al_fey's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

al_fey's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member al_fey on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/al_fey en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:48:31 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com Day 47 - Phnom Penh to Battambang — Battambang, Cambodia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1192723440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1192723440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1192723440/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:48:31 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Battambang, Cambodia

After 2 terrible night's sleep I finally lost the plot and dragged Ray from reception up to our room to show him that it was like a sauna and the air con was making no difference whatsoever... This guy was much more helpful than the moron yesterday, and offered us the room next door to sleep in, and we could leave all our stuff in our old room to save any fuss. The room next door was a positive paradise of cool temperature (i.e. the air con actually WORKED!), and we were asleep minutes after hitting the pillow. How I wish that I'd kicked off two days ago! Sadly we couldn't enjoy it for long, with a 6am alarm call, to pack for our bus journey to Battambang. The bus itself was surprisingly ok, decent air con, decent leg room, and a very boistrous driver, who was like a Cambodian John Prescott turned up to 11. He spent most of the journey shouting at someone or other, and despite my lack of sleep and having no clue what he was ranting about, I found him quite entertaining. We arrived in Battambang an hour later than we were advised yesterday, but there appears to be absolutely bugger all here so that's not a disaster. As usual we were mobbed by the 'hotel pimps' when we got off the bus, screaming and shouting and thrusting brochures in our faces, just what you need after a long bus journey... We plumped for the grandly-named Royal Hotel, and after some UN-esque negotiating we agreed on an air-con double room with tv and en suite for US$ 10. This time we checked the air con before handing the money over, and all seems well. After that we went for some "Smoking Pot" action (it's a restaurant parents, don't panic!), where the only people working there appeared to be a 5 year old girl who was cleaning the floor, and an 8 year old boy who was washing the tables. Hmmmm, we thought, child labour seems to be de riguer ici... Eventually their Dad showed himself (presumably before Social Services closed them down), but he still entrusted the young lad to take our orders, while the cute little girl harrangued her Father to cough up for her hard work! My beef green curry was very tasty, and Katie had the same dish as the other day (fish amok curry), but you would never have known it, it looked totally different... We washed them down with some LUSH fruit juices, and waddled back to the hotel to catch up on email/news. There really is nothing much to see here, and despite Lonely Planet trying to convince us that it's a "charming sleepy colonial town", that would be a bit like describing Dudley as a "charming sleepy midlands town". It's EXTREMELY boring. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Battambang colonial" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1192723440.battambang-colonial.jpg"> The most impressive building is an art-deco monstrosity which is used as the central market. Delightful. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Battambang market" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1192723440.battambang-market.jpg"> Oh, and there's a dirty river. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Battambang river" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1192723440.battambang-river.jpg"> The only reason we've come here is to take a scenic river boat tomorrow up to Siem Riep, the gateway to the magnificent 12th Century temples of Angkor Wat. Katie read that this is supposed to be the nicest river journey in Cambodia, so we thought we'd give it a go. It's US$ 15 each, which is expensive for rural Cambodia, but good value elsewhere. We'll have dinner on the river tonight, Katie has spied some poncey cocktail bar type affair in the guidebook, but as there seems to be nothing else here of interest then we'll give it a go. Popped out to catch the sunset over that special market again (!), which is a rather sad endightment on the sights of Battabang! <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Battambang sunset" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1192723440.battambang-sunset.jpg"> It turned out that Katie's dinner choice was actually some distance away, so we jumped on the back of a couple of motorcycle taxis ("motos") and were there really quickly. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Moto ride" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1192723440.moto-ride.jpg"> The food was basic but good and it was a nice place to chill out and prepare for tomorrow, even if there were loads of biters (mosquitos) buzzing around... <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Battambang dinner" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1192723440.battambang-dinner.jpg"> I guess that we'd better get used to early starts because we'll need to get up VERY early in Angkor Wat to beat the tourist invasion. Bloody tourists! ;) Ok, will leave it there so enjoy your Fridays and have a great weekend! Lots of love, Al & Katie xx  
]]> Day 34 - Phu Quoc island — Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191654060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191654060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191654060/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:46:48 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam

This will be a very short post because we plan to do absolutely nothing today! Unfortunately our bodies are now programmed to wake up early after all our recent tours, so at 7am we were both wide awake, so we went for (a dreadful) breakfast, over which I eventually managed to persuade Katie to play tennis with me. We booked a court for 10am, by which time the sun had burnt off the clouds so it was absolutely BOILING hot on centre court, as the Suffolk Legend Al Feyderer took on Miss Warrington, Miss Katie Jean-King... Of course it was much too hot to be running around (it must be over 30 degrees here at the moment), so we had some decent rallies, a very nice and very unexpected half-time cold towel, and eventually it turned into what was basically sun-bathing with tennis rackets! After that bit of exercise we showered and hit the beach, before deciding to sun ourselves on our little balcony. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Phu Quoc 1" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191654060.phu-quoc-1.jpg"> Predictably I was bored stiff after an hour, so hence why I'm posting this while Katie burns to a crisp on the beach... <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="PQ KT" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191654060.pq-kt.jpg"> The plan for this afternoon is.... erm.... b*gger all, and this evening we will mostly be doing..... absolutely zilcho ;) With views like this hopefully you can't really blame us. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="PQ 8" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191654060.pq-8.jpg"> There are some Premier League games on at 7 & 10pm today (hopefully it's the same tomorrow with Liverpool v Spurs - COME ON YOU RED MEN), so I can't wait to just sit on the bed and watch some English football. Hopefully Liverpool will play rather better than we did against Marseille, which was an absolute disgrace! Ok, I'll leave it there for now, hope you're all enjoying your weekends? Oh, forgot to say that I'd better try to watch the egg-chasing later as the current WORLD CHAMPIONS England take on Australia in the World Cup 1/4 finals. COME ON BOYS! Sadly I suspect that the Aussies will beat us, but as a bloke fond of white vests, designer stubble and lewd behaviour in public lavatories used to sing: "you've got to have faith" (ker-chung, ke-chung)... (Later) Good work, I was able to watch us beat the Aussies in the rugby! We dominated them even if Johnny Wilko missed a hatfull of penalties, so we should have absolutely wiped the floor with them. It will also make my time in Australia MUCH more enjoyable now that I can taunt the locals that we've done them twice in a row at the World Cup! Tremendous ;) Sadly none of the channels here were showing the second footie game and we missed the first game because we went to find some food outside our resort, which turned out to be a COMPLETE waste of time. We walked for about 30 minutes into 'town', but it had nothing even resembling a nice restaurant, and the resort next door was like a ghost-town. We also tried walking up to the other resorts further awat from our hotel, but after another 15 mins walking down what was essentially a dirt track with no lighting and no torch we gave up and settled on some sushi in the Japanese restaurant back at our place instead. <img