TravelStream™ news feed for member ants on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ants en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:08:40 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/3/1226219820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/3/1226219820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/3/1226219820/tpod.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:08:40 -0500 Hong KOng and Thailand

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Bangkok, Thailand

hey all we arrived in hong kong pretty knackered after the long haul flight and the time jump back 16 hours... so crashed in our extremely tiny room in Kowloon area of Hong kong....we latter got moved as it was pretty tiny a room. Next day we woke not sure wether it was 8 in the morn or night cos our room had no view and our body clocks were a bit screwed. Managed to get out and about and over the next couple days we packed in tonnes of sight seeing and hong kong has pretty vast changes one minnute you are in your box of a guesthouse room next you are in the prada store next in a slummy street getting hassled but vendors and all this time you are dwalfedby these giant skyscrappers then you pop out of the underground train out of all the madness into the most perfectly groomed chinnese garden with tranquil music and multi coloured carp and the most ornate buildings.....all in all a crazy place.after four days we had done about everything so were glad to be heading to bangkok.....its was only 2 and a half hour flight and a cheap taxi ride to Khao san rd and our hostle called New Joes which is dirt cheap but a great atmosphere kinda like dahab for those in the know. so today we hit the Grand palace and that place is so over the top gold covered glitery and blows pretty much anyother place we have been away.tonight is thai boxing if ants is feeling ok she has been pretty knocked out by a bit of the flu which is pretty draining in this heat.well hope to see most of you soon
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1192797300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1192797300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1192797300/tpod.html Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:04:14 -0500 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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London, United Kingdom

Hey all,welcome to the last installment of van tour. Well, Paula, Digger, Zeke, Jen, Hamish and Katie left to catch their respective ferries while Suse, Astro, Laila, Bambam and ourselves decided to take in a French Chateau Chenonceaux. However, Bambam ran into a bit of van trouble (something to do with a metal thing connected to the wheel something or rather thingy whatsit) so we didn't get to see the Chateau until the next day. Chateau Chenonceaux just outside of Tours was the home of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II (King of France). When King Henri died, his wife Queen Catherine de Medicis ordered Diane to give back the chateau to her, and gave Diane the chateau of Chaumont-sur-Loire in exchange. See, women do know how to share. The chateau was amazing, very ornate, complete with guard tower, two gardens, a number of bedrooms (they were a pretty saucy lot), a gallery running from one side of the river to the other and a maze. After wandering around the chateau for a few hours, we left Suse and Astro (we had an earlier ferry than they) and continued on to Amiens with Laila and Bambam to check out some of the World War 1 sites and learn a bit about the Battle of Sommes. Visited the NZ memorial in Longueval and the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery where we found the headstone of the Unkown Soldier - awesome! We also visited the Lochnager Crater which, along with 16 other sites, was blown up at 0730 on 1 July 1916. At the time it measured 300ft across and 90ft feet I but can't remember the measurements to date. Also managed to find the Aussie Memorial for Laila as I think she might have been a bit kiwi'd out. Stayed in a McD's carpark that night with free internet - woohoo!The next day we went to the visit the Amien war museum which was really well put together. It was nice to see that they had a section devoted to the animals in the war as well. Unfortunately we only had a few hours there as we decided to get in one more country and shot up into Belgium to Lepen for some more World War 1 sight seeing in Flanders feilds.  We drove through the Menin Gate Memorial in Lepen (previously known as Ypres) where inside stands the Hall of Memory with the names of 54,000 soldiers inscribed upon it.We also visited the Tyne Cot Cemetery, the resting place of nearly 12,000 Commonwealth soldiers, making it the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world.  