TravelStream™ news feed for member littlelow on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/littlelow en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 16 May 2008 10:15:56 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/littlelow/littlelow/1210946580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/littlelow/littlelow/1210946580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/littlelow/littlelow/1210946580/tpod.html Fri, 16 May 2008 10:15:56 -0400 From Nepal to Bermuda, Malaysia to Japan, littlelow for 12 months goes on the shoelace express!!!!!!!!!!!

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Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands

We had a fantastic flight over from Santiago to Madrid, a 13 hour flight, but it was cool, Difference on this flight was, that they have a bar at the back of the plane, so it ends up being a mass piss up at the back, you had all these spanish ladies getting a bit tipsy and meeting and then getting into a gossip, as women do when they've had a few, it was a cool way for them to spend 13 hours, and then they all passed out and slept the rest of the way!!!!, we dont drink, but we liked the fact that we could just go up and get a coffee when we wanted or tea and buiscuits, or a sandwich, which is cool, instead of waiting for the air hostess to come along.
We arrived very tired and due to flight times and time changes arrived after a night without sleep
We checked into our hostel, which is okay, and hit Madrid, it has some amazing buildings and huge parks and fountains everywhere, it is such a pretty city, i will list all the places at a later date, we walked down some amazing streets for shopping, if you want to spend some readies on clothes, this is the city to do it in, but we didnt as we dont have the readies!!! we had some tea and collapsed into bed and slept, and slept and slept, until 11am this morning!!!!
But we had already cirled places we wanted to visit, so without a coffee or breakfast we were up and hitting Madrid again, this time the old parts, and it is gorgeous, we had a couple of coffees on street side cafe's which has been lovely, we had lunch in an awesome traditional restaurant, we are now down in one of the oldest parts of Madrid.
So will update soon with all the names of places, and photos of Santiago and Madrid.
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Santiago, Santiago, Chile