class="yui-img" alt="Dinner" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191654060.dinner.jpg">Katie has had a few experiences over here with supposedly "meat free" dishes actually containing meat, and last night we ordered some "vegetable garden rolls" which ended up having shrimp and PORK! Hellllllllo... You literally have to check the ingredients of every dish before you order, you can't even rely on dishes that they label "vegetarian". Most of the staff here don't speak good English (even if it is much better than our Vietnamese), so that's much easier said than done... It's a bit of a lottery. That said, the sushi was really good, if very expensive, but it was nice to have a bit of 'luxury' for a change. <img alt="Sushi" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191654060.sushi.jpg">I saw that Man Utd thrashed Wigan 4-0 to go top, looks like they're finally going through the gears and looking ominous. I don't see much 'squad rotation' in their team, Rafa?! After dinner we retired to bed, ready for another hard day's sunbathing tomorrow! lots of love, Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 33 - HCMC to Phu Quoc island — Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191581100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191581100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191581100/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:45:27 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam

We had a nice lie-in today, got up at 8am, collected our laundry (which didn't come back stained for once and was even folded!), packed our bags and went out for some breakfast. We went back to a bar/cafe we ate at the other day, and had a decent bowl of noodle soup which seems to be the done thing for breakfast over here. We then got our latest photos copied onto CD (which we're trying to do every week or so to avoid any more photo disasters), caught up on some email, paid our hotel bill and caught a taxi to the airport. The traffic in HCMC is bloody horendous, so both of us were getting a bit twitchy in the taxi that we were going to be too late for our flight, but we made the check-in time with 10 mins to spare, and caught our flight to Phu Quoc island without any other dramas. The plane was a 50 seater twin propeller, and we had some nice patches of turbulence en route to the island which made it all a bit like a theme park ride, but we touched down safely in one piece. However, I must say that we were somewhat concerned when the plane completely overshot the island and seemed to be getting lower & lower and closer & closer to the ocean, but finally it curved around and approached the airport from the opposite direction. Phu Quoc looked lovely from the air, nice thin strips of beach and clear evidence that 80% of the island is still forested and very undeveloped, which was just what we wanted. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="Phu Quoc from plane" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191581100.phu-quoc-from-plane.jpg"> After collecting our bags we were collected by the hotel bus, and were delighted to see that the obese German lesbians from our flight were staying at the same resort as us. Result! At least they'd make us feel better in our swimming gear by the pool ;) The resort itself is quite nice for US $25/night. We have a little cottage 5 metres from the beach, close to the pool & a couple of hotel restaurants. We went for a quick walk up the beach, which had lovely soft sand, palm trees and - even better - there was hardly anyone else around. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="PQ 2" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191581100.pq-2.jpg"> We grabbed some lunch by the pool, which was pretty mediocre and noticeably more expensive than our time in Vietnam so far, then stripped down to our beach gear and were soon out on the sun loungers to enjoy the last couple of hours of sun before it got dark.  We've been checking the forecast every day since we booked our flights here a couple of weeks ago, and despite the warnings of typhoons & tropical storms we had sunshine when we arrived, even if it did get a bit patchy later. After roasting in the sun (not a la Kieron Dyer), we retired to our room and grabbed some Zs. I woke up just in time to catch the sunset, which was beautiful. <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="PQ 4" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191581100.pq-4.jpg"> <img class="yui-img" border="0" alt="PQ 7" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191581100.pq-7.jpg"> While Katie was sleeping I went off to amuse myself, and after that (boom boom) I went to find the 'billiards table' advertised in their brochure. The staff's English here is pretty terrible, nearly as bad as my Vietnamese, so after a challenging game of charades and the staff telling me everything I DIDN'T want to know, from the time of the tours to what was for breakfast, before finally bringing me a bottle of water (!), I finally learnt that there was a games room near the tennis courts. The tennis courts look great, so Katie will be mostly be entertaining me on there some time tomorrow (she doesn't know that yet), and the games room was also well-stocked. They have 2 pool tables, table football, a small gym and some random computer game with real table tennis bats wired up, like a pre-historic Nintendo Wii or something. Weird. There was one poor member of staff sat by himself watching tv looking bored out of his mind when I arrived, and as soon as I walked in he was up like an excited puppy, asking if he could play pool with me! As most of you will know I always fancy myself as a bit of a pool shark, so off went the glasses and on went the 'game face'. I wasn't wearing my contacts, but I thought I could take him down, he looked about 14! I was a bit concerned when my new little friend pulled out a weird little 3 fingered silk glove for his bridge hand, which made him look ominously like a pro, but it also made me want to beat him even more. "All the gear, no idea" ;) He was a good player, but he was also a little sh*t. If I had an important shot he'd stand RIGHT over the pocket, which always drives me mad, and he was full of gamesmanship, which always gets my blood pumping. It's sad when a decent player resorts to cheap tactics like that. Anyway, suffice to say that after he threatened to wipe the floor with me at 2-4, I came to win 5-4, ending with a 4 ball clearance and a doubled reverse black to break his heart. Legend! God that felt good :) Throughout the hour-long game I was a bit concerned that Katie would have woken up, gone to find me and got a bit worried when I wasn't in any of the bars or restaurants, but I needn't have worried as she was still out stone cold when I got back to the room! We went out for some dinner (I had some DISGUSTING juice made with a local plum, which sucked all the moisture out of your mouth, it was like eating sand!), then we went back to crash, and ended up watching some weird film about a boy golfer that I'd never heard of before. We drifted off to sleep listening to the waves crashing against the beach outside, both feeling the stress of our recent constant travelling leaving our bodies. We are REALLY forward to the next 2 days of chilling on our tropical island paradise, and enjoying our first beach experience since leaving London. Lots of love, Al & Katie xx 
]]> Day 36 - Phu Quoc island — Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191819960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191819960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191819960/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:43:29 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam

This was our last full day on the island, and we awoke to sunshine and a light breeze... perfect! After the usual buffet breakfast (I discovered some fantastic mini pots of frozen yoghurt today, oh what might have been), we liberally applied our sun cream, and started sunbathing. This is the view from outside our room, nice eh?