A really beautiful cemetery, white pillars, monuments all over the place. That morning they'd actually had a ceremony in remeberance of Anzac with a number of very important people attending and guess who's name tag we managed to take as a souveneir - the Honourable Helen Clarke's! Awesome. But that met a loud ending with one of Bambam's firecrackers.After that, we headed back to France, Calais and said our goodbyes to Bambam and Leila who were catching an earlier ferry. Our ferry wasn't until later that night but we managed to get an earlier one despite a few hardcore questions from passport control (Cy looked dodgy, I think it was the long hair). They also took my tan off me because apparently it's an illegal product in the UK - it has to come out of a bottle. So, before you could say 'do ya know what I mean, yeah' we were back in the UK. We drove back to London that night and parked up outside the old flat for a well deserved nights' sleep.And that's it, end of van tour. 20000 Km's, 4 months, over 15 countries, 2 nights in hotels (bliss!), 2 nights in a tent and the rest in our trusty stead the kranken wagen. Hope you all enjoyed the stories, those we could tell in public anyway! Thanks again to the Zamparini family for putting up with us that awesome week in Verona.Next stop - Canada! God help them.Ants & Cy
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1193571660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1193571660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1193571660/tpod.html Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:48:37 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Toulouse, France

Hi all,the next morning we all went to see the Milau viaduct, a massive bridge. Pretty cool, took the obligatory photos and then took off to Toulouse for the AB vs Romania game. Arrived at the campsite in convoy 7 vans poured in and were greeted by another group of mates (who had been on the the beers all morn) in fine form who packed down a haka and laid out beer koha's for us to accept it was pretty cool. That was quickly followed by a full on game of BYC..........good times. The campsite was pretty good - cheap and with a bar where we ended up watching the Fiji vs England game at the bar.The next day we doned our AB gear and headed off to the game to watch NZ's finest beat Romania. The game was one way trafic but still good to see the team. After the game we ran into Sam, who we meet in Valencia and followed us to Pamps. He took us to the rugby festival the city had put on to celebrate the world cup. Awesome set up with a massive outdoor screen for the rugby and a grass sitting area surrounded by bars and food stalls. Good nite had by all then tried to make it back to campground.......what a mission........we took the train to our stop then expected to find taxis to get the last bit of journey home but there were none to be found. We started to walk but it was a long way so we harlf heartedly tried to flag down cars and to our surprise a french guy pulled over and made 2 trips getting us back to camp ground what a great guy he wouldn't even accept any dosh! Slept in the next day then slowely got our stuff sorted before heading north towards our ferries. We stayed in a services that night which was our last with all of us together of the tour a bit sad but its been a long trip and we both looking forward to some creature comforts of our old london flat.Almost finished folks.......hope you all wellCy and Ants
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1192705680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1192705680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1192705680/tpod.html Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:26:16 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Munich, Germany

Prost!Welcome to the debauchery that is the Oktober Bierfest, Munich. We arrived to join everyone at the infamous Freecamp - not actually a free camp, it's a huge parking lot where those doing van tour end up. It's pretty feral - a lot of aussies and kiwis drinking it up but still, an experience and it was good to catch up with friends and people we'd met while travelling.  Cy got pretty hammered the first night, practice for the coming beer drinking I think. The next day was the 100 Club - an end of van tour ritual involving alot of alcohol. For those in the know it really is as bad as they say, for those who don't know I won't even describe it. Later on Cy, myself, Sus and Astro headed over to the english garden and met Laila, an english couple she'd met, and sis and J at the Chinese tower for some steines and pork knuckles. Ahh, crackling, so good!!!The next day we headed to Hofenbrau tent for the opening ceremony. Big ups to the beer wenches, they were carrying at least 10 steines at a time, contending with happy, drunk people.  Spent the entire day at the HB tent, drinking beer and eating pretzels and dancing along with the band. Next day we went to the Kafer garden bar for a couple of quiets and more pretzels. Sis and J left us then to fly back to London and detox. Went to the Weiz tent for a few more and then ended up at the Lowebrau tent for more than a few quiets. Lots of drinking (again), dancing on top of the tables, so on. Good stuff. Back to the vans after that and much needed sleep.Cy and I headed down to the German/Austrian border the next day and free camped in a dirt carpark which turned out to be a popular night time venue for single guys.  Lucky I was there to protect Cy. The next day we meet up with Katie, Hamish, Digger and Paula and drove to Basel (Switzerland) to meet up with some friends living there. Took advantage of the washing machine and showers - thanks Steve and Chris! The boys made us dinner - lasgane and pizza, fantastic! Then they took us out to a swanky bar in our ripped jeans, jandals and shorts. The next day we had a look around town, pretty cool place, reminded me a bit of Amsterdam. We left with Digger and Paula to France, stopping just short of Annecy for the night. Katie and Hamish caught up with us the next day and then a drive day to meet up with everyone that night on the A75, just short of Milau.CheersAnts & Cy
