Kevs Travel Blog

Lake Bled, Canyoning and Rafting

2010-08-26T21:24:00.014Z

The following morning we got a bus to Bled, which is famous for its lake, cream cakes and activities. On our first day we went for a walk around the lake and came across a tree, which overhung the river and had wooden grips nailed in so your could climb up it and jump into the lake. When we arrived at it, there were a few guys jumping off and a local kid who was nuts and pulling back flips and other ludicrous dives. We got the video camera out and got someone to record us climb to the top and make the plunge into the lake. The water was pretty cold but you soon acclimatised and the sun was beating down so it was all good. After a few more jumps we dried off and continued our walk around the lake, where we met a guy called Will (a stereotipical Etonian) who was staying at our hostel who joined us for the walk.

Before coming to Slovenia, we had heard that this was the place to do activities so we went and booked ourselves on a day of Canyoning and Rafting. Canyoning was absolutely amazing, you got kitted out with a wet suit, harness and helmet and then entered the canyon having to navigate yourself down a river over rocks. The best part was when you got to a rock slide where you lay down on your back and slid down the rock and into the pool below it was ace. There were also sections that you could jump and areas which you needed to abseil down it was so much fun.

The guide that took us canyoning was really fun and even detoured on the way back to take us to a river which had a huge wooden dive board hanging over a 6 metre drop. The water was so clear and there were huge fish swimming around it looked beautiful. Obviously we had to go for it and jump off the diving board, it was just a bit of a shock when you hit the water as it was freezing!

We went to a pizzeria for lunch to fill ourselves up before rafting in the afternoon. It was a 30 minute car journey to the river which where we put on life jackets and a helmet. I opted out of a wetsuit as I couldn't be bothered to put it on which I soon learnt was a mistake as the water was about -12 and the coldest thing ever. My feet were tingling after just having dipped them in for about 5 seconds. The water levels were fairly low so the river wasn't that challenging but fun all the same.

We had only booked our first night in the hostel and luckily the woman said we could stay another night so at least we had somewhere to go after our day of action.We hadn't paid for the second night and in the morning the woman wasn't around so we ended up just leaving the key and saving ourselves the cost of a nights accommodation which was a welcome treat. We hadn't got around to trying the local speciality dish which was a cream cake. Even though it was 9am we decided it was something that had to be done so we ate this huge cream cake after a toastie - not the most conventional breakfast.

It was then a day of travel getting the bus first to Ljubliana, then to Koper and finally to Trieste. Trieste was the one place we hadn't pre-booked a place to stay and it was also the one place that didn't have any free WiFi hotspots. We wandered around a bit trying to find the tourist office, which we eventually found tucked away after asking a policeman. Unfortunately it was closed so we were back to square one, still being unable to find a WiFi hotspot. Luckily Woody went for a scout around while I sat with the bags and he managed to find somewhere even though it was a bit more expensive than we were used to, but at this point we were fed up of lugging our bags around so just went for it. In the morning it was then off to the Airport where we sat around for a few hours waiting to check in.

Once we got through to boarding we were given priority boarding passes to our surprise as we were totally oblivious that we had booked them. Anyway these got us onto the plane first where we were able to snag ourselves some seats with extra leg room. I was under the impression that these seats were like gold dust and there was always a race to get them, but everyone just seemed to get on the plane and sit in any old seat. The last two people to get on the plane got some of these seats which still left 3 unoccupied throughout the whole flight, I couldn't believe it.

So that's it, home now back to my own bed :-) I guess it's time to start thinking about going back to work :(

Slovenia Sightseeing

2010-08-23T17:05:00.014Z

We got the bus to Ljubliana which took a couple of hours, for which I snoozed most of it so it was great when we got there. As soon as you get into Ljubliana you can see the castle situated on top of massive whacking great hill, so chose this as our first point of call. The castle had an awesome viewing tower, which gave panoramic views over Ljubliana so got a few snaps up there. We had also got a ticket which gave us entry to a virtual tour of the city and to a museum. We managed to pass ourselves off as students so saved ourselves 4 Euro, bonus.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the town and having a general wander around the sights. We wanted some good Slovenian food for dinner so went on the hunt after a quick nap in the evening. The place we ended up at served an amazing goulash dish and had a great atmosphere as there was an acoustic band doing there stuff right outside.

We were joined for dinner by some lovely french girls, who were struggling to find a place to sit as all the tables were taken and it would have been rude not to offer. It was one of the girls birthday so they had come out for a nice meal and music and I'm sure our company topped it off. After we had finished our food we went along to a bar on the river, which was pretty quiet but then it was a Sunday night. We then got talking to the waiter and his mate and ended up staying out for a few beers until hunger struck and grabbed a taxi with them to get a horse burger, which came highly recommended - sorry horse lovers.

I bedazzled the locals with some magic and they paid for our beers, taxi and burger - they wouldn't accept a cent! The horse burger was bloody huge, about the size of my face and it was jam packed with salad, ketchup and cheese which oozed out of the sides when trying to tackle it. That taste of horse was still in my mouth the morning after, lovely.

Croatian Cruising

2010-08-18T22:09:00.034Z

Our couple of days in Zagreb turned out pretty nicely. We did the walking tours suggested on the tourist maps and also wandered about aimlessly exploring the city. When we went back to our hostel we met up with an Australian guy called Adam and went out to get something to eat from a beer hall that served pints for a bargain price of 9 kuna (about a quid). I seemed to end up with the biggest meal and couldn't finish it but it was cheap enough so it didn't feel as much of a waste.

After a few beers we headed back to the hostel to find that someone was in Adams bed - were in a 3 bed dorm. We strolled in making a bit of noise and some girl rolled over and said "hello". We made a quick exit and informed the reception of the problem which was swiftly sorted out - at the embarrassment of the receptionist.

After a nice long kip we got up and had a lazy stroll around the town before finding a nice spot in the middle of a park to lye down and chill out. We went out and got ourselves a pizza for dinner and then made our way to the train station to get our sleeper over to Split. We'd put our bags in lockers at the station so grabbed those and went to the platform.

We handed the tickets over to the conductor who replied "guys we have a problem" errrr what do you mean???? we responded, which is when he then informed us that our reservation was for yesterday!! Whatt!!?? we couldn't believe it! the stupid woman that booked our tickets did it for the wrong day - I admit we didn't check the date but you just expect it to be right. We were not happy.

Anyway we couldn't have our sleeper and ended up on the couchettes. Luckily we got one each with no-one opposite so could treat it somewhat like a bed although it was the most uncomfortable thing on earth. We also had some guy in our cabin area that looked like he had cut some of his fingers off, which were bandaged up but you could see the blood seeping through the dressings, far from pleasant.

After an awful nights sleep we got off the train and had a short walk to our hostel, again which had stated 24hr reception but didn't turn up until 8am. We got there about 7 and went and grabbed a drink and stuff before we could drop off our bags. We decided that we were going to sort out the ferry to Rijecka so went to do that and then went in search of the nearest beach.

We decided just to go for the deck on the ferry which meant not having a room. This resulted in us finding a space on the floor of one of the decks and spreading out our stuff to set up a place to kip for the night. The place we got was OK, although there were super bright lights on all night so I ended up throwing a towel over my face to block out the light. I had a pretty terrible nights sleep, tossing and turning all night.

When we got into Rijecka we headed straight to the bus station as the place looked a bit of a dive and got ourselves tickets for the next bus to Pula, which was only an hour away so we grabbed a drink in a local cafe and wasted away the time.

As I was still ultra tired I snoozed most of the journey to catch up on some sleep. We had booked a hostel but on our arrival found out we had booked two days in advance of when we arrived so there were no rooms. I worked out that the problem stemmed from the fact that my date on my netbook was incorrect so had screwed us over. The woman at the hostel phoned another one nearby so we had a short walk to get there, hoping they had some space.

On our arrival we were greeted by a guy who was helping out and didn't know if there was space so we were left wondering where we would be sleeping. Even when the manager turned up, she seemed to have no idea what was going on and whether there would be spare beds so we decided to go and check out some sea caves and come back later to see what the situation was.

It ended up being a bit of a walk to the caves and we passed some unsightly images in the form of naked people sunbathing, but when we got to the we loved it. There were huge caves and

people were jumping off the top of the cave into the sea....I had to have a go.

The cave jump was immense, I felt like I was free falling for ages until I hit the water and had the best rush ever knowing I have done it successfully. I gave it a few more goes, trying to get a good mid air action shot but they came out a bit blurry. It was then back to the hostel to see if we had a bed for the night. Again the hostel manager was very vague and eventually said we could stay although we were still pretty dubious. We hoped our beds would be made up when we got back and went to find the train station to find out times for trains to Ljubliana.

The station took a little while to find as we first found the old station which was derelict and the new station even looked like part of a ghost town with only one guy tucked away inside selling tickets. We got our tickets which were proper old school little pieces of card which he wrote the train time and destination on.

Once we had sorted that we then went out for dinner and a few beers, where we ended up meeting some Croatian guys who had come to Pula for a football match. I had fun showing them some magic tricks and then we headed off to a club. Half way there they met up with some of their mates which looked like skinhead hooligans so we made our excuses and left- it was about 1am anyway.

Journey of Biblically Hot Proportions

2010-08-16T04:54:00.020Z

For our last night in Thessaloniki we went out to find a local restaurant recommended by the hostel we were staying in to try some local dishes. This ended up being a mega meat feast which filled the entire 4 seater table with plates of meats in various forms including chips, salad and bread. We were a bit like Michael Jackson in his Martin Bashir documentary pointing at different items and saying "one of them, two of them etc", because the meats were per piece and super cheap nit could have fed a family of 8 easy! We both made a good effort but I'm sad to report back that we were defeated by our meal monstrosity and waddled back to our hostel totally full.

The following day we didn't do much as it was baking outside and we were due to get the 5pm train to Belgrade. We had a good wash and chilled out in the hostel until it was time to head off. We met up with a girl at the hostel who was also getting the same train so all set off together to get the bus. The gut at the hostel had said that all the buses on the main road go to the bus station, as did the bus we jumped on the previous day so we just lugged our stuff onto the next bus that pulled in. It soon became apparent once we turned off into the wrong direction that this was not the case, which was confirmed by a local on the bus. - we felt a bit silly but now we were running out of time to get our train. Fortunately I spotted a taxi heading our way so waved my hands about to hail him over and we were back on track in no time.

To say the train was roasting hot would be an understatement, I've been in colder saunas! I felt like I was totally burning up and someone had a flame thrower held to my face. It was a god send when at the next station we spotted a tap on the platform and rushed out to soak ourselves and get our temperature down a bit. In fact we mostly stayed outside while other locals were boarding and kept splashing ourselves with water to keep cool.

The heat only lasted a couple of hours and for the rest of the journey we made a refreshing air tunnel through our cabin. At one point we stopped at a station and Woody went to get some air, so sat on the trains steps dangling his feet. I'm gutted I missed this but the train started moving again without any warning with Woody sat precariously dangling his feet over the side of the train - I can imagine he totally crapped himself haha.

When we got to Belgrade we dropped off our bags at a luggage place and went to get a beer just to get something refreshing after that journey, we didn't care that it was actually 9am in the morning we deserved it. We were also in desperate need of a wash as I'm sure we smelt as disgusting as we looked so got a map and wandered over to the nearest park which luckily had some taps so we could have a wash with the local hobo's and make ourselves feel half decent.

