Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

BITE-SIZED ENTRY

Morning bus from Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia was uber-comfortable as I had quite possibly the best seat(s) on the packed bus: just behind the stairs in the upper level there was heaps of legroom, plus the seat beside me was empty.

Scenery along the way was excellent and the Boards of Canada tunes from my mp3 player only added to the atmosphere.

We arrived at the Bolivian border around 3 hours later. No problems crossing over, although we were highly encouraged by the bus attendant to change our money at a specific office on the border which "had a toilet". Wooh.. I'm sold! (he forgot that the bus from Puno also had a toilet). I changed $20 just to have SOME Bolivian cash, and then I'd change the rest once I arrived at Copacabana and got a better rate. The rate at the border was 6.9 ... in Copa I got 7 ... not much difference tbh.

On arriving at Copacabana (2nd time I've been at a place with such a name!... and every time, the damn song enters my head!) I had a nice lunch of Tikicaca truncha (trout) for about $2 and then onto the boat to Isla del Sol. I bought my ticket at the port itself, and it only cost B$ 10 ($1.20).

Bolivia was already proving to be as cheap as it's famed to be.

Boat to Isla del Sol showed us the first views of the Cordillero Real: a stunning snow-covered series of peaks in the near-distance. A constant fresh breeze blows off these mountains across Lake Titicaca which is why it gets so damned cold at night (about 0C - 2C).

On arriving at Isla del Sol we had to pay an entrance fee for the island (I would later discover that there would be biletos for visiting various parts of the island, but these could be avoided by approaching the areas later on in the day as I discovered the next day...), and then there was a HUGE uphill trek to the main town center. Everyone was struggling. It's hard enough to carry around 30kg on your back at 3,200 metres altitude, but to then have to tackle a huge staircase for 40 mins is exhausting. Not only that, but you're prey for every hostel-tout who line the staircase trying to convince you that the pain will end if you go to their nearby hostel.

I persevered though. I'd read that there were a nice selection of hostels up around the church area, and indeed there were a ton. All of them were completely haggable. I got offers for private rooms for as little as B$ 35 ($4.50) with shared bathroom, but the best deal was B$ 50 ($7) for a huge double-bed room with windows on 3 sides that had an INCREDIBLE view of the lake and Isla de la Luna. Breakfast included. Score! Only problem seemed to be that the woman in charge was hardly ever there. Many times I saw tourists arrive and then wander off when no response came. Clearly she needs a course in "how to be greedy and run a business properly".

The Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna islands are sacred to the Inca, who viewed them as the birthplace of the Inca.

That night I had dinner under a milky-way sky. The stars are amazing here. Beautiful place.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

BITE-SIZED ENTRY

In the morning took a private boat to the Isla de la Luna at around 11am as there didn't seem to be any tours leaving from the Isla del Sol at that time. Initially priced at B$ 220 I got it down to B$ 140 ($20) to rent out a whole lancha for 4 hours including 1 hour travelling between the islands each way.

On arriving I headed up to find the Templo de la Luna. Couldn't find it for ages. Walked for about 4km before I saw it down on the other side of the isle as I was heading back to the boat! Building is in a state of almost complete ruin, but the setting with the snow-capped Cordillero Real mountain range as a backdrop make it a stunning setting. The building also features distinct relief detailing on the walls, which makes it VERY unusual for an Inca temple (usually these are just plain brick structures).

On getting back to Isla del Sol around 4pm, I had a small break, eating a tiny egg sandwhich, and then I intended to get to the northern side of the Isla del Sol island to see the Templo del Sol. No boats going (again!) so I was going to have to walk it. That's 8km. Each way. At an altitude of 3190 metres!

Walking up to the North wasn't TERRIBLY hard. Most of it is downhill, and I made it in around 1 hour 50 mins, with enough time to see the temple and surrounding sights before the sunset at 6.30pm.

Sunset was damn nice, although the previous day's one was better as there as less cloud.

Walking back was SO HARD. I'm talking nigh-on-Kilimanjaro levels of tiredness here. Mucho cansado! Not only that, but as the sun had set and it was a new moon, it was pitch dark, plus freezing at about 3C. Luckily I had packed along my 2 fleeces and headlamp.

I somehow managed to struggle back to Yumani after about 3 hours walking in the freezing cold. I ordered a pizza in the restaurant, but despite my best intentions to keep awake, I fell asleep on the table after ordering!

I haven't been this exhausted in so long. That's what walking 20km at high altitude in one day does to you.

At least I worked off all the excess weight I put on after the huge meals I had in Cusco

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

After my stint on Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca where they obviously have no Internet service, but surprisingly DO have mobile phone reception (!) I've just uploaded a chunk of images from Peru, namely Cusco and Puno (launching point for Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian side)

Took the morning boat from Isla del Sol for 25 Bolivian ($3) at 8.30am, arriving back to Copacabana about 10am.

From here I'm heading on to La Paz at 1.30pm. When I get there I intend to check out the infamous "World's most dangerous road" (aka "Death Road") downhill mountain bike tour for tomorrow or the next day. One of the main things I'll want to know if there's any serious uphill (my knee is at me after the massive 20km uphill trek yesterday) and, of course, do they have elbow pads. Don't want to shatter my OTHER elbow now. Having one metal elbow is enough thank you very much.

After you complete the tour you get a cheesy t-shirt. Bonus!

OK so I've got about 1 hour before my bus leaves ... I'll try to write up some blog entries, but as my upcoming itinerary is so solidly packed (1 month and 11 days left to take in the rest of Bolivia, plus Argentina, and parts of Chile including a week on Easter Island) I'm going to have to start writing shorter bite-sized entries (a typical blog entry for me takes about 1-2 hours each!)... I'll update them all in more detail when I get back home...

Boracay, Philippines

Boracay is another tiny island off an island (this is a geographical feature that we've loved - see Gili Islands and Malapascua). It is also the most famous tourist area in the Philippines. No wonder, it has great diving, kitesurfing and a 4 kilometre beach of the powdery white sand. We decided to spend as much time here as possible. A week should be enough. We found a nice but basic bungalow near the centre of the beach and got to work on our tans.

The beach has a fish market (D'Talipapa) where you can buy incredibly fresh seafood, around the sides of the market are restaurants that will cook your purchases for a small fee. We soon found a favourite restaurant, called Sababi. Their cooking was probably much the same as the other restaurants but their staff were brilliant. Mabel in particular looked after us royally and welcomed Ciara with a hug on arrival. For reasons that we didn't want to question, Oysters were about the cheapest thing to buy in the market. We were eating kilos of them each day. Delicious!

We also discovered an amazing hotel at one end of the beach. The Asya Resort was about 2 weeks away from fully opening so were delighted to welcome 2 backpackers looking for a brief taste of luxury. We had a great lunch there and returned the next day to try their brownies on the beach. Between the Oysters, the brownies and a near permanent Happy Hour, Boracay was ruining our wedding diets.

To try and make amends we decided to try some physical activities. First up was Kitesurfing. We'd tried our hands at this a few years ago in Greece, so we thought it would be easy enough to pick up again - like riding a bike?  Not so much. No, we were dragged screaming through the water from one end of the beach to the other!  We nursed our bruises over some San Miguels and yet more oysters and were right as rain the next day. We also managed to fit in a dive around the Crocodile Rocks (no crocs just a croc shaped rock).  It was a really great dive, loads of illuminous coral and friendly fish.  We even saw some sea-horses - how cute! (Although apparently they were pipe-fish, a near cousin of the horse himself) Well they looked like galloping sea-horses so we were delighted!  What a great way to top off an excellent few weeks in the Phillipines.

Malapascua, Philippines

We had had a bit of trouble finding anywhere to stay in Malapascua, all the places in the guide book were full, so we just called all the numbers we could get hold of to try to find a bed.   So with no idea what to expect we set out for Tepanee Resort.  Our hosts Andrea & Sylvia met us on the beach and showed us to our room.  The resort is in a beautiful spot on top of a hill in between 2 bays and overlooking both of them.  Sylvia appeared to be leading us towards these gorgeous beach view cottages, but being backpackers we expected her to at any minute take a sharp turn down to the cheap seats.  She didn't though, and we couldn't believe our luck when she handed us the key to our cottage. 

