Jason's Choo Choo

This Blog Continues...

2008-12-29T03:19:00.002+01:00

Over here!

http://web.me.com/jason.obrien

3 Reasons Why We Love Thong Nai Pan Yai

2008-08-21T09:46:00.005+02:00

More Koh Phangan

2008-08-16T09:48:00.003+02:00

Oh Hi!

2008-08-16T09:28:00.002+02:00

Hi It's me! Ummmmmmmm....well....

We arrived here on Koh Phangan about 3 weeks ago and made a few important decisions.

Firstly we decided not to rush around Malaysia and Indonesia as we had run out of time to do what we wanted to do and actually relax and enjoy it.

Secondly we decided that traveling costs money and staying put costs less.

Its is so great here on at Thong Nai Pan Yai beach. We came here in February last year and loved it. We have a bungalow right on the beach with loads of space in a prime spot and its cheap as chips. So my day usually consists of waking around 10 or 11 then wandering over for breakfast followed by a swim then laying down then a swim then chatting to our friends that we have made then getting stoned then lunch then a dip in the sunken bar in the Dreamland Resort pool then dinner then to Nu Bar sometimes till 7 in the morning. Basically just repeat this daily and you have my new life. Its fantastic. We have made loads of friends here with longtermers and locals. Personally I would not leave but Ania is already looking at jobs in Melbourne as her funds are long gone.

So - We fly from Bangkok to Auckland on September 4th, spend a week going to Golden Bay and back then another week in Auckland then flying out to Melbourne bright and early on the 19th of September with our stuff hopefully dropping with us that week.

So thats it! I don't do much. Just hang out, eat and drink. I did have to go to Burma on a visa run which was an experience but apart from that I try not to move more than 500 meters away from the Bungalow.

I hope everyone is having as much fun as me and I will see some of you very soon!

It's Raining....again.

2008-07-28T10:33:00.000+02:00

What I've failed to mention since we have been in Asia is that it has been raining - a lot! I didn't want you all to think that I have been having a bad time so haven't mentioned it. I don't mind if it is roasting hot and sunny during the day then rains in the late afternoon which it has been like quite often but today it has rained all day. Quite exciting though. Two coconut trees came down, one of them smashing through the roof of a bungalow next to where we were staying originally and then one falling onto the roof of the restaurant where we are staying.

Must be something to do with the mask and snorkel that i bought this morning...

Its a Dogs Life

2008-07-28T10:32:00.001+02:00

Pics - Dogs on our beach Ao Tanote and our current home.

After a 12 hour journey from Bangkok by bus and ferry we arrived at the Island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. The bus was definitely the best I had been on over the last few months and if only i had been of average height I'm so sure that i would have had more than 2 hours sleep. Upon arriving on Koh Tao we opted to head straight over to one of the less populated bay on the island - Ao Tanote. The Lonely Planet tells us of bungalows for as little as 200 Baht! Wooohoooo! So over the rough "road" we go on the back for a 4x4 to a lovely bolder strewn bay (I may have borrowed that from the lonely planet ....sorry). Unfortunately for us I haven't been paying much attention to the lunar cycles lately and as it happens 6000 "fullmooners" ascended upon the island the day before from Koh Phan nang and took all the budget accommodation....even the non budget accommodation by the looks of it but we found a bungalow right on the beach for more than twice what we intended on paying which served its purpose and was actually pretty sweet! we have since found a cheapie off the beach which s basic as you like so perfect for us. I am now being stalked by Scorpions. We found one in our bathroom yesterday and Ania delt it a swift death with the bottom of her flip flop.....phew. I can now poo without fear.

Ao Tanote Bay is only good for a dip at full tide as you cant go too far without stepping on coral. This of course makes it great for snorkeling and you can hire gear most places along the beach. There are loads of fish to see (as well as sea cucumbers - yuck) and some guys we were talking to even saw turtles a couple of days ago. This is of course a diving island with loads of dive schools to choose from. I should probably do one as it is kind of cheap for what you get but still its well above budget. I will however buy a decent mask and snorkel tomorrow.

Righto!

3 Pics From Bangkok.

2008-07-28T10:15:00.001+02:00

You can buy a Lamborghini while you shop for a mocha mint frapachino in the Siam Paragon Mall. Fortunately for me the Lambo store was closed at the time of visiting

There art everywhere.

Khao San Road for the uninitiated at a particularly quiet moment.

Bangkok

2008-07-22T08:03:00.002+02:00

I've been in Bangkok staying around the Kao San Road for over a week now. I had a few good nights in a nice(ish) hotel with a swimming pool etc but now we are off the main drag back into backpacker budget bliss. Oddly after being here a while you start to recognize people and it seems the only other people who have been here as long as I are single males in their late 40s...living the dream! I can only imagine what they get up to here. I'm only here due to my toilet habits at the moment. Its strange after traveling all this time and finally getting to to what i would call civilization that i get these problems.

We had a great day yesterday in the luxury of the Paragon Mall in Siam Square. We watched The Dark Knight in glorious IMAX! It was awesome! Literally! It was so nice to have some luxury though i did receive some bad news....

It seems that the ship with all of our stuff will be docking in Melbourne on August 29th. Now that is only 5 weeks away and I don't want to go to Australia just yet. Actually....I don't really want to go at all! So it looks like the next 5-6 weeks we will not be doing any tourist nonsense but will just be at the beach having a holiday as much as possible. Not sure where we will be or where will fly from to get to Oz as we don't want to spend all of our time rushing and traveling. We may even just stay in Thailand for the whole time. Ania has a 3 month visa while mine is running out it seems so I will need to extend it.

