Travel Location: Venice,Italy

Travel About: architecture,natural-wonder,art-&-museum,adventure

It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train attendant didn’t feel like kicking us out when he was checking tickets.

Though even the name Venice sounded beautiful, I had heard that Venice canals were actually a bit ugly and smelly. So I had reservations but after we got on the ferries to go to our hotel, I was blown away about with the Venetian architected houses right on the canals. The canals didn’t smell. It was a bit cloudy but there weren’t any trash that I could see on it. With the wind blowing in my hair and riding a boat on the canal, it was just one of those “ah” feelings.

Gotta get to the water to get anywhere in Venice

We got on land in the heart of Venice. There were lots and lots and lots of tourists. Everything is just about tourism there – I can only see restaurants, bakeries, tourists shops, and a handful of necessity shops like super/mini markets and pharmacies.

The streets are really so narrow. They were definitely only 2 lane walking streets. Given that Rome is made up of 117 islands, there were many very cute crossing bridges along with the streets. It wasn’t too hard to find our hotel and it was a cute one. The hotel had a “shabby sheek Venetian” style to it. So a bit dated but definitely cute and clean.

We had lunch and figured out what coddle fish was. It’s squid and the way the Venetians cooked it was delish! They used this dark, almost black sauce on it. Ken kept having these big black lines around his mouth. I had their mixed seafood special and it was a great way to experience the seafood specialties of Venice.

We decided here that we were not museum people, meaning if we didn’t want to look at one more marble art work or oil painting inside the museum or a chapel in the short term. Venice for us was about just walking the streets, finding interesting architecture,, taking photos, and just getting the vibe of the city. Oh and of course, lookin for good fridge magnets from a location. That might be the theme of most of our vacations from now on.

We did want to see the grand Piazza San Marcos and the outside of the Basilica di San Marco that we’ve heard so much about. It was really beautiful and one of the “wow” moments for us.

I was torn at this point, in that I was really starting to miss home but also really

Wow Moments:

San Marcos Square and Basilica

The pope!

Walking into Vatican Square

Related Travel Entry

• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Kedi-vegas
  With our scooter loaded up again, we rode into the wide green yonder heading for the crater area of Ganung Batur. We knew it wasn't going to be a long ride so scheduled in a stop at Tirta Empul (Holy...
• Isle of Skye
  Today was our first and only full day on the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye is part of the Inner Hebrides Islands in western Scotland. We started out on the A855 north out of Portree towards Old Man ...
• Ahh Venice!
  Apparently I have the job of describing Venice as i have more ways of saying things like "wow thats amazing" or "my God how beautiful is that". Well here goes...From the minute you arrive in Venice yo...
• Some Rome Summer Sun & Sights
  July 3 (Tuesday)We arrived in Rome around 9 a.m. after catching a nonstop train from the airport to Termini Roma. From there we caught a taxi to our hotel, 47 Hotel (aka Fortyseven Hotel). As it was ...

Travel Location: Baratpur,Nepal

Travel About: wildlife-viewing,park,adventure,safari

White Water Rafting auf dem Seti

2 Tage haben wir uns gegoennt. Wir sind ordentiich nass geworden, aber es hat wahnsinnig viel Spass gemacht.

Chitwan Nationalpark

Das war ein einmaliges Erlebnis. Nach der Rafting Tour sind wir direkt auf eine Insel im Chitwan Nationalpark gefahren, wo wir 3 Tage durch den Dschungel geritten oder gewandert sind, auf der Suche nach wilden Tieren. Eine Kanufahrt war auch dabei. Insgesamt haben wir eine Tigerspur, zwei Rinocerus, ein Reh, einen Affen, eine Riesenschlange, mehrere Vogelarten und zwei Krokodile gesehen.

Das Beste war jedoch, dass wir viel Zeit mit den Elefanten des Hotels verbringen konnten. Wir sind ueber ihren Ruessel auf die Elefanten geklettert, auf ihren Ruecken geritten und konnten sie anfassen wann immer wir wollten.

Related Travel Entry

• Our ‘Beach’ at Phi Phi Ley
  Booked our longtail boat again for a mornings visit to Phi Phi Ley which was the location for the film 'The Beach'.We had heard lots of negative press about the Hollywood bods coming to the island an...
• Day 8: Moab to Grand Canyon National Park
  Today we got up early and loaded the cars with all of our gear. We went to Denny's in town to get some breakfast since we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We got the atlas out and planned our ...
• World on Fire
  5-11-07   Red Center, AustraliaAh, the Outback mate. Red desert, red rocks, red roos, red (sunburned) locals, red everything. It’s the center of a naturally odd country and certainly doesn’t...
• "Whiffy….Who Dropped One?"
  This thing is going to time out in a minute so the writing might just stop and you'll have to hold on with baited breath for the installment about the eggy city....Anyway we arrived in Rotorua on Frid...
• A Thermal Wonderland
  Rotorua Lake is practically unusable.  According to the literature 50 years ago this lake was crystal clear and a paradise for birds and people.  Fast forward to today and you find an algae-...

