day 34 - Bonito
Yesterday we all agreed to go to a local hotel/national park thing for the day which has a river and a football pitch etc and have a bbq. The minibus picked us up at 9 and we went to the supermarket to buy stuff for the bbq. The non-students of the group went all out buying chicken wings, steaks, sausages, salad etc. the poorer of us bought just burgers, suasages, bread and of course some beers.
We then continued on to the park and it was awesome. There was a sand football pitch and volleyball pitch, loads of barbeques and sitting areas, table tennis tables, pool tables, table football tables and then the beautiful river/lake. It had even had a zipline and a diving board for the river.
We went for a quick swim before renting a ball and going to play football. It was really fun and half way through some local brazillians challenged us to a match. Playing brazillians at beach football is usually suicide but after our fantastic win back in peru we were pretty confident. Our earlier fears were soon gone when we proceeded to score 8 in a row with no reply. Obviously the sterotype doesn´t apply to all brazillians and they were soon begging us to intergrate teams. We played for a little longer before stopping to go swimming again. We had a dive contest off the diving board and im pretty sure i won with my running somersualt over-rotation into bellyflop dive. Afterwards we started the BBQ we put all our sausages on but after 30 mins they weren´t done as the rack was far too far away from the heat. Using classic british ingenuity we decided to ram them 5cm away from the flame and they were done in 30 seconds. For desssert we had a pineapple and the left-over marshmellows from pantany and created awesome pineapple and marshmellow skewers.
After dinner we spent the rest of the day relaxing, having the worst all group game of volleyball and then more swimming. It was a reall relaxing day and by the end of it i was totally shattered despite doing very little. We stayed up a little while longer at the hotel playing cards, which then turned into drinking card games and eventually 4 of us seeing off a litre of spirits and far too many beers. It was a fantastic day.
Day 35 - Bonito
Today some of the group went to the snorkelling place i talked about in my last post. With money issues (not being able to take any money out of atm´s in brazil) i decided not to do it. The people who deicded not to do it did very little with the day, we chatted, played cards and wandered round the town buying bacon buritos. It was a basically a day spent killing time until the night bus at 7, nether the less it was a cool day. The night bus was pretty much uneventful and we were pretty used to them by this point.
Day 36 - Iguassu
We got off the night bus, dumped our stuff in the hotel (but weren´t allowed to check in) and went off to iguassu. On the way to the falls we stopped off at a place where you could have a helicopter tour over the falls. It was pretty expensive (70pounds for a 10 min flight) bujt seeing as i´d never been in a helicopter before and a friend in the group said iguassu was the best thing he´s ever seen, i decided to do it, you can always earn more money later...
The helicopter ride was incredible, it reall different from an airplane and the view from the air was incredbile. I rushed to the helicopter and managed to snag the front seat next to the pilot and with a huge glass window and floor so i was pretty chuffed. Seeing the pilot operate the helicopter was really cool and the panaramic views offered by the front window of the helicopter were much better than seeing it through the small plane like windows in the back. It was really cool, if a little short, but i´m really glad i did it. I´m just trying to avoid thinking about how much beer i could have got for that 10min flight...
We then headed on to Iguassu falls themselves from the brazillian side.
They were hidden in amoungst loads of jungle but were absolutely collosal. They looked incredible and were quite different from niagra. They were split up into lots of smaller waterfalls as well as some huge ones. There was a really cool walk way that took you on a scenic tour of the falls which was pretty cool. Near the end we got to go on a walkway right out into the falls. I got absolutely soaked by all the spray from the falls but it was pretty incredible being that close to them and offered some amazing views.
Afterwards we got a lift up to a viewing point that looked over the falls which again offered some awesome views before heading back.
The hotel was really nice and had a rooftop pool and bar which we spent the rest of the sunlight hours in.
In the evening we went to a old gap leaders house for a BBQ and unlimited booze. We were joined by another couple of gap groups, one of which contained my room mates old uni room mate who didn´t know the other was travelling and just happened to be in the same place at the same time, small world.
The bbq was really nice with a good selection of salady stuff and lots of meat. Afterwards the party started and the Dj started playing. We were also supprised by two brazillian girls in full salsa outfits with some of the best bums i´ve ever seen. They got everyone up to dance and we had a really good night, if a little boozy.
Day 37 - Iguassu town
Today was a free day with a couple of optional activites to visit paraguay for tax free shopping or visit the huge hydroelectric dam. Still with no money and not wanting to get further into debt when i didn´t have to i decided not to go and spent the day hanging out with the rest of the poor students. We spent most of it up on the roof witht he pool or wandering the town. At 3 we all went to a bar to watch the cup america final between paraguay and uraguay (really wish brazil hadn´t been so poor and got knocked out, would have been amazing). It was quite a relaxed atmosphere but a nice time anyway and we saw one of the gap groups from the party again. I was feeling pretty ill so decided to get an early night so missed the late night festivities which turned out to be a waste of time seeing as everywhere closed at 10:30 as it was a sunday.
Day 38 - Iguassu falls (argentinian side)
Today we went to see the falls from the argentinian side, apparently Brazillian side had only 20% of the falls and that was epic so i couldn´t wait. We had to go through argentinian border control on the way and even got another set of stamps in my passport. I wasn´t disappointed it was even more incredible than before. There was a huge trail round the falls visiting loads of different waterfalls. We did the first section before stoppoing for a quick break when we were attacked by a swam of raccoons. There was 10-15 racoons that decended on us from out of nowhere and started climbing the tables and ripping into any plastic bags that were out. It was quite a weird moment.
After that little interuption we continued along the trail which took us right up to the waterfall for another soaking, through the jungle, and over and past others tributaries and waterfalls.
The last part of the trail was up to the ´devils throat´ so named due to the sound it made. It was huge, akin to niagra. The sound was deffening and there were huge plumes of spray kicked up. There was such a volume of water that half the falls were obscured by the spray so you didn´t get to see how big they really were but it was still epic.
After spending 30mins or so just marvelling at the size of it we headed back to the bus, through border control and back to the hotel. After 10 mins we had to get back on the bus in order to go to the bus station and catch another night bus... For 24 hours.
Day 39 - travelling (paraty)
Spent the whole night and day on the bus so very little to report. We arrived at 6 so it was too late to go to the beach instead we wandered the town until dinner time and then went to a couple of bars in the evening and discovered just how disgusting caprinias (the brazillian national cocktail) really is.
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Brazil! (Pantanal)
Day 31 - Pantanal
After getting off the night train we had a short taxi to the border before queing through the broders. It took roughly 2 hours to be free in Brazil and for some reason it looked pretty different to Bolivia despite being only meters apart. We then got a mini-bus for 2 hours before transfering to an open-topped truck for the last 90mins. We saw some incredible wildlife on the way including lots of different types of birds (parrots and toucans) and even some camens ( `small` alligators). When we got to the ranch it was like a paradise. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful views and glorious sunshine, hello Brazil! It made a great change to the relative cold of the higher alltitudes in Bolivia. We immediately started a game of 3 a side football followed by rugby and american football.It was great fun but by the end of it, due to playing in barefoot, me and morti had humungus blisters. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in hammocks and reading or listening to music.After dinner we we supposed to go on a night time walk but due to the blisters em and morti decided to stay in. We had a pretty good time chatting and playing cards with another group who were also at the ranch. At night we were to stay in hammocks which sounded like an awesome idea but in reality i got very little sleep. It was also made worse by the state of the toilets, they were absolutely covered in insects and mosquitoes. The floor was a sea of bugs and many jumped up at you or dropped from the ceiling, there were also some live ones in the toilet bowl, not the most pleasant place when you still have a dodgy tummy.
Day 32 - Pantanal
We got up early in order to go Piranah fishing and set off in the trucks around 8:30. After an hour of travellign which was more like a saffari (we saw monkeys, snakes and lots of birds) we arrive. We were given long bamboo poles with string and a hook on the end and a bag of meat. After attaching the meat to the hook you cast it out into the water and waited for a tug, which was almost imediately. I caught one on my second go but then spent the rest of the time wasting loadsof bait without catching a single one. After we were all done fishing we went for a swim in the piranah and camen invested river. Unfortunately we had to get out early as the guide had spotted some nearby otters. Apparently piranahs and alligators were safe enough to swim with but you dont want to mess with an angry otter!
After the fishing we went back for lunch before going horse riding in the afternoon. The first hour was pretty mudane just walking around spotting the occasional animal but the last 30mins was amazing. The guide allowed us to pretty much go nuts and we raced each other, sometimes at a gallop all over the ranch. It was terrifying and exilirating at the same time. We returned back covered ins sweat and exhuasted but it was worth it. After a bug invested shower we had another game of football and an evening of lazng around in hammocks.
Day 33 - Bonito
We got up at 5:28 for our 5:30 sun rise walk after yet another disapointing sleep in the hammock (amazing for napping in pretty poor for sleeping in). It was completely dark when we started but the sun soon began to rise and the views were incredible. The walk lasted 2 hours and we trailed through woodland and swamp. Along the way we saw several monkeys, an ant-eater, a wild baor amoung others. When we returned we got the open top truck thing for another 90mins before a further 3 hour bus journey to bonito. When we arrived in Bonito we wen tout to the super market before coming here to update my blog. We bought dinner at the super market so are probaly going to have quite a chilled eveningplaying cards or whatever.Brazil is really expensive so going out every night is going to have to stop. Tomorrow we´re going to a local national park with a river chilling out all day and having a bbq. The day after i´ve got to decided whether i want to spend the day snorkelling in a beautiful river. Apparently its like a fsh tank and is crystal clear, and the pictures i´ve seen look incredible but it is $100 for 2 hours snorkelling (including transport there and back), see what i was talking about brazil ebing expensive! I suppoose you only live once and can always earn more moeny so ill probably do it...
After getting off the night train we had a short taxi to the border before queing through the broders. It took roughly 2 hours to be free in Brazil and for some reason it looked pretty different to Bolivia despite being only meters apart. We then got a mini-bus for 2 hours before transfering to an open-topped truck for the last 90mins. We saw some incredible wildlife on the way including lots of different types of birds (parrots and toucans) and even some camens ( `small` alligators). When we got to the ranch it was like a paradise. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful views and glorious sunshine, hello Brazil! It made a great change to the relative cold of the higher alltitudes in Bolivia. We immediately started a game of 3 a side football followed by rugby and american football.It was great fun but by the end of it, due to playing in barefoot, me and morti had humungus blisters. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in hammocks and reading or listening to music.After dinner we we supposed to go on a night time walk but due to the blisters em and morti decided to stay in. We had a pretty good time chatting and playing cards with another group who were also at the ranch. At night we were to stay in hammocks which sounded like an awesome idea but in reality i got very little sleep. It was also made worse by the state of the toilets, they were absolutely covered in insects and mosquitoes. The floor was a sea of bugs and many jumped up at you or dropped from the ceiling, there were also some live ones in the toilet bowl, not the most pleasant place when you still have a dodgy tummy.
Day 32 - Pantanal
We got up early in order to go Piranah fishing and set off in the trucks around 8:30. After an hour of travellign which was more like a saffari (we saw monkeys, snakes and lots of birds) we arrive. We were given long bamboo poles with string and a hook on the end and a bag of meat. After attaching the meat to the hook you cast it out into the water and waited for a tug, which was almost imediately. I caught one on my second go but then spent the rest of the time wasting loadsof bait without catching a single one. After we were all done fishing we went for a swim in the piranah and camen invested river. Unfortunately we had to get out early as the guide had spotted some nearby otters. Apparently piranahs and alligators were safe enough to swim with but you dont want to mess with an angry otter!
After the fishing we went back for lunch before going horse riding in the afternoon. The first hour was pretty mudane just walking around spotting the occasional animal but the last 30mins was amazing. The guide allowed us to pretty much go nuts and we raced each other, sometimes at a gallop all over the ranch. It was terrifying and exilirating at the same time. We returned back covered ins sweat and exhuasted but it was worth it. After a bug invested shower we had another game of football and an evening of lazng around in hammocks.
Day 33 - Bonito
We got up at 5:28 for our 5:30 sun rise walk after yet another disapointing sleep in the hammock (amazing for napping in pretty poor for sleeping in). It was completely dark when we started but the sun soon began to rise and the views were incredible. The walk lasted 2 hours and we trailed through woodland and swamp. Along the way we saw several monkeys, an ant-eater, a wild baor amoung others. When we returned we got the open top truck thing for another 90mins before a further 3 hour bus journey to bonito. When we arrived in Bonito we wen tout to the super market before coming here to update my blog. We bought dinner at the super market so are probaly going to have quite a chilled eveningplaying cards or whatever.Brazil is really expensive so going out every night is going to have to stop. Tomorrow we´re going to a local national park with a river chilling out all day and having a bbq. The day after i´ve got to decided whether i want to spend the day snorkelling in a beautiful river. Apparently its like a fsh tank and is crystal clear, and the pictures i´ve seen look incredible but it is $100 for 2 hours snorkelling (including transport there and back), see what i was talking about brazil ebing expensive! I suppoose you only live once and can always earn more moeny so ill probably do it...
Sucre - Santa cruz
day 29 - The ill day - Sucre
Although having booked to go mountain biking today with the rest of the group i was feeling awful. I got up on time and dragged myself to breakfast but afterwards was feeling too sick to go. I spent the whole day in bed sleeping and was still tired. I wasn´t hungary but forced myself to drnk loads of water in order to try and flush it out. In the evening it was the groups last meal with the current tour leader. I really didn´t want to go but as it was the last night i forced myself. It was in a really nice french resturant and i had a really tasty apple and something chicken curry. After dinner i went straight back to bed. What a productive day.
Day 30 - Santa Cruz
Despite still feeling ill i forced myself up in order to say goodbye to the 3 of our group that were leaving. I wasn´t too concerned about Ivon, who although nice, was 33 and german so we didn´t talk much, i had no time for aaisha who didn´t intergrate with the group at all and was very rude, but i would really miss mike who was hilarious and really good fun. After we had said goodbye to them we headed for breakfast before a couple of people went off to a local orphanage. I stayed behing toget a little more rest and pack before heading off to the local markets with danielle in order to try and buy presents and spend the last of my Bolivianos. After a pretty unsucessful morning we returned to the hotel in order to catch our flight to Santa Cruz. We left at 1 for our flight at 3 butit actually left at 4:30 so there was quite a bit of waiting aorund. The flight was only 30 mins long and seemed a bit pointless when we were getting 4-8 hour buses all the time. When we arrived we met our new tour leader ziada (pronounced cider) and went back to our hotel. After checking in we went to the main square to watch the football (the south american cup) on a big screen with all the locals. It was pretty cool and the atmosphere was intense, especially when it went to penalties. It was Argentina vs Uraguay so the crowd was split pretty 50:50 but there was no hostility. It was quite an experience. After the game we went out for dinner and i was sat next to the new person to join our group, Morti from Norway. He was really cool andi found out he was a investment banker who had now started his own private equity firm with a partner which i´ll have to speak to him more about sometime in the trip.
Day 31 - Santa Cruz
Our room had no windows and we forgot to set an alarm so we woke up pretty late. Having realised i had lost my card (probablly back in sucre) i spent most of the day sorting that out inbetween wandering round the town. For lunch we had the most collosal chicken and chips for next to nothing before returning to the hotel ready for the ngiht train. The rumours were that the night train would be pretty horrible and lasted for 16 hours so on the way back we stopped for snacks and sleeping pills. At the train station our tour guide realised that gap had made a mistake and that we were in fact booked into first class. It was pretty good with big reclining seats and a free dinner and breakfast. The dinner and breakfast were pretty poor bnut the journey itself wasn´t bad at all and before we knew it we were on the Bolivia-Brazil border.
Although having booked to go mountain biking today with the rest of the group i was feeling awful. I got up on time and dragged myself to breakfast but afterwards was feeling too sick to go. I spent the whole day in bed sleeping and was still tired. I wasn´t hungary but forced myself to drnk loads of water in order to try and flush it out. In the evening it was the groups last meal with the current tour leader. I really didn´t want to go but as it was the last night i forced myself. It was in a really nice french resturant and i had a really tasty apple and something chicken curry. After dinner i went straight back to bed. What a productive day.
Day 30 - Santa Cruz
Despite still feeling ill i forced myself up in order to say goodbye to the 3 of our group that were leaving. I wasn´t too concerned about Ivon, who although nice, was 33 and german so we didn´t talk much, i had no time for aaisha who didn´t intergrate with the group at all and was very rude, but i would really miss mike who was hilarious and really good fun. After we had said goodbye to them we headed for breakfast before a couple of people went off to a local orphanage. I stayed behing toget a little more rest and pack before heading off to the local markets with danielle in order to try and buy presents and spend the last of my Bolivianos. After a pretty unsucessful morning we returned to the hotel in order to catch our flight to Santa Cruz. We left at 1 for our flight at 3 butit actually left at 4:30 so there was quite a bit of waiting aorund. The flight was only 30 mins long and seemed a bit pointless when we were getting 4-8 hour buses all the time. When we arrived we met our new tour leader ziada (pronounced cider) and went back to our hotel. After checking in we went to the main square to watch the football (the south american cup) on a big screen with all the locals. It was pretty cool and the atmosphere was intense, especially when it went to penalties. It was Argentina vs Uraguay so the crowd was split pretty 50:50 but there was no hostility. It was quite an experience. After the game we went out for dinner and i was sat next to the new person to join our group, Morti from Norway. He was really cool andi found out he was a investment banker who had now started his own private equity firm with a partner which i´ll have to speak to him more about sometime in the trip.
