The Turners on tour

On the road part 2

2010-09-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

From Canarvon we hot footed it to Coral bay, where we spent a few days chilling out and enjoying the beach. We bought some snorkels and finally got in to the sea. We crossed the tropic of Capricorn on the way and the temperature really started to rise. We stayed primarily at a camp called 9 mile, 10km away from coral bay on a 4wd track. We got it for free and had a beach on our doorstep. I also managed to catch my first fish, a golden travally on our anniversary !
We heard reports that the weather was getting bad so decided that it was a good time to get on the Yardie Creek road before it starts raining. The road connected Coral bay to Exmouth via the ningaloo homestead, and crosses in to the National Park by the infamous yardie creek river crossing. The reports on the road varied from "you'll find it easy" to its the most dangerous thing that we could possibly undertake and we will probably need towing out by the ranger! Anyway we decided to go for it and it turned out to be nothing more then a beautiful corrugated track winding itself through station land, sand dunes and bush. It was a great way to come to Exmouth and the creek crossing was disappointingly easy, so much so that we waited for the tide to come up the next day to cross it with a little more of a challenge !
And so to Exmouth again , and guess what we are still here, to the point that we have a got a job in the Novotel resort as waiting and bar staff.
Primarily we have been surfing at Dunes, snorkeling heaps, fishing, and oh yeah - swimming with a 5 meter whale shark!
The whale shark trip was awesome, we had a spotter plane out to find the shark and then hot footed it in the boat with 15 others to go a spend some amazing time with this gentle giant. The shark was such an amazing creature to be with, it turned out that it was a she, and like all whale sharks tolerates and almost seems to enjoy having attention of snorkelers following her around. After a few dives we really chilled out and everyone relaxed and swam next to her with ease, so much so that i got a few pictures off .
So now we are house sharing with another couple who work at the Novotel and enjoying Exmouth as a trainee local!

What we are up to next changes every minute so we will try and keep you posted.

as always lots of love

beneluxx

We are on the road .. finally pt1

2010-09-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Its been a while ( as always) Well we finally left Fini Olives in the first week of August . Unfortunaltley due to our cars transmission issues we didnt get to leave the farm with our travelling companions and worked an extra couple of weeks to replenish the funds that the car had ate, by vine pruning on the farm.
A hell of a lot of dollars later, we have a car that has a new transmission and ready to go, all the hard work was over and our Patrol was now our home.

We pretty much followed the same route as last year, we were pretty keen to catch up with "the Irish" so that we can travel the tracks together . Unfortunately that meant missing Kalbarri national park again and really scooted past most stuff until Gladstone bay just south of Canarvon where we met Laura and Damo and Peter.
From then on we pretty much got the in to the swing of things, spending our time camping around Quobba, Red Bluff and Gnaraloo. Last year we saw Quobba and once again we saw it during some heavy weather making the Indian ocean pretty fierce. This year though we could go beyond Quobba on the tracks to Gnaraloo , with Red Bluff on the way. The drive there was entertaining as heavy rain made the tracks in to slop. Red bluff was beautiful, with a large swell showing off the world famous surf break!(No we didn't go in, little on the huge side!)
All in all we spent a week in the canarvon area, and found a great place called Rocky pool to camp for free , and get familiar with low range gears whilst rock climbing in the cars around the river bed . We eventually left after sorting out our alternator that decided to stop working , and whipped it out on the beach! ( as you d0!) TBC

Its

Photos of what we been up to !

2010-07-19T02:03:00.001-07:00

Ok , over the past week in pictures, we have the end of harvest at the bottom, and the cars which are monopolising our lives so much at the moment, including the joyous engine extraction from Petes Surf!
Ben getting involved with a whole heap of complicated stuff and me reconditioning a bull bar with the gentle touch of an angle grinder!
Also pictures of our little home at fini , and Laura and Damo at the end of harvest party ! It about sums it up, hopefully we will be updating with a few more exotic photos in the next few weeks !!Fingers crossed , love to all xxx

End of harvest.... now what!!

2010-07-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry the Internet is at its usual appalling state, but let us try!!

The harvest has gone really well, we finished about a week ago now, and Ben and I were privileged enough to be the ones to shake the last tree , during the day as well , which was a shock to the system!

All in all, Fini Olives has become a home to us and it has been great working and living on the farm. It is now is showing its added benefits of having the workshop right next door to us, with all the car stuff that we have been up to.

To be honest ,we are now in a way working harder getting the car ready to travel then we were working on the harvest!!

To keep all up to date, we have got a 1988 Nissan Patrol Safari hi top 4x4, it is awesome!! But we are having very annoying and time consu ming issues with its electronics to do with the auto! Ben is working night and day on it, as well as fitting a secondary charging system , suspension and lift kit , Bed in the back, roof rack and bull bar!!

But we hope to be leaving for the North with our friends Damo Laura and Pete at the end of this week! ( Pete now has to fit a new engine in to his surf but never mind , minor detail!!!)

I have been promising photos and i am getting on to it, but i promise you we are not sitting on our arses at the mo !!Ha Ha! At the top is a picture from my tractor eye view ( Louise ) of the catcher, Sam in his manatou, my tractor, our Nissan ( no name yet any suggestions would be great!)

Will update with picture .of around the grove and stuff before we leave!

Love to all xxxx.

Back to Oz

2010-05-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

So here we are again, been here for a month and a bit. Its like we never left, so just picked up from where we left. This time we are joined by Sam, but everthing else is the same. We spent a week at Soulhaven again , but we started at Fini Olives on the night shift and got offered accommodation on the farm. How can you say no to that !

So life is olives olives olives again, but on a lovely grove.

We hope to be here for a good 2 to 3 months and save money etc, buy a 4x4 so that we can get really lost , when we leave the grove,

We are working on the Dotan shaker primarily, which is two contraptions being towed by two tractors and a manatou ( teleporter) collecting the olives at the end. Ben is driving the shaker , and Lou is driving the catcher. Sam was driving the manatou. However all is changed and Ben has learned to drive the colossus ( the big old one we were on last year ) so we can stand in with that now. Sam is now working in the processing plant making the oil in the end. So in the end we will be oil experts !!
We were lucky enough to come on the new A 380, and the weather and sea was still warmer enough to go without wetsuits when we got in the sea!

Sam got to meet Sue and Fez! And our be-a-u tiful new car mitzy Magna

cooking, cleaning, and finally , snowboarding!

2010-01-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we are getting in to this season thing now, work is getting a little easier , or should i say we are getting better at it.

We have been regulary getting on the slopes now, built a couple of kickers and been putting in heaps of off piste action. One of our friends Mike has a screw loose and threw himself off a shelf not once but twice!!( see video) Had a great session today but Ben took two inches out of his board on a rock so it is in the board shop!

Oh and new years was hallarious!! Dont have many piccies , but lets say we welcomed it in on the slopes and in the saloon pub.

And to top the week off we are now Aunty Lou and Uncle Ben, well done Jo for popping the biggest sprog ever !!!!!! ( And Ryon for making it !)Loads of love and miss being there for you soo much !

Run to the hills !!!! French Alps Season commence!

2010-01-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

Well, we have finally had a moment to sit down and update you all on the past six very busy weeks!