Travel Location: Lombok,Indonesia

Travel About: natural-wonder,beach,adventure,surfing

So I left flores on the Ferry across to Sumbawa.

Got on a bus in Sumbawa and took it across to another Ferry to get to Lombok.

Got on yet another bus, got dropped off on the side of the road for the tunr off south to Kuta, Lombok (not kuta, Bali) and grabbed a cheap ride in a bemo (small mini van thing with massive sound systems. Funny thing actually, the bemo drivers love putting huge sound systems in their rides, no idea where they get the equipment, but you can pick which one you want to take based on the music and sound level. A few times I almost went deft, funny guys.

So I arrived in kuta, along with some a Canadian guy named Christian and an English fella named Chris. I met them on the Ferry from Flores, super rad dudes, and really nice to finally have some other travellers to talk with.

While in Kuta we rented motorbikes and toured around the area, checking out seculded beaches, little villages, and just rippin in general.

Christian blew a tire so had to push the bike to a small town to try and get fixed, luckily, no big deal.

That night we got drunk off Bintang, met a cool guy that told us to call him American Steve, and Christian got bit by a big geko

Next day, we rented more bikes, some surf boards and a hired a guy to give us a ride out to the break in his fishing boat.

The surf break was a reef break, a few miles out to sea. Pretty gnarly stuff, biggest waves i’ve ever been on, and most extreme location in general. Super fun, I got to ride a couple, but I was getting worked out there. Quite humbleing.

Headed back in we just chilled and organized how we were going to get out of there. I was heading to Gili Trawanagan, a small island off the northwest coast of Lombok, and the boys were headin to Bali.

Onward to Gilli T.

adam

Related Travel Entry

• Kedi-vegas
  With our scooter loaded up again, we rode into the wide green yonder heading for the crater area of Ganung Batur. We knew it wasn't going to be a long ride so scheduled in a stop at Tirta Empul (Holy...
• The Road to Rotorua
  Today began with an 8am departure south via the Southern Motorway through the sprawling suburbs of South Auckland and Manukau City.  We crossed the Bombay Hills, an area known for its light volca...
• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• A visit to Dargaville, Baylys Beach, Kai Iwi Lakes & the Waipoua Kauri Forest
  We had a fun weekend up around Dargaville, a town on the west coast of Northland. We stayed at the Kaihu Farm Hostel which Avani loved. There were lots of animals there that she liked, including cows...
• Slow down and Sun Tan
  To escape the "hectic" life in Antigua, we went to Guatemala´s most laid-back location: Monterrico. This small beach town is located at the pacific coast quite close to Antigua and El Salvador. Peopl...

Travel Location: Whanganui-River,New-Zealand

Travel About: adventure,kayaking,kayaking

Marc, Rose and Catherine (Rose’s Mum) kayaked down the Whanganui River at Waitangi Weekend. We started from Whakahoro after a long drive in we stayed the night in the old school house there.

We took Marc’s single sea kayak and hired another one from the rental place at Whakahoro, a big mistake. While they were very friendly they lacked any organisation skills, after long wait for them to muck around getting us paddles we finally hit the river. Marc set off at a good pace in his kayak Catherine and Rose struggled in their double one. We thought it would be like a double sea kayak, but it had a single opening, no spray skirts and no rudder. It did have a rudder, who knows why it was removed as it made it virtually impossible to steer. By the end of the first day we worked out that if only the back person paddled we could get it to go straight for awhile.

The first day we spent getting used to paddling in the sun and enjoying the views. The river is generally fairly steep on both sides, with few gravel patches, which can make landing fairly difficult. We discovered this at Mangapapa Campsite where we intended to have lunch, we couldn’t see any way of getting out so had to continue on. That night we camped at John Coull Campsite. There’s a hut there but we deiced we would camp as we thought the hut would be crowded, it turned out the campsite was overfull and the hut only half full. There were several large guided groups on the river at the same time as us.

Day two the sun has disappeared and it was overcast most of the day. We managed to make it down to the Bridge to Nowhere before all the crowds. It’s about a 30min walk in high above the Mangapurua Stream. Just as we got to the rapids before our stop for the night the skies opened up and it poured for about 10 minutes. Thankfully it stopped so we could put our tents up at Ngaporo campsite. Ngaporo, like all the other camping spots, is on a high shelf up the river bank. At 3.30am we awoke to the loud cracking sound, one of the poles in our tent had split. Luckily it wasn’t raining and Rose managed to fix it enough to last the night.