Day 31 - Santa Cruz
Our room had no windows and we forgot to set an alarm so we woke up pretty late. Having realised i had lost my card (probablly back in sucre) i spent most of the day sorting that out inbetween wandering round the town. For lunch we had the most collosal chicken and chips for next to nothing before returning to the hotel ready for the ngiht train. The rumours were that the night train would be pretty horrible and lasted for 16 hours so on the way back we stopped for snacks and sleeping pills. At the train station our tour guide realised that gap had made a mistake and that we were in fact booked into first class. It was pretty good with big reclining seats and a free dinner and breakfast. The dinner and breakfast were pretty poor bnut the journey itself wasn´t bad at all and before we knew it we were on the Bolivia-Brazil border.
Friday, 15 July 2011
Return to Uyuni - Potosi - Sucre
Day 25 - Uyuni
After a terrible nights sleep we all piled back into the 4x4´s and headed back to Uyuni stopping off at a really cool volcanic rock formation and a lagoon on the way. Once back in Uyuni everyone rushed to have a warm shower to try and warm up and spent the rest of the day trying to get some decent sleep. After dinner in a really tasty pizza resturant most of us went back to the extremely fun pub for a couple of drinks. It was extremely fun with a lot of silly drinks and glasses to drink from.
Day 26 - Potosi
Most of the day was spent travelling to Potosi trough some awesome country side and at times travelling on something that was very reminisant of the death road with a huge drop to one side. In the evening we went to one of the worst resturants ever. The food took over two hours to arrive and when it did dave´s burger was stone cold. The waiter also gave us the most evil look ever when we dared to ask for ketchup... After the meal we were all pretty tired so decided to stay in and watch a movie in our hotel before heading off to bed.
Day 27 - Sucre
There was an option to take a tour of the local mines during the day but not really wanting to pay to go into a dark hole with a very questionable safety record i decided to give it a miss. Instead me and rob spent the day exploring the city. We saw soem cool churches and relaxed in a local park. In the evening we got a bus to Sucre and checked into our new hotel, a 4 star old colonial hotel which was awesome. In the evening we went out for dinner in a place that was also half bar/club. They had 2 4 1 on pints while the South American Cup was on so it worked out around 40p a pint... After dinner we headed upstairs to the club area which was pretty cool having everyone there. We then went to kareokee and a different club with various people dropping out along the way (in age order).
Day 28 - Sucre
Despite everyone feeling pretty worse for wear a few of us went out for a tour of the town at 10. It was realy cool having palces significance explained ot you and the stories behing it rather than just thinking thats a nice statue. After see all the cultural stuff we went to the markets and got some awesome fruit smoothies and chorizo sandwhiches. After returning to the hotel to check out how everyone elses hangovers were doing me and matt went back into town to get a haircut. Due to a bet i had lost i had to get a mohawk done. Going to a place that didn´t speak spanish probably wasn´t a great idea and it came out kind of retarded (even more so than a mohawk usually is) It is made worse by the fact you can now see then tan lines on my head where my hair used to be. I´ve also got a beard based tan line so will have to make sure i keep on top of cutting it in future. Hopefully it will be gone by the end of the holiday...
In the evening i headed out to an mma club id found during the day (sorry mum). They started off by making me run up and down 8 flights of stairs 25 times followed by ridiculous amounts of burpees and press-ups. I was absolutely dead, it would have been awful if done at sea level let alone 3000m. After that it turned into a sort of karate class with stupid stances and flicky kicks but atleast it gave me a chance to recover a little. Then we got on to sparring, tappy head shots but hard as you like body shots. I was pitted against their best black belt in order to prove a point i suppose. I thought we just go pretty light but he was really going hard. He didn´t really know how to block leg kicks and after a couple of minutes of turning his leaad leg to jelly i eventually dropped him with a body shot. I was pretty proud that there attempt at hazing had kinda backfired and the instructor didn´t look best pleased that his best guy had been beaten by the new guy. He paired himself with me and we started sparring again. I thought that seeing as it was the instructor and he had atleast 25kg on me we would be going light. Apparently not. I spent the most of the round running away and holding on not wanting to piss him off too much. Next came the grappling section, thank god.
I was pitted against their best guy again, they never learn. We were given the small mma gloves and said it was Vale Tudo "anything goes" for 1x5min round. He came out swinging but i ducked under and picked him up for a huge slam. He tapped out to the slam and had to take a couple of minutes to regain his breath. score 1 me. When we restarted it turned into a pretty one sided beat down with me submitting him 6 times in 5 minutes including 3 guillotines in a row and a mclovin-oplata. They had practically no idea what they were doing. It was then turned into winner stays on. I submitted the entire club (12 people and both instructors) in a row with the same submission. I was absolutely exausted but felt pretty awesome that their attempt to amke a fool of me had backfired so horribly. I spent the rest of the session teaching them the most basic submissions and at the end got a speach dedicated to my awesomeness by the instructor (or atleast thats what i think it was, it was all in spanish). I now realise that despite seeing some absolutely incredible places over the last couple of days the thing i´ve written the most about is my one session of mma, i need to sort my priorities out.
After the MMA i headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before we all went out to a club where our tour leader was guest DJ´íng. It was a really good night.
After a terrible nights sleep we all piled back into the 4x4´s and headed back to Uyuni stopping off at a really cool volcanic rock formation and a lagoon on the way. Once back in Uyuni everyone rushed to have a warm shower to try and warm up and spent the rest of the day trying to get some decent sleep. After dinner in a really tasty pizza resturant most of us went back to the extremely fun pub for a couple of drinks. It was extremely fun with a lot of silly drinks and glasses to drink from.
Day 26 - Potosi
Most of the day was spent travelling to Potosi trough some awesome country side and at times travelling on something that was very reminisant of the death road with a huge drop to one side. In the evening we went to one of the worst resturants ever. The food took over two hours to arrive and when it did dave´s burger was stone cold. The waiter also gave us the most evil look ever when we dared to ask for ketchup... After the meal we were all pretty tired so decided to stay in and watch a movie in our hotel before heading off to bed.
Day 27 - Sucre
There was an option to take a tour of the local mines during the day but not really wanting to pay to go into a dark hole with a very questionable safety record i decided to give it a miss. Instead me and rob spent the day exploring the city. We saw soem cool churches and relaxed in a local park. In the evening we got a bus to Sucre and checked into our new hotel, a 4 star old colonial hotel which was awesome. In the evening we went out for dinner in a place that was also half bar/club. They had 2 4 1 on pints while the South American Cup was on so it worked out around 40p a pint... After dinner we headed upstairs to the club area which was pretty cool having everyone there. We then went to kareokee and a different club with various people dropping out along the way (in age order).
Day 28 - Sucre
Despite everyone feeling pretty worse for wear a few of us went out for a tour of the town at 10. It was realy cool having palces significance explained ot you and the stories behing it rather than just thinking thats a nice statue. After see all the cultural stuff we went to the markets and got some awesome fruit smoothies and chorizo sandwhiches. After returning to the hotel to check out how everyone elses hangovers were doing me and matt went back into town to get a haircut. Due to a bet i had lost i had to get a mohawk done. Going to a place that didn´t speak spanish probably wasn´t a great idea and it came out kind of retarded (even more so than a mohawk usually is) It is made worse by the fact you can now see then tan lines on my head where my hair used to be. I´ve also got a beard based tan line so will have to make sure i keep on top of cutting it in future. Hopefully it will be gone by the end of the holiday...
In the evening i headed out to an mma club id found during the day (sorry mum). They started off by making me run up and down 8 flights of stairs 25 times followed by ridiculous amounts of burpees and press-ups. I was absolutely dead, it would have been awful if done at sea level let alone 3000m. After that it turned into a sort of karate class with stupid stances and flicky kicks but atleast it gave me a chance to recover a little. Then we got on to sparring, tappy head shots but hard as you like body shots. I was pitted against their best black belt in order to prove a point i suppose. I thought we just go pretty light but he was really going hard. He didn´t really know how to block leg kicks and after a couple of minutes of turning his leaad leg to jelly i eventually dropped him with a body shot. I was pretty proud that there attempt at hazing had kinda backfired and the instructor didn´t look best pleased that his best guy had been beaten by the new guy. He paired himself with me and we started sparring again. I thought that seeing as it was the instructor and he had atleast 25kg on me we would be going light. Apparently not. I spent the most of the round running away and holding on not wanting to piss him off too much. Next came the grappling section, thank god.
I was pitted against their best guy again, they never learn. We were given the small mma gloves and said it was Vale Tudo "anything goes" for 1x5min round. He came out swinging but i ducked under and picked him up for a huge slam. He tapped out to the slam and had to take a couple of minutes to regain his breath. score 1 me. When we restarted it turned into a pretty one sided beat down with me submitting him 6 times in 5 minutes including 3 guillotines in a row and a mclovin-oplata. They had practically no idea what they were doing. It was then turned into winner stays on. I submitted the entire club (12 people and both instructors) in a row with the same submission. I was absolutely exausted but felt pretty awesome that their attempt to amke a fool of me had backfired so horribly. I spent the rest of the session teaching them the most basic submissions and at the end got a speach dedicated to my awesomeness by the instructor (or atleast thats what i think it was, it was all in spanish). I now realise that despite seeing some absolutely incredible places over the last couple of days the thing i´ve written the most about is my one session of mma, i need to sort my priorities out.
After the MMA i headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before we all went out to a club where our tour leader was guest DJ´íng. It was a really good night.
Going to the missle of nowhere - slat flats - frostbite
Day 22 - travel to Uyuni
This may be somewhat of a null day as it was mostly travelling
We got up at 7 in order to catch a public bus at 8. The bus eventually turned up at 8;25 and it was disgusting.
The seats were tiny and stained and we were informed that there would be no toilet stops in the 5 hour journey...
Our new tour guide JJ informed us that for just $2 more a person we could have got our own nice, privtae bus, thanks gap.
When the bus stopped for fuel one of our group asked if she could leave to use the toilet, she was told it was ok. 2 minutes later we were driving off without her and had to shout at the us driver to stop.
we eventually got to the town where we would get our train from around 2 and after checking in our luggage and picking up a couple of snacks we boarded. This time we were in first class! Unfortunately it was bolivian first class and was still prettyn shit. Although it did have a tv in the corner which was blasting out some really crappy bolivian pop song on loop. After about 20 mins one of the other passengers got up and disconected the TV, thank god.
I spent most of the journey sleeping and we arrived in Uyuni around 11. We then had to collect our bags which was a classsic bolivian affair. They just dumped all the bags in a room and then let you loose trying to find yours. It took about 30mins before everyone had eentually fought their way to their own bag.
We got some 4x4´s to our hotel where Tom informed us that there was a place in the guidebook called the extremely fun pub, how could we say no?
Most of the people were pretty exhuasted but a couple of us went out anyway. In the pub we found anothwer gap group who showed us some awesome pictures from the salt flats and we even met one of the people that will join our group for the brazil tour. We were kicked out at 3am which was great seeign as we had a 7 start the next day
Day 23 - salt flats
We got up at 7 and after breakfast all piled in to our 4x4´s and headed out into the slat flats. In our jeep we had me, mike, tom, matt and sam which was a pretty awesome combination. Unfortunately Rob decided to stay in the hotel at Uyuni as he was feeling really ill and thought that -20 at night would do him no good.
First we went to the train graveyard which is where they dump all the out of service trains which was a bit weird. It was just a large collection of rusting trains by the track side.
After that we headed out into the salt flats occasionally stopping to look at a lagoon or similar. It was pretty epic, just a completely white flat surface surrounded by huge mountains.
We eventually got to the spot where everyone gets their funny perspective photos done. It´s completely white and flat so people take funny photos by putting things in the foreground to make them apear bigger. We came prepared and brought a toy car and a barbie in order to try and get some good photos but it didn´t really work. The best thing we got was a group video of us all running into a pringles can.
We then continued on towards our hotel for the night. Along the wasy we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets i´ve ever seen. At one point it the light reflected perfectly off the water on the slat flats and created a mirror type effect.
The hotel for the night was made completely out of salt, a bit like the ice hotel but permenant. It had salt tables, chairs and even beds. It had power for 2 hours at night then nothing. It was really basic and freezing cold but an experience.
day 24 - Desert
We got up reasonably early the next day (not that many of ys got much sleep due to the cold) and piled back into our 4x4´s in order to head out into the desert in the middle of the salt flats and see a volcano. We had been told by the gap group that we met in the extremely fun pub that the drivers may well tell you its too snowy to go on and will want to turn back but you have to insist that you go on, even if it means digging your car out a couple of times. This in mind we headed into the desert and soo found it was, as the group had said, covered in snow. No problem for our 4x4´s though we though. Unfortunately we were mistaken, although they claimed to be 4x4´s this was bolivia and our one was in fact only 2 wheel drive. We assumed it once was 4x4 and had broken but when it came up against a relatively tame slope covered in snow all that happened was the bqack wheels spun and dug its self a hole. They didn´t think to pack snow chains or a shovel so we had to dig it out by hand and give it another shot. The driver put it into first and revved as hard as he could, digging him self straight back into a hole. Despite some of our groups tips about going into a higher gear and not just trying to power up in first he continuedn to do the same thing. We´d dig him out then he power back into the same hole. After digging a path up the hill, lining it with rocks and dirt to try and give him some grip and lots and ltos of pushing and digging out we eventually made it up. The other 4x4´s which were actually 4x4 made it up easily which was pretty annoying. We continued on to the volcano look out point which was pretty cool seeing an active volcano. Unfortuantely if you leave a bunch of youngs boys in snow for any length of time you are bound to get a snowballl fight. Eventually everyone joined in and we started a huge snowball which was eventually joined by some other people in the same place and everyone had a great time. Unfortuantely i didn´t have waterproof hiking boots like everyone else so my feet we soaked and really cold.
After finishing with the snowball fight we headed on for another 30 mins, by this point my feet felt absolutely freezing so i decided to take off my shoes and socks and try and warm them up. They were blue and bruised all over and Tom informed me that that was the early signs of frostbite and i should get themn warm pretty quick. We taped the hand warmer things to them, towelled them dry and wrapped them up in thermals.
After another hour or so we got stuck in the snow again and after 30 mins of trying to dig them out the drivers refused to go on and we had to turn back. (Probablly the best decision as a different group plowed on eventually got stuck in the middle of nowhere and had to be air lifted out).
We eventually got to a small town which was absolutely barren and stayed in a what was kinda like someones spare room but third world. There were 8 matresses cramed into each room and it was quite an experience..
This may be somewhat of a null day as it was mostly travelling
We got up at 7 in order to catch a public bus at 8. The bus eventually turned up at 8;25 and it was disgusting.
The seats were tiny and stained and we were informed that there would be no toilet stops in the 5 hour journey...
Our new tour guide JJ informed us that for just $2 more a person we could have got our own nice, privtae bus, thanks gap.
When the bus stopped for fuel one of our group asked if she could leave to use the toilet, she was told it was ok. 2 minutes later we were driving off without her and had to shout at the us driver to stop.
we eventually got to the town where we would get our train from around 2 and after checking in our luggage and picking up a couple of snacks we boarded. This time we were in first class! Unfortunately it was bolivian first class and was still prettyn shit. Although it did have a tv in the corner which was blasting out some really crappy bolivian pop song on loop. After about 20 mins one of the other passengers got up and disconected the TV, thank god.
I spent most of the journey sleeping and we arrived in Uyuni around 11. We then had to collect our bags which was a classsic bolivian affair. They just dumped all the bags in a room and then let you loose trying to find yours. It took about 30mins before everyone had eentually fought their way to their own bag.
We got some 4x4´s to our hotel where Tom informed us that there was a place in the guidebook called the extremely fun pub, how could we say no?
Most of the people were pretty exhuasted but a couple of us went out anyway. In the pub we found anothwer gap group who showed us some awesome pictures from the salt flats and we even met one of the people that will join our group for the brazil tour. We were kicked out at 3am which was great seeign as we had a 7 start the next day
Day 23 - salt flats
We got up at 7 and after breakfast all piled in to our 4x4´s and headed out into the slat flats. In our jeep we had me, mike, tom, matt and sam which was a pretty awesome combination. Unfortunately Rob decided to stay in the hotel at Uyuni as he was feeling really ill and thought that -20 at night would do him no good.
First we went to the train graveyard which is where they dump all the out of service trains which was a bit weird. It was just a large collection of rusting trains by the track side.
After that we headed out into the salt flats occasionally stopping to look at a lagoon or similar. It was pretty epic, just a completely white flat surface surrounded by huge mountains.
We eventually got to the spot where everyone gets their funny perspective photos done. It´s completely white and flat so people take funny photos by putting things in the foreground to make them apear bigger. We came prepared and brought a toy car and a barbie in order to try and get some good photos but it didn´t really work. The best thing we got was a group video of us all running into a pringles can.
We then continued on towards our hotel for the night. Along the wasy we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets i´ve ever seen. At one point it the light reflected perfectly off the water on the slat flats and created a mirror type effect.
The hotel for the night was made completely out of salt, a bit like the ice hotel but permenant. It had salt tables, chairs and even beds. It had power for 2 hours at night then nothing. It was really basic and freezing cold but an experience.
day 24 - Desert
We got up reasonably early the next day (not that many of ys got much sleep due to the cold) and piled back into our 4x4´s in order to head out into the desert in the middle of the salt flats and see a volcano. We had been told by the gap group that we met in the extremely fun pub that the drivers may well tell you its too snowy to go on and will want to turn back but you have to insist that you go on, even if it means digging your car out a couple of times. This in mind we headed into the desert and soo found it was, as the group had said, covered in snow. No problem for our 4x4´s though we though. Unfortunately we were mistaken, although they claimed to be 4x4´s this was bolivia and our one was in fact only 2 wheel drive. We assumed it once was 4x4 and had broken but when it came up against a relatively tame slope covered in snow all that happened was the bqack wheels spun and dug its self a hole. They didn´t think to pack snow chains or a shovel so we had to dig it out by hand and give it another shot. The driver put it into first and revved as hard as he could, digging him self straight back into a hole. Despite some of our groups tips about going into a higher gear and not just trying to power up in first he continuedn to do the same thing. We´d dig him out then he power back into the same hole. After digging a path up the hill, lining it with rocks and dirt to try and give him some grip and lots and ltos of pushing and digging out we eventually made it up. The other 4x4´s which were actually 4x4 made it up easily which was pretty annoying. We continued on to the volcano look out point which was pretty cool seeing an active volcano. Unfortuantely if you leave a bunch of youngs boys in snow for any length of time you are bound to get a snowballl fight. Eventually everyone joined in and we started a huge snowball which was eventually joined by some other people in the same place and everyone had a great time. Unfortuantely i didn´t have waterproof hiking boots like everyone else so my feet we soaked and really cold.