<img class="yui-img" alt="View from our room" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191819960.view-from-our-room.jpg">After about six and a half minutes I was bored stiff, so went off to amuse myself by looking at the Liverpool online message boards, and doing various other random activities to pass the time. After lunch I managed to coerce Katie into another game of monster chess, and miraculously she enjoyed it so much that we had another three. She even beat me in the 3rd game, but only because I stopped her making about 5 suicidal moves. ;) After that we did a bit more sun-worshipping, and prepared ourselves for our 4pm massages on the beach, which Katie had booked after breakfast. I was surprised (amazed) and a little nervous with Katie's reaction when I asked her "what kind of massage are we having?" and she replied by shrugging her shoulders with indifference. Normally she would have very carefully selected the Indonesian oyster ear massage or something equally random... Sure enough, the two girls that walked towards us in the massage area hardly inspired confidence, they looked like cleaners with behavioural issues. By the standard of their massages, I realised that they probably were! They were bloody AWFUL!! Katie's masseuse in particular had her in agony, managing to pinch her skin to the point of applying friction burns! Unbeknown to Katie, I was also going through my own personal hell, courtesy of my ear problems. For the last week or so I've been sleeping on 4 or 5 pillows, or even trying to sleep sitting up, because whenever my head goes down to the same level as my heart, or if it tilts right or left, my ears 'cloud over' and I feel a bubble of pressure in my right ear, followed by a very sharp pain. It isn't much fun. When Katie booked the massages I didn't realise that this would mean that my head would need to be down at the same level as my chest, so I would be in agony. I probably should have stopped the massage after a few minutes and sat up, but I endured the pain, and hoped that my body would appreciate the muscle manipulation so much that it forgot about my ear problem. We also managed to book the massages at 4pm, the ONLY time of day that the sun shines perfectly through the front of the massage hut, covering both beds! We'd both just showered, so had washed off all our sun cream, expecting that the hut would be in shade. Miraculously I escaped the usual "Al + sun - suncream = lobster" equation, and got away with a gentle pink colour on my back, it could have been much worse. The massage itself was cheap, and boy did we get what we paid for. Katie told me afterwards that she very nearly told her masseuse to stop and "forget about it" on a few occassions. Her girl really must have been bad for Katie to consider cutting short a bit of luxury! <img alt="Sunset" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191819960.sunset.jpg">After this unplanned exertion we took a much-needed 40 winks, and surfaced in time to grab some dinner in the restaurant, which this time included some DELICIOUS "fish fingers". I think that someone in the Birds Eye company must have visited Asia 30 years ago and tried some of these local delicasies and thought "what a great idea, let's make a very cheap copy with 3rd rate ingredients and flog them to Brits, we'll make a fortune!". They were unlike any fish finger that I've had before, I could have eaten about 20 of them, they were LUSH. After that knockout starter, I then had a "Mexican pizza", mainly because it was the most random thing on the menu (chilli con carne on a pizza base anyone?!), yet it was actually surprisingly good... We finished off with a couple of '333' ("ba-ba-ba") beers, which is our favourite Vietnamese beer, and went home to pack for tomorrow's early flight back to Ho Chi Minh City. Lots of love, Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 35 - Phu Quoc island — Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191723900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191723900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1191723900/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:34:33 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Phu Quoc Island, Kiến Giang, Vietnam

Again we woke up early today (about 5 hours earlier than we would normally get up on a Sunday back home!) and had the buffet breakfast, which was MUCH better today as some pancakes & maple sauce materialised, mmmmm.... As was very predictable, I'm getting a bit bored of sitting down doing nothing all day, so I'm going on a walk up the beach to the other resorts later, while Katie tops up her tan. Again ;) <img class="yui-img" alt="PQ beach 2" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191723900.pq-beach-2.jpg">We had a couple of strong rainfalls yesterday and both came in really quickly. One minute we were on the beach with sun shining, the next the wind really started blowing, which always seems to signal rain here. Sure enough as soon as we got inside it started chucking it down, yet an hour later the sun was out again. <img alt="PQ beach" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1191723900.pq-beach.jpg">It was the same thing last night, we were eating sushi on the balcony of the restaurant when suddenly in rushed a waiter to say "rain coming, move please" and practically pushing us inside, carrying our food! Sure enough, a few seconds later it was belting down, and after the meal we had a nice wet walk/run back to our room. No sign of rain yet today, so I'll probably go off to amuse myself, there are some golf driving nets here somewhere, some chipping baskets and also a petanque pit, which should be enough to keep me occupied for a while! (Later) You will be absolutely thrilled to learn that this afternoon produced what must rank as one of the finest pool table performances in the history of Phu Quoc island! The Islington Ice Man (this time wearing contact lenses) took on the Pride of Phu Quoc, who was desparate to avenge his narrow loss from yesterday... The slightly porky Suffolk Legend took the initiative, roaring into a 4-0 lead, before the young hustler pulled one back. Fey san then produced a veritable cornucopia of shots of exquisite beauty to take an unassailable 8-1 lead. The watching ants could only wave their tiny limbs to applaud some a majestic performance, and the young pretender left the room a broken man. Unfortunately he obviously went straight to the best pool player on the staff and told him to come and play me, because another challenger soon appeared, intent on reversing my fortunes. (As you can see, there's not much to report today, so feel free to skip to the end!) This new guy was a bit tasty, taking a shock 2-0 lead against our ginger & grey haired hero... However, back came the Bury Bruiser to level it at 2-2. This best of 9 match looked like it was going right to the wire. The Vietnam Viper edged the fifth, spawned the sixth, and stood on the presipice of a sweet victory with 4-2 lead... Somehow the Thurston Tornado fought back again, re-focussing and taking the match to it's inevitable sudden-death decider at 4-4. The ants held their breath, the sun shone in a strangely distracted manner, the wind even stopped to watch the outcome of this titanic struggle. East against West. Vietnam against England. 20s against 30s. Skinny Sam against Lardy Larry. An epic battle on so many levels, but who would finish as champion?! Fey the Fearless broke off, his balabushka break sending balls flying everywhere around the table, apart from in the pockets... D'OH! The Viper took advantage, knocking in a 4 ball break, but leaving a loose safety to let the nervous Londoner in. To and fro the battle raged for a couple of minutes, until a missed stripe gave Suffolk's Finest his chance. There was absolutely mercy offered, bang bang, he shot him down, bang bang, he hit the ground, bang bang, that awful sound, bang bang.... Ali baby shot him down. So my domination of the pool table continued, but no doubt I'll be back to find that they've flown Jimmy White over or something! After my pool table exertions (Katie was shockingly indifferent to my tales of glory on the green beize?!), I talked my beautiful wife into playing me at chess. Yes, I was that bored. The cool thing is that they have this huge chess set by the beach, the pieces are all about 2 ft high! It was a rather painful game (Katie hasn't played since school and had forgotten all the rules), but it was another tense thriller. I'll spare you the details this time though ;) In a minute we're going to go for a wander up the beach, to see the other resorts on this main part of the island and to hopefully find somewhere new for dinner tonight. (Later) This island is officially one of the weirdest places I've ever seen in my life! As we walked up the beach we passed a number of resorts & hotels which were in a state of total disrepair. Roofs had been blown off (presumably), walls had fallen over, beach chairs were chipped or rusting... yet we're only 3 weeks away from 'peak' season, and all of the resorts here have just doubled their prices, from 1st October?! Maybe all the owners repair any problems before the high (dry) season, and then just leave them to rot in the off/rainy season?! It's bizarre. Phu Quoc is neither a 'resort' island, nor an island for seeing 'nature'. It somehow manages to attempt both, yet achieves neither. The crumbling buildings up the beach are interspersed with wood & metal shacks inhabited with very poor islanders, which are literally located next door to '4 star' resorts. The beaches have no-one on them, yet they're lovely. The water is warm and the waves are good, yet there's no-one here to swim or surf. Business people have clearly invested money here in the past, yet as the rest of the country goes into Tourist Overdrive, Phu Quoc island seems to do absolutely nothing, not even repairing the damage from the season before? What's going on here? There are signs of re-building, but the workers are more likely to sit around smoking and talking than actually working, it's like no-one cares, and even stranger, like no-one is trying to make any money. After a 2 hour walk and a fantastically brief but heavy rain shower, we got back to our resort, thoroughly confused at what we'd seen. We agreed that it is like a ghost town, as if the locals had deserted the place years