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189534560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189534560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189534560/tpod.html Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:30:17 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Verona, Italy

Hey all hope this finds you all well, we are fine but nearing the end of our van tour of Europe. The van is giving us no probs at the mo so hoping it will make it all the way now. This episode begins in Verona, North Italy. You can really tell the difference between north and south Italy both in wealth and people. When we arrived from Croatia into Bari and then Naples we had a bit of a shock, it was not the Italy we imagined rather it was more like Syria with the heat, filth, poverty and incredible population density. However from Rome north we have really enjoyed ourselves indulging in the great food and wine and the cleaner greener landscapes. Also with summer coming to a close the nights are cooler and more bearable yet the day is still hot enough to swim. So Verona, I had already been but it was great to show Ants, Zeke and Jen around and of course to see my extended Italian family. We parked our vans in a free parking lot close to the Zamporini's house and enjoyed the amenities of the house whilst still sleeping in the vans. Each morning we would be buzzed in to shower and have coffee with Giuliano, Sandro and his girlfriend Margeurite (sorry if I spelt that wrong!) before they went to work and we started our day's sight seeing. Some times we met back at the house for a long lunch (ham, spaghetti/risotto, salad, cheese, bread, proseco, café ) or spent the day in town (gelati, gelati and more gelati!) then another amazing evening meal. We had visits from the Bacarini's and Nina and we went out to the Zambon's for a meal one night. It was great to see everyone and certainly didn't feel like 2 years since my previous visit. Zeke and Jen stayed for 3 nights then we left for a night at Lake Di Garda, after which they headed up to Austria and we returned to Verona. Sandro arranged a couple of wineries for us to visit and the next day Suzy+Astro, Hamish+Katie and Digger+Paula met Ants and I in town and after a quick usher round the arena and Juliet's boob/balcony we drove to our first winery. It was called Farina and is in the famous Valpolicella district of Verona. It is a small family run winery but has the most amazing red wines including the Amarone and our guide spoke really good English and was a lot of fun. We all brought bottles then headed to our second visit to a much larger commercial winery called Valpantena. It didn't have the charm due to the size of operations but was still interesting. The tour was a bit rushed as we overstayed in Farina due to the fun we were having, but we got some tasting in a bought some more wine. That night the others free camped in town while Ants and I returned for our last meal at the Zamporini's which was again massive and fantastic and ran quite late as Giuliano kept bringing out different wines and traditional foods to try. Needless to say the hospitality was second to none and we were sad to leave quite a treat after 3 months in a van. We gave everyone some gifts from NZ and some wine and wiskey and promises to repay the favour when they visit us in NZ then we left for the lake again with the others. Zamporini's - thank you for the hospitality and see you in NZ! The others had found a campground and a windsurfing school so we hired some wind surfers and took to the lake. It was a lot harder than we thought but just as we were getting the hang of it the wind picked up and we were all drifting away so a rescue boat came and picked up the strays. We were a bit perturbed but they said it was too much stress for only 10 euro ea and a lucky thing too as the wind really got up and waves were crashing on the beaches before long. So we dried off and had a couple of drinks before the wind became too much for that as well and we left the others in the campsite and found a free camp spot for the night.  In the morn the wind had dropped and I went for an extremely refreshing swim, we had slept in sleeping bags that night and not much had changed come the morn ....... Unfortunately summer is on the way out! They others caught up to us and we headed north towards Munich. We split up on the way as we had different sights to see, we followed Astro and Suzy to one of the crazy King Ludwigs castles on the German/Austria border. The drive from the lake to the castle was one of my favorites of the trip, an amazing mix of Italian vineyards Austrian mountain houses and massive steep mountains with clear rivers and Autumn coloured forests.We spent a very chilly night high in the mountains and visited the castle and grotto's in the morn very cool place and completely OTT! Then it was north to munich and Oktoberfest.Will fill you in on the following messy few days soon.love Cy and Ants
