TravelStream™ news feed for member jodietuck on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jodietuck en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:23:23 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149711600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149711600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149711600/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:23:23 -0400 Our eventful year

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Southampton, United Kingdom

Hey all, just the promised quickie to let you know that we landed and arrived home safe and sound. the last couple of days have been rather mad trying to sort things out, and trying to remember where we scattered our stuff - bit of a belated Easter hunt, without any yummy chocolate eggs waiting for us! The flight was fine though Gav had to sit next to a smelly Chinese man - I'm not being horrible, he did in fact have very smelly breathe.
Anyway enough about that!
lots of love
Jodie and Gavin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149452880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149452880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149452880/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:21:45 -0400 Our eventful year

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Beijing, China

Hey all,
(Jodie) Well its hard to believe this is the last instalment of our trip coming to you from China after over 11 months of travelling.

Back to Beijing on the night train. Again surprisingly comfortable. I didn't drink very much that day and held on so I didn't need to use the loo. Gavin developed a cold and dropped a can of beer he was very sensibly holding from his mouth (?!) which sprayed everywhere, though mostly soaking his bed and thus had to sleep on his duvet, and our cabin stunk of beer all night - nice! This time we stayed in Jade International Youth Hostel, which is in a different, more pleasant location than the other hostel, which has allowed us to see Beijing in a new light. It's a couple blocks away from the Forbidden City to the left, and a couple blocks to the right of a high street filled with nice shops and malls. This seems to mean that people gob and chain smoke less, which is always good! We have also discovered a lot more Chinese restaurants with English menus. Yesterday we went to 'Hou Won Ton', which surprisingly serves its speciality - won ton soup (which i love!) and have a woman making the won tons at the back of the restaurant. We ordered beef won ton soup (though tasted like pork), streamed pork dumplings (which tasted like pork) and spring rolls with 3 vegetables (these also had a fish of some sort in them - crab or prawn? which Gavin doesn't like, but he didn't seem to notice, and I didn't tell him and surprisingly he thought the spring rolls were very nice indeed! I still haven't told him about the fish, so we'll see if his notices again later.

Yesterday we ventured to the Forbidden City, which again is very impressive and a huge site, but filled with too many Chinese people in their 30 plus tour groups. Although I don't want to slag to Chinese off, I do wish they would develop some respect for others - instead they are oblivious to pushing into each other and again like to dominate areas for hours and have no concept of queuing (saying that I lie, this morning in McDonalds people seemed to be forming so kind of queue - we were so shocked that I almost took a photo!). In the Forbidden City and in Beijing as a whole they are doing a lot of repair work to many old buildings and monuments (no doubt in time for the Olympics), so that has been a bit frustrating, but obviously can't be helped. Last night we went to the Acrobatic show. The flexibility these young people had was shockingly scary and the stunts they did were very impressive.

Today we headed for the popular Sat/Sun market and on the way saw Beijing's smog at its worst. It is so bad that buildings a half a block away become faint and building a block or two away you can't even see! We have heard that they plan to shut down the local factories two weeks before the games to clear the air, it really is quiet shocking and gross to see the air pollution so evidently.

Well home tomorrow. Gavin and I have just done our packing and are now going to head off for some more won ton soup. You can probably tell that China has not been one of our favorite places we've visited and this hasn't been helped with us having had to lock ourselves in a horrible Internet cafe for our first few days doing applications, plus the gobbing and chain smoking. Saying that we do feel as though we are just starting to find our feet here really, which like any places has always taken a bit of time, here obviously a bit longer. The barriers in communication is a big one, every where else we've been they've spoken a bit of English and learning key words or phrases in their language has always been a lot easier. I'm not sure whether or not I would have preferred to come to China first or last on the trip. We have met people who are on the start of their trip and being in China has made them quite apprehensive about the rest of their time in Asia, thinking that they will be going home a lot earlier than planned. We've obviously reassured them, telling them it will only get better and easier. But if you didn't know that, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that people had gone home early. And coming to China last has made us even more excited about coming home and I can't believe that's tomorrow!!!

