Arrived in Thivim station at about 2pm and got a taxi to Vagator. Found the Jolly Jolly Lester hotel and booked in for the night. Went for lunch in the Mango Tree and had our first Indian beer there. Went down to the beach to go and see the fort where we got our first dose of the Goa beach women. They surround you and ask you our name, then they tell you theirs, then its will you look at my shop which is actually just their bag of stuff, then its “you promise to buy later” and finally if you don’t buy its “you are breaking my tiny little heart”. I did buy something and then we walked up to the fort at the top of the hill. It was a nice view at the top so we sat around for a while. We walked back down to our hotel and had a nice cold shower as no hot water. We decided to go for dinner after but as no one was in any other restaurant we went back to the Mango Tree where we met a guy who had cycled from Austria all the way to India. We had a beer with him and then headed back for an early night.

Anjuna

Got up and headed to Anjuna, we got a rickshaw there and stayed in Manali guest house/shack. It was only €4 a night so couldn’t complain. After we checked in we went off to the beach where we got harassed again by loads of girls. It got annoying and in the end we just walked the beach to get away from them. Also we saw that they weren’t allowed passed a certain point so we lay out there. We went to a nice restaurant for dinner and then headed back to the hotel.

Next morning we changed rooms cos we had been staying in a 3 bed and we only wanted a 2 bed. Very funny he kicked people out of their room to make room for us… we chilled out for a while and then headed down the beach to the sun lounges. Went for a few beers on the beach while watching the sun set and we met 2 old lads and chatted with them. Getting home was a nightmare as we couldn’t see and there were loads of rocks so we climbed up and hitched a ride of some guy on the back of his moped. We got back and met 4 people staying at our guest house/shack. They were Eoin from Ireland, Matt from England and Nikolina and Anika from Sweden. Damien fell asleep while I stayed up and played a Swedish game with them. Good fun.

Got up after a while and headed to the supermarket for a cheap breakfast and lunch and then headed to the beach again where we met the others. We stayed and had dinner on the beach but this time we had lights and weren’t drunk so we made it back to the hotel in one peace. On the way back we found Eoin and Ryan (New Zealand who was also staying in our place) in a restaurant drinking. We went back and got showers and then headed back to meet them for a few beers. The girls went home after a bit and then 4 of us got take out and brought it back to our place.

Baga

Got a rickshaw to Baga beach and checked into Angelina Guest House. We got a price reduction as we were staying 3 nights and they also had hot showers so we were sold. After we dropped our bags off, we walked to Calangute to the ATM and got subway on the way. We also checked how much a few or the pools were to go to. Came back and showered and walked for a good 20mins to dinner but it was so worth it. It was a sea food restaurant and I got the most amazing Prawns. It was also right on the beach so very romantic!! Got some Baskin Robbins on the way back and got an early night.

Eoin, Ryan, Nikolina, Anika and Matt arrived about 11am to our place and Eoin and Ryan checked in for the night. It was Eoin’s birthday so we were on a big night. We all headed off to have some food except Eoin as he had to Skype home. We walked down to the beach which as all the rest in Goa wasn’t that nicest so we opted to go to the pool. We chilled out there for a few hrs and then went off and got some dinner where we played connect 4 & Jenga. Got back showered and changed for the evening. We headed to the bar next to our place as they were doing 2 for 1 and smoked the Cerise. Nikolina, Anika and Matt headed back to Anjuna after a few beers and we decided no more beer so we went to the supermarket and bought a bottle of Morgan Spice Rum. We went back to the bar and ordered 4 cokes and proceeded to drink the whole bottle. We sang on stage. I rapped and we generally got plastered drunk. After we finished the bottle we thought it would be a good idea to go to the supermarket and buy another so off we went. Damien fell asleep outside while we went in. One of the shop assistants slide over to the fridge and as we were really pissed we thought it would be brilliant to do the same so we did for about 20 mins… all in all a good night.

Woke up and said our goodbyes to the lads as they were going off to Hampi and we were going the next day. Also Eoin was heading north the next day so we wouldn’t see him. We chilled out for the rest of the day.

Got up and checked out about the train the next day, booked our taxi for the next morning at 5am which took a lot of haggling and went for a nice dinner down by the beach.

Hampi (Rock City)

Got our taxi at 5am and we were told it would take an hr and half to get there but it took only 45mins so after we bought our tickets we played the waiting game again. Loads of stares as usual and then we hit the madness. People jumping on the train before it stopped etc. we were told we could get on sleeper carriage and then pay the conductor as they only sold us standing. We did as we were told but then we got kicked out of our seat as someone else had booked those seats. We found one seat to share which wasn’t comfortable so I got on the top bunk and slept while Damien had an Indian guy wear the ears off him… the girls got on at another stop but we couldn’t keep them seats so we met them when we got off the train. Ryan had organised for a driver to come collect us which we were delighted about and at the station we booked our seats for Bangalore. This place is the equivalent to Angkor in Cambodia and the temples are hundreds of yrs old. Kings and Queens lived there but a lot have been destroyed. Arrived at the hotel and checked in where we also met Erika. We needed to eat so we went to the Mango Tree which was right on the river and was very nice. After dinner we walked around the town and organised what we were going to do tomorrow. We met with Erika for dinner.

Up and met for breakfast and then rented bicycles for the day. We went to find 1 group of temples and cycled for a good hr to find them. We eventually though we had cycled too far so on our way back we stopped at our temples to have a look. I, Ryan and Anika cycled on ahead and waited for ages for Damien & Nikolina. After a while Anika decided to go back and see what was taking them so long. She came back and told us that Nikolina had a flat tyre and Damien was giving her a backer. We had to go back then and get another bike. We stopped at more temples and then a person told us that we had actually cycled pasted the ones we were looking for. Pain in the ass. Got back to town and had some lunch. Nikolina got a new bike and off we were again. Got to our destination and saw the elephant stables, Zenana enclosure, Lotus Mahal, Virupaksa Temple and walked to Vittala Temple. They were amazing but after seeing Angkor it wasn’t as amazing. Dropped off our bikes had a nap and then went for dinner. After dinner I, Damien and Ryan went to the pub. Well the one bar as drinking was banned in Hampi and had a few beers.

Up for check out and left our bags at our hotel. Had breakfast and then walked around while the girls shopped. Went to a children’s home and played with the kids. Got lunch, used the internet, food and then rickshaw to the train station.

Played cards on the train and then tried to sleep but loads of people wanted to talk to us. Eventually got asleep!!

Bangalore (IT capital of India)

Arrived there at about 6am and haggled for a taxi/mini van to bring us to a hotel. It was very expensive so our taxi driver said he knew a cheaper place which he brought us too and it ended up being twice the price. His excuse was that it must have gone up as the price he had was 3 seasons ago. We weren’t fouled by him and walked 20 mins back to our original hotel stopping at others to see there price. We dropped off our bags and then headed out to have breakfast and meet Nikolina’s friend Rag. He brought us to a great place for nice and cheap food. He brought us shopping and then to see a temple. We went for a lovely lunch and then headed to see Iskcon Temple. It was a Harry Krishna temple and was a fairly new temple. Learned some history about Krishna and saw loads of people praying. Headed back into town after and we went for a few beers. Also as it was Diwali there were loads of fireworks going off. It’s a 3 day festival and fireworks are set off all day and night. There are also a lot of customs to go with it. Kind of like Christmas.

Went for breakfast and went to do some shopping while Damien got something fixed, used the net, found the book “The Shock Doctrine” which we had been looking for since we left and then headed back to our usual restaurant for some lunch. We walked then to the cricket stadium to see about buying tickets for later but there didn’t seem to be too many people going so we decided not to and went off to find somewhere to watch Man Utd instead. Headed back to the hotel and watched some TV.

Mysore

Up and checked out and to the bus station to get the bus to Mysore. There were 3 different classes of buses to choose fro so I, Damien and Ryan chose 2^nd and the girls chose 1^st. got there and had some lunch then headed off to where the girls were staying. Got to our hotel where they had 24hr check out so we arrived at 5pm which meant we didn’t have to leave till 5pm the day we were checking out!! The 3 of us walked around and saw the palace, Gandhi square, the Devaraja Market and some of the not so nice back streets. Went for dinner in the Paris café which was really nice and got a few beers to watch another match.

Up for breakfast with the girls and Erika had joined us again. The girls were going to the Palace first and then silk shops so we said we’d meet them later. We got the bus to the top of Chamundi Hill and went to see the Sri Chamundeswari Temple. We also went to the God Museum where the lads were told that god had come back to earth in 1936 but no one had told us. We then descended the first 300 steps to see the black bull and then the next 700. Just before we got to the bottom we met 2 older Indian fellas who were really nice. We sat and chatted with them for a good 30 mins and then got a rickshaw back into town. We went for lunch in the usual café and met the girls when we were leaving. They said the palace was 200 in so we decided to just go up to it and see it but not go in. came back and we all met for dinner in surprise surprise the café!! After dinner we went for a few drinks in a roof top bar. The girls went home and the 3 of us went to another bar that we think didn’t allow women cos they ushered us upstairs when we came through the door. We had a few beers and whiskeys there and the lads ate some food.

Struggled to get up and went for breakfast/lunch in the roof top restaurant and on the way back to the hotel I was pick pocketed and they got Damien’s phone. We didn’t realise until we got back to the hotel so we went roaming the streets to try and find it. They hadn’t turned it off so we went around calling it but to no avail and we had to go cos the last bus to Otty was at 2pm. Left Mysore unhappy and on a peace of c**p bus. The bus journey was just over 4 hrs and was so painful.

Australia

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:54:25 +0100

Australia 02/09/09 – 01/10/09

Sydney

Arrived in the airport at 6am. When through customs no problem. They didn’t even want to check our bags or nothing. We arranged with Mick that we would ring him when we were going to get the train so we tried to call him and no answer. Lucky Damien had asked him how to get there so we were ok. We got off at Bondi Junction and then got a bus to the hostel. We booked in and then went in search of Mick. We found him asleep and when Damien woke him he was still pissed. He had decided to stay up drinking till we arrived but fell asleep!! We told Mick the room we were staying in and he told us to stay in his room but we weren’t sure cos when we asked could we stay with him they said no cos they didn’t want to put me in with 7 lads. We asked could we move cos our room smelt and they gave us the room beside Mick’s with a load of Germans. We decided in the end to stay with Mick. We dropped our bags and went for a snooze although I was the only one who slept cos the 2 boys were too excited to see each other. After an hour of sleep we got up and decided to go check out Bondi Beach. We took a few photos and got some Mc D’s. Mick called Gary and he met us and brought us to his house and to pick up Damien’s new visa from DHL. He dropped us back to the hostel and we headed out for some Chinese. Jenny came to us for dinner and a few drinks. We headed seen her since we left Bangkok at the start of our travels so good to catch up. Mick brought us to a bar and 2 of his hostel friends came out too. Hazel and Rob. After a bit of bar crawling we got a box of Pure Blondes and headed back to the hostel.

Got woken up by the guy running the hostel. It was 10.30 and we had to be out by 10. We were also supposed to be on the train to Stacey and Craig so we said some swift goodbyes and got a taxi to the train station. Of course we got the train that stops at every stop so it took us nearly 1 hr to reach Stacey but we got there in the end. Good to see her as we hadn’t in over a yr. We got back to there hse and ate a sandwich and waited for Craig to finish work. We picked him up and then hit the road for some marathon driving. We drove till dinner time and then stopped for some KFC. After that Craig was tired and Stacey doesn’t like to drive in the dark so I drove for 2 hrs where we stopped for the night in a motel. We talked for a while and then headed to bed.