ago, leaving full bottles of spirits in a beach bar that had no roof?! We also saw uncovered pool tables covered in rain, due to the holes in the ceilings above them. Very, very strange... When we got back to our resort, it was with a new found respect and happiness. We were happy that we appeared to be in the nicest (and cheapest?!) location on the island, so we settled into some beach chairs to kill a bit of time before dinner. We watched another stunning sunset, and grabbed a bit of kip after our walk along the sand, which was quite tiring. I REALLY wanted to watch the Premier league football games, and Katie was tired, so we decided to order room service for the first time. Sadly none of the channels had the football, so we watched a TERRIBLE Keanu/Bullock movie called 'The Lake House', which is probably the worst waste of celluloid that it's ever been my misfortune to watch. Of course Katie wouldn't let me swithc channels to find anything else, but even she admitted it was awful, she just didn't want to miss the end! The only other thing on was the South Africa v Fiji rugby game on the French channel (has it come to this?!), which I watched sporadically before the film started. The Springboks flirted with embarrassment but ultimately squeezed past the pacific islanders, who probably only have about 30 people on the island who play rugby anyway?! South Africa appear to have a nice easy route to the final, against Argentina, that rugby collusus... See you in the final then Rui! ;) England v France in the other semi-final should be an incredible game, I can't wait. I just have a HORRIBLE feeling that it's being played on the day of Milly's wedding... as is our Euro football qualifier against Estonia, I think?! Grrrrrrrrrrreat... It was good to have another nice chilled day after our recent long bus journeys, so we have one last full day tomorrow before flying back to HCMC. From there we fly to Hong Kong, to catch our low-cost flight back to London, and our friend Milly's wedding.  (Later) It was great to see that the Mighty Reds managed to scrape a late equaliser in injury time at home against Spurs, what the hell is going on Rafa?! Gooners & Mancs & Chelski all won, as expected, so we need to sort our lives out, a bit like H in the Fantasy League ;) lots of love, Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 26 - Hoi An to Nha Trang — Nha Trang, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1190974440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1190974440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1190974440/tpod.html Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:14:17 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Nha Trang, Vietnam

This morning was an absolute shocker, up at 4:30am for the alleged "5am" bus to the Cham ruins at My Son, as in "go on my son!" CLEARLY that must be earlier than most of you slackers got up today?! ;) As was horribly predictable, we sat and waited for the bus for ages. In fact technically it didn't make it.  A rather sheepish guide eventually walked up to me at about 5:45am (by which time my face had turned a darker shade of purple), apologised and asked us to walk with him to the office. I was having none of it, asking what was going on, why they hadn't contacted our hotel to tell us they were over an hour late etc etc, and he was very evasive, in true Vietnamese tourist style. We eventually found out that the bus had broken down (?!), so rather than watching the sunrise in the ancient ruins, we actually watched the sun come up outside his tour office in the centre of town. Mmmmm, well worth getting up before dawn for then?! After a change of bus and me managing to restrain myself from chucking him across the street in frustration we were on our way, an hour and a half late, a record so far on our trip! Just to really put a cherry on top of a rather disastrous morning, it starting raining heavily as soon as we got off the bus and walked towards the seating area. Luckily our guide went off to buy us ultra-thin neon-coloured rain ponchos, so all was not completely lost. The guy in front of me was too slow when they were handed out and was left with a decidedly flesh-coloured one, and I SWEAR he looked just like a human condom... <img class="yui-img" alt="The body condom" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.the-body-condom.jpg">The My Son ruins were quite impressive, but thanks to a combination of typhoons and American bombs some of the temples & buildings are now literally rubble. Those still standing, at least in part gave a tantalising suggestion of what might have been, or rather what was, once upon a time. I wonder how much more impressive Vietnam would look without the American intervention... <img class="yui-img" alt="Ruins" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.ruins.jpg">The rain was off & on, but it couldn't really detract from the sights around us. <img class="yui-img" alt="No rain" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.no-rain.jpg">The guide was rushing us around the site because he was pushed for time after the delays this morning, but in the rain we weren't that focussed anyway so it was fine. <img class="yui-img" alt="Group" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.group.jpg">It was an interesting place, and the tour guide was pretty good for once, but it just a bit too grim and we were too tired after our early and ultimately pointless wake-up call this morning. Everywhere you looked there were LOADS of male & female fertility symbols around, it was a phalic bonanza!Male: <img alt="Nice" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.nice.jpg">Female: <img class="yui-img" alt="Fertility symbol" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.fertility-symbol.jpg">We were allowed to walk into some of the temples, which were small but impressive... <img class="yui-img" alt="Temple" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.temple.jpg">...these naturally had even more fertility symbols inside... <img class="yui-img" alt="Inside temple" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.inside-temple.jpg">...and impressive roofs above them. <img class="yui-img" alt="Roof" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.roof.jpg">It was good to have a fast wander around the various areas, and another cool thing to see was a stone tablet with ancient script on it; it was in surprisingly good condition, which made us wonder whether it had been replaced over the years. <img class="yui-img" alt="Tablet" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.tablet.jpg">We then headed into one of the bigger temples, which was a bit like a workshop for repairing some of the damaged stonework, and they were doing a great job with some of the repairs... <img class="yui-img" alt="Repaired tablet" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.repaired-tablet.jpg"><img class="yui-img" alt="Repaired 2" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.repaired-2.jpg">A short walk later took us to another temple site, which was less impressive, and then it was time to walk through the woods and back to the bus. The countryside around us was lovely and green, reminding us of Laos... <img class="yui-img" alt="Countryside" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.countryside.jpg">Check out this photo of your's truly, clearly providing inspiration for the next Alexander McQueen collection?! What a loser...<img class="yui-img" alt="Ray McRay" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.ray-mcray.jpg">A couple of hours later we were back in Hoi An, looking forward to killing some time before our bus collects us at 6pm (i.e 8pm!). We wandered around town, Katie collected a cute green summer dress from one of the tailors, and I took one of my Abercrombie/Al Fey hybrids back to get it washed because it was covered in dye, and I decided to order a 3rd shirt while doing so! Nice time management/multi-tasking ;) We had a surprisingly nice lunch in a cheap-as-chips cafe, looked into swapping our bus tickets for train tickets, and then had one last wander round town to say goodbye. The rain had cleared, and turned into blazing sunshine by mid-afternoon, so it turned into another lovely day after a dodgy start. <img class="yui-img" alt="Bridge view" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1190974440.bridge-view.jpg">Katie went into a book-swap shop to swap two really good factual books on Vietnam & Cambodia for a Bill Bryson book & another half-decent one, and the subsequent negotiating between her and the owner made Israel v Palestine look like a walk in the park! Eventually we settled on 2 "new" books to swap for our 2 "second hand" books, plus we had to give her 50,000 Dong, or about $3. It got to the point where we couldn't be bothered to shop around in the heat for another multicoloured swap shop, so we settled begrudgingly for her offer, at least we'd have some new books to read. It wasn't until an hour later in a bar that Katie realised that the "new" books we'd received in the exchange were actually PHOTOCOPIES! The cheeky b*stards had used a colour copy on the front/back cover, and b&w copies inside! So we'd paid them for the pleasure of replacing our new books with copies, and no doubt they will then run off multiple copies of our new books to rip off other tourists for years to come. Highly illegal, but you have to admit, it's a very clever business model... We then had another classic Vietnam experience, me getting a haircut. After the usual haggling with two young girls, I sat in the chair, and showed them how to use the electric clippers, and showed them which length/number I wanted. The girls had clearly never used the clippers before as they were almost rusty, and they also didn't work properly. They were using the clippers like they didn't want to hurt my hair, Katie was trying not to laugh, it was absurd. Eventually I grabbed the clippers (politely) and started shaving my OWN head! They just laughed, that's probably never happened before I guess. To cut a long story short(er) Katie ended up finishing off the back & sides, and it was a job well done for the princely sum of $2. Being strapped into the nylon gown was like being in a sauna though, I was sweating like a pig and covered in hair. Nice.   