conlou's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member conlou on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/conlou en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:23:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com The final part of our epic journey....booooo — Phuket, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1209550860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1209550860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1209550860/tpod.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:23:29 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Phuket, Thailand

sun, sea, sand, Kieran & Orla, beer......update soon....
]]> Holiday time. — Ko Lanta, Ko Lanta, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1209190560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1209190560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1209190560/tpod.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:18:32 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Ko Lanta, Ko Lanta, Thailand

April birthday wishes to Carol and hugs n kisses to Derrick &amp; Lynne before their new arrival, so exciting.&nbsp;&nbsp; XXFinally got to the island of Ko Lanta after 13 hours on 4 buses, 1 border crossing, an itchy ears spicy pot noodle and 2 car ferrys. It was dark but we had met a girl at the pier waiting on the car ferry who agreed to meet us at a specific resort to organise a discount price for a few days stay. The rain had been beating down all day long but we decided to stay on the island for a while as we knew it was to get better over the next couple of days. The accomodation is&nbsp;fabulous. Proper beachside villa practically on the beach with two huge double beds and a large&nbsp;area to sit out in. We got it for a knock down price as it is low season here in thailand now so we were all smiles.So that's it... this is where the blog will end&nbsp;folks, except for a couple of map pins on our return journey in a couple of weeks. Thanks everyone for reading and keeping in contact and&nbsp;looking forward to&nbsp;seein yis all soon after we spend the next few weeks chilling out and soaking up the last of the sun and cheap beer.Adios....<i>Knowing me, Ill probably end up writing something to finish it off though!&nbsp;&nbsp;I just cant let the blog go.. :(See you guys all very soon xxxxxxxx - Lou
]]> Where? — Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208945220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208945220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208945220/tpod.html Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:46:09 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

Still raining and with it being our last couple of weeks we decided to make a break back to Thailand in the search for a beach with good weather. Enough of this travelling malarky.
]]> Durka durka land. The city of banks. — Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208858580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208858580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208858580/tpod.html Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:42:04 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

Nothing to report here. We came with the intention of going to the island of Palau Redang from here but it was still raining so we decided to head further north to see if the weather would break.
]]> Losing count. — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208687100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208687100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208687100/tpod.html Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:35:46 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Another country and the hope of some beach existence when we landed in Kuala Lumpur. Immediately you notice a big difference between Malaysia and our previous two countries, Vietnam and Cambodia. Good roads and comfortable buses but still at cheap prices.We got to the hotel in the middle of Chinatown in KL after a bit of searching through the throng of street vendors which covered the street. The room was like a shoebox but had everything you'd need for a couple of days. Just like most other cities the main attractions are mostly the shops, markets and the odd skyscraper. KL has the famous Petronas Towers which were mobbed when we got there the second day. It took us a while to cop on to why there were loads of chinese flags and chinese people everywhere.&nbsp;It wasn't until the olympic torch arrived amidst protests and cheers at the same time that the penny dropped. The battery in the camera died just as we'd gotten off the train outside the towers so unfortunately we have no pictures to back it up but we were there, honest!!!So after some browsing through the many top of the line shops and a couple of purchases we decided to head on home. As it was coming into the rainy season the heavens had opened up while we were inside and there was thunder and lightning striking all around the city.&nbsp;A daily occurence at this time of year. We just hoped this weather wasn't going to be typical further north on the Perhentian Islands.