After finishing with the snowball fight we headed on for another 30 mins, by this point my feet felt absolutely freezing so i decided to take off my shoes and socks and try and warm them up. They were blue and bruised all over and Tom informed me that that was the early signs of frostbite and i should get themn warm pretty quick. We taped the hand warmer things to them, towelled them dry and wrapped them up in thermals.
After another hour or so we got stuck in the snow again and after 30 mins of trying to dig them out the drivers refused to go on and we had to turn back. (Probablly the best decision as a different group plowed on eventually got stuck in the middle of nowhere and had to be air lifted out).
We eventually got to a small town which was absolutely barren and stayed in a what was kinda like someones spare room but third world. There were 8 matresses cramed into each room and it was quite an experience..
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Homestay - birthday - le Paz - death road
Day 18 - homestay
We got up pretty early for our boat trip round lake titikaka. We all piled in the boat and a man came appeared from the cabin and started playing the guitar and singing. What a nice welcome we thought. How wrong we were, as soon as he´d finished he came round asking for tips, not wanting to apear rude to our driver as soon as we met we all put a little in. He then exited the boat and went and lay in waitn on the next boat along for another group. What a scam!
After that agrivating start we headed off round the lake. It was beautiful, it was surrounded by mountains and dotted with tiny islands. A couple of us decided to sit up on the top of the boat which was a good idea at first (nice bit of sunbathing) but the lake soon became really rough and we were thrown all over the place. Very nearly being thrown off multiple times.
We evenhtually made it to one of the islands where we were set to have lunch. After a gruelling 600 step uphill climb we finally made it. It was a taste of what was to come as the resturant was just someones kitchen, apparently the comunity took turns to open their resturant so there was never any competition. We had some delicous freshly caught fish with amazing views of the lake.
After lunch we headed all the way back down and got on the boat again. It then transported us to the island where we would be staying that night. It was a relatively large island with almost 2000 inhabitants. When we got off it was a little like being stuck in a time warp. Some houses had generators for electricity and some even had indoor toilets but for the most part it was pretty backwards. We were taken to the school where we had a game of football against the locals (destroying them despite the alltitude making us exhausted after 2 mins). We then played a different gap group who were just leaving the island. We were exhuasted but the far more skill full team, unfortuantely we were cheated out of a win. They had a shot which rolled along the goal line but never fully crossed it which a friend of theirs on the sidelines declared a goal and subsenquently the last goal of the match, what an outrage!
After the football we were shown a traditional dance and given all the local dress and performed it on the playground. How very Gap Yah. It was really fun and probably hilarious for the locals. It got dark around 6 and with no lighting everyone returned to their respective homestay.
Ours was apparently one of the better ones with an indoor toilet (no flushing water) and electricity. It reminded me a lot of the house in cyprus. For dinner we had rice and vegatables and after saying goodnight went to bed around 7:30.
Day 19 - Birthday!
After an extremely poor nights sleep curtousy of the freezing temperatures i awoke around 5:30 just as it was getting light. I got dressed and went back to bed still shivering and waited until the wake up call at 7.
We had breakfast of egg and rice before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the boat.
It seemed everyone had an equally poor nights sleep and were pretty tired. The lake was a lot calmer today and so we could actually sunbathe on the deck without being throw off. Despite it being really sunny it was still freezing cold so the sun bathing didin{t last too long. After 30 mins we stopped and the tour guide challenged us to go swimming. He said he´d give us a beer if we could stay in longer than 1min. How hard could it be? Me,matt,sam, rob and tom accepted the challenge but after changing into our swimming costume we were absolutely freezing let alone going swimming in the lake which was apparently 4degrees. It being my birthday i had to man up and go first. I dived off the top deck into the water and soon realised why the tour guide had bet us we couldn´t stay in longer than a minute. It was so cold that as you hit the water it knocked all the breath out of you, you couldn´t breathe and were panting for breath. After the initial shock it wasn´t too bad and i stayed in for over the minute to get my free beer and encourgaed the others to come in. Eventually everyone jumped in but got out pretty sharpish. Being a man i had to show everyone how tough i was by jumping in again and telling everyone it was like a jacuzzi. Man points gained i quickly exited the water and spent the next half hour trying to regain feeling in my legs.
We then visited a floating island (made out of reeds) in which some people lived. They gave us a demonstaration on how they built the island by lashing reeds together and then gave us lunch. After lunch i was given a suprise by the locals in which bthey sang me happy birthday in ketuwan and presented me with a necklace.
We then headed back to the main land and checked into the hotel. I spent the next couple of hours catching up on some sleep as i assumed i would get very little in the evening. At about 5 a few of the guys burst into my room with arms full of beers and the festivities started. They also gave me a hat that i had to wear for the entire evening but wasnt allowed to know what it was (turns out it was a massive top hat with a vagina on the front, which would explain all the funny looks i got throughout the evening). We then went out for my birthday meal as a whole groupe and our tour leader organised loads of baloons etc and a massive cake. He even arranged for us to be able to drink our own alcohol in the resturant which seemed like a good idea at the time but when your friends can buy a litre of rum for 2.50 and its your birthday it rarely ends well. We then went to kareokee before ending up in a club. Details of the night are a little hazy and there aren{t many photos, which is probably a good thing.
Day 20 - La Paz
Theres not much to write for this day as it was pretty much all travel. We got the bus at 8 and i was still drunk, never a good start. I soon sobered up and in set the hangover. Spending the next 10 hours switching between public buses, boats, security checks etc was some of the worst hours of my life. Probaly should have been slightly more sensible the night before...
We arrived in La Paz around 7 and after checking in went out for a last meal with our tour leader. He took us to a really nice thai place and we had a great meal. We headed up to the upstairs bar to say our alst goodbyes to him (he was an absolute legend) and have a couple of cocktails. After an emotional farewell he tried to convince us to come out for ones last wild night out but feeling the effects of the night before and aving to get up and do the death road at 7:30 the next day we unfortunately had to decline and went to bed.
Day 21 - Death Road
Today was supposed to be a free day but we decided instead to mountain bike the famous death road.
We were collected from our hotel at 7:30 and driven up to 4500m. We were then given our bikes and gear etc and set off. The first hour was on tarmac down to a level of 3000m. It was all downhill and we barely even had to pedal. It was pretty scary though, overtaking lorries on mountain roads with shear drops to the side. The road was lined with crosses marking where people had died, it was really instilling confidence in us.
After the tarmac section we got back on the bus which took us back up to 4000m and the start of the death road. Unfortunately (or luckily) it was very misty so we couldn{t really see the shear 900m drops to our left. Im not sure if that made it better or worse but it was pretty scary. The road was all gravel and it felt like one little slip and you´d be off. Our guide reassured us that 1 girl had already died this month so it was pretty unlikely any of us would die, thanks...
Over the course of the enxt hour we decended to arround 2500m with some absolutely spectacular views when the mist cleared. We rode through a waterfall, saw the section where jeremy clarkson almost went over the edge in Top Gear Bolivia and sped on a really steep down hill section.
We then stopped for lunch before continuing to the end off the death road. Although our guide told us we´d finished the death road not much changed. There was still a pretty shear drop to the left and the veiws were still spectacular. We finished the ride after a really fast and technical downhill section at around 1000m above sea level adn had a celabratory beer. We then headed for a buffet dinner and a swim in a pool before starting the long journey home. The bus took 45 mins to get from La Paz to the top of the mountain but took 3.5 hours getting back. When we returned to the hotel we were given our t-shirts saying we´d completed the death road and a cd full of photos.
We were pretty exhausted so we went straight to bed ready for the new tour guide tomorrow.
We got up pretty early for our boat trip round lake titikaka. We all piled in the boat and a man came appeared from the cabin and started playing the guitar and singing. What a nice welcome we thought. How wrong we were, as soon as he´d finished he came round asking for tips, not wanting to apear rude to our driver as soon as we met we all put a little in. He then exited the boat and went and lay in waitn on the next boat along for another group. What a scam!
After that agrivating start we headed off round the lake. It was beautiful, it was surrounded by mountains and dotted with tiny islands. A couple of us decided to sit up on the top of the boat which was a good idea at first (nice bit of sunbathing) but the lake soon became really rough and we were thrown all over the place. Very nearly being thrown off multiple times.
We evenhtually made it to one of the islands where we were set to have lunch. After a gruelling 600 step uphill climb we finally made it. It was a taste of what was to come as the resturant was just someones kitchen, apparently the comunity took turns to open their resturant so there was never any competition. We had some delicous freshly caught fish with amazing views of the lake.
After lunch we headed all the way back down and got on the boat again. It then transported us to the island where we would be staying that night. It was a relatively large island with almost 2000 inhabitants. When we got off it was a little like being stuck in a time warp. Some houses had generators for electricity and some even had indoor toilets but for the most part it was pretty backwards. We were taken to the school where we had a game of football against the locals (destroying them despite the alltitude making us exhausted after 2 mins). We then played a different gap group who were just leaving the island. We were exhuasted but the far more skill full team, unfortuantely we were cheated out of a win. They had a shot which rolled along the goal line but never fully crossed it which a friend of theirs on the sidelines declared a goal and subsenquently the last goal of the match, what an outrage!
After the football we were shown a traditional dance and given all the local dress and performed it on the playground. How very Gap Yah. It was really fun and probably hilarious for the locals. It got dark around 6 and with no lighting everyone returned to their respective homestay.
Ours was apparently one of the better ones with an indoor toilet (no flushing water) and electricity. It reminded me a lot of the house in cyprus. For dinner we had rice and vegatables and after saying goodnight went to bed around 7:30.
Day 19 - Birthday!
After an extremely poor nights sleep curtousy of the freezing temperatures i awoke around 5:30 just as it was getting light. I got dressed and went back to bed still shivering and waited until the wake up call at 7.
We had breakfast of egg and rice before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the boat.
It seemed everyone had an equally poor nights sleep and were pretty tired. The lake was a lot calmer today and so we could actually sunbathe on the deck without being throw off. Despite it being really sunny it was still freezing cold so the sun bathing didin{t last too long. After 30 mins we stopped and the tour guide challenged us to go swimming. He said he´d give us a beer if we could stay in longer than 1min. How hard could it be? Me,matt,sam, rob and tom accepted the challenge but after changing into our swimming costume we were absolutely freezing let alone going swimming in the lake which was apparently 4degrees. It being my birthday i had to man up and go first. I dived off the top deck into the water and soon realised why the tour guide had bet us we couldn´t stay in longer than a minute. It was so cold that as you hit the water it knocked all the breath out of you, you couldn´t breathe and were panting for breath. After the initial shock it wasn´t too bad and i stayed in for over the minute to get my free beer and encourgaed the others to come in. Eventually everyone jumped in but got out pretty sharpish. Being a man i had to show everyone how tough i was by jumping in again and telling everyone it was like a jacuzzi. Man points gained i quickly exited the water and spent the next half hour trying to regain feeling in my legs.
We then visited a floating island (made out of reeds) in which some people lived. They gave us a demonstaration on how they built the island by lashing reeds together and then gave us lunch. After lunch i was given a suprise by the locals in which bthey sang me happy birthday in ketuwan and presented me with a necklace.
We then headed back to the main land and checked into the hotel. I spent the next couple of hours catching up on some sleep as i assumed i would get very little in the evening. At about 5 a few of the guys burst into my room with arms full of beers and the festivities started. They also gave me a hat that i had to wear for the entire evening but wasnt allowed to know what it was (turns out it was a massive top hat with a vagina on the front, which would explain all the funny looks i got throughout the evening). We then went out for my birthday meal as a whole groupe and our tour leader organised loads of baloons etc and a massive cake. He even arranged for us to be able to drink our own alcohol in the resturant which seemed like a good idea at the time but when your friends can buy a litre of rum for 2.50 and its your birthday it rarely ends well. We then went to kareokee before ending up in a club. Details of the night are a little hazy and there aren{t many photos, which is probably a good thing.
Day 20 - La Paz
Theres not much to write for this day as it was pretty much all travel. We got the bus at 8 and i was still drunk, never a good start. I soon sobered up and in set the hangover. Spending the next 10 hours switching between public buses, boats, security checks etc was some of the worst hours of my life. Probaly should have been slightly more sensible the night before...
We arrived in La Paz around 7 and after checking in went out for a last meal with our tour leader. He took us to a really nice thai place and we had a great meal. We headed up to the upstairs bar to say our alst goodbyes to him (he was an absolute legend) and have a couple of cocktails. After an emotional farewell he tried to convince us to come out for ones last wild night out but feeling the effects of the night before and aving to get up and do the death road at 7:30 the next day we unfortunately had to decline and went to bed.
Day 21 - Death Road
Today was supposed to be a free day but we decided instead to mountain bike the famous death road.
We were collected from our hotel at 7:30 and driven up to 4500m. We were then given our bikes and gear etc and set off. The first hour was on tarmac down to a level of 3000m. It was all downhill and we barely even had to pedal. It was pretty scary though, overtaking lorries on mountain roads with shear drops to the side. The road was lined with crosses marking where people had died, it was really instilling confidence in us.
After the tarmac section we got back on the bus which took us back up to 4000m and the start of the death road. Unfortunately (or luckily) it was very misty so we couldn{t really see the shear 900m drops to our left. Im not sure if that made it better or worse but it was pretty scary. The road was all gravel and it felt like one little slip and you´d be off. Our guide reassured us that 1 girl had already died this month so it was pretty unlikely any of us would die, thanks...
Over the course of the enxt hour we decended to arround 2500m with some absolutely spectacular views when the mist cleared. We rode through a waterfall, saw the section where jeremy clarkson almost went over the edge in Top Gear Bolivia and sped on a really steep down hill section.
We then stopped for lunch before continuing to the end off the death road. Although our guide told us we´d finished the death road not much changed. There was still a pretty shear drop to the left and the veiws were still spectacular. We finished the ride after a really fast and technical downhill section at around 1000m above sea level adn had a celabratory beer. We then headed for a buffet dinner and a swim in a pool before starting the long journey home. The bus took 45 mins to get from La Paz to the top of the mountain but took 3.5 hours getting back. When we returned to the hotel we were given our t-shirts saying we´d completed the death road and a cd full of photos.
We were pretty exhausted so we went straight to bed ready for the new tour guide tomorrow.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Cusco = Puno = lake titikaka
First i must appologise for the speeling errors in thispost, this is probably the worst keyboard içve ever used¨. the letters and symbols dont match up with what i press...
Day ¨16
After getting out of prison we had a quick snooze before heading down to a local pub in order to watch the david haye fight. We had a huge breakfast ¿despite it being 3? and then asked the pub to put on the prelim fights. They spent ages faffing around saying the couldnçt get them etc. but seeing as we had already bought food and drinks we waited a prayed. They managed to eventually get it to work 30seconds before the main event actually started. The stream was rubbish and choppy and almost unwatchable. After the fight we stayed on a little longer before heading back to the hotel for a quick seiesta. After we woke up we definately did not go out, arriving home at 6;30 for a bus at 7...
Day 17
We got a bus in the morning to Puno on the edge of lake titikaka. The town was dead but the views were awesome. The bus took 7 hours so we arrived pretty late. We spent the rest of the day trying to find more clothes to wear as it was absolutely freezing.
Içm now going to have to abort writing this for now and will find an internet cafe tomorrow as it is so painful.
Day ¨16
After getting out of prison we had a quick snooze before heading down to a local pub in order to watch the david haye fight. We had a huge breakfast ¿despite it being 3? and then asked the pub to put on the prelim fights. They spent ages faffing around saying the couldnçt get them etc. but seeing as we had already bought food and drinks we waited a prayed. They managed to eventually get it to work 30seconds before the main event actually started. The stream was rubbish and choppy and almost unwatchable. After the fight we stayed on a little longer before heading back to the hotel for a quick seiesta. After we woke up we definately did not go out, arriving home at 6;30 for a bus at 7...
Day 17
We got a bus in the morning to Puno on the edge of lake titikaka. The town was dead but the views were awesome. The bus took 7 hours so we arrived pretty late. We spent the rest of the day trying to find more clothes to wear as it was absolutely freezing.
Içm now going to have to abort writing this for now and will find an internet cafe tomorrow as it is so painful.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Last of the inca trail - Cusco - Prison...
Second half of day 11 - Inca Trail
After being reunited with the group we headed back down the otherside of the mountain for our camp that night.
It was at about 3500m so a lot of down hill. When we arrived at camp everthing was once again set up for us and we were offered snacks and drinks as we arrived. We then spent the rest of the time once again playing cards or chatting. Dinner was amazing as usual and then we sat outside and star gazed for a couple of hours (how very gap year) as the sky was really clear. When it got too cold we retreated back to our tents before once again watching more of sons of anarchy with dave and katie.
Day 12 - Inca trail (3rd day)
Although yesterday had been the hardest today was by far the longest. We were woken at 5:30 and set off around 6:30. It was very up and down and went as high as 4000m and as low as 3000m. Once again the views were spectacular and we stopped half way through the day for lunch. It was a massive buffet affair and at the end they bought dave and tamsin a honey moon cake, which they had cooked on a camp stove! It was one of the most delicous cakes i have ever tasted, marbled with amazing icing. The chef really was god.