The next day the sun reappeared we had a short relaxing kayak of only a few hours. The guide book had several rapids marked on it, but there was nothing really big. Although it was fun to stop and watch the groups in Canadian canoes come out on the rapids. We stopped for a quick look at the Puraraoto Caves then continued on to Pipiriki. At Pipiriki we swam, read and ate till 3 hours later our car was dropped off to us.

Related Travel Entry

• Smoke On The Water, Fire In The Sky!
  Stepping off the bus at ‘Byron Bay’ was like stepping into a ‘blue marijuana hazed flashback to the seventies’. If we could use music to describe it, it would be "Smoke on the Water, Fire in the Sky....
• Ross and Russ
  Do you ever wonder whether there is someone out there who looks exactly like you and even more freakier, maybe even have characteristics exactly like yourself?????Now I never really thought about this...
• New Zealand, Rotorua: Sheep and Smelly Thermal Wonders
  The infamous hydrothermal area of Rotorua was the next destination on our campervan trip around New Zealand. The town was situated near the centre of the North Island, was one of the most visited sigh...
• Ice Climbing at Fox Glacier
  So, deterred from snowboarding slightly by the lack of snow and pricey lift passes (they're getting a little cheaper as the Kiwi dollar slides but still, more expensive than Whistler for a resort with...
• ‘Do it together and do it wet’
  Gemma: Ha ha! This will teach you all to complain about our lack of blogging - we suggest you settle down with a cup of tea before you start reading, you could be a while...Our desire for a ...

Travel Location: Da-Lat,Vietnam

Travel About: cultural-immersion,adventure,tour

The journey to Da Lat wasn’t great. The bus broke down after the rear had filled up with smoke, we couldn’t go faster than 40 km/hour, and we knew we’d paid far too much for the tickets. But the scenery was good, and we were excited about taking a tour with the Easy Riders.

We’d been told about the Easy Riders in Bolivia. They’re a group of tour guides with motorbikes who take you around the country for however long you want, at the pace you want, stopping when you want. We’d been lucky enough to bump into two of them in HCMC, Mr Wing & Mr Thai,and we’d immediately got on well with them.

When we got into Da Lat we discovered that most people with a motorbike will tell you that they’re an Easy Rider. It get’s quite annoying. The real, original Easy Riders have blue and red jackets, cards and a comments book. And they’re excellent. Some of the other guys looked a bit dodgy and only spoke a little English. After meeting up with Mr Wing & Mr Thai we decided to go for it and hire them for a five day trip through the central highlands to Hoi An, even though it blew the budget at $50 each per day.

That has been the best $500 we’ve spent.

Turns out that Mr Wing & Mr Thai have been Easy Riders for some nine years, and Mr Wing was probably the first moto guide to take a tourist between from city to city when Viet Nam first opened up to tourists in ’96 and people were still getting ambushed by bandits in the countryside (he’s a bit of a celebrity in Da Lat). These guys were brilliant guides, partly because they were older and had lived through Viet Nam’s recent history (Mr Wing fought in the war), partly because of their experience and excellent English,but mainly because they were really good company. Okay, the bikes were only 100cc Honda Wings, but we ruled the roads for 5 days. Unless we had to go up a steep hill, when Chesta would slow Mr Wing down a fair bit.

We saw silk worms, walked round a silk factory, ate some wonderful food, met people from some of the 70 or so different ethnic tribes in Viet Nam, wandered round ancient villages, rode a massive bull elephant, visited waterfalls, learnt about the war, walked some of the Ho Chi Minh trail, ate incredible food, walked over some ropey old bridges, visited the Happy Buddha (which is the point we realised why random people were coming up and rubbing Chesta’s belly – for good luck), learnt how to grow rice (we’ll never look at a bag of rice the same way again), learnt how to make rice wine, drank rice wine (Happy Water), visited orphanages (tough), ate amazing food, watched rice paper being made, saw how some of the areas sprayed with Agent Orange are still treeless, and loads more. Best of all was the reaction from locals as we motored through villages well away from the tourist trail. Everyone waved, shouted hello, smiled and stared. The kids especially – we’d take pictures and show them, and they’d be fascinated by it all (as were the parents to be fair). It was fantastic to have these two great geeza’s acting as our interpreters and guides for the five days, we saw and learnt about so much of Viet Nam that we would never have been able to without them. It was a real shame saying goodbye to them in Hoi An, we felt like we were saying goodbye to friends. We’ll definitely come back just to spend another week on the road with them.