After a brief month in the UK we set off to work for Crystal Ski on the 30th November ( time has flown!)Sooo in a nutshell this is what we have been up to :

Had a week of the most intensive training in cooking and chalet keeping in the resort of La Plagne, France. This was mainly looking after our "training chalet" with the rest of a group of 8. With the help of our staff trainers Joel and Agata , we cooked full brekfast, and betweem us cooked 8 courses a day , as well as learning all the H&S, cleaning ,general guest stuff and a load of company waffel.
After this week we still werent garenteed jobs ! So not only is it a training week but an extended interview! ( no Pressure!) Somehow Ben and I managed to get in to Crystal the finest, and was transferred from Tignes to Val d'isere to work in one of the best chalets in the brochure !( again no pressure !!)
We transfered from La Plagne as fully fledged chalet hosts ( ahem!) and got to see our chalet for the first time , Chalet Thovex. It stands alone , just nestled under the mountain behind it, right in the centre of Val! It holds 12 people, has a sauna, and is absoultely stunning. We had a week to take it off the owners hands and get it ready for the season which again was one of the most frustrating and tiring weeks. Not to say we didnt get out and let our hair down, after all we had to get to know the Val night life so to be able to recommmend it to guests !

Not to mention during this week we got our apartment which is super cool, if a little on the retro side with wood paneled walls and purple flower curtains , but it is ours, and we have a balcony overlooking Val and the world class piste , "le face"!

Our first guest week was the week before christmas, so we had a run in before the big event. We had only 8 guests and everything went really well ( apart from covering the entire kitchen in red berry sauce whilst cooking duck!!) Christmas and new year was epically busy. Over the christmas period of 3 days, in 90 hours we slept 15 ! So again apologies to those who didnt get a call over the festive period!

On the other side of things ( and lets face it the more interesting!) Snowboarding ! We are now getting in to a routine that gets us on the mountain most days, and we have been getting really good snow. We have hooked up with a group out here that all work for crystal, and we go and blat around Espace killy. We have built a large kicker with a great landing to session on white out days, and beginn,ing to get to know the area ( just)!
We went up to what is called "the eye" on tuesday just gone which is one of the highest points of the mountains in Tignes and its tip is a piece of rock that is hollowed out like and eye of a needle. Basically you have to hike up to it a little to be rewarded with one of the best views in espace killy and a great big off piste powder field in front of you. Just to get there and sit up the top is a proud moment , and every person gets lots of repspect if you send it down the face. Three of us got up there , our friend Mike absolutely had it down the face, Ben went in after and then I was strapping in to find my high back to my binding has lost its screw in the hike and I had to hike back out again! Gutting ! Oh well no rush i do have another 4 months out here ( heheheheh)

So that is us, we will keep more updated now, as things have calmed down a little.

Loads of love

benelu

Up the west coast....and across the South Coast!

2009-10-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so a reasonable amount has happened since we last updated...around 10,000kms worth!!!

We finished work on the 30/08 and the day after started our next phase of traveling. The rough plan was to travel as far north as we reasonably could in the time we had to get some warm weather in and then we would come back to Perth to meet Tris and travel the south coast to Melbourne/Sydney with him. Essentially...mission acomplished!!

We traveled north to Exmouth, living out of the back of our trusty stationwagon for 4 weeks calling into various places en-route. We have stayed in the most amazing places...most of the time in the middle of nowhere with no one to see! We have completely fallen in love with the West coast and it's vast emptyness. Some days we would travel for hours on the main road and see maybe a handfull of other cars. This place is so sparcely populated I think it counts as one of (if not the) most unihabitated place on earth. WA has 2mil people in it and 98% of them live in Perth!!

So the stops went roughly...
(this is a VERY brief overview!)

Cerevantes/Jurien Bay - Closest reasonable place to stay at for the evening on the way to Geraldton

Geraldton - Stopped at a bushcamp called Corronation Beach and had our first (of many!) real cloudless sunset over the Indian Ocean.

Kalbarri - What can we say...beautiful! One of our favorite places so far. We stayed at a bush camp just outside the national park and saw some of the best surf I have ever seen. For those that are interested Kalbarri is the home of a very famous break called Jakes. A point that breaks on to a rock reef so close to the shore that the spectators can stand about 10M away from the takeoff point. You can then look down the line as the wave breaks past. We saw this at a good solid double overhead height producing lovely clean barrels!
Around the corner there is another (fractionaly) safer point break which me and Lou had some fun on at about 8ft. My first ever reef/point break and I never want to go back to beachies!! We liked it so much we had to stay for another day!

Shark Bay - This is a place that is exactly what it sais on the tin...a bay full of sharks! We stayed on our own in the national park on the top of a cliff (Eagle Bluff). It was stunning but the photos can do it more justice than I can. We went to a lovely, marine biologist run Ocean Park to see what lurks beneath the waves and learnt loads about the inhabitants of the area. Had a really good time talking to the experts there.

Monkey Mia - On the tip of shark bay we went for the dolphins! They have one of the biggest pods around come into the bay to be fed so you can stand on the shore and watch them come and go and play. Quite a touristy thing to do but was absolutely brilliant and really well run. I (Ben) managed to get picked (twice!) to go and feed them in the water...I'm beginning to think the dolphins might like me as it will be the 3rd encounter I've had with them in the wild!

Quobba - Wow...the waves here were absolutely incredible. Monster swells hitting a raw (red!) rock coastline. The banner above the main road in to the settlement is a big piece of driftwood with hand painted letters saying simply "KING WAVES KILL!" Gives you an impression of the type of place we were in. It was a both a beautiful and terrible place all at once. If you don't come away from here appreciating the power of the sea then you never will. We loved it. Stayed in a small fishing shanty village and met a really nice young Aussie couple who are just working and traveling around Oz. Fire on the beach with the roar of big waves and the blowhole spraying water 30ft in the air and that was it really!!

Coral Bay - Picture a paradise bay with hot sun, white sand and crystal clear turquoise sea and a coral reef wading distance from the shore and you will almost be there. Oh yeah it had started getting hot here too! We finally had some decent sun bathable weather!! Got to about 25is degrees here so we did a bit of snorkelling and some lounging in the sun. Treated our selves to a beer in the loacal hotel bar and watched a crooner on the stage too!

Exmouth - What can we say, so good we stayed there for 10 days in total! This place had everything we were looking for. Hot weather (during the day...the evening was freezing!), clear seas, clean empty beaches, a stunning national park to hike in and more surf than we knew what to do with...literally!!
It is the first time I have arrived somewhere, seen the surf and had to stand on the shore as every beach was way beyond my ability to go in!! When we arrived there was a 4.5M swell rolling in over the outer reefs which meant that the final surfable wave were coming in with a face of about 25-30ft!! BIG!!! This was film style, tow in with a jets ki territory. There were more surfers on the shore watching than there were in the water which over here is unheard of! After a few days however things calmed a little and we were able to get in and have what turned out to be some of the best sessions I have ever had in the sea. Days of 3-4 hours in the water followed and we both had some of the best rides of our lives. Absolutely awesome!
Away from the surf we managed to get into the national park to pitch up camp and stayed with 4 other campers 10M from the beach (with kangaroos!) The only downside to this was the afternoon/night winds were really cold and really strong...I mean tent eatingly strong! Luckily we are now really good, experienced campers now and with our expertise we managed to keep the tent upright and pegged in to the ground altho we resorted back to sleeping in the back of the car as it was much warmer and quieter!!!
The canyons in the park were really good for hiking in which we did on a few days and saw lots of local wildlife inc. roos, emus, rock wallabies, euros (pretty much a small roo) echidnas, spiders, lizzards, snakes and more birdlife than you could shake a stick at! That includes eagles.
What else....