Surfers Paradise

We got up at 8am and hit the road again. We stopped in Coff’s Harbour to take a few snaps of the big banana (1^st giant thing) and then headed to Nimh Binh for some lunch. Nimh Binh was madness so many weird people who had smoked a bit too much. The only place in Oz where you can smoke. After that we headed to Bryon Bay to check out the surfers and then onto Stacey’s brothers hse. Ben and Beck’s and their 2 kids were lovely. We ordered pizza, had a few beers and watched a DVD.

We got up and we all got ready for breakfast. We were meeting Craig’s parents and grandmother for breakfast down on the beach. They were lovely. After breakfast we walked around Surfers for a while and then went to meet Stacey’s parents in their apt. Everyone was in Surfers for a wedding so nice to meet everyone. Stacey’s dropped us to the train station to go to Brisbane about 5pm. Sad to say goodbye but we’d meet them again in Sydney when we came back.

Brisbane

We arrived at the station and met Duggan. On our way back to the hostel as we were chatting so much he brought us the wrong way and walking with the big bags isn’t fun but having to walk for longer then necessary is a pain in the ass. We got there in the end and dropped our bags off. We of course started straight into the drinking with Dug and another New Zealander who was staying in his room. Mary (Dug’s g’friend) arrived back from work after a while. We wanted to stay up for the Irish match so we headed out about 2.30. we grabbed a cab on the way and headed for the valley. The cab driver was so cool. He was singing and playing his harmonica while driving. It was the best drive ever. We got into a club were we had a few more drinks and then headed off to the casino for a few drinks and to watch the match. We walked for about 45mins to get to the casino and of course the match wasn’t been shown on any channels. We just got a taxi back and went to bed.

Got up late and headed off to Nando’s for some dinner and then went off to the cinema to go see “Woodstock”. The film wasn’t on for a while so Duggan showed us the lagoon they had in the town. After the film we went back home as Mary and Duggan had work the next day.

Got up and decided to go exploring Brisbane. We got the bus to the library as they have free internet there and then we walked to the main street. We stopped and got some food and then walked down the equivalent of Grafton street where they had all these Koala’s, turtles, bats and snakes on show. It was so cool. We walked on then to the monument for all the soldiers that have fought for Australia. We then booked the XXXX brewery tour and headed off to find it stopping at city hall along the way. The brewery tour was good and then brewery was actually started by an Irish man. After the tour ended we got 4 beers to try. We also got to pour our own beers (I was better then Damien). We headed off home but on the way we got caught in a shower. (Like being at home) we got food and then headed back to dorm and said our goodbyes to Dug and Mary as were picking up our campervan early in the morning.

Noosa

Got the 8am bus into the city and then got the bus to Jucy. We arrived and got all out instructions and then headed out for breakfast. We came back and headed off on the road. We drove to Australia zoo where we spent a few hrs looking at all the animals. We got to pet Koala’s and Kangaroos and watch the Crocodiles being feed. After that we headed onto Noosa where we went shopping and found there was a mouse in our campervan!! We thought he had jumped out so we weren’t too worried. We headed back to the camp site but as it was Tuesday we opted for Domino’s. Oz to a cheap Tuesdays deal. We met an Irish couple in our camp site and chatted with them for a while.

Got up and decided to go to the beach and book in for some surfing lessons as this was the last place on the coast you could surf as no waves after here and loads of jelly fish about. We booked in for 1pm and chilled on the beach till then. We got given wet suits and we learned first on the beach with our board. We then took to the sea and tried very hard to stand up. After about the 20^th go we eventually got up and got into shore. As we had to keep going back out to catch a wave we were pretty wrecked after an hr and they gave us a break and then taught us ho to turn while standing. It was a great 2 hr lesson and we really enjoyed it including the drowning!! We headed back to our camp site and made dinner. We decided a few beers were in order and we met 2 Canadian girls, Amber & Amy. They were lovely and we had a good laugh with them.

In the morning we said our goodbyes to the girls and hit the road again. We drove all the way Hervey bay where we were going to go to Fraser Island. We stopped in Marybourogh on the way where its claim to fame is that the writer of the Mary Poppins books is from there (nothing else to see but a hundred yr old shop). We got to our camp site and booked our tour with “Fraser Experience” for the next day. We decided on this tour cos it was small and the cheapest. We drove around Hervey bay to see what it was like and took a stroll down the beach to see the sunset. We came back and cooked dinner and got an early night as we were being picked up at 7am in the morning.

Fraser Island

We got picked up Greg our driver and there were 4 Germans on our trip. We were told we had to drive 2 hrs to Rainbow beach to pick up one more person and get the ferry across to Fraser. It was only a 10 min ferry journey from there where as from Hervey it was 1 and a half hrs. We arrived on Fraser and we were first brought to our accommodation for some morning tea and biscuits. After tea we went off into the rainforest and did a walk around there. At the end he had lunch waiting for us. We spotted a few lizards in the rainforest. After lunch we went onto McKenzie Lake which is a fresh water lake and was really nice and refreshing. We spent nearly 2 hrs at the lake and then headed back to our accommodation for dinner. Greg cooked us up some steak, burgers and salad it was delicious!! After that we all sat down and had a few beers. He Germans didn’t bring any beer even though Greg told them when we stopped at the only shop on the island to buy some if they wanted to drink so we gave them one of ours as we had only 6 beers each. That was annoying. 2 Oz lads came to join us for some drinks and we drank some scotch with them that they proved. Good night but a late one….

Got up early and packed up. First we were brought to Pinnacles and then onto Indian head where we had morning tea and then climbed up the rocks to see into the ocean where we spotted whales. After that we went to see the famous ship wreck and then onto Eli Creek and lunch. We drove onto the ferry after that to go home. We arrived back to Hervey bay about 6pm and we hit the road straight away. We stopped over night in Gladstone at a parking bay.

We drove to Rockhampton for some lunch and to pick up some mouse traps as our fury friend was still with us. We had discovered this as he had nibbled on some of our food.

Airlie Beach

We drove onto Airlie beach and found a camp site a bit out of town but was the cheapest. After checked in we went to Red Rooster for dinner and got some beers. We chilled out with beers and cards.

Up the next morning and we decided to chill in the camp site for the day as we had done a lot of driving over the past few days and decided to do nothing. Later on we cooked dinner and played more cards.

We went to the Lagoon in the centre and played in the water and worked on our tan. We walked the town later in the evening and found another place in the centre for cheaper so we booked in for the next night. Came home and checked out the net for a while. Watched a film on TV.

Drove down to our new camp site and did some washing. We went to the Lagoon and saw they had a Lea’s book store (I’m so famous even though they spelt my name wrong). Simo had been in Townsville for the last 2 days so he dropped in to us at the Lagoon to finalise our visit for tomo. We came back to our site and got the backpacker special in the fish & chip shop and had a few beers. We chatted with a few Irish lads that were staying in our site but we had an early rise the next day so opted to stay in.

Hayman Island

We got up and dressed in our best as we were told we had to cos we were like the staff and had to be presentable. We drove down to the pier and parked up our home. We went down to the boat and the crew was really nice to us until they realized we were going as staff and then their attitude changed. Lovely boat (Emerald cruises eat your heart out) the journey took about 1hr and when we arrived we text Simo and he came and collected us in a mini van/golf cart. He could only take one of us cos it was so small and I thought the battery on it was going to die a few times. We got shown to our fancy rooms even for staff facilities and went for a snooze. We then headed for lunch and to the pool where Simo works. We had to be cool cos staff or their guests weren’t allowed there. Simo gave us 3 free cocktails each aaahhh it was so cool. The pool actually went the whole way around the bar. How we know how honeymooners feel… Simo got his lunch and we went for a walk with him. We got back and watched some TV but of course I fell asleep as usual. Simo called around and we had a few drinks before we went to the restaurant for some food. It was a seafood restaurant and as Simo’s friend was the manager he sorted out our entrée’s for us. We had the most amazing food and a few glasses of wine. We went to the gentleman’s club for a cocktail and then headed to the staff bar where we drank 1 and a half litres of Jim Beam and then headed to bed at 4.30am

Up and still pissed as we had booked a Great Barrier Reef tour. Got Simo up and got down onto the boat. As soon as we got on myself and Simo fell asleep and poor Damien spent the whole 1 and half it took to get to the reef in the toilet, sea sickness and alcohol don’t mix. We arrived at the reef and me and Damien did some snorkelling. I wanted to do a dive but neither would with me. The boat had a slide, an underwater observing tank and a glass bottom boat. Really good but only really saw a lot of coral and a few fish. Had some lunch on the boat and then about 4pm we headed back to Airlie beach letting Simo off along the way. We taught one of the crew knock and we played that for the last hour of the boat journey. Good day but would have been better if we didn’t drink so much the night before. Damien got the bus back to get our home while I made sure we still had a reservation. Of course no but they gave us a private double room in their hostel for half price so it wasn’t too bad!! Chilled in with a DVD.

Townsville

We left Airlie in the morning and drove to Bowen where we saw the giant peach (2^nd giant thing) we drove on to Townsville where we stayed in the car park of a hostel full of Irish young people. We went for a walk into town and got some shopping. We then cooked our dinner and had some wine. A group of people heading out for the night invited us to come and join them for some drinks. We headed out with them to a night club and partied with them till about 3am. We got some Mc D’s on the way home and met these 3 girls who were in the army. Walked home and crawled into bed.

Cairns

We got up at about 9am and we decided to get out of there and head to Cairns. We stopped in Tully along the way and saw the giant boot (3^rd giant thing). After that we drove straight to Cairns and checked into our new camp site which also gave us 3 hrs free internet a day. We decided as it was late in the day that we walked down into the town on the promenade at the beach. Got some dinner in a pub and bought some beers to take home as Man Utd was playing and Damien wanted to watch it.

Got up and went to Kuranda village. We saw the train, Barron waterfall, a reptile zoo and some funky shops. Nice village, very hippy but closes down really early. Got back to the site and met a couple from England called Laura and Kevin who also had a Jucy van and had a few problems too although they were renting theirs for 3 months! We sat up with them for a good few hours but were nice as we hadn’t met too many people on our adventures in Australia.

Up and chilled out in the camp site. Had some lunch and then headed off to Blazing Saddles to our horse riding lesson. We were in a group of about 10 people and it was nice. We rode around on them for about 2 hrs. We did some trotting and some people including Damien did cantering… a bit scary for me as first time on a horse!! We decided to go to the cinema that night as it was cheap Tuesday so it was cheaper and we got some dinner before hand.

Got up and went to see an aboriginal show about the Tjapukai tribe. It was really interesting and they told us all about their history up to the present day, their dancing, spire throwing, boomerang throwing and medicines they use. We headed down to the Lagoon after that for some sunbathing. We got back to the camp site and a group were in talking about tours so we got some free sausages. After that the 4 of us decided that we would hit the town later on so we all showered, changed and the lads went down and bought some beers. We got a taxi into town and as it was Coyote night in the Irish bar we hit there first and then when onto the wool shed for some dancing. Wasn’t too late by the time we got home.

Up the next day and decided to chill out reading our books and catching up on emails. Nothing to really report for that day.

We dropped back our camper van in the afternoon and got a taxi to the airport.

Sydney

We had to wait 4 hrs for our flight so we played some cards. On our flight we could watch TV for the first 30 mins for free but as you had to pay after that we opted not too. Gary picked us up from the airport and we decided to go for a “few drinks” in his local. It wasn’t the nicest local. When you went out for a cigarette a bouncer would come with you. Crazy but good to catch up. We as usual had a few too many and woke Sally (Gary’s g’friend) up on our return. Gary was really bad he actually broke a frame… good man to take the focus off us waking her.