After lunch we had a game of football against some of the porters. It was 5v5 with rolling subs for us (we had 7 players) vs 4 porters and our guide. At 3700m a game of football gets really tiring really quickly. We were subbing on and off every 5 mins. We were definately the more skillful team but the porters could handle the alltitude much better. Despite some very dirty tackles and multiple handballs from the porters we managed to scrape a 2-1 victory after an hour of play. We were absolutely exhausted but got the all important win. The porters didn´t look too pleased and we wondered whether we´d return to camp to find no tents and only laughing porters.
After a quick rest we headed down to our camp at around 3200m. The section was nick named the gringo killer as it was 2500 uneven steps down to the camp. It was supposed to take 2 hours but about 40mins in the promise of sit down toilets and showers became too much for me. Desperately needing the toilet i sprinted the next section. It was all down hill and destroyed my knees but was worth it. The showers were pretty pathetic but after 3 days of being covered in sweat and grime they were a gods send.
Another amazing dinner in the eveneing followed by a fair well presentation for the porters and we were told we would have to be up at 3:30 tomorrow ;(
After another session of Sons of Anarchy we went to bed.
Day 13 - Machu Pichu!!!
We got up ridiculously early and hadd breakfast before heading down to the start gate in order to be one of the first people allowed on the trail. We arrived at the gate at 4:30 but it didn´t open until 5:30 - time for another sons of anarchy...
There were only 2 people infront of us when the gate opened and they imediately rushed off in order to get tickets to wynu pichu (the mountain next to machu pichu - sold on a first come first serve basis in the morning)
It was pitch black and stupidly i didn´t have a torch which meant the rocky mountain trail to machu pichu was pretty interesting... We arrived at the sun gate around 6:10 which should of been just in time to see the sun rise over machu pichu. Unfortunately it was completely cloudy and we couldn´t see anything which was really disapointing. We then walked for another hour in order to reach machu Pichu. It was still hidden in the clouds and so we couldn´t really see anything. We decided to head down to the bottom in order to pick up the two girls from our group that weren´t on the inca trail in the hope that by the time we returned the cloud would be gone.
After about 2 hours of faffing around the cloud eventually cleared and the views were spectacular. It was absolutely huge and awe inspiring. It is literally a massive city built on a mountain top. It is incredible to think how they got all the stone up there ect. especially without inventing the wheel...
We spent the next 4-5 hours getting a tour round the complex and then some free time. It became really sunny and was gorgeous. I wished we could have stayed all day but we had to head back to Cusco.
We had to get a train for 2 hours then a 3 hour bus so we didn´t arrive back until 9ish. We decided that despite having woken up at 3:30 it was a good idea to go for a big night out to celebrate completing the inca trail. We first went out for a really nice meal followed by free salsa lessons at a dance club. Nothing else happened...
Day 14
Today we had quite a lazy day as we were all pretty knacked from the Inca trail. We visited the markets and went and watched a huge parade in the main plaza. It was freeezing cold so we headed back and took a nap.
We went out for a pretty nice dinner before deciding we´d all go to the salsa place again. One by one people slowly dropped out until it was just me, matt and rob. We met some american girls and then nothing else happened.
Day 15
We got up relatively early and went for a walk around Cusco just visiting churches etc. At 3 we met our tour leader who siad he´d take us to and all you can eat eat buffet for lunch. It was incredible. There was an amazing salad bar but no one really touched it. There were constant waitresses circling the resturant with huge swords of meat. They would just come to the table with all these various types of meats on these huge swords and ask if you´d like some. Obviously being silly males who ever was the first to turn down an offer of meat lost. There was all kinds of meats from ribs to steak to sausages and even tounge and heart. I must have put on about 4-5kg in just meat. It was amazing.
The prison story...
On the way back from the resturant half of us got in one taxi and half of us got in another. Most of the group being pretty drunk they thought it would be a good idea to have some inter taxi banter... At each set of traffic lights we would pull up along side each other and joke around. At one set of traffic lights they put some rubbish through our window so at the next set one of the people in my taxi jumped out and opened their boot.
At the next lights Sam (who was in my taxi) decided/was egged on to go mooney in front of the other taxi.
Unfortunately this was seen by a nearby policewoman who took offence. She got our taxi to pull over and started taking the drivers documentaton etc. She then told us to get out which we did but being in the middle of the road our tour leader told us to move to the pavement. Despite telling her in spanish what we were doing and walking slowly away to the pavement she though we were trying to escape and called back up and ran after us. She grabbed Sam´s neck and tried to drag him back to which our tour leader told her to let go, we weren´t trying to escape or anything. Thinking we would just get a telling off we complied with everything she said and waited until her back up arrived. While we were waiting a huge crowd gathered and started shouting at us (they obviously hate gringos). One woman started swearing at us in english and being very aggressive saying she had seen sam run across the street naked and our tour leader assualt the police woman. She hadn´t even seen the offence she was just there to make our lives misserable (how do i know this? she told us that she was going to waste all our time and started laughing at us, obviously has a massive grudge against foreigners).
After about 10 mins there were 6 police cars and about 15 police just to arrest us for one of us mooneying a friends taxi, talk about a waste of police time. They took us to the tourist police and made us sit and wait for about 1hour. They didn´t let us go to the toilet or drink any water. we were taken in at about 5:30 but it was about 7 before anyojne told us anything. A man from gap arrived and tried to help us and explain what was going on. The police woman and the lady from the street were able to give their statements at the same time in the same room which is a little dodgy...
We were then taken into the toilets and strip searched and our shoe laces, belts and all other possesions taken. Not official at all or on camera like it would have been done in the uk. We then had our mug shots taken by a camera phone against a wall. Still no charges or explantion given. At around 9 we were taken to a different police station in order to have a breathaliser and blood test.We then had to wait out side while they called a doctor and then had to wait while they went to a local pharmacy to get needles. All very well set up and official. The breathaliser test was a joke, it was a test tube full of liquid that we had to blow into using a straw. I hadn´t drunk anything so mine didn´t change but the others (sam and rob) had drunk around lunch time. Theirs changed a little but they were made to constantly blow for about 2 mins until it change to a suitable degree, again very official and fair. We were then taken back to the original police station where we tried to call the embassy but the woman didn´t want to hear about it and hung up on us.
Eventually we were told that Sam and rob had to stay in over night as they had blown a positive on the alcohol test but i was free to go. Not wanting to leave them alone and being the only one who was totally sober at the time of the incident i decided to stay. We were all put in the same cell and Gap provided us with sleeping bags, water and some snacks as the police didn´t do anything. There were only two beds so Sam slept on the floor. In the morning me and Rob were let out, still no statements taken from either of us, they had just taken the other womans word as fact even though she exagerated massively. Sam was kept in and has to see the judge today to plead his case. The gap representative says he´ll most likely be made to pay a 200-300 dollar fine! What a joke. No chance to plead his case or anything just told thats whats happening.
still got a cool story out of it and can now say i´ve spent a night in a peruvian prison...
After being reunited with the group we headed back down the otherside of the mountain for our camp that night.
It was at about 3500m so a lot of down hill. When we arrived at camp everthing was once again set up for us and we were offered snacks and drinks as we arrived. We then spent the rest of the time once again playing cards or chatting. Dinner was amazing as usual and then we sat outside and star gazed for a couple of hours (how very gap year) as the sky was really clear. When it got too cold we retreated back to our tents before once again watching more of sons of anarchy with dave and katie.
Day 12 - Inca trail (3rd day)
Although yesterday had been the hardest today was by far the longest. We were woken at 5:30 and set off around 6:30. It was very up and down and went as high as 4000m and as low as 3000m. Once again the views were spectacular and we stopped half way through the day for lunch. It was a massive buffet affair and at the end they bought dave and tamsin a honey moon cake, which they had cooked on a camp stove! It was one of the most delicous cakes i have ever tasted, marbled with amazing icing. The chef really was god.
After lunch we had a game of football against some of the porters. It was 5v5 with rolling subs for us (we had 7 players) vs 4 porters and our guide. At 3700m a game of football gets really tiring really quickly. We were subbing on and off every 5 mins. We were definately the more skillful team but the porters could handle the alltitude much better. Despite some very dirty tackles and multiple handballs from the porters we managed to scrape a 2-1 victory after an hour of play. We were absolutely exhausted but got the all important win. The porters didn´t look too pleased and we wondered whether we´d return to camp to find no tents and only laughing porters.
After a quick rest we headed down to our camp at around 3200m. The section was nick named the gringo killer as it was 2500 uneven steps down to the camp. It was supposed to take 2 hours but about 40mins in the promise of sit down toilets and showers became too much for me. Desperately needing the toilet i sprinted the next section. It was all down hill and destroyed my knees but was worth it. The showers were pretty pathetic but after 3 days of being covered in sweat and grime they were a gods send.
Another amazing dinner in the eveneing followed by a fair well presentation for the porters and we were told we would have to be up at 3:30 tomorrow ;(
After another session of Sons of Anarchy we went to bed.
Day 13 - Machu Pichu!!!
We got up ridiculously early and hadd breakfast before heading down to the start gate in order to be one of the first people allowed on the trail. We arrived at the gate at 4:30 but it didn´t open until 5:30 - time for another sons of anarchy...
There were only 2 people infront of us when the gate opened and they imediately rushed off in order to get tickets to wynu pichu (the mountain next to machu pichu - sold on a first come first serve basis in the morning)
It was pitch black and stupidly i didn´t have a torch which meant the rocky mountain trail to machu pichu was pretty interesting... We arrived at the sun gate around 6:10 which should of been just in time to see the sun rise over machu pichu. Unfortunately it was completely cloudy and we couldn´t see anything which was really disapointing. We then walked for another hour in order to reach machu Pichu. It was still hidden in the clouds and so we couldn´t really see anything. We decided to head down to the bottom in order to pick up the two girls from our group that weren´t on the inca trail in the hope that by the time we returned the cloud would be gone.
After about 2 hours of faffing around the cloud eventually cleared and the views were spectacular. It was absolutely huge and awe inspiring. It is literally a massive city built on a mountain top. It is incredible to think how they got all the stone up there ect. especially without inventing the wheel...
We spent the next 4-5 hours getting a tour round the complex and then some free time. It became really sunny and was gorgeous. I wished we could have stayed all day but we had to head back to Cusco.
We had to get a train for 2 hours then a 3 hour bus so we didn´t arrive back until 9ish. We decided that despite having woken up at 3:30 it was a good idea to go for a big night out to celebrate completing the inca trail. We first went out for a really nice meal followed by free salsa lessons at a dance club. Nothing else happened...
Day 14
Today we had quite a lazy day as we were all pretty knacked from the Inca trail. We visited the markets and went and watched a huge parade in the main plaza. It was freeezing cold so we headed back and took a nap.
We went out for a pretty nice dinner before deciding we´d all go to the salsa place again. One by one people slowly dropped out until it was just me, matt and rob. We met some american girls and then nothing else happened.
Day 15
We got up relatively early and went for a walk around Cusco just visiting churches etc. At 3 we met our tour leader who siad he´d take us to and all you can eat eat buffet for lunch. It was incredible. There was an amazing salad bar but no one really touched it. There were constant waitresses circling the resturant with huge swords of meat. They would just come to the table with all these various types of meats on these huge swords and ask if you´d like some. Obviously being silly males who ever was the first to turn down an offer of meat lost. There was all kinds of meats from ribs to steak to sausages and even tounge and heart. I must have put on about 4-5kg in just meat. It was amazing.
The prison story...
On the way back from the resturant half of us got in one taxi and half of us got in another. Most of the group being pretty drunk they thought it would be a good idea to have some inter taxi banter... At each set of traffic lights we would pull up along side each other and joke around. At one set of traffic lights they put some rubbish through our window so at the next set one of the people in my taxi jumped out and opened their boot.
At the next lights Sam (who was in my taxi) decided/was egged on to go mooney in front of the other taxi.
Unfortunately this was seen by a nearby policewoman who took offence. She got our taxi to pull over and started taking the drivers documentaton etc. She then told us to get out which we did but being in the middle of the road our tour leader told us to move to the pavement. Despite telling her in spanish what we were doing and walking slowly away to the pavement she though we were trying to escape and called back up and ran after us. She grabbed Sam´s neck and tried to drag him back to which our tour leader told her to let go, we weren´t trying to escape or anything. Thinking we would just get a telling off we complied with everything she said and waited until her back up arrived. While we were waiting a huge crowd gathered and started shouting at us (they obviously hate gringos). One woman started swearing at us in english and being very aggressive saying she had seen sam run across the street naked and our tour leader assualt the police woman. She hadn´t even seen the offence she was just there to make our lives misserable (how do i know this? she told us that she was going to waste all our time and started laughing at us, obviously has a massive grudge against foreigners).
After about 10 mins there were 6 police cars and about 15 police just to arrest us for one of us mooneying a friends taxi, talk about a waste of police time. They took us to the tourist police and made us sit and wait for about 1hour. They didn´t let us go to the toilet or drink any water. we were taken in at about 5:30 but it was about 7 before anyojne told us anything. A man from gap arrived and tried to help us and explain what was going on. The police woman and the lady from the street were able to give their statements at the same time in the same room which is a little dodgy...
We were then taken into the toilets and strip searched and our shoe laces, belts and all other possesions taken. Not official at all or on camera like it would have been done in the uk. We then had our mug shots taken by a camera phone against a wall. Still no charges or explantion given. At around 9 we were taken to a different police station in order to have a breathaliser and blood test.We then had to wait out side while they called a doctor and then had to wait while they went to a local pharmacy to get needles. All very well set up and official. The breathaliser test was a joke, it was a test tube full of liquid that we had to blow into using a straw. I hadn´t drunk anything so mine didn´t change but the others (sam and rob) had drunk around lunch time. Theirs changed a little but they were made to constantly blow for about 2 mins until it change to a suitable degree, again very official and fair. We were then taken back to the original police station where we tried to call the embassy but the woman didn´t want to hear about it and hung up on us.
Eventually we were told that Sam and rob had to stay in over night as they had blown a positive on the alcohol test but i was free to go. Not wanting to leave them alone and being the only one who was totally sober at the time of the incident i decided to stay. We were all put in the same cell and Gap provided us with sleeping bags, water and some snacks as the police didn´t do anything. There were only two beds so Sam slept on the floor. In the morning me and Rob were let out, still no statements taken from either of us, they had just taken the other womans word as fact even though she exagerated massively. Sam was kept in and has to see the judge today to plead his case. The gap representative says he´ll most likely be made to pay a 200-300 dollar fine! What a joke. No chance to plead his case or anything just told thats whats happening.
still got a cool story out of it and can now say i´ve spent a night in a peruvian prison...
Thursday, 30 June 2011
nasca - cusco
Left this so long that im sure i´ll forget loads, also lost my camera so got no photos to remind me. have borrowed a friends from the group but its quite patchy. will do my best.
Day 5 - Arequipa
We arrived early in the morning after taking the night bus. It wasn´t too bad, reclining seats instead of beds but it had wifi! During the day we had free time so me, Rob, sam and matt wandered around the town and looked at catherdrals and a huge nunery. We spent the afternoon just relaxing in a park with two others from the group (danielle and mandy) who we bumped into in the nunery.
Tired from the night bus the night before we all went to bed pretty early after a team dinner.
Day 6 - Colca Canyon
Things are really patchy and will have to try to update this again when i´ve got a camera with more photos on it.
We got up at 6 and got a bus to the colca Canyon. The views on the journey were absolutely amazing, some of the best i´ve ever seen and we stopped regularly to take photos. We stopped at about lunch to walk around the canyon and see a local community We then got back on the bus and contiued travelling until we got to our hotel for the night. It was incredible. A really cute, picturesc cottage type affair in a tiny little village. There was no electricity or internet and it was freezing cold but awesome. After we had dropped our bags we went for a walk in the local mountains before heading to the hot springs at night. It was fantastic, it was a series of huge outdoor pools which were really warm and the night sky was completely clear so the views of the stars were amazing, i even spotted the southern cross!
Day 7 - colca canyon
We got up at 4am in order to get the bus to the canyon. After a really nice buffet breakfast we got on the bus and went to the canyon. The reason for getting up early was to see all the condors in the morning. They sleep at the bottom of the canyon but use the warm, currents in the morning to rise up and fly out of the canyon. It was incredible, condors are huge (3m wingspan) and there were 7 or 8 flying around and they often soared over us and came withing 5m or so which is really quite scarry. We then did another walk arround the canyon before heading back to Arequipa on the bus stopping occasionally for photos. In the evening we had a huge bbq at our hotel and we all sat on the roof, it was delicous. Afterwards the sub 25´s minus rob (who had been taken ill with a horrific tummy bug) (me, matt, sam, tom, katie, mandy and dannielle) went out to the local bars for a couple of quiet drinks...
Day 8 - cusco
We had to get up at 6:30 for our flight to cusco which was fine as no one had been out late the night before and wéren´t hungover. The flight was pretty uneventful apart from a certain member of our group "getting plane sick" and throwing up during the flight. Unfortuantely between getting off the plane and luggage claim i lost or had pick pocketted my camera. I was devastated as it had all the photos from the trip on it and i had some great ones. When we arrived in cusco we went to the black market which is a huge market (surprisingly enough) full of rip off goods etc. I bought a new camera here as i knew i needed one for the inca trail. In the evening we headed into the town where the locals were having some sort of party in the main square with everyone in traditional dress and dancing. It was pretty cool but knowing we had to be up early again the next day we went to bed quite early.