Oh yeah, one small trip we took that I nearly over looked...(as if!!)...
A 3 hour boat trip out into the bay to watch the migrating HUMPBACK WHALES!!! This was an incredble evening trip at sunset out into the bay on one of the local dive boats (that was enough for me...the boat was really cool!!) As we left we told that the whales may or may not be there but we will try and find some. The result was about 5 whales in very close proximity to the boat breaching and flapping and generally causing a commotion! One of the highlights was a mother in very close with her new calf giving breaching lessons. Couple that with a georgeous sunset, some beer and some nice snacks on board and we had what could be described as the perfect evening. Seeing the whales at such close range is one of the very least things we thought we would get to do. Again, the photos Lou got (only a 100 or so!!!!) do it more justice than I can. In short, Exmouth was perfect which is why that is as far as we got northwards!

Since then we have shot across the bottom of the country and are currently sitting in a Maccas in Bairnsdale just outside Melbourne while our camper is being fixed! Just got the call to say it's done so we've got to go. Will catch up some more and get the pics up around Sydney. Till then...BYE!!!

A few extras...

2009-09-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Ran out of room in the other blog, but cant not put in these little bits..
We have had some amazing sunsets and night scapes at the farm and at Soulhaven.
And we finally got to go around Perth which is such a nice city, really small just seems to pop up in the middle of parks, really odd.
Also we went to Hillary's yacht club with a great friends Sue and Fez , who have helped us out loads with settling in to WA.

A few more photos for Sam surfing at Trigg!

2009-09-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

here you go sam .. there will be more on the way!

WA catch up....

2009-09-01T19:42:00.001-07:00

Well haven't we been busy little bees!!
Currently we are sitting in a hostel in Perth as we have finished work for the next 2 months!! Time to pack the rucksacks and head up the coast into some warmer weather...yes Australia can be cold...has been since we got here!!! Well, compared to Asia anyway. It's like a UK spring here but with more sun and a little less rain. Nights can drop around 0deg still tho!

So we finished the Olive harvest and moved into tree planting which was fun. We have planted 2100acres of trees in the last 5weeks or so. Thats the size of most BIG UK farms for you non farmer types back home. Over here thats a smallholding!! Big dosen't count for anything less than 10000Ha...thats 20000 acres!!!!

We've been having a wonderfull time here, living in the country has been really relaxing and we've seen loads of wildlife, inc Galas, Parots, Cockatills, Lizzards, Spiders, Snakes and spikey Achidnas to name a few of the memorable ones!We have also managed to pop three tractor tires !

As always, not got much time so we'll let the pics do the talking.

Love you all,

Benelu

( You can get in a pool in the middle of oz winter!)

A few more pics of the Outback!!

2009-07-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

Let me try and label these pics...........

An Emu at the local Roadhouse

Windmill at the top of the hill where we live

Main road to Soulhaven

Sunset in Soulhaven

Dirt track to Soulhaven

Couple of the locals!!

Me in my tractor

Lou in her's!!

Sunset on the road

View from the top of the harvester

A few of the Colossus, the olive harvester!!

Me in the tree planter

Finally WA!! Just a quick update.

2009-07-05T03:43:00.002-07:00

SORRY SORRY SORRY!!!! The bush has less internet access than Cambodia!!

Very quickly here is a breif update of our first few weeks in West Australia. We landed in Perth on the 2nd of June and imediatly started looking for work as we had heared that it was very hard to come by in these parts at the moment.

We also got in touch with a friend we met on our tour in China, Sue who very kindly put us up in her home in Rockingham just south of Perth. We stayed there for about 4 days and in that time fell in love completely with Perth and WA. The people are sooooo friendly and everything about the place made us feel completely relaxed even tho we were desperated to find work.

After a couple of days at the job agencies we managed to secure ourselves (with help form Anissa at Aussie Jobs!) work about 140km north of Perth. We had a frantic Saturday in which to find a car and then drive up there. As part of the job we are staying in the bush at a really cool place called Soulhaven which is a bushstay in the middle of nowhere!! It is incredible. A 2km drive down a dusty dirt road and then through a track in the bush with around 60 kangaroos bouncing around till you get to a small group of green shacks in a padock. It's stunning!!!

We worked on an olive grove for about 3 weeks picking olives in a big harvester, Lou driving the "heads" (the bits that beat the olives off the trees) and me carting in a tractor taking the olives from the harvester to the processing plant. 12 1/2 hour days and we loved every minute of it!!

Harvest has finished now and we have sourced new work on another farm tree planting...80,000 blue gums to be exact!! We drive a tractor all day towing a contraption in which one of us sits and every 5M drops a tree in the ground! Again, we love it!! We are learning so much about the farming and the farm machinery, I think we have driven around 8 different tractors so far!! Not to mention forklifts and other strange machinery!!

The weather is far colder than we realised it would be. In the evenings it is getting down to around 0deg and during the day it is still jeans, tshirt, jumper and coat!!

We have tasted the good old Blue Juice that the Indian Ocean has to offer...couple of really good surf sessions. Not too big but nice to wet our toes and get used to the power. We have a small break about 50km from where we are living in a place called Lancellin. Watched a nice few sets coming in over the outer reef at about 15ft or so which was cool. Only accessable by boat tho so not for us at the mo!!

As we said before, we absolutely love it here and every day we have to pinch ourselves to make sure we are really here. Most mornings we get to see the sunrise and then the sun set in the evening from the top of the hill where we are working. The thing that is most impressive (which I have heard other people say before but not really understood till we got here) is that the sky is soooooooo BIG!!! I suppose it is because it is so flat here that you can see for so far and the sky is so clear and blue. It's awesome!!!

So here are a few pics to see where we are and what we are doing.

PS: In order to save a bit of time I have shrunk the size of the pictures...let me know if it is still OK and not too small. If we need to we can revert to the bigger ones.

Day 4 - Distant temples. To be filled

2009-07-05T03:43:00.001-07:00

Day 3 - to be filled...The big Temples!!

2009-07-05T03:42:00.001-07:00

Day 2...Smaller temples of Roluos and the Jungle Temple!

2009-06-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

We decided the best way to tackle seeing the temples was to start small and work our way up to the bigger ones and then see the far away ones later. I reckon it was the best way as they kinda just got better and better!

So the first ones are the Roluos temples in order...Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei. Then went back in to the main temple complex and visited the smaller temples around Angkor Thom including the Jungle temple Ta Prohm , which has been over run by the jungle around it. Preah Ko was being renovated beautifully...

And then down the road was the large and beautiful ( one of our favourites)Bakong.

Lo Lei was the less well preserved brother of Preah Ko, but was a stunning sight none the less !

Ta Prohm Is one of our top temples the grounds around it were huge and the temples were literally being eaten up! Film directors have used the sight in loads of movies like tomb raider and you can see why !

Angkor temples Day 1

2009-06-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

So...the temples...

There are countless stories to go with the pics of all the temples but it will take way too long to go through them all. Basically, in the days of the Angkorian rule over Cambodia, each King took on a tradition of building his own temple(s!). This has left the nation with a vast site just outside Siam Reap which is now home to hundreds of temples all of differing size, grandure and style. The area is known as Angkor with the most well known...Angkor Wat! We took 3 (long) days exploring these and only just managed to cover all of the main ones. We will post up the pics in the order of the temples and we'll TRY and tell you what they were called...maybe!! We'll start a new thread for each day, so here goes...