If you’re interested you can contact them on wingstours@hotmail.com or thainguyenhuong2003@yahoo.com .

The reason why we wanted to get to Hoi An was to pick up some suits and things to send back to England. Hoi An is the City of a Thousand Tailors, and these fellas can knock out a decent fitted suit for about 25 quid. We thought as we’re getting hitched when we get back home we should probably take advantage. We ended up staying there for a week. We got some nice stuff, but it would have been better if we’d had some definite ideas about what we wanted before we got there. The shop owners are good at telling you that it all looks lovely, and you should buy another. It’s easy to leave with some right old bollocks, although our fitted leather flip flops are rather nice. Whilst we were there we met up with a couple of aussie’s who’d done a similar Easy Rider tour (& loved it), called Caliph and Iva. They were very nice and a great laugh, and we didn’t get anything done whilst they were there because we were all too pissed.

After a week in Hoi An we were running out of time on our visa’s. We’d have liked to see some more of the sites around Hoi An and Hue, but reasoned that they’re not going anywhere so will have to wait. We bussed it to Danang, a charmless city port with a Laos consulate, where we sorted out our Laos visa’s and walked around in the rain. Once the visa’s approved we bought a nonstop sleeper bus ticket across the border. Then had to change bus three times and get a hotel. Bastards.

Out of all the countries that we’ve visited so far Viet Nam has been the friendliest. We only visited the South and central regions, but the people that we met were amazing (bar the tosser who sold us the final bus ticket). We were sad to leave and will definitely return. Laos has a hard act to follow.

Related Travel Entry

• Trying to Get Off the Beaten Track in Laos
  Vietnam ended better than it started, although I got taken out by a killer cold that sent me to bed parts of the last few days there and in Vientiane, Laos. We spend one night abord a boat in Halong ...
• Rotorua
  This place absolutely whiffs of rotten eggs - you could fart to your heart's content here and no one would know (of course I don't do things like that).  People come here to visit areas of therma...
• ‘Do it together and do it wet’
  Gemma: Ha ha! This will teach you all to complain about our lack of blogging - we suggest you settle down with a cup of tea before you start reading, you could be a while...Our desire for a ...
• "Whiffy….Who Dropped One?"
  This thing is going to time out in a minute so the writing might just stop and you'll have to hold on with baited breath for the installment about the eggy city....Anyway we arrived in Rotorua on Frid...
• Rotten-Rua
  Rotorua earned its nickname ‘Rotten-Rua’ as a result of the distinctly eggy smell that lingers around it, owing to the geothermal activity of the area - bubbling mud pools, hot geysers (not you Dan), ...

Travel Location: Byron-Bay,Australia

Travel About: beach,adventure,funny,kayaking

Stepping off the bus at ‘Byron Bay’ was like stepping into a ‘blue marijuana hazed flashback to the seventies’. If we could use music to describe it, it would be “Smoke on the Water, Fire in the Sky.” It is the one place where people come, and forget to leave. The place where you can tell how old hippies are by the black, grey and white rings in their hippie dreads. Where shirts and shoes are not required and where peace and free love reign! Where tie dye clothing is reinventing itself and where hemp in any form runs rampant! Not exactly sure why me and Trina felt right at home? Could very well be reminiscent of ‘Vermilion Fair 2005′, and mom’s shock at finding out her baby girls are no longer ‘gangi virgins…’

It was a great place to chill out… Not really a place where much goes down but a place to see non the less. Some highlights:

Thinking we needed some adventure in our lives, Trina and I decided that sea kayaking was the way to do it. As always we made it into an experience to remember! For one, having missed our pick up, (do not blame it on the wine, and do not blame it on the table dancing at Cheeky Monkey’s) we had to walk to the club a good 20 minutes from the hostel. We arrived fashionably late and donned our helmets for a quick 5 minute demonstration on how to run a kayak. How hard could it be? True to form we made it into a party! We liked to think the guides loved us…Of the 20 people in the group the only names they knew where Trina and Pam! It went like this…

1. Trina and Pam you are going the wrong way!

2. Trina and Pam you are going to far out to sea!

3. Trina and Pam pay attention!

4. Trina and Pam don’t bump the other boats!

5. Trina and Pam are you ok? Are you Tired? Do you need help? (Trina’s black lung kicked in)

The real fun started shortly after it was time to’ ride the wave into shore.’ They made it look so easy. Simply lean back, and ride it in! We rode it alright. And ride it hard we did! It started out simple enough… We caught the wave… We leaned back…. And then…It all fell apart…The wave was bigger than we thought. We couldn’t control it… Our boat was going sideways…We could see the wave on our right…It started to close in on us…The boat tipped…We plummeted to the floor of the ocean where we both hit our faces to sand…The boat hit our helmets and knocked us down again….We had skinned knees… We surfaced short of breath from laughing and to the sound of, “TRINA AND PAM ARE YOU OK!” Why do we always end up in situations like these?

