TravelStream™ news feed for member lizand_rich on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lizand_rich en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:59:00 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1102785900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1102785900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1102785900/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:59:00 -0500 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Sihanoukville, Cambodia

After recent experiences our bus journey from Phnom Penh down to Sihanaukville was a complete and absolute breeze, and with no hassle at all had found ourselves a wicked little guesthouse down on Occhetual beach for $8 a night. The beach here is about 4 miles with glorious white sand and a beautiful, tranquil, blue sea. As you can probably guess a large amount of chilling has been going on. Every day on the beach the same kids ask us to buy sarongs, jewelry, have massage, manicure, crisps, fruit etc and it takes around 5 minutes to explain that we really don't want any. However, there is a sweet little girl who seems to have taken a shine to me called Mei and every time she sees us on the beach comes running up and giving me a cuddle (or is this just a ploy to make me buy her crisps?). There is also the coolest kid around called Dor who has christened me "Mr No Hair" who has thrashed me at Tic Tac Toe (noughts and crosses for us Brits)in return for me buying some of his jewelry. After spending the days lazing around, in the evenings you are treated to some gorgeous sunsets and more chilling out on the beach drinking and smoking cones. Originally Liz and I had planned to shape up here and try to lay off the booze a bit, get up early in the morning for a run on the beach and try to eat a bit healthier. As we have spent most of our time here with Dave and Claire it has proved somewhat harder than we were expecting and have only managed to eat slightly healthier. Mind you they left yesterday and I managed to go the whole day without booze, cones and did some exercise so things might be looking up. One evening we went to a restaurant called Snake House where they have a collection of Cambodia's snakes. Not any old collection though, most are in glass tanks surrounding the dining tables and some are actually in the dining tables themselves so when you are eating you have got snakes peering up at you.We have spent most of the evenings at Chiva's Shack where we get served by Kiro a lad of about 10 who seems to be running the whole place, and we are never short of drinks or food. A healthy tip seems to fly his way every night.We are going back to Phnom Penh tomorrow to spend 2 or 3 days working in an orphanage before meeting El Punji in Bangkok.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1102190640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1102190640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1102190640/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 06:39:46 -0500 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Siem Reap, Cambodia

We forgot to mention on our last entry that on our 2nd day in Siem Reap, after a day of Temple sightseeing, Tong Hat and Tangly took us out for a traditional Cambodian supper. On the main street, in a little market stall we sat down for what we hoped would be a mighty, cultural feast to tantilise our taste buds. Out came a big cooking pot placed on a mini stove in the middle of our table. Various uncooked plates of food followed, including vegetables, raw beef, eggs, and DRIED PIG SKIN! One by one the ingredients went in the simmering pot. Luckily for Rich and I we had an excuse not to eat this local delicacy, being extremely strict vegetarians 'n' all! Instead we were given some rather nice veggie food which Claire and Dave were somewhat jealous of. Tee hee!!We ended up staying a week in Angkor Pradise guest house in Siem Reap and what a fantastic time we had. We all agreed that out of all the places we'd been to, this place was the most enjoyable. This was mainly due to the lads at the guest house and the Cambodain people in general. Most nights were spent with Tangly, Tong Hat and Mato at the guest house. On the 2nd to last night, after 3 jug-fulls of Mato's Cambodian wine, and more Khmer lessons (ooh ooh ooh we can count to 20 in Khmer now!! Get a load of this: moy, pe, bey, boen, bram, brammoy, brampe, brambey, bramboen, dawp, dawpmoy, dawppe, dawpbey, dawpboen, dawpbram, dawpbrammoy, dawpbrampe, dawpbrambey, dawpbramboen, pey) we decided to teach them a very useful English word. which goes a little something like this: Supercalafrajalisticexpealidocious, followed of course by the next line. All I can say is - hysterical! After a few attemps (in the end we wrote it down for them) they were spot on! They kept practicing it on and off all night in a strange Cambodain accent getting everyone in stitches. That night, a bus load of tourists arrived at the guest house. Some fuming, some resigned to the fact they have no choice but to stay there. Basically, what happens is that Tong Hat gets on the bus (the same one we were on 5 days previously) just past the Thai/Cambodian border, gets chatting to people and explains to one or 2 friendly faces that the bus will drop you off at his guest house (which is 2 kilometres from the main centre - unbeknown to everyone at the time) So you get there late at night, seeing how far away it is from the centre, and knowing Cambodia's not the safest place to walk around at night, especially with all your belongings, you either get angry and storm off or you stay in this fantastic place with gorgeous big rooms, TV, bathroom and hot water for half the price as you'd get in the main touristy part of town.But