This is the evening we picked up our tickets and tried to get in a sunset. The weather was having none of it and decided to throw a major storm at us instead. We were not that fussed as we think it made for some fairly dramatic photos!! The mountain is home to the first temple we saw...Phnom Bakheng.

This last one is a sneek preview of a view over Angkor Wat. We will get to the proper pics of that one later. For referance, google or google earth Angkor Wat to get some idea of the sheer size of what we're looking at. It's massive!!!

Desert Island fun!!

2009-06-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

And back to the beach ! Sihanoukville

2009-06-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

Phonm Penh Cambodia

2009-05-31T03:22:00.000-07:00

Our first impressions of Phonm Penh weren't that good, there are some pretty parts with temples that looked like Thai architecture, but it was super busy, dirty, and very manic ! As always we settled down in a local drinkery, for a new type of beer, Ankgor Beer, very nice, and begun to work the place out !

The main things that we wanted to go to whilst in this city were "the killing fields" and the Tuong Sleung Museum or S21 prison to understand the Khmer Rouge atrocities, and the history around that.

We had a real day of horror to say the least as we got the two big hitters done in one day. For those not in the know the Khmer Rouge were a political group that threw Cambodia in to turmoil after civil war, and basically within the short period of 3 years brought Cambodia to its knees and the economics back to the stone age, as well as brutally killing around a fourth of the Cambodian population !

The killing fields were our first stop and as the name suggests this is where there are a collection of mass graves that contain thousands of bodies of people killed around 30 years ago after being deemed against the revolution. It was a sad sight , most of the bodies have been exhumed and a pagoda of skulls were on show as a memorial. However there are so many bodies and bits scattered everywhere that it would be an impossible task to identify them all, especially as they were quickly degraded so only bones were left. The result is that a lot of bones and clothing have just been left in and around the grounds as they were , but in the hasty execution, the graves were shallow and you find yourself walking on fragments of bones and the peoples clothing that they died in. I dont think our feet will ever feel the same again!

Straight after we took the trip back in to the City to S21 to get the history behind it and walk around the school/ converted prison that the Khmer rouge used to imprison interrogate and torture before sending off to the killing fields. There were rows and rows of pictures of the people that died in that place including women and little children, all documented. Not pleasant at all and makes you realise what an amazing accomplishment it is that Cambodia is actually exsiting and moving on. For three years they had no currency , closed it borders , had mass famine and disease and exterminated most of the intellectual population in an attempt to make a classless society.

A up point of the day was to see what Cambodia is trying to do now to help the children carve a life for themselves and many are orphans or street kids. We went to a restaurant called Friends to have some Cambodian tapas, not only was it the best food we have had in ages it was served and made by Students who are learning to get in to catering and hospitality. It is a great charity and a little seedling in phonm penh !

So after a packed couple of days we decided to chill out in Sihanoukville on the coast and grabbed a bus there. But we will pop that in another post !

A long goodbye to Vietnam Via the Mekong !

2009-05-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

Annoyingly really got used to Vietnam and loving it just as we are having to leave! Always the way! But we took a 3 day trip along the river ways of the Mekong to do it in ! We have had a great three days ,the people of the Mekong delta were lovely and fascinating. In the most part of this three day trip we were allowed to feel more like observers to their way of life rather then being played to as a tourist!

Said goodbye to the lovely Saigon via the river Mekong. The river started off smelling revolting as we passed through the city to its boarders. Everything is dumped in to it and i mean everything ! Ewwww!

As we travelled further the city dropped away to rural river ways, lined by water coconut trees. Beautiful coloured fishing boats and transportation boats with eyes painted on the front crowded the wate , with whole families on board!

After three hours we stopped off at some Islands in the middle of the river! So big it has a town on it and a couple of thousand people. We were treated to some of the local honey tea, and various dried tropical fruits sweetened beyond all proportions, as well as some local traditional music and handling of the local pythons! We also had a row boat trip through the canals which was something I had been looking forward to for a long time and wasn't disappointed! Pictures will describe it better then words!
After lunch we were allowed to explore the island for a short while on push bikes! Oops we got lost ! And were very late back in! After a swift slap on the wrists we were off to another island for checking out how coconut candy is made and of course eating and then subsequently buying some ! Mmm Mmm sorry guys, wont be bringing any of that back!

We stayed in Can Tho for the night in the middle of the Mekong , and proceeded to go out with some new friends we had met, Jemma and Hollie, for cheap dinner and then shots of snake wine ! Yes, that very same stuff that the chap on the train was trying to feed Ben some time back! We proved to be much amusement to the staff as the beer and snake spirit went down ! Good times !

From Can Tho we proceeded the next morning to a floating market, where all the farmers come to trade. It was a wonderful place to be, all the boats were loaded with produce and then offloaded to the other merchant boats. Each farmer had a long stick above the boat with what he is selling to help with orientation! We loved it so much, it was lovely just to be their to watch Mekong life and people get on with their own business , not taking any notice of us , except for the odd sneaky wave and smile !

We also got a great tour of what makes the Mekong tick, rice rice rice ! Where it is made, how it is refined and noodles and pancake manufacture, all very interesting, before making our way by bus to Chau Doc, 5 Km from the Cambodian boarder to spend a night at a lovely floating hotel !

Our final day on the Mekong brought us via the river to the Cambodian boarder to pick up our visas and then on and off boats through immigration ! As soon as we got in to Cambodia there was a subtle change to the surroundings , very rural, no development , very few boats just Mekong Mekong, for four hours to Phnom Penh. Got some great pictures of the locals taking themselves and their cows for a bath in the water , and kids splashing around and generally having a giggle in the river.

So that bring us to where we are now Cambodia !Hope to get some piccies up to make sense of these ramblings, and they are super cool as well, proper feast for the eyes was the Mekong !

Saigon

2009-05-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry the photos are in reverse order and we cant seem to change that! So the top six are from the Cu Chi Tunnels , please dont laugh at me it was a tad scary!! Bare in mind the camera had a flash and that was the only light apart for the odd meager bulb in the tunnels!

Tight squeeze !

Tighter squeeze ! Sniper holes !

. In the war reminants museum the iconic "huey"

Night time over Saigon from the Sheriton Hotels 23rd floor.

We have arrived !

From Nha Trang we headed to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh city by sleeper bus this time. It was a night mare. The beds are not made for someone of my height or width so I could not fit in the bed in any way!! Long night with no sleep! But we got there. That was where we made our last posts from.

The city is much more metropolitan then Hanoi in the north and so felt a lot more laid back. The roads were every bit as busy but much more open with wide streets as opposed to the tight narrow ones in Hanoi.

We did the normal "city" things to begin with, long orientation walk around the city with a look in the War Relics museum. This was another harrowing experience to say the least and pushed home how utterly barbaric and pointless the war was again. Having now been here for a while I would like to get a non biased view from somewhere when we get back. I can't believe everything is as one sided as it appears to be from this side. There is quite a lot of obvious propaganda which you can ignore or take with a pinch of salt but there seems to be huge amounts of evidence that shows how bad the atrocities were. If it is true I don't know how the US has managed to get away without being pulled up for war crimes that are (or appear to be) every bit as bad as some of the things they have gone to war in the gulf for other leaders doing!!