What a view! We had a fantastic stay on Malapascua, and it's hard to say what we did other than relax. The island has a real desert Island feel, there are no roads, no atm's, no hawkers, and of course the obligatory free roaming roosters. The islanders were very friendly and always up for a chat.  The lady at the bakery even asked David if she should by a hat she was trying on when he called into her shop! It was hideous - but what could you say!! One of the main attractions of Malapascua (apart from the tranquillity) is the Thresher Sharks that congregate around the island.  Ciara unfortunately had a cold so couldn't dive, but David lined himself up to take on the sharks alone (well with a guide). So up he popped at the crack of dawn. Raced to the dive shop and off they went with high hopes of a shark encounter. Two hours later he was back in bed feeling sorry for himself. No sharks - just jellyfish, stinging ones.

dunkerque, France

Je suis en couple avec Nicolas depuis un peu plus de huit mois maintenant. On s'est connus via des amis pendant une soirée Guitar Hero, il a été impressionné par mon talent et m'a proposé de « venir jouer chez lui ». Tout se passe à merveille, on s'entend vraiment bien et on se ressemble sur beaucoup de points.
Evidemment, il y a un « mais » : Nina, son ex, avec qui il est resté en bons termes. Je dirais même en très très bon termes. Nina est évidemment célibataire à Grenoble et passe beaucoup de temps chez nous. Même quand on prévoit une petite soirée en amoureux, elle vient et s'installe avec nous. Bien sûr, Nico ne réplique pas et, accrochez vous bien, elle lui demande de lui apporter à boire et de lui faire des massages... devant mes yeux !
La semaine dernière, j'ai aussi appris que pendant que j'étais en déplacement pour rentrer un client important, elle a dormi chez nous, et pas sur le canapé... Je suis désemparée, mon homme idéal n'a pas l'air de se rendre compte de la situation et trouve presque normal que son « amie » puisse dormir chez lui... Son amie oui, son ex non !

Cusco, Peru

Took a collectivo bus up to see the ruins of Tambo Machay, Puca Pucara, Qenko and the plan was also to get to Sacsayhuaman, but alas it started raining REALLY heavily and was getting dark at 5pm so I had to postpone that for the next day. The best way to see these ruins is to get to Tambo Machay and then walk downhill from there along the main road back toward Cusco (the sites run alongside the main road)

I forgot to mention that to get to any of these Inca sites you have to buy a 10-day Tourist Ticket which costs around 50 euro! It's crazy that they don't offer a 2 or 3 day one for people like me who won't be able to take in all the sites.

Tambo Machay was a water temple and it's a fairly small site, but it has some remarkable water features which still function today as well as they did 600 years ago. The site would have been used for ritual cleansing by shamans or other high-ranking folk.

Puca Pucara was a site that was believed to have been a fort, but recent religious excavations at the site have lead others to suggest it was a religious location. More stone-walled ruins, nothing particularly spectacular, but it does have a rather large rock in the center that is believed to have been used as a model for Machu Picchu when they were designing the site. It does bear a remarkable resemblance to Machu Picchu, but this is all theory and it could just be pure fluke that the rock was shaped like that!

While at Puca Pucara, I got chatting to a guide called Xavier, and somehow he convinced me to take him along to the next site (I'm not usually keen on guides as it's usually pretty hard to take photos at your own pace) but he offered me a "Christmas Present" (his words) of a 50% discount so I thought I'd try it out for the next site.

The 3rd site, Qenko, was about 4km further down the road so we hopped it in a Collectivo. It's very different from the other sites, as it contains a large formation of rocks with caves and ceremonial burial "windows" that would have housed mummys (apparently in Peru, mummys were actually sold to tourists as little as 30 years ago. The only way you can see a mummy today is in a museum). There was a large rock near the entrance to the cave that once was shaped like a puma and was covered in gold and silver (these metals having no value to the Inca). Of course when the Spanish arrived they destroyed the rock, thinking that it was a heretical symbol. But apparently on Summer Solstice you can still see the shape of a puma in the shadow cast by the rock.
These little bits of info came from my guide, so in a way it was good to have him for this section. He also guided me through the cave and showed me a ceremonial table where mummies would have been prepared, and an area where llama sacrifices took place. But predictably I found it quite hard to get time to take photos without him standing in the way, or trying to drag me onwards, so I decided to call it quits with him at Qenko and then I'd try to tackle the last site near Cusco: Sacsayhuaman.

But at this stage the rain, which had been precipitating slightly all day, decided to downpour heavily and also brought the temperature down to such a level that I could see my breath! I had only brought a tshirt so an emergency sweater-buying was on the cards. I ended up getting an alpaca sweater which did the trick, but I also got a bit of a chill and now I've got another case of the flu/sore throat to contend with. Doh!

Back to the hostel pronto...

Cusco, Peru

Yesterday was a fairly non-eventful day as I spent the whole day just buying souvenirs. I was ruthless in my haggling ability. There were tears and I'm sure I didn't make any friends, but I got my stash for about 50% the original price and that makes bargain-hunting-Pete happy

I then went and posted the lot home, along with a chunk of clothes I haven't worn ONCE on the trip. 5kg in total. Postage costs came to around 45 euro and there should be a large cellotape-wrapped cardboard box winging it's way to ye back home!

Today was gonna be my first encounter with the Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley. I took a precarious bus up to the town of Pisac through steep winding roads along cliff edges that are gradually giving way due to the recent extreme weather. Occassionally we'd encounter a mudslide that had freshly formed overnight, and the driver would have to navigate his way over it. This in a bus with no suspension and crammed tightly with poncho-wearing villagers.

First thing on arriving at Pisac, though, was to check out the infamous Sunday market (something that the Rough Guide *spit* even recommends as one of the top 20 things to do in Peru). And it didn't disappoint: people arrived in from villages throughout the Sacred Valley, the women carrying their babies on their backs, sometimes with herds of llama in tow to carry the goods back. It was a photographic dream, and I spent several hours here hiding out in the shadows so that I could capture the locals with my zoom lens. I even went and bought some more damn souvenirs... I don't know what it is, but I really like the Peruvian touristy kitsch. So ...erm.. that's a huge alpaca rug that's now crammed into the bottom of my backpack, plus some other stuff which will probably never see the light of day when I get back to Eire!

After having had my fill of cute kids and bartering locals, I decided to venture up to the main attraction of Pisac: the ruins of an Incan citadel.

The route up to the ruins was closed due to a collapsed bridge and yet more landslides, so my only option was to get a taxi up. The driver took it upon himself to be my guide, even though I just wanted to get a lift up there and then wander around myself. It took the help of an Argentinian tourist to explain this, so the driver said I had 1 hour and to meet him in the car park. 1 hour clearly wasn't gonna be enough, but he ran off before I could explain. The guy was gonna have to wait around 2 hours for me until I got my fill of photos ... he wasn't gonna get paid until I got back anyway.

The citadel looks down onto a valley of ancient terraced slopes that served as preventative measures for landslides (the modern Peruvian could learn a lot from the Inca in this respect... apparently landslides happen in the area every 4-5 years!). The actual citadel is, as I would discover over the coming days, a typical Incan site consisting of walls of huge blocks amidst narrow passageways and stairs up to the Temple of the Sun which sits at the top (and where you can get a spectacular view of the rolling mountains). The Inca didn't decorate their walls or carve elegant patterns as the Mayan did. Instead, elegant stonework is the trademark of Incan architecture. Huge blocks of limestone are slotted together in a seemingly random pattern, but the pieces all fit together so perfectly that you cannot see any mortar between (on many occasions they didn't even need mortar, so stable were the structures).

The views up here were spectacular too. Even when it decided to downpour heavily and I had to don my uber-fashionable poncho!

Back to the hostal, and I proceeded to begin the torturous itinerary re-calculation due to the whole Easter Island/Pantanal avoidance.