]]> Angkor Wat.. — Siem Reap, Cambodia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208525040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208525040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208525040/tpod.html Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:34:42 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Another day another bus!&nbsp; We just about made the bus as the hotel girl decided to tell us 5 mins before we were due to leave that we had to cut across town to go to bus station and they were'nt picking us up! Ah well got Siam Reap after 6 hours in a non air con bus!&nbsp; The lunch stop town was unbelievable dirty, unbelievably hot and we didnt bother eating any of the food with free flies on it!&nbsp; They drop you outside town which is stupid so you have to barge your way through the hundreds of tuk tuk drivers who say a $1 to any hotel then give you the sob story about gasoline expensive give me more money or else they dont drive.&nbsp; Accomodation was ok bit out of town, staff nice and we had an hour's shower n rest time before we were on our way to do sunset trip to a temple in Angkor Wat vicinity.&nbsp; The ticket you buy lasts you 24 hours so we decided to do the sunset trip the day we arrived and we also booked a tuk-tuk driver for all of it as the heat is too much to walk or cycle.&nbsp; A 25 min walk up-hill to the temple and a scramble for a prime position to view the sunset.&nbsp; We were sweating buckets along with the hundreds of others there. Unfortunatley the sun went down but behind a cloud so you didnt get to see it glimmer over the moat, not that we could see it anyway, the whole area is covered in amongst trees.&nbsp; I think we were expecting Macchu Picchu again where everything is open in front of you.&nbsp; Anyways we got a good viewing spot and got a nice tan on our bums as the stone slabs&nbsp;the temples are made of were&nbsp;roasting hot!&nbsp;Shower, food and a wander round the night market and home to bed to iron my Lara Croft outfit for an early start to a day of temples....The area is just huge with hundreds of temples to view.&nbsp; As we were on a timescale we just took the small tour.&nbsp; Met our tuk-tuk driver (Roan) again who was really nice and we started with Angkor Wat itself.&nbsp; Its pretty impressive and except for the very top of it you can pretty much walk in and out of it and all around it as much as you like.&nbsp; Give it ten years and it will be all roped off I reckon.&nbsp; They have started to repair/replace/maintain parts of it and you could imagine how grand it would have looked in its hey day&nbsp;so hopefully they do preserve it to a high standard.&nbsp;&nbsp;The&nbsp;second temple was a bit older and through the South Gate of faces.&nbsp; This was very impressive.&nbsp; To be honest I cant remember the names and significance&nbsp;of all the temples and I think the&nbsp;pictures pretty much speak for themselves!&nbsp; &nbsp;The heat is just unnatural and you have to go around the temples at a slow pace.&nbsp; Theres a fair bit of climbing and the steps are very steep and narrow but the cool stone inside in the shade is fab.&nbsp; Lunch and the comparasions of the prices of things at home and in Cambodia with Roan and we were back to a nice tuktuk breeze to the next temple.&nbsp; There were a few in between this like the palace gardens, a former library etc but this last main one was the one that Angelina Jolie made part of Tomb Raider in.&nbsp; Its the one in the photos of the tree roots growing in between the stones etc.&nbsp; This was Conor's fave and it was pretty impressive and one of the more popular ones.&nbsp; All in all we had a great day, its a very impressive place and well worth visiting.&nbsp; Another great "wonder of the world" we've seen now.&nbsp; Cambodia relies on money from countries like Japan to help with conservation of the temples.&nbsp; Hopefully the Cambodian government will put money into conserving it themselves which will give the people jobs and help them live in better conditions and not pump all the money into giant fancy hotels.&nbsp; Met up with Phil n Emma again for drinks for the last time, a snoop round the markets and a thimble for Annie!&nbsp; Up early for a flight to Malaysia....exciting stuff!
]]> Cambodia, four days to soak it up. — Phnom Penh, Cambodia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208352000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208352000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208352000/tpod.html Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:50:37 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Our $10 each 5-6 hour bus from Ho Chi Minh turned out to be just bordering 12 hours!&nbsp; As usual we did it true hardcore backpacker style and didnt bother getting any provisions for the bus bar a can of coffee each and an apple.&nbsp; There're&nbsp;aint such thing as shops really in Vietnam so it wasnt totally our fault!&nbsp; We made good time until we got to this town where it took us 4.5 hours of sitting in traffic and moving at 0 miles an hour to get a mile up the road to get a ferry across the road.&nbsp; Hopefully someday they'll build a bridge and get over it...literally!&nbsp; We had no mun, barely any air con and another talkaholic 32kg backpacking danish dude behind us who told the poor unfortunate beside him his every shower, shit n shave he took since leaving home 5 MONTHS AGO!&nbsp; Painful.This was all after the queueing at the border control.