Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Jul
25

Cusco, eventually…

Did we say the journey was supposed to be 21 hours? Well it turned into an epic 38 hours in total! The bus left Lima at 330pm on the 21st July and we rolled into Cusco some 38 hours later on the 23rd July at 530am. The journey started well enough as we left Lima and we were given a nice dinner a few hours later. It wasnt until the bus stopped somewhere at 130am that the problem started. At first we thought they were changing drivers. Then we thought the drivers were maybe having an hours rest. Then at 7am we got off the bus to find we were stuck in the middle of hundreds of other coaches and lorries on a twisting dirt road. We eventually found out the road ahead was blocked by protesters. Apparently this happens a lot in Peru and this particular road had been routinely blocked over the past few weeks. Basically we were stranded with no idea of when we would be able to continue our journey. Luckily some local women had cooked up some food and had stared to sell it to anyone who was hungry. As well as this one of the truck drivers had opened the back of his truck and had started to sell the fruit he was carrying. So none of us were going to starve!

At around 5pm we heard loads of noise from the bottom of the road and could see some movement. The protesters had ended the block and had disbanded coming up the road in numbers chanting and painting all the coaches and lorries with slogans. They all seemed happy enough though and as they passed we all boarded the bus again and slowly re-started our journey. The rest of the road was quite bumpy and full of twists and turns. While Sandy slept I had started to feel quite sick and had a banging headache. When we eventually arrived in Cusco it was 530am. We got a taxi and went to the same hostal we had pre-booked with for the previous night in the hope that they would still have a room for us. Luckily they did and the guy was very nice and didn’t charge us for the previous nights no-show, it wasn’t a problem at all. We went straight to our room, unfortunately on the 3rd and top floor, and went straight to bed.

When we awoke we were both now feeling quite sick and lethargic. We went to walk around Cusco to find some place to eat but this was proving to be such an effort. Eventually we realised it must be the altitude! We were now at around 3700 metres above sea level (abs), and bar one crazy night in 1989, the highest I had ever been! We were walking like very slow zombies and it wasn’t until after a forced breakfast that we started to feel OK again. I think the delay on the bus had helped us acclimatise a bit as the next day we felt fine, if still a bit out of breath upon climbing the steep steps around town.

Cusco is a lovely city. OK it is very touristy, but its such a charming place with it’s cobbled streets sprouting from the central Plaza de Armas. You have to put up with the constant hawking of paintings and other Artesan but the hawkers are pleasant and you soon get used it all. The first thing we did was book up on a ‘city’ tour which to my disappointment wasn’t really a city tour but more a surrounding area tour. It took in most of the surrounding inca ruins but was very rushed and included way too many ‘markets’ for our liking. If we were to do it again I think we would do it on our own. This way you could spend more time at the actual archaeological sites (we had maybe 30 minutes tops) and less time at the tourist markets buying Alpaca and Llama hats and jumpers!

Next up we booked a 5 day/ four night trek to Macchu Pichu, taking in the Salkantay pass on the way. This would be the highest yet at 4650m abs! Time to get some rest, it’s an early start in the morning and we’ve got some laundry to pick up…

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lion
on Jul 25 2009
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Mar
28

Happy Birthday Nicki!!

It was lovely to spk to you earlier, and little Feilx, though he’s sounds like a big boy now! Enjoy your day and have fun… thinking of you all from Luang Prabang xxx

my-buddah.jpg

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on Mar 28 2009
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Mar
01

Singapore, and following spurs abroad

We took the overnight train from Kuala Lumpur and arrived in Singapore at 8am. We decided to walk across town to our hotel. stopping for some breakie on the way . We had some nice dim sum from a food court, all the locals seemed to be eating there so we thought it was a good bet. It didn’t disappoint, I tried the “apparently” special local dim sum which was a large white dumpling with BBQ pork in the middle… Delicious! I’d been looking out for some bbq pork buns that I get back home in London’s China town but havent found any so far. These dumplings are the closest thing yet.

It was about another 20 minutes walk to the Hotel but it was a pleasant walk through a good cross section of town. From China town to the CBD followed by some market streets. On the way we saw lots of groups practicing yoga and Tai-Chi, a good way to start the day but looking at some of the postures they were getting into we started to feel our stiff limbs from the overnight train.