We leave for Koh Tao tonight.

Woooooohooooooooo!

Still Alive

2008-07-17T18:34:00.004+02:00

I know that some of you millions that tune into this incredible example of literary genius are getting a little tired of only seeing photos of Ania all the time.

Trust me - I know exactly what you mean! ;-)

So here I am, still alive, just for you.

Give peace a chance.....my hair is growing back too.

Lets Get The Hell Outta Here!

2008-07-17T18:33:00.002+02:00

So we had had enough of temples. Time to get out of here and head to Thailand! Yay! Oh....a slight oversight. We met some Polish people who had a few problems with the border crossing into Thailand. It seems Polish people can't get a 1 month visa on arrival at the border like the rest of us. They can get a 2 week visa on arrival at the airport but that is it.

So Ania had to send her passport off to Phnom Penh and wait nearly a week (as it was the weekend) to get her visa. As much as i thought Siam Reap is a nice little place there is not much else to do there once you have had enough of the temples and as we have spent every single day together since April 16th its time for me to disappear to Bangkok and give us both a well earned break from each other.

Wooohoooo!

My door to door bus journey from my hotel to the Khao San Road didn't exactly start off as I expected but after a motorbike, shared taxi and then a minivan from the border I made it to Bangkok...and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as we approached the circus that is Khao San Road.

The pics are of the traffic approaching the Cambodian/Thai border. The road is notoriously bad and there are rumours that one of the airlines is paying money to keep it that way.

Even More Rocks

2008-07-17T18:31:00.001+02:00

I can't seem to be able to upload as many pics for each post as i would like.

More Rocks

2008-07-17T18:28:00.003+02:00

Yes she is pretending to be Lara Croft. This is where Tomb Raider and Raiders of teh Lost Ark were shot ya know.

Angkor!

2008-07-17T18:25:00.001+02:00

The Great Angkor Temples! Oooooooh! Ahhhhhhh!

Actually - Its pretty impressive. Probably the most impressive thing that i have seen so far (this trip) mostly due to the vast number of temples and the grand scale of it all. It's comparable with Rome for wow factor even though everything is around 1000 years old. You can get either a 1 day, 3 day or 1 week pass to go and see these and you definitely need more than one day to check out the even the just the main ones. Its a very, very hot day out which encourages you to start early but personally starting early just means you can finish early because there are only so many piles of rocks that you can see in one day. We ended up spending 2 "half days" out there. We are pretty quick around the sites! These are not the first things I have ever seen in my life so I'm not about to immerse myself in each site for hours on end. In and out. But - I was still impressed and though there was no beach there I'm still glad that i took the time to go and see. Thanks for convincing me Dylan!

Siam Reap is the town that services the hordes of tourists and its a pretty neat little place. There is a great street called "Pub Street" and you can guess what thats all about as well as having plenty of great places to eat and even shop. I bought an opium pipe. It's awesome.

Snooker Ville

2008-07-17T18:23:00.002+02:00

So we decided after seeing so much death and destruction that we deserved a well earned rest at the beach before hitting the temples of Angkor. Sihanoukville is a mere 4 hour bus ride south from Phnom Penh which made it even more enticing. Its not a bad place to stop off at if you are in Cambodia. You could really turn this into a holiday! We stayed in some pretty nice bungalows with a balcony and hammock with a great view of the water. Our first day there we went for lunch at the beach and to our surprise we were greeted with menus by our french friend Adrien who we shared a train compartment with from Ulanbator to Beijing where we also stayed in the same hostel for a few days. Small world. From then on The Dolphin Shack was our place to be and as Adrien told us....It never closed! After a couple of nights there were four more people that we had met traveling in town so we had a pretty good bunch to hang with till the small hours of the morning. On particularly surreal night consisted of those mentioned above, two deaf cambodian girls, a couple of gay prostitutes and clients with a couple of regular prostitutes all at the same table communicating in all kinds of languages and levels. To top it off as i stumbled home at 5am i felt a sharp stinging sensation on my foot. I looked down to look for some kind of cable or wire only to see a black scorpion scurrying away from where i was standing. At this time of the morning, drunken and stoned i had no idea if i had 45 minutes to live and should be heliported off to the nearest hospital or if i should just go home and pass out. I chose the latter and the next morning there was just a small lump and a small amount of pain....much like a bee sting....though i suspect it may have killed the average man.
Nothing beat that particular night but we did end up staying for 6 or 7 days. I lost count in the end. everyone we knew left and it was raining a bit too much for our liking so with the magic gone we left for Siam Reap.

I know the beach pic is not too enticing but that is the view from Dolphin Shack and it was good believe me. The other pic is Ania and Pin the funky, lovely, Cambodian/Thai, deaf bar chick.

Tuol Sleng

2008-07-08T13:17:00.002+02:00

This is at the Tuol Sleng Museum which is where prisoners were tortured and killed. remarkably they kept fantastic records of everyone who came here and there are hundreds of photographs of the prisoners which are fantastic portraits. The cells with the bed in them were used for torture and there is a photograph above the bed of the prisoner post-torture. Its pretty gruesome.

Killing Fields

2008-07-08T13:07:00.002+02:00

Quite interesting. They were very naughty killing all those people you know. Basically there are two parts of the experience. Firstly the monument where they uncovered all the bodies which is what most people know about as the skulls are on display and then there is Tuol Sleng which once was a school before it was taken over and used as a torture and killing center. Its all very reminiscent of Auschwitz but this all happened with most our lifetimes.