This year has been absolutely incredible and we are so glad that we've had this experience. But it will be so nice to get back family and friends, to home comforts and the many things of every day normal life we take for granted - if you don't think there are many, you can ask us about them when you see us! I hope you've enjoyed our updates, even if they feel like a novel - just think at least you haven't had to write them!

Anyways hope our last update finds you well and we will send a quickie soon to let you know that we've landed safe and sound.

Looking forward to seeing you soon,
lots and lots of love
Jodie and Gavin
xoxoox
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149280980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149280980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1149280980/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:19:22 -0400 Our eventful year

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Xi'an, China

Our last couple days in Thailand with its sunbathing potential was again tarnished by lots of rain. The rainy season was definitely in full flow by the time we left. Despite our increasingly whitening skins, the rain wasn't such a bad thing as a couple jobs came up which required us to complete their online applications, and having not thought about work for 11 months this was not an easy nor quick process. Typically the closing date for these jobs are May 31st and June 6th, meaning there was no hope of leaving it until we got home.

The flight to Hong Kong was fine despite the turbulence with the couple of storms we had to go through. On arrival to Hong Kong it was absolutely pissing it down, which meant the only sights we were able to see was a couple of tall buildings through lots of low, heavy cloud. Never mind. A couple hours later we were on the way to Beijing, which fortunately wasn't raining. We eventually found Leo Hostel in the taxi. The Chinese directions we gave him didn't help him much, but he was able to speak to the hostel to lead him in. The hostel location was on a thin and manic side road in a residential area, filled with its local small shops, eateries and stalls and lots of local people. Never before has the game 'spot the tourist' been so easy.

It quickly became evident that motorcycles and tuk-tuks were not an annoyance or a life threatening obstacle when crossing, or walking down the road, but bicycles are in massive numbers to dodge. And their riders seem to think that them ringing their bell is sufficient in letting others know they're there and which way you should dodge. Unfortunately this is not the case and you end up doing a nice dance with them on their bike, like you would (more safety) when you bump into another pedestrian. Gavin almost got hit by bicycles only 4 times in the first day.

Once settled we thought we'd be adventurous and go try one of the many eateries for some local Chinese food. We picked a place filled with locals, that also had an English menu. Once in and in a position where walking out would be far too rude, it became apparent that in China you don't necessarily want to eat where all the locals eat. Yes this may indicate good and cheap food, but it also indicates an area enclosed by four walls where the locals all chain smoke, gob and spit and throw anything and every thing on the floor. We didn't really notice as we walked in. I suppose we were too concerned with being able to understand the menu but it soon became a rather unpleasant experience. The staff were very nice though and kindly showed my the wine I had ordered before pouring, which was local wine in a jar filled with snakes. Needless to say I opted for a beer.

The next few days were rather boring - with us living in an Internet place completing our applications, with only a well deserved break for a walk in Tiananmen Square. The hostel only had 3 computers, so we found a local Internet place with over 100 computers. Again filled with young people all chain smoking and gobbing all around us. Now I had come away thinking that I would become less squeamish with things and be used to not having some of the luxuries we have at home. And although yes I have come to appreciate things are very different in some places around the world, I unfortunately have become increasingly squeamish over things, making me wonder how I am going got cope going back to work and cope with some of the things I at one point didn't batter an eye lid at. I won't describe the gobbing here in too much detail but what I will say is that both men and women put a lot of energy into gobbing, meaning that the sound effects, facial effort and end result is a lot more disturbing than a mere discreet little spit. Unfortunately this is a very regular occurrence in the majority of places we went to apart from maybe a couple of places. So needless to say while on the Internet, we listened to Radio One blaring on the head phones, trying to concentrate with the job at hand.