Easter Island was a tricky one for me, though ... after deciding to give it a miss in my last entry I started to have serious doubts about that decision. If it was just a case of money, then I knew I would regret it later on. I felt the Moai were calling to me like sirens across the ocean (I must be drinking too much of this Coca maté tea!).

I was going to have to put it back on my itinerary, crazy-pricing system or nothin'. So Easter Island, I'm comin' for ya!

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vi har stresset oss gjennom hele 3 land siden siste oppdatering. Etter Kina dro vi til Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia i 23 timer. Det ble en hektisk dag med speed sightseeing. Vi fikk god hjelp av en kolleaga av faren til Celine som tok oss med paa malaysisk lunsj. Der spiste vi med hendene, og det var mye nye smaker. Hun gav oss ogsaa en masse tips for dagen. Og vi rakk alt vi ville se utrolig nok. Alt fra caves til "twin towers", men det kuleste var lunsjen. Hun tok med seg rundt 10 kollegaer til, saa vi ble en ganske sto gjeng.

Vi spanderte paa oss litt lukses den natten, i og med at vi var fryktelig slitne. Dagen etter tok vi flyet til Bangkok for aa bli der i 2 netter. Baade Lise og jeg hadde sendt hjem alle klerne vaares, saa vi maatte ut paa stor shopping av kler! Saa naa har vi begge faat ny garderobe. Shopping var stor sett det vi gjorde i Bangkok.

Deretter dro vi til Laos! Reisen fra Bangkok var laaaang. Vi tok forst natttoget til en by i Thailand like ved grensen til Laos. Nattoget var en opplevelse for seg selv. Det var trangt, primitivt og varmt og stappfullt av folk. Men vi hadde det fryktelig koslig forde. Vi tok en tuk tuk til grensen for aa skaffe visum. Det tok sin tid. Vi er ogsaa utrolig skeptiske av oss, vi tror at alle vil lure oss hele tiden. Det gjor at ting tar tid!! Men paa den andre siden blir vi aldri lurt, og ting blir riktig. Vi tok saa en bil til et guesthouse i hovedstaden. 50 kr natta, og rommet var kjempe fint me eget bad og tv til og med! Smaa gleder... Ulempen var at det var lite tilgang paa vann, saa ble ikke mye dusjing paa oss. I Vientiane saa vi paa buddah parken og en del andre severdigheter, for vi dro videre til Vang Vieng (her er vi naa). Hovedgrunnen for at man drar hit er for tubing. Kort fortalt er dette at man sitter alene i en tube og stopper ved ulike barer som ligger ved vannkanten. Dette skal vi prove oss paa idag. Guesthouset vaart ligger midt i byen (byen er ekstrem liten), og vi betaler 25 kr natten og vi har eget rom med bad! Kjempe deilig. Etter Vang Vieng er det litt uklart hvor vi skal enda...

Vang Vieng, Laos

Naa har vi kommet oss til Laos! Det er et kjempe fint land, som baade har flott natur, varmt vaer, hyggelige mennesker og er kjempe billig! Etter vi var to dager i Bangkok, tok vi et kjempe primitivt, men veldig greit nattog opp til grensen i Thailand. Det var deilig aa ligge hele natten aa vugges i soevn! Naar vi kom frem til grensen ble det veldig mye styr ettersom vi er veldig skeptiske og vil vurdere alle alternativer for aa ikke bli lurt, men til slutt fikk vi ordnet oss baade visum og stempel og en minibuss som kjoerte oss inn til hovedstaden!

Vientiane er en veldig koslig liten by, som ser mer ut som en landsby enn en hovedstad! Det er veldig internasjonalt der saa det var veldig god mat, og de fleste kan engelsk! Det eneste som var ganske saa ekkelt var at det krydde av masse gamle menn der som proevde seg paa soete unge Laos jenter om kvelden! Vi var kun der i to dager foer vi dro videre til der vi er naa, Vang Vieng!

Det er et fantastisk sted, hvor det meste egentlig dreier seg om aa ha det goey, baade med tubing, drikking, se paa tv og oppleve naturen! I dag tenkte vi aa proeve tubingen paa elven! Det er masse backpackere her saa det skal bli veldig goey!

Bangkok, Thailand

A quick update- met up with my gap group on Monday- all really nice and lots of different nationalities. Our tour leader is really cool and funny. He took us to a really nice restaurant - I had the nicest Yellow Thai curry, then afterwards we sat outside and had some thai beer and listened to some live music. The atmosphere was great- the whole place has such a vibrant buzz to it! The temperature in the evening is nice and warm - day time is quite humid but bearable-just!

Had a great day today-though we had a pretty early start! We went on a long tail boat along the river- it was so fun but really fast and got splashed a fair bit! It was fascinating seeing all the houses- such a contrast- some huge houses right next to really basic wooden houses- all built on or right next to river. We saw some HUGE! fish. The guide gave us some bread to feed them-which would have been fun had these fish not jumped so high and splashed (dirty!) water all over me! hehe. but was good fun.

We then got off the boat and went to the golden palace and Wat Po- both were amazing! they're such beautiful buildings. We had a local guide (who lives slightly north of Bangkok) so really knew his stuff-he was fascinating and we learnt loads about the buildings aswell as the Buddist way of life.

Then a few of us went for lunch near Khao San road -and had a much needed sit down and a coke! Did a bit of shopping and then back to the hotel to get ready for our overnight train to Chang Mai! We get the train at 6pm and its 12 hours- we are going first class - which means air con! thank goodness! Looking forward to going to Chang Mai.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Battambang, Cambodia

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Ban Lung, Cambodia

Durban, South Africa

It's been a joy to cool my heels here in Durban for the past three days.  That much time on game preserves is nice, but it does give one a very distorted view of Africa.  Durban is one of the hosts for the upcoming World Cup and has a population of around 3.5 million.  There are just so many little amenities that we take for granted in the city; you never think about them until they are not available.  Also, South Africa is so large that traveling without a car is more of a challenge than one might expect.  It's the little transportation fees here and there that eventually add up to surprise you.  Oh, speaking of which, I found out that there is a difference in price around here depending on which cab company you use.  I'm not sure it's legal, but there's a cab company here called Triangle Cabs that has these make-shift, very fast meters in their cars.  Also, after I got in one of their cars and gave my address yesterday, the guy takes off and half way out of the driveway he says "you know the cost is 70 Rand, right?"  What?! I'd taken a legitimate cab service to that exact location earlier that morning and the total charge was around 25 Rand.  Absolutely not, stop the car!  He says, "Wait, wait sir. That's the normal price. What taxi company did you take before?"  I said, "somethinglegitimate, with a meter."  He pulls a meter out of the glove box and starts off again, but I notice that the numbers are turning extremely fast; much faster than the legit cab I'd taken earlier.  Stop the car, your meter is way too fast!  Long story short, he agrees to a set price of 30 Rand, but he also leaves his meter on.  I was right.  When we got there his meter read around 50 Rand.  OK, maybe it's just one crooked guy, right?  Nope, the same thing happens later that night when I return to the same exact location!  His meter is around 42 rand.  Anyway, I told him his meter was way too fast and that I'm going to report him to the city.  Suddenly he starts coming up with disconnected explanations and "accidentallly" gives me back too much change.  Those guys are thieves.  If anyone out there knows the proper authority to report them to, please let me know and I'll follow up.

So, I guess city life has its drawbacks as well as advantages.  On that note, I'm off tomorrow to a tiny city down the Wild Coast.  The backpackers lodge there looks quite nice and it's right on the beach.  I don't know whether their swimming and surfing areas come equipt with shark nets (like they do here in Durban, where cage diving into Great White Shark territory is a tourist industry), but some time listening to the surf is always a plus in my book.

Clark, Philippines

Hi all, we are doing a few days stuttering around really in order to catch a flight to Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, mentally we are already there we just have to catch a few flights and actually get there.

For the last week we pretty much carried on in holiday/relaxed (ok lazy) mode and thoroughly enjoyed our last week on Mactan island near Cebu. We talked to lots of people there, easy to do with friendly Philippino people, they were almost but not quite our friends, with a heavy heart we left that lovely restful place. Me and Liz did a brainstorm exercise yesterday about what we liked and disliked about the Philippines. The result was 60-40 positive, a similar exercise in the United States was 80-20 negative. Here are some quick reflections on what we have found here.

