TravelStream™ news feed for member directgb on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/directgb en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:36:57 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1137753480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1137753480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1137753480/tpod.html Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:36:57 -0400 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Arrived Christchurch. One night, then hop to Auckland, (N. Island) by plane to pick up international flight to Brisbane, Australia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1133791620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1133791620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1133791620/tpod.html Wed, 09 May 2007 13:15:17 -0400 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Los Angeles, California, United States

Arrvied on Greyhound bus in morning. Found ppl helpful in advising me of bus routes into the city, and out to Santa Monica where I had a hostel bed booked (best value I could find and sounded nicer than staying in downtown Hollywood). Was a great hostel. Won't be specifying here what I did on what days, just to say got to Venice beach, Muscle beach, nice piccies of the sunset, saw nice architecture by Gehry, Neutra, Charles Eames, and Richard Meier. The Getty museum is collosal, monumental, blissful, and as much a work of art as the historic works which it was designed to contain. Sorry for losing the pics, thanks to becoming victim to thieves later on my trip - you just have to keep reading thro the blog to find out what that was about. Also did the other touristy thing of Universal Studios, v. good fun even if it was overdone.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1146659100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1146659100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1146659100/tpod.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:59:28 -0500 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Sihanoukville, named after the popular King Sihanouk, is the main beach resort of Cambodia. It is easy to reach as it is on the newest and best constructed Highway connecting to Phnom Penh. There are 4 beaches, in two quite separate areas of the town, and needing a motodop (Motor bike taxi) to travel between them. Howewer, there is not a huge amount to do here, except be lazy on the beach, in the water, and in the watering-holes, (of which there are plenty), in the evenings. It is also a convenient stopping-off point for travellers who wish to leave Cambodia for Thailand, or to enter via this nearby border at the town of Koh Kong. However there is not a direct road between the two towns, so most people go on the fast boat that leaves daily, and gives nice views of the coastline and the many fishing villages that are dotted along it. I did not venture to some of the other southern places like Kep, or Kampot, as my timing was fixed regarding returning for my flight on my next leg to India, departing from Bangkok.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1143473580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1143473580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1143473580/tpod.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:46:15 -0500 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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The journey north to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Lined up the "fast" boat up the Mekong for the 27th, costing 5X as much as the bus, and against the advice of others who said it was not that pleasant to justify the cost! I had my reasons. I had times and dates now worked out with almost military precision - reason being, I had booked the flight from Phnomn Penh back to Thailand (Bangkok) on the 30th, being the best price I could get. This meant I would have some of the 27th, the 28th, and some or all of the 29th to explore the ancient temples of Angkor Wat - 29th still in doubt as I couldn't find out for sure if there was an overnight bus, though early indications were that there is not.
The idea of the fast boat was that it claims to be 5 hrs, whilst the bus states 7 hrs. However common to all this region of Asia, with buses you can be sure they will actually depart 1 hr later than they quote, usually after lots of local pick-ups at guest houses, and what seems an extraordinary amount of paperwork to return to the tour office before they are on their way - allow another hour for god knows what reason, it just does, sometimes even more extra travelling time. The Boat was an early 6.30 pickup, but in true Camodian/east Asian style, it didn't leave exactly on schedule either - at least, however, it made no stops and we did in fact get to the guest house by 12.30. This is the normal high sun part of the day when visitors would find it too hot anyway to trek round the temples. So I would get the most of the 3 day, $40 pass, ie 1/2 on Mon (my arrival),full day Tues, and morning of Wed, since I then established that the latest return bus was at 12 noon.(+ usual delayed departure, overlong stops etc. etc!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1147091220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1147091220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1147091220/tpod.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:03:38 -0500 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Krong Koh Kong, Cambodia

Dry and dusty town like a last frontier wild-west trading station.
People flock here from Thailand for the gambling casino as this sort of gambling is not legal in Thailand.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1146230640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1146230640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1146230640/tpod.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 13:31:31 -0500 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Revisiting Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I am not actually in Bangkok now. I went back to Cambodia on a fool's errand. basically, I had left my only CD copy of the photos I took in Brisbane and Gt Barrier reef in an internet cafe in Cambodia. As well as this reason was the fact that I had to rush round the country in 4 days on the first visit, in order to meet up with Shula on her Bangkok arrival. (thanks Shula for keeping me hanging around, yes, women's perogative and all that . . . . . )
So this time I get to see the beaches of Sihanoukville, and nearby islands. From there it is easier to cross back to Thailand on the coastal town of Koh Kong.
It was also an opportunity to see more of the capital of Phnom Penh. This time I chose to stay on the lakeside, where there were spectacular sunsets to behold.