We submitted our applications on the 24th and celebrated by treating ourselves to some traditional Beijing duck. We ate at Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant (where no one spat!), which is one of the oldest restaurants in Beijing dating back to 1864. Although it is quite touristy (mostly with Chinese tourists), it was well worth the experience. You can see the chef's at work as the ducks - about 20 at a time - are roasted in these huge fire ovens. They then bring out your duck and carve it in front of you, then asking if you would like to eat the head!. Then they kindly give you a certificate with the duck number they are serving you. We had the 115,212009th duck. On the 25th we spent my birthday on the Great Wall (thank you for all your b'day wishes!). There are numerous sections of the wall to see and we visited Mutianyu. Its one of the less touristy spots though still has its visitors. Although it was raining, the scenery and views were amazing and the mist and clouds around made it look like parts of mountains were on fire. We were able to be on stretches of the wall where it was just us two. We were lazy and got the cable car up and down, but it was my birthday after all! This stretch of the wall is known for its numerous guard towers. The wall itself is really weird and there are a lot of areas that are quite slanted making you feel extremely drunk after a bottle of water. But its so impressive being at one end and seeing the wall go off in different directions for miles and miles, into the clouds and back out - very cool! The hawkers trying to sell you crap on the way out were impressive, certainly the most aggressive we've experienced so far. You have to give it to them though, they are certainly very trying.

That evening we went in search of some bars and first hit The Den - a New Zealand bar that must have been filled with all the western tourists in Beijing, so we stayed there for a few and had dinner - I had fish and chips! We then headed to a street that had lots of interesting bars filled with posh locals. Each bar had a three piece singing group tuning out some English classics badly. So we had a couple drinks in one of them. So all in all I had a very nice birthday, though very different than my typical norm, which is never a bad thing.

The next couple of days we did a lot of chilling out and a bit of site seeing - we went through the Chinese History Museum in record time! (though it didn't really give you a lot of information on its history). Our hard bed night sleeper train was surprisingly comfortable. We were on the middle bed - 3 tier beds on a train! Obviously I got up very elegantly. I was absolutely dreading the train journey with the chain smoking and gobbing. But fortunately it wasn't that bad, people only smoked in one part, so only a bit of a woof, and the gobbing only happened in the sink and bathroom, and it was only our unfortunate luck that our sleeper was beside this area. But i was expecting both to happen in our sleeper, so I mustn't complain, and of course we had our MP3 players and ear plugs - both god sends!

(Gavin) On to Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Warriors. We arrived in Xi'an to see blue skies (rare in Beijing) and sunshine. After being confronted by the usual bunch of hostel/hotel hawkers, although not in the same numbers, we made our way to the ticket hall to buy our returns. The LPG had stated that this could be a whole day pursuit and even then after visiting numerous windows on countless floors, still leave empty handed. Jodie approached the 1st window and was promptly told (or gestured) to try the next window. In doing so found an English speaking assistant and promptly bought the tickets, the whole process taking 3 mins tops. After barging through taxi drivers all offering a 'deal' to the hotel for 20RNB and unwilling to use their meter, we found the taxi rank and were at the hotel for 6RNB, about 40 pence. We checked into the hotel and soon found that all the luxuries e.g. cable t.v., 'pay movies' were all in Chinese or 'not working today'. After looking round Xi'an we found that none of the restaurants had English menus and our own hotel only sold gourmet style food, like soft shelled turtle, dog and offal, we were forced to eat at a local hostel and western eateries.

We decided to book a trip to the Terracotta Warriors as once the entry fee, free western brekkie and other museum costs were added in, it wasn't a lot more expensive than taking the bus, which no doubt would have been filled with locals gobbing and smoking, but having never gone on one, this is only an assumption! What can you say about the Terracotta warriors? Amazing, but kind of disappointing. The site is divided into 3 pits. The 1st being what you normally see in the pictures (men and horses lined up), but I had always imagined walking amongst, or near them, but of course doing this would get you no where but jail pretty quick. This pit though was very impressive, with sections of it still not excavated. The 3rd pit, but the 2nd you visit, is the command post which was really good but not many warriors and the 2nd pit is basically not excavated yet, and instead remains with a bamboo sand matting on top, with apparently hundreds of warriors and horses and chariots underneath. Guess we'll have to come back in another 50 plus years to see the end result. Although the site is massive and you do feel a sense of history and power, but I always expected to see more warriors in one place. The amount of tourists in one place was impressive and Jodie's tolerance levels to tour groups is diminishing quickly. For some reason the Chinese need to come in tour groups of about 30 people, so if you can imagine 30 surrounding one point of interest, the rest of us don't really get a chance.

