TravelStream™ news feed for member reneedar on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/reneedar en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:38:46 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1222043760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1222043760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1222043760/tpod.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:38:46 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hluhluwe Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

From staying with the much loved Botha family we decided it was now time to go on a real African Safari Reneedar/ Andre style. We took about a two hour drive north of Durban to the Hluhluwe-Umfulozi game Reserve.On our way up we stopped of to pick up a few Savannah Drys, this was quite refreshing to have with the atmosphere we were getting involved in. After our stop we headed back off to arrive at the game Reserve.We took a break at the gate to see what route we should take, the park is quite massive! We were really looking for to seeing quite a few different animals. We were lucky enough to come by a few Elephants in the distance. Unfortunately we could not see them face to face. We were really looking forward to see some giraffe, Lions Tigers and bears! Well not bears but unfortunately they were camouflage with the brush.we were quite lucky to see quite a few zebra's, springbok,(basically deers) these terrible monkeys Baboons with vengeance teeth, some lovely horse with stripes (zebra) I tried to ride one. it decided to run off on me. for some reason all these animals were quite afraid of humans.the Wildebeest Masters were very good at lounging until we arrived.also we came across a few buffalo.  We headed back on the road to Capetown, seeing more lovely scenery, and some bad accidents as the weather was super windy and roads winding around mountains,  driving through Lesotho stopping of at a real motel in Bloemfontein or something. the town was really small, we stumbled in to what we found a nice little motel, The theme of the place was out of a  70's kinda scandalous. We ate at some chain restaurant i tried to order a pizza with only cheese and tomato sauce. they did not understand it came out with ketchup and cheese. (Quite gross). At least we had a cheap bottle of wine to make up for the pizza as well all indulged in. later on Renee went to the room and Andre and I decided to bond some more. we took a tour around the motel found some sweet rooms to have a few drinks at and some interesting people. with that it was now time to go to bed and wake up to continue our road trip back to Capetown. Andre and Ray switch driving while Renee was being chauffeur in the back,  from the drive we saw quite a few white cap mountains, wine farms and a few trucks over flipped from the heavy wind. finally we reached Capetown, only staying for a few more days meeting up with some newly met and old friends one last time before we head across the bumpy Atlantic Ocean for Buenos Aires, Argentina
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1220828460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1220828460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1220828460/tpod.html Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:38:28 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Road trip South Africa style!  Ray, Andre, and I packed up the car and headed off for our three day drive from the southern tip of Cape Town, to sunny Durban in the north where Andre's family lives.  After a few hours of driving on day one, we stopped off to see Andre's grandparent's 'Oma and Opa', who fed us a nice dinner and gave us a warm place to stay for the night.  In the morning we continued on our journey for about 8 hours or so, stopping in the surf town of Jeffrey's Bay, then finally making it to Durban the following night.  We saw lovely country landscapes along the way, tons of animals, and sadly, a lot of 'shanty towns'- villages of shacks made out of scrap metal and random materials, as the economy here is quite varied- either you are doing very well, or very poorly, and it seems as though many of the native people here fall into the latter category.  It was a great experience to see the countryside along the way, and we had a great time going out with friends and family in Durban.  I'll show you our safari trip in the next entry!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1220298840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1220298840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1220298840/tpod.html Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:45:24 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Africa!  Finally, one of those places you always hear about but never seem to get there- South Africa was definitely one of those places for me.  Even though it's winter and I so love sunshine and summer weather, it was mild and we had a great time.  We stayed with Ray's friend (and mine now too) Andre, who is just always up for a great time and made sure we were ALWAYS having fun and seeing something new.  His family owns a guest house on the beach in Cape Town (Kommetjie specifically- Sunset Beach Guest House), which was beautiful and super comfortable, so we all stayed there for our first week in town before taking a road trip up to Durban.  While in Cape Town, we saw beautiful scenery of the mountains overlooking the ocean pretty much everywhere you drive, we hung out with penguins on the beach, went great restaurants and bars, and made sure to take a day to do wine tasting.  We went to Cape Point- the southern tip of the continent of Africa !  We had baboons cross our paths driving, plus tons of other adventures.  Ray's friend Alexis' family owns a champagne farm, so we started a tasting there and then went around to all the local vineyards to taste the local wines- wine was great, and it was super fun.  After about a week, we decided to drive north, stopping at Dre's Grandma and Grandpa's house (Oma and Opa in Afrikaans), then in the surf town of Jeffrey's Bay on the way to Andre's parents place in Durban- where we had more great times including a safari, which I'll post in the next entry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219977660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219977660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219977660/tpod.html Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:08:25 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Doha, Qatar