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189595100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189595100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189595100/tpod.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:30:42 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Parma, Italy

Hi all it's day 72 of our european encounter which finds us arriving in Bari, Italy off the overnight ferry from Dubrovnic. The ferry crossing was smooth but due to a lack of space zeke,mads and I (Bambam and Leila had taken an earlier sailing and were already in Bari, whilst the others were heading south to Albania and Greece) left the girls to share a small spot they scored inside and we hit the deck....it was a bit damp with the sea spray but managed to get a few hood winks. Bari was very hot and muggy, which was a sign of things to come, and not very pretty so we skipped town. Bambam, Leila, Zeke and Jen went south on a mission to Sicily and Us, Mads and kim went cross country towards Naples.It was there sadly Mads and kim had to leave us on a fast track back to uk as they had run out of time on their holiday and were catching up with some friends back in Scotland.In Naples after a couple nights free camping (which were very difficult due to the congestion) Ants and I met up with her sister and justin, compared tans and went to see the ruins of pompeii. Pretty amazing with very graffic scenes depicted on the walls of the brothels and of course some pillars and an amphitheatre. After some lunch we met up with our friend Amy and all drove to sorrento for the night and went out for dinner. The others were in a hotel while we stayed in a campground for the night, luxury, they had a pool too but had to wear a stupid bathing cap and budgie smugglers so i skipped it. The next morn we all caught a ferry to the island of capri where we had a swim and a lookround and some lunch before returning to the mainland and droppin our temp guests at the train station to continue their trip around Italy - bye sis! That night we free camped in a services (good option in these parts as its so conjested by the sea) and in the morn headed down the coast to the temples at Paestum which were huge and very impressive. After a look round Ants and I drove further down the coast and found a great free camp spot right on the sea shore in Pioppi. The next day was a slow one, lazy day at the beach. We managed to score free internet at the local museum before moving down the coast to a campsite just outside of Sapri then met up with Zeke, Jen, Leila and Bambam the next day. We decided to head into the National Park area Vallo de Diano to check out the canyoning but missed out as they only did it weekends. Ended up in a little town called Felitto where and stayed by a resturaunt next to a river/picnic area which was awesome. We dined at the restaurant and partook in local pasta and wine. Next day the others took off to Paestum and Pompeii while we walked the track up the canyon alongside the river. Found a nice secluded spot for a swim - bloody freezing but beautiful, clear water. Then headed back towards Naples and Bacoli, hoping to spend the night next to lake avernus (supposedly has submerged ruins you can see snorkling there) but that turned into a mission with no camping spots so we ended up at a services instead.Day 81 and  we drove to Formia and spent another lazy day at the beach (ah the serenity) before meeting up with the others at Cassino. Had a few drinkies and a bbq that night, some sore heads in the morning but found a McDonalds to help with the hangovers - they had deep fried brie, oh yeah! We have a great photo of the reconstructed Mont Casino Abbey, the one the yanks bombed in WWII, with the goldern arches in the foreground. Zeke, Jen and ourselves left Bambam and Leila (they having done most of Italy before) and drove to Rome. Stayed at a great campsite - pool, free internet, bar. Into Rome the next day and surprisingly not as much a headache as we thought  it would be, pretty easy to navigate around and not too busy. We ended up joining a tour around the Colosseum and Palatine Hill - the Colosseum was amazing, absolutely massive. The boys got picked on by the tour guide and re-enacted a gladiator fight, very entertaining. Took some nice cheesy photos and then went in search of gelati (Jen's on a Gelati-A-Day tour of Italy) before the tour of Palatine Hill and the roman forum. The area was originally marshland but became the political and religious centre of Rome for a while, before faling into decline but the buildings and temples are still in pretty good nick. Next day we decided to do a hop on hop off bus tour around the city to see the rest of the sights - we jumped off early to visit the Sunday markets (bit like Shebu markets but BIGGER) and to do another gelati mission. Spent the rest of the day on the bus, being lazy and taking lots of photos like good little tourists. We did jump off to see the Pantheon then decided to head back