We arrived into Santiago on the worst flight ever!!!!
After about an hour of us being in the air, the seatbelt sign came on and we started 10 hours of the worst turbulence ever, it scared me rigid, keep in mind this was our 14th flight in 10 months, so we are pretty used to turbulence, but this time we were rocking and dropping and everything was rattling and banging, Baz was not at his best either, but, he was trying to keep me calm, and yes, I am a wimp, I was crying, but it was sooooo scary, anyway, the flight was 11 and a half hours and we had turbulence and the seat belt sign for about 10 hours of that!!!
Baz has since looked up about our flight on the internet and read about turbulence and learnt that it is impossible for a plane to misfunction due to turbulence, no harm will happen it is just not a nice feeling, and so that is reassuring to hear, and the day of our flight 2 planes were redirected on our flight path, because it was a storm moving over from the antartic into the pacific that caused the storm that caused the bad turbulence!!!!
So, we arrived in our apartments, La Fayette, absolutely fantastic find, self catering facilities, free buffet breakfast, free internet and free use of gym, and an excellent location, by the metro, and loads of cafes or eating places.
In our 2 weeks in Santiago we have done loads, and really enjoyed ourselves. We wondered if 2 weeks would be to long, but, no it has not been, we have found heaps to do, here are the highlights of our 2 weeks in Santiago.
We visited Bella Artes, the actual building itself is fantastic, inside we saw works by Picasso, Salvador Dali, and we saw a very weird photography exhibition, but we also saw some paintings by a bloke called Norton Maza, and his work was brilliant.
We have walked through Parque Forestal, which loads of chilians are supposed to visit on a sunday....eeerrrrr..... not the last 2 sundays we have been there!!!! Plaza De Armes is where the Catherdral is and you have artists and acts and music and marches, we sat outside a coffee shop and just watched the world pass us by.
All around the Bella Artes And Plaza De Armes area you have streets of shops and shopping precincts which has been cool looking around, and again you have street stalls and acts in the streets, one of the streets we heard about was Banderas street, which is a whole street for about 4 blocks with both sides of the roads lined with secondhand clothes shops and retro clothing and it is sooooo cheap, we spent a day looking but came away with nothing, I think its hard when you have been travelling, you keep thinking in the back of your mind, do I really need it!!! And usually the answer is no!!! But there were some really cool clothes, I tried on some jeans, Baz saw some awesome retro t shirts, defiantly worth a visit.
We also went to the Mercado Central, on both Sundays that we have been here, on one side it is a huge fish market, and the variety of fish is amazing, and sooooo cheap, in this section, they also have lots of fish restaurants, it seems to be the done thing for the locals to have a family meal here, it gets real busy in the restaurants from about 2pm, we looked around and decided not to eat in one of the restaurants, there are loads of them, but they are chaos, true lively Chilean happy chaos!!!!! Then there is the huge fresh fruit and veg market, we picked up a huge bag of olives, and I mean loads of olives, about 3kg´s for 1000 peso´s which is a pound!!!!! bargain!!! But you can get any fruit, nuts, spices and lentils, just about anything and it is all sooo cheap, and you continue to walk on, you come across clothing stalls and it is just street after street with market stalls all selling stuff, its great.
They do lovely icecream here, so a couple of afternoons we have stopped and shared an icecream, which has been nice, we have had salads for lunch, and found a really lovely little café place today where we had a gorgeous salad, and the actual café is also a flower shop, so you are surrounded with flowers, a really nice setting. And today in Chile it is Mother Day so we have seen flowers being sold everywhere.!!!!
We have also been to the Presidential house, which is big and the building is a bit crap really, but we walked around the streets of Santiago, and we have seen some of the most amazing architecture, if anyone is into this, then this place is defiantly worth a visit!! I am no architectural guru or fan, but all my photos seem to be of buildings and statues.
We have also taken a walk up St Lucia Hill, which was nice, but we are going back tomorrow and taking a picnic up, we want to see the castle and do more up there.
We have also been over to Bella Vista, which is a great small area of Santiago, loads of work is being done to tidy this part of Santiago up to attract tourists, and you can see it will work, the buildings have been restored brilliantly, and painted really bright fantastic colours, it is where you catch the Tram up to the San Cristobal, the main tourist attraction here, and they have an area called the Bella Vista Patio, this is where all the crafts stalls are, and some excellent cafes and eateries, but defiantly higher prices in this area, but at night time they have shows and music acts and sometimes you have to pay an entry fee. There is also a craft fair outside of the Bella Vists Patio where the goods are cheaper but not as good quality, you may pay more inside the patio area, but it is worth it for the excellent craftsmanship and quality goods that they produce. There are also pubs and clubs up the road and close to this area in Bella Vista that they warn to be careful in after dark and to watch ya pockets!!!! We haven't been there after dark!!
We did catch the tram up to the Virgin Mary Statue, the San Cristobal, but to be honest with you, neither me or Baz are very religious people, and here in Santiago it is mainly Roman Catholics, and we did go up to the statue, but didn't float our boat, so we caught the tram back down again and had a wonder around the Bella Vista Patio and had a coffee in one of the coffee places in the patio area!!!! But gotta say, it freaked me out a bit, we went into the gift shop when we were up there, and ya know its all the rosary beads and crosses on necklaces and statues of the old bird herself to put on the mantelpiece, but what freaked me out, is that they have glow in the dark virgin mary statues, I mean, who are you gonna buy that for, some poor child, who when ever they wake up in the middle of the night they have her starring at them, scarred for life if you ask me!!!!!!
We also paid to go on a trip with a local tour firm, we went to Vina Del Mar, which is a city on the coast, it was an interesting drive to get to the coast, you pass through the andies range, and the guide was telling us that they have 250 volcano´s and only 50 active. This was on the day that the town was evacuated because a volcano they always thought was dormant, had become active, Alex, our guide kept us all informed on that too all day. I will tell you more in a bit.
But the highlight of the day out was Valaparasio, it is a city, built on a hill, it is fantastic, really bright coloured buildings, and they have murials all over the walls, it's a real arty place, the city is actually a port, so you see sailors wandering around. Unfortunatly when you are on a bus, you cannot get the photos you want, so not many great photos of Valaparasio, but some great memories, we both felt like we had experienced a truer picture of Chilean life. Unfortunatly in Valaparasio you can see a contrast between rich and poor, and we were also told it is not a safe city for tourists, and in the winter when it rains, the rain gushes down the hills and sweeps houses away with it, and this happens every year, and it is usually the poorer peoples homes that are swept away, the ones with less who have to start all over again building another home. We loved Valaparsio, I just wish I could show what my eyes saw, it was great!!!
As I mentioned a Volcano on the south of the island has become active, and it is soooo sad, because all the peole from the town have been evacuated, and it has now been about a week, they are left with the clothes that they stand up in. The ash has covered the town, it has spread into Argentina where they have had to close an airport down, and it has also spread into Buenes Aires. We have watched the news and followed what has been happening. The saddest thing is watching a town just turn derelict each day on the news. Because everyone had to leave in such a hurry, they had to leave pets behind, when newsreaders have gone to the town by military arircraft to report on whats happening, they are having dogs coming upto them, they are finding dead cows and sheep on the roads, the horses are just wandering through the streets, the town is just covered in ash, so the animals cannot eat from the ground, and so slowly dying, the waterways are polluted, and we keep watching the news, and even though the volcano has not completely blown, the town is just being buried under ash and all the farms are ruined and peoples homes and belongings are ruined, and all they can do is sit and wait, it is so sad, they are so helpless.
But as a whole Santiago has been great, the metro system here is fantastic, but definatly the hardest place to communicate in, sooooo lost in translation, we still have a couple of days left before we move on again, so we are just preparing the backpacks and getting ready for another flight. Speak to you all soon.
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Santiago, Chile