It all started with Trina getting it into her head that it was extremely important for her to view the famous Byron Bay Lighthouse at sunrise… The only thing is that in order to accomplish this we had to wake up at 4:30am. We took a white van up the winding roads to the base of the lighthouse, where we still had to walk 20 minutes to the coast. It was cold….The waves were crashing…. It was windy….. And Mom was dizzy! The light house itself was beautiful, but having to spend an hour and a half in the cold air left us completely chilled and cranky. Once getting back to the hostel we couldn’t warm up and spent the majority of the day in bed, under the covers, watching movies and eating…You could really feel the love. It was at this point we all felt like we had been spending to much time together…

Other Memorable Moments:

These last 2 should speak for themselves…

1. Trina getting a ‘licken’ from mom for being a smart ass. Still proves that you ain’t to old to get a ‘licken’. Amen to that…

2. Mom’s accumulation of the nickname ‘Bulldozer’

Things are definitely looking up…

More to follow…

.

Related Travel Entry

• Rach in a 1960s commune gone right?!
  I started my venture up the East Coast of Oz and spent a week in Byron Bay at The Arts Factory. I’ve heard this hostel described as a 1960‘s commune gone right - and there are more than a few hippies...
• Bryon Bay
  Well what can i say about Bryon Bay? It is a brilliant place, it's so laid back and i think suits my personality down to the ground! I had some of the best times of my whole journey so far in Byron. ...
• Santa in the sun
  We didn't want to get sunburnt on the beach on Christmas Eve, so it's a good job we had some hats to protect us.Sending you all lots of love and wishing you a very merry Christmas - hope you have won...
• Flores to Kuta, Lombok
  So I left flores on the Ferry across to Sumbawa.Got on a bus in Sumbawa and took it across to another Ferry to get to Lombok.Got on yet another bus, got dropped off on the side of the road for the tu...
• Whanganui River Journey
  Marc, Rose and Catherine (Rose’s Mum) kayaked down the Whanganui River at Waitangi Weekend. We started from Whakahoro after a long drive in we stayed the night in the old school house there.We took M...

Travel Location: Bled,Slovenia

Travel About: adventure,island

Another early wake up call in Zirovnica, except this time it wasn’t Papa Damien…it was Rachel Verbeek, my travelling partner from Denver who I met in Bulgaria the previous year and travelled to South America with last December.

She had quite the long flight / train from Denver to this small town in northwestern Slovenia, so Papa let us sleep a little longer before our drunk transport into town.

Hiking, Tobogganing, Rowing, Drinking

After walking around the lake again, we rented a small row boat and rowed ourselves out to the island. Although it only took about 20 minutes to row to the island, it was still a heavy workout since I haven’t been to the gym in a hot minute.

The island was quaint, composed of the main church and a couple small souvenir shops.

Everyone is allowed to ring the bell at the church by pulling hard on the long rope…definitely a little harder than it looks.

While on the island we met two great Australians, Scott and Chris, who accompanied us on yet another trek up the steep and tiring Osujnica trail…the view is too irresistible.

On the way back into town, we came across an odd recreational attraction – a long, steep summer toboggan run. It looks like a winding roller coaster, except you’re sitting on a miniature yellow plastic thing with a flimsy brake.

Well, it goes quite fast and can actually be scary at times.

While it looked like a huge run, it only took about three minutes to get down to the bottom of the mountain…an interesting time to say the least.

Back in Zirovnica, everyone had a few Union beers until Papa cut us off because it was getting late (10:00 p.m.).

We would have been mad if it weren’t for the immensely filling goulash from Mama, so we arranged with the Aussies to meet early the following morning for a trip out to Lake Bohinj (bo-heen-yuh) and Mount Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain.

This sentence is only here so I can get that third photo in the entry – holla!

Related Travel Entry

• A geezer is an old man
  With just a few days left on the North Island, and a lot of the main attractions still to see, we headed for Rotorua, NZ's thermal capital. The top of the North Island is alive with volcanic activity ...
• Island Bliss
  We loved Koh Phi Phi, it was 9 days of bliss on a very quiet beach, in a single 'resort' (beach shacks) with the nicest resort owner we have met thus far. Pon became our host, friend, doctor (when Chr...
• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• White Water Rafting auf dem Seti und Chitwan Nationalpark
  White Water Rafting auf dem Seti2 Tage haben wir uns gegoennt. Wir sind ordentiich nass geworden, aber es hat wahnsinnig viel Spass gemacht.Chitwan NationalparkDas war ein einmaliges Erlebnis. Nach d...
• Slovenia: Ljubljana
  We spent two nights in Ljubljana (lube-lee-ahna), and it quickly became one of my favorite cities in all Eastern Europe. It is a beautiful capital city, compact (260,000 people), and soaking in the a...