Anyway, enough of that rant!! It's in the past now and things seem to be settling down with relations definitely being made between the countries involved.

We finished the day off with a beer on the 23rd floor terrace of the Sheraton Hotel! An excellent view of the city was had but...at $6 a beer ( and I mean small bottle!) 2 beers each, because we got there too early to watch the sun go down with just one beer, was the equivalent of half our daily budget!! Ouch!

The next day we took a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels which is where the Viet Cong hid and fought the US from. The tunnels are an amazing piece of ingenuity and had the US foiled for the majority of the war. It is arguable that it is these tunnels that made the war so long and hard for the US to defeat the VC. Each tunnel is around 2.5-4ft high and only around 1.5-2.5ft wide. The entire network stretched for around 280Km and was only about 2hrs drive from Saigon. They were built in 3 levels ranging from 4 to 8 meters below the surface. There were rooms built for living in and store rooms and conference rooms for planing and strategising. The next level was used for traveling and communication and the bottom level for escaping to if the first levels were compromised. These generally all lead to the river where the VC could escape. They also built very small surface holes with trapdoors which could be disguised easily for snipers to lay in wait in and then fire on the US from the ground. They built booby traps and even managed to tunnel under one of the main US air force bases where they ran intelligence and weapons gathering missions!! All of this was built by hand using small shovels and baskets used in the fields for farming.

We were able to go down into the tunnels and follow one for a distance of about 120m. This was plenty for all of us that went. When we came out we were drenched in sweat and our thighs were burning as we had to shuffle along on or haunches. In some areas I could not fit my shoulders through unless I went sideways! Good fun but only for a short time!! Stuff doing it with bombs going off overhead and for 3years odd! A very good experience.

I'm afraid that there are no photos at the moment that I can upload as we are in dial-up speed areas now. We have moved into Cambodia now which I will tell you about next but being here will mean that my communication will be VERY limited (possibly none at all!!) being as this is the capital and the best speed I can find is 256mbs! Sorry guys I will have to do a massive catch up in about 2 weeks time from Oz. Sucks huh?!

That in mind I'd best catch you right up to date in at least a verbal (written) fashion.

Xxx

Nha Trang .. re entering the world as we know it .. kind of !

2009-05-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

We departed our three days in Quang Ngai on a very odd little journey! We learnt a very swift lesson ( we keep doing that ) don't rely on anyone to look after forward bookings for you ! We were told by our receptionist that she would be happy to book our train tickets so that we didn't have to go back in to Quang Ngai to sort them out. We checked and re checked made sure we had a taxi booked and so on a so forth ! Well the day of departure was slightly different no train tickets and no taxi !
Any-hoo we did get tickets, the train was delayed by an hour and we were on what was called a hard seat ! Basically it is the cattle herding of the human world as we joined the locals on a train with hard wood bench seats with straight high backs, packed to the max ! It was certainly an experience ! However a particularly uncomfortable one for 7 hours ! We faced an older couple from Saigon, the guy got progressively more pissed on a plastic bottle of what he called whisky, but i think it was the stuff they have around here normally with lizards snakes and insects in , basically the Vietnamese liquid Viagra ! ( or so they believe !) . As the journey progressed we were grilled in Vietnamese , mainly over why we don't have children! Our new elderly and drunk friend blamed our lack of sprogs on the fact that Ben obviously hasn't been drinking enough of this chaps firewater, and so must not be firing right ! So Ben was repeatedly offered a swig of this stuff , followed by cigarettes or anything else. The other people on the train repeatedly came down to meet us , normally offering Ben a smoke from their bongs or food or cigarettes , of which we gratuitously declined ! Then one local took a real liking to Ben's hair and started to stroke it ! Then my drunk companion noticed my knee scar and so then decided i was a faulty wife and so i wont be able to have as many children as he first had predicted !! needless to say it was a hilarious journey , i am giggling about it just writing it down !

It was a horrendously uncomfortable journey but 7 hours later though beautiful scenery of the mountains and coast we arrived to Nha trang and marched straight to our hotel just one street off the sublime beach ! Oh Yeah!

Needless to say we went on search for the best drinking hole and settle for a Saigon beer for a night cap . We went to the highly recommended Sailing club, which felt far too upmarket to be called a backpackers bar as it does say in the lonely planet guide , but it was a great place to go , Aussie run they have got it sorted !
We treated ourselves to a day of sun and crystal clear south china sea ! And inadvertently got a tad tiddly whilst sampling the local night life . Need not to say more ! If any one saw my facebook status of "louise cant hold her drink anymore" that paints the picture

Unfortunately we had booked a boat trip for the following day sporting rather nasty hangovers !! Nha trang has a lot of islands around it and some great coral reefs to explore , as well as an aquarium that is only accessible by boat. A jump in to the sea to snorkel around the reefs was a great hangover cure ! Thank goodness, as the crew decided to entertain us after lunch with their band ! Their band consisted of a home made drum kit two singers and a guitarist, and somehow knew at least one song from every nation on the boat and there were a few !

Our last day in Nha Trang was also my birthday , which is an odd experience ! But we went to a mud and mineral spa up the road in nha trang, it was a great way to spend your day , rolling around in a wooden tub full of mineral mud and then getting hard baked in the sun , before taking a plunge in hot mineral water ! Dont know if it done me any good or not but it was certainly relaxing ! And don't be worried i found the equivalent of the Belgium Monk, the Louisane Brewhouse, to have a celebratory beer in before leaving on an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as the southerners prefer to call it !

Quang Ngai Son My and My Khe beach, there's a mouthfull

2009-05-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

Cows on the beach ! As you do !

Taking the route less traveled Ben found out about a place called Quang Ngai, that we could venture down to. Two reasons , it had another cracking beach that is relatively untouched and also we thought it about time to find out what the Vietnamese were saying about the American war in the very sobering place of Son My the site of the Mai lai village massacres.

Arrived by a/c bus and then had an interesting and slightly stressful time trying to get from where the bus had dumped us to My Kye Beach. Mainly trying to talk to Moto drivers and working out exactly where we are with out being ripped off . We are getting quite good at negotiating and standing ground now! It ended up we were about 12km from our destination, so off we went by motorbike past quang ngai through rural villages of Paddie fields and Agent orange scarred mountain tops, a quick reminder of the bombing and mass dioxin that the area had suffered only 30-40 years ago!

After some searching we came to what could be loosely termed a hotel. Nice enough but i am not going to go about recommending My Khy hotel. They do have a monopoly though of being the only hotel there !
We went straight off to Son My Museum. We were two of only a handful of tourists there , so the experience was very concentrated, there were no other visitors to hide behind when things got a bit tough! We had a personal guided tour of the area that used to be the Village of Mai Lai that has been painstakingly preserved back to the state it had been left after the massacre , including the paths showing a mixture of running footprints , bicycle tracks and heavy booted GI prints . It is the center of a huge war crimes atrocity, where a whole rural and fishing village of Mai lai was raided by the US early in the morning with the intent of not leaving anything or any one standing. The whole village of 504 people were killed tortured or raped. Animals, livestock, crops and houses were razed to the ground. Only a handful of people escaped. It was made all the more harrowing because our guide was from a village just a few Km away and her granddad and baby uncles were killed in the massacre, and the event was photographed with intimate detail by a US photographer and his photos were on display with all their grizzly detail.We were glad we went and would say anyone visiting here should go, it is a sobering experience. Due to the nature of where we were although you could take photos we didn't feel it right to do so , so i am afraid your are just going to have to go there yourselves to see it !