We have been in santiago for 9 days and done heaps, we are loving it, i will update this entry asap, but we are both safe and happy and having an excellent time in Chile. x
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Nadi, Fiji

Fiji as a nation is still very tribal and traditional. They still have a chief of the village, and they have only one police man for all the islands as the chief of each island will take responsibility and deal with any trouble happening on his island.
We were told about how some villagers on one of the islands our friends were staying at had invited some of the tourists into their village, but had not first asked the chief for his permission, so when the chief arrived unexpectantly, he found tourists sat around his village with hats on and chatting, this is so disrespectful, all the villagers went quiet and looked down at their feet, they knew they had dome wrong, the chief ordered for all the tourists to leave immediately, which they did. It is such a huge wrong doing to go to a village and intergrate with the locals without an invitation from the chief.
At Mango Bay on the CoralCoast, they work very closely with the village, the staff are 99 per cent from the village. The staff also choose to take a lower wage home for them selves so the extra wage can all be paid into a village fund. The villagers also come to MangoBay and perform the local traditional meke dance, which is fanastic, and again Mango Bay pays into the village fund as a thanks for doing this dance.
It can sometimes turn sour, for instance, when we were there, the boat which belonged to MangoBay had been andalised and destroyed, because, MangoBay have to pay the chief to be allowed to fish in the waters, which they do, but the villagers got upset and felt they were not seeing this portion of the money, so in retaliation, they destroyed Mango Bays boat, instead of taking it out on the chief, which you know they wouldn't dare!!!!
We also met a couple of peeps who worked on the tribeswanted project, I believe it was on the bbc at home while we have been away, well, I take my hat off to anyone who gets involved, it is not an easy task, and I think me and baz made the right choice by not doing it this time, but maybe another time, we thought we had experienced bad mosquito bites, the bites these guys had on them were awful, they covered every inch of their skin, there were also lice in the sea!! They worked so hard in building the community, and the temperature can get so hot, and they cooked their own food, from what they could find off the land, they had to respect the local Fijian culture and traditions, they had to obide by the chief, but they did got involved in a traditional meke dance and do crafts and srts when they were there, but tribeswanted is no luxury deserted island to have fun, it is hard work and very difficult, so fairplay to all of those who have taken part in it.
We also took part in a Kava Ceremony, which was good fun, they grind down the roots of this plant, and mix it with water, so it looks like muddy water, and you have the chief at the front and you pass a small coconut bowl around and each time you take a sip everyone claps their hands and you say what sounds like, mother, I thought this was one in full for the tourist entertainment, but when we were catching the bus to leave mangobay, there were a group of local blokes sat on the side of the road with their Kava and doing the whole ceremony, its great how they all keep the traditions alive.
Fiji is my favourite place we have visited, because-
a) The people are gorgeous, happy, loving, caring and never in a rush, always on fiji time!!!!
b) The landscapes and views are stunning
c) The traditions, respect, tribal living, the chiefs are such a wonderful lovely way of life.
d) The fresh produce, seeing the fish come from the sea infront of you, the fruits and veggies being picked from off the land you walk everyday.
e) The handmade crafts in everyday life, mats bowls and fabrics.
f) Fiji is a colourful, gorgeous beautiful happy place
We made so many friends and were so sad to leave.
Fiji is my favourite place in the world!!!!!

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Nadi, Fiji

We are sooooo loving our time here, we have been horseriding on the beach which was awesome, we have made jewlerry, had a trivia night, we have watched a meke dance, which the local villagers came up and did for us and then we all did the conga to the sounds of everyone shouting BULA BULA BULA!!!!!! Vinaka means thankyou in fijian, Bula means welcome, and kerela means please.
The gossip of the camp is that noone believed we were english cause we looked so brown, so apparently everyone had been having a gossip on the sunbeds about it, and then this english guy told Baz what was being whispered and they were all convinced he was italian, we both thought it quite funny!!!
Baz has been playing beach volleyball, five a side footie, he went upto the fiji warick, very posh resort and had a game of tennis up there. Today we have a cooking class, so as you can see we are having an amazing time, chilling when we want and joining in too when we want.
The food is outstanding, we see the fresh tuna coming off the boat that the lads from here have caught and you have it for tea, and we have an ambundance of fresh fruit and salad and veg, it is sooooooo yummy.
We move on, on the 28th back to nadi town to stay in another resort and then we fly out of fiji on the 1st of may, and we are so gutted to leave.
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Nadi, Fiji

