Merry Christmas!
What a year! It's hard to think back and realise what a downer we were on last Christmas with the house and everything stalling as it always seemed to. I'd like to say I've completely forgotten that feeling, but I think it's still at the back of my mind...
Our bright spot was our visit to Canada to spend with Martin's brother Lloyd and family, Yvonne, Laura, Amy and Rich.
Anyway, this year we're happily ensconced at HiG's enjoying the festivities. Presents have been opened and I'm enjoying my annual box of Ferrero Rocher. So there's nothing left to do but to wish all our family and friends (both new and old) a Merry Christmas. If you're still out there travelling I hope you have found some new friends to share the day with.
Martin and Victoria
x
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Escape from Sophia
Our arrival in Sophia was relatively painless and we made our way through the streets to our Hostel (the fantastic Hostel Mostel). And we're still here.... all that is about to change though as we're getting our act together and will be getting the sleeper train to Bucharest tonight.
We do have an excuse for our delay in getting to Romania though. The Romanian Embassy here in Sophia take 5 working days to process your visa. It was annoying though when I got to the Embassy today and handed over my passport and $40US ($40US for a piece of paper!) and they then went through a pile of papers on the desk, grabbed my application which had no changes and then stuck the piece of paper in my passport.
Frustrating, but it has given us an opportunity to relax here and meet some fellow travellers as well as sampling the local beverages. Imported "brand" drinks cost about 6 times the cost of the local brew so we've tried the local rum (with the fantastic name of "Pom"), the local beers and of course the wine. Most of the wine was quite drinkable but when Banz and a couple of fellow travellers went for a late night run they bought back one bottle which cost a total of 0.95 lev (approx 34 of your English pence or 84 Aussie Cents). Unfortunately this wine had the colour and bouquet of red cordial with none of the sugary taste or post-drink hyperactivity. We stuck to the expensive 3 or 4 lev bottles after that!
So our three or so weeks in Bulgaria will finish tonight. We had originally planned to spend about a month in Romania after enjoying it so much on our first trip there back in 1998 (also our first trip together - ahhh!), but time is against us, so it will just be 3 or 4 days before heading up to Warsaw to meet up with Beatre, Gerry, Kuba and Victor and getting our flight back to the UK next Thursday, December 9th.
We've enjoyed our time here in Bulgaria and will definitely come back as there's a lot more here than we realised.
We still haven't got to grips with the yes/no headshaking thing, but we proudly translated a Bulgarian calendar with cyrillic into its Italian food equivalents the other night.
Our arrival in Sophia was relatively painless and we made our way through the streets to our Hostel (the fantastic Hostel Mostel). And we're still here.... all that is about to change though as we're getting our act together and will be getting the sleeper train to Bucharest tonight.
We do have an excuse for our delay in getting to Romania though. The Romanian Embassy here in Sophia take 5 working days to process your visa. It was annoying though when I got to the Embassy today and handed over my passport and $40US ($40US for a piece of paper!) and they then went through a pile of papers on the desk, grabbed my application which had no changes and then stuck the piece of paper in my passport.
Frustrating, but it has given us an opportunity to relax here and meet some fellow travellers as well as sampling the local beverages. Imported "brand" drinks cost about 6 times the cost of the local brew so we've tried the local rum (with the fantastic name of "Pom"), the local beers and of course the wine. Most of the wine was quite drinkable but when Banz and a couple of fellow travellers went for a late night run they bought back one bottle which cost a total of 0.95 lev (approx 34 of your English pence or 84 Aussie Cents). Unfortunately this wine had the colour and bouquet of red cordial with none of the sugary taste or post-drink hyperactivity. We stuck to the expensive 3 or 4 lev bottles after that!
So our three or so weeks in Bulgaria will finish tonight. We had originally planned to spend about a month in Romania after enjoying it so much on our first trip there back in 1998 (also our first trip together - ahhh!), but time is against us, so it will just be 3 or 4 days before heading up to Warsaw to meet up with Beatre, Gerry, Kuba and Victor and getting our flight back to the UK next Thursday, December 9th.
We've enjoyed our time here in Bulgaria and will definitely come back as there's a lot more here than we realised.
We still haven't got to grips with the yes/no headshaking thing, but we proudly translated a Bulgarian calendar with cyrillic into its Italian food equivalents the other night.
Fame and its trappings
After writing the blog below earlier today I thought I'd have a general surf of the web. I saw a link for this site - The Hungry Cyclist which has been set up by Tom who is doing a tour starting in Toronto and going across Canada and then down through South America by bike. Tom's obsession is all about food (a man after our own hearts) and when I saw that he was going to Cuba I thought I'd pass on some info about the gastronomic delights of Cuba (well, I let him know that it was a bit hit or miss, but you could get lucky!).
After sending off the mail I kept exploring his site and imagine my surprise when I found that we were in his Links section. To quote -
The Big Trip - Full of whacky facts about the two riders and what they are up to this site is great fun!
We promise we won't let it go to our heads.
After writing the blog below earlier today I thought I'd have a general surf of the web. I saw a link for this site - The Hungry Cyclist which has been set up by Tom who is doing a tour starting in Toronto and going across Canada and then down through South America by bike. Tom's obsession is all about food (a man after our own hearts) and when I saw that he was going to Cuba I thought I'd pass on some info about the gastronomic delights of Cuba (well, I let him know that it was a bit hit or miss, but you could get lucky!).
After sending off the mail I kept exploring his site and imagine my surprise when I found that we were in his Links section. To quote -
The Big Trip - Full of whacky facts about the two riders and what they are up to this site is great fun!
We promise we won't let it go to our heads.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Back in Europe
To be completely honest, we don't really know anything about Bulgaria except that they nod their heads when they mean no and shake them when they mean yes - no confusion there then.
We had elected to get the sleeper overnight from Istanbul to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city. We had had a quick scan through our slowly disintegrating Rough Guide and thought it looked like an interesting first stop.
The train journey was broken up with the two border controls - leaving Turkey and arriving in Bulgaria. Every other time we have crossed a border on a train, the officials get on and walk through the compartment checking your passport there, but Turkey was different. The train stopped at what looked like an abandoned cargo station at 3 in the morning. We then were herded into a railway underpass where we waited. Did I mention it was raining? After 20 minutes, we were then directed to a passport office where we were duly stamped out of Turkey. Back to the train and we waited there whilst an immigration officer went through the train and double-checked that our papers were in order. We didn't want to take our shoes off and get back into our bunks in case it was the same story again on the Bulgarian side. Fortunately our conductor came and put us out of our misery and assured us that the Bulgarian Immigration officer would stamp us in on the train. They were true to his word and we were able to enter Bulgaria by just sleepily smiling at the officer from the comfort of our bunk beds.
We then slept comfortably until we were on the outskirts of Plovdiv. On arrival, the bikes and us were unloaded swiftly and the train continued on to Sophia. Our first stop was the local cafe for some breakfast. Not just any breakfast, as we were looking forward to our first sausages since August. Unfortunately, they were out but we made do with the next best thing in pork rissoles. We passed the meal in the hope that the cyrillic alphabet will become easier to decipher as we go along. Some serious study is required.
After breakfast I guarded the bikes while Banz went searching for some accommodation. During his fruitless trawl along Plovdiv's main drag, I was asked the time by Diane, a student. We got chatting and she asked me with a look of concern, "Why do you come to Bulgaria?" and when I answered for tourism, she guffawed and said, "this is my home, I was born here, but I do not love it here, my dream is to go to America". I questioned her further on this and she explained that she is going to Ohio, but has no friends or family or a job there. I told her that I had been to Cleveland seven years ago and she was very interested and was asking me all sorts of questions about what it was like, was it better than here? For the first question, I didn't want to tell her that I only went for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which was undeniably the highlight of all the museums I went to in the States), so I just hedged my bets and said it seemed nice and that the people were friendly. For the second, I didn't feel that I was in a position to answer the question since I'd only been in Plovdiv for all of 45 minutes and had been mainly based in and around the train station for the majority of that. I was rescued by the arrival of her friends from Uni and we said our goodbyes.