We got some coffee into us and then headed for breakfast while the lads went shopping and some how ended up in the pub again. When we got back Damien was asleep but Gary was prepared. I was just about to lie down when the guests arrived so no nap for me. They were all Gary’s friends from home and had been here a few yrs. Mick and Peter, Damien’s friends came down as well so that was nice to catch up with them. About 8pm we all went to the pub and had a few pints there. Good day and night. Met really nice people.

Next day was a bit of a write off but I was delighted as w got to chill out and watch TV on a couch which is something I hadn’t done since before we left. Sally went to her friends for the day and I cooked dinner for the lads. Handy as we had a good few things left over from the BBQ.

We got up and Sally came back to the house and brought us to Bondi where we got the train to Circular Quay where we got breakfast and got the boat over to Manly Island. We got to see the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera house. Got to Manly and most things were closed but also not much to do there. We walked down to the beach and then Gary rang and told us we had to come back for dinner so back on the ferry and then on the bus home which took an hr to get there. We went to a place where you can cook your own dinner but we were lazy and decided not too!! Watched a bit of TV at home and then off to bed as we had an early start in the morning.

Got up at 6am and Gary dropped us off in town so we could get our tour of Hunter Valley. A load of Chinese on our wine tour, a couple from Vegas and 2 Australian girls. Nice day. The first winery was all right but was a big budget one and wasn’t very personalised. The second one was a boutique winery and they took us on a tour of the winery. They also had a famous wine that was amazing with chocolate cake that they provided too. We decided to buy a bottle for Gary & Sally to say thanks for letting us stay. We then went for a gourmet sandwich lunch and went into the chocolate shop and another wine tasting. After lunch we went to a cheese making factory where tried the most amazing cheese and bought some for Stacey & Craig and Gary & Sally. We then went to the last winery where we bought a bottle to have with dinner. Got another really long bus journey home of 1 & half hrs… as it was our last Tuesday in Australia we decided to have Domino’s again with our lovely bottle of wine.

We got up and Sally dropped us into Bondi and we got the train to the aquarium. As this was our 5^th one to go to we had seen a lot of the fishes already. Really enjoyed it too and saw some things we hadn’t seen before. The kids were so cute pointing out Nemo and Dorey whenever they saw those fish. We walked around to the IMAX after and booked tickets to go see the Dinosaur show. We got a Lynet chocolate ice cream and some lunch and then headed into show. After the show we got the train to go meet Stacey & Craig for dinner as we hadn’t seen them since we got back to Sydney and we were leaving tomo. We went to Una’s then walked up to Kings Cross and had a pint in some pub. After that we got a taxi to scruffy Murphy’s the famous Irish bar where I got 2 packets of King crisps. Stacey and Craig couldn’t understand how a packet of crisps could make someone so happy…we had a few shorts there and then got a taxi home to say goodbye to Gary & Sally. We chatted with them for a while and then headed to bed.

Up the next day and I went off to print out our boarding cards so we could pick our seats and then we got a taxi to the airport. Our flight was delayed so when we got to Singapore we had to run for our flight to Mumbai!!

Bye Bye western civilisation….

Thailand Part11

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:53:35 +0100

Thailand – 03/08/09 – 01/09/09

Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok and got a taxi with Rob to our hostel Suk 11 we got showed to our room but as it was a really popular hostel they had no room for Rob so we walked around for a while trying to find a place for him that wasn’t too expensive as this area was fairly expensive. We got one down the road and then decided to go and get so nutritional food in Burger King (it had been a long time since we had any crap food). Damien’s sister had told him about a place called Soi Cowboy so we went in search for it. We eventually found it and it was a whole street full of girlie bars and neon signs. Not the place for a girl as I was the only one not working there!! We stayed for 1 drink in a bar where the girls were up on a platform kind of dancing wearing numbers on them. It was really degrading. After that we hoped in a taxi to go meet Eimear, Aoife and Mark as they were staying on the Koh Shan Road but the taxi driver informed us that we were a good 45 mins away and all of us were up early so we decided against it. We found a place near our hostel and had a few cheap beers.

We got up to get our Indian Visa sorted. We got a bike taxi to the place and got it sorted in about 10mins. Really easy. We left there and got a taxi to the bus station to find out what time the buses to Pattaya left at and rang Eamon to see when he would be available. We decided on the 2.30pm bus. We went off and met Rob for breakfast. We again went for the nutritional breakfast of Subway. We all went back to our hostel and played cards again!! We said our goodbyes and we headed off to the bus station. The bus journey was shorted then they told us and so we arrived there at 4.10. Eamon met us after a while and then we headed back to his place. He showed us a bit of Pattaya on the way and then we picked up Nijole. We went for dinner in Cherry’s. All you can eat!! After dinner Eamon showed us more of Pattaya including the seedy parts!! We went for a pint after and had our first Magners. It was nice and refreshing. Home and bed as we were pretty wrecked.

Woke up late and Eamon and Nijole had gone. We chilled on the balcony for a while as the sight from the 6^th floor looking out onto the sea was amazing… We walked down into the centre and bought some new flip flops and met Faye & his girlfriend Goung. We went off with them to get some food in Crazy Dave’s. Lovely Food!! We decided to do some shopping after we ate so we went off to Mike’s SC and Damien bought some shorts (4euro for each Billabong shorts) and a top. After that we walked up to the new shopping Mall it was like Dundrum but nicer, for a moment we forgot we were in Thailand! We met up with Eamon for dinner. We went to Cabbages and Condom’s. It’s a restaurant were the money they make goes towards villages and contraception. They also hire people from the villages to work in the restaurant. They had bikinis, Elvis and Santa made out of condoms! After dinner Eamon dropped us off at walking street where we met Faye. Faye brought us to a girly bar with naked chicks. Madness as soon as you walk in the door they are all over you well not Damien as they knew he was my boyfriend. We stayed for one drink but I felt really uncomfortable as I was the only girl in the place and I don’t think anyone was actually listening to me when I was talking. We wandered the streets for a while and then I spotted this place where they were doing cheap drinks. We went there but of course it was another girly bar! We walked in the door and there were 2 girls in a Jacuzzi washing them and other girls on stage. It actually wasn’t that bad as the girls seemed loads of fun and were really nice to me. We had a few drinks there and I saw a girl pop out ping pong balls and razorblades… I was in pain watching, she asked me do we do that in our country…. NO. We headed home after we ran out of money.

We got up and ate breakfast by the pool. After that Eamon and Nijole came out to us and Eamon wanted to show us the new hospital. We decided to go and as we were there Damien thought he would get his hand checked out. We were sitting in the waiting room and Damien saw a leaflet for the Swine Flu and of course had all the symptoms (we had been flu like for the past few days) so when he went in to see the hand specialist he asked could we get tested for the flu as well. We were sent upstairs where our blood pressure was taken, temperature taken and our weight. We then went in to see the doctor and he said we should get tested. I went in first to be tested. The test is done through a swab up your nose. She pushes the swab very far back in your nose and it is actually fairly painful. I came out and Damien went in, I could hear him in pain from the waiting room (very funny). We had to wait 40 mins for the results and they came back negative but he gave us prescriptions for loads of different tabs anyway. We went to pay for the test but we choose not to get the medicine as I knew I had a cold and amazingly Damien’s symptoms went away all by themselves!!! We headed off for dinner in an Italian place where they served some gorgeous pasta. After that we decided some hot whisky’s would do the trick so Eamon went into the shop to buy what he thought was whisky but was actually Rum but we still drank it… We watched a DVD and then headed to bed.

As we hadn’t done much in Pattaya except visit the hospital we decided to go and see Ripley’s believe it or not. They had 4 different things you could do. The first was a museum for some of the things and people he discovered, they had puzzles to figure out and some really interesting facts. After that we got some food and then went into the 4D film, a mad maze and the haunted house. After that we went back to the apt and headed down to the infinity pool for some RnR. Later on we went to the night market with Eamon and Nijole. They left earlier then us so we got the Baht bus back to theirs.

We went to the pool in the morning and then headed down town to pick up anti bs for Damien and exchange 2 pairs of his shorts he had bought the other day as they were too big for him. I got 2 tops and a hoody while we were exchanging. After that we headed back to the apt for showers as we were going for a buffet dinner with Eamon, Nijole and friends of theirs. The hotel where it was at was an amazing 5 star hotel. The buffet had Indian, All Seafood including Lobster, Any kind of meat you wanted, salads and an amazing array of deserts. We got 3 places of food and then tackled the deserts. After dinner we dropped Nijole back to the apt and me, Damien and Eamon headed out to watch the end of a game in Shenanigans pub. After that Eamon dropped us off to meet Faye. We had a fair few whisky’s with Faye and his friends and then got a Baht bus back to the apt. We had a cigarette outside and as we were sitting there Eamon arrived back as well!!

We got up late and went down town to buy credit and meet up with Faye. No answer on his phone so we went off to buy food. After we ate it started to lash rain but we were right beside a bowling alley so we headed in for a few games. After bowling we decided to get some massages as we had time to waste before we watched the Man Utd match. After the massage we heard from Faye and organized to meet him for dinner and watch the match. After the match was finished we headed home as Damien was heading out for a game of golf the next day with Eamon.

Damien went off for golf at 8am. I got up at 11am. I and Nijole ordered Mc’d’s to the apt and chilled for the day. The golf course Damien was playing on had loads of Monkey’s on it. After the game they both went off for a Thai massage. Damien unfortunately got the massage a bit too hard and so was in bits when he came back. We went out for dinner in Cherry’s again. Eamon dropped us off at Crazy Dave’s where we met Faye and Goung for a few drinks. After that we headed to a bar for some pool, after that a Karaoke bar and then onto JP’s. I and Damien both sang in the Karaoke bar!! We got back at about 7am.

The next day we didn’t manage to get up till about 3am. We just sat by the pool for a while and then booked the Tiffany show for later which is a lady boy show. We had pizza hut and then headed to the show. It was a cabaret show and was really good. We got some pictures with the lady boys at the end and then met up with Faye and he brought us to his apt with Goung. We had 1 drink with them and then said our goodbyes to him as we were getting the bus in the morning back to Bangkok.

We got up and left a note and a bottle of whisky for Eamon and Nijole. We then got a taxi to the bus station and headed back to Bangkok to pick up our visas for India. We arrived there and thought we would get the sky train to the visa place. We first got off at the wrong stop then we got on it again and went to the next stop. When we arrived there we walked for about 30mins. After all this we decided to check the address which of course we had wrong so then we got a taxi as we were miles away. After being in the taxi about 5 mins we realized the taxi driver was going the wrong way so we had to go back. As we were running out of time to pick up the visas Damien jumped out and onto a motorbike taxi while I stayed in the other taxi with the bags. That was a bit crazy but we got the visas and passports so it was all good!! After that adventure we got a taxi to the bus station. Our taxi man didn’t want to take us there at all and when we did arrive he had no change so Damien went into the shop for change and then he tried to charge us waiting but we didn’t pay that. We booked our bus and boat and headed to KFC for some food. We waited around for a while and then boarded our bus for Koh Panang. We played cards and then slept for most of the journey as no TV to watch.

Koh Panang

Arrived by ferry and Eimear met us at there with the guy who owns the place we were going to stay called Panang villas. It was only a 5 min drive away. We were shown to our hut where he tried to charge us more then Eimear but we caught him out so he charged the same price. We left down our bags and headed off to the beach a whole 20 seconds. It was amazing like something you would see on a postcard. It was fairly hot so we cooled off in the free pool next door where we had a beer in the pool bar. Later that evening we got a taxi to Hat Rin. We walked around and settled on the outback bar for some food. We met James there who we had met in Pai. We hadn’t seen him in 2 months so was nice to catch up! The 4 of us then headed off to another bar for some pool and beers. After we had enough of that I and Damien got a bucket and we all headed off to the beach for some fun. Damien was running through rings of fire and we danced a fair bit. We got back home about 4.30am. Good night had by all…

We got up at 3pm and lounged around by the beach and the pool then we walked down and got some dinner. After that we all watched a DVD back in our hotel.