We are now staying at Mango Bay Resort on the coral coast on the south of the main fiji island. And what a good choice!!! We are staying in a safari tent and it is sooooo cool!!!! and it has an open top shower, so you have plants growing into the shower area and you can see the stars at night whilst ya shower!!!!! The resort is perfect, it is miles from anywhere, on a beach and has a really chilled out feel. The food is gorgeous and everyone is so keen to look after us. Today, one of the guys climbed a coconut tree to get us a fresh coconut, and he clambered up, soooo high, ya know, the proper climbing up a coconut tree stylie like you see on tv, it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!! and the coconut is sooooo yummy. We have fruits we can pick of the trees, like mango's, oranges, banana's and coconuts, well you dodge the coconuts....................did you know that.....................coconuts kill 150 people a year in fiji, cause they fall out of the tree at a great hight and hit ya on the head!!!! and we have them falling all around us, we are considering asking for danger money soon!!!!
We have discovered again that the mosquitos love us!!! but the guys here, without us saying anything, realised we were having a problem, i.e, huge big red bites all over us!!!! and so came and fumigated the safari tent out and the surrounding area. They really do like to please here.
The weather has been lovely, and today i had the best massage ever while Baz hit the gym, they have loads of activities here everyday, like fishing trips, cooking classed, jewlerry making, beachvolleyball, killerpool, hikes, kayaking, just loads, so we wont get bored, but for now, we haven't joined in much cause we are just completely chilling out.
So you prob wont hear from us again for a while on here cause we're too busy enjoying the paradise, but piccies will follow. Love to you all at home xxxxxxxxxxx
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Nadi, Fiji

Arrived in Fiji after a bit of excitement on the plane, the wheels were out we had decended, and just about to hit the tarmac when the pilot thrust on the engines and up at a speed we went into the sky again!!!! Okay?? whats going on??? so then we start circling and then he comes on as says, "we have just attemped to land" then mumbled something like "but i spilt my vodka in my lap"??? (okay, i may have imagined that bit!!) "so we're gonna try to land again!!!"" and when he did, some one shouted "one two go" !!!????
Arrived at our accomodation, lovely reception, and pool, and we'll just say the room is clean, and its cheap!!!
Went into Nadi today, its okay, a bit samey from what we have experienced already on our travels, but its cool to be in that different environment again.
Looked at staying at the octopus resort on Waya Island but it is fully booked, looked at a couple of other places instead but prices range between 2000-3000 pounds just for accomodation for 2 weeks!!!! So looking at staying where celebrity love island was filmed, we have emailed them and are waiting for a response, so will let you know where we are heading next.
Gotta say, we have had some gorgeous food, last night we had baby octopuses!!! they were gorgeous!!!!!
Will update you all soon with where we are.
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Whitianga, New Zealand

Hi Guys, been running Albert No6, it has been soooooo quiet, so Baz had turned to some bizarre behaviour, like dressing up like a red indian!!!!! and, well generally dressing up!! and eating with the cat????? Strange!!!!!
We sold our van Mitsy while we were here, sooooo sad to see her go, but we bought her to sell her to save us money on hiring, so it worked out well. We go to Auckland Tomorrow, and we fly to Fiji on the 11th!!! We are booked in at a hotel in Nadi where we will plan if we want to go off to the islands or see what we want to do, so you will hear from us soon.!!!!!
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Blenheim, New Zealand

On our way back up north, we went for a walk, we had seen a picture of a really cool gorge and wanted to see it for ourselves, so the walk was about 3 hours long, but it was really good fun, wading through the creek and climbing and clambering over rocks. We went to the cinema at Blenhiem, and had some lunch and a wonder, a nice small town, but not alot to do, so we headed out to a DOC site on the beach at Rarangi, it was a nice last stop of the south island, we had a bar-b-q for tea, some steak, and got some sleep!!!!
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Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

We drove to the top of Mt Ruapehu, in the hope of finding some walks, but the whole place is aimed at Skiiers and its out of season so everything was closed, so we booked into the campsite, scenic reserve at Tongariro, and gotta say, for a National Park, it was a bit scummy!!!!! but the next day we did a walk along the rapids, with a bit of jogging too!!!! saw some really cool views, photo's will follow!!!!
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