Phnom Penh

2008-07-08T12:47:00.002+02:00

Capital of Cambodia! One thing that we noticed was how much more expensive it is here than in Vietnam. The US Dollar is quoted for all prices which means that they must round everything up to the nearest dollar. The people seem pretty nice. Quite different to Vietnam and in our sugar coated backpacker world everyone speaks plenty of english.

2008-07-08T08:36:00.001+02:00

More Mekong

2008-07-08T08:32:00.002+02:00

Mekong Delta

2008-07-08T08:13:00.002+02:00

As we spent extra time at the beach we were running out of time. I wanted to enter Cambodia via the Mekong Delta and only had two days to do it so we booked a trip with a night on the boat traveling up the river overnight arriving close to the border in the morning. It was a pretty good thing to do apart from our guide for the first part who was a right James Blunt and was in love with the sound of his own voice...I hate it when they get a microphone out to talk to 12 people....you always know that they are going to break into song.

Saigon

2008-07-08T08:07:00.003+02:00

We finally get to Saigon. Its another busy city and we only really see a few blocks of it which is all backpackers and sex tourists. We did an out to to the Cu Chi tunnels where the Vietnamese people hid and fought with the Americans. There is lots of anti American propaganda which we all love plus i got to fire an AK47 which was....fun for a few seconds though i didn't win a teddy bear or anything.

More Mui Ne

2008-07-08T08:00:00.001+02:00

Dirty Water

2008-07-08T07:58:00.002+02:00

Doesn't the rubbish along the beach make for some pretty colours? And how about all that packaging in the water?

Mui Ne

2008-07-08T07:47:00.002+02:00

Finally! A beach holiday dream!

Not quite. Mui Ne is a 15km stretch of beach and we happened to end up at the worst part. The place we stayed at was struggling to stay open which made it hard to get food when you wanted it. Also...the old problem with rubbish everywhere in the ocean raised its head again. We were so disappointed but found what we were looking for just a few kms away so we spent 5 days in total there which meant our visa was about to expire!

Dalat

2008-07-08T07:40:00.002+02:00

Away from the beach and up into the mountain town of Dalat. Not a huge amount of things to do he in the town (especially without power half the time)so we went on a bike trip with the Easy Riders. Our guys had been doing this kind of thing for 15 years. Pretty nice guys but they couldn't hide the disappointment when we didn't want to shell out $60 per day plus expenses to do a longer trip with them. We saw plenty of countryside, coffee plantations, temples....blah blah...

Nga Trang

2008-07-07T13:57:00.003+02:00

Nice beach town but seems to draw Australian holiday makers which pumps the prices up for eating and drinking. We did manage to find a place that did killer cocktails for 12000 Dong but it resulted in a very sore head for me and a suspected case of alcohol poisoning for Ania. Apart from that we stayed a little away from the crowds in an all Vietnamese guesthouse which meant that when we booked our trip out to the islands through them we were the only foreigners on the boat. Great trip as the water was beautiful and we met a couple of Vietnamese people and shared lunch like one big happy family. We then drank the free wine on offer in rubber tires in the water much to the amusement of the locals. I should add that we were minor celebrities by that stage after Ania sung the Polish version of Frere Jacques up with the guide in front of everyone...see pics...

Hoi An

2008-07-04T05:20:00.002+02:00

Lovely chilled out, historical town on the river. Great food and with a beach too only 5 minutes away on a scooter.

Ahhhh.....

Rage Against The Machine

2008-07-04T05:03:00.003+02:00

For all you RATM fans (David Grima) you might recognise this car from the cover of the first album. Click to pic to view full size and recognise!

Hue

2008-07-04T04:21:00.003+02:00

Hue' Highlights

2008-07-04T04:07:00.002+02:00

Dragon Boats on the river.

Hue'

2008-07-02T12:09:00.002+02:00

We stayed a couple of days here in Hue and spent a day out on a motorbike tour with the Thu Wheels Cafe crew. Great day out and good to back on a bike again after all these years. Get ready for temples, pagodas and tombs....(yawn)...

Actually....the internet is absolutely hopeless here...try back later...

Oh Blogger!

2008-07-02T11:58:00.002+02:00

I am about 3 weeks behind in this blog. We left Vietnam a couple of days ago after spending a whole month there. Hopefully I will get the chance to up load some pics and carry on the blog but the internet is so slow so its getting kind of tedious. We are in Cambodia now and after three nights here in Phnom Penh we are heading south to the beach for a bit before heading up to the temples of Angkor Wat.

Hopefully I can upload some stuff tonight!

The Water!

2008-06-26T12:40:00.003+02:00

So I took my first swim. Not too bad. It was off the boat.

Now Halong Bay is a beautiful place and Vietnamese people will tell you how beautiful it is every chance they get..

BUT

It will not be beautiful for long if the Vietnamese do not learn to stop emptying their rubbish into it! There was household rubbish everywhere and it really put you off swimming in the water. Our boat has a rubbish bin out the back that was overflowing and rubbish was just blowing into the water. It's a disgrace. Most Vietnamese have not travelled to other countries so have no idea that this is bad. Just a few hundred miles away in the Gulf of Thailand there is a national park that has the same limestone islands as Halong Bay but the difference is that the water is crystal clear and people know not to use it as a rubbish tip!

Shame on you Vietnam.

We also saw some caves that are a major tourist attraction. They were lit up like a disco. I'm not even going to continue with this...

