Published February 24th, 2008
in general.
After much deliberation on modes of transport we decided to hire a
car and travel the bottom west coast of `OZ.
We started our tour of the west coast with a trip to Rottnest Island
just off the coast from Perth. This was idylic and the first time for
us to air the much talked about MSR tent which we lugged al round SE
Asia!
We continued our tour down the coast, south of Perth, all the way to
Albany. This was great stopping at national park campsites in the
middle of nowhere along the way. Evenings were spent attending our
campfire with a wine box for company. The west coast was stunning and
we even managed a few chilly dips in the sea. Unfortunately the
weather was a bit erratic so we had a few wet & windy nights in the
tent but nice and safe and dry in the MSR. The tree top walk high
amongst the tree canopies was incredible, though we did choose to go
on a bit of a blustery day so was a it hairy being this high above
the ground. The other activitiy around these neck of the woods is
climbing the old lookout trees. These are basically the tallest tries
within the national parks that rangers used to climb to lookout for
forest fires. Basically it is a 75m high tree with metal prongs
spiraling the tree to the top. With massive gaps in between. Extreme-
Em of course couldn’t resist but fear got the better of her half way
up as Robster continued to the middle platform! After clocking up
lots of km’s on the hire car we got the car back to Perth in one go
without a scratch or any incidents with kangeroos.
Next stop Melbourne!!!
x
Published October 20th, 2007
in general.
Well, we’ve touched down in Oz and all is well. To say Perth is a
change from SE Asia would be an understatement, and although the
prices may be an unwelcome change, beef pies, pints of beer and flat
pavements aren’t!
We’re Currently in a backpackers hostel (guest houses out here are a
bit more than Asia’s ₤3.50 a night!) with a cheap ozzie wine box;
strangely beers in the pub are at least London prices if not more, but
off licenses sell regional wines cheaply. Tomorrow we’re heading over
to Rottnest island for our first bit of camping- at last I’m glad I
brought the tent with me! Although we don’t know where we’re going to
watch the grand prix at midnight sunday - you lot enjoy watching it at
a normal time!
Next week we’ll be hiring a car to explore the souths national forests
and wineries (in that order of course) before another night in Perth
and our flight to Melbourne!
Off to the dunnie.
RobEm
Published October 16th, 2007
in general.
We’ve landed on our feet in Singapore thanks to Anju & Guy. We’re staying in their gorgeous apartment which is lovely and even allows us to cook, whilst they are in India getting married. Such a shame we couldn’t fly back to be there with them on their special day. Singapore’s great, so clean, weirdly so. We’ve spent each day visiting different areas of the city mainly by foot so have slightly sore feet now. Shopping is definitely the national past time and its a bit hard to resist just window shopping. I have never seen so many shops per square metre! We’ve eaten the best curry in Little India, visited Sentosa Island (which is very plastic fantastic, a sort of man made beach theme park but interesting to see) and checked out lots of cool designer independent shops. Eating in Hawker centres is no doubt the cheapest option and so yummy, you can get any cuisine imaginable all for about £2 a meal.Off to experience Singapore Slings at Raffles this evening (Amy’s recommendation) it would be rude not too.
Sadly I’ve had some sad news that my Grandpa passed away this week which is a bit of a shock and its only now that I seem quite a way from home. He was the most amazing man and it makes me happy thinking he was only mowing his lawn and planting wall flowers last week. We went to the botanical gardens here in Singapore which were so peaceful & beautiful he’d of loved it.
Off to Oz today, can’t belive its been almost 6 months since I left, time flies when your having fun!!
Big love to everyone.
Emily & Robbie xxxxx
Published October 15th, 2007
in general.