The following day we went to Shanix Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Centre, 2 hours away from Xi'an. They now have 9 Giant pandas, 4 red pandas, crested Ibis (there used to only 8 in the region, and the world but they now have breed hundreds), and other indigenous animals and birds. We spoke to a volunteer from Oz who explained lots to us, and although the cages were small(ish) the pandas had plenty of out door space they use and toys to play with. They must be happy as a couple had actually mated and we saw the baby (about 4 months about) and another was pregnant. That evening we headed to the Big Goose Pagoda where at 20.30 they put on a light/music/dancing fountain display. The locals come in their hundreds to watch it and get nice and wet. Whilst in Xi'an we also checked out the Bell and Drum Tower and Muslim quarter and its Great Mosque, and some shopping centers that would have been great with lots of dosh.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1148243880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1148243880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1148243880/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:16:52 -0400 Our eventful year

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Beijing, China

hey all

Just a quickie to let you know that we have landed safe and sound in Beijing. Both our flights - Bangkok to Hong Kong, then Hong Kong to Beijing were good despite the storms we had to go through but all add to the experience apparently! Got a little tipsy on the plane (got bottle of Baileys free with our two bottles of vodka!) and have come down hard, now the reality of Beijing has hit, didn't help that taxi driver couldn't find hostel despite him speaking to the hostel at least 5 times, nor did the meal we just had (or tried to have) in a very horrid cafe style place. Reminded me of one of the worst cheap caf's in Eastleigh only lots worse. Sitting here writing this - not quite sure why we went in,

Anyways going to have a chilled day tomorrow planning and adjusting to our new way of life for the next two weeks.

will be in touch soon,

lots of love

Jodie and Gavin

xoxoxoxo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1147108380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1147108380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1147108380/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:15:25 -0400 Our eventful year

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

Hey all,
Just to let you know that we landed safe and sound yesterday after a pleasant 1 hour plane journey. Chiang Mai seems loverly!!! It's great to be back in Thailand and Chiang Mai has all the lovely charms of Bangkok with out being absolutely mad and noisy. We met a couple on the plane (Karen and John) and we're all staying at a guest house (called Smilie) with a pool. Last night we went out for dinner - they are the type to eat at street vendors for breakfast, lunch and dinner thus taught us how to eat very cheaply and yummyly (?) (amongst other stuff had frog legs in garlic and soy sauce - recommend!). Anyway obviously bummed we didn't met them at the beginning of the trip. Today (obviously not with them) Gav and I have just ate lunch at McDonalds, and yes we
appreciate it is McShit but it is also McGreat when you haven't had it for months and months and months!!!! Now that the craving is gone and I'm happy to not have McShit for many many more months to come, its funny where that craving comes from. I think a lot of it has to do with home and false pretense that you're not quite as far from home as you may sometimes feel - if that at all makes sense? But its definitely yummy Pad Thai or Thai curry tonight. I feel I should mention that this McDonalds was absolutely great
in customer service and food quality, which is weird considering we're in
Thailand, home and the US have a lot to learn!

Anyways enough about McDonalds (how sad), plan today is to lazy around the pool and work out the plan for the next couple weeks, we have to be back in Bangkok a couple days before we fly to China to pick up our reissued tickets. Time is going very quickly!!!!
Anyways as always sending you lots of love and we'll see you soon - its pretty cool how I can actually say that now and it be true and not some thing colloquial that you just say!

lots of love

Jodie and Gavin (who's next to me on the interne checking out some rumors
about the football manager to be for Saints - if any one could shed some
light on the matter to make him feel better that would be greatly
appreciated!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1155150420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1155150420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1155150420/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:11:14 -0400 Our eventful year

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Phnom Penh, Thailand

Phnom Penh - (Gavin) with some trepidation we took the bus to Phnom Penh, we had the very front seats, which was a tad uncomfortable and claustrophobic as our heads were pressed against the windscreen. However we soon found the reclining button and spent the 4 hour journey hanging over the stairwell, but still better than being squashed like flies on the window. After an uneventful journey we found a guest house on the lake and arranged a tuk-tuk for the next day of sight seeing. Then we had some dinner and drinks whilst watching the sun set over the lake.