I picked up my 3rd polo shirt on the way home, which is the best of the lot, I'm really pleased with it. I gave some thought to starting a new career designing & exporting polo shirts but Katie talked me out of it! Ok, the bus is due for Dalat any second and I need to stick my itchy post-haircut neck under the taps before the ride begins or it could be a NIGHTMARE journey. I think it's something like 11 hours to Nha Trang on the coast, then we have an hour to grab some brekkie and then change buses and up into the mountains to Dalat for another 6 or 7 hours. Wish us luck! Hope you enjoyed the photos I added on earlier, will try and add some more on in a week or so... Take care, Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 176 - Mendoza — Mendoza, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203975240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203975240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203975240/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:42:28 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Mendoza, Argentina

We are already in love with Mendoza, it's really lush and shady, making our walks around town much cooler than they would have been walking in full sun.We needed to book a wine tour into the Mendoza valleys for tomorrow and after the usual arsing around we decided on a half day tour leaving at 2pm tomorrow. After that we had a simple lunch in one of the central squares and then headed back to the hotel for our own little siesta. When in Rome... ;) We had a nice chill-out and then wandered off to find another hostel or hotel to move into for the next couple of nights. All of the nice backpacker hostels were fully booked, so we walked into town and looked at a few cheap hotels. The first one we tried had a decent double room for slightly more than we paid last night, so rather than fanny around looking at loads more we put down a deposit for tomorrow.We weren't sure where to go for dinner, but Katie REALLY wanted to visit a place called The Vines, which as well as sharing the name of one of my favourite live bands of the last 10 years is also a very posh wine tasting venue right in the centre of town. It's owned by a couple of American guys and an Argentinian, who apparently fell in love with Mendoza 3 years ago. After struggling to get around as many boutique bodegas as they wanted to before flying home, they decided to set up a business to make this easier for other people. For a premium, of course ;) As a result, they've established a really cool little place, extremely well marketed and staffed with young cool people with great English. We knew we were going to like it just from being outside the building. I'll be honest and say that it also terrified me to imagine how expensive this experience was going to be, but I'd not seen Katie this excited for a long time.Once inside, Katie managed to sign us up for a wine and cheese tasting session which started at 7pm and she was so excited at the prospect that I'm not sure she even heard the price of the evening (!) so we wandered off to kill the 45 minutes until it started.Healthily, we bought some crisps and soft drinks to try and line our stomachs a bit before the wine tasting and then headed back with high expectations. (I had particularly high expectations of being ripped-off, but Katie was more positive!) In the end, we honestly couldn't recommend it highly enough. It was a super-professional and very polished presentation of five local wines from five different boutique bodegas, all of which were matched perfectly by a couple of local cheeses, usually marinated in a different local olive oil! It blew us away, it was better than we possibly could have imagined.The ambience was also incredible, with each room immaculately presented and showcasing a different local wine/cheese.<img class="yui-img" alt="The Vines" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203975240.the-vines.jpg">We were also really lucky with our group, getting to know a really lovely couple from Vancouver, one of my favourite cities, a couple of cool guys from Montreal and finally a nice couple from Atlanta & Dallas respectively, who were living here for the next 6 months. We were all a little cautious at first, but after the 2nd 'station' of wine (we moved to a different part of the building for each variety) we were chatting away and comparing travel schedules, lifestyles, sports teams, all that good stuff.By the fifth and final wine, a gorgeous dessert wine served with a delicious cheese served on luxury crackers, we were all old friends... and half plastered! We still had 20 minutes left before it was due to finish, so we figured that as we'd been promised "as much wine & cheese as you want", this was exactly what we were going to get! So after 2 glasses of each wine (tasting measures, not food measures!), we went off for one last circuit, at a much faster pace this time. Outrageous behaviour really, but great fun ;) We all got on so well that I even grabbed a quick photo!<img class="yui-img" alt="Alcoholics Anonymous!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203975240.alcoholics-anonymous.jpg">At the end of the night we said our goodbyes, arranged to meet for another tasting evening at the same place on Wednesday night (!) and headed out into the warm night with rather fuzzy heads. They must have really been fuzzy, because we had dinner in McDonalds! Katie had been going on about visiting a Maccas for weeks now, probably ironically, but this time when we passed one we ducked in. Over here McDonalds serve wine, empañadas, and local deserts! Naturally we avoided all of these delicasies and ordered our favourite burgers from back home, even if Katie was sad to see that the Fillet of Fish burger doesn't exist over here... You should have seen the look she got when she asked if they had any food for a vegetarian! The reply: "Errrr... french fries?"I wonder if anyone else has ever gone to a luxury tasting at that place and then eaten at McDonalds afterwards. Very classy ;)After that gastronomic delight we headed back to the room, flicked through every single channel about 4 times trying to find a decent movie and eventually gave up. We'd had a fantastic evening, much better than either of us had dared hope. we've met some fun people and tried some great little wines from the local area, which we'll be especially glad about if our bodega tour tomorrow is a load of rubbish!   lots of love,   Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 175 - Tucuman to Mendoza — Mendoza, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203861420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203861420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203861420/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:38:10 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Mendoza, Argentina