Banz returned and since he'd done the talking in the cafe, it was my turn to ring a number in our Rough Guide which was an agency for rooms. Armed with our Eastern European Phrasebook I hunted down a phone and made a call. My attempt in Bulgarian was cut short with a "Je parle francais" which I countered with a "Do you speak English?" which again was returned with a "Je parle francais". I did my best "mon mari parles francais" and hung up for Banz to attempt to rescue the point. He returned as the conquering lingua franca hero - complete with prices and directions to the agency. I guess we need to get to South America or Japan before my limited language skills can be of use again whereas Banz's french has come in handy in Italy and now Bulgaria as well as the villages of France. Within 20 minutes, we were ensconced in our bedroom (with spare room on the side for the bikes) with the telly on (with lots of english channels). Today we were pleasantly surprised to see Boro's game from Sunday being replayed on Bulgarian tv at 3 in the afternoon. Well, it was pleasant until we saw Bolton's blatant time-wasting methods firsthand. Ahh, the joys of foreign tv.
Despite the skepticism of the youth of Plovdiv (our waiter from our first evening also looked incredulous when we told him we'd come to Bulgaria for tourism in winter), we like what we've seen of Bulgaria so far. The people are friendly (and really well-dressed - they would look at home in London) and the food is cheap.
All looks good for country number 9 of The Big Trip.
To be completely honest, we don't really know anything about Bulgaria except that they nod their heads when they mean no and shake them when they mean yes - no confusion there then.
We had elected to get the sleeper overnight from Istanbul to Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city. We had had a quick scan through our slowly disintegrating Rough Guide and thought it looked like an interesting first stop.
The train journey was broken up with the two border controls - leaving Turkey and arriving in Bulgaria. Every other time we have crossed a border on a train, the officials get on and walk through the compartment checking your passport there, but Turkey was different. The train stopped at what looked like an abandoned cargo station at 3 in the morning. We then were herded into a railway underpass where we waited. Did I mention it was raining? After 20 minutes, we were then directed to a passport office where we were duly stamped out of Turkey. Back to the train and we waited there whilst an immigration officer went through the train and double-checked that our papers were in order. We didn't want to take our shoes off and get back into our bunks in case it was the same story again on the Bulgarian side. Fortunately our conductor came and put us out of our misery and assured us that the Bulgarian Immigration officer would stamp us in on the train. They were true to his word and we were able to enter Bulgaria by just sleepily smiling at the officer from the comfort of our bunk beds.
We then slept comfortably until we were on the outskirts of Plovdiv. On arrival, the bikes and us were unloaded swiftly and the train continued on to Sophia. Our first stop was the local cafe for some breakfast. Not just any breakfast, as we were looking forward to our first sausages since August. Unfortunately, they were out but we made do with the next best thing in pork rissoles. We passed the meal in the hope that the cyrillic alphabet will become easier to decipher as we go along. Some serious study is required.
After breakfast I guarded the bikes while Banz went searching for some accommodation. During his fruitless trawl along Plovdiv's main drag, I was asked the time by Diane, a student. We got chatting and she asked me with a look of concern, "Why do you come to Bulgaria?" and when I answered for tourism, she guffawed and said, "this is my home, I was born here, but I do not love it here, my dream is to go to America". I questioned her further on this and she explained that she is going to Ohio, but has no friends or family or a job there. I told her that I had been to Cleveland seven years ago and she was very interested and was asking me all sorts of questions about what it was like, was it better than here? For the first question, I didn't want to tell her that I only went for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which was undeniably the highlight of all the museums I went to in the States), so I just hedged my bets and said it seemed nice and that the people were friendly. For the second, I didn't feel that I was in a position to answer the question since I'd only been in Plovdiv for all of 45 minutes and had been mainly based in and around the train station for the majority of that. I was rescued by the arrival of her friends from Uni and we said our goodbyes.
Banz returned and since he'd done the talking in the cafe, it was my turn to ring a number in our Rough Guide which was an agency for rooms. Armed with our Eastern European Phrasebook I hunted down a phone and made a call. My attempt in Bulgarian was cut short with a "Je parle francais" which I countered with a "Do you speak English?" which again was returned with a "Je parle francais". I did my best "mon mari parles francais" and hung up for Banz to attempt to rescue the point. He returned as the conquering lingua franca hero - complete with prices and directions to the agency. I guess we need to get to South America or Japan before my limited language skills can be of use again whereas Banz's french has come in handy in Italy and now Bulgaria as well as the villages of France. Within 20 minutes, we were ensconced in our bedroom (with spare room on the side for the bikes) with the telly on (with lots of english channels). Today we were pleasantly surprised to see Boro's game from Sunday being replayed on Bulgarian tv at 3 in the afternoon. Well, it was pleasant until we saw Bolton's blatant time-wasting methods firsthand. Ahh, the joys of foreign tv.
Despite the skepticism of the youth of Plovdiv (our waiter from our first evening also looked incredulous when we told him we'd come to Bulgaria for tourism in winter), we like what we've seen of Bulgaria so far. The people are friendly (and really well-dressed - they would look at home in London) and the food is cheap.
All looks good for country number 9 of The Big Trip.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
You can always start!
Yesterday we were having a wander around a smaller bazaar near our hotel. In the bazaar is a fantastic pipe shop with pipes of all shapes and sizes (our particular favourite being a pipe with Sherlock Holmes smoking a pipe on the bowl).
As we walked past we had the following exchange with the salesman -
Pipe Salesman - Do you want a pipe?
Banz and Vic - No thanks, we don't smoke.
Pipe Salesman - Well, you can always start!
Yesterday we were having a wander around a smaller bazaar near our hotel. In the bazaar is a fantastic pipe shop with pipes of all shapes and sizes (our particular favourite being a pipe with Sherlock Holmes smoking a pipe on the bowl).
As we walked past we had the following exchange with the salesman -
Pipe Salesman - Do you want a pipe?
Banz and Vic - No thanks, we don't smoke.
Pipe Salesman - Well, you can always start!
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Hot new Jordan pics gallery
Well, we'll get our Google hits higher with a title like that if nothing else...
The following galleries are now up -
Wadi Rum
Petra
Aqaba & Amman
We also have a new poll containing Banz's selection of "jokes" that he's thought up about Jordan.
Tuesday morning we're flying out to Istanbul, where we'll spend a couple of days before rejoining Europe and getting on the bikes again as we head to Bulgaria.
Well, we'll get our Google hits higher with a title like that if nothing else...
The following galleries are now up -
Wadi Rum
Petra
Aqaba & Amman
We also have a new poll containing Banz's selection of "jokes" that he's thought up about Jordan.
Tuesday morning we're flying out to Istanbul, where we'll spend a couple of days before rejoining Europe and getting on the bikes again as we head to Bulgaria.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Censorship of Jordan
After the horrific ferry journey mentioned by Banz below, we were happy to finally be in our hotel room, air-con and the telly on as we searched for some english language programming.
Imagine my delight when I saw that Gone With the Wind had just started on the Jordan Movie Channel. I sit back and enjoy the film as always until we get to Rhett and Scarlett's first kiss. Its cut! Next kiss. Also cut! But they don't just cut out the kissing, they take out the entire section of film between any/all kisses which means that any dialogue or plot is lost. Luckily I could still follow Gone With The Wind, but it made me wonder what the Jordanian censor's scissors would do to a Tarantino film.
I guess 1939 Hollywood morals are still too much for Jordan in 2004.
After the horrific ferry journey mentioned by Banz below, we were happy to finally be in our hotel room, air-con and the telly on as we searched for some english language programming.