Travel Location: Kintamani,Indonesia

Travel About: architecture,natural-wonder,art-&-museum,adventure,temple,hot-springs

With our scooter loaded up again, we rode into the wide green yonder heading for the crater area of Ganung Batur. We knew it wasn’t going to be a long ride so scheduled in a stop at Tirta Empul (Holy Spring Temple), our second temple. It is one of the six most important temples in Bali and the name signifies a crystal clear stream which is used as the holy water for various religious ceremonies. We entered through the locals entrance but were called back to pay the Rp6,000 pp entrance fee. Again there were beautiful carvings everywhere and good use of gold in some places. And of course there were the springs. Holy water poured into a long pool in which women were bathing, and we could see the springs bubbling up from underground in another pool. We declined the invitation to wash in the baths.

The road to the crater was an easy ride, but obviously uphill most of the way. We hoped our wee bike would handle it. The police stopped us for a routine licence and registration check – thank goodness for the $20 international drivers licence we had both bought before leaving NZ! A bribe would have been forked out otherwise.

A bribe would have been forked out otherwise

We reached the crater rim in Penelokan and were greeted with an amazing view. Below us was Danau (lake) Batur and in front of us was Ganung (mount) Batur. The area was formed by an eruption of an enormous volcano 30,000 years ago, so within the old crater is a lake and another volcano.

After sending off the old ladies trying to sell Sean t-shirts (he has too many at home!) we rode down into the crater to look for a bed for the night. On our way down the steep road, we wandered if the scooter would get us and our pack back to the top again. We didn’t have long to test out our bike as we headed the wrong way around the lake and encountered not only monkeys but small, steep hills. We decided we’d be sweet. Back in civilisation we were lead to Hotel Surya in Kedisan where we got a room with breakfast for Rp30,000. Adrienne almost vomited after smelling the water when she was about to wash her hands. It was definately local water full of sulfur. No showers for us the next morning!

We had read about an easy, but more importantly for us, free, way to walk up Ganung Batur. Locals and a tourist agency run by the government offer sunrise walks that start at Rp300,000 pp, more than twice our daily budget for both of us! The only problem with this supposed free walk was getting to the starting point. The road got VERY rough and while it was exciting for Sean, Adrienne was digging her nails into his sides.

Worried about getting stuck on that road after nightfall, we headed back to the lakeside road and cruised to the end of the road where we found a temple. It was right up against the crater wall with lush foliage threatening to envelope it. Upon exiting we were almost convinced to take the 15 min walk up the crater wall. We were actually keen to do it, it’s meant to have a great view, but we were asked for a “donation”. By “donation” they meant anything above Rp20,000 without a guide. We decided it wasn’t worth it, especially because half of the view was over the other side of the crater and clouds were creeping over from that direction.

We took a ride along the crater rim and got some good views on both sides (we were looking in a different direction) but after stopping for some dinner, we discovered how cold it can get but we still managed to get a beer in for St. Patty’s Day!! With ice breakers and long pants on, we still needed a Balinese coffee to warm us up before bed. It must have been, like, 20C! While drinking the coffee, a French couple were looking for a phone to call ahead to Ubud for what we thought was accommodation. As it turns out they were calling a restaurant to pre-order a dish that has to be ordered the day before, crispy duck!

Very early the next morning we rode up to the crater rim for the sunrise. It was cold, and not particularly spectacular, but we could imagine what it would have been like atop the higher point of Gunung Batur with a view over Bali and even to the neighbouring island of Lombok.

Related Travel Entry

• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• Into the Earthquake Zone
  It was so tough to leave Pengadaran, even tougher because it meant that we needed to get back on the god awful train.  And it was god awful, as before.  Luckily, it was only 4 hours, so we s...
• Flores to Kuta, Lombok
  So I left flores on the Ferry across to Sumbawa.Got on a bus in Sumbawa and took it across to another Ferry to get to Lombok.Got on yet another bus, got dropped off on the side of the road for the tu...
• Isle of Skye
  Today was our first and only full day on the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye is part of the Inner Hebrides Islands in western Scotland. We started out on the A855 north out of Portree towards Old Man ...
• Wat Amazing Sites! Part II
  The next day Erik, Frank and Lou picked me up at 9am. Our first stop was to one of the gates of Angkor Thom which was pretty impressive. As we headed up to the gate, we had to cross a bridge that was...