The pics though tell another story so dont go there! Just buy a postcard and say you went there!

Halong Bay! Oooooooh! Huh?

2008-06-26T12:22:00.002+02:00

Yippeee! So from the over night train from Sapa to Hanoi we jump straight on a bus out to the coast! Weeeeeeee! Sun! Sea! Halong Bay! World Heritage site!

Halong Bay is the most over rated tourist attraction in Vietnam. Boarding the boats is madness. There are so many and its all just tourist all arriving at the same time to do the same thing. It seems very difficult o to this trip independantly and if you are up against it with time i would recommend a day trip and not the 3 days that we decided upo, This is not a beach holiday. This is a trap to steal more money from your wallet. The boats themselves are great! Lunch was not too bad either consisting of a reasonable amount of seafood and average vietnamese grub. Its when they try and charge you $2 for a can of beer that you have been buying for 30c that it begins to annoy you. Then they have the cheek to wave a corkage notice under your nose of $1.50 per beer if you so desire to bring your own. You might think $2 is reasonable but when you are on a budget and you know how much these things cost its outrageous. But this is typical of Vietnam. Some people don't even bother trying to rip you off....they just stand with their hands out saying "Money Money Money!"

Sapa Scenery

2008-06-26T12:14:00.002+02:00

Tribal Chicks.

2008-06-26T12:06:00.003+02:00

Check out the leg warmers...on all three of them!

Our Guide

2008-06-26T11:58:00.002+02:00

Our guide for two days was May - A super sweet, smart little 18 year old from a local tribe 20km away. I call them the red hats because the women wear red scarves on their heads. The married ones also shave the front of their head along with their eyebrows. They look great! The tribes are all so different and completely different in every way to the Vietnamese. I hear that the Vietnamese Government do not recognise these ethnic minorities as Vietnamese and they can't get passports....oh dear....there goes my blog again...

Sapa

2008-06-26T11:49:00.003+02:00

If you go to Hanoi and you have to choose a trip to either Sapa in the mountains or Halong Bay at the coast, please choose Sapa! It's amazing! Its difficult to describe in words or even pictures. Sapa town is 1600 metres above sea level and is a perched right up in the clouds. The town its self is nice but i guess but its not the town that you come for. Surounding the town are villages made up of ethnic tribes who still wear traditional dress and clothing made from hemp and dyed with indigo leaves. Its a pretty amazing experience visting the villages and meeting the people (who are very nice).

Its Official

2008-06-26T11:44:00.001+02:00

Smoking makes you gay.

Red or Dead

2008-06-26T11:43:00.000+02:00

So now it seems that my blog has been banned in both China and Vietnam
by the communist regimes in power here. Due to the controversial
and brutal honest truth that I am broadcasting out into the www they
are trying to block me.

Rest assured - I shall not be silenced.

Ya Get Me Blud.

2008-06-24T14:03:00.002+02:00

Checkers - Hanoi

2008-06-24T13:58:00.001+02:00

Weird

2008-06-24T13:54:00.001+02:00

I can't actually view my blog from here.

Hopefully things are uploading!

View From Our "Guest House" = Hanoi

2008-06-24T13:48:00.003+02:00

We had a lovely room with a balcony. The last time i saw cockroaches as big as our room were on skewers in China.

Motorbike Rider.

Hanoi

2008-06-24T13:43:00.003+02:00

Totally hectic. Bikes everywhere. People live and work from their houses on the street. Check it. You can buy cigarettes, beer and also get a scooter wheel alignment done here.

Back in Nam

2008-06-24T13:35:00.002+02:00

Well Well Well....

Its been busy and i havnt had much chance to get on the internet.

We are just about at the end of our visa here in Vietnam. It has been certainly long enough! Everyones aim in life is to fleece tourists of any cash that they may have in their pockets. Where its by short changing you, quoting super inflated prices, giving shitty exchange rates when prices are quoted in US$s or just pushing you to buy their shit all the time. We have only just found a reasonable beach so we will stay here for a couple of days before heading to Saigon then on to Cambodia.

Pics to follow! (...if the ADSL is not just a 56k dialup...)

She writes.

2008-06-06T13:25:00.003+02:00

Ania has started writing something in Polish. It's around 28 pages long so far. I think she is writing about how great i am.

Hot Pot Madness

2008-06-06T13:18:00.003+02:00

We made a little friend called Lily who was in Shanghai for a job interview with Emirates Airways. She helped us out a lot with translations when we went to buy tickets for the train and also when i was going to banks tryng to get cash for the camera etc. So we took her out to dinner...rather she took us to Chinese Hot Pot!

Quite an experience. You order a shit load of food (or rather Lily did as there is no english menu) and then cook it in a pot that is heated at your table. You are cooking in a kind of spicy stock i guess is the best way to describe it.

We tried a couple of delicacies which you can see photos of. Ducks Tongue and Ducks Blood. Absolutely delightful!

We were the only round eyes there which made it even better.

Shanghai`

2008-06-06T13:12:00.004+02:00

All you can do in Shanghai is shop.

Every 10 seconds some tosser is asking you is you want to buy a fake watch or some other fake shit. I have a real watch now and as much as i like to buy fake rolexes, the short life expectancy has put an end to this fetish. I did however try desperately to buy a Nikon D300 for an incredibly cheap price compared to the UK but I failed due to lack of Visa acceptance and not being able to draw that huge amount of cash out. Of well...you will have to be happy with the photos i am taking on my poor little Ricoh.