So from Asia, to all the way down to South Africa, this long distance consisted of two 8 hour+ flights, with an 8 hour layover in the Middle East, in the small country of Qatar in the city of Doha, which borders Saudi Arabia.  Our airline gave us a hotel with lunch included for the afternoon since we had such a long layover.  It is very hot and dry desert, pretty much anywhere you look its just brown.  The buildings, the ground, the sky, its all just sand floating around, not quite the loveliest city we've been to, but it was nice to be able to check out a new area of the world for free which wasn't in our itinerary.  Since we only had a few hours and there wasn't too much to do here, we headed to one of the malls which was actually quite lovely inside.  I can't remember the name of the mall, but different areas would represent different times of the day with murals on the ceiling of blue sky and clouds for day, or the evening had little streetlamps, there was even a small river with gondolas floating through middle.  Suffering from H & M and Krispy Kreme deprivation for months, some guilty pleasures from home were welcome, on our way to South Africa.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219868520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219868520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219868520/tpod.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:48:05 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Koh Samui, Thailand

From Vietnam we flew back into Bangkok, to finally go to southern Thailand beautiful islands and beaches for sun and relaxation after all our traveling through Southeast Asia, and before heading on to winter in South Africa.  From Bangkok, we took a night train to the island of Koh Samui.  It was a sleeper train, so shortly after the trip started our bench seats were converted into beds, bunk bed style- one over the other, and were surprisingly comfortable- long enough to lay down flat, and enough head room to sit up along with curtains and a book lamp.  This made the 12 hour or so trip go by rather quickly, and we saved on a nights hotel payment.  However, getting to the island from the train station was another trip in and of itself, taking an hour bus ride to an hour or longer boat ride, to a taxi into town.  Once we arrived in Samui, we checked out the town and headed to the beach.  The beach was lovely, however the town was basicly one long road of about 20 blocks of touristy shops and restaurants and bars.  There was decent food and a variety of choices as well as fast food places, however since this place is pretty much geared to tourists it didn't really feel like 'exotic Thailand', or anything authentically asian.  It was more of a relaxing vacation spot with conveniences for tourists, but we had a nice time on the beach there.  After about a week in Koh Samui, we took a boat to a bus to the other side of Thailand, to Phuket.  We stayed near Kata beach, which had decent surfing for Ray, and again an assortment of tourist geared shops and restaurants, however convenient, lacking in any real culture. We did, however ride an elephant which was a first for both of us, and helps keep them fed as they are no longer needed in Thailand- they used to be employed by the logging industry, but modern life does not use them for that anymore, so camps keep them fed and cared for by selling the rides, though one has to make sure it a legit camp and the elephants are not being abused.  Unfortunately in Samui, our second brand new Canon digital camera broke (with 3 months of our trip!!), so we have no photos of Phuket except whatever may come out on our cheap disposable camera, yet to be developed.  But in Phuket we enjoyed the beach, there was a dinosuar themed bar/restaurant/mini-golf place that we played miniature golf at, there was a modern shopping mall in Patpong (and tons of hookers hanging around), and just relaxed before it was time to move on once again.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219346280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219346280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219346280/tpod.html Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:43:55 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Halong Bay, Vietnam

From Hanoi, we took a few hours drive to see the amazing site of Halong Bay, on a three day boat tour.  Halong Bay is a UNESCO ( United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ) World Heritage Site, sites that are preserved and protected for their natural or cultural beauty and significance in the world.  The significance of Halong Bay is that it is made up of thousands giant limestone pillars jutting out of the ocean, and is uninhabited by man, except for the local floating fishing villages that have houses on the water.  There are many caves that make up this area as well.  On our tour, we spent the first day floating along the ocean soaking in the amazing beauty and serenity of the cliffs and virtually quiet except for the boat.  We made a stop and took some kayaks out around the boat and through a small cave,  stopped off at some caves to explore by foot, and continued saling into the evening.  We docked for the night at dark, and linked up our boat with two others, which you could climb over the railings and hang out on the other boats.  The boat next to our had karaoke, and many of us hung out drinking, playing cards, and signing dreadfully.  We had about 15 people on the boat, and we had a good group of people that were friendly and from different backgrounds, and enjoyed each other's company for our time on the tour.  We slept in small cabins on the lower part of the boat which consisted of a bed and a small bathroom.  Not so bad for $50 for the whole tour plus food.  The second day we sailed back to land, and included in our package was 'mountain hiking'- not really my thing but felt accomplished when reaching the top of a mountain, though tired and exhausted.  We were given a hotel to stay at our second night, and after lunch we took a short boat ride to nearby 'monkey island', a small beach island with some monkeys running around.  The next morning we drove back to Hanoi, seeing the countryside of rice fields and water buffalo.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219277880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219277880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1219277880/tpod.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:41:46 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hanoi, Vietnam