Imagine my delight when I saw that Gone With the Wind had just started on the Jordan Movie Channel. I sit back and enjoy the film as always until we get to Rhett and Scarlett's first kiss. Its cut! Next kiss. Also cut! But they don't just cut out the kissing, they take out the entire section of film between any/all kisses which means that any dialogue or plot is lost. Luckily I could still follow Gone With The Wind, but it made me wonder what the Jordanian censor's scissors would do to a Tarantino film.
I guess 1939 Hollywood morals are still too much for Jordan in 2004.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The Gravitational Pull of Dahab
Well, we're still in Dahab. We did mean to leave earlier this week, but, well, you know....
To be fair, I have had a job this last week. The 880-odd pages of The Count of Monte Cristo aren't going to read themselves. Believe me, I've tried. I've been lugging it around (front left pannier) since picking it up from Martina Franka in Italy. I'm up to about page 500, but Banz is starting to get nervous as he knows it will soon be his burden to carry.
On Tuesday we did actually manage to rouse ourselves away from sipping fresh mango juice and reading the great works of literature to take a day trip to the Blue Hole which is a popular snorkelling spot near here. Although full of curious fish, I was disappointed to see that a lot of the coral was dead. I also had to admit to our French snorkelling colleagues, Nicholas and Xena, that the Great Barrier Reef was much better for snorkelling opportunities.
It was fascinating watching the scuba divers float about 10 metres below us and send their silver jellyfish bubbles of oxygen up. We're both keen to learn to scuba dive, but money and time constraints have made us decide to add that to the to do list when we get back home.
We have decided that we are definitely leaving on Sunday. It will be a short hop to Nuweiba, from where we will get the ferry to Ataba, before making tracks to Wadi Rum (Lawrence of Arabia's stomping ground) and then heading to Petra to try and recreate the closing scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (minus the galloping horses of course).
From Amman, we will fly to Turkey (Syria - you don't know what you're missing!), before re-joining Europe and taking in Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Poland.
Our original plan was to head straight through from Poland to the Baltics and then Russia. This original plan did not take into account that we would be getting to Russia in approximately January. It didn't work for Napoleon and Hitler to invade Russia in winter, and somehow we don't think it will work for The Big Trip.
So bearing this in mind there are two simple facts. One, we have some fantastic friends in Warsaw (thankyou Beatre and Gerry and to Sandra for arranging) with whom we can leave our bikes and two, Easyjet now fly from Warsaw to Luton. So, for 70 pounds round trip, we have decided to return to England for six weeks to visit family, friends and see Boro play Partizan Belgrade in the Uefa Cup.
It also give us the opportunity to satisfy the food cravings that seem to stick in the mind soon after the question, "If you could have any food right now, what would it be?" is uttered. I've never wanted bacon more since I've been in a country where you can't have it.
We arrive on December 9th and are heading straight up to Teesside (trains are stupidly expensive the week before Christmas) and will be back down in London for about 10 days before we return to Warsaw on January 31st. Its not cold in Russia in February is it?
We hope that the Jaflong, Wagamama's and the Parmo retailers of Teesside are now on high alert.
Well, we're still in Dahab. We did mean to leave earlier this week, but, well, you know....
To be fair, I have had a job this last week. The 880-odd pages of The Count of Monte Cristo aren't going to read themselves. Believe me, I've tried. I've been lugging it around (front left pannier) since picking it up from Martina Franka in Italy. I'm up to about page 500, but Banz is starting to get nervous as he knows it will soon be his burden to carry.
On Tuesday we did actually manage to rouse ourselves away from sipping fresh mango juice and reading the great works of literature to take a day trip to the Blue Hole which is a popular snorkelling spot near here. Although full of curious fish, I was disappointed to see that a lot of the coral was dead. I also had to admit to our French snorkelling colleagues, Nicholas and Xena, that the Great Barrier Reef was much better for snorkelling opportunities.
It was fascinating watching the scuba divers float about 10 metres below us and send their silver jellyfish bubbles of oxygen up. We're both keen to learn to scuba dive, but money and time constraints have made us decide to add that to the to do list when we get back home.
We have decided that we are definitely leaving on Sunday. It will be a short hop to Nuweiba, from where we will get the ferry to Ataba, before making tracks to Wadi Rum (Lawrence of Arabia's stomping ground) and then heading to Petra to try and recreate the closing scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (minus the galloping horses of course).
From Amman, we will fly to Turkey (Syria - you don't know what you're missing!), before re-joining Europe and taking in Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Poland.
Our original plan was to head straight through from Poland to the Baltics and then Russia. This original plan did not take into account that we would be getting to Russia in approximately January. It didn't work for Napoleon and Hitler to invade Russia in winter, and somehow we don't think it will work for The Big Trip.
So bearing this in mind there are two simple facts. One, we have some fantastic friends in Warsaw (thankyou Beatre and Gerry and to Sandra for arranging) with whom we can leave our bikes and two, Easyjet now fly from Warsaw to Luton. So, for 70 pounds round trip, we have decided to return to England for six weeks to visit family, friends and see Boro play Partizan Belgrade in the Uefa Cup.
It also give us the opportunity to satisfy the food cravings that seem to stick in the mind soon after the question, "If you could have any food right now, what would it be?" is uttered. I've never wanted bacon more since I've been in a country where you can't have it.
We arrive on December 9th and are heading straight up to Teesside (trains are stupidly expensive the week before Christmas) and will be back down in London for about 10 days before we return to Warsaw on January 31st. Its not cold in Russia in February is it?
We hope that the Jaflong, Wagamama's and the Parmo retailers of Teesside are now on high alert.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Just to let you all know we're safe...
From our last blog you should know that we are currently in Sinai. Fortunately we are not in Nuweiba or Taba, but in a place called Dahab which is about 70 kilometres away from Nuweiba. Dahab is very safe and you would not have known that the blasts had happened. We are going to hang around here for a few days before we head north to Jordan. Obviously we will wait to see what the situation is before progressing, but everything appears that this will be an okay route to take.
Our thoughts are with our two Israeli friends from the feluca trip, Ohad and Hagar, who from discussions with other guys from our feluca, we think were in the area. Hope you are both fine and please let us know that you got home okay.
There is a lot of info at the BBC website here, if you want to read more as well as a map of Sinai here.
From our last blog you should know that we are currently in Sinai. Fortunately we are not in Nuweiba or Taba, but in a place called Dahab which is about 70 kilometres away from Nuweiba. Dahab is very safe and you would not have known that the blasts had happened. We are going to hang around here for a few days before we head north to Jordan. Obviously we will wait to see what the situation is before progressing, but everything appears that this will be an okay route to take.
Our thoughts are with our two Israeli friends from the feluca trip, Ohad and Hagar, who from discussions with other guys from our feluca, we think were in the area. Hope you are both fine and please let us know that you got home okay.
There is a lot of info at the BBC website here, if you want to read more as well as a map of Sinai here.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Another mass gallery update...
Between fighting with feluca captains and seeing yet more temples (sad, but if I never see another Egyptian Temple, it'll be too soon), we have managed to do an update of our time in Luxor, Aswan & Abu Simbel, Feluca Ride and back to Luxor again...
They are -
Aswan and Abu Simbel
The Feluca Trip
Luxor
Andre's Feluca Collection
Blog to follow shortly...
Between fighting with feluca captains and seeing yet more temples (sad, but if I never see another Egyptian Temple, it'll be too soon), we have managed to do an update of our time in Luxor, Aswan & Abu Simbel, Feluca Ride and back to Luxor again...
They are -
Aswan and Abu Simbel
The Feluca Trip
Luxor
Andre's Feluca Collection
Blog to follow shortly...