In the daytime, I got to go round the Imperial Palace
and the National Museum
Ok so mission was a failure. Who would expect the guy running the internet cafe to keep an unknown CD found in one of his machines for a month? But I did do some nice snorkelling and beach-bumming.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1143821760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1143821760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1143821760/tpod.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:47:09 -0500 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Bangkok, Thailand

Back in Bangkok, got checked in to my preferred guest house, having stayed there when I was in Bangkok earlier sorting out a Vietnam visa. One hour later, about 12.30 midday, the rain began, the wind kicked up, and soon there was a real tropical storm threatening to pierce any part of the building left open. Someone's room had a window open, and water was running out from under their door and along the corridor. 2 hours after the rain subsided, but the water in the street outside remained at 7 inches deep and took about 2 hours to drain away.
I did manage to get my camera back from the repairers, and broke the rule of taking an unmetered taxi as I was just glad to find a driver who knew where the place was. More rain hit us in the evening, when I was out at a restaurant, forcing me to get into one of their loathsome tuk-tuk's for the short ride back to my lodging.

I went to look at a couple of wats (temples), only couldn't find the right road turning for one of them but carried on with the plan to visit the golden teak mansion house. Turned out it was a Royal home, where Rama V and VI lived,(this century), and has been turned into a museum piece for guided tours - I actually had paid already for the ticket when I went to the other Royal palace, in the grounds where the Emerald buddha is displayed (my main reaon for buying a ticket) - only there's no way I could remember what the unused portion of my ticket had referred to, let alone find where I had put it.(no option -you had to buy a 3 part pass, 2 in the same vicinity, but no explanation where the other venue was). So I guess they get a lot of tourists to pay this entry fee twice. Quite nice inside, but like any royal home, lots of the wares are presents from other countries, so the porcelain (eg) is very similar stuff to what you may see in Buckingham palace, etc etc. He did have nice views and gardens tho'!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1148651220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1148651220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/directgb/round-the-globe/1148651220/tpod.html Sat, 10 Mar 2007 11:08:03 -0500 Will Gavin ever be seen again on the shores of the green and pleasant land ? That is the question.

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Its early stages on my Cambodia visit at present, so all I can really write about now is the trip here. Bus as per usual, took 2 hours longer than the stated time, after an 8.30 am departure. Got in at 7 pm, as the border crossing was a slow painful process, form after form. Only realising at the last minute on boarding the bus that I needed a passport photo for the visa (wretched tour operator never told me that), I sifted through my docs, sure, I had used my last photo earlier on the tour! Oh Dear. Yep.. Oh s... Then a moment of inspiration. My copy of my passport was scanned, and is in colour, albeit crappy quality - all I needed was something sharp to extract the photo from it. A helpful bus driver sorted that one. Anyway ppl seem to be able to get through without one for the price of an extra dollar or something. Interestingly, the same extra dollar seems to allow you into Cambodia if you are a carrier of yellow fever, ie if you can't produce a medical certificate when asked, to show you've had the vaccination against it, or any other communicable diseases for that matter!
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Bangkok, Thailand

Well got here late in evening to find many guest houses full; after the trip just wanted to take the 1st cheapy place that I could crash the night in, and sort out something more to my liking in the morning. Still not sure how long I need in Bangkok, it depends on the time to issue Vietnam visa.
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Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Shula and I got the morning bus, which takes 2 hours, to Kanchanaburi, the town with the death railway, where the WWII prisoners built the bridge over the Kwai. (as in the Alex Guinness film). The bridge is still in use, although allied forces bombed it and it has been rebuilt.
Shula was on a day trip only, so luckily we found a short tour that fitted in with her time planning for the afternoon - go and visit the tigers in the temple grounds that have become their sanctuary (along with many other "wild" animals). We visit them first in a canyon, where they are tethered, but tourists and members of public can go up (escorted) to stroke them and have photo taken with them. Also tourists are warned not to wear red clothing (I think it gives them indigestion). Later the monks and other handlers lead them in 2s and 3s out of the canyon up a dusty path for their evening stroll. The last one was born in captivity and he goes completely untethered with a monk, and everyone follows it in a crocodile chain, and one by one take a turn of walking with your hand on his back while one of their guys snaps your photo on your own camera. It was doing this where I got attacked by the tiger. See video clip (or read clip's caption if you can't play it for a fuller explanation). To learn more about the tiger sanctuary have a look at http://www.tigertemple.org/Eng/index.htm
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