there were some very, very unhappy customers shouting and cursing, and generally being extremely rude. Rich went over to a few to say the same thing happened to us last week but that we're still here a week later and loving it! Some of the guys that stayed joined us for a few drinks and told us that Tong Hat took some abuse on the bus by a load of middle-aged Europeans who were outraged that a) they had a 3 hour wait at the border and b)the mini bus wasn't going to drop everyone off at their chosen hotels and guest houses. What the hell do these people expect when it costs 4 quid to get from one country to another on a bus, travelling about 600 miles and taking 15 hours?? Everything to work like it does back home?? no petty scams?? everything to be working like clockwork??? Like Helloooooo! You're in Cambodia!! You can do it by plane for 50 Euros if you want a perfect journey! So poor Tong Hat came back a little upset. We gave him his thank you/goodbye present to cheer him up, which was a new wallet as he had his stolen, with a little note inside from us all with messages and email addresses. We could see him welling up which made me and Claire well-up too!!! We also bought Tangly a pair of sunglasses, as the whole time we were out on the bikes he'd been rubbing his eyes due to the dust from the roads. (hopefully they might same some lives as well!!)After feeling dodgy all day I went to bed before everyone else and within an hour I was vilantly ill, projectile vomiting and khaki green diarrhea, Rich came up to the room absolutely smashed out his face on the Cambodian wine and tried his level best to stay awake to look after me, which he did by showering his head with the toilet hose every 2 minutes! Moments later, Rich was in the same situation as me, and we took turns to throw-up into the toilet. Being drunk Rich presumed it was the alcohol doing this to him and it took a lot of persuation that the green runny stuff coming out his arse was indeed a result of billions of nasty bugs that had invaded his body. After a night of retching and heaving nothing but bile and spit, we finally got to sleep and woke up some hours later with total body exhustion and aching all over. Rich somehow managed to get on the back of Tong Hat's bike and head out to the countryside as planned the previous day, to look at a floating village and see one of the killing fields. However, we both spent the rest of the day and night in bed watching TV and recovering. What a shame, as this was our last day with the guys. The next morning Dave, Claire, Rich and I were getting a bus to Phenom Pen. But Claire was now enjoying the delights of looking down the toilet bowl! 2 antibiotics later and she was much better so we got on the coach and in 6 hours we were here in Phenom Pen
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1100960400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1100960400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1100960400/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 06:24:36 -0500 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Tokyo, Japan

Mush mush from the land of the rising sun!Tokyo,Tokyo oh Tokyo we are here.After recuperating in Hong Kong from our endeavors in India we now find ourselves in Japan. We arrived at our hotel Kimi Ryokan which is a traditional Japanese style hotel where you enter via some stairs which led down to an entrance made deliberately low so that you bow upon entering. Here you had to remove you shoes and from there the whole place felt a little bit like a Spa, relaxing music, we were given bath robes at reception and it was all spotlessly clean with dark, mahogany wooden floors. There was a traditional Japanese bath - a hot tub where you could relax and ease those aching muscles which we took full advantage of. We could only book our room for the Thursday and Friday as it was fully booked for Saturday so the first thing we tried to the next morning was find ourselves a place to stay for the Saturday night. The first place we tried was just around the corner and as we entered you could see photographs of what the rooms looked liked, massive huge beds with sixties neon lighting (a bit like an Austin Powers love shack). At reception the lady didn`t speak much English, so after trying to say that we wanted a room for Saturday night, she called someone down who spoke a little more English. A woman came down to reception and after again explaining we wanted a room for Saturday night, the whole of Saturday night, it was explained to us, that the rooms were rented out by the hour for a bit of you know what! At least it explains the smile on the businessman`s face who entered the lift with a young lady in tow whilst we were trying to get a room!!After ringing another hotel and getting a room we were then free to explore what we could of Tokyo for next 2 days. We have been to the main park where the Imperial Palce is and also saw a 5 storied Pagoda and shrine, but the main reason we came here was to sample a bit of the Tokyo nightlife so on Friday might we took ourselves of to Roppongi, Tokyo`s center of nightlife. Roppongi is full of bright lights, with tourist, strip joints and bars a plenty. After a few drinks Liz spotted a brightly lit pet shop on the other side of the road which needed further investigation. It was a pet shop selling the most delicious looking pedigree puppies and kittens (the tiny sort that are very popular over here) for a minimum of 600 quid each. Liz immediately fell in love with one that had been sold by the time we returned for our 2nd visit of the evening to coo over. 2 bars and 4 cocktails later upon leaving a jazz bar Liz tried to exit via the coat cupboard, much to the amusement of the staff. As you can probably guess we were now just ever so slightly drunk and in someways it was good that our hotel had a curfew (yes a curfew - bizarre I know )of 1am so we caught the tube home after a great night out on the town.On the tube on the way home Liz kept whispering into my ear hello in Japanese (Mush mush but pronounced a bit like mooosh mooosh) and how incredibly sexy it was too.We are now in a bar near our hotel at midnight after a trip to Ginza where we went to a proper Japanese sushi bar where we had some beautiful and some not so beautiful concoctions that I could not start to describe what they actually were, hence to say I don`t think Liz will be in any hurry to try again not liking fish and all that!. (Yes, we are still trying traditional dishes) Anyway Sayonara for now catch up with you in Thailand.