The next morning we went to the Royal Palace which was another excellent example of SE Asian architecture and grand design. The most amazing thing however was that despite all the war and violence within Cambodian's history, there was almost no damage done to this group of buildings right in the center of the capital. Next we visited the not particularly exciting PP Musuem which houses many statues of Buddha's from Angkor. Then we went out to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where 17,000 men, women and children
were killed between 1975-78. As you walk in there is a central tower just filled with skulls. The true horror of the place can not be put into words so I won't try. However at one point 3 young girls asked us if we wanted to take their picture, obviously for a dollar or three while they possed by the tree with a sign 'tree where children were shot and beaten to death', next to a ditch marked 'children's mass grave'! needless to say we declined. We then travelled on to a shooting range which had numerous fire arms to try out but it had to be the AK- 47 which much against type, actually jammed on my go! You even get to drink beer while firing. Jodie finally dragged me out without spending all our money. We promised to return when we won the lottery to which he replied 'you can use my rocket launcher then!'. It was obviously unpleasant and uncomfortable going from the killing fields to a shooting range, but unfortunately it was the only opportunity to do everything.

(Jodie) We then went to Tuol Sleng Museum - this placed used to be a high school before it was taken over the Pol Pot's security forces and turned it into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). This place then became the largest center of detention and torture in the country with an average of 100 victims per day over 3-4 years. The killing fields we visited earlier was the final resting grounds for most people from this prison. Again the true horror can not be put into words, but I will say the museum
did a really good job at illustrating it. It truly was a shocking place. Most harrowing was the hundreds and hundreds of mug shots of men, women, children and babies, which we're taken of them on arrival to the prison, some smiling, unaware of the days of torture and eventually death that awaited them.

To help us get over a rather mixed and emotional day we went back to our rooms to freshen up, then had a 'very happy' pizza, whilst watching the sun set over the lake again. The following day we moved accommodation into town. Once in the center of PP you could not move without bumping into moto, cyclo and tuk-tuk drivers, baggers and sellers, which obviously doesn't make for pleasant walking around town. We did venture out for main essentials whilst there, but that was about it. The above truly was too
much to take some times.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1142712300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1142712300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1142712300/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:08:13 -0400 Our eventful year

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

(Gavin) Having sorted out the usual stuff, dinner, room etc. we spent the next day arranging tickets for the rest of our trip so we are now planned to come home on the 5th of June. We then looked round for the best way of getting to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Rachel checked with an agent we had used previously and returned in disgust, stating that is was 700 riel (not bad) but we wouldn't get in until 7pm which was an outrage as there was no need for it to take that long. After looking around we managed to get the trip for only 300 batt but arrival times varied from 7pm to 10pm. After one of the world's worst bus journey's, and a flat tyre at midnight, we finally arrived at Siem Reap at 1am after a 17 hour jouney, which was nice?!

Siem Reap (Cambodia) - Having orginally planned to visit Angkor Wat at sunrise on the first day, we changed the plan and had a late brekkie in a cafe that actually discouraged me from ordering a local dish as it wouldn't agree with me! So I had a cheese sandwich!

(Jodie) The first day at Angkor Wat we went to Ankor Wat itself - very beautifully amazing! The highest point had some steep stairs to climb proving that they weren't really built for the western foot. On the way down we had to join the que to venture down, scary stuff! We also went to Ta Prohm (featured in Tomb Raider and Two Brothers) which was probably my favorate with huge tree roots taking over the temple, Ta Keo (lots more scary stairs), Thommanom, Victory Gate, South Gate and then went to Phnom Bakheng to watch the sun set. The lonely planet described here at sun set like a circus and they weren't far wrong. Initally you have to climb a steep root ridden path for at least 500 meters upto the temple with probably 500 other people. Once at the foot of the temple you have to climb lots more scary looking steps, this time with lots more people (mostly Korean's, who's concept of queing in any orderly/safe fashion is not in their dictionary!). The set sun was lovely, but then the scramble to go back down
starts in an even scarier fashion.