&nbsp; Most people in Vietnam have no clue how to queue.&nbsp; It was a mill up at the passport control of which the bus driver takes your passport and your $25pp for visa entry and then skips on ahead while everyone else grumbles and gets very tetchy with each other while waiting on the driver to call you up to pass through passport control.&nbsp; Why they dont just let you queue up yourself I dont know.&nbsp; Needless to say nobody copped on to what was happening for ages so anyone who was called out over the hundreds of people that were there and tried to move up the queue was moaned at as it was thought they were trying to skip the queue.&nbsp; On the Cambodian side its bus by bus and you queue up one by one and thats it done in 2 mins!We got a good insight into how the Cambodian people live while sitting in the traffic.&nbsp; Poverty is one word.&nbsp; Lots of wooden shacks, women selling deepfried cockroaches and bugs on trays on their head, the smell of waffles and noodles and all sorts of cooking on the street, people sitting around on the mini plastic chairs drinking pure sugar cane juice.&nbsp; The dirt of the towns are amazing though, dust roads with tons of litter everywhere, beggars with scraps of clothes on, mostly children&nbsp;with no shoes.&nbsp; Hundreds of mopeds and jeeps with hundreds of people all piled into them.&nbsp; Lots of one person cars, namely Lexus and mercs so the money divide in this country is huge.The first thing we noticed when we finally got to Phnom Penh is nobody hassles you about hotels or tuk tuks or anything when you get off the bus which is always a bonus when you are tired, hungry and somewhere new.&nbsp; Its a cute little place with huge restaurants and hotels with loads of lights all over them.&nbsp; This is where the money seemingly is.&nbsp; We seen a hummer the next day skimming around the beggars.&nbsp; A tuk tuk next day out to Choeung Ek (Killing feilds) which we knew was going to be quite upsetting.&nbsp; Pol Pot and his murderous regime killed men, women and children, up to 300 a day very brutally at this spot.&nbsp; He wanted to cleanse the population and most 'prisoners' came from S21 a former school and were driven to their death here.&nbsp; Oddly enough this place was privatised and a Japanese company were paid an undisclosed sum to 'manage' this place as a tourist spot.&nbsp; Hence the $2 fare in.&nbsp; There is a huge monument displaying about 7000 skulls of those that suffered and some of their clothes.&nbsp; There is a very small amount of information though when there.&nbsp; We skipped the&nbsp;&nbsp; S-21 museum for obvious reasons though after seeing the killing feilds where I think there is more info what the regime did.&nbsp; The reason we put up the pictures on this site is to merely show people who read this at home who may not know about what happened in this beautiful country. The royal palace is a must, there are quite a few temples and one with a gold buddha 90kg in weight with 2000 or so gems.&nbsp; Its in the silver pagoda where the&nbsp;floor is layed with silver tiles.&nbsp;&nbsp;Great food, nice town and the Cambodian people are very friendly.&nbsp; They are very&nbsp;welcoming and not as in your face&nbsp;or resentful towards you like in Vietnam.&nbsp; In our opinion we found some of the people in Vietnam a bit resentful to us because they seem to think if you are a traveller that you have endless amounts of money and that you should buy everything off them everyday.&nbsp; We are lucky we get to travel the world and support local causes and try to eat in local restaurants but that doesnt mean we have to buy every postcard off every street hawker.&nbsp; Nor does it mean that we have to listen to the locals bitching about us if we dont buy their braclets or paintings.&nbsp; On to Angkor who..!
]]> Saigon — Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208265360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208265360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208265360/tpod.html Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:20:31 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Down the mountain and on to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)...you weren't there man...you wouldnt know...back in "'n'am"!This place was only a quick stop over and the last place in Vietnam we had time for.&nbsp; Its a busy little smelly city with even more persistant hagglers and hawkers than the rest of Vietnam.&nbsp; Again a huge difference between the rich and the poor and the continuous deafening noise of mopeds and cars beeping.&nbsp; We are nearly deaf at this stage.&nbsp; Stayed on the usual backpacker central which was fairly buzzing.&nbsp; Ended up copping Emma &amp; Phil (father &amp; daughter we met in Halong Bay) so thirty drinks later we got home!&nbsp; Not much to say about this place except there isnt a whole lot we wanted to see unless you are into musuems etc and we aint.&nbsp; The rats running around the tables in the bar was amusing and the cockroaches are huge, the heat is unreal and the temp never seems to drop its just light or dark out!&nbsp; Always fun seeing the action on the street.&nbsp; Our latest weirdest street seller has to be the woman who walks the streets with a giant hospital weighing scales....like who wants to weigh themselves at 2am?!!! well maybe someone with loads of beers on them....5.5 hours sleep and we were up at the crow of the cockrels and relentless honking of horns to get our bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia all for $10!