I also tried to buy some expensive hiking shoes but unfortunately the largest shoe size in China appears to be a UK9.5.

I hate small people.

Lets Hit the Beach!

2008-06-06T13:05:00.002+02:00

Wooohooooo!

It's been hot! Did I tell you that? What better thing to do than head to the coast. Qingdao sounded like a wonderful place. They are hosting the sailing events during the olympics and have some wonderful beaches. Once a German colony they have a brewery there - The Tsingtao Brewery! And I love Tsingtao! So lets go!

Unfortunatly all we saw was thick fog for our entire stay. You could not even see the sea from the sand it was that bad...and it was cold...and it was damp!

Such a shame as I was so looking forward to it. They have a lot of seafood there too. It freaks me out though looking at it swimming around in buckets on the streets outside the restaurants....especially when i don't know what the hell some of these creatures are!

We ate dumplings too.

Bye Bye Beijing

2008-06-06T13:04:00.001+02:00

A parting shot on our way to the train station.

The Great Wall!

2008-06-06T12:57:00.002+02:00

As president Nixon said upon his visit - "This is a great wall"

We went on the "Secret Wall Tour" that our hostel offered. They take you to an unrestored section of teh wall which is away from all the tourists and all the hassle of touts that goes with it. We had a local guide who was about 70 years old, no english, not water and sporting some pretty cool hardcore workwear. This was quite a hike and at the risk of repeating myself...It was hot!

It was a pretty good trip as there were only 10 of us and the wall but I would have also like to have seen a restored section as well but without the masses of people.

You can't have everything in life.

For Your Clothes Here's A Pretty Flower.

2008-06-06T12:56:00.001+02:00

Dinner!

2008-06-06T12:53:00.002+02:00

Thanks to Bradley for the recommendation!

3 ducks had to die for our eating pleasure that night! Yummy!

(Having the head on my plate still freaks me out though)

Forbidden City

2008-06-06T12:43:00.004+02:00

Ooooh! It's the Forbidden City! So called as this is where the monarchy lived away from the disgusting peasants. Never venturing out unless it was to the Summer Palace. It is absolutely huge! The guide book says that it could take you three days to really see it. You would have to be some kind of masochist to do this. Its great and all but its so hot and there are so many people that you just want to keep on moving and appreciate it for its enormity.

After you get through it there is a park at the end with a hill that you can climb to see over the entire city! Wow!

As you can see in my photo the smog was so bad that you could't see much.

Some Chinese Architecture.

2008-06-06T12:40:00.002+02:00

I dunno what the 3 nuns is...it seemed to be some kind of shopping mall/office block but the other thing is the national theatre building if i remember correctly. it has this crazy "moat" around it like a horizon pool which gives the illusion of the water going right up to the structure....it doesn't.

Summer Palace

2008-06-06T12:30:00.004+02:00

So we went to the Summer Palace for the day....well actually we spent a lot of time trying to get our Vietnamese visa and then looking for a boat to take us to the palace with only vague directions from the Lonely Planet which can be your best friend or worst enemy at times.

I do not enjoy tourism...I am not going to tell you much about the "sites" because i can not be bothered most of the time.

So we found the boat finally and chugged along to the Summer Palace which is basicly where the emperor and family would go in the summer to escape the city. This not actually a palace as such....it's an enormous complex of parks, lakes and...erm...a palace I guess. It was bloody hot and as we went by boat we got dropped off right at the grounds which ment a long walk (though nice) to the main palacy bit. I drank beer and and ate some dumplings. I like dumplings a lot and decided to try and eat them every day while in China.

This place was beautiful by the way and if you ever go to Beijiung its worth the trip just for the amazing gardens. China is so green!

Doesn't poor old Reto look tired....

Beijing

2008-06-06T12:16:00.002+02:00

China was a breath of fresh air after Mongolia. As soon as we crossed the border everything started to go green and the magic of the Chinese culture began to unravel. Gardens, small communities, farmlands and chinese writing! Oh yes! We have reached some kind of civilisation at last. First impressions of Beijing were that it was a modern and clean city...and finally we had arrived to some heat. The hostel that we stayed at was pretty close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Everything is being redeveloped for the Olympics so its a little bit of a mess on the streets. You can look forward to seeing plenty of "traditional" chinese buildings all painted in grey with fake bricks attached to the walls with red trim on your screens when the Olympics starts. The first thing you notice about Beijing is the smog. After visiting other cities in China I doubt that it is all down to pollution. I think that China gets a pretty bad rap from the west. China is an incredible monster and reform in regard to pollution/manufacturing is a slow process. We read that some Olympians were pulling out of the games to due to the pollution. Their loss. The Chinese are not stupid. They are going to impress the pants off everyone. Once they stop the factories for two weeks and shoot that shit up into the sky to make it rain it will be perfect weather with beautiful blue skys.

It's a pity i loath athletics....

Beer is cheap in China - And good! Tsingtao large bottles were less that .50p and thats kick ass! Food is also fantastic but where there is no english and you are just pointing at pictures it can be kind of random. I had a lovely dish of what appeared to be spicy, battered, fried chicken bones with cashew nuts.

Yum.

Hurro Hans Brinks!

2008-06-05T16:24:00.003+02:00

Oh my gawd! Sorry for going so quiet but china has this fucked up thing where the control and censor all media and blogs are deemed to be an in controlable method of free speech and are blocked in china. I am now free and in the peoples republic of Vietnam.