It was great to see Rick's lifestyle and to meet up with his lovely immediate and extended family. Rick introduced us to lots of local fruits, most of them we have never come across before. The country is blessed with a fantastic natural environment, including of course the wide variety of fruits, that is in stark contrast to much of the extremely shabby built environment. Very few roads have pavements and those in the cities are poorly constructed, often having service pipes crossing them above pavement level. Crossing roads looks impossible until you try it and it can be done, but pedestrians are given zero consideration by drivers and have to take their chances. We have become used to cocks crowing, it is a myth that they crow at dawn, they crow throughout the day and annoyingly through the night. There was one crowing in the concourse of busy Cebu airport yesterday. Philippino people love karaoke. It is common to hear a big production song being belted out (mostly badly) by a person, often on their own, at breakfast time. People are happy, they smile all the time, there must be a link to the hot weather, it even makes me smile. Our chats with locals have been helped by them speaking at least some English, to their credit they often speak multiple languages. There is little birth control here due to religious, cultural, social and family reasons. Families are far too large, a chap we spoke to a few days ago was one of twelve children. This lack of birth contol must account for much of the poverty in the country. Labour is cheap here, but that does not excuse the lack of plant, tools and proper equipment that is missing on jobs, we have seen some hair raising sights. The flip flop is the normal footwear used in the workplace. As a simple example in our last beach resort the owners had commisioned some room furniture to be built. It was made by joiners in the stone car park with nothing but rudimentary hand tools. There was no bench, no woodworking machinery, no vice, no stools for them to sit on, just the stone floor. The finish that the joiners produced, given the working conditions, was excellent, but it could never achieve the quality that should be required of a piece of furniture.

We will miss some aspects of Asia, we will definitely miss the low prices, even with the pound still going south. We are though, very much looking forward to Australia, we will let you know how we get on. Love Liz and Andy.

Bangkok, Thailand

Well here I am in Bangkok!! I've actually impressed myself that I made it here- and everything has gone so smoothly! I've lost all concept of time and my body is completely confused as to whether it is day or night!! But right now I'm just really happy that I have made it here! I arrived at the hotel about an hour ago and one of my first thoughts was 'great-theres internet access so I can update my travel blog!' hehe. I will aim to see some sights at some point too!

My flight left Heathrow at 9:20 am (British time) - I'd travelled to Heathrow on the Friday night & stayed over in a hotel near to the airport - my family very kindly offered to come with me so it was lovely to have them wave me off! I was in a state of complete calm when arriving in Heathrow- and didnt really get too nervous at all about thought of going on such a long journey alone. I think the fact I was sooo tired meant that I didn't really get too nervous - as all I was thinking was how tired I was! - We didnt get to bed until about 1am on the Friday night (later than originally planned- due to a combination of factors- to name a few- leaving Wales later than planned, roads being closed, random detours, being caught on speeding camera (innocent mistake!), stopping at a pub for much needed drink, packing/unpacking backpack at arrival of travelodge for about 20th time that day! before finally getting to bed at 1am.)

Now I am definatly NOT a 'morning person' and setting my alarm for 6 am to get to the airport on time pained me somewhat! I thought I would be too excited to sleep but somehow managed. For the first time ever I practically jumped out of bed when my alarm went of at 6am -a mixture of excitement to be going and panic I would miss the plane if I slept to my desired 10am Saturday lie in time.

I flew with Etihad airways-first time flying with this airline- and I was very impressed. My assigned seat was a window seat-and I had just sat down and unpacked my books, magazines etc and was thinking how am I going to get comfortable - as leg room was minimal! when the stewardess asked if I was travelling alone? I said yes I was and she asked if I would mind swapping seats with someone-meaning I would be in a seat with about 3 times as much leg room! I jumped at the chance!- she said a lady sitting there was too cold so wanted to move- I said I didnt mind at all swapping! great! and they gave us blankets so wasnt that cold anyway, the other bonus was that I was then sitting next to a really friendly Australian so we got chatting which was nice to pass the time and a distraction from letting myself get nervous!

The in flight entertainment was awesome! I was almost disapointed it was only a 7 hour flight to Abu Dhabi (changover then to Bangkok) as there were about 10films I really wanted to see but flight wasnt long enough to watch them all!I managed to watch a fair few things though. The food was quite good too-it's the first plane I've ever been on that gives you an 'a la carte' 3 course with coffee menu card ! for you to make your choice!! Arriving at Abu Dhabi and going to departures for connecting flight was pretty easy and quick and the Australian knew where they were going so I just stuck with him-until we separated at our gates. It's a nice terminal- I think it's failry new. I was only waiting to board the plane for about 30mins so wasnt hanging round waiting much at all. The next plane was with Etihad so looked exactly the same practically as the one I'd got off an hour ago-though slightly different seat layout. Though unfortunatly this time I wasnt lucky with the legroom-and felt quite squashed in my seat! and also had a dodgy tv screen so everything I watched was flickering! oh well- i needed to get some sleep anyway. The flight was due to arrive in Bangkok at 7am local time (12am my time!) so I knew I was gonna be pretty tired when I got here. I didnt think I'd ever get to sleep as every time I was dropping off the whole plane would violentally rattle! from the turbulence and wake me up. But I fell asleep for about 40mins- it was so weird waking up as when I had fallen asleep it was pitch dark (still night time to me!) and then woke up 40mins later in bright sunshine! (Still nightime to me!) so I'm trying to convince myself it really is morning time and I dont need any sleep until at least 8pm Bangkok time! this is gonna be tough! which is why I thought I would go straight to the hotel-and as I'm here to early to check in-best get on the internet and get blogging to try and keep me awake!! So far so good!! Hopefully I can check in to my room soon and freshen up then go for a little wander around Bangkok!

Nazca, Peru

The plan was to head to Cusco this evening on the overnight bus, but when I went along this morning to buy the ticket at the CIAL station they didn´t have any spare SINGLE row seats, so I possibly would have had to share a row with someone else which isn´t a good thing when the bus would be rolling left and right up sharp turns all night.

The only option left to me was to book the bus for the next day.

This meant I had a day to just relax, read email, and snooze all day. I haven´t had one of those in so long, so it was welcome!

In the evening I went to visit the rather good "planetarium" in the Nazca Lines hotel, which gives a very educational history of the lines and what archeologists THINK they were used for. The theories range from "messages to God", "pointing to sources of water", "mapping of stars", "calendars based on summer/winter solstice", to "rock n roll loving aliens" (ok maybe that last one is mine).

They also believe that the Nazca would have danced along the lines to pray for water.

No one really knows their purpose even after a German lady, Maria Reiche, spent her entire life trying to unravel the mysteries. The planetarium is an homage to Maria, who not only single-handedly cleaned up debris that had accumulated on the lines over the centuries (that´s 300km squared of surface-area folks!), but also instilled a pride in the history of the Nazca among the local Peruvians.

Definately recommend the planetarium.

Cusco, Peru

The 14 hour overnight bus from Nazca to Cusco was surprisingly comfortable, and I managed to get some good sleep on the "almost-fully-reclining" seats on the CIAL bus. We drove up on VERY windy roads through the Andes mountain range and I can only speculate at the various altitudes we must have gone through during the night as my ears periodically popped every 30 mins or so, not to mention the temperature dropped to around -8C so I was very glad to have brought along my 2 fleeces (the guy in the CIAL office said I would be fine with a tshirt as the bus was equipped with a heater, but I don't recall the heater being used at all!)

No more mariachi movies this time though, thank God!

Come morning, we were served our "desayuno" breakfast of ...er... crackers and juice. I opened the curtain and peered out to an exceedingly dramatic landscape of steep mountains and gushing rivers. The Andes has been plagued with heavy rain over the past few months (which is consequently why Machu Picchu has been closed to visitors until April due to the extensive route damage) and we could still see clear evidence of sections of road that had been washed away, making the dual-lane road into a single lane for short distances. Rock outcrops from the surrounding mountains precariously hang over the road, and these too have lately been collapsing onto the road. Even this morning we had a 2 hour delay at one point because a section of road had to be cleared of debris that had fallen down overnight. Thankfully the Peruvians seem to be on top of it and they have large bulldozers are regular intervals on the road ready to deal with the situation. To them, our bus is another cashload of tourist dollars so the last thing they want to do is prevent us spending them in Cusco!