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Siwan Desert Rose
After the general malaise that had affected us in Alexandria, it was with a spring in our step that we stepped onto our bus to Siwa. We had heard and read many things about Siwa - a place geographically isolated from the rest of Egypt until a road was built in the 1980s, where they speak a different language and where Alexander the Great made a pilgrimage to see the Oracle to confirm that yes, he was the son of Zeus and therefore a god and could rule Egypt.
The journey of 9 hours seemed to pass quite effortlessly with a couple of stops along the way at resthouses in the middle of nowhere as well as people being dropped off at places where there was nothing but desert as far as the eye can see on all the points of the compass.
Another question raised was the piles of rocks in straight lines heading to the horizon on both sides of the road and about five metres apart. What do they mean? Are they borders or symbols of land division or something else entirely?
We had prebooked our hotel and on arrival were greeted by several Siwan boys of about 10 (all with perfect English) who wanted to take us to our destinations. All guessed that I was Australian, so either they're a good judge of accent or a lot of us Aussies make the journey. Mahmood was the first boy to talk to me so we chose him to take us. We went round the corner in his donkey cart before being deposited with his older brother (maybe Dad?) and they took us out to our hotel in their 4wd. On the way we were offered a Desert Safari as well as taxi service whenever required. Although persistent, there was no real pressure and it made a nice change from the "Hello, where you from?" hassle of Cairo.
After being dropped off by Mahmood at the Desert Rose, we were greeted by a group of German holidaymakers who were occupying the pool. We soon joined them and the last couple of days travel and stresses were eased away by the cool underground spring fed water. We were to spend a lot of time in the pool before we left.
The Desert Rose is a totally appropriate name for the hotel. However, the one problem for us being the connotation with the rubbish Sting song of the same name which we thankfully only know the chorus of.
After relaxing in the pool, we were soon greeted by Ali, the caretaker and shown around. As the sun set, we watched from the roof terrace and chatted to an Aussie couple from Bendigo, Louis and Hayley. The four of us chatted for quite a while before hunger pains and the mosquitos drove us to the kitchen where Louis and Hayley shared their provisions with us (our hunger had returned after an enforced fast before the bus journey).
There is no electricity at the Desert Rose, but the lanterns and candles only add to the atmosphere as people sit around reading, chatting and playing backgammon (Banz 2 - Vic 1) around the central courtyard.
Our stay in Siwa followed a pattern of a lot of relaxing, chilling and resting apart from our Desert Safari which we'll write about seperately. Although not every site was ticked off, our stay gave us a definite taster for more and when I go back I would most definitely stay at the Desert Rose again
After the general malaise that had affected us in Alexandria, it was with a spring in our step that we stepped onto our bus to Siwa. We had heard and read many things about Siwa - a place geographically isolated from the rest of Egypt until a road was built in the 1980s, where they speak a different language and where Alexander the Great made a pilgrimage to see the Oracle to confirm that yes, he was the son of Zeus and therefore a god and could rule Egypt.
The journey of 9 hours seemed to pass quite effortlessly with a couple of stops along the way at resthouses in the middle of nowhere as well as people being dropped off at places where there was nothing but desert as far as the eye can see on all the points of the compass.
Another question raised was the piles of rocks in straight lines heading to the horizon on both sides of the road and about five metres apart. What do they mean? Are they borders or symbols of land division or something else entirely?
We had prebooked our hotel and on arrival were greeted by several Siwan boys of about 10 (all with perfect English) who wanted to take us to our destinations. All guessed that I was Australian, so either they're a good judge of accent or a lot of us Aussies make the journey. Mahmood was the first boy to talk to me so we chose him to take us. We went round the corner in his donkey cart before being deposited with his older brother (maybe Dad?) and they took us out to our hotel in their 4wd. On the way we were offered a Desert Safari as well as taxi service whenever required. Although persistent, there was no real pressure and it made a nice change from the "Hello, where you from?" hassle of Cairo.
After being dropped off by Mahmood at the Desert Rose, we were greeted by a group of German holidaymakers who were occupying the pool. We soon joined them and the last couple of days travel and stresses were eased away by the cool underground spring fed water. We were to spend a lot of time in the pool before we left.
The Desert Rose is a totally appropriate name for the hotel. However, the one problem for us being the connotation with the rubbish Sting song of the same name which we thankfully only know the chorus of.
After relaxing in the pool, we were soon greeted by Ali, the caretaker and shown around. As the sun set, we watched from the roof terrace and chatted to an Aussie couple from Bendigo, Louis and Hayley. The four of us chatted for quite a while before hunger pains and the mosquitos drove us to the kitchen where Louis and Hayley shared their provisions with us (our hunger had returned after an enforced fast before the bus journey).
There is no electricity at the Desert Rose, but the lanterns and candles only add to the atmosphere as people sit around reading, chatting and playing backgammon (Banz 2 - Vic 1) around the central courtyard.
Our stay in Siwa followed a pattern of a lot of relaxing, chilling and resting apart from our Desert Safari which we'll write about seperately. Although not every site was ticked off, our stay gave us a definite taster for more and when I go back I would most definitely stay at the Desert Rose again
Ice Cold in Alex
After general embassy disappointment and the realisation that we can't just chill out in Cairo for too long, we caught the train to Alexandria. The train takes you through the Egyptian Delta and it was interesting to watch the city give way to farmland before again giving way to the suburbs or Alexandria.
The oven-door heat of Cairo was replaced with the sea breeze of Alexandria. We had got off the train one stop early and so after a bit of working out where we were, we jumped on the tram and headed to our hotel. Our first choice, the Hotel Union was full and so we took our chances with the Hotel Crillon. To put it mildly it was dirty and creepy, but budget options in Alexandria are limited - prices start at around 50 - 80 Egyptian Pounds (roughly 5 - 8 British Pounds/12 - 20 Aussie Dollars) for budget accommodation before jumping to $100US a night. We didn't get to try the breakfast that was included without choice as a bad case of Ramses Revenge had overtaken us both (we both prefer the Chessington Ride). Our first night was spent lying in bed, listening to the call to prayer and realising that we were a long way from home.
We managed to get out of the hotel about 1pm and shoved some comfort food down our throats from McDonald's (I was craving a milkshake for some reason) before taking on the services of a man with a horse and cart to take us to two of Alexandria's main sites, both with links to its former glory. Our first stop was its new library which looks impressive from the outside though we didn't venture inside as you require a ticket, and they were only for sale a few blocks back. After wandering around there, our man calmly took our horse and cart through three lanes of traffic on either side of the road and headed off to Fort Qaitby, which is built on the former site of the the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The ride was interesting as we got to see beach life Egyptian style. The beaches were packed and the few women that we saw swimming were still wearing full dress (trousers or skirt, long-sleeved shirt and headscarf). I decided to hold off on swimming until we got to Siwa.
The area around Fort Qaitby had a definite promenade feel to it and we were quite happy to wander about as men fished on the rocks nearby and kids dared each other to jump from the highest ones into the sea. As the Lighthouse was completely destroyed in a couple of earthquakes in 1303 and 1329 there is not a lot to see, but it was definitely worth the journey to soak up the atmosphere.
Our man was waiting for us and promptly took us back to the downtown area. When we arrived we paid him the agreed fee plus a small tip. He took them both and with the money in each hand gestured that the main fee was for him and the tip for his horse. It was very sweet and is something we need to remember when we're being hassled by our next papyrus or perfume seller.
We were too late to see two of the other sites in Alexandria which we had wanted. The Catacombs and Pompey's Pillar will just have to wait until next time we're in Alexandria when hopefully there will be more options for budget accommodation available to us there.
After general embassy disappointment and the realisation that we can't just chill out in Cairo for too long, we caught the train to Alexandria. The train takes you through the Egyptian Delta and it was interesting to watch the city give way to farmland before again giving way to the suburbs or Alexandria.