We were unsure about even wantng to stop in china but we were very pleasantly impressed. Very nice people and a very beautiful country. China is a whole trip on its own and as we don't have all the time (or money) inthe world we decided not to spend toomuch time here but make it another trip. We are now in hanoi which is hectic! Tomorrow we head to Sapa for a couple of days then back here and to Halong Bay.

Stay tuned for more on China once I get to spend half a day on a computer!

Chau!

Random Black and Whites

2008-05-16T14:55:00.002+02:00

We are in Ulanbataar till Sunday if we can get on a train to Beijing.

How YOU doing?

Mongolia is High!

2008-05-16T14:49:00.002+02:00

Next thing you know we are in a lush pine forest! We hiked 3km up a hill and on the top was a restored monastery. It was a bit of a battle as we were over 2000M above sea level and even though we were all sick from chest infections, hangovers, food poisoning and periods, at least 4 of us made it to the top and bathed in the peace, quiet and sunshine.

Ice Valley, Red Rocks and Dinosaurs!

2008-05-16T14:38:00.002+02:00

We hiked down a frozen valley and saw a frozen water fall then we saw some big red rocks! The next day we went back into the rocks by Camel and the nice chap that we stayed with shopwed us some fossilised dinosuar bones in the rocks! I even have a small piece though after visiting the Natural History Museum here in Ulanbataar (where they have a major exhibit of dinosaurs excavated from the very same spot we were) I suspect that my bone is actually from a mammal dating back only 30million years and not an actual dinosaur. It sticks to your tongue. Look it up!

Bodies.

2008-05-16T14:29:00.002+02:00

One of the camps we stayed at had an alarming number of animal carcasses around it. I even found a tidy pile of hooves! We were also greeted with a a big pot cooking in our Ger and we were shocked to find that it was a sheeps head and feet. After a lot of people taking the piss out of us and telling us how nice the eyes are, the girl that lived there told us that it was for her dog! You can imagine the relief. The next day i awoke to 2 inches of snow everywhere. There was no toilet and i did my first poo in the snow.

Sweeeeeet.

Red Rocks

2008-05-16T14:26:00.002+02:00

Quite amazing....not sure if the photo does it justice but just another example of the ever changing landscapes of the Gobi.

Hmmm...maybe this will be a day by day account after all...

2008-05-16T14:22:00.002+02:00

We stopped for lunch in a local school. Everyone had fun with paper aeroplanes.

Monasteries

2008-05-16T14:17:00.003+02:00

The second day we saw two Monasteries. The first one was just ruins in the rock formations and the second and abandoned one. In the Stalinist period in the 1930s these places were destroyed and the monks killed.

First Ger Camp

2008-05-16T14:10:00.002+02:00

These guys had a whole load of goats which meant that you ate goat, you drank warm goat milk tea with salt(!) and you smelt like goat!

The Dream Wagon!

2008-05-16T14:04:00.002+02:00

This is the Russian 4x4 that hauled us around the Gobi for 3000km without missing a beat. A tough old thing! We did have to change a petrol filter and fix a hole in teh fuel tank but apart from that it tackled sand, mountains, rocks and rivers!

Mongolia!

2008-05-16T13:30:00.002+02:00

Wow!

So we were out in the Gobi Desert for nine days driving around in a Russian 4x4 and staying with nomadic Mongolian families, staying in Gers and eating mutton! I took a toni of pictures so will just briefly describe eachg one rather than a day by day account...

Though I will link to Reto's Blog who will definately have day by day and google maps to look at! (Geek)

Road to mongolia.

2008-05-06T05:46:00.003+02:00

We finally arrived in Mongolia at 6am this morning. Not a bad trip as the slow train we were on had a few people from our hostel that we have made friends with. there also a group of english people obviously on a tour. I'm so glad that we didn't end up with them. They are like a bunch of pricks from Clapham. It's quite weird as you can tell that they have no clue because they have a guide who does everything for them. Its great - I was speaking mock russian just to confuse them. The hostel we are staying at is pretty good. They seem very organised ....just nice! Ania and I are tomorrow going on a 9 day day trip out into the Gobi with our Swiss friend and a nice english couple that we met this morning. Should be cool. Its only about US$175 each including our van and driver. Its gonna be one of those Russian 4x4 things that i love so much so we are really looking forward to the trip. Mongolia is great. You can tell the difference straight away compared to russia.

People smile and laugh for a start.

See you in 10 days!

Then the sun came out...

2008-05-06T05:41:00.001+02:00

more ice....

2008-05-06T05:33:00.001+02:00

Lake Baikal - Listvyanka

2008-05-06T05:25:00.001+02:00

Siberian House In Irkutsk

2008-05-06T05:23:00.001+02:00

Happy Socialist Workers Day!

2008-05-06T05:20:00.002+02:00

Yes May 1st was a glorious day in Irkutsk. Check out the Goose Step! Perfect....

Siberian Sunrise.

2008-05-06T05:18:00.003+02:00

Siberian Train

2008-05-06T05:14:00.002+02:00

You get the idea. This is about 6am on our way to Irkutsk.

ice ice baby!

2008-05-04T10:56:00.003+02:00

alright stop!

we just spent 2 nights out at lake baikal which was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a big wooden chalet ovelooking the lake. Its still off season there so we didn't get to do everything we wanted to as there was still a huge block of ice stopping any boats from docking there! We walked on the ice which was a little scary as this morning we came out to see that same block of ice floating out to the middle of the lake. It has been beautiful and sunny and we spent yesterday afternoon drinking beers and looking out over the ice to the snow capped mountains on the other side of the lake. We are catching our train tonight and leaving Russia for Mongolia. It will be a shame to leave but its quite expensive here so it will be good to get out and look forward to easy budget travelling from here on in. I should be able to upload some pics in a couple of days.