The following day we watched sun raise over Angkor Wat for about 2 hours which was great, with the sky constantly changing colour with the changing position of the sun. We watched the sun rise in front of a large pond which gave the beautiful view an impressive mirror finish. We then went to Bayon, which has 252 faces scattered around
the temple, the Terrace of the Elephants, Baphuon Phimeanakas, Terrance of the Leper King, Preah Khan, then we got our Tuk-tuk to drive round the large circuit of the temples but were too knackered to get out, which confused our driver some what. On Rachel's final day at Angkor Wat we hired a guide Tom, who took us back to all the main site of Angkor and gave us more of an insight into what we had been looking at the previous days. Rach and I started the day going up a tethered hot air balloon. That evening Rach kindly took us out for dinner at a place called Dead Fish, this is a pretty
cool looking restaurant/bar with layered floor, varied seating arrangements, ponds and water features plus good old kareoki to entertain.

Rachel sadly left us on 12th to which Gavin and I then spent the next two days in bed. We did venture out once for dinner, but after I was sick at the table (luckily restaurant was empty and no one saw), we made dinner a takeaway and headed back to bed. We then spent another day at the temples seeing some ones we didn't see with Rach - Neak Pean, Ta Som, East Meon, Pre Rup and Banteay Kdel, again they are really amazing, but that one more day of temple seeing was enough for us. On the way home we stopped at the local Land Mine musuem, run by a local man who had dedicated his life to safely clearly mine fields and helping people who have been affected. After a couple more days chilling, we visited a local non-state school. This school is next to an orphange, and is run by two young monks. They provide free education to over 250 kids between the age of 5 to 22, through out the day. (the governemnt does provide education at a cheap price in our terms, but obviously is too much for the poorer families). The school has to be seen to be believed - its amazing how people cope with so little. They were three
small hut style open rooms, with wooden benches. They use three 1949 printed English books as a manuel to teach. They have hardly any paper or pens, but use a white board to write things down. They also try and teach them three other languages. The teachers are all volunteers - both monks and travellers willing to donate some time.

Unfortunately many of the monk's english is not the greatest themselves, but is better than nothing. They are hoping to save money to build more class rooms, as obviously their three rooms are not enough for the amount of people they teach. It only costs them $35 a month in rent for the land and electricty, but obviously that is alot for them. It is certainly a cause I would love to help out more once home, so if you have any spare pens and paper guys?...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1141501200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1141501200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1141501200/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 13:04:39 -0400 Our eventful year

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Ko Samui, Thailand

Ko Samui island - stayed here for a night, quite similar to your Benadorm, just maybe a bit quieter.

Ko Pha Ngan island - here Rach was recommended a resort called Bottle Beach - only accessible by long boat. This place was absolutely lovely - really quiet and peaceful, with nothing to do but eat, drink, swim, sunbathe and read - obviously really taxing! Gav & I and Rach had our own bungalows on the beach front for 3 nights as they worked out to be really cheap and Rach invested in a hammock for added comfort.

- On to Ko Tao island - (Gavin) After negotiating the usual gaggle of taxi drivers, we made our way to a nicer hotel for a little luxury, with a pool on the beach front though I didn't spend much time there, as our air-con room had great t.v. channels! At night the beach front is lit up with bars extended onto the sand with fires and candle lights. So after much more sun, sea and sand we made our way back to Bangkok and arranged our trip to Angkor Wat......
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1155061080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1155061080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1155061080/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:36:59 -0400 Our eventful year

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Khao Sok National Park, Thailand

That afternoon we caught the night train and watched the sun rise in the morning. We then caught the bus to Khao Sok National Park and stayed at the 'Jungle House'. We had a cute bungalow in jungle surroundings overlooking the small river down below - very beautiful! Obviously feeling rather energetic, we ventured out for a walk to a waterfall but took a detour to a view point up over a million steps, only to find the view point was non-existent over the dense jungle. After a while back on the right path to the waterfall, I gave up, unable to take another step - heat stricken, absolutely knackered with not enough water and still another 3km to go. So we went to a river point where you can see lots of monkeys climbing down from the rock face and along the
river. There were loads of very cute monkeys, with a lot of young ones too. That evening we had an amazing roast dinner, with just about everything you could imagine with it at Sean's Travellers Restaurant. We hadn't had a roast dinner since NZ at Sas and KT's, and although it wasn't half as good as theirs, it was pretty damn good.