Day 9 - Ollantaytambo
We got up early and got the bus to ollantaytambo. On the way we visited a local community that gap was helping and saw how the dyed wool and made clothes. We saw how they lived and even got a tour of their alpaca farm. Next we visited the pisac ruins which were old Inca ruins in the mountains. It was amazing how they built the city so high up. On the way to the next set of ruins our tour leader neil gave us a suprise that wasn´t in the tour. We visited an animal rescue centre that saved animals from the black market etc and nursed them back to health. It was amazing, there were parrots, lamas, turtles, birds, some weird mini bears and panthers. At the end of the visit we were allowed to go into the condor cage and they flew all around us, it was awesome. After that fantastic surprise we headed to ollantaytambo and saw the ruins there. Huge terraces built into the mountains and temples etc. it was incredible. We then visited the local market in order to get a few last minute things such as hats and gloves for the inca trail!!!
Day 10 - start of the inca trail
We had yet another early start (i don´t think gap adventures understands the student life style) in order to travel to the start of the inca trail. We had to pack all our clothes we would need into a small duffle bag not weighing more than 6kg including roll matt and sleeping bag (aout 3kg) which ment that you couldn´t take all that much. When we arrived at the start we handed our duffle bags over to our porters and were amazed. Not only did they have to do the trek, they had to do it carrying huge packs weighing 20kg, containing all the camping equipment and tents etc., they had to get there quicker than us. The trek must be easy then!
We got going and it turns out the trek isn´t as easy as first thought. We were at roughly 2600m and the alltitude makes you out of breath really quickly. Luckily the first day was only about 8km and was pretty much flat. We walked as a group so we were pretty slow and it was gorgeous sun shine with phenominal views, one of the best days of my life.
We stopped for lunch around 1 and found a couple of huge tents already set up. The porters had raced ahead of us and set up a tempory camp and clapped us in as we arrived (which was ridiculous seeing as they had done it in half the time carrying 20kg packs) and gave us all orange juice. We sat out in the sun for a while waiting for lunch to be ready and could smell something amazing so we were getting pretty hungary. We then went into the tent and sat down to be told that we were extra lucky as we had the Gap´s head chef for the Inca trail with us, he´d won the award 2 years in a row. We all thought that that is something they tell all the groups and even if it wasn´t how good could a meal really be when cooked on a camping stove.
We were blown away, it was an incredible 5 course lunch with soup, garlic bread, some fish, some chicken and cake for desert. It was the bets meal we had had in Peru so far and it was all cooked in a tent!
As soon as we had finished the porters started packing up and headed off down the trail in order to set up camp. We continued on for 45 mins before we reached camp to find everything set up for us, all the tents and even our roll mats and sleeping bags laid out in our tents for us!
We spent the rest of the day playing cards and talking before being greeted with afternoon tea and snacks at 4pm followed my another amazing 4 course dinner in the evening. I´m going to have to stop describing the meals but every single meal we had was fabulous and consisted of multiple courses. After dinner we played cards for a little longer and then went to bed. This was the start of the "sons of anarchy"(a TV show) phase. Me and rob started watching an episode on the galaxy tab just before going to bed in our tent. Dave overhead it and asked if he could come watch it too. Katie then walked past and saw us all snuggled up watching it and came and watched it as well. We were all cramped together in a two man tent watching a tv show on a tiny screen but it was really fun.
day 11 - Inca trail
We were woken up at 5:30 in order to get a good start on the trail as today was the hardest day. We slept at around 2700m but then highest point today was at 4500m! We were told we could go at our own pace today as this section seperated the men for the boys! We started off around 7 and it was freezing cold so i was wearing pretty much all my clothes. Despite starting out with the best intentions of sticking together the trail soon became really hard and so most of the group slowed down. The most manly, fittest and good looking of the group (me, sam, matt, mike and tom) raced on and powered up the steep slope. It was hard work and despite it being -3 we were down to t-shirt and shorts. We continued to the half way point of the climb where Tom decided to wait for katie. After a breif pause for a couple of snacks we continued. We got to the highest point (dead womans pass) in about 3 hours, the guide said it would take 6 so we were pretty proud of our achievement. We spent the next 3 hours relaxing o the top of this muntain in the sun with the most amazing views i have ever seen. Words can´t descirbe how amazing it was. Ater about 30mins we saw the porters all rush past but we wtill pretty pleased we had beaten them up. After 3 hours the rest of the group made it and we had a lot of group hugs and photos.
I´m now being kicked out of the internet cafe for being on too long so will have to continue on the my ipod or tomorrow.
Day 5 - Arequipa
We arrived early in the morning after taking the night bus. It wasn´t too bad, reclining seats instead of beds but it had wifi! During the day we had free time so me, Rob, sam and matt wandered around the town and looked at catherdrals and a huge nunery. We spent the afternoon just relaxing in a park with two others from the group (danielle and mandy) who we bumped into in the nunery.
Tired from the night bus the night before we all went to bed pretty early after a team dinner.
Day 6 - Colca Canyon
Things are really patchy and will have to try to update this again when i´ve got a camera with more photos on it.
We got up at 6 and got a bus to the colca Canyon. The views on the journey were absolutely amazing, some of the best i´ve ever seen and we stopped regularly to take photos. We stopped at about lunch to walk around the canyon and see a local community We then got back on the bus and contiued travelling until we got to our hotel for the night. It was incredible. A really cute, picturesc cottage type affair in a tiny little village. There was no electricity or internet and it was freezing cold but awesome. After we had dropped our bags we went for a walk in the local mountains before heading to the hot springs at night. It was fantastic, it was a series of huge outdoor pools which were really warm and the night sky was completely clear so the views of the stars were amazing, i even spotted the southern cross!
Day 7 - colca canyon
We got up at 4am in order to get the bus to the canyon. After a really nice buffet breakfast we got on the bus and went to the canyon. The reason for getting up early was to see all the condors in the morning. They sleep at the bottom of the canyon but use the warm, currents in the morning to rise up and fly out of the canyon. It was incredible, condors are huge (3m wingspan) and there were 7 or 8 flying around and they often soared over us and came withing 5m or so which is really quite scarry. We then did another walk arround the canyon before heading back to Arequipa on the bus stopping occasionally for photos. In the evening we had a huge bbq at our hotel and we all sat on the roof, it was delicous. Afterwards the sub 25´s minus rob (who had been taken ill with a horrific tummy bug) (me, matt, sam, tom, katie, mandy and dannielle) went out to the local bars for a couple of quiet drinks...
Day 8 - cusco
We had to get up at 6:30 for our flight to cusco which was fine as no one had been out late the night before and wéren´t hungover. The flight was pretty uneventful apart from a certain member of our group "getting plane sick" and throwing up during the flight. Unfortuantely between getting off the plane and luggage claim i lost or had pick pocketted my camera. I was devastated as it had all the photos from the trip on it and i had some great ones. When we arrived in cusco we went to the black market which is a huge market (surprisingly enough) full of rip off goods etc. I bought a new camera here as i knew i needed one for the inca trail. In the evening we headed into the town where the locals were having some sort of party in the main square with everyone in traditional dress and dancing. It was pretty cool but knowing we had to be up early again the next day we went to bed quite early.
Day 9 - Ollantaytambo
We got up early and got the bus to ollantaytambo. On the way we visited a local community that gap was helping and saw how the dyed wool and made clothes. We saw how they lived and even got a tour of their alpaca farm. Next we visited the pisac ruins which were old Inca ruins in the mountains. It was amazing how they built the city so high up. On the way to the next set of ruins our tour leader neil gave us a suprise that wasn´t in the tour. We visited an animal rescue centre that saved animals from the black market etc and nursed them back to health. It was amazing, there were parrots, lamas, turtles, birds, some weird mini bears and panthers. At the end of the visit we were allowed to go into the condor cage and they flew all around us, it was awesome. After that fantastic surprise we headed to ollantaytambo and saw the ruins there. Huge terraces built into the mountains and temples etc. it was incredible. We then visited the local market in order to get a few last minute things such as hats and gloves for the inca trail!!!
Day 10 - start of the inca trail
We had yet another early start (i don´t think gap adventures understands the student life style) in order to travel to the start of the inca trail. We had to pack all our clothes we would need into a small duffle bag not weighing more than 6kg including roll matt and sleeping bag (aout 3kg) which ment that you couldn´t take all that much. When we arrived at the start we handed our duffle bags over to our porters and were amazed. Not only did they have to do the trek, they had to do it carrying huge packs weighing 20kg, containing all the camping equipment and tents etc., they had to get there quicker than us. The trek must be easy then!
We got going and it turns out the trek isn´t as easy as first thought. We were at roughly 2600m and the alltitude makes you out of breath really quickly. Luckily the first day was only about 8km and was pretty much flat. We walked as a group so we were pretty slow and it was gorgeous sun shine with phenominal views, one of the best days of my life.
We stopped for lunch around 1 and found a couple of huge tents already set up. The porters had raced ahead of us and set up a tempory camp and clapped us in as we arrived (which was ridiculous seeing as they had done it in half the time carrying 20kg packs) and gave us all orange juice. We sat out in the sun for a while waiting for lunch to be ready and could smell something amazing so we were getting pretty hungary. We then went into the tent and sat down to be told that we were extra lucky as we had the Gap´s head chef for the Inca trail with us, he´d won the award 2 years in a row. We all thought that that is something they tell all the groups and even if it wasn´t how good could a meal really be when cooked on a camping stove.
We were blown away, it was an incredible 5 course lunch with soup, garlic bread, some fish, some chicken and cake for desert. It was the bets meal we had had in Peru so far and it was all cooked in a tent!
As soon as we had finished the porters started packing up and headed off down the trail in order to set up camp. We continued on for 45 mins before we reached camp to find everything set up for us, all the tents and even our roll mats and sleeping bags laid out in our tents for us!
We spent the rest of the day playing cards and talking before being greeted with afternoon tea and snacks at 4pm followed my another amazing 4 course dinner in the evening. I´m going to have to stop describing the meals but every single meal we had was fabulous and consisted of multiple courses. After dinner we played cards for a little longer and then went to bed. This was the start of the "sons of anarchy"(a TV show) phase. Me and rob started watching an episode on the galaxy tab just before going to bed in our tent. Dave overhead it and asked if he could come watch it too. Katie then walked past and saw us all snuggled up watching it and came and watched it as well. We were all cramped together in a two man tent watching a tv show on a tiny screen but it was really fun.
day 11 - Inca trail
We were woken up at 5:30 in order to get a good start on the trail as today was the hardest day. We slept at around 2700m but then highest point today was at 4500m! We were told we could go at our own pace today as this section seperated the men for the boys! We started off around 7 and it was freezing cold so i was wearing pretty much all my clothes. Despite starting out with the best intentions of sticking together the trail soon became really hard and so most of the group slowed down. The most manly, fittest and good looking of the group (me, sam, matt, mike and tom) raced on and powered up the steep slope. It was hard work and despite it being -3 we were down to t-shirt and shorts. We continued to the half way point of the climb where Tom decided to wait for katie. After a breif pause for a couple of snacks we continued. We got to the highest point (dead womans pass) in about 3 hours, the guide said it would take 6 so we were pretty proud of our achievement. We spent the next 3 hours relaxing o the top of this muntain in the sun with the most amazing views i have ever seen. Words can´t descirbe how amazing it was. Ater about 30mins we saw the porters all rush past but we wtill pretty pleased we had beaten them up. After 3 hours the rest of the group made it and we had a lot of group hugs and photos.
I´m now being kicked out of the internet cafe for being on too long so will have to continue on the my ipod or tomorrow.
Monday, 20 June 2011
South america! - Lima, pisco and cusco
One feels the blog is not going to be updated as frequently or written as well on this trip but i´ll try anyway.
Travelling
Would love to lift the paragraph i used in an email to my parents to describe the journey but it wil probablly take me 20 mins to get my email open so i´ll have to write it again.
Heathrow was on super high alert for some reason and security was a nightmare. I went through the scanner and it beeped as i was still holding my passport in my hand. i went back through, put it on a tray to go through the scanner and walked back through, it didn´t beep. Despite seeing all this they insisted on giving me a frisking and then the once over with the wand, fair enough. they then proceeded to give me a bag search and send all my items through individually. Not content with this they then made me go through the new body scanners that pretty much x-ray you. I wasnt the only one they did this to so i actually had to queue to have my bag searched and be scanned. All in all it took me atleast an hour to get through to security. Despite arriving 3 hours early the security meant by the time i was through my plane was boarding so i rushed to get on. The flight was fine and landed in sao paulo at 6 local time. I knew i had to get a connecting flight to lima at 8.30 so scanned the boards for my flight. The only flight going to lima listed on the baord was at 6.15. I thought it wasnt mine but there was no other flights to lima so i assumed it had to be mine. i rushed to the gate but it had already left by the time i got there. Panicing a little as i had to be in lima that day for the start of my tour i walked around trying to find an information desk. After a while i got on a bus to a different part of the airport and eventually found a board that had my flight on it. I was supposed to arrive in terminal 1 and fly from terminal 1 but we landed in terminal 2 and no one told me. Flight found all was well and off i went to lima.
Lima - day 1
I arrived at the hotel at around 2 and the meeting was at 7 so i wandered around for a couple of hours and got something to eat. i was pretty knacked so went back for a nap around 5. I had a whole really nice hotel room to myself as the guy i was supposed to be sharing with was meeting a friend so wasn´t there. At 7 we had a quick briefing on what was happening on the trip and introduced ourselves to everyone and met our guide for the trip neil. The people are all pretty nice and theres quite a few young people so im pretty happy (2 18yr boys, 2 18yr girls, a couple of 22, my room mate 24 and we´re getting another couple of 18yr girls in 4 days. Othere than that theres a couple on their honeymoon 27, an 30 american, 35 belgian, 28 uk)
We then went for a get to know you meal which was nice and went to bed at 11. I had a horrible night sleep constantly waking up worried that my alarm wouldnt go off in the morning and id hold everyone up.
Day 2
We had to catch a bus at 11 so i got up at 9 got ready and bought some snacks for the journey. We took a public bus to Pisco (6 hours) but it wasnt too bad. there were a couple of english films played and we chatted but basically it took up most of the day. When we arrived we got settled and then went out for a meal and had the local delicacy, fish cooked in lime (as in raw fish chemically cooked by the acidity of lime). It was a bit like sour sushi but was quite nice none the less. After dinner we all went out to the local bar and had a couple of drinks. As it gets dark so early about 6 (pitch black) we were all tricked into thinking it was really late so most people went home about 8-9, the young guys stayed out later and tried to go to a club but it was completely dead so we went home at about 11 but it was quite a good bonding experience.
day 3- pisco
We had the option to get up early and take a boat to the loacal nature island with penguins etc. but aparently the sea was far to choppy (i didnt see a single wave). Instead we waited aorund until 9.30 to get our tour for the day. It was a private minibus just for our group and we all chatted etc on our way to the local winery. The winery was pretty fun and they showed us all how they stomped the grapes etc and how they made the "wine". I used the air quotes as although it was all made from grapes the majority of it was spirits ranging from 20% all the way up to 55%. Afterwards we had a tasting sension of all the different spirits which was pretty fun. We then had lunch at the winery and i opted for the local dish called tacu tacu which was goat meat and a sort of pea and rice blend which tasted like homous. For trying the local dish the owner gave me a couple of extra shots of the 55% stuff and then nicknamed me tacu tacu which now sort of means "crazy one".
After the winery we went to visit the sand dunes which were incredible. The city itself was in the middle of the desert so just 5 mins away were some awesome sand dunes. We had an optional activity so dune buggying and sand boarding for $20 for 2 hours which most of us did as our guide said it was one of the highlights of the trip. It was one of the bets things i´ve ever done. We raced around in the buggys for an hour in some amazing scenery, jumping of dunes and powering down really steep slopes. We then got driven to the top of a really high dune and got to sand board down. The whole experience was incredible and i got some amazing photos. The only downside is that my camera got sand in it from all the dunes and now doesn´t work :(. I´m gonna leave it a couple of days and keep trying it but it apears its got sand stuck inbetween the telescopic bit of the lens so it wont come out properly so the camera wont work.
We then got the bus onto the next location (Nasca) and got to know each other some more and had some bus kareoke. Although now it seems we´ve definately split into two groups, the under 25´s and the over 25´s which is a bit sad this early but probably for the best.
When we arrived at around 9 most people went straight to bed but some of us decided to stay up and try and recreate some of the drinks we´d had at lunch. We had gone to a supermarket on the way home and picked up some stuff but trying to make pisco sours with 3kg of limes, some pisco spirit and a bag of sugar just wasnt happening and they tasted pretty disgusting but we had loads of fun.
Day 4 - Nasca
We got up early and travelled to an acient grave site and learned about how the Nasca people buried their dead and the mumification process which was pretty interesting. The often buried important people with many others (salves etc) although just the skulls. We turned this into a stupid game of guess how many heads are going to be in the next grave which although a little morally ambiguous was really fun.
Next we went to a pottery workshop and learned how the Nasca´s used to make their pottery which was basically just an elongated sales pitch.
Next we went to the airport to do our flights over the nasca lines. Due to one operator being closed there were far less flights than usual and so some people wuldnt be able to go. As it was quite a lot ($100) and i wasnt that bothered i stepped down along with a couple of others and went back to the hotel. We sat by the pool and sun bathed and relaxed which was pretty good. When the others returned it turned out only 4 had been able to fly out of our group of 14 which was pretty bad. It wasn´t our tours fault as it was an optional extra but it was pretty much the whole point of coming to Nasca and a major thing to see in peru so some people were a little annoyed. Tonight we´re getting a night bus to the next location which will be great...
The blog turned out longer than expected. i just thought it would be a quick note to let you know im alive. Will try and get pictures up soon so you can see the group.
Travelling
Would love to lift the paragraph i used in an email to my parents to describe the journey but it wil probablly take me 20 mins to get my email open so i´ll have to write it again.