Have fun out there!

hostel

2008-04-30T18:51:00.002+02:00

this hostel rules. Everyone is in bed by 10pm. They are all grown up and/or Germans. Why is it that I am the only one who has been doing what the Russians do and drinking on the street on my way to the 24 hour beer shop that also sells these warm sausages in a kind bread that could really do with ketchup but I can eat them anyway....?

I found we have Internet here so while Ania is shaking, sweating and feeling pain in her bones I can at least read her the latest news about the sicko from Austria and what he has been up to with his daughter for the last 24 years. It certainly makes for interesting reading. What is wrong with these austrians? Karl?

Uniform

2008-04-30T11:26:00.002+02:00

One thing i have noticed about russia is the huge military presence everywhere you go. I'm to scared to take photos of them even though i have a discreet camera, I on the other hand stick out like a sore thumb and with a 28mm i need to get right in their face. I have figured out that there are four types of people in uniform.

Police: Mostly a blue uniform. I have seen these guys checking peoples documents and waving batons. There are usually 3 of them.

Military: Army, Navy...all kinds. Most of these guys are just kids and you often see them drinking in parks wich is a great russian past time.

Security Guards: Now these guys are confusing as they are in camo gear but may only be patroling a bank. I did see one guy with a machine gun leaving on his van with a fag. I resisted a photo.

Randoms: Now there are also just groups of guys who apear to enjoy wearing full on camo gear. this is kind of worrying as you never know who you should take seriously.

Luckily i have not been approached by any of them...yet.

I Don't Like It On Top

2008-04-30T11:03:00.002+02:00

2 nights on the top bunk on the train kind of sucked but we made it to Irkutsk. It's pretty chilled here. Not so many scummy people and pretty chilled out. ania has come down with some kind of flu so looks like i will be having to make some friends at the hostel tonight. We have finally fallen into a travellers world. Only going to spend a couple of nights here then head to lake Baikal which should be lovely! We have already tryed the local fish and its a good 'un. No chips though as yet...

2008-04-28T13:23:00.002+02:00

I have two songs stuck in my head from the radio over here and they have blended into one. So can someone out there do some kind of mashup with missy elliott - 4 my people and dj smash with Moscow Never Sleeps. Yes I did have to look these up.

"this is for my people, my ecstacy people.....Moscow never sleeps...."

Welcome to my nightmare.

its snowing!

2008-04-28T09:32:00.002+02:00

yes its snowing here in novosibersk. The siberian wind is cold today which is just right for a hangover. Last night we went out to a rock bar. The band was cranking out the hits from ac/dc, the doors, pink floyd etc to another very enthusiastic Russian crowd! The place was packed and it was sunday night. It was like going back in time 15 years...amusing. Again we were the only westerners till later in the night we saw a couple of guys come in looking even more out of place than we did. Ania started talking to them and it turned out they were Italians over here as they own property here. Stefano and stefano! They were staying at our hotel as well so we had a few drinks back here at the bar. They said they hated it here and are were thinking of pulling out due to the lack of support against the Russian mafia who can do what they please. Aparently in the past the have just taken property from foriegners and there is nothing that can be done about it....unless you can outgun them!

Talking to these guys last night made us realize that we have not been able to have a conversation with anyone but each other since we left Amsterdam! Where are all these "travelers"? I'm not complaining cos I don't really want to be part of an Aussie backpacking posse but it seems kind of strange. This evening we leave for Irkutsk on the number 12 train (30 hours). Its minus 1 there right now.

People keep staring at me all the time, everywhere we go. I don't know what they are thinking...actually I think that they might just think I'm Brad Pitt.

You would have noticed a few more photos. Internet is still a problem so I didn't get to catch up as far as I would have liked. Ciao for now!

Plush

2008-04-28T09:23:00.000+02:00

The toilet on the 350 train from Ekaterinburg to Novosibersk.

Waiting Room

2008-04-28T09:21:00.001+02:00

We actually paid to wait in this lush waiting room. The idea of being stabbed outside did not really appeal.

The Afganistan War Memorial in Ekaterinburg.

2008-04-28T09:19:00.000+02:00

We like tanks!

2008-04-28T09:16:00.002+02:00

We couldn't get into the military museum in Ekaterinburg but we did get to look at tanks around the back.

Its A Bus

2008-04-28T09:15:00.002+02:00

Soviet Hotel Chill Out Zone

2008-04-28T09:13:00.001+02:00

Guinness

2008-04-28T09:11:00.001+02:00

Someone said i wouldn't be drinking one for a long time. Guess again.

Now I wish i brought my bloody laptop!

2008-04-27T09:28:00.002+02:00

Seems these russians don't want me plugging my camera into their computers at their "internet club". They don'teven have enough english skill for me to explain what i want to do the heathens. It's not all bad news though.we had a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs and chips at an american dinner smack in the middle of communist concrete. We sorted out our train to Irkutsk and will leave tomorrow night. This leaves quite a bit of time to go check out the bars in this crazy town.

I have so many photos and a nice video to show you! Oh dear...

Before i go....let me say this in the most subtle way i possibly can.

If you like girls - Then you will like russia.

