India

We've been in India for just over a week now, and have just returned to Delhi after a tour around the 'Golden Triangle' and the Rajasthan area.  It's been a great adventure, although we had to dig deeper into our bank accounts that we had first planned.

Delhi:  We started our tour in Delhi, India's capital city and were driven around the sights.  We visited a few tombs, the Gandhi family memorial, and a beautiful temple built to resemble a lotus flower.  Other than that, our stay in Delhi was short, only one whole day before we set off for Agra.

Agra: The first place we visited in Agra was the Red Fort, a huge fort which was pretty much an entire town, containing many palaces.  The fort even had two defences between three outer walls.  The furthest outside defence was a crocodile infested moat, and if an intruder managed to infiltrate that, they'd have to pass the 'wild jungle' defence, which was apparently full of lions and tigers.  In fact, the emperor had a balcony built so that when he got bored, he could walk out onto the balcony and watch the tigers fighting, as you do.  Obviously the main attraction of Agra is the Taj Mahal, which we visited on our second day in the city.  We were taken round by a guide, which was included in the price of our tour.  It was very helpful to have the history explained and to have somebody we could trust to take our photograph without running away with our cameras.  The whole building was so beautiful, constructed entirely out of white marble, with decorations of semiprecious stones filling the archways with floral motifs.  The Mahal, built as a tomb, is actually larger in real life than it looks in photographs and is built to be entirely symmetrical.  One thing that we learned is that there was an identical Taj Mahal to be built in black marble, but the emperor who intended to build the tomb for himself was imprisoned by his son... it's a long story.  Well worth the visit.

Ranthambhore: Our next stop was Ranthambhore, famous for it's tiger safaris.  We stayed in a lovely hotel with a pool, our first swimming pool in four months!  We did go on safari into the National Park but unfortunately we didn't see any wild tigers.  We did however see an endless list of birds as well as deer, antelope, crocodiles and snakes.

Pushkar: This small city was a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of Delhi and Agra.  A much more relaxed place with very friendly people.  We didn't stay here very long, and didn't do any sightseeing as we were both pretty tired, but we took it as a much appreciated rest stop.  We did enjoy the sunset over the mountains though, casting a brilliant light over the fields that we could see from the wonderful view from our hotel room balcony.

Jaipur: The final stop on our tour of the Rajasthan was Jaipur, also known as the pink city.  We did see a few sights here, as we spent two nights in the city.  We visited another very impressive fort, with equally as interesting history (I'd tell you but all of the fort-related history has become one complicated mass of confusion in my head) as well as two palaces in the city's old quarter, full of pink buildings giving the place it's nickname.

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So far, we have both enjoyed our trip to India.  Temperatures break the 40 mark daily, so it's going to be a big shock coming back home in a weeks time where apparently the daily highs are half a hot (on a good day).  It is true what everybody says about being hassled all the time, but you soon get used to it.  The traffic isn't quite as hectic as everybody makes it out to be but the car horns, my God the car horns are bloody irritating, there doesn't seem to be any situation in which an Indian driver will not use their car horn, whether it's to say 'get out of the way' or 'why is this traffic not moving' or 'I'm on a completely empty street, and am just making my presence clear to all those enjoying the quiet'.  Rant over.

We are both looking forward to getting back on home turf, and we're counting down the days we have left here in Delhi (three whole days after today, for the record).  We could not have asked for a better experience of Asia and there is no part of it that we haven't enjoyed.  See you all very soon!

Hitting the 100 day mark

James and I have now been travelling Asia for over 100 days, we hit our hundred mark here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and we have done, so so much.  Let me begin with our three day Jungle Trek.

We set off and first visited a butterfly and orchid farm, which was pretty bland, so we'll skim over that.  Next stop, the elephant centre!!!  We bought some bananas to feed the beautiful animals and then hopped on (or rather very catiously stepped on) to the seat upon our elephant's back.  He had great character and after every few steps, he'd stop and demand a banana before he continued.  The riding itself was actually much harder work than I expected it to be, almost like a slow motion bucking-bronco, but all in all a great thing to do.