Heathrow was on super high alert for some reason and security was a nightmare. I went through the scanner and it beeped as i was still holding my passport in my hand. i went back through, put it on a tray to go through the scanner and walked back through, it didn´t beep. Despite seeing all this they insisted on giving me a frisking and then the once over with the wand, fair enough. they then proceeded to give me a bag search and send all my items through individually. Not content with this they then made me go through the new body scanners that pretty much x-ray you. I wasnt the only one they did this to so i actually had to queue to have my bag searched and be scanned. All in all it took me atleast an hour to get through to security. Despite arriving 3 hours early the security meant by the time i was through my plane was boarding so i rushed to get on. The flight was fine and landed in sao paulo at 6 local time. I knew i had to get a connecting flight to lima at 8.30 so scanned the boards for my flight. The only flight going to lima listed on the baord was at 6.15. I thought it wasnt mine but there was no other flights to lima so i assumed it had to be mine. i rushed to the gate but it had already left by the time i got there. Panicing a little as i had to be in lima that day for the start of my tour i walked around trying to find an information desk. After a while i got on a bus to a different part of the airport and eventually found a board that had my flight on it. I was supposed to arrive in terminal 1 and fly from terminal 1 but we landed in terminal 2 and no one told me. Flight found all was well and off i went to lima.
Lima - day 1
I arrived at the hotel at around 2 and the meeting was at 7 so i wandered around for a couple of hours and got something to eat. i was pretty knacked so went back for a nap around 5. I had a whole really nice hotel room to myself as the guy i was supposed to be sharing with was meeting a friend so wasn´t there. At 7 we had a quick briefing on what was happening on the trip and introduced ourselves to everyone and met our guide for the trip neil. The people are all pretty nice and theres quite a few young people so im pretty happy (2 18yr boys, 2 18yr girls, a couple of 22, my room mate 24 and we´re getting another couple of 18yr girls in 4 days. Othere than that theres a couple on their honeymoon 27, an 30 american, 35 belgian, 28 uk)
We then went for a get to know you meal which was nice and went to bed at 11. I had a horrible night sleep constantly waking up worried that my alarm wouldnt go off in the morning and id hold everyone up.
Day 2
We had to catch a bus at 11 so i got up at 9 got ready and bought some snacks for the journey. We took a public bus to Pisco (6 hours) but it wasnt too bad. there were a couple of english films played and we chatted but basically it took up most of the day. When we arrived we got settled and then went out for a meal and had the local delicacy, fish cooked in lime (as in raw fish chemically cooked by the acidity of lime). It was a bit like sour sushi but was quite nice none the less. After dinner we all went out to the local bar and had a couple of drinks. As it gets dark so early about 6 (pitch black) we were all tricked into thinking it was really late so most people went home about 8-9, the young guys stayed out later and tried to go to a club but it was completely dead so we went home at about 11 but it was quite a good bonding experience.
day 3- pisco
We had the option to get up early and take a boat to the loacal nature island with penguins etc. but aparently the sea was far to choppy (i didnt see a single wave). Instead we waited aorund until 9.30 to get our tour for the day. It was a private minibus just for our group and we all chatted etc on our way to the local winery. The winery was pretty fun and they showed us all how they stomped the grapes etc and how they made the "wine". I used the air quotes as although it was all made from grapes the majority of it was spirits ranging from 20% all the way up to 55%. Afterwards we had a tasting sension of all the different spirits which was pretty fun. We then had lunch at the winery and i opted for the local dish called tacu tacu which was goat meat and a sort of pea and rice blend which tasted like homous. For trying the local dish the owner gave me a couple of extra shots of the 55% stuff and then nicknamed me tacu tacu which now sort of means "crazy one".
After the winery we went to visit the sand dunes which were incredible. The city itself was in the middle of the desert so just 5 mins away were some awesome sand dunes. We had an optional activity so dune buggying and sand boarding for $20 for 2 hours which most of us did as our guide said it was one of the highlights of the trip. It was one of the bets things i´ve ever done. We raced around in the buggys for an hour in some amazing scenery, jumping of dunes and powering down really steep slopes. We then got driven to the top of a really high dune and got to sand board down. The whole experience was incredible and i got some amazing photos. The only downside is that my camera got sand in it from all the dunes and now doesn´t work :(. I´m gonna leave it a couple of days and keep trying it but it apears its got sand stuck inbetween the telescopic bit of the lens so it wont come out properly so the camera wont work.
We then got the bus onto the next location (Nasca) and got to know each other some more and had some bus kareoke. Although now it seems we´ve definately split into two groups, the under 25´s and the over 25´s which is a bit sad this early but probably for the best.
When we arrived at around 9 most people went straight to bed but some of us decided to stay up and try and recreate some of the drinks we´d had at lunch. We had gone to a supermarket on the way home and picked up some stuff but trying to make pisco sours with 3kg of limes, some pisco spirit and a bag of sugar just wasnt happening and they tasted pretty disgusting but we had loads of fun.
Day 4 - Nasca
We got up early and travelled to an acient grave site and learned about how the Nasca people buried their dead and the mumification process which was pretty interesting. The often buried important people with many others (salves etc) although just the skulls. We turned this into a stupid game of guess how many heads are going to be in the next grave which although a little morally ambiguous was really fun.
Next we went to a pottery workshop and learned how the Nasca´s used to make their pottery which was basically just an elongated sales pitch.
Next we went to the airport to do our flights over the nasca lines. Due to one operator being closed there were far less flights than usual and so some people wuldnt be able to go. As it was quite a lot ($100) and i wasnt that bothered i stepped down along with a couple of others and went back to the hotel. We sat by the pool and sun bathed and relaxed which was pretty good. When the others returned it turned out only 4 had been able to fly out of our group of 14 which was pretty bad. It wasn´t our tours fault as it was an optional extra but it was pretty much the whole point of coming to Nasca and a major thing to see in peru so some people were a little annoyed. Tonight we´re getting a night bus to the next location which will be great...
The blog turned out longer than expected. i just thought it would be a quick note to let you know im alive. Will try and get pictures up soon so you can see the group.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Last days of phuket
Again writing this on my iPod so there will be countless mistakes and it will be short.
Can't remember how many days ago the last post was written I think only 2.
The last couple of days have been pretty much the same, get up go to the beach, read or surf until it starts pouring with rain around 2. Try to ignore it but eventually give up and go back. Read book or chill until rain stops for a while, go for a wander, rain starts again come back. Not been able to work on my tan at all but its been relaxed.
I finally cracked and moved to a hostel near the party area which I wouldn't know anything about as I go to bed early every night.
Currently deciding whether to try and have 1 final night out before I have to go to the airport tomorrow at 8 or be sensible. Current thinking suggests that I have plenty of time to be sensible when I'm back in England...
Can't remember how many days ago the last post was written I think only 2.
The last couple of days have been pretty much the same, get up go to the beach, read or surf until it starts pouring with rain around 2. Try to ignore it but eventually give up and go back. Read book or chill until rain stops for a while, go for a wander, rain starts again come back. Not been able to work on my tan at all but its been relaxed.
I finally cracked and moved to a hostel near the party area which I wouldn't know anything about as I go to bed early every night.
Currently deciding whether to try and have 1 final night out before I have to go to the airport tomorrow at 8 or be sensible. Current thinking suggests that I have plenty of time to be sensible when I'm back in England...
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Day 24
Got up early and went to "watch" people train mma as my mother had forbade me from doing it myself. It was so hot and it looked as if all the guys who were training were knacked. I then went back to the beach for a while and chilled out. I then went back to "watch" the afternoon session. It was still really hot and must have been really tiring for this who did the morning session as well. I then went to get some BBQ with some of the guys who had trained. It was really delicious chicken breast and burgers. I then headed back to watch the evening class which was really informative and different. For some reason all that watching had madee really tired so I headed back and took a quick nap. I was rudely awoken by the two Canadian girls from the night before who were going to look for a club in the city. Not wanting to let them down and the promise of meeting up with some philipino girls eventually gt me out of bed and we went out. The main club scene was the other end of the island buy we found a pretty good one near us. Luckily for the grandparents that are reading this no alcohol was consumed and I was in bed by 11.
Day 23
I have a feeling that all future blog posts will be quite boring and follow a similar pattern.
Got up relatively early and headed for the beach. Spent all day sun bathing, surfing and reading. It so relaxing but I have a feeling that I've got burned. In the evening I met up with some Canadian veils and went out for a couple of beers. During the evening I found out that one of them hadn't watched the shawshank redemption so with little else going on we headed back and watched it back at the hostel.
Got up relatively early and headed for the beach. Spent all day sun bathing, surfing and reading. It so relaxing but I have a feeling that I've got burned. In the evening I met up with some Canadian veils and went out for a couple of beers. During the evening I found out that one of them hadn't watched the shawshank redemption so with little else going on we headed back and watched it back at the hostel.
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Day 22
Drifting in and out of sleep we arrived in Phuket around 8:30. I ignored all the tuk-tuk drivers and headed straight for an internet cafe in order to check the address of the hostel i wanted to stay in. It said it was only a 5 minute walk from the bus station so i decided to walk it. Turns out it was more like 15 which in the heat and with a backpack meant i arrive absolutely dripping with sweat. I booked in and immediately went for a shower and a quick nap.
At around 11 i went down to the communal area where some people were discussing going to the beach. I asked if i could tag along and it turned out it was only one guy trying to convince the others to go so he was keen. We then were joined by a guy who was from spain (well an island of the coast of spain which is a separate state and hated being referred to as spanish) and a girl from manchester. By the time we all assembled we thought we'd catch the 12 o'clock bus. Then another girl wanted to come and she'd just be 5 mins. It was 40 mins without a word so we decided we should just go. The a couple of people wanted food so we went and got that eventually i think we caught the 1:30 bus and got to the beach around 2. He was pretty empty, boiling hot and had some crazy waves, awesome. There were tons of stalls offering surf board rental for 3pounds/hour and i was sorely tempted but the waves were huge and knowing i had no idea how to steer and not wanting to hit anybody i decided to leave it until tomorrow. Instead we met an aussie guy who taught us how to body surf, which is pretty much surfing but using your body as the board. It was pretty cool and helped you work out the timing and by the end we were managing huge surfs, almost as much as the surfers, just using our bodies.
We caught the bus back at around 5 which was the slowest thing i have ever seen, it averaged around 10km an hour as it was going really slowly past the beaches in order to try and pick others up, it was a nightmare and took us almost 1.5hours to get back.
We then all went out for a meal where the girl from manchester told us about a couch surfing party in Patong (the main party area in phuket) I had no idea what i was but it sound pretty cool so i said id go. After trying to find someone to take us there we haggled with a man who said he's take us there and then back at whatever time for 800baht. 16pounds between all of us. It doesn't sound like much but in Bangkok we were doing hour long taxi rides for about 2 pounds, this was only 10km away. It turned out they were all about the same price so we decided to discuss if it was worth it. Turns out a couch surfing party isn't as cool as it sounds. Couch surfing is where you sleep on someones couch when you need somewhere to stay in a new city or whatever. It had been organised through the couch surfing website to have a party on phuket but it sounded to me like it would just be a lot of weird people getting drunk together (anyone who rents their couch out to a stranger is either broke, a hippy or a rapist). We decided not to go and instead stay in and watch the champions league final instead. It was a good choice as a girl returned to the hsotel after having been to it and said it was just a quiet BBQ for an hour...
I tried staying up for the football (it started at 2 here) but got bored and went to get a good nights sleep so i could hit the MMA hard tomorrow morning.
At around 11 i went down to the communal area where some people were discussing going to the beach. I asked if i could tag along and it turned out it was only one guy trying to convince the others to go so he was keen. We then were joined by a guy who was from spain (well an island of the coast of spain which is a separate state and hated being referred to as spanish) and a girl from manchester. By the time we all assembled we thought we'd catch the 12 o'clock bus. Then another girl wanted to come and she'd just be 5 mins. It was 40 mins without a word so we decided we should just go. The a couple of people wanted food so we went and got that eventually i think we caught the 1:30 bus and got to the beach around 2. He was pretty empty, boiling hot and had some crazy waves, awesome. There were tons of stalls offering surf board rental for 3pounds/hour and i was sorely tempted but the waves were huge and knowing i had no idea how to steer and not wanting to hit anybody i decided to leave it until tomorrow. Instead we met an aussie guy who taught us how to body surf, which is pretty much surfing but using your body as the board. It was pretty cool and helped you work out the timing and by the end we were managing huge surfs, almost as much as the surfers, just using our bodies.
We caught the bus back at around 5 which was the slowest thing i have ever seen, it averaged around 10km an hour as it was going really slowly past the beaches in order to try and pick others up, it was a nightmare and took us almost 1.5hours to get back.
We then all went out for a meal where the girl from manchester told us about a couch surfing party in Patong (the main party area in phuket) I had no idea what i was but it sound pretty cool so i said id go. After trying to find someone to take us there we haggled with a man who said he's take us there and then back at whatever time for 800baht. 16pounds between all of us. It doesn't sound like much but in Bangkok we were doing hour long taxi rides for about 2 pounds, this was only 10km away. It turned out they were all about the same price so we decided to discuss if it was worth it. Turns out a couch surfing party isn't as cool as it sounds. Couch surfing is where you sleep on someones couch when you need somewhere to stay in a new city or whatever. It had been organised through the couch surfing website to have a party on phuket but it sounded to me like it would just be a lot of weird people getting drunk together (anyone who rents their couch out to a stranger is either broke, a hippy or a rapist). We decided not to go and instead stay in and watch the champions league final instead. It was a good choice as a girl returned to the hsotel after having been to it and said it was just a quiet BBQ for an hour...
I tried staying up for the football (it started at 2 here) but got bored and went to get a good nights sleep so i could hit the MMA hard tomorrow morning.
Day 21
Another lesson in lazy travelling today. We got up pretty early but just faffed around doing not much for a while. Went out to the nearby parked and just sat and relaxed before getting breakfast or a melted cheese toasty (very thai). We faffed around some more before heading back to the hotel in order to check emails and get some more money. As soon as we got in the rainy season started again. It was absolutely pouring so we decided to stay in for a while. After it had been rainy constantly for about an hour we decided to just to go out in it. Hugh was leaving today and so we all decided we would as well. Tiggy and Susie were going to Chaing Mai, i was going down to Phuket and Hugh was going to London to work for a bit which was/is pretty cool. There were a few things we each needed to pick up/book so we all put swimming trunks and old t-shirts on headed out. It was nuts, we were soaked through in about a minute but it wasn't cold at all. Just like having a constant shower. Everyone looked at us like we were mad but we decided we'd made the right choice instead of trying to dart between shops or use an umbrella (which offered little protection in this rain). We went and did our last bit of shopping and booked our tickets and the headed back. After showering, packing up and checking out Hugh had to leave to catch his airport bus so we walked him down and had another emotional goodbye. At around 5 the girls had to catch their bus so i walked them down and said goodbye, i was starting to think everybody was trying to get away from me...
My bus was supposed to be at 5:30 but the man arrived at 6. He took me on a huge walk all around the area picking up different people from each hotel (the reason i'd booked with my own hotel was so i'd get picked up from it not to walk around picking everyone else up). At around 7 we all pilled in to a minibus which took us to the station. In broken english the driver explained that the bus would arrive around 7:30 and depart at 8. He told us to wait at platform 17 pointed us in the rough direction and left, great.
We waited at the platform until the bus finally arrived at 9:15 and left at 9. It had taken me 3.5 hours just to get on the bus...
I was the only westerner on the bus bar a really fat old guy who was sat next to a tiny, really pretty thai girl (A great reminder of the fact we were in bangkok). The bus was in fact pretty good, reclining chairs instead of beds but after watching most of Born on the 4th of July i crashed out and didn't wake up until 6 the next morning.
My bus was supposed to be at 5:30 but the man arrived at 6. He took me on a huge walk all around the area picking up different people from each hotel (the reason i'd booked with my own hotel was so i'd get picked up from it not to walk around picking everyone else up). At around 7 we all pilled in to a minibus which took us to the station. In broken english the driver explained that the bus would arrive around 7:30 and depart at 8. He told us to wait at platform 17 pointed us in the rough direction and left, great.
We waited at the platform until the bus finally arrived at 9:15 and left at 9. It had taken me 3.5 hours just to get on the bus...
I was the only westerner on the bus bar a really fat old guy who was sat next to a tiny, really pretty thai girl (A great reminder of the fact we were in bangkok). The bus was in fact pretty good, reclining chairs instead of beds but after watching most of Born on the 4th of July i crashed out and didn't wake up until 6 the next morning.
day 20
We slept in until late and then went to go get breakfast, delicious noodles again.
We didn't really do much until 3 when we found out "the Hangover 2" was being released today. Its a film about some people who get really drunk and have a wild night in bangkok so we thought it appropriate to go see it. We went to the huge mall called MBK and booked our tickets before getting a McDonalds and doing some shopping. The film was awesome and may or may not have been quite an accurate representation of my first night in bangkok.
These guys had been travelling way longer than me and introduced me to a different "lazier" style of travelling which was pretty refreshing considering i'd been doing only 1-2 days in most places for the last 2 weeks and having to blitz it.
In the evening one of the canadians was going home after 6 months of travelling so we went out for a classic street food Phat Thai and street cocktails. I was approached by a guy selling hammocks and although i really wanted one couldn't be bothered to haggle tonight. The man started at 750baht (around 15pounds) and we all just kpet saying we weren't interested etc. He seemed really keen and kept pestering us but when he dropped the price to 150baht (about 3pounds) me and tiggy both bought one.
We were joined by some really old Australian guy who proceeded to tell us about how he was crazily racist and hated pretty much everyone then just when we thought he done enough he went on to talk to us about he was raped as a child. It kinda ruined our last night with Giles and we just wanted him to leave us alone.