What a breezy flight from Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur. You have to love cheap Air Asia flights. It’s a bit of a shock to be leaving that part of SE Asia and are now surrounded with massive sky rises and traffic, you certainly don’t get quite so much for your money here! It’s a whole £1.50 for a can of beer! You can tell we’ve been away from London for a while. We have decided not to extend our flights and so only spent a few days exploring KL before making our way down to Singapore. Only problem is we possibly chose the worst week to travel around as it’s Ramadan so most Malaysians are on the move to visit their families leaving bus and trains full! Finally after much faffing around between bus and train stations we managed to book a bus to Singapore. So we spent a couple of days visiting the sights of the KL, mostly China Town & little India. The Petronas towers are incredible in real life such great architecture although a little scary looking down from the sky bridge! Its a long way down.
Next stop Singapore….
Love to everyone E&R xxx
Published October 9th, 2007
in general.
Last on our whistle stop tour of Cambodia was Siem Reap, home to the spectacular Angkor Wat- the largest religious building in the world. Arrival in Siem Reap was crazy with over eager tuk tuk drivers surrounding us, shouting, grabbing at our bags desperate for business. Unsure of how to escape the situation, we just chose one of them and the rest dispersed. Easy. Mr Lucky was to be our driver for the next day.
Next morning we decided to get up at 4.30 to see Angkor Wat at sunrise which was breathtaking. We wandered around the main temple for an hour or so, found a quiet spot for a ten minute snooze then stopped for breakfast before continuing on to Ta Prohm. The temple is fighting with nature; giant roots pierce the walls and ceilings, entire sections have crumbled. It was also the location for the Angelina Jolie film Tomb Raider so we couldn’t resist doing a few Emgelina Wolie shots! From here we continued onto Preah Khan getting lost in a labyrinth of corridors and then onto Angkor Thom an area which contains another 6 temples including Byon which was one of our favorites with over 216 massive faces watching over us. Phew now we’re templed out.
Sarah was in town with her Mum & Dad, Sue & Graham so we met for drinks and dinner, which was lovely. So good we’ve managed to get to see her both here and Vietnam.
Off to pack now and figure out how to make two 25kg backpacks weigh 15Kg each for our budget flight to Kuala Lumpur in the morning.
Love to everyone
RobEm xx
Published October 7th, 2007
in general.
Goodbye Vietnam, hello Cambodia!
We decided to enter Vietnam via a two day trip up the Mekong Delta
which was swell. Hopping on lots of different boats we got to travel
up the small canals, visit the floating markets and watch the
Vietnamese farmers hard at work in the surrounding lush green rice
paddies.We stopped off at a local village to visit some small markets
and fish farms only to be mobbed by adorable children trying to make a
sell, you can’t resist, well Robbie can. Staying on the boat overnight
was lots of fun although the 5am wake up to visit the floating
markets was a bit of a shock to the system.
Crossing the boarder into Cambodia by boat was easy as we paid someone
$1 to arrange our visa which took out all the hastle and allowed up
continue up the Delta, the only down side was a slightly numb bum from
3 hours on a wooden bench - but we’ll live. Eventually we arrived in
Phnom Penh in time to taste a new cuisine but instead we went for an
Indian again. When in Cambodia.
Next day we visited the sights of Phnom Penh which was both charming
and chilling at the same time. We decided to start with the chilling
and visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum (S21) which was originally a
simple high school turned into Pol Pot’s security force prison and
largest centre of detention and torture between 1975-1979. This is one
place where silence didn’t need to be requested as it leaves you
almost gasping for air as you read and see the unthinkable horrors
that happened here, so recently as well. Almost everyone held here
would later be killed at the killing fields, that’s if they made it
that far. It really was quite terrifying but so insightful in
comprehending Cambodia’s past and present.
After a well needed lunch break we visited the charming side of the
city, the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda which is quite similar to
those of Bangkok and just as impressive.
Next stop was to the coast of Shinanoukville which was a little
disappointing as it rained most of the time so no beach action for us,
though we improved our card playing skills.
We did bump into Jonny the lawyer, this is our friend we met in
Thailand and have since bumped into throughout the whole of SE Asia
and so he deserves a mention in the blog.