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1098378720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1098378720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1098378720/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 06:02:45 -0500 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Chennai and Pondicherry, India

Well we ended up staying in Allepy for another 2 nights because I got a little sick - again! We did have a large bottle of Rum the night before but I'm sure it was a tummy bug . . . yeah definitely. So anyway we ended up meeting a guy called Steve (who it turned out has a PHD in nuclear physics and has worked for the NSA and Austrailian secret service!) and a gal called Cilla both from Oz, who were, like Rich, wanting to catch the Oz verses India cricket in Chennai and were also going up to Periyar wildlife sanctuary on the way. So we spoiled ourselves and got a cab to Periyar up through the tea plantations and misty mountains which looked like a scene in 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and then the rain came! I've never seen rain like it! the place was flooded in minutes.Periyar was much cooler, we even had to get our fleece and jeans out in the evening. The town its self was really pretty, surrounded by mountains. We went on a 3 hour tour which included a visit to a spice garden, a look at an amazing tall waterfall and a view point which was looking down 2000 meters onto the plains of a different state - Tamil Nadu. The spice garden was extremely interesting. Amongst other plants we saw cinnamon, cardamom, chillies, curry leaves, aloe vera, pepper, ginger, tamarind, henna, turmeric, saffron, etc etc . . . later on that day we caught the last boat cruise to take us round the lake in the middle of the sanctuary. We were really lucky to see every animal except tigers, which are very rarely sighted. We saw 2 herds of elephants, there was mummy, daddy and baby elephant at the lakes edge and aunt and uncle in the background. We also saw some wild dear, water otters, bison and wild boar. We had a couple of nights there and to save time so the boys could catch the cricket we got a taxi to Madurai train station to get the train to Chennai. Another glorious taxi journey ensued, as we descended down from the hills in Kerala we entered the state of Tamil Nadu where we preceded to travel along miles and miles of plains between 2 sets of hills. The roads were surrounded on both sides by beautiful Tamarind trees creating one massive avenue with paddy fields, pineapple groves and sugar cane fields behind the Tamarind trees. These surroundings lasted for about 4 hours until we reached the city of Madurai, and it was Madurai train station where i went to the worst toilets that i have ever been to - much worse than the toilet in Edinburgh in 'Train Spotting' I walked into the ladies and the floor is swamped in brown liquid, and there in the middle of the floor is a woman squat down pulling up her sari having a piss, so I walk in to one of the AVAILABLE toilets and have to dodge the Indian turds to do my thing. Is there any need for these beautifully dressed and elegant women to shit and wee in the middle of the floor! Gordon Bennet!! I can appreciate how this might happen in the streets due to the large amount of homeless people but when there are 5 free toilets I mean come on!During the night on the train Rich was fast asleep and then got woken up by something which he could only describe as a wet feeling on his hand. He stirred and awoke to find an Indian man kissing his hand and then walking off out the carriage!!!!!!!!!!! now we have learnt since being in India that the men are very tactile to each other and we often see men holding hands in the street but this was just a little weird!!! We met a girl a couple of weeks ago who also found a man kissing her feet on a train! Indians! We got into Chennai at 5.30am and checked into a grotty hotel across the road from the train station. Now this room was more like what I was expecting all budget accommodation to look and smell like, very much like a cell room and the bathroom stunk. but hey it had a TV and a fairly comfy bed and this was going to be my home for 12 hours while Rich, Steve and Cil went to catch the Zzzzzzzzzzzz . . . cricket So over to Rich to let him explain exactly what its like to queue up and purchase tickets for the cricket in India:So we left Liz and caught a rickshaw to the Chepauk stadium and got there about 7.45am early we thought for a game that started at 9.45am. As we arrived at the stadium the queues were already about 600 meters long for all the entrances. However the atmosphere was already building as there were flag sellers, face painters, horn sellers and Indian musicians playing country Indian music on traditional instruments creating a real buzz around the ground. After about an hour the queue still hadn't moved and Steve began to get a bit worried that we might not get into the ground and Cil