Armed with a map of Belgrade we set out to see the sights and made ourselves a little walking tour heading towards the fortress, which was lovely and had amazing views across the capital and river.

We had missed the Everton match due to being on the train (not like it mattered in the end) but Woody is an Arsenal supporter so we went to try and find somewhere showing the game. The best place we managed to find was a bookies across the road from the station, but it wasn't too bad and they had a bar which cost 50p a pint - we'll have some of that!

For dinner we again over ordered and had bruschetta, salad and pizza which I was unable finish and took away in a doggy bag. Although I didn't want it myself I thought I would treat some of the local homeless people in and around the park we had washed in earlier and had no problem locating enough to give away my 5 slices.

It was then another night spent on a train to Zagreb in Croatia, which meant making the most of the baby wipes we bought to have a good clean as we were without the luxury of a shower for a second night. The train got into Zagreb and the stupid hour of 4am so we strapped on our bags and went to find our hostel. We were going to walk there but asked a policeman for directions and told us it would take an hour which then didn't seem so appealing. He pointed us in the direction of the tram and as not wanting to be caught out again asked how we paid for it - to which he responded nahh just get on, it's early so won't matter. After which we rather reluctantly got on the tram hoping that we weren't going to be stopped and demanded to pay some ludicrous fine. I'm glad to report back we didn't and successfully found the hostel.

The world's most beach -less seafront

2010-08-13T15:22:00.019Z

After getting some free pancakes for brekkie at the hostel, we left our bags and went for another walk across Sofia. We ended up taking it in turns at each junction to decide whether we would turn left, right, or go straight ahead until we came across a nice looking bar where we stopped off for a drink. The majority of the morning was consumed by looking for a travel adapter and towel for Woody, which we did have a little trouble finding but managed it in the end.

It was nearing lunch time so we headed to a vegetarian restaurant I had eaten at before to get some healthy but tasty food. As our train was not until 10:30pm we had a lot of time to kill so continued our exploration of Sofia.

A new beer was spotted so we took a seat and wrapped our lips around that. I think that makes the new beer total up to 7 so far so we’re doing pretty well.

We grabbed some supplies for our train journey and used up the last of our Bulgarian currency. It was then a short tram ride to the station, so we got our tickets and parked ourselves down on an available seat. One stop away and some ticket officers jumped on the tram to check tickets, which was fine as we had time stamped ours so they were valid. Unfortunately for us the driver had not informed us that we had to buy an extra ticket for our bags – not that they took up any more room space. So anyway we were about a stop away from the train station but had the ticket inspectors hassling us demanding we pay a 10lev fine each (equivalent to about £4) but I had spent the last bit of shrapnel I had on some snacks to take on the train.

I tried to explain I had no mor3e cash hoping they would just let us off for not knowing, but I ended up being frog marched to an ATM machine to get the cash. If I hadn’t had any bags it would have been so easy to outrun them but unfortunately I didn’t and also had a train to catch.

We got to the station in plenty of time anyway and found ourselves a bench to sit on in the delightful train station where you had flies landing on you every few seconds and no air-con so it was uncomfortable as hell. The train was then delayed and we were sat there wishing away the time – sometimes I would much rather be sitting on my sofa at home than in a situation like this when travelling.

The train eventually got in and we embarked on our ride to Thessaloniki. It was an overnighter so we got ourselves a sleeper train so we could at least get a bit of shut eye, which was a bonus but the toilets were less than desirable and there were mosquitos in their the size of my fist. The train got in about 5:30 and we used the directions I had written down from our hostel’s website to navigate us on the bus, which ended up being straight forward and we found our accommodation easy peasy.

The downside to this was that no-one would answer the door, which meant having to sit on a bench outside overlooking homeless people sprawled out on benches while playing a few games of gin rummy. Well so much for the advertised 24 hour check-in, after countless door bell rings Woody gave the phone number on the door a ring and was told that reception didn't open until 8am - go figure?? We then dropped off our bags and went for a wander around the town and visited some of the ruins and other monuments, at this point feeling absolutely disgusting and in desperate need for a shower.

Eventually we got to freshen up and after deciding there wasn't actually that much to do in Thessaloniki (not even a beach in sight) took a trip to the train station to sort out a ticket to Belgrade. Turning up at 2pm we were delivered the amazing news that the international ticket counter didn't open until 4pm so we ended up spending the afternoon chilling, or rather boiling in the cafe in the station. At 4ish we went over to find a huge long queue which was going down slowly but the most annoying thing was some guy we dubbed "the flanker" as he was trying to weed his way in half way down the queue - these foreign types, you never get an English national doing that we're pretty fair when it comes to queueing.

This is when it gets even worse as a woman asks where were going and send us off into another queue. When we get to the front (after 40mins) the woman at the counter tells us we're in the wrong queue and we need to join the other one, what a sham. So in the end a nice 4 hours spent in Thessaloniki train station, superb. We have managed to book our Belgrade tickets though and are off tomorrow on another over nighter.

Beergaria

2010-08-12T06:33:00.006Z

Bulgarian airways was a delightful surprise as we had plenty of leg room and were even provided with a sandwich, cake and a drink. Getting to the hostel was pretty straight forward as we just hopped on a bus for 1lev (40p) which took us into the city centre and a short walk away from our destination. It came in useful that Woody had learnt a few Cyrillic characters so we could translate a few of the street names. Once we had dropped off our bags we armed ourselves with a map and set out for a wander around with our main aim being to try and find a micro brewery.

Due to the weather this took longer than expected as we made a few stop off's on the way to try other local brews (we have tried 4 so far) so it's going pretty well. One of the things I love about Europe is the different graffiti you come across and I couldn't resist a snap of the one above.

6 or so beers later we went back to the hostel to freshen up and find somewhere to go and eat and preferably where the England game was being shown. Well we managed to find an amazing local place to eat where we literally had half a pig on a plate with potatoes. Apparently it had been cooked for 5 hours and the meat literally fell off the bone and melted in your mouth. Even though there was so much after we finished we both agreed we could have eaten the same again as it was so nice.

There was no football in sight but we had a couple of hours before kick off to find somewhere. This did result in those 2 hours painstakingly wandering around streets to try and find an Irish bar as there were no TV's in sight. We eventually found one but it was a red herring as it looked as though there was a TV on through the window but it turned out to be some digital Carling advert! After nearly giving up we found a Bulgarian guy who was actually useful and guided us to JJ Murphy's bar where we were just in time for kick off!

I did wake up at some ridiculous time in the morning realising that I had forgotten to take my contacts out - My eyes looked like cherry tomatoes but I did manage to get the buggers out.

1,000k And We're Done.

2010-08-10T19:23:00.010Z

Last day in Cyprus and then it's an early wake up to get the plane to Bulgaria. Well we've done at least 1,000k in the car travelling around and managed to get a good feel for the place. We went to Nicosia today which spans across into the Northern Territory occupied by the Turks so it was necessary to flash the passport so we could hop across the border. Once we were over the border it was like being transported back 30 years (This is an estimation as I am only 27) but the place was full of war torn buildings that looked like they were on their last legs. After a brief visit to the mosque and a patter around the super comfy carpet we went and got a bite to eat. I went for a tuna salad as after the lovely ham and salad the night before I was on a health kick, but obviously I got a pint of Efes with it as I had't tried it yet on this trip.

It was necessary to top up the tan so we went for a bit of a sun bathe down the beach and a soak in the sea to cool down. After a shower and a freshen up we were treated to a lovely meal by the the Woods whose hospitality has been 5*. The plan now is to get to Sofia and sort out a train down to Thessaloniki the following day to soak up some more sun.

Mountain Tour

2010-08-09T19:11:00.023Z

Yesterday we had day 2 of Woods tours which took us across the island to several hot spots consisting of lunch in Aiya Napa and a quick wizz around the club district. It was then back to catch the football and a few beers before heading out for Dinner. It was a car journey across to a tranquil harbour which was full of Cypriots feasting on fishy delights. The restaurant was situated right next to a calm harbour which had a nice welcome breeze to keep me cool. I went for sea bream which was a treat and with a few helping of chips i was more than satisfied.

Day 3 of Woods Tours took us into the mountains to the highest point in Cyprus, Mount Olympus. It was a good 2 and a half hour journey which passed some stunning landscapes and gave numerous photographic opportunities on the way. When we finally reached the peak we had gone from 34 degrees down to 25.5 degrees due to the fact we were 1900 metres above sea level. At one point I had a bit of a spazz due to the fact I picked a pine cone off a tree only to see some black insect crawling inside. I didn't bother to give enough time to investigate and see what it was a threw it on the floor like a little girl. We stopped off fof lunch in Troodos where I had a cheesburger and chips to keep me going before we went to find a waterfall hidden away down a 2k dirt track. Although it was a bumpy ride I was well worth the trip as it gave me the opportunity to dip my feet into cold water. I did misjudge a step when trying to get into a posing position for a photo and sunk up to my shorts, I blame the deceptiveness of the water - I have also got photographic evidence of this which is quite amusing. In the evening we went for a quick dip in the pool before going for a few pints down the local and retreating back for some ham and salad - just to balance out the alcohol consumption.

Cyprus Sun

2010-08-08T12:44:00.009Z

Well check in at Birmingham was a bit of a joke as we stood in a queue for an hour until we got to the front. I'm sure our time would have been better spent having a few beers and joining the end of the queue instead as it would have no difference at all.

The flight went smoothly and we landed on time at Larnaca airport where we were greeted by the Woods. Stepping outside of the automatic doors at the airport I got that welcome smell of warm air that you get went you arrive in a hot country. It was then into a nice air conditioned car for our trip to the Woods home where we're staying over the next few days. By the time we arrived back it was about 10pm local time so it was straight off around the corner to the local Chinese for some food and a late night after a few beers and a brandy.

We awoke in the morning to begin day one of "Woods Tours" across Cyprus which took across to see monasteries, amphitheatre and views of the forbidden zone and ghost town in the northern territory. The area these covered was vast, but all the buildings were dilapidated and derelict as they had been sat untouched since turkey invaded as ownership had not been agreed. To me the areas looked like something from a level in Call of Duty, they would definitely make an amazing paint ball area.

During our journey back we passed Achan village which has been deserted for 36 years before continuing on the road down the "green line" whereby on one side of the road were observation stations manned by UN soldiers for the Cypriot side and on the other side Turkish soldiers for the northern divide. Although I didn't manage to spot and actual soldiers, I'm assuming they were probably having a snooze as it was the afternoon and pretty damn hot!

The afternoon consisted of a trip down to the beach in the sweltering 40 degree heat to top up the tan and have a dip in the med. It's always a pleasant to step into luke warm sea water and there's none of the messing about getting to the point where you either just go in up to your crotch or psyching yourself up for the big dip when you just go for it and submerge yourself up to your neck to acclimatise yourself to the sea temperature.

In the evening I had a nice kebab with Greek lamb mince in which was ace, washed down with a few Keo beers it was a really good meal. A few more Keo beers later and it was again another late night.

East European Extravaganza

2010-08-05T19:02:00.002Z

It's the summer holidays again and this year is gonna be a short trip around eastern europe with 5 day stop off before hand in Cyprus. Below is a rough idea of the route, though this is more than likely to change!

View Eastern European Extravaganza in a larger map

Bout of the Bali Belly!