Travel Location: Luang-Prabang,Laos

Travel About: cultural-immersion,adventure,festival

Vietnam ended better than it started, although I got taken out by a killer cold that sent me to bed parts of the last few days there and in Vientiane, Laos. We spend one night abord a boat in Halong Bay in N. Vietnam as a trip from Hanoi — really beautiful. We slept on deck, swam off the boat and looked at caves on the islands. Vietnam ended up nicely and I much preferred Hanoi to Saigon — quieter, prettier, more laid back.

Since Friday we’ve been in Laos. We met up with a couple of Alexandra’s friends. John E. and his wife Francis and John D., who are working as lawyers in Taipei and Tokyo — so they came over for a long weekend to join up with us. Laos is more off the beaten track for tourism (e.g., backpakers galore and lots of internet cafe and cheap eats ang gusthouses for $4-8 a night), and it is great to get back to basics here. Roads are spotty (potholed, washed out), buildings dilapidated, schedules all over the place and things run late. All the things that don’t bother you at all when you have no place to get to quickly. One of the ex-pat guys we met who lives her got Dengue Fever, which gave us a little pause. It’s the big full moon festival, so everyone has a long weekend and it is much fun for the locals. In Vientiane we were a 1/2 block from the river when the carnival-like atmosphere was catchy. I wish I was feeling better to enjoy it more. We saw kickboxing, dart throwing, throw the ring around the (live) duck’s neck game, and more.

We took a 1/2 day kayaking trip down the river, fell in multiple times. I lost my Africa t-shirt and hat to the rapids, but the hat was rescued downstream. We then took an interesting trip with the canoe truck up to Vang Vieng. The children were chanting at us when we passed and we asked one of the guys what they were yelling (it translates as foreigner long noses!). Then for the full moon festival in this little place we saw the boat races in the late morning, early afternoon. They paddle in long skinny boats holding about 20 people with 3 people standing at back with long oars who both paddle and steer.

I continue to be amazed at the people I encounter in SE Asia, the Laotians and Cambodians are so friendly and open with us. Their strength under tough conditions amazes me. An Indian restaurant, Nazim, that we had eaten at at the night before was hit by a bolt of lightening just at the end of the boat racing. Of course there is no fire department in Vang Vieng. The whole town seemed to pitch in to try to put it out. It started to spread to the house next door. People started to clear our their posessions from the adjoining stores and houses and everything looked dicey for about a half hour. Many of us felt impotent, and had to do something other than being voyeurs, so many of the backpackers started moving things outside and down the block and helping to put out the fire. I don’t think anyone was hurt but it looked for a time that the whole block could come down. With only one bulldozer, dozens of tiny plastic hoses and buckets, and rakes and bamboo sticks, the main fire was put out and the restaurant demolished and the house, while scorched on one side and missing some roof tiles, survived intact. It was an exhilirating hour and a half.

From there it was up to beautiful Luang Prabang — one of the prettiest mountain drives I’ve ever been on. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO Heritage site and beautiful old-style Indochine city with tons of monks and temples (wats) along the Mekong River. Last night was the end of the 5-day full moon festival. Large boats (20+ feet) made of paper, bamboo, flowers and lanterns and lit with candles are paraded through the streets and then sent down the Mekong River to great revelry. Kids throwing firecrakers, etc. Individuals buy or make small, round boats made of flowers with insense and candles and you send it along with a wish down the river. Alexandra and I each partook and bought one. Her boat got farther than mine (it got hung up in some wire and then a kid waded out and took the candle). Sigh…I guess that means my wish went out too?

We decided to try to really get off the beaten track, so to get to Thailand we are taking a 10 hour bus ride up to this town, Luang Nam Tha, near a national park by the Burmese border. Then we are taking a 4 day river-rafting trip down the river to the Thai border. Along the way we are staying with Hill Tribes in their villages, etc. No running water, just the river itself — so I’m truly looking forward to something more basic.