This two hour stop was actually at a beautiful section beside a fast-flowing river, and I got some great shots which I'll try to add up later. Plus it was sunny, and some enterprising locals had set up a food stall serving delicious fish and potatoes!

On arriving into Cusco this morning, some 3,310 metres above sea level, we were greeted with the usual onslaught of touts trying to get you into their hostels, but I'd already decided on the area I wanted to stay: the artistic barrio of San Blas. So I haggled for a 4 sole ride in a taxi, and we ventured northward up to San Blas in a steady uphill drive (the city of Cusco is built on a hillside so you're constantly battling with uphill/downhill as you wander around). When I gave 10 soles to the taxi driver, he gave me back a 2 sole piece and 1 sole, instead of a 5 sole piece and 1 sole. You've got to be careful of this in Peru because the 2 and 5 sole coins look almost identical! Cheeky bastid, but I got the 5 off him in the end! I think the bar in Iquitos tried to pull off this one on me when I was inebriated too... at the end of the night I was 10 sole short of what I should have been, but again I spotted it and managed to get it back no probs!

So Cusco then. I gotta say, I really REALLY like it! It's touristy, sure, but not so much that it's sold itself out to tourism with tacky shops and English signs everywhere (like gringolandia in Quito, Ecuador). With the year-round springtime-freshness and daytime temperatures ranging between 10C-15C, it's got an almost alpine resort feeling to it. Plenty of cheap accommodation on hand too, with great views over the city from the San Blas point, and I eventually got a great place for 30 soles a night (about 8 euro a night!) including breakfast and private bathroom/internet called Hostal Samanapata. While lugging my backpack around the streets and many steps of San Blas, in search of a hostel, I really felt the altitude hitting me and was frequently breathless. On arriving at the hostel I was given a cup of Coca tea (basically a legal, mild form of cocaine) which helped relieve the symptoms somewhat.

The tiny city's history is incredible. This was essentially Ground-Zero for the huge Inca empire around 500 years ago. The empire was broken up into 4 sections, the north-west/east, and south-west/east, centered around the administrative capital of Cusco. The city was so well developed, with brickwork that rivalled anything in Spain at the time, that when the Spanish took over and established their colony here in the C16th, they left many of the original streets and Inca buildings intact, until a large earthquake damaged many of them in the C17th. Many of the Spanish churches were built ON TOP of existing Inca buildings and you can still see the Inca brickwork forming the foundations and lower levels of these buildings. So it's not just a stop-off point for tours to Machu Picchu, the city is a destination in its own right.

The people here have a distinct "hill-tribe" appearance and probably most-resemble the image conjured up when you first think of "Peruvian people" (the women wearing the large bowler hats and draped in multi-coloured ponchos, the men driving herds of llamas uphills laden with huge sacks, etc). Most of the hill-tribe women in town tend to come into Cusco to sell their wares (and some of it is really nice.. luxurious soft alpaca items such as the famous chullos are among my favourites) and whether you want it or not, they will constantly hassle you to look. Thus you spend 90% of your time saying "No gracias" as you walk around (unless you're looking to buy of course.. at which point they all swarm around you!). Paddy Flaherty's Irish pub (which serves some excellent Shepherds/Cottage pie!) even sell tshirts with "No gracias" printed on it to save you the hassle... but, despite this, Cusco is a lovely, small, clean and VERY relaxed little town to stay in.

Talking of Irish, the place seems to be FULL and I met/saw about 6 separate Irish groups in the first 30 minutes of arriving. This is amazing, considering I've hardly met any Irish on the trip so far (which is very odd), except one couple that I first met in Colombia on the Ciudad Perdida trek, then bumped into them at Nazca a few days ago! I guess they're all here waiting for Machu Picchu to re-open soon...

There is so much to see and do here, plus the alpaca-wool souvenirs are so excellent that I'm considering buying a load and posting them home! I was originally only going to stay about 2 days, but I'm seriously considering doing 4...

Cusco gets 5 stars.

Isla Margarita, Venezuela

Having read a bit about Isla Margarita on the plane, I decided which area (Playa El Agua) I wanted to stay at.  Grab a taxi at the airport and 45 minutes later I'm on the opposite side of the whole island.  I have to walk from place to place looking for a decent place to stay that is within the budget.  Found the perfect place, and they even have wifi. 

The beach on Isla Margarita is really even more beautiful than the pictures I'd seen of it.  White sand, turquoise Caribbean water, and a constant tropical breeze.  At night, the breeze is warm and wraps around you like a thin blanket to keep the cold out.  And that breeze really can gust at points; this made it all the more amazing to me just how many mosquito bites I wound up with in my time on the island.  Those moscas must be incredibly strong fliers or something.  Anyway, the beach is stunningly pretty, but Isla Margarita is for sunbathing only.  There are no other services to speak of.  I had to take a taxi to another town in order to pull some Bolivares out of an ATM (cajero automatic). 

Meanwhile, the Serie del Caribe is indeed going on here on the island, but it's way on the other side.  Metered taxis are somewhat rare around Playa El Agua, and the gypsy taxis, I discover from my hotel receptionist, Maria, are notorious thieves.  She wants them gone altogether and implores me not to use them.  Alright, then, how exactly am I supposed to get over there to the location of the Serie.  Take the bus.  Now for anyone who hasn't taken a bus in South America before, you might not understand the madness this option entails.  For example, although it's packed and standing room only from the very back of the bus to the front door, a local vendor is closing up for the day and gets on my bus with a huge board of sunglasses.  He'll be back tomorrow to hawk them again, but he's taking them home for the evening.  There's a guy who sells giant lollipops standing next to me and his bucket full of colorful suckers is driving every kid on the bus mad.  Much pleading with mama is going on around me.  There are no announced stops; you just have to know where to get on and off.  The bus driver is about 15 years old and throughout the entire 45 minute journey, the huge speakers in his tricked-out bus are blasting some throbbing house beats.  Seriously, it seemed to be one song the whole time, punctuated every five or ten minutes by a deep, pre-recorded voice saying "DJ Edgar!"  Anyway, I figure we've got to be getting close by now and spot the stadium, but the stop is not central.  Apparently, the stadium is on the outskirts of town.  Whatever, this has got to be it.  Through sheer force of will, I snake my way to the front of the bus and jump off the next time the driver sort of slows down.  Sweet, I made it.  Time to watch the Serie in its penultimate round (that night, the deciding game would be played between Dominican Republic, the eventual winners, and Puerto Rico, the runners up).  Anyway, let me in please.

Now comes the shock.  Even for crappy seats in the very corner of the outfield, second deck from the field, tickets are running over 100 bucks US.  Excuse me?  I know my Spanish is feeble, but did I hear you correctly?  Indeed I did.  Crap, I have nowhere near that amount of cash on me, the stadium has no ATM, and they are charging a hefty surcharge for the use of credit cards.  Also, with a credit card, you can only buy certain sections, none of which are all that desirable.  Meanwhile, of course, I'm being hounded by vendors and scalpers like a swarm of bees.  ‘Eff this, I need some breathing space.  So I walk the entire circuit around the stadium thinking about the situation.  At one point, somebody whistles at me and I look over to see a cop waving me over.  Oh boy, this is getting better.  Basically, I was wearing a backpack and stalking around the stadium with a grim expression on my face, so these cops started to suspect that I was a terrorist looking to blow the place up.  OK, Spanish, time to step up.  While one guy is searching my backpack and the other is staring me up and down, I engage the latter by saying how much I like their motorcycles, I ride a motorcycle myself, I tell them, oh, hey, do you guys happen to know of Pablo Sandoval the baseball player?  He's great, I say, and he plays for my team: Los Gigantes de San Francisco; Venezuela could sure use him in the Serie, what with their lack of offense and all.  The one holding my backpack looks up and says, "You know Pablo?"  Yes, I say, the fat guy who can hit like there's no tomorrow.  We spend the next five minutes talking about the upcoming major league season.  Anyway, I complain to them about the outrageous ticket prices and they just nod and roll their eyes.  Later on, when I'm watching the game on television, I distinctly notice that the stands are virtually empty.  It's almost as if the organizers don't want people to attend these games live.  Weird.