The oven-door heat of Cairo was replaced with the sea breeze of Alexandria. We had got off the train one stop early and so after a bit of working out where we were, we jumped on the tram and headed to our hotel. Our first choice, the Hotel Union was full and so we took our chances with the Hotel Crillon. To put it mildly it was dirty and creepy, but budget options in Alexandria are limited - prices start at around 50 - 80 Egyptian Pounds (roughly 5 - 8 British Pounds/12 - 20 Aussie Dollars) for budget accommodation before jumping to $100US a night. We didn't get to try the breakfast that was included without choice as a bad case of Ramses Revenge had overtaken us both (we both prefer the Chessington Ride). Our first night was spent lying in bed, listening to the call to prayer and realising that we were a long way from home.
We managed to get out of the hotel about 1pm and shoved some comfort food down our throats from McDonald's (I was craving a milkshake for some reason) before taking on the services of a man with a horse and cart to take us to two of Alexandria's main sites, both with links to its former glory. Our first stop was its new library which looks impressive from the outside though we didn't venture inside as you require a ticket, and they were only for sale a few blocks back. After wandering around there, our man calmly took our horse and cart through three lanes of traffic on either side of the road and headed off to Fort Qaitby, which is built on the former site of the the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The ride was interesting as we got to see beach life Egyptian style. The beaches were packed and the few women that we saw swimming were still wearing full dress (trousers or skirt, long-sleeved shirt and headscarf). I decided to hold off on swimming until we got to Siwa.
The area around Fort Qaitby had a definite promenade feel to it and we were quite happy to wander about as men fished on the rocks nearby and kids dared each other to jump from the highest ones into the sea. As the Lighthouse was completely destroyed in a couple of earthquakes in 1303 and 1329 there is not a lot to see, but it was definitely worth the journey to soak up the atmosphere.
Our man was waiting for us and promptly took us back to the downtown area. When we arrived we paid him the agreed fee plus a small tip. He took them both and with the money in each hand gestured that the main fee was for him and the tip for his horse. It was very sweet and is something we need to remember when we're being hassled by our next papyrus or perfume seller.
We were too late to see two of the other sites in Alexandria which we had wanted. The Catacombs and Pompey's Pillar will just have to wait until next time we're in Alexandria when hopefully there will be more options for budget accommodation available to us there.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Olympics Footnote
Yes, we really can't let the Olympics go... Its kind of surreal seeing them on TV after actually having been there. There is also the added bonus of Egypt getting their first gold medal since London 1948. Never mind that we were sitting watching the Greco-Roman Wrestling and ridiculing it with them the day before their man took home the gold. A gold medal is a gold medal.
We have also been able to follow all the furore of the "Lay Down Sally" incident. We just realised we had talked to couple at the Australia-Italy Baseball match who had a daughter who was in the Rowing Eights. Her name definitely wasn't Sally, but the name Lindsey is ringing a bell even though a fruitless search hasn't been able to confirm a Lindsey in the Eights for us.
Whilst packing our bikes into cardboard boxes at the airport, two members of the Swiss Women's cycling team came along to put their high-tech bike boxes through the oversized luggage section. We got chatting to one and asked her how her games had been, was she happy with her results and would she be at Beijing. We told her we had been at the Men's Road Race, the Time Trial and the Track Cycling. We didn't realise until we later saw a photo of the Women's Time Trial winners that we had been chatting to Karin Thuerig who had won Bronze.
Missed a great photo opportunity, but that's another reason to go to Beijing!
Footnote: Banz reckons he recognised her but didn't want to say anything, but I'm not so sure....
Yes, we really can't let the Olympics go... Its kind of surreal seeing them on TV after actually having been there. There is also the added bonus of Egypt getting their first gold medal since London 1948. Never mind that we were sitting watching the Greco-Roman Wrestling and ridiculing it with them the day before their man took home the gold. A gold medal is a gold medal.
We have also been able to follow all the furore of the "Lay Down Sally" incident. We just realised we had talked to couple at the Australia-Italy Baseball match who had a daughter who was in the Rowing Eights. Her name definitely wasn't Sally, but the name Lindsey is ringing a bell even though a fruitless search hasn't been able to confirm a Lindsey in the Eights for us.
Whilst packing our bikes into cardboard boxes at the airport, two members of the Swiss Women's cycling team came along to put their high-tech bike boxes through the oversized luggage section. We got chatting to one and asked her how her games had been, was she happy with her results and would she be at Beijing. We told her we had been at the Men's Road Race, the Time Trial and the Track Cycling. We didn't realise until we later saw a photo of the Women's Time Trial winners that we had been chatting to Karin Thuerig who had won Bronze.
Missed a great photo opportunity, but that's another reason to go to Beijing!
Footnote: Banz reckons he recognised her but didn't want to say anything, but I'm not so sure....
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Where to spot us at the Olympics, and
we need your suggestions for a banner. We figure that this will probably be our only personal visit to the Olympics (well, until Brisbane 2016, or Stockton 2020), so we're going the whole hog and want to do a tacky banner so you can pick us out of the crowd when you're watching Australia vs India in the Men's Hockey (you were going to watch that anyway weren't you?). So add any suggestions you have (preferably clever and witty - reflects better on us that way) to the tag-board.
Anyway, our events (so far) are -
(All times are Greek times, for England minus 2 hours, for Queensland, add 7 hours and everyone else go to timeanddate.com).
Saturday 14th August
12:45 - 19:10
Men's Cycling Road Race
Men's Cycling Road Race Medal Ceremony
Sunday 15th August
10:30 - 13:30
Men's Baseball Preliminaries - Cuba vs Australia
18:00 - 21:30
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Korea vs Spain
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Great Britain vs Egypt
Monday 16th August
17:00 - 23:00
Tennis
Men's Singles First Round
Women's Singles First Round
Men's Doubles First Round
Women's Doubles First Round
Wednesday 18th August
13:00 - 19:00
Women's Cycling Individual Time Trial
Women's Cycling Individual Time Trial Medal Ceremony
Men's Cycling Individual Time Trial
Men's Cycling Individual Time Trial Medal Ceremony
Thursday 19th August
18:30 - 22:00
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Great Britain vs Spain
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Australia vs India
Friday 20th August
20:00 - 0:00
Women's Basketball Preliminaries - Australia vs Greece
Women's Basketball Preliminaries - Nigeria vs Brazil
Saturday 21st August
19:30 - 21:00
Swimming
Women's 50m Freestyle Final
Men's 1500m Freestyle Final
Women's 50m Freestyle Medal Ceremony
Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final
Men's 1500m Freestyle Medal Ceremony
Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final
Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Medal Ceremony
Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Medal Ceremony
Sunday 22nd August
Cycling Track
Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals
Men's Sprint 1/16 Finals
Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals Repechages
Men's Sprint 1/16 Repechages
Women's Individual Pursuit Final 3-4
Women's Individual Pursuit Final 1-2
Women's Individual Pursuit Medal Ceremony
Men's Sprint 1/8 Finals
Men's Team Pursuit First Round
Men's Sprint 1/8 Finals Repechages
we need your suggestions for a banner. We figure that this will probably be our only personal visit to the Olympics (well, until Brisbane 2016, or Stockton 2020), so we're going the whole hog and want to do a tacky banner so you can pick us out of the crowd when you're watching Australia vs India in the Men's Hockey (you were going to watch that anyway weren't you?). So add any suggestions you have (preferably clever and witty - reflects better on us that way) to the tag-board.
Anyway, our events (so far) are -
(All times are Greek times, for England minus 2 hours, for Queensland, add 7 hours and everyone else go to timeanddate.com).