was getting disappointed because every Aussie that we saw was pig ugly. Our minds however were put at rest by the really friendly Indians that were in the queue behind us as they said we would have no problem getting in and the queues were still getting longer and longer. At about 9.15 the gates opened and our queue started to move only for us to get about 20 meters away and then stop again, as policeman were pushing people back from the gate, after about 10 minutes we were back on the move again and we got to the gate pretty quick and this was where the fun really started. As you entered the gate you then had to walk down a little alleyway with walls on either side where all the people from outside were herded in like cattle, it was just one massive free for all as everyone was pushing trying to get to another gate on the inside - imagine an old football terrace with the crowd swaying except you are in 40C heat and there is no room for your feet to move anywhere and people are getting crushed, children crying and the Indians just don't give a shit all they are bothered about is getting to the gate 1st. This lasted for about another 20 minutes when eventually the alleyway opens out into a little square where we managed to catch our breath. At this point we met an Australian couple where the woman was petrified, crying and shaking with shock at the experience. Just as we thought we were getting somewhere we realized that in the little square we came face to face with typical Indian bureaucracy, there were 3 turnstiles for people with tickets and 1 window where you could actually purchase a ticket so the scrummaging, pushing and crushing started all over again with everyone trying to get to the 1 window whilst the other 3 were totally empty. At this point I handed my Indian flag I had bought for the day and sunglasses over to Steve and really went for it Indian style to try and get tickets whilst Steve and Cil took a break in the square. After about 10 more minutes, now totally drenched with sweat i was getting close to the ticket office about 10 feet away. At this point it was total mayhem and every man for himself, when all of a sudden about 10 police came to sort it all out Indian style, they started battering people over their legs and heads with massive sticks to try an get some sort of reasonable queue going and there was I in my shorts getting ready for a whack with a massive cane. At one point they dragged someone out and I got pushed back about 10 feet I was getting nowhere, fortunately a police man must have seen this and grabbed hold of my elbow a took me about 4 feet from the front of the queue - I was nearly there. Pushing as hard as I could I got to the ticket office and got our 3 tickets and from there on in it was a breeze, up to any 1 of the 3 empty turnstiles and into the ground where we found it only half full and nearly an hour into the game - why can't they just open the gates 2 hours earlier I just don't know. Now the actual cricket - the atmosphere was fantastic all day especially whenever the Indians took a wicket. And just one more toilet story before I go - after tea Cil was desperate for a piss and bearing in mind Liz's experience the night before was not looking forward to going at a cricket match. Apparently again the floor was covered in piss and shit and women were squatting down anywhere having a piss whilst there were free cubicles. Cil went into a cubicle to find shit all around the floor nowhere near the toilet and when she came out and went to wash her hands found a woman squatting down and having a shit right next to the sink. Lovely folk hey?Its me again. Well you now know a little about the toilet habits in Indian and the lack of queuing. But we are now in the south east of India in a town called Pondicherry and it's close to heaven. Many moons ago the British fought with the French over this port town and the French won and boy are we happy! for the past 3 days we've had baguette after baguette, camembert cheese, wine, decent coffee (the Indian coffee is very milky and comes with about 6 sugars) and have thus satisfied our cravings. Pondy is very different to other towns in India, its still got manic traffic and plenty of beggars but its generally a wealthier place with lovely french colonial architecture and cobbled streets. The guide book says you'll probably end up staying here longer than you think and we're already planning on staying 3 more days before we get back on the road to head up to the far north. Unfortunately because of the Divali festival and another one which we can't remember the name of, the trains up to Varanasi and Darjeeling are booked up for 4 weeks, so instead of putting ourselves on the waiting lists and hoping for the best we've decided to knock Varanasi and the north east on the head and instead just spend some more time in Utteranchal and Himal Pradesh in the far north up by the Himalayas.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1095891540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1095891540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1095891540/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 05:23:28 -0500 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Udaipur, Mumbai and Goa, India