OK, I can't afford to be splurging to this extent so early in the trip, so it's off to the main road to hail a taxi, any taxi.  Incredibly, I hook up with a metered taxi whose driver is a sports fan and recommends a few nice places to watch the game.  There's a sort of sports bar down by the beach.  Done!  Ten minutes later, I'm in the bar and they really do have decent facilities.  In fact, they have multiple screens.  Since it also happens to be Super Bowl Sunday, I ask the bartender if they can get that here.  "Claro," he says, and flips one of the tvs by me onto the Super Bowl, which is just about to start.  Here I am, on the beach, in the Caribbean, watching both the Super Bowl and the Serie del Caribe simultaneously, while drinking one dollar beers.  Life can be kind some times. 

Caracas, Venezuela

So, the RTW trip officially kicked off when I arrived early in the morning in Caracas.  As has proven to be a recurring scenario throughout the trip so far, I showed up with only a two day reservation that was made at the very last minute before leaving for the airport in LA.  That sense of "where will I sleep tomorrow" will pretty much a constant thought for the next six months; this is a phenomenon that I discovered on my last trip of this scale.  Anyway, off the red-eye flight and immediately have to start haggling with cab drivers over fares.  Wind up finding one for around 40% of the price the first guy gave me.  [Really, if you aren't prepared to bargain when you're traveling, then you're dead meat.  You'll run out of money three times as fast as you otherwise would.]  When I get to my hotel, it's posh.  I mean they're doing live interviews in the lobby with what I take to be oil executives and government representatives.  No, this isn't what I had in mind at all.  Well, a couple of days of luxury won't kill me.  I'd already pre-paid, so the die was cast. 

In an attempt to get on local time, I drag my tired body out to the streets and am immediately overwhelmed.  Caracas is hot, smoggy, and teeming with people.  Between the humidity and all the black smoke billowing out of the mass of cars present in the capital, I already know that this venture out won't be a long one.  Now, Caracas is somewhat peculiar in terms of its layout.  The entire city (minus the hillside slums) is laid out in a sinewy valley.  It stretches out quite a distance, but it isn't particularly wide across at any point.  What I'll soon discover is that this topography is a real handicap for someone new to the city trying to explore on foot.  The area around my hotel, the Gran Melia, is a perfect example.  The area is called Sabana Grande and it alternates, street by street sometimes, from the relatively residential to the decidedly commercial to the downright sketchy.  With no foreknowledge of the area, I err on the side of caution and stick to the shopping and commercial areas to see what there is to offer.  Really, though, it's pretty run of the mill.  That said, I already notice that there is constantly music coming from somewhere.  If I had to peg a characteristic of Caracas street life, it would certainly by the ubiquitous music.  An hour or two of this and I'm feeling a bit bored, a little hungry, and really quite tired.  OK, food it is.  Lots and lots of generic type restaurants in the commercial area, but I'm looking for something more authentic.  After a while, I find a small Criolla place that must be good.  Every seat is taken and there's a line inside as well as one outside.  The take-away line is much shorter, so there we have it.  Twenty minutes later, I'm back in the hotel with my Criolla chicken, plantains, some unidentifiable soup (which was quite tasty), and that old Latin stand-by, a Fanta soda.  Flip on the tellie and (miracle of miracles!) there's baseball on.  Excellent!  More on the baseball later.

The next morning I'm having a bit of a lie-in when suddenly the sky cracks open with some 500 decibel sound.  Boom, there it is again; and, again.  What the hell is happening?  Finally, from my window I make out the culprit: a low-flying fighter jet.  Fighter jet?  Boom, roar, boom.  OK, now I'm really wondering what the hell is going on?  Turn on the television and they're broadcasting the planes.  Is Venezuela at war all of a sudden?  Nope, it turns out that I've arrived just in time for the anniversary of the Bolivaran (Chavez) Revolution.  For the remainder of the afternoon and into the early evening, Chavez is on every television channel giving one of his infamous rambling polemics.  Seriously, it went on and on and on.  Let's put it this way, I headed out to the exceedingly non-descript local park, stopped to watch some kids play baseball in a schoolyard for a few innings, and had a late lunch.  When I returned to my hotel late that afternoon, around the time the beisbol was showing the day before, Chavez was STILL on television giving the same speech.  I'd heard that the guy could ramble on, but it's a whole different perspective to be on the spot while he's holding the local audience captive to hear him out.  I watched part of it but had to give up after his hundredth use of the expression "el imperialismo yanqui."  This is a strange environment with Chavez's media blitz running non-stop.  He's obviously trying to create a cult of personality regime down here, but it's truly astonishing to watch the guy's conviction that he's some sort of demi-god.  Being soaked with cash from the nationalized oil industry has certainly enabled his goals.  Thank goodness the country is baseball crazy.  My God, come to think of it, his speech even preempted the baseball game that was scheduled to start.  That's a cardinal sin in Venezuela.  On television, they're showing these poor people dressed in suits, sitting out in the direct sun during this whole diatribe, politely clapping when El Jefe has made some point of note.  What an ordeal!!

OK, back to the baseball.  I've discovered that it's the Serie de Caribe (sort of the Caribbean World Series).  The champions from the Mexican, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Venezuelan leagues meet every year at the end of their Winter seasons to battle it out round-robin for the Championship of the Caribbean.  No matter who you pull for during the season in your respective league, everyone in the country gets behind the champs from their country during the Serie de Caribe.  In Venezuela, a team from Caracas won the title by upsetting a traditional powerhouse out of Maracaibo.  Well, it turns out that the Serie de Caribe is being held in Venezuela this year, on some island called Isla Margarita.  Hmm, should I check it out?  Caracas is proving too much to handle as a first stop on this long trip.  I already know that if I'm heading out to see other parts of the country, I won't be going west.   Seems there's a persistent FARC presence near the Columbia/Ecuador/Venezuela border there.  Outside of guerilla-active areas the most common trouble is knife-point muggings.  Gotta love police states where the police look the other way for street crime.  Anyway, a little web research on Isla Margarita is all it takes.  The place looks like paradise!  Immediately book a flight the next day on some tiny Venezuelan airline (amazingly, even Venezuela has more open air travel competition than the colluded monopoly in the US).  OK, first capricious decision made.  Let's see how it turns out.

Bangkok, Thailand

Da har jeg faatt reist litt smaaturer til forskjellige land! Etter Australia saa dro vi den 14 timers lange flyturen opp til Beijing i Kina! Det var en lang tur, men jeg fikk sett ekstremt mange filmer paa turen, noe som var veldig greit! :D

Naar vi kom til Beijing var det ekstremt kaldt, og de varmeste klaerne jeg hadde med var tights og en tynn genser, saa dagens foerste oppgave ble aa dra til et marked aa faa kjoept seg en billig jakke! Vi klarte aa prute ned en Peak vindjakke til under 200 kr saa vi var godt fornoeyd! ETtersom vi hadde landet klokken seks om morgenen saa hadde vi mye igjen av dagen, og dro derfor til Den Forbudte by og Den Himmelske Fredsplass! Det var kjempe stort og doeds vanskelig aa finne frem der, men vi klarte det til slutt. De andre hadde booket seg inn paa et hostel kalt Happy Dragon, som var heller litt av det primitive slaget! Mens jeg derimot fikk bo paa et kjempe fint hotell, ettersom jeg moette pappa i Beijing! Det var kjempe koslig aa se pappa igjen, og paa kvelden gikk vi ut og spiste god kinesisk mat!