2009-08-20T08:26:00.003Z

Lack of updates are due to me being bed bound for a few days after falling victim to the "Bali Belly" and I'm still fighting it off 6 days later!! I reckon it was this "Frosted Algae" stuff I tried while being adventurous and have regretted it since.

Bali So Far...

2009-08-14T12:27:00.006Z

So we left the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur and jetted off to Bali making our first stop in Kuta. We were a little surprised how commercialised it all was, a surfers paradise however. The beach was lovely during the times I wasn't pestered by hawkers, old crinkly masseurs or guys trying to sell bow and arrows no less. After a couple of days chilling out at the beach and around the pool we made our way over to the other side of the island.

Once at Sanur we instantly noticed it had a more chilled out vibe and the beach was less overcrowded. People trying to sell us transport are in abundance and the constant pipping of horns does start to grate. Despite this we have had a lovely day on the beach where we began to plan our tour of Bali.

Yesterday we began the day by watching a Balinese Barong and Keris Dance. An hour long performance involving dance and music (I reckon they could have condensed it into about half this time as I felt it did drag on a bit.) We then returned to the car + driver we hired to taxi us about for the day where he proceeded to take us onto the elephant cave. It was here I adorned a fetching sarong and could't help but feel a little disappointed by the temple as it was pretty small and hard to discover. It was then onto Kawi Agung - a shrine created at the bottom of a deep valley. It was ok to get down to, but a mission to climb up from trying at the same time to refrain from the persistant hawkers.

Wayan our driver guided us onto an amazing view of the volcano Mt. Batur where we sat and had some drinks and admired the view. As we headed back down the island we stopped off at some padi fields to admire their distinctive formations within the landscape. It was then through Ubud the arts and crafts capital before we were introduced to the Monkey Forest. The forest is home to many Macaques and three temples. This is where we ended the day and slumped back into our room exhausted.

Today we headed down the beach to the Sanur Village Festival. It took a little longer than expected (1 hour) but on our arrival were welcomed by the sight of hundreds of spectacular flying kites. The arena beckoned us where we saw a bonsai tree competition, many international food delights and a big decorated events stage.

The walk back presented an unexpected sight in the form of a spikey starfish that I picked up with my flip flops and saved as it appeared beached. We're off for another adventure tommorow exploring the rest of the island.

Malaysian Mischief

2009-08-07T15:28:00.010Z

Last night we topped off our day at the "old china cafe" which was recommended by the guy from our hostel. This place retained it's original prewar structure and decoration despite the local government trying to get rid of old businesses. The philosophy of the cafe believed in maintaining the old Chinese community spirit and strives the keep the place open, which I'm glad they do as the food was lovely!

We started off with some spring rolls that I reckon had something in that didn't agree with me as I immediately got a sore throat. Fortunately it didn't last and I was ok for our second starter which was fried anchovies with a chilli dip, yum! I then went for the most expensive thing on the menu, a whole seabass in a gorgeous chilli sauce and it was only about 6 pounds.

Today we set off for the KL lake gardens and first stumbled upon the butterfly park. Here we found an array of dancing butterflies and snapping turtles. Also an unlikely snake with two little fellas that were clearly his lunch. After a giant beetle exhibition on exit of the park we went onto the KL bird park.

This place was the largest walk through aviary in the world and housed many varieties of birds, a particular favourite was the this little white and yellow nervous bird of which i forget the name. I did manage to get a snap of him when he was off guard however. After a thorough trounce around we ended up at the bird show featuring five Macaws. Stunts observed included scooter and bike racing, a tight rope unicycle ride and puzzle solving.

It was then time for a bite to eat so we proceeded to the Hornbill Cafe where we got stuck into a plate of "Nasi Goreng". This consisted of chicken satay, fried chicken, fried egg, prawn crackers and a special spicy rice all served on a banana leaf.

We then perused the orchid garden for free as it only had an hour left until it closed, which was a bonus as we only stayed in there for a bout 30 mins before making the trek back to our hostel.

It's an early get up tomorrow as the departure time for our flight to Bali is 9:30am and I need to sort out the weight distribution between my suitcase and hand luggage to avoid incurring a fine.

Kuala Lumpur

2009-08-06T11:05:00.004Z

I managed to get us some extra leg room on the flights but it meant that we ended up next to a lady with a baby who repeatedly sang the same annoying songs even when the baby was asleep. The best bit was when she kept clapping and saying "shush......shush" when the baby wasn't making a sound!!!

Anyway after a 12 hour flight, hardly any sleep and also tipping my dinner tray on the floor during the flight we made a quick change at Singapore before arriving at Kuala Lumpur Airport, where we got on the train to a station which is right next to our accommodation. By this time it was getting on to about 10pm after we had dumped our stuff, so went for a quick walk around Chinatown market which is just around the corner.

On our first full day here we got a bus out to the northern suburb of the city to visit the Batu Caves, which was a huge cave system complete with hindu statues and mischevious monkeys with the odd chicken making an appearance. After going up and down 279 steps we grabbed a coconut to guzzle as although the weather is completely overcast it is still really hot.

It took a bit of a trek to get the return bus back to the city as we couldn't find the bus stop but managed to hail one down in the end, which we jumped off once we saw the KL Tower as this was our next destination. Unfortunately it looked closer than it was and due to the detour and bad directions we got, we eventually got there 2 hours later after doing a lap around the tower and forest to find the entrance.

The view from the top of the tower would have been great if it wasn't for all the clouds blocking most of the view. We did get included in our ticket a trip around this animal zoo park thing and a "Formula 1 Simulation" which was basically a computer hooked up to a screen and some speakers put inside a racing car frame...we both came last.

It was then on to the Petronas Towers which were close by, but futher dissapointment was afoot as on our arrival we found out that all the allocated tickets for today were gone :( hopefully we'll get tickets for tomorrow but it will mean having to drag ourselves out of bed early to make sure we bag some.

It's nearly dinner time so we're going to try and find some Malaysian treats!

4 Weeks Later - 8 Countries, 12 Cities, 50 Mosquito Bites, 16 Blisters and About 500 Beers

2008-08-24T19:44:00.004Z

Well after successfully executing our trip from our hostel in Rome back to the comfort of our houses I am absolutely knackered, still itching from mosquito bites, have a bit of a beer/food baby and am minus a sock!

I will probably spend the next day sorting out my photos and editing the videos we took on our trip, so keep your eyes peeled for our Robot Dancing video coming soon x

Rome Photos

2008-08-23T17:12:00.049Z

All Trains Lead to Rome

2008-08-23T17:12:00.046Z

Our first task when arriving in Rome was to find the 310 bus, which according to our directions took us to our accommodation 6 stops away. We did wait 6 stops but I'm guessing the bus didn't stop at everyone as we ended up getting off at the wrong stop. Fortunately after asking for directions we were at our hostel in 5 or so minutes.

On our arrival we met up with a guy called Sam who was staying in our room and decided we would go on the pub crawl in Rome as a couple of girls staying in the hostel had been on it the previous night and said it was a good laugh so we thought we may as well. The meeting place was the Spanish steps in the city at 9pm and by the time we left the hostel it was 8:45 so we were cutting it pretty close as our hostel was a bit out of the way. Well this ended up being a mission and a half, as well as killing our feet trying to speed walk to get there in time we got lost and didn't arrive until 9:30.

There were so many people at the Spanish steps that we had no idea if anyone from the pub crawl was still here but an Ozzie guy managed to spot us and took us to the first bar where it was as much Carlsberg you can drink and an unlimited supply of pizza (This was a bonus as we had not eaten yet). This Ozzie guy told us we were gonna get absolutely smashed and it would be off the scale etc etc and that "Eating was Cheating" haha - we ignored him because he was an idiot and we were more sensible than that ;-)!

The pizza was terrible, it was like those cheapo Margarita ones you get from Aldi or something, it was free anyway so I couldn't complain and I was starving. So we drank a few bottles of beer ate some pizza and then went on a mammoth walk to the next bar which was seriously about a 45 minute walk. The club that we got too was pretty cool, although Matt got a round of 3 drinks which set him back 30 euros!! ouch!

After we out danced everyone it was off on another trek to a Boat where the party continued. This boat had a bar and a dance floor so it was all good. This is also where they held a wet t-shirt competition for the girls which was amusing yet partially nauseating due to the kind of girls which took part as you can no doubt imagine. It wasn't too long until we'd had enough as yet again most of the people were morons, we really didn't learn our lesson from the last pub crawl we went on.

We got up at about 11am after a good lye in and decided to take a walk around the city and see the main sites. I marked these on my map and drew lines on it to remember where we had walked and seen, other wise we would have probably walked around in circles or got lost again. Everything we saw was amazing and just so huge it was unbelievable. After a good days walking around we went back to the hostel as we got a free pasta dinner, which turned out to be really nice and definitely worth ditching a meal out in a restaurant for as it was free.

Quite a few people staying at the hostel came back for dinner so we all decided to go out for some drinks together and the woman behind reception was clocking off so she said she would take us to this other hostel where there was a bar with cheap drinks!

The following day we went to see one of the new seven wonders of the world - The Colosseum. We had been told to go and get our tickets from Palatino, which is a big hill in Rome that was the city centre of ancient Rome. The queue here was much smaller than the one for the Colosseum and the ticket allowed us to get in there as well so it was a bonus. The ruins at Palatino were awesome and the Colosseum was beyond belief, I was hard to believe we were actually standing in it.

It was then off to get some lunch and find a church we had been told about that had loads of human bones in it which sounded particularly interesting. We got off at the right metro station and found the nearest place to get a big beer and some good food, after which I asked the waiter where the place with bones was - to which he replied "boats?" and made a rowing action haha! After I set him straight he pointed to a building right next to us so we didn't have to go far at all.

This was a Crypt where a monk had decided it would be a nice thing to create a memorial to the 400 or so dead monks out of the bones. It was pretty spooky and rather bizarre to see all of these human remains stacked and placed to form a gruesome kind of art, it does need to be seen to be believed.

That was enough for us, we had done our walking for the day and it was roasting hot so we went back to chill out for the rest of the afternoon at the hostel with pizza and beer on the sofa padding the time by watching a few films back to back.

Our last full day had to include a trip to the Vatican City, where we went up to the top of the dome on the Basilica having to walk up hundreds of steps in a narrow space where I had to lean my head over to one side so that I could get up there. After a painstaking number of steps being in a really hot and confines space we made it to the top where it was jam packed with people who had either just got up there or that were queueing to get back down. It was good to be able to see over the whole of Rome and we managed to get some good scenery photos.

We were going to check out the Sistine Chapel but we found out that it had closed at 1pm as it was a Saturday so we missed out. It was lunchtime anyway so we hunted down a good restaurant and sat down for a feed before grabbing a Gelato and heading back to the hostel.

The Gelato (ice creams) here are amazing!!!! I kept going back for more as they tasted soo good! I wish ice cream tasted that good at home. After a short nap we finished off the pizza we had left over from the night before, got another Gelato and went out for drinks with a gang of people from the hostel.

We had been recommended to go to an area of Rome where there were some cool bars and had to get the bus there as there was not a nearby train station and it was too far to walk. After walking around aimlessly trying to find this place we ended up giving in and sat down at a nearby bar which had relatively cheap drinks and spent the rest of the evening there.