The evening and next day was spent negotiating menus as we were the only westerners there but we had great fun with the staff and our Vietnamese is coming on nicely , we can almost read a menu ! And we certainly are getting the very basics down in speech ! We went for an epic and uninterrupted walk along the beach as it was too hot to lay down!!

After 6 days of being out of contact with anyone we thought it about time to reacquaint ourselves with the modern world and got a most interesting train to Nha Trang , but that folks will be for our next journey in to the tour of the Turners !!!!!!...............

Hoi An

2009-05-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

We left Mai Chau and headed back to what seemed like an even busier Hanoi, compared to the peace and tranquility we've just had, (by the same public transport) to catch a sleeper train down south to Hoi An, about
half way down the coast near a city called Danang. The train was rough as the soft sleeper berths were sold out which meant we had to go hard sleeper (3bunks one on the other and you may as well be sleeping on ply wood!)

Initial thoughts on Hoi An was a nice peaceful seaside town. Not to far dissimilar in feel to St Ives in Cornwall. Immediately loved it.

As we have been very cultural so far through China and Laos and the beginning of Vietnam we have decided we deserve some down time (being cultural is quite exhausting!!) so Halong bay was the first part of our beach side rest and relaxation...a good intro as this was our first stop at a real beach "resort".

***************Interrupted by power cut!!****************

So, as said, Hoi An was lovely. We spent the first day taking an orientation walk around the town. The place is full of tailors wanting to make you all sorts of clothes. Jo, you would love this place but you would need to bring a lot of money... but then you could make yourself a wardrobe of immense proportions!! We didn't get anything made as we'd heard some bad report of the cheaper places and don't really have enough funds (or space in the packs!) for more clothes.

In the evening there was an open air show of local, traditional culture so we had some local beer (at 4,000dong which is about 20p per glass!!) and sat and watched the show. What we didn't know was that it was a Buddhist festival so part way through the show there was a carnival of floats by the local school kids and organisations which was cool to watch. Then they all went to the river where electricity is turned off on one of the streets for a few hours so there is no streetlights, just oil lamps, and lit small candles in paper boats and sent them down the river. We took advantage of the lack of light and went and had a candle lit dinner on the river front to watch proceedings. It went on for a good hour or so!

We hired a scooter for a couple of days so we could get to and from the beach easier (or in a more fun manor than walking anyway!!) and spent the day times relaxing on a beach under bamboo sun shades. Pretty idealistic if you ask me!! Whilst it wasn't a deserted beach, it was certainly not busy and at over 30km long, we could get away from people as and when we wanted but when you had waiter service for food and drink that was not too bad in price why move!!

After a couple of days we went to Quang Ngai but I'll put that in another section. Photos for your enjoyment!!

Mai Chau

2009-05-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

From Halong bay where we last left you we decided to take a trip out to a small place in the mountains called Mai Chau. We had the option to take a tour which would have been good but we decided to make a go of it ourselves using the general public transport and just "finding" our way. The result was a fantastic couple of days where we were able to experience Vietnam the same way as the locals do.

We started early in the morning with a Moto-taxi ride (Motorbike with driver) to the bus station. This was a good start as the drivers took us to the wrong bus station so we had to negotiate somehow telling them we were in the wrong place and then get them to take us to the right one! Next we had to find the right bus to get us to Mai Chau which was no mean feat as all the signs are in Vietnamese. The next imidiate problem was when do we pay and how much do we pay, have we paid the right person, is he even getting on the bus with us, why do we not get a ticket in return for the money we've handed over............etc. I think you get the picture!!

Turns out we got on the right bus and even got off at the right stop and paid the right amount of money to the right person which was good!

Upon arriving in the village, we had to organise staying with a local family in their house. The houses are very basic stilt houses. They have an open ground level room and normally a single upstairs room for eating and sleeping in. You sleep on rolls on the floor with a mozzie net over the "bed". There is no air con or hot water and cooking is traditional home made food over an open cooking fire. Various houses in the village offer this so you can just turn up and find someone who is willing to look after you. We found a place and the man and his wife then took us in for 2 nights and fed us with breakfast, lunch and dinner. We managed to get in 2 hikes on short one and one full day one. Some of the locals do the same thing every morning and evening to collect wood and to work up in the fields. The do it with massive loads on their backs and are generally women over 60 years old. They are hard!!

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking for here...

Scooters are fun!!!!

2009-05-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Been completely out of the loop for the last couple of days...sailing around Halong bay in a junk! I don't have time to tell you much about it as we have to get ready to head out into the mountains in North Vietnam for a few days but then we are intending to have a day of contacting people proper and catching up on loads of photos and stories so for the moment these few pics will have to do.

Needless to say the bay was astounding. It was far beyond anything we could have dreamed of and we spent 2 days and 1 night sailing, kyaking and swimming in the sea nad 1 night and 1 day hiking and staying in a hotel on Cat Ba island in the middle of the bay.

Oh yeah...we might have hired a couple of motorbikes out to cruise around the island on for the evening! 4 of us went, us and another couple and we all had a bike each which meant Lou had to learn to ride a bike with gears for the first time, on the road, on the wrong side of the road, in traffic in the dark!! We had a blast and are home safe and sound to tell the tale...roll on the next time!!

29th onwards...Into Vietnam!!

2009-05-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

Sooo...

We left you in Bangkok and then headed to 'Nam. Took the flight in the early hours of the morning on the 29th. Fairly uneventful really other than we got to see the really debauched side of Bangkok...4am and still the city was going hard! Lots of very interesting drunk characters around...

Our first day in Hanoi (North Vietnam) was very much a culture shock...IT WAS RAINING!! and cold (prob. less than 25deg!! Way to cold for us who have got used to 40+!) After booking in etc. we went on a wander around and man...this place is full of mopeds! The noise is unreal as whoever beeps the first or the loudest has right of way and as a pedestrian, I have no horn...mayhem!! Survived the day tho (inc. crossing some of the busiest streets here...walk slowly into the road and make eye contact with the oncoming traffic and hope they have the sense to go around you!)

The weather is a lot more humid here but it's not quite as hot and it is quite dreary and drizzly most of the time.

Wandering around we managed to navigate the hundreds (literally!) of travel agents, semi-agents, tour operators, copy cats and frauds to eventually book ourselves on a trip into Halong bay on the 2nd. Couple of night on board a junk n the bay which we are looking forward too and generally orientate ourselves with the city. Not really much to report back other than this place takes a lot of getting used to! More than any of the other cities we've visited. You are approached every 5mins or more by people offering motobike taxi rides, pineaples or rickshaw rides!

Got scammed out of as much as it costs for lunch by a pineapple lady. She comes up all nice and chatty and then asks if we want to buy a pineapple which we poilitely turn down. Then she puts the pole she's carrying on Lou's sholder so we can take a photo with the hat and everything, then it's my turn, all nicey nicey, then her mate turns up and puts her's on my other shoulder and then hey presto she wants 80,000VND ('bout 3 pommie pounds) for a bag of pineapple that she forces on Lou and her commision for taking a photo and give the change of the 100 I gave her to her mate for her commission. Recovered some of my dignity by getting at least that back! Needless to say I'm not as accomodating to the pineapple ladies any more!!!