The hotel (Empire Residence) was quite nice, friendly staff but the room was tiny, the smallest room we’ve had so far. The decor was straight from a Ikea catalogue, but the only one with orthopedic mattress. Clean and comfortable, just what you want when away from home. Anways, after settling in, we hit the road, checking out the temples and not to forget…The mighty hotspurs are playing tonight, so we are on a mission to find a bar/pub that will show the game. After consulting the guys at our hotel and also a few locals we eventually found a hot spot with big screen telly not far from Sim Lim Square. Lionel was all geared up with his brand spanking new Spurs top that I had spotted in Kuala Lumpur. Yes, it was an original item and because it had Pavlyuchencko’s name on it, it was the most expensive (costing 4 Ringgit per letter, you do the maths…) anyway it was the only Tottenham shirt that we have seen anywhere on our journeys so Lionel had to have it. It was an early Birthday present so! - [eh? I wasnt told that at the time! - Lion].

Spurs V Man Utd in the Carling Cup

So the place we found was called KopiTiam and as it goes it turned out to be a great venue. Not only was the place open 24hrs and serving some nice food and drink, but because I was wearing The Spurs shirt I met “KlinsWan“!
I only found this out afterwards but he wasnt going to watch the game here until he saw a guy wearing a Spurs shirt!
He quickly sat down, said cheers, and we immediately got to talking about The mighty Spurs! And yes his nickname is inspired by the legend that is Jurgen Klinsman, nutter*!! It made for a really special evening, or night what with the GMT+8. And yes we were the only Spurs fans there, surrounded by Man Utd fans. I was certain we would have the last word and I must say all the Man Utd fans did seem nervous, and very quiet as usual, and rightly so as we put in a good performance (Spurs, not me and “KlinsWan“, although we gave it our best) that should have won the game. As usual though Utd rode their luck and had the edge in the penalty shootout and we lost the Carling Cup.

*They really are mad for their footy here, and mostly the English Premiership. Most shirts you see are Man Utd followed by Liverpool then Chelsea and the odd gooner shirt. Glory hunters the lot of them! So, Klinswan son I salute you, you made the right choice. The righteous path, the path of light, not darkness. You havent sold your soul to win at all costs, to applaud players like Ronaldo in all their gamesmanship… End rant ;)

I can’t explain it but whenever I see another Spurs shirt in these foreign lands I’m like a hunting dog whose just got the scent of a trail. My ears prick up, my heartbeat increases and I run towards them and embrace them. You know what, they love it - that’s what it’s all about to support Spurs, especially on these foreign shores!

Singapore has a slightly different vibe than both Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. It doesnt seem to have the seedy underbelly that both those places have and it’s very very clean. People are so friendly here and they seem genuinely so. A few times we have stopped to look at a map and every-time someone has said hello and offered their help. In KL and Thailand you get the impression that most of the politeness is superficial. Waiter’s and waitress’s say “Thank you so much” and all you’ve done is sit down! Its been great to experience the differences and subtleties of all the cultures and day to day life. Singapore has been great but it’s back to Bangkok in the morning to get back to our orginal schedule.

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lion
on Mar 1 2009
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Feb
21

Langkawi for a few days

We took a short taxi ride from the hotel and just missed the ferry. It was one of those situations where you could actually see the ferry pulling out of the port! Not to worry though, at least we could relax and get a decent breakfast while waiting until 1:30pm for the next one, which we were certain not to miss!

Landing at Langkawi after immigration you are confronted by loads of taxi drivers and guides asking you a thousand questions about “where you’re staying”, “what your plans” are and how you should “do some Island hopping” … I mean, we’ve just landed on this one!
As always we tell them we’re fine and are all booked up with both a lift and a hotel, which of course is a lie but we hate being rushed into accepting a taxi, hotel or tour without sussing out the scene first. So we just got some coffee and cakes and sat down at a table and watched the port clear of our fellow travellers while going through our guide book and planning our next move.

Finally we decided to go to Cenang beach and find a place to stay. We were told it was “low season” so werent too worried about finding anywhere “cheap” to stay. The first place we tried (the Melati Motel) was a little expensive at 75Ringgits (15GBP) so we went off to find something a little cheaper. We were a little dismayed to find the next two places we tried had no rooms available! The horror!! We started to feel the incessant heat and the sweat started to pour down as we soon found out it was still in “High season”! 
After trying several more places we eventually went back to the first place, The Melati Motel,and booked up for the night on the agreement that they moved us into a beach fronted appartment in the morning. I’m sure they could sense our desperation!