We arrived in Mendoza just after 10am, for once we got off the sleeper bus feeling quite rested and set about finding a hostel. We'd slept pretty well but still keen to have a shower and change clothes... It was a long walk to the backpacker area (most of the hostels are located on one long street here), but it was good to be able to stretch our legs after nearly a full day on a bus! We headed to the hostel that Katie had circled in the guidebook, which looked delightful but which only had dorm beds available. I magnanimously declared that I was happy to share with a group of 18 year old Scandinavian girls, but Katie was less keen so we cast the net a bit wider... I managed to convince her that her next choice was "around the corner" (ok, it was BIG corner), so we set off on foot, and it took about 15 minutes to get there. They also had no doubles available, but we knew on this street there were plenty of other choices at least. The 3rd hostel we tried had a double room, but was only available for 1 night, when we plan to be here for 3 or 4 nights. We took it because neither of us fancied another schlep around with all our packs after the long bus journey.<img alt="Hostel" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203861420.hostel.jpg">After completing the formalities at the front desk we walked to our room and saw that the hostel was massive and really nicely laid out, with excellent facilities including fast internet and a pool in the large back garden.<img class="yui-img" alt="Hostel garden" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203861420.hostel-garden.jpg">There's nothing quite like the feeling of releasing your heavy 80 litre backpack so that it tumbles off your shoulders and onto the bed. Backpacking Heaven... So we dumped our stuff, admired the blue skies looking down on our mini balcony, and while Katie showered I had a quick look around the hostel.Mendoza seems like a lovely town, the biggest we've been to in Argentina so far, with really wide streets and some lovely buildings and generous parks. Katie said that there was an earthquake here which levelled the city, so they decided to re-build it with wider streets and more spaces between houses, to avoid it happening again. Before we went of exploring we decided to have a cold beer in one of the many pavement bars on our street, which was a GREAT idea.<img class="yui-img" alt="Mmm, beeeer..." src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203861420.mmm-beeeer.jpg">Refreshed, we wandered off into the centre of town and soon found the main square (very nice), before Katie miraculously pulled out a business card of a place she fancied going to for lunch! Where the hell did she get that from?We also found another hostel to move to tomorrow, made a reservation and then went to find the lunch place. So we wandered through the streets before finding a very nice little place called Anna's Bistro tucked away at the top of a hill, with 80% of the seating outside. It had a lovely vibe to it, and it was just what we needed after being cooped up on a bus for 18 odd hours! Katie ordered a goats cheese salad and chips (obviously!) and I went for a chicken curry, which arrived with no rice. They also had no rice on the menu! Curry with no rice?! Ye gads man. So it because chicken curry with chips, which was all a bit Rotherham, but it tasted pretty good. We washed it down with a black beer, which was very tasty indeed. After a relaxing and enjoyable lunch we headed back to the hostel, where we've enjoyed their free internet for an hour or so (booking a flight from El Calafate to Beunos Aires in 3 weeks' time, and watching Spurs beat Chelski in the Worthless Cup Final), before realising that the weather has now clouded over, so there's no point going to the park anymore. Shame. We're not sure when to move on from Mendoza, I HAVE TO watch the Inter Milan v Liverpool 2nd leg on Wednesday, but it doesn't have to be here I guess... I also have to call an employment agent about a job vacancy, which should be interesting after 6 months out of the game! Fingers crossed... So we'll find somewhere nice to eat this evening, share a bottle of Mendoza's finest and then work out what to do tomorrow. I hope that all of you are well and please bear with me on the blog because I'm about a week behind after the latest crap computer debacle! Lots of love, Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 174 - Cafayate to Tucuman — Tucuman, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203777900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203777900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203777900/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:34:36 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Tucuman, Argentina

We were up and out for about 9am and headed back to the worst internet place in the world. I'd spent hours there yesterday getting nowhere fast, but it seemed to be the only place in town.Katie spent about 30 minutes trying to make an 'e-transaction' before swearing her head off and giving up, while I spent an hour on a blog entry for yesterday's wine tasting which promptly crashed when I tried to save it. Cheers. So we were both in tip-top moods as we walked across the square to get a very early lunch at about 12pm. The waiter just looked at us like "bloody gringos" but kindly agreed to give us some food, which was nice of him!<img class="yui-img" alt="Lunch" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.lunch.jpg">Like last time we both ordered pasta, which was pretty good and we knew their house red was great from yesterday's visit. We then walked back to the hostel, where we'd checked-out and left our bags earlier; we strapped on all the various rucksacks and bags and headed for the bus station. It was another boiling hot day, which felt even hotter underneath all our bags, but we got to the bus pick-up with plenty of time left so I was even able to amble back to the square for a few last photos. <img class="yui-img" alt="Square" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.square.jpg"><img class="yui-img" alt="Lunch spot" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.lunch-spot.jpg">It also gave us one last chance to have some of that delicious wine-flavoured sorbet! I had the Cab while Katie had the Torrentes, mmmmm....Soon afterwards we loaded the big bags under the bus (tipping the guy one peso per bag), we climbed onboard, fingers and toes crossed that a) there was decent leg room and b) we didn't have Robert Wadlow or the Harlem Globetrotters sat in front of us on 'maximum' recline! We were pleasantly surprised by the legroom and no-one reclined on us for ooooh, 19 minutes, so it was all good really.We'd decided to catch the 2pm bus directly to San Miguel del Tucuman, rather than taking a bus to one of the hill towns mid-way and then getting another bus on to Tucuman. We were sad to leave and ESPECIALLY sad to wave goodbye to the vineyards!<img class="yui-img" alt="Vineyards" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.vineyards.jpg">The journey to Tucuman was stunning, we wound our way through some lush green valleys, over rivers and past some lovely little towns and villages en route. <img class="yui-img" alt="Bus view 3" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.bus-view-3.jpg">One of these small settlements was the village of Quilmes, which boasts some fantastic ruins 5 kms from the road. Unfortunately we didn't have time to see these, so we had to look out from the bus hoping to snatch a glimpse. Unsuccessfully.<img class="yui-img" alt="Bus view 1" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.bus-view-1.jpg">The next town along was called Tafi de Valle, which is where the Tucaman middle class families go to escape the heat of the big cities. The town looked very sleepy but had some incredible houses lining its streets, a (relatively) plush bus station and even a polo pitch (?!) where we saw horses thundering around like beasts of royalty. It looked like a charming place so it was a shame we had to skip it, but it probably wasn't worth staying overnight in and looked super expensive!<img class="yui-img" alt="Bus view 2" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.bus-view-2.jpg">The journey to Tucuman took just under 5 hours and all things considered was remarkably pleasant, arguably the most painless and comfortable bus journey so far. Strong words indeed!When we got to Tucuman it was about 7pm and our next bus to Mendoza left at 9pm, so we had a couple of hours to kill. We decided to dump the big packs in the left luggage office (a novelty) and walk into town to get some dinner. The bus station (as usual) wasn't in a great area, but it was only about 6 blocks to the main square, so it was fine really. We each had a couple of smaller bags with us, but as they were both stuffed full they got pretty heavy with the sun beating down! (Sunset is after 9pm at the moment here) We found the main square which was nice enough with big fountains, parked ourselves on a bench and chose a dinner spot. <img class="yui-img" alt="Tucuman 2" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.tucaman-2.jpg"><img class="yui-img" alt="Tucuman pool" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.tucaman-pool.jpg">We settled on a place which was a couple of streets away, which looked very nice from outside. When we tried to order some food they told us that it was "too early", so we faced up to a thrilling choice of either sandwiches or sandwiches. Argentian sandwiches are officially WEIRD: very thin and they chop the crusts off. So it's impossible to eat them without feeling like you're 6 years old and at a birthday party!We inhaled them in seconds (they were "waffer thin") and then walked back to the bus station, via the "Casa Historical". <img class="yui-img" alt="Famous house" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.famous-house.jpg">This is an attractive old white building where the Argentinian 'Declaration of Independence' was signed way back when; it's interesting that it was signed here rather than the bigger cities.Our bus to Mendoza was a deluxe sleeper (what they call "full cama" over here) and it looked the best bus yet. After another expensive few seconds of backpack loading, we walked onboard and found our seats, which were HUUUGE. Good work! <img class="yui-img" alt="Comfiest bus seats yet!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203777900.comfiest-bus-seats-yet.jpg">The beds themselves folded completely flat, so were like 1st Class/Business seats on a long haul plane. They were also really wide and super-cushioned, so they were without a doubt the comfiest chairs that we've ever travelled on, on any method of transport, ever! Very impressive. We pulled out only a mircaculous 2 minutes behind schedule and had 16 hours ahead of us before we were due to arrive in Mendoza at around 10am. Lots of love, Al & Katie xx