The following day we took a day tour to Chieow Laan Lake - man made (dam created). This lake is 165 km at its longest point, and was remonsisant of The Doubtful Sounds in NZ giving it a very 'Lord of the Rings' feeling, with its rugged limestone outcrops creating beautiful secluded waterways; only differing from NZ with its hot temperatures and blue sky. After an hour or so on a long tailed boat, we arrived at a floating village where we had a swim and some lunch. We then went on a walk through the jungle to Tham Khang Dao cave, where we followed an underground river through the cave which is home to many bat species, huge spiders, crabs and crickets. Back to the floating village for fruit and another swim before heading back. During the journey back we caught a glimpse of monkeys playing in the trees and saw the lake and its limestones faces in a different light as the sun was beginning to set over the lake.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1140980940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1140980940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jodietuck/gavinandjodie/1140980940/tpod.html Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:34:57 -0400 Our eventful year

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Bangkok, Thailand

Back to Bangkok on a shitty 'VIP' bus - a journey that was a lot longer and hotter than the public bus on the way there. At least they kindly put the air-con back on 10 minutes before getting off the bus so that we looked nice and cool. After a SS&S we went out to dinner at a loverly restaurant that had lots of fountains and was beautifully lit. We then ventured out to see the pin pong at Pat Pong - those who don't know, is Bangkok's prostitution/adult entertainment center, but more recently is catering more for the tourists, with lots of bars and clubs filled with lots of 'talented' women - a sight and experience not to be missed. Well we got persuaded into the first bar we passed - 'Hot Pussy', by the fact that we could look before paying an entry fee and go if we wanted. Well leaving wasn't very easy as we immediately had 20 women helping us to our seats, who were quickly giving us hand massages, and even more quickly demanding money for them. After handing over some money and continuing to ignore them whilst subconsciously saying NO about a million times, they all eventually left us leaving us with full view to see the stage with some really bored looking women on it, wearing white underwear. Smiling and trying to look like they were enjoying themselves was difficult for most. Every now and then the same one or two obviously more talented women came of stage, doing various feats with their fannies - like shooting balloons with darts, opening bottles, writing messages for people with no hands, and lots, lots more!

The following day we explored Wat Phra Kaew and The Grand Palace, which was absolutely amazingly stunning! Buildings and temples were fantastically decorated with stupa's, colourful tiles and marble. This place houses the Emerald Buddha, which holds a prominent position in Thai Buddhism and has travelled far and wide over the last 6 centuries. We then went to Wat Pho, which houses a huge reclining Buddha (46m long - 15m high). That evening we went to Lumphini Station to watch Muay Thai - or Thai Boxing. Fortunately a lot less blood and guts than expected. I must relay our funny journey on the way there. We got in a metered taxi (less likely to be ripped off), and
straight away the driver was saying something we didn't fully understand although he seemed to understand where we wanted to go. But Gavin and Rach thought he was talking about chicken, (as the guide books recommended a chicken dinner before the boxing, implying it was a tradition). I was not convinced however, but they kept telling him no thanks, we have already eaten! After a very long journey - traffic was a nightmare, which wasn't helped by the driver sticking in all the wrong lanes (with the most
traffic), until the last possible moment; we arrived at his friends travel agency, where they were trying to sell us tickets for the fight, however Gav and Rachel continued to insist they did not want a chicken dinner. We eventually were on our way to the match both ticket and chicken less after I kept telling them we would get tickets at the door, Gav and Rach kept telling them we've already eaten and me threatening to get out and catch another cab if he didn't start moving.

With an extremely large hangover, after a heavy night drinking pales of Sex on the Beach cocktails and 3 hours sleep, we were rudely awaken by drums playing at the tune of 'the roof is on fire', at 6.30am from the Chinese dancing dragons from below our rooms - not good......
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