Then, we set off up the mountain, a three hour uphill hike.  It was tough work but when we got to the mountain-top village of the Lahu tribe, we all shared a great sense of achievement (and mutual exhaustion).  Our tour guide, Puzaa, was such a laugh, he was an avid Manchester United fan, and constantly wore clothes related to the team and played United music from his phone.  Throughout the three days, he pointed out lots of interesting plants and wildlife in the forest: rubber trees, tika trees, eagles, tarantulas, a snake to name but a few.  He constantly joked around with us all and kept the morale in our group of eight high.  On the first night we stayed in the village, and in the morning, we were treated to a picturesque view over the valley below all the way to Chiang Mai city.  On the second day, four people headed back to Chiang Mai, as they were only on the two day trek, and James and I spent the rest of the trek with Puzaa and a French couple, so we were challenged to practice our Frech, and we were both surprised by how much we remembered.  The second day's trek consisted of visiting a few beautiful waterfalls, which we swam in, and even showered in (Puzaa provided shower gel and shampoo), all very Herbal Essences.  That night we slept in a jungle camp and stayed up playing cards by candle light.  On our third and final day, we went white water rafting on a river with some true rapids, so that was great fun.  Obviously this account of the trek has been vastly trimmed down to be concise enough for the blog, we have so many great stories!

Since our trek, just yesterday in fact, we visited a tiger park and were alowed into the enclosures to stroke the tigers and have photos taked with them.  We visited the park with two Irish girls who were staying in the dorm we're in.  We all started off with the tiger cubs, each ten months all, so cute!  We tried to formulate a plan to steal one and bring it home, but there were too many locked doors and guards to pull it through.  We then went to see the adult tigers, so that was a little bit more nerve racking, but they are such beatiful creatues and have such a sense of wonder about them.

Finally, James completed a bungy jump of 50m yesterday.  Obviosuly I can't tell you about the experiecne having not done it myself, so here he is.

Hear me now rude boi's! Well 50m may not sound that high compared to the 150m+ jumps that you can do in places like New Zealand and Macau. However, firstly and most importantly it was cheap. Price here out rivals danger, quality of equiptment and staff training. But the experience is still the same, so I wasn't too bothered by the seemingly laxidasical approach to people hurling themselves off a 50m high crane, attached by only a few elastic bands tied together. Secondly, you may turn your nose up at a mere 50 meters, but let me tell you now, when you are at the top, even though I tried my hardest not to look down, it still seems bloody high up! I feel that when you can view miles of Thai scenery uninterrupted, thats when your too high up.
 
The process is very simple; they tie your feet, take you to the crane, they tell you in very broken english where to jump off, the instuctor takes the last few photos displaying my sheer terror, then 3, 2, 1, and you have to jump. For a split second my body told me that it wasn't going to do it, but I leant forward and then I was falling. Before the jump I made sure I didnt look down too much as to not scare myself too much, but as soon as you are falling it is impossible not to see how high up you are, and how quickly you are plumetting toward the ground. The feeling is like nothing I've felt before. It is a huge adreneline rush as you fall so quickly, and then I touched the water of the lake below and then I was catapulted back towards the sky. After the first shock of falling I didn't feel too much of the next part, but I remember bouncing around for a few seconds, then dangling and spinning for what seemed like an eternity, before they lower you back onto good old terra firma. Then you get a picture with your certificate and off you trot. I think it was one of the best feelings I've had whilst being out here, but as to whether I'd do it again, that's another matter.

Laos... in a single post.

So, what with the extreme lack of posts recently, Laos must be summarised in a single blog post, and what a post it will be.

James and I arrived in the capital city of Laos, Vientienne, about two weeks ago.  We only stayed on night as it was a sleepy place with little to do.  We then travelled up to Vang Vieng, home of notorios Tubing in the Vang Vieng, an excuse for tourists like ourselves to get plastered and jump off platforms, swing from ropes and shoot along zip wires into the merky waters of the river below.  I'd probably be lying to you if I said it isn't as dangerous as it sounds.  But hey, don't worry Mum, we're alive, it's just our livers we have to worry about.  It really was a great thing to do.  We met up with the girls from Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, Anna and Elie, and they were with two of their friends from home.  The whole thing was basically yet another opportunity to meet a lot of backpackers and just have a good time.  Another treat that Vang Vieng provides is Friends cafes (which play Friends all day), which is where you spend most of your time when your not on the river or at bars.