to the campsite soon after that, all toured out. Day 3 and we meet Rachel at Vatican City where she confessed all her sins, there were a lot and it took a while. In reality, we wandered around the musuem for quite a while - a huge, fanastic collection of scupltures and paintings. Funny how many we recognized. It's hard to get across how impressive it is, simply put, if you ever get the chance GO! The Sistine Chapel is really beautiful, we ended up with sore necks staring at the ceiling too long. Poor Michelangelo. On to St Peter's Basilica which we had to had to lend Rach some clothes to cover herself, the hussy. It is absolutely huge inside, massive statues, huge columns,lots of intricate gold work, marble everywhere. Very OTT but a must see nonetheless. That afternoon we headed north towards florence and stayed in a services carpark with all the truckers. In the morn we got off the autostrade to see the small hill top town of Orvietto. It has an amazing setting (on a hill funnily enough) with sheer cliffs and a thunder storm brewing behind it. The feature of the town was the massive Duomo contructed out of a striped pattern of black and white rock and intricate fresco with tonnes of gold leaf on its facade. After a spot of morning tea (which meant a beer for the boys - not even lunchtime yet!) we continued towards florence, stopping on the way at another hill top town-San Gimignano-which is famous for its tower houses ammzing views, a tower on a hill what more do you need. We arrived late to florence so camped in a carpark. Next day was florence then Pisa where we stopped for the obligatory cheesy leaning tower photos. Quite a cool place actually, we had been warned that it was far worse - streams of tourists and pickpockets but it was quite relaxing. Stayed at another services (they are so handy when free camping n Italy can be a bit of a mission) on the way to Cinque Terre, five little fishing villages that are quite famous for being very picturesque, you can do a number of walks that link all the villages - about 11km. We found free parking for the vans in La Spezia and caught a train to the furtherest vilage, Monterosso, to stay the night and do the walk the next day. Turned out accomodation was very hard to find and very expensive but the girls managed to get an apartment room for the 4 of us @ 50 euro ea. Bit of a treat our 2nd night of trip in a real bed! We went out for a very nice dinner including stuffed mussels, ravioli with sea bass, pesto pasta, antipasto plata, ravioli with walnut sauce and some local wine......luxury! Lucky we ate well because the next morn we hit the trail along the rocky cliffs linking the villages. The first 2 legs were killers, so many damn steps but the views were amazing and the villages very beautiful. The usual days intake of pizza and gelati kept the feet moving but we'd all had it by the 5th village and went for a well earned swim before the train ride back to our vans (all in one piece, yay! We were a bit nervous about leaving them but they were fine).Next morning and its game day so we went hunting for a place to watch the 1st All black game of the RWC and found a very un-irish irish bar but they put the game on for us the sole viewers (bloody heatherns in this part of world it was italy vrs nz even). Well after watching the AB's disect the locals we hit the road towards Parma and stayed in another services. Parma is famous for its ham and of course parmasan cheese so we indulged ourselves at a local restaurant. Covered all our bases by ordering large platters of assorted meats and cheeses and ravoli, washed down with a local white wine - ahhhh, so good. Off to Maranello, home of Ferrari. Went to the museum which housed ahuge collection of cars, very nice. Oh to be rich. Well thats all for now ...... we having  a great time and eating some amazing food and wine hope you all well Ciao Cyrus and Ants
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189868220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189868220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1189868220/tpod.html Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:30:10 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Venice, Italy

Hey all,left the Ferrari factry and free camped next to a campsite on the mainland across from Venice. The next morning we drove into the campsite, made good use of the showers (ahhh, hot water!) and caught a boat over to Venice to check out the fabled city, home of Casanova and the Carnivale of Venice.Wow, what a beautiful city. Canals everywhere, the famous gondolas (up to 70 euro a pop though so gave that a miss), beautiful old buildings that stepped right out onto the water. We had been told it is very expenisve, and it is but only in certain areas otherwise there are some reasonably priced places to eat and buy goodies.Didn't have a map so just wandered randomly around the city which was really pleasant. Jen was on a mission to buy a mask, and we ended up in a little store with a workshop out the back. We had a good chat with the lady there who explained all about masks, how they were made and so on. There are only a few places left like hers where they still make masks at the shop so it was great for us otherwise we would