Well it was time to leave the blue city and head out for a 7 hour journey to Udaipur. Half the way there the landscape transformed from dusty, flat desert to lush, green mountains. We stopped at a place called Ranakpur for lunch at a retreat, which had lovely gardens and was nice and relaxing after a long drive.Mishra explained to us that just 15 minutes up the road was a Jain temple so we said we were up for that. We looked it up in the Lonely Planet and it informed us that it has 1444 pillars made entirely out of marble and is 400 years old. We pulled up and Mishra presented me and Rich with a bag of bananas to feed the monkeys which were everywhere.The temple was amazing, such intricate carvings from top to bottom. We weaved in and out of the pillars in awe whilst being continuously followed by a family that seemed to be in awe of us!We left the temple and continued our journey up through the very top of the mountains when Mishra stopped the car for photos. However, it turned out that the car was over heated and the fan had broken. Oh dear! We are now stuck at the top of a mountain on a quiet road having just passed a sign for cheaters/tigers!!We had to freewheel the car down to the next town to find a mechanics. They couldn't help us so we had to make it 50k to Udiapur freewheeling where we could.When we got to Udaipur Mishra sorted out a rickshaw to take us to our hotel so we said our goodbyes there. Mishra had been amazing, he never tried to dictate to us where we should go and stay, like I've heard some drivers can do and turn your trip into a nightmare. So to show our appreciation we tipped him handsomely.Our guesthouse was right by the lake, which encompassed the Lake Palace, where Octopussy was filmed. However, as the last 4 monsoons have been poor the lake has just dried up and is now known as the mud palace, and instead, elephants, cows, pigs, dogs and people use the lake floor for play, prayer, and toileting. Sat on the roof top restaurant you can see everything going below you on what should have been covered in water. I just sat there amusing myself watching monkeys playing in the trees, dogs fighting, and listening to people chanting, singing and beating drums to pray for rain, and mynah birds singing there lovely song.The next day we did all the tourist hot spots and just walked around the town. In the evening we went for a meal but we had to leave as I was feeling a bit nauseous and couldn't finish my dinner. And so now comes 'The Bad' part of the title. . . .That evening after trying to fight my sick feeling and stomach gripes I became really bad. I put an 'anti vomiting' pill in-between my front teeth and lip as instructed and within 15 seconds I was projectile vomiting into the bath - neither rich or myself have ever seen so much sick in all our lives!!! So much for anti vomiting pills and come to think of it what about my water purification - Citracidal!!! (I think I spoke far too soon on my last entry!)Rich had to clean the sick out of the bath and the . . . err . . 'other' off the bed! What a man! From now on I shall call him Flo'.All the next day I had a fever and ached so much it reduced me to tears. We had to pay extra for the room for the day as we were meant to be catching the overnight train that evening to Amedabad making our way down to Goa, but I was so worried I wouldn't be able to make it having felt so bad and worried that the spewing and arse dribbling would come back again!!! Luckily though, having taken a couple of antibiotics and falling soundly asleep I awoke feeling loads better so we packed our stuff up and headed for the 1st time to the train station.We arrived at Amedabad in the morning and got our next train to Mumbai. We arrived there at about 4pm and had 7 hours to go till we could get on our overnight train to Goa. So we had a McDonalds in the train station (I needed something bland and it was the 1st thing I'd eaten in 2 days) It was gorgeous! I had a paneer salsa wrap - I wish they did them at McDonald's at home.We whiled away the hours sat down playing cards and reading our books in the middle of the station, along with the rest of what seemed like half of Mumbai! Of course we were the center of attention - men, and to some extent women just staring and staring and staring but you get used to that pretty quickly. Anyway 10pm came, an hour before the train was due to leave and we were called up to board the train. It was manic - the platform was heaving and having traveled for nearly 48 hours we were knackered and trying to weave in and out of masses of people with heavy rucksacks on your back was somewhat exhausting. We were grabbed by a member of staff to check that our tickets were 'confirmed' and on the board we saw our names were there but the guy just kept barking at us "no confirmed!" and "no get train" . . .WHAT???????? I don't understand!?! We weren't told to confirm our tickets when we bought them! Another member of staff who spoke slightly better English repeated the same thing and said we'd have to get a bus to Goa! He told us that the Ganesh festival is taking place in Goa and there was now no room for us on the train! Great! We'd just spent 7 hours sat on the floor of Mumbai train station with me still feeling dodgy to be told we couldn't go! The guy managed to get us a refund and charged us 200 rupees for his help. We wouldn't have even got a refund if it wasn't for him because you can't get one after the train leaves the station! We couldn't get on a bus as it was too late so he took us to a fancy hotel, complete with air-con and TV, across the road. We decided to get the train the following evening so we could get a nice long lie-in. hmmmm . . . . 6am we received a phone call from reception -"You get ticket?""Err. . .no""OK, bye""Bye" . . . . . .