The plan was to get the bus back but we realised that although the tickets were 24 hour tickets they actually expired at midnight so were were a bit stuck as there was no nearby metro station either. After a bit of debating we decided we would walk back, which in the end took us well over an hour as it we were the other side of Rome.

I quite enjoyed the walk back as we got to see some awesome sights at night, but also passed some strange people such as Transvestite prostitutes who we swiftly walked passed. By the time we got in it was about 4am and I didn't end up going to bed until 4:45 and din't get to sleep for a while after due to snoring and my mozzie bites itching like hell. This wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't set the alarm to get up at 6:45 in order to get to the bus station in time to get our coach to the airport.

Florence Photos

2008-08-23T17:11:00.005Z

Florence

2008-08-21T09:22:00.011Z

Now I had got the directions to our hostel in Florence off the internet and had them on my iPod - sorted!! That was until I found out that when I turned off my iPod at night it had wiped the temporary memory so that the webpage I had up with the instructions on had dissapeared arghhh!!

So once we got to florence we had to find out where we had to go as I had not written anything down - sometimes it's better to have a hard copy rather then relying on technology, I will learn.

Matt sat with the bags while I went off to find either a wireless hotspot where I cound get on the internet or an internet cafe. I had no luck with the hotspot but did manage to find an internet cafe so I went back to get some money as I had left my wallet in my bag. When I returned to the internet place I was then told a new Italian law meant I had to show my passport which was also in my bag. So after another trip back I finally got on the computer and wrote down the directions on a piece of paper.

It was a good walk to the hostel and we were baking in the heat, we stopped off to check the directions as where I thought it should be was a brick wall. As it happens we literally stopped off outside the hostel it just wasn't that obvious. When we got inside we were greeted by the woman who ran the hostel called Sylvia who had the biggest smile ever and was so enthusiastic about everything it was a pleasant change from most of the places we have stayed at. Better still this hostel was amazing, everything was nice and clean and spacious.

We had lockers in our rooms which was kool, though after accidently opening the wrong locker I realised that my key opened all the lockers on my row haha! That didn't exactly put my mind at ease but I was hoping that no one would bother trying a different locker with their key unless they forgot which locker was theirs like myself. After the essential shower we went off to have a look around and get something to eat! We found a really nice place called Za Za and stuffed ourselves until we struggles to get our of our seats, Infact I couldnt finish everything I was served it was huge. It was then off to look around the city, have a beer and chill out on the bridge listening to some street performances.

The day after we made sure we squeezed in all the sights and a few museums before having to get our train to Rome at 4pm which gave us plenty of time to give Florence the once over.

Venice Photos

2008-08-19T12:07:00.019Z

Venice

2008-08-19T12:07:00.018Z

We got into Venice about 5pm and were confronted with masses of people as soon as we got off the train, it was early evening but this place was still really alive. It was a good 10min walk to our hostel down narrow streets, weaving through people and crossing bridges. We had written down directions to our hostel which got us the the right location but told us to look right, when actually we should have been looking left so that sent us around the houses a bit. Another thing was that this place was just a green door. No signs, no name, no mention of a hostel at all it was rather strange. We rang the bell and were buzzed in to be confronted with a huge pile of mattresses, old motor boat engines and various other bits and bobs, which didn't give the best impression.

It didn't get particularly better from then on. Once we got up the stairs there was a guy in shorts sat at the dinner table with a laptop - did he work here? He was actually the owner, we said we had a reservation and he said we were supposed to be there at 11am..........errrr well were here now? I'm not sure what the point was in him saying that but we paid and he showed us to our room which was just off the main communal area. This was the most expensive hostel and probably the worst.

The only good thing going for it was that it was small and everybody hung out in the main room, so it was good to meet people. Everyone was heading out to find a bar in the evening so we joined them, not that Venice is renouned for it's night life and it was a Sunday to add to that so it turned out to be pretty poor. We ended up in a square which looked like a market could be held on it sitting on a water fountain where there were bags of litter strewn around the place and dogs using the area as a big toilet -- we didn't stay long.

Bloody mosquitos got me in the night!! I'd survived up until now and was feeling like i'd escaped, the bites are soo damn itchy. After putting on some cream we went out to explore. Venice is a really stunning place just because it is so unique with all the small paths, old building and canals around every corner. The only thing was the place was packed with tourists which took away some of the beauty of the place which is a shame. We didn't have a map so just walked until we came across St. Marks Square, which is a big open space where you find St. Marks Catherdral and lots of other big impressive looking buildings. The restaurants nearby were charging €10 for a beer haha €10 euro what a joke.

We decided to walk out of the main toursit area and see what the residential areas were like and I'm really glad we did as everywhere was so calm and quiet it made a good walk and got us away from all the mayhem. Later we got the water bus around to look at the sights down the main canal, we didn't get on to go anywhere in particular. On our journey we met up with this Korean guy who was staying in our room and he joined us to go and get something to eat. I had an awesome pizza and a really cool dessert which is apparently a speciality in Silcily - I know this is quite far away from where we were but I'm going to assume one of the chef's was Silcilian, it was good anyway.

In the morning we had to get up early to catch our train and I think this is probably the best time to be out and about in Venice as the place is a lot quieter as all the tourists are snoozing in there beds.

Munich Photos

2008-08-19T11:58:00.005Z

Munich Mayhem

2008-08-19T11:57:00.011Z

I was glad that the place we were staying at was just across the road from the train station in Munich as I am at the point where I am getting sick of lugging my big bag around. This hostel was another one in a chain from our previous hostel which meant we got a free breakfast woo!

We'd missed breakfast by the time we got there but it was still good for the next day. Again the initial plan was shower, food, walk about a bit. The hostel recommended a place which was a good walk away so we headed there (the roads look much shorter on the map) but to our disappointment it was rammed full of footie fans, so we turned around and went to find somewhere else that was on our map. Matt thought we could take a short cut, which didn't end up being the case as we got a bit lost totally disorientated and ended up walking to an industrial estate where all the breweries were.

After walking about for a bit longer we managed to work out where we were and got back on track, ending up at a place called Lams. This place was open around the clock, which initially made me think it was probably a bit of a dive but it was actually pretty good. I got a liver dumpling in clear beef sauce for starters and another traditional dish for main that I forget. Half way through the meal an American family sat on the table next to us and ordered some drinks. Now the waitress didn't speak much English and the default water is with gas - you need to be explicit if you want still mineral water. The face on this guy when he was served fizzy water was hilarious and he started to look at it as if he had never seen bubbles in water before. Anyway this guy was making a fuss and being a bit of an idiot about it (such an Anerican stereotype), I just couldn't understand what the big deal was.

We decided that we would spend the next day joining the free walking tour put on through the hostel, you just tipped the guide on how good you thought he was. This was probably the best thing we did, the tour guide was a black guy (pretty rare in Germany) who was from Canada originally but now lived in Germany as his grandfather was German. Before starting the tour we had our free breakfast, met some cool people and went on our way into Munich.

The tour was really good and we got some really interesting info on the sights and the fact that there were only 3 original sections of building left from the war - everything else had been rebuilt to look old from pictures taken by the Nazi's. We stopped off at a beer garden for lunch and got a roll with little sausages in- I can't remember what they were called but they were nice.

We also visited the famous Hoegaarden public house which is where the whole Hitler/Nazi party formed - apparently not a lot of people know that so now your informed. In the evening we went to the bar in the hostel for happy hour and had a few drinks before going to find somewhere for dinner and failing again so we ended up in a kebab house at about 11pm arghh!! Fortunately the train wasn't super early this time and I felt ok in the morning so that was a bonus, I just wasn't looking forward to the 7 hour train journey.

Berlin Photos

2008-08-19T11:37:00.003Z

Berlin

2008-08-15T15:12:00.014Z

When we arrived in Berlin we didn't do the usual which would be to drop our stuff off and go to check out some sights as in Berlin there aren't really any! It's pretty much just concrete, with the noticeable TV tower sticking up in the middle and a couple of other things which may be of interest but nothing like any of the places we have previously visited.

We decided to chill out in the hostel bar and then find somewhere to party later as we did not need to get up early the next day. After chatting to a few people in the hostel who were up for going to find some good clubs in the city we set off armed with a map and some recommendations for some places to check out.

The first place called 8mm was in fact not a club but a small bar which we walked past about 4 times trying to find. This was not what we were looking for so went to the next place on our list called the King Kong club which sounded like it would be good fun......nope wrong again, this was also more like a bar with a rubbish DJ and to add insult to injury we even had to pay 1 euro for the pleasure.

After swiftly finishing off our drinks we went to our third and final location to a club called Icon, which did exist and it was a club but according to the two big bouncers standing outside this little door down a dark alley where all the buildings looked derelict it was apparently closed. Why bouncers were stood outside a closed club I have no idea, I can only assume they didn't like the look of us...so that was it three failures in a row, we couldn't find anywhere to go in Berlin!! I was under the impression this place was party central.

After feeling beaten we jumped in a taxi and headed back near to our hostel as there were a couple of places there, not that they were the kind of thing we were looking for but at this point we weren't too picky! We did end up in a place just across the road from our hostel which adequate for our needs, but we were still less than satisfied by our night out in Berlin!!

The following day was a late start and by the time we had had something to eat it was about 3.30pm and we still hadn't seen anything off Berlin, not that there was much to see anyway. The only thing we could see from any location in Berlin was the TV Tower so thought this would be a good starting point and we would be able to have a good view over the city. The queue to go up the tower was absolutely ridiculous it seriously took us at least an hour until we made it to the front and up the lift to the top. The view was cool, and we had a wander about the top and then had to queue up again to go back down haha.

We then walked about an hour to get the the gate, which wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be but it was about the only other thing I wanted to see in Berlin.

Stupidly we had a few beers back at the hostel and thought it would be a good idea to go out again to give Berlin another shot. We went to get dinner at a restaurant called White Trash which was awesome and had some really bizarre things playing on the TVs as well as other obscure things dotted around the place. It was really a burger joint so that's what I went for which also came with the excellently titled "Fuck U Fries" so it was a no brainer for me!

The club we ended up at was a hell of a lot better than any other the places we had been and it turned out to be a really good night, the morning on the other had was horrible as we had to get up early to catch our train and I felt terrible. I managed to eat some food which made me feel temporarily better but I'm still feeling a bit fragile.....I think (hope) it will be a quiet night tonight.

Czech Em Out!

2008-08-12T08:36:00.004Z

Prague

2008-08-12T08:35:00.017Z

What a rush.........we got up went to the train station to reserve our seats and found out that the train going to Prague was leaving from the other station, a good 20 minutes away on the tram! Our train was leaving at 10.04am and it was now 9.10 and we hadn't even got our stuff together to go!

We dashed back to the hostel, Matt went to grab something to eat on the way as it was a 4 hour journey and I went to find out how to get to this other station. Time was being eaten up rapidly and it was now 9.40 before we checked out. We came to the conclusion that there was no point going on the tram as we didn't know when the next one was coming, we had to walk to the tram stop and it took about 20 mins...it wasn't looking too promising.

So we headed for the nearest train station in the hope to pick up a cab which would hopefully get us to the station we needed to be at in time. Trying to hurry along with a great bug lump of a bag on your back is not a pleasant experience but it had to be done. We dived in the nearest taxi and off we sped in the hope that the driver would get us there in time. Repeatably checking the time every 30 seconds didn't make any difference but I could see the time getting nearer and nearer to the wire. After darting through traffic we pulled up at the station at 10.02 which gave us 2 minutes to find out what platform the train was leaving from and get on board - I was hoping we could actually find the train and platform as a repeat experience of our last train journey would have meant we would have had to have waited for the next train which took an additional 2 hours!