Siberia

2008-04-27T05:41:00.002+02:00

so here we are now in Novosibirsk. We arrived last night after midnight after a pretty relaxing train journey. I just tried to sleep as much as possible. It was a 4 berth so we had the company of a little girl names christina and her mum. They were in a family group next door and mostly hung out there so we hardly saw them. Since we took one of the scummier trains there were no western travellers and not a word of English to be seen or spoken. I managed to buy a few beers from the babushkas on the platform who are there at just about every stop selling anything from beer to random vases and light fittings.

We were a little bit naughty last night as there are no hostels in this city and after our last soviet experience we have checked into the best hotel in town. Its pretty easy to talk them down to cheaper rooms which makes it a little more economical but even better as technically we had arrived on Sunday (only by 15 minutes) this means that we only pay for one night instead of two. I like this idea. I liked it so much that we went and spend half the price of the room on the bar. This hotel is amazing. I have never stayed in a place its own strip club before. And its open from 10pm till 8am! You could have breakfast and then a lapdance.

We are going to try really hard to find a decent internet cafe and upload some stuff today so stay tuned!

So...

2008-04-25T08:20:00.000+02:00

So here we are in Yekaterinburg. The sun came out on our last day in Moscow which really made a differance to the city. Our train was really good. We had a whole compartment to ourselves and everything was spotless. Yekaterinburg is a nice little city. The people are a little more...normal compared to Moscow. In Moscow all the girls wear tight jeans or miniskirts with knee high boots. Here they are a little more relaxed. The hotel we are staying at is quite an experience. It was the cheapest that we could get and ius a monster former soviet place. You need a piece of paper to do anything. Our room has no toilet or shower. The shower is in the basement and you need to pay to use it. You can then give the pice of paper to the attendant. There are attendants on every floor...all waiting to see your papers. It's much how i expect prison to be. We are leaving today on our way to Novosibersk. Not sure how good this train will be as we booked this one at the local station not through a western agency.

here is a little video of our prison.

Actually...there is no video. Damn these russian PCs. I will try and post from another computer...

ciao

more pics

2008-04-21T22:01:00.003+02:00

bollocks....pc's suck and im outta patience.

laters

photos!

2008-04-21T21:55:00.002+02:00

ok....the frenchie is off the computer so here we go...

second impressions?

2008-04-21T21:39:00.002+02:00

Glitzy!

Now that I have taken over logistics and we have our bearings we saw a whole new side to the city. Basicly the whole center is just full of designer clothing stores. Everthing you could imagine from the west they have at least one of. The trouble is that these stores are void of customers! Its funny. Its obviously a status thing for the wealthy Russians to wear these brands but they just don't seem to get it. Do they think that we actually wear this shit???
I have also never in my life seen so many "prestige" European cars in black and with blacked out windows. Its all very strange. Needless to say we did a fair bit of walking and touristy things today which was actually quite interesting/fun. We leave here tomorrow afternoon for yekaterineburg. Haven't been able to get any photos up as there is always some muppet on the only pc here in this hostel. I wore the same clothes for five days straight and it was great. Clean clothes are over rated. (in cooler climates at least)

oh dear

2008-04-20T22:56:00.002+02:00

well. My first impressions of moscow I would have to describe as drab. As I have absolutely no idea about the language here I decided it would be ok let ania take charge of the directions and we went for a lovely walk into the centre. That is, a 40 minute walk east of the center in the pissing rain. It has not stopped raining since we got here. I started getting suspicious about our whereabouts though when there was nothing interesting coming our way. No problem though. We can just get the metro to where we want to be!(?)

Not really....the metro is VERY difficult even for someone with basic Russian skills. We have got it Sussed I think now but it makes you realise just how little influence the west has over Russia. There is nothing in English at all.

I took ania to a rockabilly club tonight. That was a mission to find in the middle of knowhere and in the pissing rain. We finally found it amoungst the housing estates in a basement down a long muddy drive way. Boy was it worth it! As soon as the band came on the Russians went crazy! All dancing like maniacs. Its so kitch. They really have no clue which made it so hilarious. I have photos so will hopefully post some tomorrow.

Its raining again all day tomorrow.....

we made it!

2008-04-20T10:09:00.002+02:00

well....we have made it as far as Moscow. The train from Amsterdam was pretty sweet. We had our own cabin with a sink and bunks! The guards on each cabin did not speak any English at all(Russians)which made looking for the dining car quite an effort. There was no dining car! Luckily we did some shopping before hand or we would have starved. I did manage to aquire a couple of bottles of warm Russian beer from one of the guards. Anias parents met us at Warsaw and gave us more beer and food.

So first impressions of Moscow? Unsure as yet but the metro is confusing even without the language issue. Thank god for ania. I am completely in her hands. We have just checked into the hostel so going to get a shower and head out for a look around. Hopefully I will be able to upload some photos later...

warning

2008-04-18T00:23:00.000+02:00

the current posts will be from my iPod which is evfn less perfect than I am when it comes to typos!

Yo yo!

2008-04-17T23:55:00.000+02:00

so we managed to escape from england! We did have to use quite a lot of super glue and silicone but I think we managed to assert our selves in a "that's what you get when you fuck with me!.....whiteboy!" kind of way. I can't recommend going to Amsterdam via ferry enough. We had a really nice like new cabin and the actual boats bar and restaurant areas
restaurant areas were like new too. Hardly anyone on board either. Still its an hour and a half to Amsterdam but if you have the time its pretty chilled.

Amsterdam is great as always though its just gone midnight and the streets are 95% male and seem to be packs from
thenorth of England. Time retreat and reflect....actually ania wants to sleep and I might go to the bar so until next time sports fans...

Jace