After eight days of tubing, we decided that we'd call it time, so we headed to a beautiful town called Luang Prabang, in the North of Laos.  This town shares many similarities to Hoi An in Vietnam.  They are both ancient Frech colonial towns, and both are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  Quite understandably so, the architecture and location of Luang Prabang emphasises its beauty further, on the riverside, surrounded by lush green forests, the town is a maze of Wats (temples) and museums.  It was a much needed rest stop that we appreciated no end.  The highlight was visiting some spectacular waterfalls, located next to a Sun Bear Sanctuary.  Here, not only were we able to admire the picturesque yet powerful scenery of high waterfalls, but we were also able to jump off the smaller ones into the lagoons below, where we swam to cool down.

Laos really was a treat, and one of those countries that a lot of travellers visiting South East Asia simply skip.  There is so much more to the country than just Tubing, many hidden traditions, and even the simple things, like greeting locals makes the whole experience that little more special.

The Rock Long Rock Hard Halong Bay Tour

To finish off our trip to Vietnam, James and I signed ourselves up for the Rock Long Rock Hard Halong Bay Tour, a cruise around the scenic shores of Northern Vietnam run by the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel.  Well, I say cruise.  It ended up being more of a booze-cruise, but one of our highlights so far, by a long long way.  The tour gave us a chance to meet up with a lot of backpackers our age from all over the world.  We made friends from England, Ireland, Sweeden, Denmark, Germany, America and Canada to name but a few countries.

The tour itself was amazing.  For the first day and night, we spent our time on a beautiful traditional oriental ship.  We went swimming in the sea, dived off the boat, and even went kayaking to nearby caves.  When we kayaked back to the ship, it was dark.  The water was full of luminescent phosphorus, so as we paddled, the water around the paddles glowed, it was something else!  The majority of the time spent on the boat was spent playing drinking games (as you can see above), so we both have a lot to bring home.  The whole night was crazy, with some insane forefits and a shocking amount of alcohol consumption, but considering nobody knew each other, everyone got on so so well.  The whole crowd were just there to have a good time, which made making friends easy.

The second day and night, we stayed on a private deserted beach called 'Castaway Island', which was equally as fun as the day before!  James and I went rock climbing (one of the few times we were actually sober whilst on the tour) on the karst cliffs the protrude from the sea everywhere you look, so that was good fun and got the heart pumping.  We also played beach volleyball and countless more drinking games.  Also, late in the night (the remainder of this paragraph contains adult material) we all went skinny dipping in the sea, which was a great laugh, and made especially fun what with the glowing phosphorus in the water.  Magical!

Castaway Island

Sadly, on the morning of the third day, we had to return to Hanoi, having had one of the greatest times of our lives.  We made great friends on the trip and we'll never forget it... not even if we wanted to.

Some of the closest friends we made on the trip were Anna, Elie and David (or Gibsy as he became to be known).  We spent the next few days in Hanoi together, exploring the town and going out at night.  Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Gibsy, but we hope to meet up with him again in Bangkok in a few weeks time.  As for the girls, we are due to meet them here in Laos in a few hours.  It's great to meet people the same age as us with similar interests and senses of humour.  Also, who we can meet up with here, and hopefully back at home.

Louis, Anna, David, James, Elie

We'll be back with a post on  Laos shortly.  Until then, cheerio.

Saigon to Hoi An - The Long Way Round

As many of you may know already, James and I have now completed our motorcycle adventure.  Due to shortness of time and for the physical state of our behinds, we have opted to cease in the beautiful town of Hoi An.  It has been a great journey and we did not see a single Westerner until our last day.  We know a total of three Vietnamese words: 'Hello', 'Thankyou' and 'Beef'.  As you can imagine, this made the whole endeavour a whole lot more exciting.

I am saddened to report that we have now parted from our bikes Fergus and Finnegan, selling them for 40% of their original price.  We shall miss them dearly, if they had such intelligence, we would try and stay in contact, but we have agreed that any efforts would be futile (again, too much of a language barrier).

Hoi An is a beautiful place on the central coast of Vietnam.  It is an old port town, full of French architecture with strong influences from China and Japan.  By night, the town is illuminated by Chinese lanterns, both through the streets and floating on the river that bisects the settlement.  We have been very happy spending that last few days here and the surroundings do not cease to enchant us.  Today we have visited the 'Ancient Town' and discovered the herritage of such a place.  We had a traditional Vietnamese tea and observed the flood measure in a museum that informed us that the town has regularly become immersed in water over a metre deep in recent years.  Finger crossed our feet will stay dry!