Phew!!!! Our train had been delayed by 10 minutes haha, briliant! I think we would have just made it in time but I was glad for once that a train had been delayed as it gave us some breathing time.

The hostel we're staying at was fairly easy to find near the old town square, though it was now about 4.30pm and when we got the the hostel the reception was closed and didn't reopen until 5. The cleaner was there who let us offload our bags and we went to get ourselves and drink in the shade to fritter away 30 minutes. After we checked in, we had a shower and then found out where we could go to get some traditional Czech food as our stomach's were rumbling.

There are tons of little side streets in Prague, most of which don't appear on the map I have so we did walk around in a few circles before finding the street we were looking for so we could find this Czech restaurant. I went for a farmers feast which consisted of some different meats and vegetables which were wrapped in a big thick pancake, which I couldn't finish but it was really good.

In the evening we thought it was about time we tested out one of these organised pub crawls so went to the meeting point, which was a bar that served as much beer and vodka cranberry shots as you could drink in 90 minutes and also gave us a shot of absinthe on our arrival. On first impressions it seemed a bit like a moron convention, but there were actually some pretty cool people there and it turned out to be a good night.

The first bar we went to was called Coyotes, where as you can guess the bar staff got on the tables and danced like in the film Coyote Ugly which was fun. We then went to another bar where a couple of Welsh guys sat with us who were totally off their heads and were talking absolute crap. I think they must have asked me where I was from about 10 times -- after a while it got pretty annoying but was hilarious at the same time. It was then onto an underground club which was playing electro/dance music, none of which I'd ever heard but it was wikkid. The main downside was that it was boiling down there and when we came out it was raining arghhh!! All in all it was a good night and I struggled to get up in the morning.

We got up found somewhere to eat - always our first item on the agenda, where I had the most amazing desert which was cream in pancakes covered in chocolate sauce. The cream was really thick, the pancakes were really light and it was just awesome. We then thought we better see some of the sights as we were yet to explore the city so we walked over the bridge to go up a church and visit the palace which was stunning inside with huge stain glass windows and various other statues and stuff.

We have to get up early tomorrow as our train to Berlin leaves about 9.30am!! We'll make sure we don't leave it too close to the wire this time.

Austria Photos...

2008-08-12T08:35:00.016Z

Vienna

2008-08-10T19:18:00.013Z

We missed the train we were planning to get to Vienna so had to wait a couple of hours until the next one -- the boards at the train station were too confusing! Anyway we upgraded our seats to first class and went in style.

After getting off the train we had to make our way to the metro station which involved going up some escalators, which is when some big guy standing a few metres in front with a huge bag on his back lost his balance, waved his arms about a bit and them came tumbling down the escalator like a human bowling ball causing a domino effect on everyone in his path!

I unfortunately was one of these human pins and lost my balance also, due to having my big backpack which sent me crashing into the side of the escalator where I fought to stay on my feet while also hanging onto my shopping bag of food and drink but I eventually pulled it back and stood up properly. The image of that guy in my head losing his balance and tumbling down still makes me laugh now, it was hilarious!

Our hostel was pretty easy to find and was located near the main train station in Vienna, so after dumping off our stuff we got a bite to eat and went for a walk around the city. Vienna had a really layed back feel to it and seemed easy going, which I liked and the buildings dotted around were stunning.

The following day we decided our first point of call would be to find somewhere good to eat, so after a recommendation at about 11 we sat down at a restaurant called centimeters. It was called centimetres as you could order food by the centimetre such as bread and sausages etc but i went for a potato soup for starters and a tuna salad for main. I regret ordering both as the portions were absolutely huge and were twice the size of what I expected but I plouged through anyway. The potato soup was the highlight as it was served in a bread bowl which was probably bigger than the size of my face and really filling so I had to resist eating all the bread otherwise I would have no chance of eating anything else.

After stuffing ourselves we waddled along to the Museum quarter of the city and went to check out a couple of exhibitions. The first was an art exhibition from a few famous Austrian painters which was really good and the second was a punk exhibition.

The outside area within the museum quarter was nice to relax in as there was a large open space which had rubber blocks which you could lay down on and sun yourself for a bit. There were also open air bars around so you could get a drink and watch the world go by.

It was then off to the Palace which was a few metro stops away from the centre, though when we got there we couldn't actually go in the building as it had just closed but the gardens were still open so it wasn't a wasted journey. In fact the gardens were unbelieveable, just the size of them were stunning enough but they looked beautiful as well. We had a short hike to the top of the hill at the far end of the gardens where the view was amazing and you could see across the city.

Our evening meal took forever to come, I think we were in this restaurant for about 2 hours so by the time we finished it was around 11pm. Anyway we decided to take the metro to the park where there was a big ferris wheel at a fair, which when we arrived didnt look that great really -- I dont know why it was emphasized on my map. That wasn't the worst part though as when we went back to the metro to go back they had stopped runnning!!! This was pretty frustrating as we were totally the otherside of the city, everything was closed here and all public transport had stopped so we had to resort to getting a taxi back which signed the end of our night.

Hungary Photos!!

2008-08-09T09:43:00.025Z

Budapest!!!

2008-08-07T16:52:00.009Z

It was another overnighter from Brasov to Budapest and we upgraded our tickets to a sleeper cabin as there was no way we we're going to get any sleep on normal seats and I'm so glad we did...these sleeper cabins were the best yet! It was air conditioned, had more space, nicer pillows and duvet's..brilliant!

We double locked our door as apparently it can be a bit dodgy once you have crossed the hungarian border with thieves in the night so we didn't take any chances. It was a good journey and we arrived in Budapest about 7.30am and got told but the tourist info desk we could get to out hostel by hopping on the number 7 bus so that's what we did. Unfortunately we got on the bus on the wrong side of the road so had to go to the other side of Pest before turning around and going back the way we wanted. After a prolonged bus journey we got off at the stop we had written down and followed the instructions to get to the hostel.

We managed to find it ok but again we came across another problem, there was no-one on reception. After standing around and repeatadlyt knocking the door an american guy answered the door who to put it lightly was a complete lemon! We told him we had booked beds for the night and wanted to drop off our stuff so we could go and get some brekkie, to which he replied "How do I know your staying here tonight?" in a really annoying American accent -- not that I have anything against the American accent but you can imagine how it sounded. Now it's not like we were standing outside with balaclavas and machette's, we we're standing there being weiged down by our big backpacks so it was pretty obvious we were not there to trash or rob the place!

Anyway I couldn't be bothered to argue with the idiot so told him to forget it, fortunately at this point a lady on a bike turned up and said we could leave our bags at her hostel just across the road! Once we got in we were also offered breakfast for free and the place looked really nice so we decided to ditch the original place and forfeit a nights fee to switch // 1. because there was no-one to greet us at the original place and 2. I couldn't bear to be sharing with that American numbskull!

So we filled up on toast and cereal, checked train times for the rest of our trip on the computer and got a shower ready to explore the city. The guy at the hostel suggested a walking route and we set off for the day. On first impressions this was a beautiful city and it didn't dissapoint in the slightest. After crossing the bridge to Buda we checked out a few monuments before ending up at the Citadel which was a bit of a hike but had stunning panoramic views from the top with loads of really cool monuments and buildings to see.

In the evening we went to check out the island inbetween Buda and Pest, where we found a nice chilled out bar where we had a few beers and relaxed. The only problem was getting back to our hostel afterwards as we ended up walking the whole way which was a good 40mins i reckon.

The following day we got ourselves a day pass for the metro and neither of us could be bothered to walk so we made our way up to another main street in Pest where we went to the Opera house, house of terror and various other places before hitting the central park. There was a really beautiful building and grounds in this area to walk around and opposite the thermal baths which we went for a dip in, which was quite refreshing but we didn't really stay there long as it got a bit boring.

When we got back to our hostel we met up with the new people in our room (Yuko who was from Japan but lives in London and Ovidiu who is Romanian and lives in Bucharest) and decided to go out for a meal together. Once we had eaten until we were bulging it was off to a bar/club we had been recommended and was situated on the top of a building so it sounded quite interesting.

After having a little trouble finding the place we entered a run down looking lift which went to the top floor and I was actually quite surprised at the place when we walked in. There was a indoor part with a bar, dance floor and chill out area as well as the outside rooftop which was packed and was in a big open space -- it was awesome as I had never been to anywhere like this before so it was really cool to experience it.

We had a few drinks and then went back to the hostel as it was getting late and we were checking out the next day so had to get all our stuff sorted reasy to go and get our train to Vienna at 1pm.

Romania Photos

2008-08-06T16:19:00.014Z

Dracula's Castle

2008-08-06T15:57:00.005Z

In fact the castle we went to see today in Bran know as Dracula's Tower is not and never was Dracula's tower but apparently Vlad Tepes was locked in a dungeon there for a couple of days - so that seems to be good enough for them!

We started off the day by tucking into some free toast at the hostel and then went to get a bus to Bran. We were under the impression the bus went straight to Bran but in fact we were supposed to get off at the last stop to get another bus, which we only discovered once passing the last stop and returning back to our place we got on at! We sorted it out anyway and managed to get to our destination which was also set in picturesque surroundings and had a really nice feel to it.

So it was off up the tower to have a look around, take some photos and come back down again - we didn't really bother reading all the spiel on the walls so didn't spend too long in there before heading back down a steep muddy little track, which I thought looked challenging -- though Matt didn't have the most suitable footwear on to tackle it but he did make it without an accident!

Our train is at 9.30pm tonight going to Budapest so we went for a big meal to fill us up and mine did end up being pretty big as I ordered some trout to start as well as a main course, so I thought anyway. As it turned out I had ordered 2 main courses as the price for the trout was per 100g, which I hadn't twigged so I had to pay for 350g as well as everything else haha!

We now have a total of about 2 leu left (approx 40p) so hopefully we will be ok to get to the train station by bus later on.

Transylvania

2008-08-05T16:42:00.002Z

It was another long overnight train journey to Bucharest in Romania on which we were woken up twice to show our passports, but there was no surprise there after our recent experience on the trains. We arrived in Bucharest at about 7am and decided to check the place out before we decided whether we would stop or not so we dropped our bags off at the luggage area in the station and went for a wander.

There was no information desk of maps of any kind so we ended up just choosing a direction and walking until we stumbled upon something of interest but that didn't really happen. Instead we passed loads of run down building that looked unoccupiable (i think i just made that word up) and to be honest a right state! To be honest although we had no idea where we were going we just didn't seem to get a good vibe from the place and decided we would be better off going up to a town called Brasov in Transylvania, which was another 3 hour train journey but I'm really glad we did.

Brasov is amazing!!!! It's situated in between some mountains and the scenic views are unbelievable! The town and it's surroundings are really nice -- it has so many old buildings, churches and stuff it's really cool. Since we got here we just went for a wander and took the chair life up to the top of the mountain where you can see across the entire town and mountains which is amazing. After having the obligatory beer at the top we went back down to search for food as we hadn't had a proper meal all day because of all the travelling.

We got a map from the hostel and had been given directions to a traditional Romanian/Transylvanian restaurant so we went there as I wanted to try the local cuisine!! I started off with a Transylvanian sour soup which was really good and then had what a think was pork liver with vegetables and was stuffed by the end along with my beer and half of Matt's -- he drinks too slowly!