Settled in, we took a stroll (more relaxed now!) and explored the beach, some places to eat and some bars. I was particularly looking forward to sampling the very cheap beer on offer, until I found out that it was mainly Carlsberg, skol (strange choice!), Heineken or tins of Tiger - I guess you can’t have everything,  I was being spoiled in Thailand with the lovely cold Singha! Still at 2Ringgits a pop you can’t really argue!

The next day we moved on to a different place to stay, mainly as the Melati Motel upped the price for the beach apartment overnight to 100 Ringgits. Eventually we found a lovely Motel on the much quieter Tenang beach15 minutes walk away. And not only cheaper at 59 Ringgits but a hell of a lot cleaner, with a power shower and proper western style toilets! How you miss the simple things in life - if youve ever been forced to use the Asian style squat toilets you’ll be nodding along with me now!

Again settled in, we explored our new surroundings. The beach was much closer and it was all less touristy with more local foodhalls at the prices we like!
We were about to take a dip in the sea, whch was lovelly and warm, when a lady just got stung by a Jelly fish. Her calf was covered in red and white spots that looked a lot like our mozzie bites only bigger and very painful! So we backed away from the sea and took a stroll instead, looking at all the Jelly fish. There were loads of them everywhere, some huge but most about the size of a melon. Lovely beach but the Jelly fish spoiled it a bit.

Next we went to hire a scooter but unfortunately being too honest with our lack of experience they wouldnt let us have one  so we hired a car instead and took off to the other side of the Island to check out the Bat cave. It turned out that you couldnt just go to see the bat cave you had to take a two hour tour that included The Bat Cave, a  floating fish farm, a Crocodile cave, Eagle feeding and a short trip out on the open sea.

Out of all of it the Eagle feeding was the best. The boat man threw in some chicken skins, twirled them around with the out board motor then sat back and watched as around 50 Eagles started swooping down for the chicken skins. It really was amazing to see so many of these birds having a good feed.

The worst bit of the tour was the Crocodile cave. It wasnt until we were through the cave, which in itself was only about 20yards long, and after several questions from Sandra about “wheres the crocs..?” that the boat man revealed there werent actually any crocodiles in or near the cave. In fact, there never has been! I wish I had taken a photo of Sandras face!!

Later we were talking to some other tour guides and they suggested we take a boat tour to see the Bat caves etc… when they mentioned the Crocodile cave we had a lengthy discussion, instigated by Sandra, about why, if theres no Crocodiles, is it called “Crocodile Cave” - we still don’t know!  

Next up we went to see some waterfalls. Apart from not much water flowing down, these were both pretty good. Mainly for the much needed exercise. We had to walk up a very steep set of steps, which after a few months of doing minimal exercise we thoroughly enjoyed! At the top there was a lovely refreshing pool where we were able to have a dip. We then took another climb up to The Seven Wells. I think this was the top of the waterfall? The climb was longer and steeper than the first one but we relished feeling ‘the burn’ as we passed a group of Italians on the way up, they were doing more talking than walking ;)

At the top there were indeed 7 wells and we had another dip. The water was colder and more refreshing. Much needed after the climb up. Suddenly we saw loads of monkeys coming towards us. They looked quite small and cute and where gray in colour but I’ve got to say it, we were a tad scared! We decided the best tactic would be to ignore them and try and concentrate on the view. Where were those Italians?? I half turned my head expecting to see the monkeys right behind us but they had jumped into the bins by the side and were just looking for food. Or maybe they just wanted to play with the tin cans they threw out of the bin, anyway the main thing was they werent going to pick on us! Suddenly they all scurried off into the trees as the Italians had made it up to the top. Phew, we relaxed and tried to act cool, still having a dip in the pool! On reflection It was a shame we didnt watch the monkeys more but hey we’re just stoopid tourists and still very green with free range mammals!

On the way back down we noticed the monkeys again and this time we tried to be less frightened. It was quite amazing to see how many monkeys there were. At the top there had been just around 5 of them but now we could see them in every tree and a lot more were on the ground walking to the edge of the palf we were on. Back at the bottom we spotted two monkeys sitting calmly in a tree when all of a sudden one of them atacked the other and for the next few minutes they were jumping from branch to branch and tree to tree chasing each other. It looked quite viscious, but not knowing much about the monkey world they could have been playing? It was very cool though to see them jump across the palf we were on, they were very close to our heads and we were covered in falling leaves and branches a they dissappeared into the woods.