Hello Hanoi!!!  Wow, Vietnam is non stop people and scooters in Hanoi.  When we took our airport minibus to the center of town to look for a place to stay, we were bombarded by thousands of motor scooters whizzing by, it was quite a task crossing the street with our luggage-this was on the main highway, but just getting through ANY street was difficult.  Scooters fly by every direction, seemingly never stopping at intersections, just slowing down a little bit while other scooters come straight at each other narrowly missing a hit.  The sidewalks are also hard to get by on, as people are either eating at makeshift portable restaurants- i.e.- tiny plastic tables and stools, and a portable stove with bowls of condiments and food-people are always eating and people just pack up the 'restaurant' and move it to another area frequently.  There are cigarette stands on the sidewalks, as well as people selling fruit-mainly women who you see walking all over the city, wearing the signature Vietnam 'conical' hat to keep the sun out of their face, carrying a large stick across their shoulders with baskets of fruit hanging from both sides, the older women hunched over from years of carrying their labor.  As the scooters and old school 70's rusty bicycles seem to be the main form of transportation here, everything imaginable in uncanny quantities is carried on them- it is quite common to see a bundle of 20 foot long metal poles, or 10 water cooler bottles, trees, 10 sacks of assorted goods- anything usually carried in the back of a pickup truck is casually transported on bikes, along with 3 kids strapped in somewhere.  It's amazing how they do it.The streets in Hanoi are very old, and were originally named after the goods that were produced and sold on that street, many of which have not changed over the years.  Most of the shops were not variety goods, but specialty for one item- a metal store, a bamboo store, basket store, a fan store, a pillow store, a bird store, a sock store, etc. etc.  The buildings were an interesting ecclectic of Asian and French styling, as Vietnam used to be under French ruling.  They would have large windows, lattice work railings, yet many of them now old and worn looking.We found a cute little French style bar one night, and shortly after we ordered our drinks, the front metal gates were pulled down, as the bars close very early here, around 11 pm.  Shortly after the gates went down, we hear a knock on the gate, and immediately the music was shut off and in a whisper we (about 10 other patrons) were told to go upstairs and hide in a secret room because the police were there.  They turned the light off in the room and we were told to not to make a noise, it was totally nerve-racking when someone looked in the window of the room, but didn't come in.  A few minutes later the coast was clear and the party started again downstairs, but then when we wanted to leave we had to go back upstairs, and check with three different lookouts for the cops before we were let out through a door upstairs and were directed down a hall to leave through a door in an alley down the block.  It was definitely a good time if only for the adrenaline of feeling of sneaking around.After a few days in hanoi, there isn't alot of activities, and we will take a boat tour to the World Heritage Site of Halong Bay next.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1218416100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1218416100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1218416100/tpod.html Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:48:56 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Vang Vieng, Lao Peoples Dem Rep

From Bangkok we decided to book a cheap flight to the neighboring country of Laos.  Unfortunately the cheapest flight we could find was on Lao airlines, which doesn't make their safety records public, and when we showed up to 5 window plane with propellors on the wings after flying jumbo international Boeing jets, we were a bit apprehensive about whether we would make it alive.  Our luck proved that the only thing deadly about this flight was possibly the limp soggy hamburgers served in a paper box with weird sauce...  (no thanks), though we did get some free Lao beer (not bad).  We flew into the capital city of Laos; Vientiane, and spent the night there on our way to Vang Vieng, famed for it's lazy river tubing.  Vientiane didn't have alot of action of going on, but did have a strip of 'outdoor riverside restaurants', consisting of raised wooden platforms with pillows for seats and old tires for 'tables'.  Let's just say it's not quite 4 star dining, but you do have to give this third world country credit for utilizing their resources.  This sleepy city did have a few 'real' restaurants though, and we did find a bowling alley for some evening entertainment.       In the morning we took a bus to Vang Vieng, and though the drive was mainly scenic of trees and mountains, we drove through many small villages with shacks made out of bamboo for housing.  I had never really seen people living in such small quarters, living so basic.  I've seen it in magazines, or TV, but seeing first hand people living with nothing made me appreciate the life in America I come from, especially when I feel 'poor'.  Finally after hours on a bus, we arrived in Vang Vieng.  Vang Vieng is a little touristy town in Laos, known for it's lazy river tubing- renting a tube for the day, being dropped off at the Mekong river by a mini truck, and within a few feet of the drop off point the partying begins.  There are makeshift open outdoor bars built along the river by locals, who pull tubers in by throwing out a long rope with a bamboo stick attached and roping them in, throwing the tubes to a dry spot and giving tubers a ladder or steps of sorts to get to the bar.  Loud music playing, rope swings hang from the air, free shots are doled out to newcomers, and drinks are super cheap.  After spending some time at one bar, you only need to float for a few more seconds before deciding which bar you want to be roped into next.  This was truly a really fun, amazing experience.  I really don't know if there is anywhere else in the world that you can float down a river and go bar hopping simultaneously, while being surrounded by majestic mountains.  The majority of the bars exist only near the beginning of the river route, though so the hour spent actually floating down the river after the bars is an interesting experience when you're tipsy and it's starting to get dark and cold.... Regrettably we don't have photos of the river bar experience, as we didn't want to ruin the camera getting it wet, but we do have photos of the town which show the ambience of the area.  All of the restaurants are open air 'TV bars'- raised platforms with the pillow seating playing 'Friends' or 'Family Guy'.  Usually our choice of where to eat breakfast or dinner had more to do with what was playing on TV, versus what was on the menu.  There were only a few main blocks, but was a cozy fun town.  There is huge influx of a college crowd here ( I wonder why), so there were quite a few bars, also known as 'bucket bars' along the river- that would give you something like a child's sandbucket filled with alcohol for around $2-3 US, along with bonfires and huts with hammocks that would stay open pretty late.  The town also has a lot of caves, though we didn't visit any.  Vang Vieng is worth checking out for a few days for fun and scenery while in Southeast Asia.  Next entry we go to Vietnam!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1217705040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1217705040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1217705040/tpod.html Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:48:06 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bangkok, Thailand