Saturday 14th August
12:45 - 19:10
Men's Cycling Road Race
Men's Cycling Road Race Medal Ceremony
Sunday 15th August
10:30 - 13:30
Men's Baseball Preliminaries - Cuba vs Australia
18:00 - 21:30
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Korea vs Spain
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Great Britain vs Egypt
Monday 16th August
17:00 - 23:00
Tennis
Men's Singles First Round
Women's Singles First Round
Men's Doubles First Round
Women's Doubles First Round
Wednesday 18th August
13:00 - 19:00
Women's Cycling Individual Time Trial
Women's Cycling Individual Time Trial Medal Ceremony
Men's Cycling Individual Time Trial
Men's Cycling Individual Time Trial Medal Ceremony
Thursday 19th August
18:30 - 22:00
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Great Britain vs Spain
Men's Hockey Preliminaries - Australia vs India
Friday 20th August
20:00 - 0:00
Women's Basketball Preliminaries - Australia vs Greece
Women's Basketball Preliminaries - Nigeria vs Brazil
Saturday 21st August
19:30 - 21:00
Swimming
Women's 50m Freestyle Final
Men's 1500m Freestyle Final
Women's 50m Freestyle Medal Ceremony
Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final
Men's 1500m Freestyle Medal Ceremony
Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final
Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Medal Ceremony
Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Medal Ceremony
Sunday 22nd August
Cycling Track
Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals
Men's Sprint 1/16 Finals
Women's Sprint 1/8 Finals Repechages
Men's Sprint 1/16 Repechages
Women's Individual Pursuit Final 3-4
Women's Individual Pursuit Final 1-2
Women's Individual Pursuit Medal Ceremony
Men's Sprint 1/8 Finals
Men's Team Pursuit First Round
Men's Sprint 1/8 Finals Repechages
No relation to Olympia Dukakis
Well as you can imagine there is talk of nothing else in Greece besides the Olympics. The Banseys have also been caught by this excitement and can only imagine that this will reach fever pitch by the time we reach Athens tomorrow night.
Today, we thought we would get in the mood with a day trip to Olympia. We're currently staying in Pyrgos, a pretty, small town on the coast about 100km south of Patras. From here we caught a bus to Olympia. The journey should only take half an hour, but our bus was packed with Greek pensioners who'd made the journey to market and were on their way home laden with goods. This stretched the trip close to the hour mark as they were dropped off at various tin sheds in the middle of nowhere.
We finally reached Olympia and had a quick look in the Museum which housed the antiquities found at the site as well as giving an overview of the history of the ancient games. We then wandered down to the site itself. As you can imagine it was besieged by American, German and French tourist packs all following their leaders like sheep. If there is one reason for independant travel, then surely this is it. Luckily for us the site is large enough for you to wander off in any direction and lose the hordes.
Whilst the ruins haven't been excavated to the extent of say, Pompei, there is plenty to see and the feeling from being in this place of history was definitely worth the journey and wandering around in the Greek midday sun (mad dogs and Englishmen.... and Aussies). You can understand why they have no trouble lighting the Olympic flame from here. In the aforementioned Greek midday sun we had the hilarious site of a German presenter having to film a piece where he had to run the length of the ancient running track before saying a few words to camera. The cameraman obviously had it in for him as he had to do it twice whist we were there. After the second attempt, the presenter did his run and speaking part and then headed straight for the shade of an olive tree (definitely the smartest way to escape the heat).
A good site with more info about Olympia can be found here.
Well as you can imagine there is talk of nothing else in Greece besides the Olympics. The Banseys have also been caught by this excitement and can only imagine that this will reach fever pitch by the time we reach Athens tomorrow night.
Today, we thought we would get in the mood with a day trip to Olympia. We're currently staying in Pyrgos, a pretty, small town on the coast about 100km south of Patras. From here we caught a bus to Olympia. The journey should only take half an hour, but our bus was packed with Greek pensioners who'd made the journey to market and were on their way home laden with goods. This stretched the trip close to the hour mark as they were dropped off at various tin sheds in the middle of nowhere.
We finally reached Olympia and had a quick look in the Museum which housed the antiquities found at the site as well as giving an overview of the history of the ancient games. We then wandered down to the site itself. As you can imagine it was besieged by American, German and French tourist packs all following their leaders like sheep. If there is one reason for independant travel, then surely this is it. Luckily for us the site is large enough for you to wander off in any direction and lose the hordes.
Whilst the ruins haven't been excavated to the extent of say, Pompei, there is plenty to see and the feeling from being in this place of history was definitely worth the journey and wandering around in the Greek midday sun (mad dogs and Englishmen.... and Aussies). You can understand why they have no trouble lighting the Olympic flame from here. In the aforementioned Greek midday sun we had the hilarious site of a German presenter having to film a piece where he had to run the length of the ancient running track before saying a few words to camera. The cameraman obviously had it in for him as he had to do it twice whist we were there. After the second attempt, the presenter did his run and speaking part and then headed straight for the shade of an olive tree (definitely the smartest way to escape the heat).
A good site with more info about Olympia can be found here.
Monday, August 02, 2004
Fallen Hurdles
Well our plan to cycle to the Mani Peninsula fell at the first hurdle.
At the top of the big hill on our way out of Kalamata, we came across Diana Rooms. The views are amazing as from our room we look out over the mountains and sea. The room has untold luxuries (for us anyway) of a fridge, tv and air-conditioning all for a very reasonable price. So, within about two minutes of arriving we quickly decided that we'll stay here for a week, chill, read and watch telly (the Greeks have the right idea of subtitling english shows instead of dubbing them that the French and Italians do) and use this as a base to explore Mani.
So far, we haven't moved far from the room in case we miss an episode of Lizzy Maguire or The World's Funniest Commercials, but we plan to.
After our week in the sun, we're heading back north to pay our respects at Olympia (maybe an offering or two to the gods for the Aussie Olympic Team), before making our way on to Athens for the Games themselves. We've managed to book into a Youth Hostel Dorm for our stay, as the prices some of the hoteliers are charging would scare a Saudi prince. We looked up one hotel we stayed at two years ago on a visit to Athens and the islands. We paid 40 Euros then. We looked it up a week ago and its charging 380 Euros a night now. It was barely worth 40.
Book Crossing
Whilst reading an imported copy of The Sunday Times (Banz had to read about an English cricketing victory in as much detail as possible), we read about this site, BookCrossing.com. A simple, but great idea (as all good websites are), where when you've finished reading a book, you "release it" into the world after writing a review on BookCrossing's site. We've been doing a similar thing with putting the Big Trip's URL into books that we've left behind, but on the site you're able to actually leave a note where you've left it and people can "go hunting". For our reading list, go here.
Well our plan to cycle to the Mani Peninsula fell at the first hurdle.
At the top of the big hill on our way out of Kalamata, we came across Diana Rooms. The views are amazing as from our room we look out over the mountains and sea. The room has untold luxuries (for us anyway) of a fridge, tv and air-conditioning all for a very reasonable price. So, within about two minutes of arriving we quickly decided that we'll stay here for a week, chill, read and watch telly (the Greeks have the right idea of subtitling english shows instead of dubbing them that the French and Italians do) and use this as a base to explore Mani.
So far, we haven't moved far from the room in case we miss an episode of Lizzy Maguire or The World's Funniest Commercials, but we plan to.
After our week in the sun, we're heading back north to pay our respects at Olympia (maybe an offering or two to the gods for the Aussie Olympic Team), before making our way on to Athens for the Games themselves. We've managed to book into a Youth Hostel Dorm for our stay, as the prices some of the hoteliers are charging would scare a Saudi prince. We looked up one hotel we stayed at two years ago on a visit to Athens and the islands. We paid 40 Euros then. We looked it up a week ago and its charging 380 Euros a night now. It was barely worth 40.
Book Crossing
Whilst reading an imported copy of The Sunday Times (Banz had to read about an English cricketing victory in as much detail as possible), we read about this site, BookCrossing.com. A simple, but great idea (as all good websites are), where when you've finished reading a book, you "release it" into the world after writing a review on BookCrossing's site. We've been doing a similar thing with putting the Big Trip's URL into books that we've left behind, but on the site you're able to actually leave a note where you've left it and people can "go hunting". For our reading list, go here.