Giles had to leave at 10 so we all walked him down to the bus for the airport and said goodbye. I felt bad having only known him 2 days but he had been travelling with his brother for 6 months and susie and tiggy for a month so they were pretty down. We tried to go clubbing to cheer ourselves up but it was pretty poor in Ko San road so we decided just to go back to the room and get drunk and talk. We even managed to string my newly bought hammock up between a bed railing and the door handle which was pretty awesome. It turned out to be really nice we stayed up until 3 or 4 just discussing the stupid australian man then our views on everything and Susie actually managed to make me reduce my hate for religion something i never thought possible. Gap years change everything!
We didn't really do much until 3 when we found out "the Hangover 2" was being released today. Its a film about some people who get really drunk and have a wild night in bangkok so we thought it appropriate to go see it. We went to the huge mall called MBK and booked our tickets before getting a McDonalds and doing some shopping. The film was awesome and may or may not have been quite an accurate representation of my first night in bangkok.
These guys had been travelling way longer than me and introduced me to a different "lazier" style of travelling which was pretty refreshing considering i'd been doing only 1-2 days in most places for the last 2 weeks and having to blitz it.
In the evening one of the canadians was going home after 6 months of travelling so we went out for a classic street food Phat Thai and street cocktails. I was approached by a guy selling hammocks and although i really wanted one couldn't be bothered to haggle tonight. The man started at 750baht (around 15pounds) and we all just kpet saying we weren't interested etc. He seemed really keen and kept pestering us but when he dropped the price to 150baht (about 3pounds) me and tiggy both bought one.
We were joined by some really old Australian guy who proceeded to tell us about how he was crazily racist and hated pretty much everyone then just when we thought he done enough he went on to talk to us about he was raped as a child. It kinda ruined our last night with Giles and we just wanted him to leave us alone.
Giles had to leave at 10 so we all walked him down to the bus for the airport and said goodbye. I felt bad having only known him 2 days but he had been travelling with his brother for 6 months and susie and tiggy for a month so they were pretty down. We tried to go clubbing to cheer ourselves up but it was pretty poor in Ko San road so we decided just to go back to the room and get drunk and talk. We even managed to string my newly bought hammock up between a bed railing and the door handle which was pretty awesome. It turned out to be really nice we stayed up until 3 or 4 just discussing the stupid australian man then our views on everything and Susie actually managed to make me reduce my hate for religion something i never thought possible. Gap years change everything!
Day 19
Unfortunately there's not much to report for this day. It was all about trying to relieve my money issues. With only 70p left and no way to get any more money out it was pretty scared. I still owed the hostel for the previous two nights and had no money to find somewhere to sleep for this night and the current one was full. All i had to do was to call up halifax and ask them to unblock my card but when you've got no money making an international phone call is quite difficult.I most of the day wandering the streets aimlessly looking for inspiration but when i completely ran out of money for water or food i decided to head back to the hostel to conserve energy. I hoped that by 16:00 my parents would be up and could offer more advice. Fortunately the receptionist at the hostel said i could sleep at hers and she'd cook me dinner, oh yeah! Unfortunately for her i asked a friend to take some money out of the ATM and i'd bank transfer it to him, money issues sorted. I paid back to hostel and then went out to get some food and water, oh how i missed water. Later that evening i found out Susie and Tiggy were also in bangkok so i agreed to meet up with them. Susie gave me the address as "rambuttri" near Ko San Road which i assumed was the name of their hostel. I asked the taxi driver to take me there and was quite surprised when he knew the exact one seeing as there are so many hostels in bangkok. Turns out Rambuttri isn't the name of a hostel but the name of a road with about 50 hostels on it. I said just drop me off and i'll find it, with no idea how.
Just as i left the cab i found out why it was called the rainy season. It absolutely bucketed it down, i was getting soaked but more importantly my bag was. I dived into the nearest open place which happened to be a hostel and left my bags in there to go looking. I ran up and down the street in the pouring ran for 5-10 trying to find them to no avail. I went back to the hostel i'd left my bags at and went to use the computers in order to see if i'd missed something in the message or if she'd given me directions. Just as i sat down a voice behind me said "Ben Almond?!?!?!" I turned round and it was Tiggy. Of all the maybe 50 hostels on the road i accidently stumbled into the one they were staying at and even then it was only because we were both using the computer at the same time that we met. Crazy!
I checked in and the said hi to Susie who introduced me to their two canadian friends they had been travelling with for a month who were really really cool. The room however was not, it was dirt cheap for a reason. It was a tiny box room with the worst bed ever and really hot, might have to take the receptionist up on her original offer...
In the evening we went for some street food indian which was huge and really cheap before picking up some super cheap whisky from 7/11 and going back to the room, just like england! We consumed some beverages and then they said they would take me out in Ko San road as i hadn't been before. We went in to 1 or two clubs which were pretty empty and full of westerners, it was just like being back home. I told them about the club i went to the day before and they said it was worth a shot. It turned out to be awesome. We were the only westerners in the club and everyone was really friendly and loved us.
Just as i left the cab i found out why it was called the rainy season. It absolutely bucketed it down, i was getting soaked but more importantly my bag was. I dived into the nearest open place which happened to be a hostel and left my bags in there to go looking. I ran up and down the street in the pouring ran for 5-10 trying to find them to no avail. I went back to the hostel i'd left my bags at and went to use the computers in order to see if i'd missed something in the message or if she'd given me directions. Just as i sat down a voice behind me said "Ben Almond?!?!?!" I turned round and it was Tiggy. Of all the maybe 50 hostels on the road i accidently stumbled into the one they were staying at and even then it was only because we were both using the computer at the same time that we met. Crazy!
I checked in and the said hi to Susie who introduced me to their two canadian friends they had been travelling with for a month who were really really cool. The room however was not, it was dirt cheap for a reason. It was a tiny box room with the worst bed ever and really hot, might have to take the receptionist up on her original offer...
In the evening we went for some street food indian which was huge and really cheap before picking up some super cheap whisky from 7/11 and going back to the room, just like england! We consumed some beverages and then they said they would take me out in Ko San road as i hadn't been before. We went in to 1 or two clubs which were pretty empty and full of westerners, it was just like being back home. I told them about the club i went to the day before and they said it was worth a shot. It turned out to be awesome. We were the only westerners in the club and everyone was really friendly and loved us.
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Day 18
Luckily as i had definitely not been out the night before i was able to get up early and go out to do the city.
We took the sky train to the Grand Palace which was amazing. If only "cash my gold" could see it. I also saw the emerald Buddha and couldn't really see what all the fuss was about, it was tiny but apparently its all about national pride.
Then we went to Wat Pho which was pretty incredible, especially the colossal Buddha. Unfortunately i had forgotten my camera so we decided to go back and get it so i could take some photos. When we tried to re-enter they tried to make us buy a new ticket for roughly $14 which we didn't want to do so i don't have any photos of either of them. Here is a link to Google images which will have far better photos than i could have taken
Grand Palace: http://www.Google.co.th/search?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=grand+palace+bangkok&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
Wat Pho: http://www.Google.co.th/search?q=wat%20pho%20bangkok&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=613
Afterwards we decided to check out the huge mall (MBK) which is ridiculous, i don't think there is anything in the world you cant buy in there. We ate in the special food court place which was really cool. You were given a card when you entered and the whatever you buy you just swipe the card and then pay at the end. There were loads of different stalls each representing a different country and their types of dishes. There was almost too much choice, in the end i went for pita bread and humus, special thai fried rice and a couple of meat skewers. A weird combination but it was soo good. We then found out that we get free iced teas just for being foreign, bonus! Absolutely stuffed we decided to chill out and go to the cinema on the 8th floor. We watch Thor for about 2pounds (instead of the ridiculous amounts you pay in england) which was really good.
On the way back we got caught in the most horrendous rain ever. We were absolutely soaked in about 10 seconds, it was nuts!
In the evening we got some street food from outside our hostel, BBQ'd beef and pork with rice and loads of really really hot chilli sauce (i think i've lost all my taste buds for ever).
At the hostel the girl who worked at reception said she'd take us out and show us a really good club which was cool. We played some drinking games which was really fun as we had a different person from every continent in the world so there were loads i hadn't played before.
After constant delays while the reception waited to get off work we all went to the club. She told us it was really cheap to buy spirits by the bottle for the table (it was even cheaper than we could get them in the 7-11) and a good night was had by all.
Hopefully by the time you read this post there will be some odds and sods of photos on facebook. I've had some free time today so i've uploaded all the pics on my camera which are kinda of a mish-mash as i've been deleting some as i go as i've run out of space but i rarely deleted from the front, i just deleted random ones (as i have them all backed up) so there not in a great order and theres chunks missing but you'll get the idea.
We took the sky train to the Grand Palace which was amazing. If only "cash my gold" could see it. I also saw the emerald Buddha and couldn't really see what all the fuss was about, it was tiny but apparently its all about national pride.
Then we went to Wat Pho which was pretty incredible, especially the colossal Buddha. Unfortunately i had forgotten my camera so we decided to go back and get it so i could take some photos. When we tried to re-enter they tried to make us buy a new ticket for roughly $14 which we didn't want to do so i don't have any photos of either of them. Here is a link to Google images which will have far better photos than i could have taken
Grand Palace: http://www.Google.co.th/search?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=grand+palace+bangkok&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
Wat Pho: http://www.Google.co.th/search?q=wat%20pho%20bangkok&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=613
Afterwards we decided to check out the huge mall (MBK) which is ridiculous, i don't think there is anything in the world you cant buy in there. We ate in the special food court place which was really cool. You were given a card when you entered and the whatever you buy you just swipe the card and then pay at the end. There were loads of different stalls each representing a different country and their types of dishes. There was almost too much choice, in the end i went for pita bread and humus, special thai fried rice and a couple of meat skewers. A weird combination but it was soo good. We then found out that we get free iced teas just for being foreign, bonus! Absolutely stuffed we decided to chill out and go to the cinema on the 8th floor. We watch Thor for about 2pounds (instead of the ridiculous amounts you pay in england) which was really good.
On the way back we got caught in the most horrendous rain ever. We were absolutely soaked in about 10 seconds, it was nuts!
In the evening we got some street food from outside our hostel, BBQ'd beef and pork with rice and loads of really really hot chilli sauce (i think i've lost all my taste buds for ever).
At the hostel the girl who worked at reception said she'd take us out and show us a really good club which was cool. We played some drinking games which was really fun as we had a different person from every continent in the world so there were loads i hadn't played before.
After constant delays while the reception waited to get off work we all went to the club. She told us it was really cheap to buy spirits by the bottle for the table (it was even cheaper than we could get them in the 7-11) and a good night was had by all.
Hopefully by the time you read this post there will be some odds and sods of photos on facebook. I've had some free time today so i've uploaded all the pics on my camera which are kinda of a mish-mash as i've been deleting some as i go as i've run out of space but i rarely deleted from the front, i just deleted random ones (as i have them all backed up) so there not in a great order and theres chunks missing but you'll get the idea.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Day 17
The Hungarian girl was the best room mate ever and woke me up just in time to catch the buffet breakfast at our hostel which was really tasty, loads of fruit, cereal and pancakes. I had booked my bus to Bangkok for 12 so just lounged around in the hammocks with Jack until the bus arrived. DISCLAIMER: here comes another moan about a bus...
The bus we had to take us to the border was pretty poor. The aircon didn't work so we had all the windows and the doors open. There also wasn't enough room for the bags so they were all stacked on top of us which made the pretty cramped bus very cramped. We also seemed to stop every 30mins for a toilet break and much as i have a tiny bladder it was absolutely ridiculous.
The boarder crossing was pretty interesting, the us dropped us off at the cambodian side and just turned round and left immediately. We got our passports and visas checked then went sent through a door. It led outside where there was just 500m of completely empty tarmac with cambodian soldiers standing on one side and thai ones on the other. It felt a bit like a prisoner swap from a movie. At the thai side there was much umming and ahhing about what my passport was and if it was valid (my new temporary one is white and looks weird) they eventually let me through.
At the other side there was a bus waiting for us and for once i cant complain. It was an airconditioned minibus with enough room for everyone and the bags were actually put in the boot. The people on it were really cool, they all spoke english and everyone got on great. It was only a 3 hour bus ride but we were all best friends by the end of it.
When we arrived we decided to trust hostelworld.com and went to the best rated one even if it was 20mins outside the main touristy bit. It was a good choice, its really nice and the staff are amazing. When we came to check in the girl on the desk was really funny and we had great banter. She also told us to book online as it $3 cheaper which was really cool if a bit weird with us just using her computer to book the room while checking in. She even let me put down a HMV gift card, a subway loyalty card and 57p as my room deposit as i didn't have any baht.
Pretty knacked i was ready to go to bed but Jack really wanted to go out and show me some bars as he's been before. I am acutely aware there are multiple generations of my family reading this so i'm going to say that i definitely did not go out in Bangkok and instead got an early night...
The bus we had to take us to the border was pretty poor. The aircon didn't work so we had all the windows and the doors open. There also wasn't enough room for the bags so they were all stacked on top of us which made the pretty cramped bus very cramped. We also seemed to stop every 30mins for a toilet break and much as i have a tiny bladder it was absolutely ridiculous.
The boarder crossing was pretty interesting, the us dropped us off at the cambodian side and just turned round and left immediately. We got our passports and visas checked then went sent through a door. It led outside where there was just 500m of completely empty tarmac with cambodian soldiers standing on one side and thai ones on the other. It felt a bit like a prisoner swap from a movie. At the thai side there was much umming and ahhing about what my passport was and if it was valid (my new temporary one is white and looks weird) they eventually let me through.
At the other side there was a bus waiting for us and for once i cant complain. It was an airconditioned minibus with enough room for everyone and the bags were actually put in the boot. The people on it were really cool, they all spoke english and everyone got on great. It was only a 3 hour bus ride but we were all best friends by the end of it.
When we arrived we decided to trust hostelworld.com and went to the best rated one even if it was 20mins outside the main touristy bit. It was a good choice, its really nice and the staff are amazing. When we came to check in the girl on the desk was really funny and we had great banter. She also told us to book online as it $3 cheaper which was really cool if a bit weird with us just using her computer to book the room while checking in. She even let me put down a HMV gift card, a subway loyalty card and 57p as my room deposit as i didn't have any baht.
Pretty knacked i was ready to go to bed but Jack really wanted to go out and show me some bars as he's been before. I am acutely aware there are multiple generations of my family reading this so i'm going to say that i definitely did not go out in Bangkok and instead got an early night...
Day 16
Despite the late night the day before i got up at 7 in order to get to the temples early. While having breakfast i talked to a guy called jack who was doing the same so we agreed to share a tuk-tuk he just had to wait for his friend who would meet us at 8. The friend didn't turn up until 9:30 but was hilarious so we let him off.
The driver took us to Ankor Wat first (the famous one) and it was incredible. It is absolutely huge and i've never seen anything like it. He dropped us off just outside and we had to walk to the temple. On the way we were swarmed by loads of little kids trying to sell us stuff who despite only being about 6-7 spoke perfect english.
To get into the complex you have to walk across a huge bridge spanning the 100m wide moat and through a really impressive gate. Once inside you get a true gist of how huge the place is. The outer walls enclose multiple smaller temples and a huge amounts of open space and even a couple of lakes. On the walk to the main complex i bumped into a couple of guys i had met on the ha long bay trip 2 weeks ago. It's crazy how you can bump into people you'd never thought you'd see again. Then again everyone's doing kinda the same route so i shouldn't be that surprised.
The main temple is awe-inspiring (running out of adjectives here), the intricacy on all the wall carvings is amazing and it's still in great condition despite being 1000years old. There was a lot of climbing up damgerous steps (with signs warning of death everywhere and the guide book saying that they had to close this area for a while due to the number of deaths) which was both exhausting and scary made worse by the 35degree heat.
I stupidly wore long trousers and a shirt i order not to get bitten by malaria mosquitoes (i was the only one) and so i was absolutely covered in sweat at this point. Luckily the view at the top made up for it. You could see the whole complex and appreciate the fact that it is totally surrounded by jungle and marvel at how on earth they built something like this.
After Ankor Wat we went to get something to eat and mid way through the meal the driver let out a comic girly scream and pointed to the table. There was the biggest spider i have ever seen and it ran straight at Jack. He freaked out and knocked his plate everywhere, we couldn't stop laughing for 10 mins.
After we had calmed down a little we visited a couple of different temples which were also pretty impressive but nowhere near the scale of Ankor Wat. The last temple we visited was probably my favourite though, even better than Ankor Wat. It had been over run by jungle and had trees growing through it and was in the middle of nowhere, it looked like a ancient lost city out of tomb raider.
In the evening we (The dad, the two new girls from our dorm, a hungarian and a dutch girl and loads of really fit Finnish girls that the dad somehow knew) went an had another street BBQ which was awesome and then went and got a fish massage. It was really weird and kinda pointless but relaxing after a while. We then headed back to pub street and played a couple of drinking games and then went clubbing. We had a great night and all went swimming at 5am which may not have been the greatest idea but was pretty fun...
The driver took us to Ankor Wat first (the famous one) and it was incredible. It is absolutely huge and i've never seen anything like it. He dropped us off just outside and we had to walk to the temple. On the way we were swarmed by loads of little kids trying to sell us stuff who despite only being about 6-7 spoke perfect english.
To get into the complex you have to walk across a huge bridge spanning the 100m wide moat and through a really impressive gate. Once inside you get a true gist of how huge the place is. The outer walls enclose multiple smaller temples and a huge amounts of open space and even a couple of lakes. On the walk to the main complex i bumped into a couple of guys i had met on the ha long bay trip 2 weeks ago. It's crazy how you can bump into people you'd never thought you'd see again. Then again everyone's doing kinda the same route so i shouldn't be that surprised.