Ettersom han jobbet paa dagen dro Tina, Celine, Ingrid og jeg til perlemarkedet og fikk kjoept oss litt smykker og perler, foer vi dro til New Marked og kjopte solbriller og annenslags dilldall! De snakker ekstremt daarlig engelsk i Beijing saa vi fikk vi pratet med ekstremt enkel engelsk "You, us drive, that place" og saa hadde vi masse adresser paa kinesisk paa et ark! Paa kvelden spiste vi middag med to av pappas kollegaer og spiste ektre kinesisk Hot Pot middag! Den kvelden proevde jeg mer ukjent mat enn jeg har gjort i hele mitt liv tror jeg! Noe var godt, og noe svelget jeg ned med stor motvilje!

Loerdagen brukte pappa og jeg til aa handle paa New Marked, og jeg fikk meg en kjempefin vinterkaape som jeg gleder meg til aa bruke i september! Soendag bare trasket vi rundt og forberedte oss paa at vi skulle dra til Tianjin, paa et olympisk treningsenter som moren til Tina fikset for oss, men selvfoelgelig snoedde det natt til mandag, og hele turen ble avlyst, saa vi hadde to dager til to kill i Beijing! Den ene dagen dro Ingrid, Celine og jeg til muren (Tina ble ikke med ettersom hun har gaatt paa den to dager foer). Det var kjempe stas for det var masse flotte fjell rundt med lett snoe!

Paa onsdag dro vi videre med flyet til Kuala Lumpur! Vi hadde i det hele 23 timer aa bruke i Malaysia, og vi brukte de godt! Torsdag morgen stod vi opp tidlig og dro aa saa paa en hule med et tempel i! Det var masse aper rundt der, som gikk aa stjal ting fra mennesker som gikk der, veldig soete men ogsaa veldig frekke!! ETter dette spiste vi lunsj med en kollega av faren til Celine, og mange av hennes kollegaer! Vi fikk proevd et skikkelig malaysisk maaltid hvor vi maatte spise med hendene og alt! Resten av dagen brukte vi paa aa traske rundt i byen! Det som er morsomt i Malaysia er at blondt haar tiltrekker seg mye oppmerksomhet og vi foelte oss som en blanding av en attraksjon og kjendis!

Paa kvelden dro vi videre til Bangkok, som vi naa er i, og vi skal bruke dagen paa aa shoppe klaaeer!!!! :D

Nazca, Peru

Will write up this entry later ... but to put it bluntly.. amazing, if short, trip over the lines.

Quite nerve-wracking if you're like me, though, and prefer aisle seats on planes

The bottle of Havana Rum I smuggled aboard helped tremendously... I'm probably alive today (not having jumped out of the plane in a fit of panic) thanks to that.

Amazon River, Peru

Apart from an early morning "Huacari monkey" photo-shoot (again the monkeys were HIGH up in the trees so photos weren't great... the others thought that I would be able to see them better with my camera zoom lens... nope, just larger silhouette is all) we didn't do any touring until the afternoon so mainly a chill-out day.

While hanging around I got restless and took a canoe out onto the river by myself to see more dolphin action (Delfin Lodge really does live up to it's name). The current on the Amazon rivers are really strong (this is why the water remains brown as the silt can never rest at the bottom) and I had a tough time navigating upstream. Coming downstream was blissful though.

At lunch I had piranha (I had to ask Bear, the guy who runs the lodge, for this the night before) and it was actually really tasty. I wanted to make sure the head was on it when I got it too for the photo opp

That night we went out on a really excellent series of excursions. The 4 French people who had been staying in the camp with us had gone so we got to use their faster speedboat (yay! no more dodgy slow paddle boat! you could even stand up on this one!).

(meeting the French people made me realise just how much French I'd lost, now that it's been replaced with Spanish!)

We went out to a huge lake connected off one of the rivers to see huge lillys and much fauna including alligators (we even got to pick up one of the little baby ones. Really solid bodies!). Beautiful mirror reflections abounded and the air was so clean and fresh it was really nice after the series of hot sweaty days.

Later on we went to visit Falcon's home village called "Liberta" whose Green-White-Gold town flag is not unlike a certain other countries!

Here Falcon was due to play a football match with his mates (they do this once a week). We were invited to play, but these guys were serious as there was money involved so you'd have to be really good to join in, so I preferred to take the role of sport-photographer I also got some great shots of the riverfolk.

Later that night we celebrated Falcon's 30th birthday in style! All the guys in the lodge (about 6 Peruvians, plus myself and Emmanuel) took the boat out in the pitch dark up to a small village. 4 rather small huts on stilts, and then one large hut in the middle which served as a nightclub (of all things). When we arrived, we had to wake up the owner to open the place (this reminded me of the time I was in northern Vietnam and a bunch of us backpackers did the same thing!). A crazy night ensued, drinking so much crap beer and really REALLY bad rum that everyone was wrecked.

We had a serious incident though. Unbeknownst to me the youngest member of our group was 18 and had never had a drink in his life, yet here he was throwing back shots all night long. I was amazed at how he kept such a composed demeanour all night, but he was basically trying to be "cool" and didn't want to show any weakness so he kept on asking for more. Then it happened. He fell flat on his back, completely knocked out. Eyes rolled up to heaven. Nothing would wake him up.. he even stopped breathing...

I have to cut this short as I need to pack my bags.. but needless to say we managed to get him back to Delfin Lodge (Bear had to carry him on his shoulders) and in the morning he was alive and well .. if not looking wrecked. He certainly learned a lesson.. as did I .. I'll never assume that all persons present at these sorts of events are there of their own free will rather than dragged along through peer pressure.

Scary stuff!

Amazon River, Peru

(rapid version.. will update later if necessary)

Early morning swim in the Amazon river at the lodge's front at 5am was a great way to start the day (plus it's the only way you could get a wash out here).

Started to get little bites on my back when I got soapy (the fish seem to really like soap)... which were getting progressively nastier, so I got out fairly quickly. It wouldn't be until the last day when I would finally see just exactly WHAT was biting me! (The guys in the lodge said they were just sardines.. but I don't think sardines have bites quite that sharp)

We left at 6am for bird watching, but alas we didn't see many birds, but DID see more dolphin jumping out of the water and even a sloth in the tree (wasn't close enough for us to pick it up though!)

Back for brekkie and then off for second rainforest trek where we walked from the camp itself. Lots more unusual planet and ancient huge trees. Saw squirrel monkeys from afar plus I got my first taste of FIRE ANTS. While trying to balance myself in the swampy ground (they gave us Wellington boots thankfully) I grabbed onto a tree, until I felt a searing pain like acid running in a line down the palm of my hand and saw it was covered in fireants! It thankfully only lasted about 5 minutes, but the prickly feeling stayed for a good while. I don't think anyone could survive being covered in those things!

On returning we saw pygmy monkeys in the camp, very close to the bottom of the tree so I got some nice pics. I also say a red palm snake hissing at me then it wandered off. Pffttt.

After a sweaty day in the jungle, it was so nice to have the lodge as a place to wash clothes rather than having to wear them all again (as I experienced in Colombia). Plus clothes tended to dry here easily. The air was very fresh. I always imagined that the Amazon would be stuffy and humid, but that's only in the really dense jungle where the winds can't penetrate.

As soon as I wore the clothes again though, they immediately became sweaty so maybe this is a futile process.

Lunch then fishing in the afternoon up the Cumaceba river. More damn mozzies biting me through my shirt!

We used very basic fishing rods.. just a twig with a line and hook at the end. It worked though. After one frustrating hour, I finally caught something (I gave it such a tug that it launched the poor fish 5m into the tree above before crashing down again!). It turned out my prized catch was actually a parasite catfish .. one that sucks the blood of dolphins and even humans. Nice! The fish is called "Canero". It's certainly not edible, but I was thrilled that my first fish was a freaky predator epitomising the sort of things you can get in the Amazon. By the end of the day I'd caught 3 fish, but two jumped off the line before I could haul them in ... one of them was another Canero ... Falcon, our guide, said that he'd never seen a tourist catch ONE in his 8 years working here... double-cool

Pete Foran. Parasite-hunter!

Beautiful evening on the river on way back with purple/pink sky. More dolphins and a star-lit sky made it complete. Even the mozzie infestation that night couldn't keep me from smiling!