]]> Day 173 - Cafayate — Cafayate, Northern Argentina, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203691320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203691320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/al_fey/al_and_katie/1203691320/tpod.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:25:18 -0500 Al & Katie's backpacking bonanza

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Cafayate, Northern Argentina, Argentina

Today was ALL about the wine tours ;)We had a nice lie-in, eventually getting out of bed at about 10am before strolling to the square and deciding on a place to rent some bikes. We'd already decided to head off into the countryside today to explore a few of the local "bodegas" (wineries or vineyards), plus a local farm specialising in goats cheese which is another of our favourite foods/drinks! The bike place looked alright so we hired a couple of mountain bikes for a ridiculous amount of money (70 pesos for the day, which is what we paid for our hostel!) and headed out of town on the main tarmac road. On the way we picked up some basics from the supermarket and then set off to find the goats cheese farm. Our plan was to buy some goats cheese for our bread from the farm and some nice wine from one of the bodegas, YUM!We turned off onto a dirt road, which took us past some lovely looking vineyards, making us thirsty already...<img class="yui-img" alt="Vineyards everywhere!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.vineyards-everywhere.jpg">About 5 minutes later we arrived at a lovely white building in the middle of nowhere, this must be it!<img class="yui-img" alt="The farmhouse" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.the-farmhouse.jpg">We signed up for a tour in Spanish (no English!) which was actually really interesting. We just about got the jist of the tour, which made us feel pretty good because at least some Spanish is sinking in!First we met the adult & kid goats in the field, which was really fun, I hadn't expected that.<img class="yui-img" alt="Cheese farm" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.cheese-farm.jpg">We were allowed really close to them, it was amazing how they all kept so tightly together, which our guide demonstrated by moving into the pack as they swarmed all around her.<img class="yui-img" alt="Sheep!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.sheep.jpg">Soon it was time for the goats to have some food and for us to move onto the milking sheds.<img class="yui-img" alt="Sheep on the move" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.sheep-on-the-move.jpg"> One of the little kids broke off from the pack and came with us, which was adorable!<img class="yui-img" alt="Friendly if naughty sheep!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.friendly-if-naughty-sheep.jpg">Here are all the goats chowing down, which reminded me of the boys in the pub when someone buys a bag of crisps...<img class="yui-img" alt="Food time" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.food-time.jpg">The milking sheds were huge, sterile and packed full of high tech machines.<img class="yui-img" alt="Milking shed" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.milking-shed.jpg">Next we walked back to the main building to see the rooms where the milk was pasteurised and the cheese produced. As you can see nothing was happening so we had to listen carefully and use our imagination!<img class="yui-img" alt="Cheese vats" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.cheese-vats.jpg">At the end of the tour we had the chance to taste a couple of their cheeses, which weren't at all like the French "chevre" style crumbly cheeses that we both love so much, in fact they had a texture more akin to plastic! They also mixed their cheese with different types of herbs, so we bought a wheel of 'basil' cheese ("Baaasil..."), chucked it in the lunch bag and headed off to visit a local winery, to complete our picnic!The ride back to the main (tarmac) road was very pleasant, we were really enjoying ourselves out on the bikes.<img class="yui-img" alt="Bike" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.bike.jpg">The road out to the vineyard that we decided on was also really scenic, so we had a very pleasant 10 minute ride... until we got to the gates and realised that they were closed for siesta. D'OH! Fortunately there was another vineyard across the road and we were able to get there just in time to join the back of their last group tour before closing for lunch! Again the tour was all in Spanish, but we understood the basics. <img class="yui-img" alt="Tasting room" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.tasting-room.jpg">I also spotted a female guide giving an English translation to some English guys, so I made sure that she was within earshot as the tour progressed! She explained to us that the temperature variations in the Cafayate area are very wide, so most of the bodegas need to have an area for making fires near the storage vats, so that the red wines can be kept at the right temperature when it gets cold. Interesting... <img class="yui-img" alt="Cellar" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.cellar.jpg">After the tour came the best bit (the tasting) and they selected a white 'Brut', which is normally a champagne blend and not something I've seen used for a white wine before. They also chose a Cabernet Sauvignon to taste, which surprised us because we expected to be tasting one of the famous Malbecs for which Argentina is so famous. The Brut was really good, but the Cab was a bit light for our taste buds, we like really heavy full reds, so we decided to order something of the chargeable menu instead because we wanted to find a nice bottle for our picnic.We decided against the Malbecs (this area is better for whites) and plumped for a 'Torrentes' instead, which is a local variety, white and very fruity. We were able to get them to sell us one already chilled and they even uncorked it for us! ;) With our picnic complete, we whizzed over the road to buy some 'tres chic' plastic cups from a petrol station (!) from which to drink the wine and started to think about where to enjoy our lunch. Katie had noticed that the vineyard where we'd just had the tour & tasting had left a gate open to the fields of grapevines, so we decided to push our luck and see if we were able to find a nice spot in the vineyards, without getting killed by a security guard or a gang of snarling guard dogs! We whizzed back through the gates and strangely enough the fields were absolutely deserted, so we found a nice spot under an oak tree with great views all around us. <img class="yui-img" alt="Lunch spot" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.lunch-spot.jpg">We got out the picnic & wine and enjoyed a thoroughly pleasant hour together. The wine was lovely, and our goats cheese sarnies also hit the spot!<img class="yui-img" alt="Lunch" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.lunch.jpg">After the food and drink was finished, we set off again on the bikes, surrounded by grapes on all sides. It was like being stuck in the film Sideways, without the Pinot Noir!<img class="yui-img" alt="Grapes" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.grapes.jpg">I was absolutely convinced that this time the gates would be locked for a 4 hour siesta or something, leaving us trapped inside their vineyards, but fortunately they were still open.We dropped the empty bottle off outside the tasting room like good little campers and headed off to find another vineyard. <img class="yui-img" alt="Off we go" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.off-we-go.jpg">The target of our initial interest was still closed, so we continued uphill and soon came across a dirt track leading 6 kms up to another winery. This one was supposed to have fantastic views over the valley, so off we set. The track was hard going, because a) it was 2pm and bloody "scorchio" with very little shade, b) the track had a lot of loose sand on it, c) it also had a consant uphill gradient, and d) we were still stuffed after our boozey picnic! <img class="yui-img" alt="Scorchio!