Anyway we're going to try and sort out how to get to Bran tomorrow to visit Dracula's castle and a few other places while we're here so really looking forward to that! We're going to be getting the train tomorrow evening to Budapest and have sorted a sleeping cabin for that also so hopefully will be able to get a bit of shut eye.

I will stick up some photos tomorrow after we have been to the castle and stuff!

Bulgaria Photos

2008-08-03T21:20:00.014Z

Sofia Shenanigans...

2008-08-03T20:55:00.009Z

Yesterday we didn't do an awful lot just had a walk around to see what was about, grabbed some lunch and sat in a few bars to have beer!!! The beer in Bulgaria is cheap as chips, about 60p a pint so a drastic difference from Istanbul so our money is going a lot further, in fact for the 3 days we are here I only withdrew the equivalent of 30 quid and I'm hoping that should see me through.

Today we thought we better get in some sight seeing so headed for the marked buildings on the map - I have no idea what there called as it didn't say on the map, though the roads were labelled in English but again it wasn't much help as all the road signs were not haha!!

The places we visited were really impressive and beautiful to look at, and best of all we came across a little market which was selling really old stuff like cameras, radios, badges and other old stuff from from the war as there was lots of Nazi things which were intriguing!!!

So we wandered about a bit and explored a few more of the side streets and got another beer as we needed a rest from all the sights we saw (approx 3). It was not about 1pm and we still hadn't eaten so went to this vegetarian place that was recommended to us as it was 7 leve all you can eat (about 2 pounds 50) and was absolutely awesome, I stuffed myself silly!

We then headed back to the hostel and Matt went for a sleep so I went on my own little adventure to see what I could find. I decided to go down to the end of town where there was a big open park area where there was a museum, which ended up being closed as it is Sunday but is was nice to walk around the park and watch the people pass through. Later we both went back to have a few beers and enjoy the view, when we got luckily -- Matt spotted a 50 sheet lying on the floor and pointed out to me! I am always cautious about picking up money on the floor because I expect it to be a trick where some kids have it attached by a hook to the end of some fishing line and start to reel it in once I bend down the get it so a gave it a couple of kicks before I went for the plunge to grab it. If it were a wallet or something I would have handed it in, but I knew if I handed in a 50 leve note whoever I handed it too would pocket it and the original owner would never get there hands on it again so I went my the motto "finders keepers".

Well quids in, we were 50 leve up which sorted us a nice meal and drinks for the evening. We went to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant and got an awesome meal and a traditional Bulgarian dink called Raikya which is a clear spirit, kinda like Japanese sake and tasted quite nice. After that we had a bit of a walk around and went back to the hostel as we were both really full and couldn't squeeze anything else in.

We're planning on leaving Sofia tomorrow to train it to Bucharest in Romania, but we need to get up early and go to the train station as we still haven't reserved our seats and we want a sleeping cabin again so hopefully it will all go to plan!

Istanbul Photos

2008-08-02T16:47:00.015Z

Overnight Train To Bulgaria

2008-08-02T10:42:00.007Z

Before making our way to the train I went to get myself some turkish delight! While having a look around some turkish guy asked me the time and then proceeded to strike up a conversation about a bar his brother owned in town blah blah blah....anyway he asked if I wanted to go for a beer in the town, which I declined because A. I was on my own and had no idea where I would be going and B. because I was due to get the train shortly. So I politely refused and then this guy started to get angry and said I had played him etc etc it got rather annoying! I said I couldn't see what the roblem was as he was going there anyway and It didn't make a difference if I went as well -- he then started asking for taxi and beer money because I wasn't going which was hilarious and I told him to just get lost. Luckily I managed to eacape him but he seemed a bit of a crackpot!

After that little escapade I dived into a nearby sweet shop which sold a whole array of turkish delight. I couldn't decided on one so I went for a bit of each and ended up with a good selection. Iv'e had a few and their awesome!

Once I got back to the hostel, we set off down the the train station and found out the platform our train was waiting on. We had reserved a sleeping cabin so got directed onto that which seemed ok if a little cramped but it was all good. The beds were ok and there were a few other english/australian people on the same carriage so had a few people to chat to which was cool.

It was fairly difficult to get to sleep and it didn help being woken up to "Passports!" being bellowed at us at a ridiculous time in the morning and thats all the info we got. I was thinking that someone would come on the trin to check but oh no, we has to get off the train in pitch blackness, under a tunnel and join a huge line of people at passport control which was being manned by a single person!!! As you can imagine it took forever until we got to the front and could have easily had another half an hour sleep but whatever!

That wasn't the end to our disruptions either as later someone came on the train to check passports again and then a guy checking baggage also came on so we probably didn't get out of the dream phase of our sleep!

We're now in Sofia, Bulgaria after having a clueless taxi driver bring us to the place we are staying and overcharging us but were here and going to check out what this city has to offer!! x

Turkish Baths, Water Pipes and Kebabs!!!!

2008-08-01T16:23:00.004Z

Well I've just realised I havn't brought the usb cable for my camera so I'm unable to put up any photos, but I'll use Matt's camera once we get somewhere that I can plug it in!!

Anyway in the past couple of days we've checked out the blue mosque. the aya sofya cathedral and the topkapi palace all of which we're really intersting but needed a sit down and a beer inbetween as it's just been too hot to keep going!!

The covered bazaar was huge and full of spices, clothing and other trinkets you'd expect to see there! It's a bit of a maze and we went in and out a few times before we worked out where we were. In the evening we headed over to Taxim which is the modern part of Istanbul where all the shops are -- not that we went in any but that's also where all the bars are so we made our way over on the tram. We sat down to relax on one of the side streets which served water pipes and I got a banana and melon one, which was ok though I did cough a few times due to not being used to the smoke but it was all fun!

Yesterday we decided to get up and head straight for the turkish bath so we paid up and went down the road to the baths. I thought you got given some shorts to wear but no it was just a cotton towel to wrap around yourself haha. It was like a sauna in there with water basins to tip water over yourself before being ordered to lay down on the massage platform where you got thumped and squeezed until your body was red raw, though everytime it hurt all I could do was laugh! The best bit was when the masseur got what looked like a pillow case and squashed it on you which made loads of soapy sods and rubbed them on you. Afterwards I felt really good. but after a lie down my muscles were aching like hell.

In the evening we decided to head to the bridge where all the restaurants were to try out the local fish. I had some deep fried muscles the start and sea bass for main which were both awesome. We were sat right next to the sea and has line dangling down right next to us trying to get crabs, though i didn't see anyone catch anything.

We're off to catch the train at 10pm tonight over to Sofia in Bulgaria which takes about 12 hours, so hopefully we will be able to get some shut eye on the sleeper beds we have reserved. I've just eated a tasty kebab for dinner and just need to top it off by grabbing some turkish delight before we go!!! yumyum!

What a pair of muppets!!!

2008-07-29T21:01:00.008Z

Well our flight set off a bit late due to some idiots not getting on the plane so we had to wait until their baggage was unloaded. The flight was ok apart from a little girl sat opposite us with the most annoying voice ever! Matt nearly chucked her out of the emergency door but blobked her out with the use of his iPod.

Once we landed we queued to go through passport control until we got the box with the guy checking the passports who opened ours up and yelled VISA at us and pointed to the other end of the room. so we then had to go and join yet another queue. get our visa and rejoin the origianl queue.

Once we got through our bags were there waiting for us and we proceeded outside to get a shuttle bus as stated in the directions we got from the place we were due to stay at. We waited about for a bit and decided we would catch the metro train instead, so we headed back into the terminal building to get directions but got shouted at again by some guy who pointed across the road when we said we wanted the metro.

On crossing the road we discovered the building was actually a car park with no train in sight! It was then back to wait for the coach which came not long after. We were just following a piece of paper so asked the guy if the coach was headed to where we wanted and he said yes. though we had no idea where to get off but thought it should be obvious so just jumped on.

We stopped and everyone got off. so like a pair of muppets we just followed without actually asking if this was the correct stop -- i blame matt!! (matt blames me) but anyway there was an ozzie couple talking to a turkish guy (Okan) as he spoke English so we rudely interrupted their conversation to ask for help!

Luckliy for us Okan was an awesome guy who took us on a mini tour on the way to the tram point that we needed to get on, we also got his number so hope to catch up with him for a beer while were here. So after lugging our heavy bags around up and down stairs and losing our balance a couple of times due to being pretty tired we found the tram stop.

We had to buy tokens. but again the guy behind the counter did not understand and English and why should he. but that didnt help our situation. We maaged to sort some tokens and get on the right tram after my attempt of pronouncing which platform to stand on for the place we were going and got a totally blank look back so had to resort to pointing on a map!

After getting off at our stop we struggled to find our accommodation and wandered around aimlessly for a bit before asking for directions which got us there and we could ditch our bags!

Were in an 8 room dorm. but have only met a french couple staying so far. It was now around 8pm so we decided to go for a wander and get some food! We need to get a map so we can sort out what were going to do tomorrow, but gonna catch up on some sleep as we got up at 4am!

Interrail around Europe

2008-07-21T15:31:00.004Z

It's the summer holidays again and time for another trip to fill the 6 week gap!!! This time i'm setting off around Europe with my trusty friend Matt and will be travelling around using the european train network.

We will be flying out to Istanbul on the 29th July and heading back home on the 24th August from Rome.

So far we have sorted the flights, train tickets, accommodation for Istanbul and Rome........and that's about it! As for an Itinerary of where we will be stopping off we're just going to see what happens. There are a few places I would like to stop off at but nothing is set in stone.

Below is a rough guide to the route we may take:

Ko Tao

2007-08-28T03:43:00.001Z

Ko Samui

2007-08-25T11:57:00.000Z

Khao Sok National Park

2007-08-25T11:54:00.000Z

The Beach

2007-08-25T11:51:00.000Z

Ko Phi Phi

2007-08-25T11:48:00.001Z

Phuket

2007-08-25T11:47:00.000Z

Last Night In Bangkok

2007-08-25T11:34:00.000Z

Back to Bangkok - JJ Market / Siam

2007-08-21T04:37:00.000Z

Chang Rai

2007-08-16T08:09:00.000Z

Coming Soon...

Golden Triangle

2007-08-16T08:04:00.001Z

Coming Soon...

Tha Ton

2007-08-16T08:00:00.001Z

Coming Soon...

Thai Cooking School / Pizza

2007-08-16T07:56:00.000Z

Coming Soon...

3 Day Hill Tribe Trek

2007-08-16T07:36:00.000Z

We were each equipped with a walking stick, did some stretches and started the trek, which on the first day was about 4 hours to our overnight accommodation near a waterfall.

Our porters were from the hill tribe village we were visiting who speak a different language to Thai – their nicknames were Superman and Superboy which were easy enough to remember.

It was pretty tough going as it was mostly uphill and even worse once the rain started to come as it made the mud super slippy and I nearly went on one occasion. A few people were more unfortunate and ended up caked in mud, which I can imagine was not too pleasant.

Superman caught some big tarantula and pulled its fangs out so that It couldn't bite before proceeding to place it on us to try and scare people before placing it in a bottle to fry and have for dinner later - yummm!

They also did a bit of mushroom picking when we came across some, which we had in our dinner. I haven't got a clue what mushrooms they were but they tasted good.