In the evening we went to the water puppet theatre as the Lonely Planet accurately describes it it was Punch and Judy on water!! It was both an entertaining and very surreal evening! After we had a nice meal overlooking the proceedings below as unbeknown to us it is Independence day here and everyone is on holiday!

Went for a wander around today as well around a lake and ate some really good food but not much more to report really.

It's quite cheap to live very well here. We're spending 30-40 pounds between us inc the hotel, eating at resturants (my stomach has only just got better so I've had to lay off the street food!) and drinking beer with all our meals!! It's great. Could live for less but like I say, I've had to look after my self so only the best restaurants will do right!

So that's it for the mo. I'll try and upload some pics of the last little while.

Ben and Lou out!!

Bangkok quickie!!! Haha ha

2009-04-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

Heidee ho!

We have been in Bangkok for the past few days now! Bangkok has marked the end of our trip with Ann and the group from GAP adventures. Mixture of sadness and excitement as we are now on our own. Got out of our training pants and off to Vietnam!

Where were we before ...

We left Vientiane on the 24th after a tour around Vientiane to see a few of the many temples (93!!) and historic buildings. Unfortunately for Laos, between the French and its bordering neighbors, many of the original old places have been destroyed so many have been recently rebuilt and dont have the same charm.

We also manged to pop in to a weaving village to see some of the traditional hand weaving going on. We have got some great pictures and will pop them up later.

Departed Vietianne at 6 pm on a Thai sleeper train heading for Bangkok. We have now probably tried most of the types of sleeper train, slept quiet well on this one!

Our first day in Bangkok was ridiculously hot! We started with a high speed long tail boat ride around the canals and river ways in central Bangkok. Incredibly quick for what they are, but then i suppose that is what happens when you attach a 5.6 litre straight 6 turbo diesel engine straight to a propeller! It was both a great way to see the city and refreshing in the heat! Almost had my fingers taken off by "ill-tempered mutated sea bass!!" no...really. More like hungry cat fish who enjoy the pleasures of no fishing zones in front of river facing temples!

We have spent the past couple of days relaxing after the hectic three weeks and planning our next leg! We have been down the infamous Koasan road to have a drinkie or two and to one of the biggest out door markets in the world. Unfortunately one of our friends is now in hospital due to appendicitis, so we are going to visit a new site for us, the inside of Bangkok hospital!

Keep us posted with life back at home,

Bring on "Nam" !

Vang Vieng

2009-04-22T03:37:00.000-07:00

So we left and headed to Vang Vien, 7hrs on a bus over much the same as before. This is a much more westernised place (lou nicknamed it Asian Brighton!) It's the first time we've really had any contact with the more loutish westerners and their behaviour was embarrasing. Makes you realise how other countries view us!

That said we've had a great time here. Our room was a small single bed bungalow/hut on the river overlooking limestone kasts on the opposite bank. Beautiful sights to wake up to. We had a night out in a bar which once we got over how many white people there were we had a good time. Lazing on our backs around a small coffee table on a raised deck drinking Vodka and Coke out of a bucket!

Second day we took advantage of the river in the form of a 10Km Kayak trip. 9am start in a TukTuk to the start point up river. In 2 man kayaks to get back to the guesthouse. We went through some small rapids (class 1) and only capsised once! We stopped for lunch at a bar on the river and had a pre lnch hike to a cave. The sleeping cave was found in 1995 by some backpackers who got lost in there for three days!! When we were in side the guide told us a story and then blew out the candles. The darkness was the most oppressive thing I have ever felt!

The bar had a cool rope swing set up about 10m high to the handle. On the outswing I reckon you reached about 15m high and out about 20m!! Of course we had to have a go. After a couple of build up's I managed to let go at the highest point on the swing. The drop felt like forever!!

Today we ahve moved on again to Vientiane. Not feeling to good as we have both managed to get a little travelers tummy! Hence the long catchup. Only taken us 4hrs of internet time!!

Hope all is good back home. Love to all!! Xxxx

Luang Prabang 18/4/2009

2009-04-22T02:10:00.000-07:00

Back to the road after a great time in luang nam tra , but this time for 9 hours going up and down in the mountains through proper jungle, never seen anything like it ! Occasionally you will see another truck but maybe one every hour, and go past little hill tribes , and areas of jungle cut down for agriculture. They grow sticky rice out here as they are too high to grow your normal rice, but it tastes great and you have a great excuse to eat with your hands and play with your food . You would think 9 hours on a bus without air con would be really nasty but it was a great journey , spent most of it with my head out of the window saying hello to the locals on the way though, due to the pot holes the size of cars we couldn't go much quicker then 30mph at the most !

It is beginning to sink in where we are , bloody hell it is awesome ! Really getting in to the whole living out of a rucksack and going with the flow eating with the locals , getting by with sign language and being laughed at at our terrible tone and pronunciation of words! One thing nine hours on a bus lets you do is get a thai and laos lesson, ( very similar language! ) Complete tongue work out !

Luang prabang is a UNESCO town , so completely preserved from development. It is an understandably pretty place , very french, very clean and conservative, but we have to say that we prefer the more rural towns though , for character. However on our second day in we went to another waterfall, this time though the waterfall was something out of fiction! Due to mineral contents the water it was a stunning milky blue cascading over many pools with at a huge drop . We hiked up to the source of the drop, a good 200-300 meters up and stood on the top of the waterfall , no joke ! From there we discovered a little secret pool with just a few people in it ( in comparison to the pools below with a fair few people in) We went for a dip ( fully clothed ! boo!) with about 4 other intrepid explorers from our group, the pool was about 10 meters wide and at least 2-3 meters deep in the middle so a bit of cliff jumping was required ! Still cant quite believe that we were swimming in a fresh water fall ! We swam up to the side where it plunges in to the next pool a good 50 + meters down ! Natures own infinity pool ! It was all hot humid jungle around us with bugs the size of baseballs , but it was soo soo amazing.

We managed to grab a sunset over the mountains from the highest point in the centre of Luang prabang ( no photos though cos we left our charger in Chengdu, doh!, have one now though)

Day 18 20/4/2009 Woke up at 5am to go and watch the giving of almes to monks at 5.30am. The monks are as young as 7 years old, and they only live in the food given to them in the morning. in Buddhist countries monks are revered above all else even their royalty ( when they had one). Then we went off to the palace of the old king, with a throne room that never got used because the country turned to communism before he got crowned, gutting huh!

Lou Lou and Ben are in Laos !!

2009-04-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

We left on the 16th April to cross the Laos China border by bus and then tuk tuk . What a differnence the two countries are. On one side granadure and pomp of China and on the other, farms rural lsdscape turinging to jungle, house on stilts with bamboo walls, or on the other hand very french colonial houses.

We settelled in to our guest house an hour and a half off the china boarder in Luang nam tra , a little town surrounded by hills and mountains , on the second day there we had on of the best days of the trip ( seems to get better the furhter south we get !) we decided to hire bike and cycle up to a water fall and past a load of local "hill tribes" It was only about 6-10km but is was 40% humididy and 29 degrees in the shade and up hill ! it was a great experince , we met some of the minoity hill tribes onthe way up. the kids were so lovely and very interested in us and what we are doing.

The people of loas in the majority have knocked us out with their friendlyness and generosity, thet are super laid back so we get on well here ! It is a bit of a joke in Thailand about "laos time " they have got a different meaning for LPDR ( laos people democratic republic ) or Laos People Dont Rush !! Very true, we have to leave a good hour for any quick meal or drink !