]]> Up and Down. — Dalat, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208170140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208170140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1208170140/tpod.html Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:07:30 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Dalat, Vietnam

We went up a mountain to Dalat. Ate some food and drank some coffee and beer and then came down the other side of the mountain headed for Saigon. After spending 5 days on the beach in Nha Trang we hadn't much time for anything else. Nice big lake there though and the temperature was cooler than elsewhere around the coast so it was nice not to be sweating for five minutes.Dalat is famous for their coffee, dried candied fruit, of which we tasted in markets and supposed honeymoon location for young Vietnamese couples.&nbsp; Lots of fancy hotels, a lake with swan shaped pedalo boats, bit chilly and an annual internation flower show with hundreds of 'gardens' all lit up like vegas all around the lake.&nbsp; Cute town and Conor got the funniest 'chocolate cake' ever.
]]> Take it easy guys... — Nha Trang, Vietnam http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1207734600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1207734600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conlou/round_the_world/1207734600/tpod.html Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:54:01 -0400 Senor Super Congelo and trusty assistant Luisa´s shoestring adventures around the world!
Nha Trang, Vietnam

Five days in Nha Trang relaxing with a nice hotel and all for 6 euro a night. If that didn't make us happy the large beach did. You'd think at this stage after seeing the beaches of Australia and south Thailand we'd be a little underwhelmed. Not so, it was comforting to be on a beach for once with nice waves, a breeze (36 degrees) and no long boats to mow you over. So we decided to stay a while. Sure t'would be awful rude not to.The town itself with it's wide streets and espalande&nbsp;were in stark contrast&nbsp;to the narrow bustling streets of Hanoi and Hoi An. The food in Hanoi was better though. We came accross some Vietnamese wine one night which turned out to be spicy ribena. But it was worth the try. In fact that same restaraunt was one of the worst meals we'd had in Vietnam. Lou ordered steamed potatoes and basically ended up with a bunch of small&nbsp;mucky spuds with nothing else. You really have to be on the ball over here to get something nice to eat. For the most part if you order seafood or local dishes you'll be fine but anything out of the ordinary and they struggle. But the main thing is we've never gone hungry so there's always something to be thankful for. And did I mention the heat and the huge beach and the cheap beer and accomodation? Mucky spuds just made us laugh.We went to a Rum promotion one night at one of the beach bars. There was a cover charge at the door which amounted to about 2 euro each but we reckon it was just a plot to keep out some of the unwanted locals. Some of these we met on the way home from the club. After getting our 4 free drinks (2 "large" jam jars of vodka and red bull and two large rum and cokes) we had a few more and ended up getting quite drunk. So upon leaving we were mildly harrassed by the usual crowd selling postcards, paintings and taxi rides. One particular girl took it upon hereself to pretend she was putting her arm around me asking if I wanted a taxi but straight away I could feel hands dipping into my pockets. Within&nbsp;a split second&nbsp;I copped she had dipped me and I told Lou as I checked to see what was missing while berating the girl for putting her hands in my pockets. At first it seemed all my money was there (forgetting I had two pockets, 4 in all, 2&nbsp;on each side with money in each) but the camera was gone so I began screaming and shouting at a gang of about 5 of them waving my fists and talking about broken noses and jaws. The girl who dipped me (they all looked the same after all the drink) had snaked off somewhere in the background but the camera turned up&nbsp;soon. After a torrent of abuse I let the little tart who had it go. Two minutes later up the road I remembered the change I had in the other pocket and realised they had got it. It amounted to about 15 euro which is pittance at home but a lot of money out here. But thankfully we still had the camera with all our photos and the memory card still inside. We agreed that the 15 euro was easily the better thing to have been robbed but it still didn't stop me hoping she buys some undercooked chicken with the money and end up farting half her insides out with food poisoning. (truth be told I thought up much worse things but far to hash to mention here).Still though Nha Trang was great. Plenty of food, beer, sun, sea and sand.
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