Incidentally .. I was so glad to have my mp3 player with me. Between activities you usually spend several hours just sitting around the camp, waiting for the air to cool down before trekking out again. So a good book would have been a nice idea too... next time!

Amazon River, Peru

Writing up this entry quickly.. will update later with more details...

Left Iquitos at 7am. Joined by a Portuguese-Canadian guy called Emmanuel who was going to be my roomate for the next 3 days. We first drove a 150km trip to Nauta in the south, which cut out a lot of the time required for boating down the river from Iquitos. Arrived 10am and had brekkie in an "affiliated" restaurant. The huge indoor market across the road would have been much more fun though as the place was packed with people selling anything and EVERYTHING "edible" that the Amazon can produce (and that's a lot).

From Nauta, took a motor boat up the Yarapa river to a point a small landing zone where we disembarked and crossed over to a paddle canoe waiting on the other side for the last leg to Delfin Camp arriving around 12pm. It felt so "Amazon-ing" (sorry... jungle-humour) to be finally on the Amazon river (or it's tributaries at least, the actual Amazon river would be crossed on my last day in Iquitos!).

We had lunch then took the paddle canoe up to a track in the rain forest about 20 mins upstream. Travelling in the leaky paddle boat with murky brown water literally one inch from the top on either side of the boat was a little disconcerting at first. The slightest jolt or movement of your legs would have the whole thing wobbling side to side! Quickly enough I could relax and enjoy travelling down the river admiring the beautiful trees and birds flying across our path.

When we went for the jungle trek, the mozzie onslaught began. Despite doing all the "right" things like wearing white shirt and covering myself in jungle perfume (repellent), the bastards showed no fear and were so big that they could even bite me through my cotton shirt and socks!! I can't believe how many bites I got on my feet despite wearing socks all the time! Be warned.

Anyway, apart from the mozzies, the jungle treks were really cool and educational. We saw Tamarin monkeys + hawks + the largest tree in the Amazon. Saw various medecine plants and even a white-chocolate fruit that tasted delicious! They even had a plant that could cure a type of cancer.. plus many other cures were waiting to be discovered. Nature's pharmacy this truly is (I even got some antiseptic from a nearby tree put on my mozzie bites to stop the itching... it worked a charm and my bites cleared up within 2 days!)

Back for chicken (again!) dinner (the lodge we are staying at is owned by a lovely family who we ate with).

Forgot to mention we also saw red dolphin jumping about the place as we came back... the river is so full of life!

Sweaty night with heavy rain and lots of mozzies... it seems that I know now why I never saw any insects in other parts of South America.... they're ALL HERE!

Lima, Peru

The plan was to get to Nazca by bus, a fairly long-ish journey of about 8 hours, and with two main transport options: cheap non-airconditioned bus companies like Flores, or for double the price a huge double-decker Mercedes behemoth with reclining seats with companies like CIAL. I decided I'd try out the cheaper one since the trip wasn't going to be an overnighter, plus 7 hours wasn't too bad. Predictably the cheaper bus had a rather lax scheduling system so, after trekking over to the Flores station I was told in no uncertain terms that there was only 1 bus for Nazca per day.. at 6am! This is despite the Flores website saying they have a bus every hour!

"Fine! CIAL it is!"... I wasn't going to stretch this out any longer, as it was hot, and this situation smelled earily familiar. "When in doubt (or extremely agitated) just shut up and pay up for the expensive option" I always say.

And wow was I glad I chose the latter! Not only was the huge CIAL bus terminal pristine and airconditioned with efficient staff AND punctual buses, but when I went to pay for my ticket and was given the option of upgrading to 1st class for only 2 euro more, this entitled me to enter the VIP lounge where I was waited on hand and foot and given free drinks and snacks while watching the huge plasma TV. "Nice! Now I wonder what the bus is like!"

The bus was pure lush. Literally a hotel on wheels. I wisely chose to get a seat in the single-seat aisle, rather than the double-seat aisle as this ensured no sleepy person would choose to lay their head in me lap. The seats reclined back ALMOST vertically.. well about 150 in total, and were made of soft SOFT leather. The bus suspension was excellent and we were FAST. I'd heard so many good things about the long-distance sleeper busesin South America from my Brazillian friends back home, and now I under stood. Despite it being a day trip from 3-9pm, I actually fell asleep despite myself. Apparently the 2nd class seats don't recline quite as fully, but seriously, when upgrading to 1st class costs only a few euro more, you'd be mad not to go for it! We even got food served to us... Chinese stir-fried chicken no-less!

On an aside note, Peruvians are MAD about Chicken. Pretty much every 2nd restaurant (or practically EVERY restaurant in Lima) I've seen here specialises in boiling/frying/broiling/charcoaling/slicing/dicing our feathered-friends. It's actually really hard to find a place that serves honest to goodness beef steaks or even fish!

One small thing I would mention which I found rather bizarre was the movie the onboard TV was playing throughout the whole trip. It was the most bizarre thing I've seen in a while: basically a Mexican drama about a ludicrious love triangle between 1 slutty girl and 2 men, and she would constantly sway between them, and that pretty much sums up the whole plot. The only thing is, there was no dialog, it was all done through mariachi singing at some bizarre club. Basically guy A would sing to the girl on stage.. she would fall in love with him, cut to the other guy throwing back liqour then taking to the stage himself and singing to her. She falls for him instead. And so on and so forth... I couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole trip! But to be honest if I was on a longer bus trip I think I might go insane... thankfully my MP3 player soothed my ears somewhat.

So eventually we arrived in Nazca... I hadn't really had my heart set on any particular hotel in town, so when a bloke came up to me and said that he had a room with private bathroom and TV, plus internet and breakfast, for only 40 soles a night (that's about 10 euro folks!), I couldn't resist. The hotel "El Mirador" was decent enough, plus looked out onto the main Plaza de Armas (every Peruvian town seems to have one of these) so I was happy enough. The guy then offered to sell me a flight above the lines for the next morning... "Wow this is all happening so fast" I thought, but when I managed to haggle him down to 200 soles for a 3 person flight lasting 40 minutes I knew I had a good deal, so I went with it.

All of this in the space of about 30 mins... not bad, but it was late and I needed sleep

Nazca, Peru

Sorry for lack of recent updates since... erm... 2nd March(!)... been spending my days either getting mauled by mozzies in the Amazon (where there was no 'net access obviously) or been bussing around Peru, or preparing photos for upload.. or just.. well.. doing nothing! It's quite exhausting having to log everything that happens when so much happens on most days   But for posterity I persevere as I'll be grateful for the hard work put in now.

I have a rare window now for about 4 hours where NOTHING is going on, or no flights have to be booked, so I can finally try to update ya on the goings on.

As per the title of this entry, I'm now in Nazca, the town that's situated beside the famous lines (that were put there by rock-n-roll lovin' aliens!). The lines were created by the Nazca people about 800 years before the Inca empire arrived on the scene in C16th. The tribe has since disappeared, having been assimilated into first, the Inca population, and consequently becoming mestizo once the Spanish settled.

The lines are still here though. Perfectly intact over the centuries due to Nazca region's remarkably low rainfall (30cm per annum) and gentle desert breezes that essentially "clean the desert" and prevent the lines from filling in. The reason the lines appear at all is that the top layer of sand is darker than the underlying soft-sand. Unfortunately it´s not possible to drive out and see the lines up close, although you can go a viewing tower which brings you within 50m or so.

They're really remarkable and to actually see something so famous, with such mystery, for yourself is a fantastic feeling.

I'll update the other entries now... tonight I'm off to rainy Cusco taking a bus THROUGH the Andes on a long 14 hour trip leaving at 8pm tonight and arriving at 10am tomorrow... hopefully will get some shut-eye!

MAJOR CHANGES TO ITINERARY

I've had to make some changes to my itinerary for various reasons:

What does all this mean? Well it means that I now have about 10 EXTRA days free that I can play around with. I'm REALLY disappointed about Easter Island as it probably would have been THE highlight of the trip, but I have my principles and refuse to pay extortionate prices.