Happy new year from Jinghong

2009-04-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry we are catching up with ourselves it has been really hectic and no chance to get on the Internet for any sensible amount of time. Currently I ( Lou) am sitting in a Internet cafe in the capital city of Laos Vientiane.

Since our last installment in Chengdu ( which ended a little bit messily in a night club and a bottle of whisky on the house!) We left on the 15th April avec le hangover for two flights, first to Kunming and the second to our destination Jinghong !

First thing to notice was walking off the plane the humidity and temperature had gone to tropical , ouch ! and our timing had landed in the end of the new year water celebrations for this area of the world.

Jinghong is super cool! It is china but not like the china we have seen it is more like Thailand and no where else in china would they be celebrating the new year like this ! We arrived to be greeted by water cannons out of the airport, we couldn't get off the bus without being super soaked !! The whole group was as excited as a bunch of teenagers when we saw the scale of the water fights happening ! Basically the wetter you get the more blessed you are for the new year. Without a joke ( see piccie!!) Within 5 minutes of walking out the hotel i was soaked by a bucket of water chucked at me by a local, unfortunately my colouring of pale skin blonde hair and blue eyes made me a super target, to the extent that no one wanted to stand near me as they would have also got the brunt. We were the only westerners there to experience such an amazing event, and boy did we know it , we bravely walked to the main park with all the lakes and water reserves, we almost got drowned standing up , no joke , we were such an attraction to get soaked ! Luckily we didn't take our camera with us as a few who did , even though they were wrapped up in a plastic bag are now buying new cameras !

2009-04-14T04:23:00.000-07:00

These are all in the opposite order so first is last etc. Having a great time, be in touch soon!!! xxxx

PS: Still getting used to the laying out tools...sorry if its random!

And finally...THE MAGNUM!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! A baby!

As below

Oh yeah...we went to a panda reserve today!!!

Some of the group. Chengdu street market

Arty night one

As Below

Opera at the show

Us at cultural show in Chengdu

In the same garden

Tea garden in Chengdu

View from the city wall in Xi'an

Terracotta warriors in Xi'an (yes it is a shot from us and not a postcard!!)

Typical roof art in Shanghai

Arty one in the same garden

Garden in Shanghai

Newer Shanghai skyline (some of the group, Gareth and Lilly

The first overnight train...this one was spacious

Coupley one for you!

The Great wall (part of!)

One for Steph. Loads of these around!

Next instalment

2009-04-14T04:09:00.000-07:00

Ok so where are we?

Currently we are in my favorite city so far...Chengdu! It's really hot sunny and the city is lovely. Much less hustle and bustle than the last few cities which suits us fine.

Breif run down of the major events of late...
Left Shanghai by sleeper train (no sleep again) to Xi'an. Quite a nice city but more smoggy and smaller streets gave the impression of being busier. Went to the Terracotta warriors which was amazing...8000 warriors all buried and found in the last 50 years!! Brilliant day.

Bike ride around the wall which was cool but the day was a little soured by one of our mates falling foul to pickpockets and loosing his camera with over 600 shots on it. Left by plane having a bitter taste in our mouths. Did have a good 80min massage tho!! Felt like we'd gone 10 rounds with a kickboxer after!!

Spent the last couple of days drinking tea in the parks and temples around Chengdu and really chilling out. Lou is currently doing a cooking course whilst I'm Netting. Sounds like it's going well.

We are all ok and not in Bangkok yet for those that follow the news so don't worry. Our tour guide is from there and is keeping an eye on whats happening. We still have a week or so till we get there so hopefully things will have calmed down! Will keep you posted.

Hopefully I have a while on here so with any luck here come some pics of the last few weeks....

2009-04-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Still all safe!! :)
Looks like his blog thing is going to be a little sparse at the moment as Internet is hard to get on and when you do its all in foreign!!!

So quick update:

Days are all kinda blurred into one now so it will be a little inaccurate as to the days but...

next day we went to the Summer Palace in Northwest Beijing. Meant catching a bus all on our own but it was cool. 1 1/2 hour journey cost us 2BMD which equates to about 20p each! The Palace is a huge garden and lake with loads of pavilions and pagodas around a big lake. It was beautiful. Couple of pics:...Sorry...they are taking too long and I only have an hour! The upload here is stupidly slow.

Here's a brief synopsis (?) of our next few days, I'll try in Xi'an to borrow a laptop and spend a reasonable amount of time with a couple of pages of pics.

Met the rest of our tour group on the Sunday. It's a mixed age group from 16 to about 50(ish) which is good. We all get on really well, Brits, Aussies, and Canadians (all from Vancouver but don't know each other!)

Had a tour of Tienanmen Square and The Forbidden city on Mon morning. The city is incredible. One of the emperors had over 3000 concubines! That in itself is crazy but then we were told that when the emperor dies...all the concubines have to die as well! Buried dead or alive...sick huh??!
In the afternoon we went to another garden which again was stunning. Superb veiws over the city in all directions.

Went to the Great Wall the next day. I knew that as one of the wonders of the world it would be spectacular but nothing prepares you for the scale of it. It was amazing. Spent most of the day hiking up and along the wall which was a good bonding experience for the group.
Went to see a Kung Fu show in the evening. It was like the Shaolin monks but I'm not sure they were actually. Impresive none the less. Lots of hitting each other with big sticks!

Took a bike tour around the city the following day which had all the locals pointing and shouting at us. They don't see many westeners there!

Overnight train in the evening which was interesting and we are now in Shanghai. The train was not bad really. Bunk beds for the night and sharing with an Aussie couple which was cool. Lot's of chatting and laughing!

Overall, we have fallen in love with China so far. We are seeing lots of differnt sides of life here and the difference betwee the haves and have nots is massive. We went into an area where they sold Porsche's ad Bugatti's not by choice!) and got ripped off at the equivalent of 6pounds per pint and also have been in (most) other bars where we drink for less than 1pound per (Large) bottle!! It's an incredible place.

Well we have to go and catch a 14hr train to Xi'an now so I'll try and get some pics up there.

See you later, Ben and Lou xx

PS: Thanks for all the Birthday wishes and comments. Glad to know were not forgotten!! Miss you all too!!

2009-04-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

One of the small parks around The Forbidden City. Was so peaceful and absolutely beautiful!

View from the top of Beihai park over The Forbidden City.

We've arrived!!

2009-04-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all. We're here safe and sound. Got here at 5:45 this morning after a flight of zero sleep! Stayed up all day and did some sightseeing which was cool. Beijing is massive! With huge open areas and lovely parks. I have tried to upload some photos but it hasn't worked (internet i a little slow here!) So I'm posting this and there may or may not follow some pictures...who knows!!??

Speak to you soon x

2009-04-01T04:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing interesting to report yet...got to Dagenham OK so thought I'd see if I can remember Cy's tutorial on how to use this stupid thing...if your reading this I guess its all good!!

Thanks to everyone for all the send-offs and we'll be in touch soon!!

Flight is at 12:55pm tomorrow to Beijing. 9hrs 50 flight time and we will be in China!!! Yay!!!

test

2009-03-29T07:16:00.001-07:00

test

showing you guys how to use this

2009-03-29T07:12:00.001-07:00

hi hi hi mmmm stormtroopers

hello world. we are at andys house!

F1 Sunday before we go

2009-03-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

We're waiting for andy to fix the aerial wire....