Got up the next morning to find I had about 35 mosquito bits on my legs. Fairly painful cos really itchy. I put so much tiger balm on them that it followed to my ass and that went numb. We relaxed by the pool for the day and poor Damien got sun burnt again… After many applications of Aloe Vera we went for some food and played some pool in the Irish bar.

Another day in paradise by the pool and reading books in hammocks down by the beach… Oh what a tough life! In the evening as it was our last night, it was Sunday and there was a Man Utd match on we went back to Hat Rin to the Outback bar. We invited James as well. We got Sunday Roasts that were very nice!! We again decided to pick up where we had left off on the pool so we continued in the boys against the girls. We decided after the effects of the Samsung we had vodka buckets instead. We partied on the beach and then called it a night about 3am.

Koh Samoi

Struggled to check out of the place by 11am but we managed to. Then we slept on the hammocks until 3pm which was when we were to get the ferry. When we got to the pier we were told we had to book our accommodation before we left cos it was super hard to get some there cos you had to have a place to be dropped off so we booked one place for one night. When e arrived and got the bus to the hotel we realized that it wasn’t like the photos and was very far from town. We checked in and had showers and then headed off down the beach into town. We arrived at Mc Donalds for dinner and then went in search of some other accommodation. We found better accommodation for cheaper in the centre of town so we left there and headed on the long walk home.

We got up and Damien walked down the beach to take photos of the famous rocks that are shaped like men and women genital areas… After check out we grabbed a taxi to the new place to stay. We then got lunch of some toasted ham and cheeses from & 7 11. We walked a bit of the town and me and Damien played some pool. After dinner we headed off to Chewang beach to meet some lads that Damien knows. We drank a fair few Samsungs and coke and then went to a night club. We didn’t stay that long as things were getting a bit out of hand. We got a taxi home where we stopped off for some toastie’s and me and Eimear stayed up chatting for a while. Got to bed about 5am.

We as usual spent the day in bed getting over our hangovers cos we had to meet another guy Damien knew that he hadn’t seen in years. So we got some dinner and met Anto and his girlfriend Charlotte. We drank a fair few drinks and then headed to another bar for some pool and Anto wanted to watch a match. After we finished up there we bought a bottle of Samsung and headed back to our place to have some of that. I went to bed at 9am…

Total write off of a day although I managed to fit in a foot massage with Eimear. We all went out for some dinner but all myself and Damien could manage was Chicken Soup. We all went back and watched the Hangover again!!!

Krabi

6.10am we got up to get our boat in Krabi 1pm we arrived at the bus station after sleeping for most of the trip. We had to get a taxi as there was on bus into town and Krabi town was very far away. We got a good deal in the hotel. 3 nights for the price of 2. It was a very fancy hotel that had a pool as well. We all headed straight to the pool for some cooling down. In the evening we walked the beachfront and grabbed some dinner.

We had a buffet breakfast and lounged by the pool for the day with a nap in between. We then headed to the Irish rover pub to watch the match and eat some food. We had a few beers and were going to head out after but we got stuck talking to the owner for ages so we headed home after that.

We got up early the next morning and packed a day bag as we were going to go to Riley beach for the day but unfortunately the weather wasn’t very good so we opted not to go. That evening we went back to the Irish bar as they were doing roasts but they had no Chicken left so we had to go for something else but it was all good.

Phi Phi

We got up, had breakfast and checked out. Got a bus to the dock to get the boat to Phi Phi. As we had been had by touts on accommodation we opted for not booking and would get some when we arrived. When we arrived it started raining but only for a few mins so it gave us time to decide on somewhere to stay. We found one place that did hot water in the showers but we all had to share. It was ok as in the centre of town but again after we walked around we found a few other places. I and Damien went for lunch and walked around the town. We went back and got Eimear as we were going to walk up to view point which we didn’t think would be that far but it was 300 metres up and we were about to pass out by the time we got to the top. Poor Eimear had just eaten something before we went up so that came up when she got to the top. The views were amazing so well worth it and they also had a photo of Phi Phi just after the Tsunami. That evening we drank a few beers and then headed out for some food. As it was raining we opted not to go out but stay in and watch a DVD.

Got up and checked into our new hotel. We were sharing again but it was much bigger, they had hot water and it was cheaper. After we checked in we went off to the tourist office to wait for our group to go off island hopping and snorkelling. There were about 20 of us on the boat. We met a couple from the UK Piers and Ashley and we met another couple who were on their honeymoon called Erika and Nicky. We had a great laugh with them. We went to the beach where they filmed “The Beach” and did some snorkelling. Then we drove past another 2 places. We snorkelled again where we saw more of the cast of Finding Nemo. After we played there we went onto Monkey Island. I and Damien decided not to go and lucky as the monkeys were attacking people, one guy got bit on his ear!! After we got back to the dock we went for a pint in the bar and organized to meet up later for some drinks. We went to for dinner and then the drinking started. We had some buckets of whiskey and coke down on the beach and the lads went off dancing!! Great night had by all

Sore heads for everyone the next day. We eventually made it out and about and go some food. Bumped into Piers & Ash. Watched a DVD as we do when we’re hung-over and chilled in.

Phuket

We headed of to Phuket. We decided to stay in Phuket town as Eimear wanted to shop and we wanted to meet Damien’s friend Richie. Big mistake as absolutely nothing there. We went to the shopping malls and Tesco turned out to be the best place. The malls were very expensive. We came back to the hostel and Eimear headed off to the market which ended up being closed by the time she got there. We went off in search of food which was difficult enough but we found one place in the end and met Eimear there. Headed to bed after the food.

We got the first bus to Patong beach and it was pissing down rain. Loads of the roads were flooded and we ended up getting off the bus at the wrong place so we had to walk for ages to our hotel. We took a break along the way in the Irish pub where Eimear and I got some tea. Damien went in search of our hotel “cheap rooms hotel”. We eventually got to the hotel which was nice and just off the main strip. That evening we met up with Pat, Mick’s friend from Oz. We had a fair few beers and then decided to get McDonalds for dinner. Eimear joined us a bit later as she was having problems with her eyes. We introduced Pat to Samsung and he was hooked…. We went to a few bars that night. One bar we tried to hammer nails into a block of wood. You had 1 go and had to hammer it in straight. Very hard anyway but with a few drinks on board it didn’t help!! We decided at 5am to go to 7 11 to get some toastie’s and then we headed back to our hotel. I went to bed and Damien stayed up with Pat till 12 the next day drinking in the bar downstairs. Pat nearly missed his flight.

We spent most of the day sleeping and again a DVD. I and Eimear went out for dinner that night.

Dropped off our laundry at the cheapest place in town and got some breakfast. We swapped our books and then went back to the hotel as I wasn’t feeling the best. We chilled out there and then all of us went and got massages. I and Eimear went for an oil massage and Damien went for another Thai massage. As it was Eimear’s last night we decided to go out for 1 or 2 as she had to be at the airport for 8am so had to leave at 7am. We went for a posh dinner and then headed to a bar to watch the GAA Meath V Kerry. Eimear is a massive GAA fan and it was her first match to watch in a long time. We met other Irish lads there and had drinks and played pool till 6am. We got back to the hotel and said goodbye to Eimear as we wouldn’t be getting back up n an hr to say goodbye. Off to bed we went.

We awoke to a banging at our door so I got up and answered it, it was Eimear it was 9.40 and she had slept it out. She had had a shower when she got in and lay on the bed for 5 mins and next it was 9.40. She had to book another flight for tomorrow to Singapore and pay full price but it wasn’t too expensive. We picked up our laundry, got subway and headed to the beach. We met 2 nice oz girls there and I bought a sarong. We got more massages again as it was going to be the last as we were leaving tomorrow. I got a foot massage and Damien went for the full body oil massage. After that we all went out for last supper again. I and Eimear got some lovely steaks and Damien got his favourite Thai dish “Chicken with basil and chilly” (his ended up not being so nice)…

After dinner myself and Damien went to market for our last bit of shopping. Home again for another goodbye and off to bed.

Got our flight to Bangkok which was really bumpy cos there was a big storm. We had to wait 1 hour for our bags to come off the plane and they were soaking wet. We then checked in for our flight to Sydney and we had to wait another 2 hrs for that flight so we got some food and then headed to the gate. We again had problems with our in flight entertainment. This time it was working but we could only watch 2 films from all the options. Western Civilization here we come…

Cambodia

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:05:09 +0100

Cambodia 24/07/09 – 03/08/09

Phnom Penh

Got our $10 bus from HCMC to the border. We got crap seats again. We were sitting right in front of the toilets so we couldn’t put our seats back and the people in front of us did so no room for us. We paid the guide on the bus $25 each for our Cambodian visa cos he filled out all our forms and did everything for us. We stopped at the Moc Bai – Bavet Border. We had to get our bags scanned there as we were leaving Vietnam and give our leaving card. After that we got on the bus again for another 2 min journey and got to the Cambodian border. We were only there for 5 mins to get our passport stamped as our guide got our visas for us when he got off the bus. We arrived in Cambodia at about 3pm and got a Tuk Tuk with Mark who was on our bus to a few different hotels, they didn’t have room, they were too expensive or there was no power in the hotel. Our Tuk driver took us to one hotel which was $12 but it was nice and had a generator should the power go. After dropping our bags we went for a jug of Angkor beer in the Riverside Restaurant. We went for dinner in a place along the riverside. I and Damien got our food but Mark never got his. After we both finished our meal a while Mark complained and told him we’d leave without paying if he didn’t get his food now and so the waitress got his food and gave us a free beer each!! After he finished we paid our bill and they tried to do us out if change but luckily we noticed and got our money back…

Had a great sleep as the beds in this place were amazing…Got up and had breakfast. We rang our Tuk Tuk driver from the day before and he sent his friend to us. We went to the Tuol Sleng Museum (S-21 Prison) were we watched a DVD on the prison first and then we went around all the rooms and read about prisons and the people who ran the prison. We also read about Cambodia and what went on while the Khmer Rouge was in power. We saw the torture techniques and the pictures of all the prisoners or most of them who were then taken to the Killing fields. After a depressing 4hrs we finished there and went and got lunch. After that our Tuk Tuk brought us to the killing fields. We decided to get a guide there. Our guide was born in 1980 so after the Khmer Rouge were in power and has been doing tours of the killing fields for 7yrs but yet he still got emotional talking about it. He thinks his uncle was brought there as he disappeared and was never found again. He told us some history of Cambodia and all about the killing fields. There are 87 killing fields in Cambodia. This is the most famous because between 20,000-24,000 people were killed in that field alone. They have a Stupa built there that is a memorial to all the people killed. They have 9,000 skulls there ranging in age from 15yrs upwards. They don’t have any baby skulls cos the baby’s heads were smashed against a tree and so were too smashed up to display. They have been excavating the fields since 1980 but think they won’t find that many more skulls cos the area was flooded before and so they might have gone into the river. After our tour of the field we went to the museum was they had information about Pol Pot and his people. It also told us about the ones who are on trial today but only 1 Duch has admitted to what he did the others say they did it cos they were told to and if they didn’t they’d die. After we left there we got our Tuk Tuk back 14km in silence to our hotel. We went for a rest and then headed out for dinner. Mark got his meal the same time as us so it was ok. After that we headed to Pontoon club to meet Aoife & Eimear. Drinks were really expensive there so after they came we left. We wanted some cheap drink so we went down the side streets only to find every bar we went into was full of prostitutes. Eventually we found a supermarket and bought a litre of vodka for $10 and drank outside the shop which had tables and chairs outside of it!! After we polished off the vodka we went back to Pontoon cos it was Aoife’s friend’s birthday and we were all pretty tanked up by then… A few more drinks, dancing and meeting more Irish. Walked back to our hotel. Got in at 5.30am

Woke up at 11.30am and went for breakfast in the Riverside. I got Confessions of a shopoholic and Damien and Mark went down by the river and took some photos. They didn’t go into the Palace as they weren’t dressed appropriately and there was a really long queue. They came back to the hotel and we all watched night at the museum 2 and then showered and headed out to a Mexican called Cantina. It was rated in the lonely planet as a must eat so in we went. It was the worst food we had in all our time traveling. I asked for chicken and they gave me beef which they tried to force me to eat and the lad’s dishes looked equally horrible. We ate, paid our bill and left feeling a little ill…

Siem Reap

We got up and got the bus to Siem Reap. It was only a 6hr journey so off we went. I was pretty wrecked so as usual I slept for the whole journey. Poor Mark had asked for an isle seat as he’s very tall but he didn’t get one. We met a group of 5 Irish girls on the bus. Irish everywhere!! We got collected from the bus station by our hotel and the roads were terrible. This is real wild wild west…

We settled into our nice new hotel with fan for $10. We had organized with Eimear and Aoife to meet them at Nest later so we got a Tuk Tuk to there. It was really near us and really expensive so we had a beer each there and then went off to find cheaper food. We went to the Red Piano which is quiet famous as Angelina Jolie ate there when she was filming Tomb Raider. We had some food and a few beers. They had a cocktail named after Angelina.