It was a hard slog to our accommodation next to a waterfall in a basic hut where we had to wash in the river as we were in the middle of the jungle.

more coming soon - stay tuned!!!

Elephant Trek

2007-08-13T12:38:00.000Z

Today we set of with our trekking gear for a 3 day trek through the jungle to a hill tribe village where we would meet the local people. We had arranged to meet the kids on the last night so took a trip to the market to buy some small gifts that we could give them. I bought some small figurines of some kind of robot and monster.

It was then a couple of hours in the back of a pickup to take an elephant trek which I was really looking forward to. We had to wait a little while once we got there and bought some bananas and bamboo shoots to feed the elephant I was going on.

The elephants looked awesome when they appeared from the jungle and I started getting ready to get on. It was two to an elephant and I had a bit of trouble trying to keep my long legs from touching the elephant but I managed in the end. There was a guy sitting on the elephant's head who was controlling him and he had what looked like a dowel that he was occasionally prodding the elephants head with to make him do something.

The ride was really good fun and there were a couple of times where elephant's would pull down trees or stop for a rub up against a tree which was quite amusing. I was trying to take photos which proved fairly difficult due to the movement of the elephant and trying to keep a steady hand but I managed to get a couple of good shots. Feeding the elephant was fun, it would raise it's trunk and start making sniffing noises so I would pop a banana on its trunk and before you could blink it was back up again wanting more.

I bought one of the photos that they had taken afterwards as it was really cheap and it came in a really nice frame. We then stopped for lunch before meeting our porters and guides for the jungle trek. Everyone paid 200 BHT for the porters to carry enough water for us for the three days as I certainly wasn't going to carry loads of water with me as it would way a ton and take up too much space in my bag!

Chang Mai / Glasses

2007-08-13T11:30:00.000Z

We had reached our destination Chang Mai albeit being 4 hours late in the end due to the line being wet or something but it didn't matter too much as we had no plans for the day.

We got picked up from the train station and taken to the Serenity Hotel where we would be spending one night before our Hill Tribe Trek. I managed to get a room to myself again so had loads of space and the room was really nice, a bit better than the hotel I stayed at in Bangkok.

Everyone chilled out for a bit then met up later for a meeting about our Trek and more detail about what we would be doing. It was then off to the local rental shop to hire trekking gear if you needed it, I got a bag, poncho, re-hydration salts and a roll mat as I had already brought a sleeping bag with me.

Once we had sorted out our stuff we all met up to go and look around the night bazaar market where there were amazing artists, the drawings they had done looked just like photos and were so cheap! After an hour or so we met up for dinner at an outdoor restaurant just off the market. I had shrimp Pad Thai, which was really nice.

It was then onto a Reggae bar where we went for a few drinks and listened to a band who were playing quite a few Bob Marley covers. We were taking photos and I would take my glasses off so that their was no reflection, but I guess I must have forgotten to put my glasses back on at some point and not thought about it again until the next morning when I realised my glasses were missing!!!!!

Ayathaya / Overnight Train

2007-08-13T11:29:00.000Z

It was a good few hours journey to Ayathaya by local bus until we reached our destination, which was Sherwood House. The room was ours for the day so we could drop off our stuff, have a shower and get some food before we set off to catch the night train to Chang Mai.

Their was a local guide who took us to the main sights in Ayathaya, which included the Buddha head in the tree next to the old temple ruins, the Wat Mahathat that had a kool wax model off an old Buddhist teacher and had bats hanging from the ceiling at the top.

I was pretty much templed out at this point but I guess it filled the time when we were there and was quite interesting as the guide was very informative – my Buddhist colour is yellow as I was born on a Monday ( I also have a specific Buddha but I forget which it is).

We then went back to the accommodation to shower and order some food to take with us as our train was at 7.20 so I just ordered a cheese and ham baguette as it was easy to carry and wouldn't go cold.

By the time we got there we had a good hour to kill before the train so I went to have a quick snack at the nearby floating restaurant for a soup, which took ages to come and in the end I had to scoff it quickly to get back to the platform. On the menu it had said the soup is served with a roll which it didn't come with, but when queried I was presented with two slices of toast and this was when i was paying!

We made a dash for the platform briefly stopping off at the 7eleven for some beer to consume on the journey. We actually thought the train was at 7.30 so turned up then, but it was apparently 7.20 and everyone else was fretting. As it turned out the train was about an hour and a half late so we were sat twiddling our thumbs for a bit.

The night train is actually quite kool as I was unsure what to expect but there was plenty of space and the beds weren't half bad! I managed to get some good sleep anyway so I was quite impressed.

Kanchanaburi / River Kwai

2007-08-07T10:21:00.000Z

Today was the first day of my trip and I was reunited with my fellow trip mates that I had met the night before. As I was staying at the hotel under Intrepid the tour company my breakfast wasn't included but I just walked in, sat down and ate some food and no-one batted an eyelid - bonus!

We left for the bus station about 10.30 for our 2 hour trip to Kanchanaburi, which is west of Bangkok to stop in Sam's Floating Guest house on the River Kwai. The accommodation is pretty basic but it's not too bad, i just made sure I sprayed the room with my mozzie spray so I had no unwelcome intruders.

Our first activity was a trip on the catamaran speedboats along the river to see the sights such as JEATH museum, War Cemetery and the Bridge over the River Kwai. Walking along the bridge was dodgy as hell and i'm sure wouldn't meet safety regulations back in the UK, I seriously wonder how many people have fallen into the river off the bridge because it would be so easy.

After we were returned back to our pad we all went for a meal at a local restaurant to taste some traditional Thai food. I went for stir fry pork with rice and vegetables which was well nice topped off with a Singha beer.

When I went back to my room after the meal I was greeted by my little friend the cockroach who scurried out of sight and was never seen again. I just tried to wipe this sighting from my memory so I could get to sleep but it wasn't really helped by the strange sounds of other animals and critters.

The second day at Kanchanaburi was an early start setting off at 8.30 after my scrambled egg, bacon and toast to set me up for a hike up the Erawan waterfalls. This was definitely a highlight so far as the water was so clear and the scenery was awesome. There are 7 tiers to the waterfall and it's a bit of a trek to the top but once we got up there we all took a deserved dip in the pool where we got our feet nibbled by the fish. All the tiers on the waterfall were teeming with fish, which were a pretty decent size and very inquisitive.

I came across some monkeys in the trees at one point who came over to inspect and got really close to the camera but I was slightly worried they might try and steal it so I was trying to keep a bit of distance. On our arrival back to the bottom of the falls we had our lunch waiting for us wrapped in little bags, which I was definitely ready for.

On the way out we got stopped by some people on a stall and a plate with my picture shoved in my face! I couldn't understand where they snapped me until I was reminded about this guy sitting near a tree on our way in shooting away and we didn't know what he was doing. I of course posed for the photo anyway as I was quite used to getting photos from random people after being approached twice by people asking if they could have their photo with me ha ha!

It was then back to the Guest house which was another 2 hour trip in the back of what I can only describe as a truck with some seating in the back a bit like an old skool mini bus but there were no doors or anything. Fortunately I couldn't see the driving because from what I have seen of Thai drivers it is sketchy to say the least.

We're off to the local market this evening and then tomorrow it's over to Ayuthaya the old capital to see a few temples and stuff before boarding an overnight train to Chang Mai, which is more than likely the next time I will be able to have time to sit on a computer and type up my shenanigans.

I Have Friends!!

2007-08-05T16:14:00.000Z

I took it easy this morning going down for breakfast at about 9.15 to have eggs on toast, fruit and some pancakes with honey. After I had set myself up for the day I went for a shower and watched TV until 11.45 as I had to check out by 12. The reason I hung around was I had to check back in at 12 to my new room that is arranged with Intrepid (the company who organise the tour I am going on).

This room was a grade down from the one I was in, but the only differences were no hair dryer and no safety box as far as I could see. I dropped off my bag and then headed out to the standing Buddha (Intharawithan), which was a short walk from my hotel. Adding to my expanding collection I took a few more photos of this enormous Buddha.

While having a look around I met a Canadian girl called Kat who invited me to join her as she had a tuk tuk waiting and it was taking her to the Marble Temple (Wat Benchamabopnit) next, which is where I was heading. As soon as I got in the tuk tuk I knew this guy was taking us on a wild goose case as he wanted to take us to the 'Lucky Buddha', which I knew from previous experience was the place they tell you how good the Thai factory is and you can get cheap suit in the sale etc etc. I told the driver I had already been and wanted to go the the Marble temple as I knew he wasn't going in the right direction but he still took us to this Buddha anyway. We both sat in the tuk tuk and said we did not want to go here as I had already seen it and to take us to the Marble Temple, which is when on cue he started to say he would take us to the 'Thai Factory' first and then to the Marble Temple - we just refused and as before the tuk tuk driver just walked off.

It was another free ride anyway but we were a bit out of the way from where we wanted to go so we decided to walk there though we did start walking in the wrong direction to start with and ended up at a market which was quite funny. There was one stall where i swear the guy must have been a TV control thief as his stall was just TV remote controls, all random and for different makes and models.

Once we got back on track it started to pour down, I was well prepared though and whipped out my umbrella, which kept me dry until I could dive under some cover. It didn't rain for long and we were just across the road from the Marble Temple anyway so went to check it out. It was still a bit wet, but the grounds that it was set in were really nice to walk around and I got a photo of me standing at the doorway to the Temple, which had to be done.

We decided to take another route back but it turned out to be pretty un-scenic so we waved down a tuk tuk driver and bargained a price for him to take us back to Kao San road, which was a good call as I was starting to feel the miles of walking I had done in my legs.

I met up with my fellow travelers on my trip at 6pm for a meeting and to ask any questions about the trip. We then all went out for dinner, but I only had a salad as I had scoffed a banana pancake at about 5. Most people went back to the hotel but a group of us decided to go for a drink before going back.

We stopped off in a bar on the Kao San road and ordered a 4 litre tower of Sangha (Thai Beer) for the four of us to share, which was kool. We watched 6the penalty shoot out for the Man U / Chelsea match then called it a night and headed back to the Hotel.

We leave in the morning at 10am for 2 hour bus trip for our first point of call.

Temples, Boats and Subways

2007-08-04T12:55:00.000Z

Today I decided to head for the Amulet Market first thing as my plan was to go and look at The Temple of Dawn, which is across the river from the market.

The Amulet Market is as the name suggests a market with hundreds of stalls selling Buddha amulets, I guess these are popular in Thailand as I have seen quite a few people with them hanging around their necks. There must be levels of quality as i spotted a few people with magnifying glasses out to inspect the carvings and intricate detail on them.

It wasn't too long before I got fed up of looking at amulets and made my way to the nearest pier to get the ferry (they call it a ferry but it only holds about 30 people) over to the Temple of Dawn.

The good thing about this temple was that you could take steps up really high and it gave a brilliant view over the river and surrounding areas. I managed to get a Japanese guy to take a photo of me then impressed him with some Japanese words ha ha! I went for the backwards method to get back down as these steps were steep and their were a few people having trouble, especially the women who were wearing skirts as there was a bit of a breeze!

Next was onto the boat down the river so I could get off at a stop nearer to the Golden Buddha temple where i was off to next. I'm pretty sure you had to pay a fee on the boat but i just got on and off and no-one noticed so it was a cheap ride for me.