have ended up at some little tourist stand buying a 'tourist mask' ie not the real thing which was what Jen wanted. There was a beautiful gold half mask with orange feathers that caught Jen's eye but we decided to wander around a bit longer to check out other stores as well. However, the rest turned out to be quite toruisty so we ended back at the workshop where Jen brought the gold mask and Cy and I brought one as well for the house that we don't own yet. Our mask is the famous theatrical symbol 'Tragedy & Comedy', 2 faces, one crying and one laughing in brushed gold. It will look awesome on our non-existant feature wall. Venice is also famous for its glassware - tableware, jewellery, so on. Beautiful stuff but after buying the mask, which wasn't planned, we gave that a miss.The next day we hung around the campsite doing the usual van stuff which always gets put off. Then we headed to Verona, home of Juliet, to visit Cy's Italian family, the Zamperini's. Got there that evening and free camped in a carpark next to their house with an inivitation to coffee in the morning.More soon.Ants & CyPs Marie, we bought a little pressie for you as well from the mask shop.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186933740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186933740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186933740/tpod.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 04:02:13 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

So....I (Ants) hitched a ride with Paula & Digger into Bosnia while Cy went back to pick up the van with Zeke and Jen, good lad. On the way to Sarajevo we stopped at Morstar for a nosey.  What an amazing place, buildings have been shot to bits and bombed, all very sombering for we kiwis who have never experienced anything like that in our lives. Also stopped by the Morstar bridge which was bombed and then rebuilt. A popular place for men to prove their bravery by leaping from it into the river below though none of our boys were keen. Experience was marred by Astro and Susie's van being broken into but luckily nothing important was taken ie passports, money. After that we followed the river to Sarajevo, very scenic drive. Found a great campsite (nice and cheap, how we like them!). Then my day as a single woman was over as Cy joined us that night with the Krankenwagon, now able to change gears without a single grind.The next day we headed into Sarajevo and wandered around. Partook of the local food - like extra long sausage rolls but so much better, hmmmm. We booked onto a tour of the city, were taken out to the famous tunnel that the citizens had built to link Sarajevo to free Bosnia and sneak in supplies. The rest of the tour was a bit of a let down though - we had sketchy ideas of what the war was about and were hoping for some more information but our tour guide wasn't that informative, oh well. We did find out that the whole town was surrounded by the invading serbs except for the runway which the UN held as neutral peace keapers (not too popular with the locals) but this allowed a means for the locals to get to and from the rest of bosnia, via the tunnel. 10 000 sarejevo citizens and fighters (apparently anyone who owned a rifle was a fighter) were killed in the seige and the town is still a wreck bullet holes and burnt out buildings everywhere but the rebuild is well on its way.A beer later and Cy, myself, Hamish and Katie, and Paula and Digger decided to check out the  football game that night - Sarajevo vs Kiev. The crowd was huge, very passionate, singing chants, waving massive banners and flags. Final score - 1-0 to the visiters so we left with a few minutes to go as we were sitting in away team area and didn't want any after match trouble.Next day, Zeke, Jen, Bambam and Leila joined us at the campsite but we decided to leave because they smell funny - joke! They stayed to do the touristy thing while the rest of us pushed on back towards Croatia.  We stopped just outside Morstar for the coldest swim I have ever had in my life! We followed the river to its source where it came out of the mountains and jumped in - on such a hot day it was fantastic but less than 5 seconds in and I lost all feeling in my fingers and toes.Back in Croatia and we decided to head towards the penisula of Ston and to check out the diving, something we were keen to do all van tour.More to come.Ants & Cy
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186861020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186861020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186861020/tpod.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:58:00 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Split, Croatia