We got up early and went to Angkor. We decided to get a 3 Day ticket as it was cheaper. We started at the Rolous Group. These temples are a bit far out so not so many tourists at these. We did get mobbed by the traders about 6 girls shouting at us to “buy from me” eventually after telling them to be quiet or we wouldn’t buy anything myself and Damien did buy a Khmer scarf each!! We bought one from one girl and another from another girl. The other girls were upset that we didn’t buy from them but we didn’t need 6 scarfs… Later on we all met up at the Angkor Wat bar for some refreshing jugs of beer. We went for dinner in the Temple across the road which had a show on while we ate. We headed to another bar and met Craig & Grace and their friends. They asked us to join them all in their hotel for a few drinks. As the girls were heading on to Ko Chang in the morning only I and Damien went. We had a fair few vodka’s in theirs and then we headed back out to the Temple again and got in a about 5.30am.

Mark tried to wake us the next day at 9am but to no avail. We got up late had some food but by the time we had done that we had missed the day so we waited for Mark to come back and we all went out for dinner and watched P.S I Love you.

Mark got up at 5am the next morning to watch the sun rise. A bit early for us!! We got up about 9.30 and headed to the red piano for brekkie and takeaway lunch. We got a Tuk Tuk to the landmine museum. We watched a documentary about the museum and learned about the guy who started it. He was recruited as a child solider for the Khmer Rouge and used to put the landmines in the ground himself. He now assists in taking them out. We learned a lot. It started to piss rain as we left the museum and out driver gave us some lovely rain jackets/plastic bags. We went to see Mebon, Ta Som, Preah Neak & Preah Khan. They were nice but as it was raining so much we didn’t enjoy them as much and they looked fairly gaunt with no sunlight! We got back and as it was Mark’s last night we went to Cheeky Monkey restaurant and had a meal and a few drinks. We also did the pub quiz but unlike Pai we didn’t win. We actually came last…. It was really hard!!

As it was still raining us decided not to go to the temples but instead just chilled out in the hotel. We had some Khmer food and watches DVD’s but this time we weren’t hung-over!!

We got up and headed off to Angkor Wat which was amazing. Very big. We spent 2hrs looking at it. Went on to Bayon in Angkor Tom. Loads of faces looking at you. Got some good photos there. We then went on to the terrace of Elephants and Baphuon, this was closed to reconstruction. Damien bought a shirt outside this temple after a lot of haggling… we headed onto Ta Prohm which is the tomb raider temple. They had the areas the film was shot in cornered off for photos so it was good. I and Damien really got into this temple which you will see from the photos!! We headed out for dinner and met the lads from Malahide and 2 other lads that Damien had met earlier. Had a few too many jugs of vodka and red bull and just about made it home for about 2.30.

Got up for our bus to Phnom Penh at 7am still pretty pissed. We slept the whole way back and were sober by the time we arrived back in Phnom Penh. We got off the bus and walked to the lake side as it was the cheaper side of town. We were recommended by these English girls to stay in a place for $5 for the 2 of us so we did. We lay down for a while and watched a DVD. The power went off around dinner time so we decided to go out and find a place to eat as with no power in the room the room was really hot. We went into the Irish bar and ordered our food by candle light. We met a guy Rob from Cork. The power came on before we ate and so we joined Rob. After we ate we drank Barry’s tea and then Rob showed us how to play “Begging my Neighbor” and “Knock”. We also met Rob’s friend Paul. We played cards till 12.30 and then went home to bed. We were all getting the same flight back to Bangkok so arranged to meet to get a taxi together.

We got breakfast and headed off to the airport with Rob after a few games of “Begging my Neighbor”. We met Paul and his bro there.

Bye Bye Cambodia

Vietnam

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:17:24 +0100

Vietnam 24/06/09 – 24/07/09

Hanoi

Arrived in Hanoi airport at 9.15pm and our hotel picked us up. It was a 45mins drive to the hotel which we shared with a couple, 1 from USA and the other from Scotland. We didn’t think the traffic was too bad but we did notice that everyone was beeping a lot. We arrived at the hotel and checked in. Of course we were on the top floor 5 flights of stairs and no help with our bags. We decided to go and get food as we were pretty hungry and it was only 10.30 at night. We walked around for 15mins and not one single place was there to get food so we went to a café and had a beer.

Good morning Vietnam!!!! Up late in the morning and headed out for breakfast in the café we had, had the beer last night. My breakfast was pretty horrible but they noticed my disgust so they gave me something else which was better and they didn’t charge me for what I sent back. Left there and noticed there was a lot of French influence, and then the madness started…. Motorbikes/Moped’s everywhere apparently in Vietnam there is a population of 86 million people and 80 million bikes. Trying to cross the road was a task in itself. Bikes don’t stop at red lights and even thought they are supposed to go up one side and down the other they don’t all stick to that. It’s more of say a prayer and cross….

We headed off to the Hoa Lo prison which was set up by the French for political prisoners. John Mc Cain was kept there. We left there and navigated our way through the streets to find a map in a travel agent. We walked in and she made us take a seat where she continued to plan our whole month’s trip and then wanted us to book with her. We said we would think about it and come back with which she replied its ok we’re all friends here just be honest. Eventually after an about an hr we left without booking anything but without a map!! We left there and found the Hoam Kiem Lake and went over to see Ngoc son Temple & famous giant tortoise. Booked our tickets for the water puppet show. Walked up to Sinh Café to price more trips and then we went to H-Silk restaurant for some food. Left there and headed to the water puppet show which was a little strange but very entertaining and was the story of the Vietnamese farmers.

Up at 7.30am and went to Sinh Café (not the one we had gone to the other day) and booked our open tour bus ticket, Halong bay tour and Sapa tour.

We got a taxi then to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which of course was closed on a Friday & Monday which we didn’t know! We went around his house and the grounds. Saw his 2 houses, the museum and pagoda. We got a motorbike taxi to the Ethnology museum which showed us the different tribes in Vietnam and their clothes etc. Back on the motorbikes and got some KFC. We went back to the hotel for a little sleep and found out Michael Jackson had died… We got dinner in a pizza place and home to watch a DVD.

Halong Bay

Up at 7am and got a 3hr bus to Halong Bay. Started to lash rain as soon as we arrived. We were taken to our boat which was supposed to be called the “Black Pearl” but we don’t think it was although the captain was a little crazy…. We set off on the boat and got lunch served to us which was amazing. Loads of fresh prawns, fish, rice, veg and fruit for desert. We met our fellow traveler’s at lunch. A family from Brazil who live in Italy, 2 Irish couples – John & Lia and Gareth & Mary. Another couple – 1 from France and 1from Singapore and another couple from Spain – Gio & Sergio with there friend Toby from Germany who are studying in Singapore. We got shown to our rooms; ours was 007, cool eh??!! We stopped off at Sung Sat Cave also called amazing cave. It really was amazing, loads of animals shapes were formed in the rocks. After that the weather got a bit better and we set off. We moored the boat and then we set off Kayaking. Apparently I and Damien set off like an Olympic team; the Irish lads said they were proud to be Irish. We rowed off to a little remote cave where the boats couldn’t go. It was amazing just like a lagoon. We got back to the boat about 45 mins later and then went swimming in the water. Damien jumped off the top of the boat (Fairly scary so fair play) we then had dinner after that which was more amazing seafood. We had a good few beers and sang some karaoke which I must admit after a good few beers sounded much better….

Got up at 8am for another amazing meal. Drove on to another mountain. Leah & Gio didn’t climb up and Damien went back to bed. Wasn’t that great!! Checked out and got our bill for our drinks from last night and as usual the Irish drank the most…. We drove on and saw the kissing chickens/fighting cocks (rock formations). We drove on and had lunch (again amazing). Arrived back on land and got on the bus to head back to Hanoi or so we thought, we were both told to get off the bus along with Sergio, Gio & Toby. We were told that we would be getting another bus and the guy who was now taking care of us told us he’d be 10 mins. After 30mins we were getting a bit worried that we would be left in Halong Bay but our new guide came out and put us on a new bus back. We arrived back to Sinh Café and went off for dinner in H-Silk restaurant. Picked up our bags from Sinh and got a bus to the train station to head to Sapa. Sergio, Gio & Toby were in our bus again and on our train to Sapa. We were sharing a cabin on the train with Alicia & Rober from Spain. We were told also that we would have soft sleepers but sure as usual they weren’t soft they were hard!!! We had a few beers with Sergio & the gang and headed off to bed.

Sapa

Arrived in Lao Cai train station at 5.30am half awake!! We were greeted by loads of people asking if we wanted to stay with them. We all packed onto a bus for the Summit hotel. It was a half an hour bus journey up the side of a mountain. Arrived at the hotel and got to our rooms and then went and got breakfast with Gio etc. They were doing the home stay so we said goodbye to them for the day. We were put into a tour group of 8 and met our guide ‘Shoe’ who was 18 yrs old. The 6 (4 Malaysian girls and us) of us set off with other girls from Shoe’s village to Cha Cha village. On the journey to Cha Cha village all the girls kept asking us questions. “Where you from? What is your age? How many brothers and sisters do you have?” they all wanted us to “buy from me” so when we left them at Cha Cha village we thought we wouldn’t see them again so we said we’d buy later. Shoe told us loads of information about how they made clothes and dyed them and which plants did what. She had learned her English just from tourists and she had great English. We saw houses in the village, what they did with rice and a crafts shop. After the village we walked down to a magnificent waterfall where we met the other 2 (Singapore lads) who were supposed to be in our group but couldn’t find us at the hotel so had tagged along with another group!! We then embarked on a grueling up hill walk, on the way we saw cannabis plants that they make clothes out of and some beautiful landscapes. When we were almost back to the top hotel we were attacked again by the villagers who we thought were gone home. Our excuse for not buying from them was that we couldn’t buy from everyone…We arrived back at the hotel and realized we had got burnt even though it wasn’t that hot and there was no sun out or so we thought. We decided to stay in cos we didn’t want to get burnt anymore. We had our lunch and chilled out in our room. In the evening we walked around the market and town and bumped in Alicia & Rober. We went back to the hotel and had dinner with them. Dinner was a 3 course meal and was beautiful. Bed early as an early rise.