James again:
Hey guys, I thought I would write another passage seeing as though we have ended our epic biking session. It will be nice to no longer be the 'Whities' (this isn't what they call us but we think they have a similar nickname to this in Vietnamese), and also to know what we are ordering when we visit resauraunts. We have already found our new local and go there for cheap breakfast and lunch everyday, but we venture to the higher end of the market for dinner. Sometimes we pay up to as much as 2 pounds for dinner. Personally to me that is extortionate, but they have to earn their bread and butter somehow.

Hoi An has already been placed high in my list of top places we have visited. The character has clearly been retained from the many years it has stood, and from the many cultures that have passed through the town, but it still bustles and hasn't lost its energy. It will a sad time when we have to leave in a couple of days, but bring on Hanoi!

Motorbiking So Far

Hello World, we thought we'd give you an update on the biking so far.  Since we purchased our bikes, we have travelled over 700km.  Needless to say we are already a hell of a lot more confident than when we first shakily rode through Ho Chi Minh City.

Firstly, we headed down towards the Mekong Delta, a lush green province South of Ho Chi Minh.  We stayed here a few nights, moving around the different towns and cities.  The highlights of our stay here were a boat trip, where we were taken around many floating markets and met lots of friendly locals who politely pretended to understand what we were saying, and a homestay, where we spent a night in a Vietnamese family's home, on a peaceful river island.  It was a treat falling asleep to the sound of the flowing water as oppsed to our usual fight to get to sleep with all the car horns.

The home we stayed in.

The two of us are now making our way to Hoi An, a town on the Central Coast of Vietnam, we travel on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  We tend to ride just over 100km per day, which takes us between three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half hours on average, including petrol stops and lunch stops.  The scenery is absolutely beautiful, it is what you'd expect of rural Italy, with pine trees, and lime groves, with some great aromas.  The roads snake through the countryside and up and down mountains, it truly is breathtaking.  The whole experience is great fun, although hard, tiring work.  It is an adventure stopping to eat, and stopping at hotels, because the area we are in isn't well travelled by tourists, so virtually nobody speaks any English, and we speak even less Vietnamese, but the people are so friendly that everything seems to work out just fine.  We do however feel a little sorry for the owners of hotels when we turn up with our faces coated in dirt and dust.

This photograph does the view NO justice

We expect to arrive on Hoi An within the next five days, until then, we will keep on travelling North along these beatiful roads.  Be warned though, we are both beginning to consider buying motorbikes when we get home, so the roads of Sussex may not be as safe as they are now!

Half Way at Ho Chi Minh

Today we have been travelling for sixty days.  This means that we are exactly half way through our adventure across South East Asia.  We have been talking a lot about the amazing experiences we've had so far, the people we have met, and the awesome things that are yet to happen.  I think it's safe to say that we are just as excited now as when we left home!

Now, to the point, today is very special for another reason.  We have two new members to our team, who will help us travel North through Vietnam.  I'd like to introduce you all to... the Hondas!

James' Badass Bike

Louis' Badass Bike

Tomorrow, we plan to leave Ho Chi Minh City, where we have been staying for the last couple of nights, and head towards the Mekong Delta, which is renowned for it natural beauty.  It is so exciting to know that for the next three weeks, we can go wherever we like, at our own pace.  We have a map, we have bungee cords, we have petrol,  we are ready to go!  Wish us luck, we will keep you posted!

This is James here. Thought I'd input as Louis has been doing all the hard work on this blog and I'm getting credit for it without doing anything. So here goes...

We have been away exactly sixty days out of one hundred and twenty and there have been many culture shocks during that time. I think today has been one of the scariest days personally, as we haven't exactly ever driven proper motorbikes before and yet we are now proud owners of two beautiful(ish), powerful(ish), motorcycles. And we plan to drive them in the busiest city in most of the world. However, we have come this far and we are still alive, so we can't be doing everything wrong, so these next few weeks are going to be pretty exciting as I think Louis will agree.

Next stop, Hanoi!