hey folkshope you all well.........this issue finds us in croatia and we both fine and lookin forward to a swim in the sea been a while now. The only thing is the van is almost undrivable in town the first few gears are tough to get into so its time to bite the bullet and get into a garage ......... good timing really as we have a week on the yacht to put it in the garage.So we bee line it to the coast of croatia and follow the winding coastal road south which is amazing the contrast of crystal clear waters and rocky barren hills some of which show the signs of the terrible forrest fires all over these parts (heard a few fire fighters been killed by landmines so its still pretty dodgey off trail here). A couple days of cruising the coast, stopping every now and then for a welcome dip in the sea (free camping and parking is very difficult in these parts the coast is so packed every inch of roadside is full of cars), brings us to Split and a great camp ground where we regroup the troups from our various different paths.Next day its into town to find our yacht and sit down for this ...... after and exhaustive search we finally find the charter company we were directed to by our agent and they have no record of our booking except an email to our agent telling him they have no availability over this period. Of course we are stunned this was booked and paid for months ago and we received news just days befor from our agent that all was fine and who to contact in Split. So poor katie who made the booking spent a packet calling all the numbers for our agent to no avail these was no answers to anything ......... until an email the following week (a couple days after we were supposed to have left to have the time of our lives on a 1year old super yacht in the dalmation islands) told us the company had filed for insolvency due to some highly irregular accounting practices what this means we don't know but the facts stand as this we have no contact with agent and no yacht and our 4,500 euro is missing. You can imagine the feeling no matter how we rack our brains we end in the same place stumped and land bound (none of us can afford to fork out for another yacht) so there is only one thing to do, hit the bottle, well that works till morning brings a sore head and no yacht. So what to do? We decide to catch aferry to  Hvar island and meet up with mads kim sprocket libby westy and his gf (they had a different booking and had sailed out there) and its was really tough sitting in the harbour in Hvar drinking and looking at everyone on their yachts knowing it should be us too........you could taste the dissapointment! So aftera couple of days on the island (which was very cool by the way) we left and headed for a break into bosnia to visit the war torn town of Sarejevo. Ants went with the others and i caught a ride back to Split with Zeke and jen they had to fix their wheel bearings and I had to pick up our van. Well it was all fixed which is fantastic and so nice to drive now but it stung us a sweet 650 euro they had to replace the transmission case.So with that done I hit the road to catch up with the others in Bosnia very exciting only a few years ago this place was under seige from the serbs ......... to be continued.........love all cy and ants
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186243500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186243500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ants/van_tour_07/1186243500/tpod.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:53:58 -0400 Cy & Ants - Van Tour 07

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Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

Hey folks heres another addition ......We are fine but the clutch is getting worse gona have to get it into a garage soon ....... bugger ......so we pick up the story in slovakia again, after the quick dash down to budapest, after the drive back up we parked in a carpark by the river in banska bystrica for the night. In the morning we met up with mads kim and the other groomsmen and headed upto the ski resort in the mountains by town. After a quick check into our hotel room (first night out of our van) us lads meet in the tennis court for a good old game of back yard cricket. Then there was a quick lunch and a haka practice for zeke garath mads marty and I (we planned to perform that night at the reception) then it was a scrub up for the big event. Once everyone was glamed up there was photos and then into a  big old bus down the mountain to Ivana's village church. ........the ceremony was great very relaxed and amazing experience to see another cultures traditions although it was a bit confusing at time as to what we were supossed tobe doing and everything said had to be translated both ways. With the vows rings kisses and signing done we left the church and the first thing we get is a shot of the local specialty  a moonshine plum brandy (not the last of the night either the slovakian tradition is to celebrate for 12 hours after the wedding).......so back to the ski resort and after scott cleaned up some broken plates (another tradition) it was a 4 course meal interspersed by speaches and toasts. Dancing and drinking followed untill midnight when Ivana changed into a traditional outfit for a coming of the woman ceremony with dances singing and a chair lifting thing. Us lads followed this with the haka which went down pretty well although latter studies of video footage showed a few funnies. So its after midnight and the next event of the evening is another meal including a pig on the spit amazing! then as there was still 4 hours of partying to go there was more plum brandy and dancing untill at 5 am when we crashed into our beds.
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