When i reached the golden Buddha, there was a monk sitting on the floor in the middle doing some kind of blessing to the Thai people who entered and I was unsure about taking any photos at this point so I just sat on the nice comfy chairs and relaxed for a while. When the Thai people left i took my chance and started to snap away at the Buddha, which looked quite nice as Buddha's go.

My next planned destination was Jim Thompson's house, so I though I would give the MRT and BTS a go (both like subway lines) to get there and it was really cheap too! Fortunately for me I had my ISIC card on me (Youth Travel Card), which had my age on it as I got in for half price at 500 BHT. I had to wait a few minutes before they started a guided tour, which was the only way you could view to house so I spent that time having a look around the garden and fish pond, which had a huge stingray in?

The guide was good and explained a lot of information about the house, which was quite interesting and the house was quite nice. Once I was done i hopped on the river taxi next door and shot up the river closer to the vicinity of my hotel. I then shared a tuk tuk which a couple of Ozzie guys i met on the boat to Kao San Road and strolled back to my Hotel to freshen up.

I then went back to Kao San later to get some food and a beer and took my time to have a look at all the stalls and shops who love to get you in for a look around and promise a special price for you, but i declined.

I've found an Internet place which has Skype for I can phone home for tuppence woohoo!

Bed Trouble / Tuk Tuk Cons

2007-08-03T10:59:00.000Z

As my body clock was still out I woke up at 4.30am to discover my bed was crawling with bed bugs ahhh!!! The first I saw was a little one but when i searched my covers I found two big moma's so went on a tissue squashing mission to rid my bed of the little critters.

I was half debating whether to go and change my room, but it was 5am in the morning and I really couldn't be bothered. Fortunately I had brought my silk sleeping liner so got that out and slept in that instead - I couldn't find any more bugs but that still didn't help me get off to sleep as I was opening my eyes every couple of minutes to check the little buggers hadn't come back.

I slept through till 9am when I eventually got to sleep and shot downstairs to get some brekkie, then it was straight to the service desk to inform them of my bed bug encounter - I got my room changed, I just hope this time my bed is free of bugs!

As it was only a short walk away I headed down to have a look at the Democracy Monument first and then I planned to look at the nearby sights. You will not believe the amount of thai's that come up to you for what starts off as an innocent chat and really is them leading up to telling you to get a tuk tuk to wherever your next point of call is, I refused on a number of occassions but in the end thought I would give it a go as the tuk tuk driver was only going to charge me 20 BHT (65 BHT = 1 GBP) and said he was going to take me on this fabulous trip to different places - yea right!!

After the first stop he goes on to tell me he needs me to go and have a look in this shop for 5 to 10 mins, which is no other than a tailors as they will give him money. I just point blank refused to go and have a look at all and he got in a grump and told me to get off ha ha! Well it was a free trip on a tuk tuk anyway and it didn't take me too long to work out my bearings and head for the Wat Saket (Golden Mount) on foot!!

The Golden Mount was pretty impressive and I had to walk up a spiral set of stairs to reach the top where I had to pay a 10 BHT entrance fee so I could go up to the peak which had an awesome view over Bangkok. Shoes were not allowed so I was making sure I wasn't in the heat for too long as it was baking my feet.

I then made my way over to The Grand Palace to have a look around. This place is just covered in gold, statues and other sparkly expensive things which i took photos of. There was also a coin and precious things museum to look around and some other temple's which had thrones in which looked well nice but no photography was allowed god dammit!

Lastly I headed just around the corner from the Palace to the Wat Po (Reclining Buddha) and this was a big Buddha! The Buddha's shoes were encrusted with mother of pearl which looked pretty swish. This is one lazy Buddha hence the name the reclining Buddha as it is lyning down inside its temple which is just about big enough to fit it in.

Once i had finished at the Wat Po I started to make my way back to Kao San Road to get something to eat from a street vendor again as I was feeling quite hungry.

Bangkok

2007-08-02T10:54:00.000Z

I've touched down in Bangkok about 20 hours later from when I left to get my flight from Heathrow. Fortunately I got there in good time as getting hold of the Thai Baht I had ordered from Travelex was a bit of a fiasco as they didn't seem to have my money at the counter.

I can report back that Finnair was actually quite good as I was unsure what to expect but I had plenty of leg room which is always good. There is absolutely nothing at Helsinki airport apart from plain walls so I ended up spending my 5 hours waiting getting stuck into my Thailand book which I had not yet opened so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

I did have a bit of a panic at Helsinki though as the BA woman at Heathrow said my luggage was only tagged until Helsinki, so I went to collect it and check it back in but as you can probably guess it never turned up and I ended up waiting in a queue at customer services for ages to for them to tell me it had been transferred onto the Bangkok flight - Phew!

Anyway I managed to get a little sleep on the plane but they had PSP's to play on so that passed some of the time as the films were a bit rubbish! After I landed it seemed to take an absolute age to get through passport control and I kept finding myself in the in the position where I was debating changing queues as the other ones looked to be going down faster than mine, but then I would have been annoyed if the one I changed to took longer so I didn't bother.

It was about an hour after I landed until I got through to baggage and managed to reclaim my backpack which I had been praying would have made it to Bangkok!

I had booked a shuttle bus from the airport so I knew there would be someone waiting for me outside arrivals and by this time I was about the last person off the flight so i'm sure they were wondering where I had got too. I pushed by luggage
trolley out of the airport and spotted a short thai lady holding up a board with my name on, so I quickly gave her a wave so she knew who I was.

The transfer to my hotel 'The New World Lodge' took about 50mins and in that time I witnessed some crazy scooter/motorcyclists squeezing through the smallest gaps between cars and not much attention payed to road markings by other vehicles it was hilarious.

I finally got to the Hotel and checked in, by this time I was completely shattered and jet lagged so I decided to have a 3 hour kip before I had a shower to wake myself up again and go out this evening. My room is ok - I couldn't squeeze too much in on the photo but ive got a safety deposit box, wardbrobe, T.V, fridge, bathroom, aircon, balcony so it's not bad.

This evening I went for a wander down the the Kao San Road, which is where all the action is. It was only a 5 minute walk from the Hotel and is full of street traders selling food, drinks, massages, clothing, dvds, cds (all fake of course) and other trinkets and souvenirs.

I spent a bit of time wandering around and having a look without trying to be accusted by tailors trying to sell me a suit or stopped by beggers pleading on their hands and knees for money. After passing a few food street vendors I decided to take a plunge and go for some egg fried noodles with salad things and a spring roll, which was awesome!

Tribal Thailand

2007-07-31T09:52:00.000Z

I've got a few nights in Bangkok before I set off on a trip I have booked through a travel company called Intrepid. Im setting off on the 5th August for 15 days travelling by bus, coach, train to the places marked on the map. Im hoping that there will be some places along the way where I can jump onto a computer to update my blog!

Im planning on staying at the New World Lodge Hotel for the first few nights as this is the departure point for the trip, but I still need to confirm this so better get on with it!

Thailand Flight Details

2007-07-31T09:35:00.000Z

Departure

London to Helsinki

Wednesday 01-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: London Heathrow
Time: 10:20
Flight: AY832
Journey Time: 2 hours 55 minutes

Arrival: 01-Aug-07 @ 15:15

Helsinki to Bangkok

Wednesday 01-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: Helsinki
Time: 20:00
Flight: AY95
Journey Time: 10 hours 5 minutes

Arrival: 02-Aug-07 @ 10:05

Return

Bangkok to Helsinki

Wednesday 30-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: Bangkok
Time: 11:50
Flight: AY96
Journey Time: 10 hours 25 minutes

Arrival: 30-Aug-07 @ 18:15

Helsinki to London Heathrow

Wednesday 30-Aug-07
Airline: Finnair
Airport: Helsinki
Time: 19:30
Flight: AY835
Journey Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Arrival: 30-Aug-07 @ 20:40

The End Of An Era

2005-08-13T21:19:00.000Z

I am sad to say that I’ve come to the end of my round the world trip and am now back home in the comfort of my bedroom tapping away at my computer. Unfortunately this means Kevs Travel Blog has to come to an end :-(

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has been keeping track of my travels and reading my blog. I really appreciate it and have loved all the comments that have been posted they’ve been great.

I would also like to thank everyone I have met and made friends with on my trip (you know who you are) and I hope someday I will see you again. If I’m in your area I will let you know.

Apologies for all those people that have been anxiously waiting for some sign of life on this blog over the past few weeks, I just haven’t had the time to write or been able to find a computer due to camping across America. I have now been able to upload loads of pictures from the Trek America trip and New York so that should keep you going. It is going to take me a while to write up three weeks of my journey so I’m afraid anyone who Is waiting to read about that will have to wait a while until I get everything sorted.

I really can’t explain how good this trip has been I have had the best time ever! All of the places I’ve been, the things I’ve seen, and people I’ve met have just been unbelievable. I can honestly say it has been worth every penny and I’d definitely do it again if I had the chance!

Again Thanks to everyone who has kept an eye on my shenanigans and if you’re thinking about travelling, just do it!

Until Next Time...

2005-08-13T21:16:00.000Z

The Big Apple

2005-08-13T21:15:00.001Z

Ellis Island

2005-08-13T21:15:00.000Z

Liberty Up Close

2005-08-13T21:14:00.000Z

Liberty Island

2005-08-13T21:12:00.000Z

Manhattan

2005-08-13T21:10:00.000Z

Washington Memorial

2005-08-13T21:02:00.000Z

Central Park

2005-08-13T21:00:00.000Z

Rockefeller Centre

2005-08-13T20:59:00.000Z

The Subway

2005-08-13T20:57:00.000Z

NY Stock Exchange - Wall St

2005-08-13T20:56:00.000Z

Battery Park

2005-08-13T20:55:00.000Z

Ground Zero

2005-08-13T20:54:00.000Z

The Police Show Power

2005-08-13T20:52:00.000Z

Flat Iron Building

2005-08-13T20:47:00.000Z

Downtown NY

2005-08-13T20:45:00.000Z

Empire State Building

2005-08-13T20:43:00.000Z

New York Public Library

2005-08-13T20:42:00.000Z

Radio City

2005-08-13T20:41:00.000Z

Times Square - New York

2005-08-13T20:35:00.000Z

View From Canada

2005-08-13T20:33:00.000Z

Getting Wet In The Falls

2005-08-13T20:31:00.000Z

Maid Of The Mist

2005-08-13T20:30:00.000Z

American Falls

2005-08-13T20:26:00.000Z

Chicago At Dusk

2005-08-13T20:25:00.000Z

Buckingham Fountain

2005-08-13T20:23:00.000Z

Chicago From The Top Of Sears Tower

2005-08-13T20:21:00.000Z

Chicago River

2005-08-13T20:19:00.000Z

John Hancock Tower

2005-08-13T20:18:00.000Z

View From The Ferris Wheel On Navy Pier

2005-08-13T20:15:00.000Z

Corn Palace - Good For A Laugh

2005-08-13T20:14:00.000Z

Sunset At The Bandlands Ranch

2005-08-13T20:12:00.000Z

Ahhh A Sofa At Last

2005-08-13T20:10:00.000Z

Our Luxury Lodge In Badlands

2005-08-13T20:09:00.000Z

Uh Oh!! I Dont Think That Stone Was Supposed To Hit The Window

2005-08-13T20:07:00.000Z

Those Lands Are Bad Aren't They!