Friday, July 02, 2004
We're off to Sicily and Updates Available Now
We're currently waiting for our ferry to take us from Sardinia to Sicily (cue the whistling of the Godfather theme).
We're not cycling much in Italy as bascially every Italian driver is nuts and thinks they don't need to change their line when overtaking us (cue me seeing a campervan overtake Banz with about 2 inches to spare).
We'll see a bit more of Sicily as well as visit some good friends in Southern Italy before we get a ferry to Greece and continue riding there. Rural Greece is meant to be very quiet (though hilly), so we're looking forward to that.
In the meantime, just so you haven't forgotten our smiling faces (they are except when hill climbing), we've updated and added the following pages to the Galleries -
England
Belgium
France - Nord Pas Du Calais
France - Picardy
France - Champagne
France - Burgundy
France - Rhone Alps
France - Provence
France - Corsica
Italy - Sardinia
as well as updating the following pages -
Overall Statistics
Physiology Changes
Burning Questions
and of course, scroll down for the latest poll.
We're currently waiting for our ferry to take us from Sardinia to Sicily (cue the whistling of the Godfather theme).
We're not cycling much in Italy as bascially every Italian driver is nuts and thinks they don't need to change their line when overtaking us (cue me seeing a campervan overtake Banz with about 2 inches to spare).
We'll see a bit more of Sicily as well as visit some good friends in Southern Italy before we get a ferry to Greece and continue riding there. Rural Greece is meant to be very quiet (though hilly), so we're looking forward to that.
In the meantime, just so you haven't forgotten our smiling faces (they are except when hill climbing), we've updated and added the following pages to the Galleries -
England
Belgium
France - Nord Pas Du Calais
France - Picardy
France - Champagne
France - Burgundy
France - Rhone Alps
France - Provence
France - Corsica
Italy - Sardinia
as well as updating the following pages -
Overall Statistics
Physiology Changes
Burning Questions
and of course, scroll down for the latest poll.
Saturday, June 26, 2004
What I do when Banz rides up mountains....
I've been relatively quiet on the blog front since the start of the Big Trip, which those of you who know me, may well find surprising....
Of course I've been sharing the daily adventure and logistical necessities with Banz. From sending him out each morning in search of croissants, to telling him where I exactly want the tent positioned (usually as far as possible from where he has dumped all his panniers on the ground, whilst I leave mine stealthily attached to my bike and just wheel them to the new location), the struggles and rewards are generally shared between us. That is, except for the masochistic world of hill climbing.
As our mate Spence asked, "What does Vic do while you're off doing your Julie Andrews impression??".
Obviously this impression is totally at odds with Banz's, who hopes to run into Tyler Hamilton in a bar one day and be able to say, "That Mt Ventoux eh?"
For his two big mountain rides that have been described here, I've been more than content to either indulge myself in the girly pastimes of either shopping (Mt Ventoux Day) or improving my tan (Corsica nightmare ride day). By the way, the tan on my legs is fantastic and obviously gets better each day I ride.
Don't get me wrong, the satisfaction of reaching the top of a hard climb and surveying all below you and knowing you got here under your own steam (as well as lugging four excess novels knicked from the book exchange at the last campsite) is a fantastic feeling. The downhill section which lasts for approximately one fifth of the length of the uphill is also brilliant as well as seeing the speeds which your computer would have no hope of registering under normal circumstances.
It's just that well, climbing for the sake of climbing seems a bit silly to me.
I don't want to start sounding like a girly girl who doesn't understand the offside rule and so thinks football is stupid, but the whole thing of climbing these hills just strikes me as pointless. Nobody could've been prouder of Banz than I was after his successful Mt Ventoux ride, and, in a weird sort of way I was prouder of him after his unsuccessful day in the mountains in Corsica, and I'm more than happy at shout at him, "GET ON THE PEDALS!!!" as he heads off, its just not for me.
I'll ride up hills - but only if they're in my way.....
I've been relatively quiet on the blog front since the start of the Big Trip, which those of you who know me, may well find surprising....
Of course I've been sharing the daily adventure and logistical necessities with Banz. From sending him out each morning in search of croissants, to telling him where I exactly want the tent positioned (usually as far as possible from where he has dumped all his panniers on the ground, whilst I leave mine stealthily attached to my bike and just wheel them to the new location), the struggles and rewards are generally shared between us. That is, except for the masochistic world of hill climbing.
As our mate Spence asked, "What does Vic do while you're off doing your Julie Andrews impression??".
Obviously this impression is totally at odds with Banz's, who hopes to run into Tyler Hamilton in a bar one day and be able to say, "That Mt Ventoux eh?"
For his two big mountain rides that have been described here, I've been more than content to either indulge myself in the girly pastimes of either shopping (Mt Ventoux Day) or improving my tan (Corsica nightmare ride day). By the way, the tan on my legs is fantastic and obviously gets better each day I ride.
Don't get me wrong, the satisfaction of reaching the top of a hard climb and surveying all below you and knowing you got here under your own steam (as well as lugging four excess novels knicked from the book exchange at the last campsite) is a fantastic feeling. The downhill section which lasts for approximately one fifth of the length of the uphill is also brilliant as well as seeing the speeds which your computer would have no hope of registering under normal circumstances.
It's just that well, climbing for the sake of climbing seems a bit silly to me.
I don't want to start sounding like a girly girl who doesn't understand the offside rule and so thinks football is stupid, but the whole thing of climbing these hills just strikes me as pointless. Nobody could've been prouder of Banz than I was after his successful Mt Ventoux ride, and, in a weird sort of way I was prouder of him after his unsuccessful day in the mountains in Corsica, and I'm more than happy at shout at him, "GET ON THE PEDALS!!!" as he heads off, its just not for me.
I'll ride up hills - but only if they're in my way.....
Friday, April 30, 2004
Happy Birthday Connor! and Updates
We don't usually do special personalised messages here at Big Trip (we'll send you one if you pay us enough though....), but we wanted to send our nephew and godson, Connor a very Happy 9th Birthday message for today. Miss you lots and hope you had a great day.
For everyone else who isn't Connor you can go and check out the updated Big Trip Stats.
We don't usually do special personalised messages here at Big Trip (we'll send you one if you pay us enough though....), but we wanted to send our nephew and godson, Connor a very Happy 9th Birthday message for today. Miss you lots and hope you had a great day.
For everyone else who isn't Connor you can go and check out the updated Big Trip Stats.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Friday, April 02, 2004
The Queen Sees Us Off
Who would've thought that the Queen (well Queen Liz II) was a fan of the Big Trip?
In that expose in the UK Sunday papers a couple of months ago there was no Big Trip mug or lunchbox amongst the acres of tuppleware that supposedly inhabit Buck House.
My republican leanings are also well known, so you can imagine my surprise when as Banz and I ate our lunch in a patch of sun in Harrow town centre on Wednesday and watched some workers putting together a platform, we were informed that the Queen was visiting on Thursday.
I never thought that she would be a fan, but yet here she was appearing in the town centre that we've come to know and shop in over the last few years (love is a very strong word), as well as driving past the end of Nibthwaite Road (Banz did mention that the loft room that caused us all this grief for a year would've made a fantastic sniper's nest) so she could pay her respects and wave us on our way before we caught the train up to Darlo to visit with HiG.
Thanks Liz - we didn't know you cared.
For the full story - CLICK HERE!
Who would've thought that the Queen (well Queen Liz II) was a fan of the Big Trip?
In that expose in the UK Sunday papers a couple of months ago there was no Big Trip mug or lunchbox amongst the acres of tuppleware that supposedly inhabit Buck House.