We got up at 7.45, had breakfast and met Shoe at 9am for our 12km trek. She had different villagers with her today and so they asked us all the same questions as the day before but we learned that if we talked among ourselves they wouldn’t ask us questions. We walked downhill and over sides of mountains until we got to Lai Chay village where we had lunch. After lunch we were attacked again by Lai Chay villagers trying to get us to buy. We got away from them and walked more up hill where the 2 Singapore lads were followed by 2 5yr old kids begging. Hard to watch. Just as we were finishing the trek the heavens opened up and we got soaked. We arrived back to the hotel and had a shower and met up for dinner with Gio, Sergio & Toby. After that we got back on the bus to be brought back to the train station. This time on the train we were sharing with 2 Aussie teachers who were in the 50’s. They were nice. Sergio and the others were staying next door so we got a few beers and sat in with them. We played a drinking game called Kings. It was great fun. We went to bed pretty drunk at 12.30am.

Hanoi

We got woken up at 4.30am and got off the train at 5am in Hanoi. We said our goodbyes to the gang. We thought the train station wasn’t that far from Sinh café where we were getting the bus to Nimh Binh so we decided to walk. We walked for about 10mins and then decided that we should look at the map. Of course we were miles away so we got a taxi back. We arrived at the Café at 5.30 and sat outside it till 8 when it opened. It was not a nice wait!!

Nimh Binh

We got on the mini bus for our 3 hr trip to Nimh Binh were Leah got a seat and Damien had to sit on a stool because this was a tour and we were only taking the bus there. We stopped half way and sure didn’t we bump into the gang again. We chatted with them for a while and then we turned to walk back to the bus and a girl stopped me and was asking me where I was from cos she was convinced she knew me. Turned out she did know, she was a friend of a girl I was friends with through Eddie Rockets but I hadn’t seen in yrs!! Arrived in Nimh Binh at a hotel which was the most expensive hotel we had stayed in. it was $25 for the room for the night but the bus was picking us up from there the next day so we decided to stay. We dropped our bags and decided to go for lunch. The restaurant food was very expensive so we decided to go out and get some. We walked the whole town and couldn’t find one place to eat so we bought ice-creams, crackers and cheese and went back to the hotel to eat them. We were pretty wrecked so went for a snooze. We got up and went for a beer on the rooftop and then had dinner but as we couldn’t find anywhere to eat the last time we decided to eat at the hotel. The food was amazing and went back to the room where we watched a DVD.

Got up at 7.30am and got breakfast which was included in the price of the room. We rented bicycles from the hotel and cycled 7km to Tam Coc. It’s like a smaller version of Halong Bay on land. Arrived there and left our bikes at a restaurant and boarded a small rowing boat which took us down the river to see the stunning Limestone rocks. On the way back the guys in the boat tried to sell us everything from t-shirts to tablecloths, they were quiet persistent but we didn’t cave as we didn’t need any of those things. They weren’t really happy that we didn’t buy. On the way back one of the guys got tired so Damien took over some of the rowing for a while. Just before we arrived at the dock they asked us for a tip even though we had paid for the boat trip so we gave them 1000dong and they had the cheek to ask for 10,000dong which of course we didn’t give them. We had lunch in the restaurant that our bikes were at. We asked for Chicken soup but trust there was everything but chicken in it. We cycled on then another 2km to Bich Dong a cave with a built in temple. After a water break we headed back our 9km to the hotel for some cooling beers and we had dinner - goat (Damien liked it but Leah no!) at 8.30pm we got the night bus to Hue 11 hrs away. Poor Damien found it uncomfortable cos he was too tall for the seats. Not a problem for me!!

Hue

Arrived at Sinh Café at 8.30am and were attacked by touts for hotels as soon as we got off the bus. We saw this one hotel that was $10 a night and had a swimming pool so we got on the bikes and headed off to the hotel. When we arrived the manager showed us a room that was still dirty from the guests before but assured us it would be cleaned. He then told us the room was $12 so we argued with him that we were told $10 and so would only take it at that price. Eventually he said ok but not to tell the guests down stairs cos they had stayed in that room and had paid $12. We were told to wait down stairs while the room was cleaned. Sitting down stairs we were hopped on by the tout that had brought us to the hotel trying to sell us a city tour for $15 and DMZ tour for $40 each. He showed us pictures of what we would see and how personal the tour would be. He also showed us a notebook that people had wrote in about how they had enjoyed their trip but the dates were from 2006. We told him it was too expensive and showed him the guide book that said it was only $6 and $18 but he said that was for a big bus tour that wouldn’t be as good. He was such a bully. Damien went in to use the net and met the 2 people that were checking out and they said they did the city tour and it was a rip off. Eventually after about an hour our room was ready so we went up to get away from them. Our room had been ready ages but they had failed to tell us… Surprise Surprise. We decided to go for breakfast and when we went down stairs they asked us where we were going so we said breakfast and they responded with we do breakfast here but we wanted out so we went to the Mandarin Café. Breakfast was cheap and they offered the same tours for $7 and DMZ for $10. We booked with them but we hadn’t brought our camera with us so we got on the bikes and were brought back to the hotel. As I went in to get the camera the tout and manager went out to Damien. The tout confronted Damien and starting asking him where we were going and why weren’t we going with him. Damien told him that his tour was too expensive. He then asked what we doing tomorrow and Damien said we were going on the DMZ tour and he asked with him and Damien said no cos again it was too expensive and he went mad. I came out and we left on the bikes but we were conscious all day about our stuff cos they had been so pissed off. We visited Minh Mang tomb, Tu Doc, Incense village, Thien Mu pagoda & Citadel. We arrived back in our mafia hotel and went up to our room to find our bags had been tried to be opened. We had locked them but they were opened a bit. Fortunately they hadn’t got anything from us but it kind of ruined our time in Hue. We went off for dinner and decided we were going to check out tonight cos our tour was at 6am and we would bring our bags with us. When we arrived back to pay our bill they were saying we could leave our bags there the next day but obviously we didn’t want to do that!!

Got up at 5.30 am and got collected from our hotel, the girl thought it was a bit strange that we were taking our bags but we said we needed to. We walked around to the Backpackers hostel and had a buffet breakfast. Our mini bus arrived at 6.30 and off we went. We were sitting in the front with a guy called Andrew from Ballinteer. He had some very funny stories and he was getting to the last of his yr travels. The tour wasn’t that great cos most of the stuff we were supposed to see was gone or demolished but we did get to see the Vin Moc tunnels which were quiet big. We went down 80 meters and walked about 140 meters. It was really cool. We then went on to Khe Sani combat base and saw helicopters, bombs and some American soldier uniforms. We then went onto Dakong Bridge which was built for Castro. We also saw a smuggler going under the bridge. When we arrived back in Hue we bumped into Rober & Alicia and arranged to meet them later for dinner. We found a much better and nicer hotel for the night. We went out for an Italian with Rober & Alicia.

Hoi An

Got the bus from Hue to Hoi An at 1.30pm and arrived in Hoi An 5pm but luckily there were no touts so we walked around to find a hotel that was in the lonely planet but they said they were full up and were quiet rude so we booked into a lovely place with a swimming pool. We got the top floor room which was $12. We walked down to the old town and got lunch in Tam Tam. Damien tried the Cao Lao which is a local dish. We had a few local beers for 4,000dong which is about 20c. We had a night cap in Treats bar.

Got woken up during the night to a load of people making noise and our phone ringing. That morning we went out to price the clothes making but of course got carried away and next thing I had ordered a dress and winter coat for $110 and Damien got a bit carried away getting 2 suits and 2 shirts but then as he has no job he decided on the 1 shirt and 1 suit. We decided to go to the beach so we rented bicycles for a 4km cycle. We arrived and they tried to charge us for keeping the bikes there but we cycled on and found a place for free. We sat down and met 4 lads from London. Joe, James, Mark and Davide. They all spoke about 3 languages. We chilled out with them for a while and then cycled back into town. We went for food down by the river in the cheapest place but the food was good. The whole riverside was in darkness as it was the full moon festival so we ate by candle light – romantic!!!. We walked around and seen some Kung Fu performance, singing, lantern lighting & we played some Vietnamese Bingo. Not like our bingo but the same concept. We walked across to another bar to watch the lightening but left cos the drinks were too expensive. We bumped into Kiki & Ram and they introduced us to Sarah & Richard. We all headed back to Treats bar where we had a few beers and ran into the London lads.

Got up and had our fitting first and of course they had run out of my material so I had to chose a different one. We left there and headed to the market to test out our haggling skills. Damien got a hat and we got 2 tops each. Left there and got some lunch and then cycled off to the beach again to meet the lads and Sarah & Richard. Stayed there for a few hrs chilling out and then headed off back to our hotel. As we walked through the door of our hotel we met Jonnie & Rory who we had met in Pai. We organized to meet them in Treats later for a drink. We went off to get our final fitting and then headed off for dinner in a very fancy place where we got all the local dishes. White Rose, Wontons & Cao Lao. We went off to Treats to meet the lads; while we were waiting we decided to play some pool. A guy asked us if we could play against him and his friend who were both from Waterford. Niamh was on her way to Oz for a yr and was just doing 6 weeks in Asia and Niall was just on a 6 week holiday. Of course being Irish we had quiet a few beers with them.

Hangover is a mighty one. We left the hotel room at about 4pm after watching a DVD to go get some pizza and pick up our new clothes. We went back to the hotel and chilled out again and then immerged for dinner in a lonely planet recommendation but we would not recommend it. Back to the hotel and bed.

Next morning we went to the post office to send home some of our stuff that we didn’t need anymore and our new clothes. We sent them by ship as cheaper option and we wouldn’t be home for 5 more months so didn’t need them. Met the Irish lads who told us there was actually 3 Treats bar so that was why we obviously didn’t see them the night before! Walked around for the last time and had a nice dip in the pool. Got the night bus to Nha Trang at 7pm another 12 hrs of fun…

Nha Trang

We arrived there at 6am and there were a few touts there but we had learned our lesson so we decided to walk around and look at a few places that were in the lonely planet and some we had looked up on line ourselves. Loads of places we checked were either full or were too expensive. We then remembered our Waterford friends were staying in the Nice Hotel so we went up there to see if they had any rooms. They told us they would have a room available at 11.30 and said we could go upstairs and sleep in 2 cot beds until the room was ready. We woke up at 10.30 and headed down stairs. We were told to hang on. We bumped into Niall and he and Damien had a few beers while waiting. At 11.45 they told us the people weren’t checking out but they had a sister hotel called the Good hotel and that they would pay for a taxi for us to be brought there even though it wasn’t that far away. Niall came with us cos Niamh had stuff to do and we would meet her at the beach. We dropped our bags off and headed off for some breakfast. Niamh met us there and we headed across the road to the beach. The beach was dirtier then Hoi An and we were hassled a lot more then before but we had fun with them! We went home and showered and met them back at Nice hotel. On the way to the Cheers Café we met Sheena and organized to meet her and Marie later as they were celebrating their year traveling by having a face mask party. Just as we were finished our meal Niamh felt weak and passed out. We were all in shock and Niall brought her home while we went off to the Irish bar to meet the girls. The Irish bar wasn’t the best and we weren’t really in the mood for partying. We met Sheena and the others they had gotten to come with them and went to the backpacker bar next door. We met the 4 Londoners and Sarah & Richard there. Niall came back and said Niamh was ok. After a few buckets of vodka we soon forgot about it and went off to Guava bar and then headed onto the sailing club. At the end of the night Niall was a bit worse for wear so we drunkenly walked him home singing Irish songs and headed to bed ourselves.