We finally made it to Thailand- late May/ early June after 3 weeks in Bali, and a day in Brunei.  I had been really looking forward to Thailand- as I love Thai food, had heard about the amazing temples and beaches, seemed like Bangkok would be like an asian New York City- crowded city, skyscrapers, shops, restaurants, etc.....Well, yes and no.  First off I was surprised how hot it felt to me in Bangkok, as we had just come from Indonesia and NY summers are always into the 100's, and I usually love the heat over cold anyday.  However, it was a different thick, suffocating heat, combined with extreme air pollution from overcrowded roads filled with cars and 'tuk-tuks'- a sort of scooter equipped with a small cart with benches for transport, but sounds like a lawnmower and thick black smoke pours out the exhaust....these combined with diesel buses packed into every road make for a hot, unbreathable existence I had never experienced.  As much as I wanted to explore my new surroundings, after our first day there, every time I would venture outside out of air conditioning I felt dizzy and like I was going to throw up or pass out, and I woke up our second day there feeling like I was going to die and getting sick nonstop ( food poisoning?  heat exhaustion? ), not sure what happened but spent two days in bed, though I did get to venture out and see the Grand Palace, where the king used to live- it was an amazing sight- so beautiful and ornate, giant statues and figures everywhere in gold and bright jewel tones glistening in the sun.  On the weekend we took the bus to the 'Chatachuk Market'- the biggest outdoor market I've ever been to.  A flea market of sorts, has around 200,000 stalls, and sells everything from new and vintage clothing, housewares, food, to even pets and furniture.  We spent a good amount of time shopping for vintage shoes and unique clothing from local designers, and scored some great finds for most under $20 US.  We also visited some shopping malls, one was very high end of likes of "Gucci" etc, one is filled with local designers, and another is filled with 'designer fakes', and a whole floor dedicated to cell phones- any shape, size, color, brand, feature, charger, holder, anything cell phone related this mall had 1000's of, and could fix most phones on the spot super cheap.  I loved walking the streets of Bangkok, as there are so many new sights and smells different from other countries- food stands making fresh stir fry of your choice, fruit stands of exotic looking fruits, handmade goods being sold, it was all very exciting but also leaves one with a sense of wanting to relax, or get away from all the chaos (and heat), so we decided to buy a cheap flight and head north to the country of Laos, more on that in my next entry!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1217440560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1217440560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/reneedar/1/1217440560/tpod.html Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:25:38 -0400 7 months off- driving across USA and flying around the world south to Fiji, Aus, Bali, Thailand, S. Africa, and Costa Rica !

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Brunei, Brunei

It's been way too long since our last entry- we've been to 7 countries since Bali, but now as we have an apartment in Buenos Aires with internet connection, I am committed to thoroughly catching up in the next few weeks.  With that said, I continue our journey from Bali, heading to Thailand, with a stop in the tiny country of Brunei.  We flew Brunei airlines, which I had never heard of, much less knowing there was a country in existence with the same name.  It is on the northern tip of the island of Borneo, near Malaysia.  As we had a full day layover in Brunei, the airport offers free day trips of the country which we decided to take- there was nothing else to do and why not see and learn about a new place for free?  We learned this country has very little crime because there is death penalty for drugs, alcohol is illegal ( and not served on the plane ) as it is a Muslim country, and the government makes sure all the people go to school for free, give housing to all government employees, and being such a small country everyone knows everyone, and any suspicious activity would be reported to police by neighbors.  They have a village that lives along a river, but we were told there is air conditioing in the homes and they have cars as well, not merely boats and shacks to live out of.  It doesn't seem like there is a lot to do in this country, so not sure if I would reccomend visiting on purpose, but it was a nice day trip to make out of a stopover.  Next up-Thailand!
]]>