On the drive back we found a lovely place to eat. Very nice noodles again, with fried squid, all very very fresh! One thing’s for sure we’ll never go hungry on this trip! Thus ended a nice tour of Langkawi. We’re off to Kuala Lumpur in the morning.

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lion
on Feb 21 2009
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Feb
19

Langkawi in the morning

Ko Samui was Ok. Two nights was about right for us. It had a lovely beach (Changwei) but was all very touristy (Loads of Germans, and I mean lots of them - but thats no bad thing!!) and it was really built up. Quite expensive restaurants with loads of tailors trying to sell you a suit and the usual knocked off gear. We were staying a good 15minute walk in land of the beach at Nids Bungalows. These were very nice actually and we couldnt argue with the price, 450 baht per night which is around 8 GBP! but there wasnt much else to do there.

So we’ve left the island and had a long days travelling by ferry(1.5hours), bus (1.5hours) then mini bus (5hours, and for avid readers that’s another CHAPA/MATATU!!!) followed by 2 hours on a local bus before ending up in Satun (pronounced Storn) for the night with the idea to get a ferry in the morning to Langkawi, another island but in Malaysia. Sandras been before and it sounds lovely. It’ll be interesting to see how it’s changed as she was there 6 years ago. Hopefully it’s as nice as she remembers, and if so, We’re hoping to spend a bit of time relaxing there as we’ve been doing a lot of travelling recently and it would be nice to stay still for a few days.

On another note we’ve hunted down the “live for a king on under $10 a day” myth and its true! we have truly found how to eat well and for cheap, cheap prices. You have to watch where the locals eat and go there. Get rid of the western ideals of sitting down inside a restaurant and stop by the roadside or under that corrigated iron shack, sit sown and order what you like. In our case, anything with fried noodle seems to work a treat and you get delivered a freshly cooked fantastically tasty meal. I think we’ve got it down now and have been having top tasty meals for around 1GBP for the two of us - finally LIVING THE DREAM!!!

When we touched down in Satun we were left on a main busy road. We saw the first hotel and dived in. we were given a key and told to view the room so we proceeded up 3 flights of stairs, very steep stairs actually and the whole hotel felt more like an estate with locals lurking around between floors. We werent feeling good about the place. Sandra need the toliet badly so we had already decided that we’d just use the loos then leave. We quickly tried to open the door. To our dismay I turned the key only to find I twisted it off in the lock - the damn thing had melted! In horror we bolted down the stairs and tried to explain to the Lady that the key had broken and all she could say was “You pay for damage”! Jeez, I’m telling you a vein appeared on my temple as I (with a smile, remembering the guide book advice!) hastily showed her the key up close and explained theres no way any human could have done this to a key! I swear the thing looked as if it had been melted off! We left her holding the thing and shot off down the road. I think someone was smiling on us as we found a lovely restaurant (local!) and had a drink and some food. The lady there showed us a nice hotel around the corner and all was good. 200 baht (4GBP) for the night with easy access to get the ferry tomorrow morning, I think we’ll both sleep well tonight! Till next time…

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on Feb 19 2009
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Dec
21

internet cafes are few and far between!

Thats not to say we havent found any, its just they havent been the best. There are also frequent powercuts that don’t help. This is mainly in the smaller places such as Maxixe, Inhambane and Vilankulos. So needless to say we’ve found it hard to update the ‘blog’!
Hope all’s well with you and below is a brief summary of the trip so far…

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lion
on Dec 21 2008
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Dec
01

And, we’re off

Great night last night (sat 29th) [check the gallery] - Our last night in a pub. I tried to make the most of it! The landlord was flowing and it was fantastic to get most of our close friends and family together. There’s something special about having a boozer to yourself. All the punters are your mates, can’t beat it. Big thanks to all who came. [especially long lost cousins and sisters etc... oh and a guest appearance from the man from OZ!] We had a great night! Anyway, this could be the last post before we go, phone gets cut off in the morning, so we’ll say good bye to youse and the cold and hopefully a big hello to the hot hot hot of Mozambique very soon… Yippee-kay-aye xxx!

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lion
on Dec 1 2008
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