My republican leanings are also well known, so you can imagine my surprise when as Banz and I ate our lunch in a patch of sun in Harrow town centre on Wednesday and watched some workers putting together a platform, we were informed that the Queen was visiting on Thursday.
I never thought that she would be a fan, but yet here she was appearing in the town centre that we've come to know and shop in over the last few years (love is a very strong word), as well as driving past the end of Nibthwaite Road (Banz did mention that the loft room that caused us all this grief for a year would've made a fantastic sniper's nest) so she could pay her respects and wave us on our way before we caught the train up to Darlo to visit with HiG.
Thanks Liz - we didn't know you cared.
For the full story - CLICK HERE!
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Its finally happened...
Who would've thought that the flat would go through? At times, we certainly didn't, but it has happened. Last Wednesday, 18th February, after over a year of trying, Banz and I became homeless.
So, what now?
Well, after a strange feeling of relief and numbness, yet not quite happiness, we handed our notice in at work, booked our flights for Australia and came to the conclusion that The Big Trip is actually going to happen.... and boy, are we unfit!
You see a year ago, we were primed, fit, had been cycling to work each day, had completed the Coast to Coast and were eating well. The depression that set in after the loft room fiasco of 2003 meant that much chocolate, chips and lager were consumed in a fruitless effort to make us feel better. That and not really feeling like riding our bikes didn't help. But the eight months between then and now have given us something that I think is more important - a determination and resolve that we discovered when the chips were down. We're doing this trip. Come hell or high water (we don't want either to be honest - especially whilst camping). We're definitely doing this trip.
Our timeline is now -
27/02 - Finish Work
29/02 - Be in Cardiff to watch the mighty Boro lift the Carling Cup
03/03 - Fly from London to Bangkok
10/03 - Fly from Bangkok to Brisbane
12/03 - Fly to Mackay from Brisbane
18/03 - Get the overnight train from Mackay to Brisbane
26/03 - Fly from Brisbane to Singapore
30/03 - Fly from Singapore to London
We haven't decided yet, but we should be heading up to Teesside soon after we return to London and then setting off a week or so after that. Keep checking back here for finalised details.
In the meantime, you may have noticed that the site is looking different. The time lost through no longer having a Playstation, Cable TV and for a time, standard TV have not been wasted. Look around and see what we mean and make sure you give us some feedback on what you think. Highlights include the Cycling Nickname Generator and The Poll. You can also show your support for The Big Trip and get along to the Gift Shop.
Who would've thought that the flat would go through? At times, we certainly didn't, but it has happened. Last Wednesday, 18th February, after over a year of trying, Banz and I became homeless.
So, what now?
Well, after a strange feeling of relief and numbness, yet not quite happiness, we handed our notice in at work, booked our flights for Australia and came to the conclusion that The Big Trip is actually going to happen.... and boy, are we unfit!
You see a year ago, we were primed, fit, had been cycling to work each day, had completed the Coast to Coast and were eating well. The depression that set in after the loft room fiasco of 2003 meant that much chocolate, chips and lager were consumed in a fruitless effort to make us feel better. That and not really feeling like riding our bikes didn't help. But the eight months between then and now have given us something that I think is more important - a determination and resolve that we discovered when the chips were down. We're doing this trip. Come hell or high water (we don't want either to be honest - especially whilst camping). We're definitely doing this trip.
Our timeline is now -
27/02 - Finish Work
29/02 - Be in Cardiff to watch the mighty Boro lift the Carling Cup
03/03 - Fly from London to Bangkok
10/03 - Fly from Bangkok to Brisbane
12/03 - Fly to Mackay from Brisbane
18/03 - Get the overnight train from Mackay to Brisbane
26/03 - Fly from Brisbane to Singapore
30/03 - Fly from Singapore to London
We haven't decided yet, but we should be heading up to Teesside soon after we return to London and then setting off a week or so after that. Keep checking back here for finalised details.
In the meantime, you may have noticed that the site is looking different. The time lost through no longer having a Playstation, Cable TV and for a time, standard TV have not been wasted. Look around and see what we mean and make sure you give us some feedback on what you think. Highlights include the Cycling Nickname Generator and The Poll. You can also show your support for The Big Trip and get along to the Gift Shop.
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Snow Days!
After weeks of being told that it was going to snow here in London, it finally dumped it down in about 30 minutes last night.
Thankfully we were just about to go into Tesco just around the corner from our house and with everyone fleeing, we were able to have pretty much the entire supermarket to ourselves (yet it still strangely took 20 minutes to get served for a Lottery Ticket - some things never change).
Traffic was already queueing up on the roads and we were thankful for the short walk home. A quick snowball fight for the benefit of our neighbour's video camera (try as we might we couldn't get her 18 month old son involved) and we were safely ensconced in the house with the central heating blasting out.
Last year, London received about two inches on the 30th January - so it seems to be becoming an annual event. Maybe it could be a tourist attraction a la changing of the guards? You read it here first.
After weeks of being told that it was going to snow here in London, it finally dumped it down in about 30 minutes last night.
Thankfully we were just about to go into Tesco just around the corner from our house and with everyone fleeing, we were able to have pretty much the entire supermarket to ourselves (yet it still strangely took 20 minutes to get served for a Lottery Ticket - some things never change).
Traffic was already queueing up on the roads and we were thankful for the short walk home. A quick snowball fight for the benefit of our neighbour's video camera (try as we might we couldn't get her 18 month old son involved) and we were safely ensconced in the house with the central heating blasting out.
Last year, London received about two inches on the 30th January - so it seems to be becoming an annual event. Maybe it could be a tourist attraction a la changing of the guards? You read it here first.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Glory Supporting Boro Fans
As mentioned last Tuesday we went off to Highbury last night to see the underdogs Arsenal take on the league leaders Boro (for reality's sake please reverse the two adjectives describing the teams) for a place in the Coca-Carling Cup Final. We went with heavy hearts after the battering the lads received a couple of weeks ago at the hands of Arsenal.
We had just got through the gates as kick-off happened and took our places (nobody was seated) in the packed Boro end. What ensued was a fantastic game. The Boro end continually outsung Arsenal (do their fans not sing at all?) and our players responded magnificently. Although there was a lot of Arsenal pressure early on, they never looked like really finishing off their overly-tricky play and after several good chances (especially Juninho's shot bouncing off the post), we rightfully went ahead with a Juninho goal. They again applied pressure but were unable to break through our defence and we were unlucky when a couple of shots went wide. The game finished 1-0 to the good guys for once.
Our long journey home was improved by seeing lots of glum Arsenal supporters on the train who were occasionally broken by ecstatic looking Boro fans grinning back at us.
Fingers crossed Arsenal will stick to their youth mixed with crap older players policy and we'll stick a couple of goals past them at the Riverside and make the final at Cardiff. Bring on Bolton or Villa.
Note for international users - Boro never beat Arsenal. Ever. Well except for once in 2001, but apart from that never. Boro have never won an important cup in their history (going back over 100 years) and this could be our best chance yet. COME ON BORO!
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
The Future is bright, the Future is Boro
Last Saturday the mighty Boro played some team you may have heard of called Arsenal. Plucky Arsenal came through and beat us 4-1. Fortunately despite our attempts to get tickets to the game, all away tickets were sold out. Unfortunately, we're playing them three more times before the month is out (twice in the Carling Cup semi-final and once in the FA Cup). We'll be subjecting ourselves to next Tuesday's (20th January) game at Highbury.
The one bright spot that we were able to take out of last Saturday was the MSS Supporters South Ball. This is an annual event which we've attended over the last three years. This year one of the highlights for me was meeting two of the young players that the Boro have coming through, Andrew Davies (left) and Stewart Downing (right).
I probably won't be getting a start for the Boro for another couple of years, but with the way our strikers are playing, I might get a go up front this season.
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