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.scorchio.jpg">Katie did really well but finally started to whinge after about 15 minutes and continued moaning sporadically for about the next hour before we eventually pulled over for a quick break. Fair play, it wasn't much fun slogging uphill on gravel paths in the blazing sun, but I was sure that it would be well worth it when we got there. <img class="yui-img" alt="Rest" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.rest.jpg">We struggled the 3 kms to the half-way point, had a 10 minute rest break underneath a fig tree and then pushed onwards and upwards... We eventually gave up about 30 minutes later when the track got even softer and even steeper! The sun was beating down on us and we only had a tiny amount of water left, so we thought it would be stupid to keep going... better safe than sorry. It had been a very tough climb, but as is often the case that also made it a lot of fun in a twisted way. It was certainly a challenge and it was really good to get some exercise after all our time on buses recently. However, as soon as we turned the bikes around to freewheel down the 4 kms or so back to the main road, I noticed that my back tire was flat as a pancake!We made sure that the rental guy gave us a pump this morning, so I tried to attach it to the tire. I tried for about 5 minutes and then very nearly threw the bloody thing into the field: the pump was knackered, it was pointless. I had little choice except to walk down the track while pushing the bike next to me for a while, before the inner tube fell out, exposing NINETEEN repaired puncture holes! It also revealed a strip of rubber that they'd obviously inserted inside the tyre, to try and prevent any more punctures! Bloody muppets. Why didn't they just replace the bloody tyre?At this point I had a good swear, turned the air blue, but felt much better afterwards.I knew that walking with the flat tyre was causing more damage to the wheel & tire and didn't fancy having to pay for the damage so I tried walking along holding the back of the bike in the air, which was painful, in both senses. This soon went from being not much fun to a royal pain in the ass, so I started to carry the bike over my shoulder triathlon style and it was a heavy old bike. It had none of this new fangled super-lightweight fat tubing, it was proper old school basic metal. So there we were, miles away from town, walking down dirt roads with no sign of any other human life anywhere around us!<img class="yui-img" alt="World of pain" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.world-of-pain.jpg">After about 20 minutes we'd nearly finished the remaining water and it was going to take us at least another hour to get anywhere near the main road. From there it was another 15 minutes BY BIKE to the nearest garage which sold water. *Groan*We had a chat and decided that I would ride Katie's (working) bike back to get some more water, while Katie waited in the shade with the knackered bike for me to return.After the tough ride and the agony of carrying the bike on foot, the ride downhill on the track back to the road was fantastic, so I was back at the garage in no time. It felt so good to sprint down the track with the air rushing past, bouncing the wheels over the rocky track. I went as fast as I could because I didn't want to leave Katie out there alone in the wilderness.I bought some water, turned around and started back up the hill. It was noticeably less fun when I started up the gravel track. Again!I made good time on the way back so I was very surprised to turn a corner and see Katie walking towards me with the bike over HER shoulder! She said that she was bored of waiting, so decided to come and meet me to save time!So we took it in turns to carry my bike until we got back to the road, but were thankfully energised by our nice cold 2 litre bottle of water. From the road we had a short walk down the tarmac road to the garage. Once there we had a rest, then decided to walk a few minutes to the entrance of the ORIGINAL vineyard that we'd wanted to visit earlier. We decided to leave the bikes at the top of the long drive and walk down, despite both being pretty exhausted. <img class="yui-img" alt="2nd vineyard" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.2nd-vineyard.jpg">The "El Esteco" vineyard was a very impressive operation, with English-speaking guides and a wide choice of wines available to taste/buy at different price levels. Our guide showed us round the vineyards themselves, allowing us to taste all of the different grapes to distinguish the differences between them. <img class="yui-img" alt="Mmm tasty!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.mmm-tasty.jpg">This was really fun because we hadn't seen some of them before. For example we tasted 'Tannat' (a deep red grape, quite bitter but with loads of flavour), 'Torrentes' (the fruity white we'd had for lunch), and Voignier, which used to be popular in France before nearly dying out completely due to a vine disease. <img class="yui-img" alt="Different grape varieties" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.different-grape-varieties.jpg">After tasting all of the different grapes, our guide showed us the different processes that the wine goes through. We were very lucky to arrive during the season for harvesting the grapes, so she was able to show us this stage-by-stage, which was fascinating. She showed us the results of the latest harvest from the fields...<img class="yui-img" alt="Grape harvest" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.grape-harvest.jpg">...then the sorting and de-stemming of the grapes...<img class="yui-img" alt="De-stemming" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.de-stemming.jpg">...followed by the crushing & mulching of the grapes into liquid...<img class="yui-img" alt="Mulching" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.mulching.jpg">...then the filtering and storage in metal vats...<img class="yui-img" alt="Vats" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.vats.jpg">...before being transferred into oak barrels!<img class="yui-img" alt="Barrels" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.barrels.jpg">After the tour (apparently the English export market is the most important in the world for these 'New World' varieties), she let us taste ALL of the different wines in their basic range! <img class="yui-img" alt="Tasting" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.tasting.jpg">This was ok, but we wanted to taste the more premium vintages, which unfortunately wasn't possible. That was a bit of a mistake if you ask me, only allowing people to taste the cheapest range?! Have these people heard of marketing?The visit had definitely relaxed us and taken the edge of our frustration and tiredness, so we were refreshed enough to begin the walk back across town and back to the bike hire place! The whole way back I was playing through various Rambo/Chuck Norris ways of dealing with the guy who'd rented us these heaps of junk, my favourite was to chuck the bike at the other bikes parked outside his office and watch them tumbling down, domino-style...In the end, predictably (being English), I carried the bike up to him, carefully placed it down by his feet and told him that it was not acceptable ("es no acceptabl-eh senor!"). I also used my very best Spanglish to tell him that the bike had only lasted about an hour, we'd only got 6km away before it stopped working, the pump was not good and I'd had to carry the bike all the way back. He seemed to understand, but just shrugged. What a tosser!At this point I ripped the inner tube out and asked him if it was normal or acceptable to have 20 holes in it without changing it? At this point a tourist walking past laughed and he started to look a bit embarrassed.He offered me 10 pesos back, which I laughed at and then Katie joined in the verbal assault. (I forgot to say earlier that HER front tire had also developed a puncture when we got into town and she was PUSHING her bike on sealed roads, not riding it on rocky tracks!!!) He upped his offer to 20 pesos and we realised that this was about all we were going to get back, so we snatched the money off him and said that all his bikes were "shit". Ok, not exactly world class diplomacy, but it was all that I had! ;) We walked to the internet cafe with our hard-fought 20 pesos, checked our email and then headed back to the hostel, where we promptly collapsed! We had showers, then headed out for dinner.On the way into town we passed an amazing cheese stall which had us salivating!<img class="yui-img" alt="Great cheese stall" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.great-cheese-stall.jpg">Just past here I noticed a car with probably the greatest number plate EVER (check my name at the top of the page!).<img alt="LEGEND!" src="http://images.travelpod.com/users/al_fey/thumbnail.large.al_and_katie.1203691320.legend.jpg">All in all it had been a fairly eventful day, with a glorious morning, a romantic lunch, a pretty awful afternoon punctuated only by a fantastic tour around a very impressive vineyard and finally a delicious dinner. We had dinner nearer the hostel and were amused to see our favourite local celebrity in there, the hippy with the musical dustbin lid! He must make an absolute FORTUNE here, every table gave him some money and then he moved on to the next restaurant!We think that Cafayate is a charming little town, with some great wineries mostly within biking distance (which would be much easier to visit with a car) and we've had a wonderful time relaxing here. Well, not including the punctures!  We'd thoroughly recommend the town to anyone travelling through the north of Argentina: two thumbs up! Lots of love, Al & Katie xx
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