Back to Phnom Penh for one last night before heading onwards to Siem Reap….
Love E&R xx
Published October 3rd, 2007
in general.
Back in the big city with yet more motorbikes to dodge but we are pros
at crossing the road now. We stayed in a lovely guesthouse (Madame Cuk
64) which although our room was on the 7th floor had a pulley system
to carry our bags up the stairs phew! We spent a couple of days
checking out the city visiting reunification Place, great 1970s style
architecture, James Bond style! amongst other sites. It was also time for
us to get some haircuts nice and straightforward for Robbie, but a first for
me which was a little bit terrifying, but well worth the £1.50! I also managed
to chip my tooth on a spring roll, luckily I couldn’t feel anything, its a
bit annoying but they were great spring rolls! From HCMC we took a
day trip to the Chu Chi Tunnels which was brilliant. Unbelievably
interesting and our guide fought in the Vietnam war so gave us a full
first hand history lesson. I can’t believe whole communities managed
to live in these tunnels for years on end. We even met a women who was
born underground. We decided to venture down underground and give it a
go ourselves which was incredibly eerie, they have even enlarged the
size of the tunnels to double the original size for us portly
westerners! We were both pretty glad to get out the 100 metre stretch
of tunnels but what an experience. More bizarre was walking through
the jungle whilst hearing guns firing in background from people trying
out all the guns used in the war. Next stop is a boat trip up the
Mekong Delta to Cambodia. We’ve loved it here in Vietnam - you can Sai
(that a) Gon
Published October 2nd, 2007
in general.
Sarah & Tim flew over from Hong Kong for a weeks holiday and we caught
them in Nha Trang on the coast for a couple of days which was swell.
With a nice long beachfront, water sports are the main attraction, S&T
did some wake boarding and we decided to go diving. We dived with
Rainbow Divers who were unbelievably organised & professional which
made for an excellent trip. We saw loads of amazing fish including: a
huge trigger fish, Moray eel, Scorpion fish, Angel fish and founds
hundreds of Nemos! We even got to dive through our first underwater
cave which was simply breathtaking(luckily we have oxygen on our
backs!) It was lovely to see Tim & Sarah if not a little boozy on the
first night and we made use of their lovely hotel hot tub! Another
night train takes us down to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
Love RobEm
******New pics have just been uploaded!******
Published October 1st, 2007
in general.
Hoi An is Vietnam’s tailoring capital (as well as another Unesco town)
with around 500 tailors to choose from! And with unbelievably low
prices that we couldn’t resist. Em was in her element as she could
design her own outfits so she took the opportunity up and ordered 5
dresses, 1 skirt, 3 tops and 3 pairs of shoes while Robbie got a suit,
6 shirts, a pair of trousers and a pair of custom designed trainers
(complete with RH logos!). We also ate at a superb family restaurant
(fried vegetable wontons to die for) before hopping back on the train
to head down the coast with slightly heavier backpacks.
Published September 30th, 2007
in general.
An overnight train journey and a bus ride later and we’re were in Sapa up in the mountains in northern Vietnam, and only 38km from the Chinese border. Its nice to feel the cold after so long in sweltering heat, and the until now redundant fleeces got some use! Amazing scenery too up in the clouds - the view from our balcony especially. Robbie managed to do his back in (partly rock impact from kayaking the other week, partly excessive ten pin bowling, partly increasingly heavy rucksack!) so he took a day off while I did a day trek to the Black Hmong and Red Dzao villages and was followed for all 6 hours by a nice lady villager determined to make a sale! Next day we both took a trek to Cat Cat village which was also stunning walking amongst the greenest rice terraces.Many people cheat and get a motorbike taxi up the hill - not for us! From Sapa an overnight train took us back to Hanoi… only 18 hours to remain awake before another overnight train down the coast. Luckily a lovely guesthouse took us in at 5am and allowed us to catch a nap and do all our washing!
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