(!?!?!?!?!?!)We immediately went back to sleep and then 9am another phone call - "What time you check out?""12pm which is your check out time if that's ok?""Yes, fine, bye""Bye" . . . . . (?!?!?!?!?!)We then ordered room service and had breakfast in bed. We ate our toast and drunk our chai and 10 mins later we had a knock on the door asking us to pay for our breakfast!!!!!!!! Oh my god! What to they think we're going to do?? Run off without paying?!We left our rucksacks at the hotel and went to re-buy our train tickets for that evening and to take a walk round Mumbai.After triple confirming our train tickets we bought tickets to see the latest bollywood movie and took a walk into the park and watched a game of cricket sitting in the makeshift pavilion talking to the guys who were batting. As the side which were batting, supposedly equivalent of Andy Flintoff was out, we made our way to the cinema.The Saturday afternoon matinee was heaving and we were shown to our seats by torchlight reminding Rich of his childhood days. The movie - what can we say? Well the film had everything in it that you would expect of a Bollywoood movie, beautiful girl who by day is good cop and by night a dancing queen, bad man, good man who gets the girl, car chases and plenty of slapstick, cheesy humor, all spoken in Hindi with the odd English phrase thrown in for good measure. After 1 and 1/2 hours the interval came and after a short conversation me and rich decided to walk out and leave the rest to our imagination.so after whiling away the hours eating in cafes and people watching it was getting time to head back and catch our train (hopefully!)Mumbai is a real mixture, it's so poor but yet so cosmopolitan and me and Rich had quite a pleasant time there even it was short and sweet. And so the madness of Mumbai unfolded into what was in the end, a very worthwhile stay.we got onto our comfortable 2 tier air-conditioned carriage who we shared with a couple from Holland and chatted until it was time for some shut eye. We all had such a comfy good nights kip and awoke at 8am for chai. It's amazing - you can travel for 550 kilometers on an air-conditioned train with your own comfy bed, bedding provided, lighting and temperature to your taste and all for 10 quid!! If only British trains were half as good!We arrived in Goa about 11am and shared a cab with some Sam and Nichole from the UK who'd been traveling for 2 years mainly in NZ and Oz and a Julie from Oz who'd been traveling in Europe. We chose our beach huts and became neighbors by the sea.Palolem Beach is lovely, really chilled and fairly quiet. We cracked open our 1st Belo (Goan brewed beer) and toasted our next 2 weeks of beach life!We've been here a week now and we haven't even ventured further than the little row of shops just off the beach! Instead we've all been recuperating by eating amazing food, playing cards and having plenty of 'Belo time'Tomorrow we are leaving south Goa and heading to the north where the capital is and where all the partying's at!So goodbye for now!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1120062660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1120062660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1120062660/tpod.html Tue, 06 Dec 2005 12:46:57 -0500 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Alfreton, United Kingdom

We've been back in the real world for 7 weeks now, still in a bit of a daze and half expecting to get a flight out of the UK and on to the next place, but we're now back to work and it's started to hit home that we're no longer travelling. One thing for sure is that we are now totally addicted to travelling and already looking forward to our next trip. Whilst we were away we missed our home comforts on several occasions and I particularly got a tad homesick form time to time. Now that we are back and we have our comfy beds, hot water 24-7, quality cheese, Walkers crisps, etc, we're starting to wonder why the hell we missed these stupid things. (obviously family and friends don't count) Next time we go travelling there will be no homesickness whatsoever! No dreaming of jacket potatoes with Cheddar cheese and Heinz baked beans, no, we shall be enjoying our Pad Thai and Cambodian frogs legs 10 x more.Anyway we thought we'd present our best bits, so here they are:Most beautiful country:1) New Zealand (A bit of everything you could possibly want in nature)2) Laos3) PeruBest country for food:1) India (far better than the curries you get here and brilliant for veggies)2) Mexico (different to how we'd do it but fresh and tasty)3) Thailand (Red curry with pineapple, mmmmmmmmmmmmm)Most culturally interesting country:1) India2) Peru3) Easter IslandBest city:1) Buenos Aires 2) Downtown Hong Kong3) Cusco in Peru and Luang Prabang in Loas (not exactly a sprawling metropolis but the cutest and most chilled out)Best trek:1) Machu picchu2) North Thailand 3) Mountain near Mcloed GanjBest ruins:1) Angkor Wat2) Machu Picchu3) Mayan ruins in Mexico Best beach:1) Haad yao, Koh Pha-Ngan, Thailand 2) Muri beach, Cook Islands3) Occheuteal Beach, CambodiaBest wow: 1) Helicoptor over the Franz Joseph glacier, NZ2) Journey down to Milford Sound, NZ3) Condors, Colca Canyon Peru.Biggest disappointments:1) San Fran and Las Vegas2) Thailand (in general, although had some great times)3) Puerto Maldonado Jungle in Peruand an extra one:4) Not being able to explore Bolivia Worst cities:1) Chennai (Madras)2) Juliaca, Peru (only passed through, thank god!)3) Las VegasGrossest things:1) Women weeing and pooing on the bathroom floors in India2) The smell of Chennai after it rained3) Rich's tongue after the shaman experienceScariest moment:1) Jumping off a moving train2) My never-ending nosebleed3) Realising we'd ran out of money and had to come homeWith love, Liz and Rich xxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1118406120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1118406120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1118406120/tpod.html Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:34:05 -0400 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well what a way to end our trip. After checking our bank account on Easter Island and realising we were rapidly running out of cash and