Next stop — back to Thailand. Eliz

Related Travel Entry

• Otavalo Market and Festival
  After an uneventful boarder crossing, I took a bus for about 3 hours to a town called Otavalo, famous for it Saturday market.One big shock now being in Ecuador is that you have to pay for everything ...
• Born To Be Mild in the Central Highlands
  The journey to Da Lat wasn't great. The bus broke down after the rear had filled up with smoke, we couldn't go faster than 40 km/hour, and we knew we'd paid far too much for the tickets. But the scen...
• What’s that, Dutch?
  Ahh.. a road trip!Eric drove Nicole, Valeria, and I up the Malaysian countryside to Malaka for the weekend. Since I screwed my Vietnam Visa up... sorry guys :(BTW< did I mention that the most sad ...
• Fort Kochi and Ernakulum
  We left the deserts of Rajasthan and flew to south India, a very different place. While landing we were struck by the large number of palm trees. It was noticeably more humid and even rained a little ...
• ‘Do it together and do it wet’
  Gemma: Ha ha! This will teach you all to complain about our lack of blogging - we suggest you settle down with a cup of tea before you start reading, you could be a while...Our desire for a ...

Travel Location: Grand-Canyon,United-States

Travel About: natural-wonder,park,adventure,hiking,national-park,photography,grand-canyon-national-park,eco-tourism,fun,cheap

Today we got up early and loaded the cars with all of our gear. We went to Denny’s in town to get some breakfast since we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We got the atlas out and planned our route until our breakfast came.

After we finished eating we stopped at a gas station to fill up our tanks and get some snacks. I made the unfortunate mistake of not packing any cds and not having a cord for my iPod so I was subjected to the radio in Utah which mainly plays country music or horrible god-talk…….it was terrible. After awhile I just put on my iPod earphones and all and that helped some.

it was nearly sunset and the colors on the canyon were stunning. It brought tears to my eyes!

The drive from Moab to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon took 5 and a half hours. Along the way we passed turn offs for the Monument Valley Tribal Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, the Four Corners Monument. We decided to skip these since some were a considerable distance out of our way and we wanted to get to the Grand Canyon as quickly as possible.

We stopped about half way in Kayenta, Arizona to get some gas and stretch our legs. I called ahead to the Bright Angel hotel to see if they had any openings…they did not! The Bright Angel is one of the cheapest hotels in the Grand Canyon Village and is situated right on the Rim with fantastic views. I was a little disappointed. They referred me to the Maswik Lodge in the village and said that they had plenty of openings.

When we entered the boundary of the Grand Canyon National Park the rangers on duty gave us some maps. Along our drive into the village I could see hints of the canyon and it looked amazing. We stopped along the way at a few of the scenic viewpoints.

At my first glance of the Grand Canyon it was nearly sunset and the colors on the canyon were stunning. It brought tears to my eyes! You can see it effects everyone who sees it for the first time the same way. There were people from all walks of life, just staring in silence with their jaws hanging open. Amazing!

We continued on into the Village. Donna and Lindsay had decided that they wanted to camp. I only had one more full day before I had to fly home so I decided to get a hotel. I said goodnight to the girls and we made plans to go hiking the next day in the park.

I checked into the Maswik Lodge in the village. It ended up being quite a bit more expensive than the Bright Angel Hotel but it was on property so I wasn’t going to complain. I took my suitcase into my hotel room and began the task of repacking everything very neatly so it could get through airport security. While I was repacking I was listening to the hotel’s activity channel on the tv. It gave me a few ideas of things to do the next day.

After I finished packing I went into the main lodge of the hotel and did a little souvenir shopping. I came back to my room, showered, watched some tv and planned out my day in the Grand Canyon.

Things learned on Day 8 out west:

1. Its a long drive from Moab to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It takes 5 and half hours and there aren’t a lot of gas stations along the way. Keep your tank full.

2. If you have the time visit Monument Valley Tribal Park, Natural Bridges National Monument

3. Monument Valley Tribal Park website http://www.desertusa.com/monvalley/

4. Natural Bridges National Monument website http://www.nps.gov/nabr/

Related Travel Entry

• More beautiful than words can describe
  After leaving Mesa Verde we traveled into the Grand Canyon in Arizona. No pictures a person can take do this natural wonder justice. If you are intending to go to the Canyon make sure you get the...
• World on Fire
  5-11-07   Red Center, AustraliaAh, the Outback mate. Red desert, red rocks, red roos, red (sunburned) locals, red everything. It’s the center of a naturally odd country and certainly doesn’t...
• Rotorua
  Man this places stinks! Its a natrual therma thingy! Which means it has lots of holes in the ground full of gases, hot bubbling water and mud.The hostel (hot rocks) I stayed in used to be a old school...
• Water & Granite
  Tuesday, August 8The next morning we began our 4+ hour drive to Yosemite. With 140 still closed due to a landslide, we took the windy 120 with hairpin turns high above a valley into the park.We pulled...
• A little adventure in the Grand Canyon
  I always thought I'd have some big, grand adventure in the Grand Canyon - rafting down the Colorado River, riding down the switchback trails on a horse or donkey (like they did on the "Brady Bunch"), ...