The main temple is awe-inspiring (running out of adjectives here), the intricacy on all the wall carvings is amazing and it's still in great condition despite being 1000years old. There was a lot of climbing up damgerous steps (with signs warning of death everywhere and the guide book saying that they had to close this area for a while due to the number of deaths) which was both exhausting and scary made worse by the 35degree heat.
I stupidly wore long trousers and a shirt i order not to get bitten by malaria mosquitoes (i was the only one) and so i was absolutely covered in sweat at this point. Luckily the view at the top made up for it. You could see the whole complex and appreciate the fact that it is totally surrounded by jungle and marvel at how on earth they built something like this.
After Ankor Wat we went to get something to eat and mid way through the meal the driver let out a comic girly scream and pointed to the table. There was the biggest spider i have ever seen and it ran straight at Jack. He freaked out and knocked his plate everywhere, we couldn't stop laughing for 10 mins.
After we had calmed down a little we visited a couple of different temples which were also pretty impressive but nowhere near the scale of Ankor Wat. The last temple we visited was probably my favourite though, even better than Ankor Wat. It had been over run by jungle and had trees growing through it and was in the middle of nowhere, it looked like a ancient lost city out of tomb raider.
In the evening we (The dad, the two new girls from our dorm, a hungarian and a dutch girl and loads of really fit Finnish girls that the dad somehow knew) went an had another street BBQ which was awesome and then went and got a fish massage. It was really weird and kinda pointless but relaxing after a while. We then headed back to pub street and played a couple of drinking games and then went clubbing. We had a great night and all went swimming at 5am which may not have been the greatest idea but was pretty fun...
day 15
Got to learn to start updating my blog daily, keep forgetting where i've been and whats happened.
Got up early and booked a bus to siem reap. As always with buses it was horrible, but this one was especially horrible. There was no aircon and the bus was tiny, even i struggled with leg room let alone the giant candian sitting opposite me. I got a tuk-tuk to the hostel i had booked which took about 40mins and only cost $1 (although they are very slow). I stayed in a dorm room with 6 other people who were all really cool but 3 of them left an hour after i checked in (they swore it wasn't because of me) so it became quite empty. The hostel it's self was pretty awesome, it had a pool table, a table football, a pool, tv room with loads of films and most importantly a good selection of hammocks.
When happy hour started ($0.5 a pint) i went down to the bar with a guy from my room who had just finished a 2month motorbike tour of vietnam with his son. He was really interesting and had some good tips about travelling. We then headed into town to "pub street" to get some food. We had an amazing street food BBQ with a huge steak for only $1.50 and some kebabs. We then went into a couple of the bars which were absolutely packed despite it being a sunday. As it was just one long street there was so much competition that the drinks were incredibly cheap and everyone was trying to drag you in. I also found a great place that did normal pizza for $4 or the happy hour special of "happy pizza" for $3. I resisted the urge but we saw 2 french guys who were a right state.
I realise most of these blog posts are just me recounting how drunk i got i'm trying to make them more interesting but i don't think theres too much i can say about a bus ride...
Got up early and booked a bus to siem reap. As always with buses it was horrible, but this one was especially horrible. There was no aircon and the bus was tiny, even i struggled with leg room let alone the giant candian sitting opposite me. I got a tuk-tuk to the hostel i had booked which took about 40mins and only cost $1 (although they are very slow). I stayed in a dorm room with 6 other people who were all really cool but 3 of them left an hour after i checked in (they swore it wasn't because of me) so it became quite empty. The hostel it's self was pretty awesome, it had a pool table, a table football, a pool, tv room with loads of films and most importantly a good selection of hammocks.
When happy hour started ($0.5 a pint) i went down to the bar with a guy from my room who had just finished a 2month motorbike tour of vietnam with his son. He was really interesting and had some good tips about travelling. We then headed into town to "pub street" to get some food. We had an amazing street food BBQ with a huge steak for only $1.50 and some kebabs. We then went into a couple of the bars which were absolutely packed despite it being a sunday. As it was just one long street there was so much competition that the drinks were incredibly cheap and everyone was trying to drag you in. I also found a great place that did normal pizza for $4 or the happy hour special of "happy pizza" for $3. I resisted the urge but we saw 2 french guys who were a right state.
I realise most of these blog posts are just me recounting how drunk i got i'm trying to make them more interesting but i don't think theres too much i can say about a bus ride...
Friday, 20 May 2011
Temp blog post
End of day 10
We went wandering the town for somewhere to eat and matt found this awesome little local place that did nodle soup and not much else. It was super cheap and delicious, and despite the locals laughing at us for not knowing what to do with all the spices and sauces it was great fun. On the way back to the hotel we bumped into a canadian guy who had been on our night bus to hue.We decided to all go out for a beer which turned into several and then i found a place that served vodka redbull buckets for $1.50. The night gets a litle hazy from then on but got some great stories...
Day 11
Perhaps the buckets weren't such a good idea as we had to be up and out at 8 to go see the cu chi tunnels. Draging our selves out of bed we made it down to the hotels breakfast (omelette and bread) and then onto the bus for our tour. We were massively delayed leaving while the driver tried to get people in off the street in order to fill up the bus. Me and Matt chose the worst possible seats which weren't fixed down properly and had no leg room so the journey there was pretty bad. Once we arrived we saw a massively pro-vietnam film on the war against the "the american devils" and then our guide showed us round the site. It was the same as last time but still pretty cool seeing how the built the tunnels and how intricate they were. I managed to fit down the same hole i did 3 years ago (thanks to the fantastic diet that is "paying for your own food", side note but i've lost about 2kg already). I then (and the significance of which is lost on all but my family) went through the tunnels! They turned out just to be dark tunnels as i had suspected. Later on we went to the shooting range where matt fired a pretty big machine gun.
We returned home around 3 so went to check in to our next hotel. It was incredible, a true 5 star hotel. the room was huge and had loads of free stuff to nick! After checking in i went to get my passport sorted so walked down to the embassy. Apparently i needed a copy of my flight itinery and was told to come back tomorrow.
On returning to the hotel we went for a swim in the pool and some guests that were leaving gifted us a half drunk bottle of rum as they couldn't take it with them, result!
In the evening we went out for a meal at a different noodle place which was nice but not as good as the first.
Shattered from the early start we decided just to go to bed and fell asleep to some CSI on the TV.
Day 12
Really shit day sorting out visa.
That sentence pretty much sums up the day but i'll elaberate for those of you that have nothing better to do.
I went to the embassy at 9 and handed in all my documents and she said come back at 3 and it will be ready.
I returned at 3 and had to pay $180 for this new temporary passport (will have to get a proper one for more money when i get back to the UK). It also listed the countries and the exact days i'll be visiting them so i don't have any flexibility anymore so had to count visiting laos out. Next i had to get a new visa as the old one was lost with my passport. After waiting around for an hour (apparently no one knew what a queue was) i eventually saw the man who could give me a new visa. He said it would be a week before i could get a new one. I explained that i didn't have a week as i had to get a bus tomorrow. He said if i wanted it tomorrow i'd have to pay $200 and $25 for the visa. I told him i didn't have the money for that, all he had to do was use a stamp, it takes 2 mins. I soon realised it was just a bribe for him and so tried to haggle him down. After 30mins of getting nowhere and shitting myself that i'd be stuck in nam for another week i resorted to crocidille tears. Not my proudest moment but got him down to $25 and $25 for the visa. He said come back at 9 tomorrow to pick it up. Exhausted and broke we resorted to having instant noodles in our 5 star hotel room before getting an early night.
Day 13
Got up early and had the an awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel, with cearal, bacon, omelettes etc.
Headed off early to the visa place to make sure i had enough time to catch my 12:00 bus. i arrived at 8:30 and was told that he had to wait for his boss to arrive at 9. At 9 i asked again and he said his boss would be late in, try again at 11. I told him i had to catch my bus and he said he could do it earlier if i gave him another $100. I told him i'd wait. At 11 i asked agin and he said his boss is still not in and that he would do it for $75. I told him i really needed to catch the bus so he said wait. At 11:15 i begged him to do it as i'd miss the last bus for the day. He opened his draw, took out my passport and gave it to me. He had it done the whole time. WHAT A WANKER!!!
I then rushed back to the hotel to pick up my bags, said goodbye to matt who was going home and let him know i was all sorted then rushed to the bus station to catch the bus. In typical asian style the bus didn't leave until 1:30 while the driver rounded up passengers to fill out the bus.
After a small delay at the border while they tried to work out what my emergency passport was we got into cambodia. On the bus ride i was sat next to a cambodian girl who had been studying in america for the last 2 years. She was really nice and told me what to see and where to go etc. She even said she'd take me out to the clubs where all the locals went instead of the western bars but i was knacked so i said i meet her tomorow. We eventually arrived at 8 and i got a moto to the cheapest hotel i could find. $1 a night but you get what you pay for. The owner had to remove 2 cockroaches from my bed when we entered, there was no fan or air con, one of the windows was missing glass and there was no shower, just a squat toilet. I was so tired i didn't care and just fell asleep.
Day 14
I got up early and promptly checked out. I quite like cheap and rough places as it's part of the experience but i needed a shower. I looked up a hostel for $6 a night online and it was awesome. Had a pool, a pool table, really friendly staff and was prety central. I spent the day doing cultural stuff inlcuding s-21 prison and the killing fields which is harrowing and i probably should have done them on seperate days. I saw far too many dead bodies and skulls for one day. To cheer myself i up i went to the market and seeing as i had run out of clean t-shirts bought myself a couple of new ones to tie me over until i could find a launderette.
On returning to the hostel i bumped into the canadian from the night bus again and we went for dinner. It was really nice and super cheap. Later that evening we met up with the cambodian girl from my bus and she took us to loads of great abr and clubs. Drinks were crazily cheap and things got a little hazy after the first couple of bars but i have some great stories.
We went wandering the town for somewhere to eat and matt found this awesome little local place that did nodle soup and not much else. It was super cheap and delicious, and despite the locals laughing at us for not knowing what to do with all the spices and sauces it was great fun. On the way back to the hotel we bumped into a canadian guy who had been on our night bus to hue.We decided to all go out for a beer which turned into several and then i found a place that served vodka redbull buckets for $1.50. The night gets a litle hazy from then on but got some great stories...
Day 11
Perhaps the buckets weren't such a good idea as we had to be up and out at 8 to go see the cu chi tunnels. Draging our selves out of bed we made it down to the hotels breakfast (omelette and bread) and then onto the bus for our tour. We were massively delayed leaving while the driver tried to get people in off the street in order to fill up the bus. Me and Matt chose the worst possible seats which weren't fixed down properly and had no leg room so the journey there was pretty bad. Once we arrived we saw a massively pro-vietnam film on the war against the "the american devils" and then our guide showed us round the site. It was the same as last time but still pretty cool seeing how the built the tunnels and how intricate they were. I managed to fit down the same hole i did 3 years ago (thanks to the fantastic diet that is "paying for your own food", side note but i've lost about 2kg already). I then (and the significance of which is lost on all but my family) went through the tunnels! They turned out just to be dark tunnels as i had suspected. Later on we went to the shooting range where matt fired a pretty big machine gun.
We returned home around 3 so went to check in to our next hotel. It was incredible, a true 5 star hotel. the room was huge and had loads of free stuff to nick! After checking in i went to get my passport sorted so walked down to the embassy. Apparently i needed a copy of my flight itinery and was told to come back tomorrow.
On returning to the hotel we went for a swim in the pool and some guests that were leaving gifted us a half drunk bottle of rum as they couldn't take it with them, result!
In the evening we went out for a meal at a different noodle place which was nice but not as good as the first.
Shattered from the early start we decided just to go to bed and fell asleep to some CSI on the TV.
Day 12
Really shit day sorting out visa.
That sentence pretty much sums up the day but i'll elaberate for those of you that have nothing better to do.
I went to the embassy at 9 and handed in all my documents and she said come back at 3 and it will be ready.
I returned at 3 and had to pay $180 for this new temporary passport (will have to get a proper one for more money when i get back to the UK). It also listed the countries and the exact days i'll be visiting them so i don't have any flexibility anymore so had to count visiting laos out. Next i had to get a new visa as the old one was lost with my passport. After waiting around for an hour (apparently no one knew what a queue was) i eventually saw the man who could give me a new visa. He said it would be a week before i could get a new one. I explained that i didn't have a week as i had to get a bus tomorrow. He said if i wanted it tomorrow i'd have to pay $200 and $25 for the visa. I told him i didn't have the money for that, all he had to do was use a stamp, it takes 2 mins. I soon realised it was just a bribe for him and so tried to haggle him down. After 30mins of getting nowhere and shitting myself that i'd be stuck in nam for another week i resorted to crocidille tears. Not my proudest moment but got him down to $25 and $25 for the visa. He said come back at 9 tomorrow to pick it up. Exhausted and broke we resorted to having instant noodles in our 5 star hotel room before getting an early night.
Day 13
Got up early and had the an awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel, with cearal, bacon, omelettes etc.
Headed off early to the visa place to make sure i had enough time to catch my 12:00 bus. i arrived at 8:30 and was told that he had to wait for his boss to arrive at 9. At 9 i asked again and he said his boss would be late in, try again at 11. I told him i had to catch my bus and he said he could do it earlier if i gave him another $100. I told him i'd wait. At 11 i asked agin and he said his boss is still not in and that he would do it for $75. I told him i really needed to catch the bus so he said wait. At 11:15 i begged him to do it as i'd miss the last bus for the day. He opened his draw, took out my passport and gave it to me. He had it done the whole time. WHAT A WANKER!!!
I then rushed back to the hotel to pick up my bags, said goodbye to matt who was going home and let him know i was all sorted then rushed to the bus station to catch the bus. In typical asian style the bus didn't leave until 1:30 while the driver rounded up passengers to fill out the bus.
After a small delay at the border while they tried to work out what my emergency passport was we got into cambodia. On the bus ride i was sat next to a cambodian girl who had been studying in america for the last 2 years. She was really nice and told me what to see and where to go etc. She even said she'd take me out to the clubs where all the locals went instead of the western bars but i was knacked so i said i meet her tomorow. We eventually arrived at 8 and i got a moto to the cheapest hotel i could find. $1 a night but you get what you pay for. The owner had to remove 2 cockroaches from my bed when we entered, there was no fan or air con, one of the windows was missing glass and there was no shower, just a squat toilet. I was so tired i didn't care and just fell asleep.
Day 14
I got up early and promptly checked out. I quite like cheap and rough places as it's part of the experience but i needed a shower. I looked up a hostel for $6 a night online and it was awesome. Had a pool, a pool table, really friendly staff and was prety central. I spent the day doing cultural stuff inlcuding s-21 prison and the killing fields which is harrowing and i probably should have done them on seperate days. I saw far too many dead bodies and skulls for one day. To cheer myself i up i went to the market and seeing as i had run out of clean t-shirts bought myself a couple of new ones to tie me over until i could find a launderette.
On returning to the hostel i bumped into the canadian from the night bus again and we went for dinner. It was really nice and super cheap. Later that evening we met up with the cambodian girl from my bus and she took us to loads of great abr and clubs. Drinks were crazily cheap and things got a little hazy after the first couple of bars but i have some great stories.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Day 10
Dreaded night bus turned out to be dreadful again. No toilet, tiny leg room (even for midgets like me), me and matt the only non-vietnamese on the bus so no one to talk to and no sleep. May have to reassess my plans about getting another 6 throughout my journey....
We arrived at the hostel we thought we wanted to stay in at 6am and it was closed so we moved on to the second choice. They only had $20 a night rooms but tired and desperate for the toilet we checked in. We were told the room wasn't available until 9 but managed to get in at 7:30. The room was fine, just what we wanted, apart from the fact it was on the 7th floor with no lift.
Absolutely exhausted we crashed until 12 before i insisted we do something with the day. We crawled out of bed, got lunch and headed out into the city. We helpfully answered a couple of questionaires from vietnamese university students about whether or not we had eaten ho-nog soup (aparently chicken and noodles) during our time in vietnam.
We eventually found our way to the war remnants museum which was pretty impressive and had changed significantly since the last time i visited. It was very harrowing especially the floor dedicated to prisoner torture and the effects of agent orange. Next we went to visit the palace but it was closed, so we took a couple of pictures from the outside and said we'd go back if we had time later this week. Obviously feeling the effect of the sun (or my dad has finally got to me) i suggested the botanical gardens, matt must have also been feeling the sun as he agreed. Half way through the walk it started chucking it down and thinking that trying to see the gardens in the pouring rain was a bad idea we got a taxi home. It's now 6:30 and we're waiting to have dinner and then see what the club scene is like in Vietnam's capital!
We arrived at the hostel we thought we wanted to stay in at 6am and it was closed so we moved on to the second choice. They only had $20 a night rooms but tired and desperate for the toilet we checked in. We were told the room wasn't available until 9 but managed to get in at 7:30. The room was fine, just what we wanted, apart from the fact it was on the 7th floor with no lift.
Absolutely exhausted we crashed until 12 before i insisted we do something with the day. We crawled out of bed, got lunch and headed out into the city. We helpfully answered a couple of questionaires from vietnamese university students about whether or not we had eaten ho-nog soup (aparently chicken and noodles) during our time in vietnam.
We eventually found our way to the war remnants museum which was pretty impressive and had changed significantly since the last time i visited. It was very harrowing especially the floor dedicated to prisoner torture and the effects of agent orange. Next we went to visit the palace but it was closed, so we took a couple of pictures from the outside and said we'd go back if we had time later this week. Obviously feeling the effect of the sun (or my dad has finally got to me) i suggested the botanical gardens, matt must have also been feeling the sun as he agreed. Half way through the walk it started chucking it down and thinking that trying to see the gardens in the pouring rain was a bad idea we got a taxi home. It's now 6:30 and we're waiting to have dinner and then see what the club scene is like in Vietnam's capital!
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