Got up and just about made it to the beach to meet Niamh & Niall. We read our books and chilled out. I slept!! We then headed back to our hotels and bumped into Rory. We showered and met Niall & Niamh for dinner in the most amazing Mexican restaurant called Coyote. After dinner we said our goodbyes and then Damien and I headed to Guava bar. We then walked to the Why Not Bar for a bucket as the beers weren’t going down too well. We started to feel better and met Kiki & Ram and a few others that had been on their bus up here. We bumped into Rory again and he told us they were all in the Blue Dragon so we finished our buckets and headed there. We met John, Aoife & Eimear there with the lads and Yo-Yo. After a fair few drinks there and a good few free shots we all stumbled off to the Sailing club as it was a big night down there. We arrived there and they charged mad money to go in but sure we paid anyway. There was a big stage and decks out on the beach and everyone was dancing. We met all our Hoi An friends and drank a fair few. At the end of the night I, Damien & Jonnie headed off to the Why Not bar with 2 more English lads. Damien got there before the rest of us. They wanted to charge us in but as we had been there earlier they shouldn’t have so Damien said no and that he didn’t want to come in anyway and with that some Vietnamese guy came running out shouting. The bouncers held him back and we all walked off. We found some random like food place where we had a beer outside and then decided to all go home at it was 5.30am.

Eventually we left our hotel room the next day at 4pm to get some food although we had only woken about 3pm. We had a sandwich and went back to the room to watch a DVD(the usual hangover cure). After that we headed out to get some dinner in this lovely seafood restaurant. Went back and surprise surprise watched another DVD. I wonder what we would have done had we not bought our laptop????

We rented our first moped in Vietnam as it didn’t seem as mental here and decided to go off sight seeing. We went to the Oceanographic where we really saw the whole cast of Nemo (I thought they were made up fish but they really weren’t) and loads of others. Next we ventured to see the white Buddha on a hill, wasn’t that impressive. We drove on for what seemed forever to find the mud bathes but they did not disappoint. We shared a tub between the 2 of us and then went onto the mineral water bathes. It was really relaxing and something we had never experienced before! On the way back near enough our hotel the heavens opened and it rained like I have never seen it before. We took shelter outside a shop for about an hr hoping it would eventually ease off. The roads flooded within mins, we watched the roads turn into rivers. Eventually it eased off a bit and we went back to our hotel. We showered and changed and by the time we headed out it had nearly stopped. We went for a Indian dinner and had a few quiet beers as we were up at 6.30 for our bus to Dalat.

Dalat

It was supposed to be a 4 hour bus journey but was the worst 6hr journey ever (really bumpy due to the terrible roads)…when we arrived it was really cold as well and we were wearing shorts!! We got easy riders to the Peace hotel and booked them for tomorrow morning. We decided to go out and buy some rolls cos we had cheese and crisps. It was fine making our way to the market but we got lost on the way back. You would think streets led to other streets but they don’t. It took us a while but we eventually found our hotel which was not that far away from where we bought the rolls. No touts here so that’s always a positive. It started to piss down after we ate so we decided to stay in until it stopped… it didn’t(reminded us of Ireland). We ate dinner at the hotel and I had my first mash potatoes since home and it was good!!

Up at 7.45am to get breakfast and then headed off with the easy riders. Was still raining but not as hard as last night and the easy riders gave us rain gear. First we went to a temple then shown how they grow veg, flowers and coffee plantations. We then went for a walk up a hill to see the view but as it was over cast we didn’t see any view! Went to the silk worm farm, elephant waterfall and then went to lunch. After that we rode on a bit more saw a tea plantation and then they got us to do another irrelevant walk and then onto Nga’s crazy house(really cool – check out the photos). Back to the hotel. Showered and out to dinner. We decided that we would try somewhere in the Lonely Planet so we picked a place but when we arrived it wasn’t there anymore. We picked another place and yes that was gone too so we decided we should just pick a place ourselves. Wasn’t the nicest but it was near our hotel!

Mui Ne

It’s my birthday…Up early and again it is still raining. We got a mini van to the bus station to get the bus to Mui Ne. we got the mini van cos it was only a 4 hr trip and the big bus was 6 hrs. We were in the van with 3 Vietnamese families that had been on our bus to Dalat. The kids were really cool. Was a bit of a crazy bus ride as there were massive holes in the road and we had to avoid them. We arrived in Mui Ne at 1pm and we checked into a nice hotel right by the beach and had a pool and pool table. When we arrived the weather was fab and then it turned about 30mins after we arrived. Had a few beers and played some pool and met Nat & Brian(Kiwis) who were staying in our hotel and who we had met in Nha Trang. Damien and I went out for dinner in Sizzlers which was expensive but so good. They had proper steak and pies…. Eeeemmm. We met Nat & Brian for a few drinks after dinner.

Again another write off of a day as we had too much to drink the night before but that wasn’t too bad as it was raining and so we had some food and watched a DVD. Went for a cheap dinner but wasn’t the nicest!

Today no rain so we were very excited cos we were starting to think the weather was following us. We decided to rent a bike and go visit the sand dunes. We went to the red sand dunes first and did some sliding on a board. It was great fun and then we traveled 24km to the white sand dunes. The white ones weren’t as good as the red ones and so we only stayed about 20 mins at those. We went back to our bike to discover one of our helmets was missing and as we were paying for parking we said we wouldn’t pay until it was found. Of course it was found and as we rode of the back of the bike kept sliding out. We then realized that we had a flat tyre, we walked for a bit up the dirt track that was about 2km long and then some guys got me to hop on one bike and Damien stand and drive his up. Would you believe it there was a garage at the end of the dirt road (how convenient!!!)… of course we got super over charged but nothing we could do as we were another 22km from our hotel. We found out that it was a massive screw had given us the puncture. It was a scam they pull up at the sand dunes. You cannot make it home with flat tyre so they charge you extortion prices to fix your puncture. We drove back to the hotel and chilled out in the pool for a while and then went back to Sizzlers for some good grub.

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

Got the bus to HCMC at 9am. We arrived there at about 2.30pm at Sinh Café. We walked around to a few different hotels but they were all full up, we found one that was $12 and John was there when we arrived and he said it was fine. As usual we were up on the top floor. We went out for lunch to Pho 24 which is a noodle bar. Wasn’t that great. Went back to the hotel afterwards cos it was raining a bit and we watched a DVD. Went to Allez Boo restaurant and had some burgers but the beer was expensive so we headed on to the Go 2 bar which had 2 for 1. Had a few and then headed home early because we were going sight seeing in the morning.

Got up and had breakfast. Walked to the Independent palace which is of great significance to the Cambodian history. We walked onto the War Museum which was the most depressing and eye opening thing we have ever seen. You think you know the war they had with America but you have no idea as they don’t have all this in the history books. We spent over 4 hrs there and it was a silent walk home. We went for a pint near our hotel and bumped into John again. We organized meeting him and Eimear later in the Go 2 bar. Off we went and showered and headed of to La Cantina for another amazing Mexican. Met the others later and had a few drinks with them.

Up early next morning for our tour to the Chu Chi Tunnels. The tour group was very big so it was a bit disappointing as it was hard to hear and he moved too fast to take photos of everything. First we watched a DVD on the Chu Chi people and the tunnels. We saw how they made weapons, their clothes and then went to the shooting range but as we had done the shooting range in Thailand so we didn’t shoot any gun and it was so expensive. It started lashing rain just before we went into the tunnels so we ran to them. We crawled 140 meters through the tunnels and went down about 60 meters. These were much smaller then the DMZ. We left there and ran for the bus. Got back to HCMC and the roads were floated, we had to wade through the water to get to our hotel. We stayed in and watched some TV waiting for the rain to lift. We went for dinner and had one or two beers.

Up for our tour to the Mekong Delta. We got on our bus and then we got told to go to another bus which was a mini van but it was a smaller tour so we didn’t mind too much. We drove 2hrs to a boat where we got on and headed over to Unicorn Island. There we saw a bee farm and coconut candy making. We had some fruit and listened to Vietnamese music being played. After that we got a smaller boat with 2 others and rowed up a small river to a bigger boat. We then made our way to Tortoise Island where we had lunch(instant noodles) and then back on a boat to get on a bus and head back. Got back and had showers and headed out to Margarita for some pizza. After we finished our meal we bumped into Patrick, Wayo’s dad and his girlfriend and little boy. We had a fair few with him. We stayed up till 4.30am drinking. Lucky no tours booked for tomo…

Got up 1.30pm and extremely hung-over, well Damien was!!! We met Patrick again for dinner and Huong (Patrick’s girlfriend) put glitter streaks in my hair. We had lovely food but no beers this time!!!

Next day Bus to Phnom Penh – Cambodia. Our time in Vietnam has ended. We really loved Vietnam. Its amazing food, people, countryside, beaches & dare I say it - its motorbikes!!!!!!!!!!!

Catch us next time we update you on our 10 days in Cambodia.

Thailand

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:58:27 +0100

Well Hello All, we know we haven’t been the best at updating our blog but here goes the last 3 weeks in Thailand. We hope you like it and the photos we’ve uploaded.

Well we arrived in Dublin airport but you know how it is, you can never leave without meeting someone you know! So we met Jenny who was the year behind me in school. She was heading to Bangkok and we thought first she was on our flight but in fact she was flying out 15 mins after us so we arranged to meet her in Bangkok airport.

We got on our BA flight but after take off they announced that the in flight entertainment wasn’t going to work at all, that’s 12 hours no in flight entertainment… all that’s left to do in that situation was have a few drinks & pop a sleeping tablet and wake in Thailand…

We arrived in Bangkok, got our bags and met Jenny. She had made a new friend called Nick from Wales. He was a lone traveler like her too so we now had a group of 4 and we all decided to stay in the hotel we had booked which was around the corner from Khoa San road.

Lovely hotel with a pool on the roof which we jumped in straight after check in cause it was so freaking hot in Bangkok!!!!

We went out for a walk on the Khao San Road (mental) and got some food and a “few” drinks. After a couple of beers we decided to get “a bucket of joy” (it’s a nag of whiskey, coke & red bull) obviously as you can tell from reading this we were well on our way after that…

We decided to go see a ping pong show, when in Rome and all that so the lads decided to do the bargaining/”best price”. They got a good deal, well so they thought!!! Lift there on Tuk Tuk, Free in and a free drink. Deal was done and we got into 2 Tuk tuk’s. We went all over Bangkok and ended at some terrible place in the middle of nowhere, where we were then expected to pay in to the ping pong show at extortion prices so we just decided not to go in and headed back to the hotel. (Rip off 1)

Next day got up and we all decided that we would not be had today so we set off with our guards up.

We got to the water taxi place were we were told we would do an hr long tail slow boat and see the famous floating market – all for 300 baht… we thought cool & cheap.

Off the 4 of us went on our slow boat. They brought us through the back streets/canals & underbelly of Bangkok which was fascinating & crazy to see!! We went along to the ‘Floating Market” which was in fact just one floating boat and a woman. We bought water from her and got a beer for the driver but she over charged us for the drinks and gave some money to the driver for stopping at her (Rip off 2)

The long tail boat dropped us off at Wat Arun (famous temple) where we had to pay a “landing fee” of 20 baht!!!(Rip off 3)

The temple was nice but we decided we weren’t paying to go in after and Jen & I were in shorts and showing our shoulders so couldn’t go in anyway.

We walked then through Chinatown. Nice cos there was no one in your face. But we got lost and as we were so determined not to be ripped on Tuk tuk’s we walked for 2 and a half hrs to find the express water bus. We eventually found it and got back home safe and sound!!!