would not have enough to go to either the glaciers or the Iguazu Falls we decided to cut short our time in Argentina and have just 5 days in a 4 star hotel in Buenos Aires. Just before we got to Argentina whilst surfing on the net in Santiago I found out that Argentina were playing Brazil in a world cup qualifier on wednesday night. Now I was on a mission to find tickets. Fortunately our hotel said they could get some and to meet them at reception the next day. We duly turned up only to be told come back in 4 hours or so. It kept going on like this for 2 days and it wasn't until the evening before the game that the tickets finally turned up and I was a very happy man! Whilst on tenterhooks waiting for the tickets we did all the usual touristy stuff - seeing Evita's grave, spending a day in Boca taking in the Tango and eating well in my case anyway lots of steak!! Not the usual for a vegetarian I know but I had promised myself that after hearing how good it was that I must try it and unlike some people we have met I have found it easy going back to being a veggie.With tickets it was finally time to go shopping, a Maradona top and Argentina shirt for Rich, some boots and a glorious coat for Liz. So the next evening duly attired we headed out to the River Plate stadium for the match. Rather than bore you all with stuff about football all I have to tell you was that it was cold, Liz doesn't really like football and she had a really good night. I on the other hand had one of the best nights of the whole trip. Wicked atmosphere, friendly fans and a glorious 3-1 win to Argentina. So with the cash gone we find ourselves going home a little early but with no regrets and with a little time to spend getting used to it before it's back to the grindstone! It has been the most fantastic 10 months of our lives and well worth every penny and we'll give you our highlights in the next and final entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1117206120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1117206120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1117206120/tpod.html Tue, 07 Jun 2005 11:25:08 -0400 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Copacabana, Bolivia

We`ve been in Copacabana for 6 days now and we`re totally stuck. Bolivains are pissed off about the lack of profit that the country`s getting from their gas reserves so they`re blockading the roads to La Paz and so a lot of people are stuck wherever they are. There was even talk of a military coup but the head-honcho said no - thank god! We met a few pople who managed to escape La Paz to Copacabana and told us that it`s a horrid place to get stuck in, your eyes sting from the tear gas that the police have occasionally used and that one of their friends got stoned by protesters for trying to enter the airport! (the airport is closed) Now they`ve even closed the borders to Peru so we can`t even try a different route. The only thing that me and Rich can do is hold tight and wait. We have a flight booked as part of our RTW ticket from La Paz to Santiago and don`t really to miss that one, but its looking as though we are going to have to forget about seeing the rest of Bolivia as we`re running out of cash for other places. On the plus side Copacabana`s not a bad place to get stuck as its`s right by lake Titicaca and has a peacfully feel with a few nice places to eat and drink. Talking of which Nemo`s bar had a wicked band playing the other night - a traditional Andean/jazz fusion, including soprano sax, panpipes, bongos, charanga (the tiny guitar type Andean instrument), amazing music. The next day we were meant to go to Isla Del Sol (the island famous for the creation of not only the sun but also the 1st inca people) but we were way too hung over and didn`t go, so at least we can fill our time going there one day this week.P.S GET IN THERE THE `POOL!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1118083920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1118083920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1118083920/tpod.html Tue, 07 Jun 2005 11:18:25 -0400 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Easter Island, Chile

IORANA KORUA!To think Rich and I were considering not going to Easter Island to save some cash. How we would have missed out! As this flight was already part of our RTW ticket and didn´t cost us anything we thought, as it would be $1050 to get there otherwise, that we´d indeed go as it would be foolish not to. Fatima, Theresa and Patricio got our attention at the airport so we went with them. We got a lovely place in Hanga Roa (the main town) at their guest house called Thahai. and got a tour the very next day with Patricio. We found out later that Patricio is in one of the Lonely Planet editions as a recommended guide and I can see why, he was so enthusiastic and really knew his stuff. As it was just me and Rich we had him all to ourselves so we bombarded him with questions all day. It really is a fascinating island.The whole moai (pronounced moy) thing is a bit of a mystery. In a nutshell, apparently (although nothing is definite), hundreds of years ago, the statues were made by the poor people (short ears) for the aristocracy (long ears). They made hundreds of them and they were placed on sacred stone platforms all around the island. Then, there was some kind of civil war, and most of the statues got pushed over onto their faces, supposedly by the short ears. The moais that we saw today had been restored but not all around the island have been. Bearing in mind that Easter Island is the most isolated inhabited place in the world, there is still uncertainty as to where the first inhabitants actually came from. Although its thought that the long ears came from a place named Jiva (which could be Atlantis!) and the short ears from the Marquesas islands. It`s also thought that the Maoris from New Zealand are descendents from Easter Island. The early settlers called the island "Te Pito O Te Henua" (Navel of The World). And Patricio took us to see the navel of the world situated by the coast which is basically a very smooth and round stone thought to be very sacred by the ancients. Patricio got us to gently rub it with our hands and see if we could feel anything. We could feel a tingling sensation and this is because the stone is now thought to be a meteriotite which is actually magnetic.We drove all over the island, with Patricio showing us all different types of moai. It was really interesting but the best part was when we got to the quarry where they got the rock to make the statues. There were loads of half finished statues there, as if on one particular day, they all downed tools and stopped working. There were even finished ones stood there waiting to be moved to the sacred platforms but because they didn´t ever get moved (and therefore remained unsacred) they never got pushed over. These were the best ones because they´re in their original state, rather than restored and the faces are so clear. We climbed to the top of the quarry and looked down into the crater (there are loads of dormant volcanoes on the island). We also saw a row of restored moai - 15 of them, which were restored by a team of Japanese archeologists 20 years ago.After the cival war between the short ears and long ears, and the subsequent fall of the long ears a new competition started. High on the rim of the crater known as Rano Kau was the ceremonial village of Orongo. Built to worship the god of creativity - Makemake, it became the site of a grueling competition. Each year leadership of the island was determined by the individual who could scale down the vertical slopes, swim out to one of three small islets in shark-infested waters, and bring back the egg of a bird called the sooty tern. The one who did this successfully was considered the Birdman of the year and was bestowed with special honours and privileges, including the best looking lass on the island.Anyway, that`s way too much blurb and this ain't meant to be a history lesson, I could go on and on about the history and possible theories beacause to us it was one of the most interesting things we`ve done so far, but i won't, just go!We only had 3 nights on the island and it was just enough, although there is one fantastic beach (complete with Moais) you could sun yourself on for a couple of weeks. We spent a lot of time getting to know the family of the guest house and had a few very long games of Ludo with Patricio and wife Fatima in the evenings with wine. A top time was had and if ever you get the chance to go please do so, the people are friendly, the island`s stunning and well, its pretty fab and groovey all round.We`re in Buenos Aires now and waiting to see if we can get tickets to the Brasil v Argentina world cup qualifyer tomorrow. FINGERS CROSSED!!Then home on Thursday, I can`t believe it, it`s all happened so fast these last 10 months, and unfortunately our pockets are near empty, so home we go. :-(Adios
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1117649340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1117649340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lizand_rich/round_the_world/1117649340/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jun 2005 14:38:35 -0400 Adventures around the world in 360 days!

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Santiago, Chile

We managed to escape Bolivia - hoorah!! As things didn´t seem to be getting any better we decided to cut our losses and go. On Friday we went to the travel agents and asked for the next ticket out back to Puno and luckily the border was open. (we found out later on in Chile that the next day they shut it again) So here we are in Santiago after a 26 hour bus journey from Arica in the north. The buses here are incredible, we went for a ´salon cama´ which is a reclining chair that goes flat and it was unbelievably comfy, just like a fat soft arm chair. You also get your meals and drinks served to you. What a difference from all the other bus journeys we´ve had over the last 9 months! So we arived in the capital on Tuesday and went straight out to eat at a bistro in town. Having been there 2 minutes the owner - an English gentleman came up to us saying ¨I thought I heard English voices, have a couple of glasses of chamagne on the house!¨ Then he got chatting to us and told us a bit about Chile and that the Chileans love the English (some one´s got to) and then went off to type up a list of places to see in Santiago and Buenos Aires. On finishing our afternoon English tea of egg mayo sarnies and scones, he then got us a cocktail on the house! So if anyone reading this out there is English and going to Santiago go to ¨Fredrick´s¨ He might extend his hospitality! Later that night we went out to a restuarant with a live jazz band and had a scrummy meal, after chatting a little to the waiters they decided, on finishing our meal to give us one of their $20 reserve wines to take home, for free!!!!! What a wonderfull place this Chile is! Whenever do you get posh restuarants giving customers free bottles of fine wine?! Incredible.So now Rich and I are slightly gutted that we didn´t intend to spend much time here in this friendly country. Its just too expensive to stay here for too long if you´re on a tight budget, but when we come back to South America to see Bolivia we´ll definately make some time for Chile.Off to Easter Island today for 3 days then on to ArgentinaHasta luego. Liz and Rich xx
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