That evening we went to a restaurant near our hotel that was in the lonely planet but when we got there the owner told us that restaurant had moved 3 yrs ago. It was beside a construction sight & had tacky plastic chairs outside but a couple who were dinning there told us the food was great so we decided to give it a shot. Man they weren’t wrong, amazing thai food at cheap back packers prices!!!

The owner took our orders and asked us where were we from. The 3 of us said Ireland and he said a few words in Irish to us. Then Nick said he was from Wales and he looked at him blankly and then spoke Irish again. This wasn’t the first time no one knew were Wales was so we then christened Nick - Irish Mick.

During the meal I moved my chair and it fell down a small hole, only in Bangkok…

After our wholesome grub we ventured to a Blues bar across the road and had a few chilled out beers.

Got up the next day at 8.30am and met Jenny for breakfast and then the 3 of us headed off to the Grand Palace. But we failed at the final 50 metres. A well dressed man sporting a tourist guides badge jumped out of nowhere to explain the Palace was closed until 1pm and we should go to some other attractive temples near by. He then proceeded to draw all over Damien’s Loney Planet map (annoying) so we declined his offer and walked back to see Wat Pho which houses the largest reclining Buddha In Thailand. We had a feeling the map wrecking man was lying about the palace being closed so we walked up the other side of the palace and low & behold the palace was open all day. Damn scam artists they would tell you anything just to make a few baths for themselves!!!

We got the craziest tour guide in the Palace but she was great fun and explained all the history to us and took loads of photos of us so that was good.

We saw the Kings old residence & a number of fabulous temples in the Palace. The most famous Buddha in Thailand is housed there also – The Emerald Buddha.

When we got back we were roasting so we said we’d meet Jen at the pool. We got in and went for a swim but no sign of Jen. We stayed for an hr and never saw her. We thought she had gone to sleep so we went back to the room and she rang us. Apparently there were 2 pools in the hotel and so we were at 1 and she was at the other!! We went back to the lovely restaurant from last night, had a few beers near our hotel and then said goodbye to Nick & Jen as were heading off on a day trip to Ayuthaya & traveling up to meet Damien’s friends after that.

Next day we went off to Ayuthaya which was the first capital city but was mostly destroyed by the Burmese years ago. We saw amazing ruins of temples and the palace which was built in the 1400’s. Some of the temples dated back to BC and we saw a lot of difference postures of the Buddha’s.

After a long day of sightseeing we went back to Bangkok got our bags and got a taxi to the bus station for our over night bus of 11 hrs to Nakhon Phanom over by the Laos border to see Damien’s friends Wayo & Faye.

We arrived there at 6.30am and then got another bus to That Phanom an hr down the road to where Wayo lives with his girlfriend Huey & daughter Shayleigh.

Good to see the lads again and also met Faye’s girlfriend Awn.

That day we left and went to Mukdahan (a town separated from Laos by the Mekong River) and everyone there was staring at us as they never have tourists there. A lot of people kept coming us to us trying to talk English… Hilarious. We went to a lovely restaurant over looking the Mekong River. It was amazing to have lunch on the banks of the river and stare across at Laos.

Later on we went for dinner but no menus were in English so Awn had to translate everything for us. Had a few drinks and then did Karaoke in a bar. Damien sang 2 songs… New career for him!!

Next day we went for a walk down the market, had a few beers and discovered 7/11 do the most amazing toasted ham and cheese sandwiches so ate them and then home to bed/ant infestation hotel.

The following day we headed back to Wayo’s in That Phanom and decided to go and shoot some guns. We shot a .38, .48, M16 & shot gun. So cool….

Stayed in that night with a few beers and watched some TV

Next day we got a 4 hr bus to Udonthani. Waited there for a few hrs and then got a 13 hr over night bus to Chiang Mai. Bus was smelly and not as VIP as our first over night bus but we survived.

Arrived in Chiang Mai at 9.30am where we were attacked by Tuk Tuk drivers to bring us into the city. We eventually got our bags and took the best offer of a Tuk Tuk into the city were we stayed in the Northland’s Guest house.

W got a nice breakfast there and walked around. We went to go and see Wat Singh first and then we were told that there was a ceremony of a boy getting his head shaved to join the monks so we hoped on a Tuk Tuk and went to see it but yet again there was no ceremony on except a funeral (had again) Left there and went to see another temple. Went and got a Thai oil massage and then went back to chill out.

Later after dinner we met Damien’s friend from the bank Richard and his girlfriend Be. Had a good few drinks and went to a nightclub where we were chatting to an Indian, a guy from Templeogue & a few lads from Oz. Good Craic and got in at 4.30am.

Woke to major pains in my stomach and was as sick as a dog. I had gotten some bad ice and was so sick from the bacteria but Wayo told Damien some tablets to get so I got them and then the next day I was fine.

Next day we rented a bike, saw the other big temple in the town and then drove up a real steep hill 16km to Doi Suthep(another famous temple!!). Our bike was half full at the bottom of the hill but when we got up to the top it was EMPTY… Amazing temple and had 306 steps up to it. Had to cover up but saw some amazing views of Chiang Mai.

Had to free wheel down the hill on the bike cause of the lack of petrol but turned out fine. Got some KFC and then went to the Sunday market and night Bazzar.

Next morning we got collected for our Thai cooking course. We got taken to the market and learned all about rice and noodles. Got back to the kitchen where I (Leah) made Spring Rolls, Sweet & Sour Chicken, Pad Thai, Red Curry, Chicken Coconut Soup & Sticky rice & Mango. Damien made Spring Rolls, Pad Thai, Khaosai Curry, Pad Kra Proaw, Tom Yum soup & Banana in Coconut Milk. You can see the photos at http://www.asiascenic.com/images/webphoto/2009/June/15june/15.htm

As part of our curry making we had to make our pastes. Damien took on the role of Pestal & Mortor with the chillies and managed to get a chilly seed in his eye. The women said this had happened before and to just put oil on his eye and the seed would come out but of course it wasn’t that easy and she had to watch Damien’s eye out for him! We made so much food that we couldn’t eat all of it that morning so we took doggy bags and ate it for dinner that evening. Then went then for a drink and went to see Muay Thai boxing cos there was an Irish Guy fighting a Thai guy. Unfortunately the Irish guy Gavin got knocked out in the first round. Got a photo with him…

Then off to a rooftop bar after that for a few drink but we were up early to go to Pai so got home at 1.30am.

Got a 3 hr mini bus up to Pai (really cool, hippy, chilled out village) which has a population of 3000 so you see the same people a lot (good if you like them, bad if you don’t)!! We checked into the Baan Pai Village which was these cool beach huts. Walked around the town and got some food where we met Wendy from Dublin and her friend James from Leeds. We went back and chilled in the hut and later met Wendy & James and had some drinks in “The Pub”. Yes it was actually called “The Pub” and owned by a guy called Mac from the Isle of Man. After that we went to Bamboo Bar and then headed home.

Next day we rented out a bike and drove to the waterfall were we got in a rock pool under the waterfall. It was so chilled out, lovely and relaxing. There we met Mark & Louise from England.

We went to an Italian for dinner and had the most amazing pizza and then headed to ‘The Pub’ for the weekly table quiz. Our team started as me and Damien but in the end we had 9 people from England, Canada, Germany, USA and us Irish. Apparently you were supposed to have 6 on a team but we couldn’t say no when they asked to join. There was a couple from USA Rachel & Chris; Chris’s brother came to join our team half way cos he had only just arrived in Pai. He had flown 2 days from the Croatia and was staying in Thailand for 3 days and the flying back….Crazy Man. There were 7 teams and the questions were hard. One of the teams had 3 lads, 2 from Ireland and 1 from Austria, had a great time with them. Johnnie, Rory & Yoyo. Also on another team were Louise & Mark. Our team won and we got a bottle of Whiskey which we shared with the whole pub. After that everyone from the pub went to Ting Tong’s. After another few drinks we left with the 3 lads from Ireland & Austria and stopped at 7/11 for our usual fix of toastie’s and met another couple we had met on the bus so we went back to our hut for a few drinks and ended the night at 5am.

Got up at 2pm the next day and went for food where we saw most people from the quiz. We drove then on our bike to the hot springs, they were nice & hot but we got eaten by Mozzies so we left after bout and hr. We got back into town and went for dinner where we met an Israelian couple. We learned loads from them about the trouble in their country. They also spent a few years in India so gave us loads of tips.

Next day up to get a bus back to Chiang Mai & then another bus to Chiang Rai.

Got there at 5.30pm (8 hour bus journey). We got dropped to the wrong bus station so after we walked for a while we realized that maybe we needed a Tuk Tuk to get to our guesthouse. YES YES we did as we drove for about 15 mins to get to our accommodation.

Lovely place with free internet and air con.

Walked around for a while. Went for a pizza and then walked around the market.

Next day we went to the day market, booked our trek for the following day, the guide we booked with met us before we booked it and he stank of booze. We were then told that we would be the only ones on our trek. We decided to go with him anyway cos he was the cheapest. After that we went for dinner in the night market.

Next day we met Pan our guide for the trek who now didn’t smell of booze, always a positive thing! We drove to the slow boat which we got on for an hr to the elephant camp. We got to ride on the elephants for half an hr. We got lunch in the elephant camp and then crossed the river to start our trek. We walked up into the jungle in the pissing of rain at the start. Our clothes couldn’t dry cos we were sweating so much from walking up hill. We passed the Lahu hill tribe and stopped there for a bit. The road was so slippery from the rain but we made it. We then walked on more to the Akha village where we were staying for the night. We trekked for 12km through the jungle. We met some cool villagers and 2 German lads who were on another trek. Pan cooked us dinner that he had picked form the jungle. We had Papaya soup & boiled Bamboo shoots. We had a few beers with Pan and learned more about the Thai culture. We slept on the floor of a bamboo hut (not comfortable).

Got up at 7.30am the next day and trekked onto the waterfall and then onto the hot springs, where we had a nice swim and then back into the car.

Off we drove to see the White Temple which is still being built after 10yrs. Amazing pictures painted inside.

After that we went to see the Karen Long Neck tribes, Mae Sai, the Golden Triangle, Opium Museum & the Ancient City called Chiang Saen. Got back to the guesthouse at 8pm. Went out and got some food and then we went to the famous TeePee bar where the owner was mental. He kept putting on wigs pretending to be different people. There we met 2 lads from Leeds – Alistair & Adam and an Irish guy Donal. After the TeePee we went to a night club. When we arrived in the night club we saw some Thai performers and then it turned into a dance club. Was pretty cool but we were wrecked from our trek so we went home about 1.30am. Again on the way home we stopped for our toastie’s….

Next day we got up at 12 cos we had to check out and we were so hung over so not good cos we didn’t need to be in the airport till 9pm. We walked around for a few hrs to find a laptop but we were unsuccessful as the shop we went to go to get it had disappeared… we thought we were on the right street but obviously not!! We got dinner and then headed to the airport. When we got there our flight was delayed till 11pm so Damien slept and I read my book.

We got to Bangkok at 12.30am and we again attacked by men looking for us to get their taxi but we had the hotel transfer bus so it was ok.

Nice hotel but we were so tired we just crashed out. We got up the next day and Awn(fayes girlfriend) told us where to go to get the laptop. It was madness; the shopping centre had 5 floors of just electronics!!! We finally found the one we wanted and got everything installed on it. We got a few DVD’s and some Mc’d’s. We headed back to the hotel and then got our transfer to the airport but luckily we had checked to see if our flight was delayed and it was so we didn’t have to wait around!

Flight was fine except for one moment we went through turbulence and the plane lost power for a sec but not the engines so was ok… Scary eh!!

Arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam at 9.15pm.

Will update on Vietnam soon.