They think its all over... it is now...
If there's still an audience out there for our musings even when we're not globetrotting, drop on by Bansey.com.
Until then... adieu, ciao, goodbye, etc...
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
The Penultimate
When we headed out from Stockton Town Hall all those months ago we really didn't envision what our homecoming would be like.
We are soon going to find out. We are now in Singapore and tonight is our last night abroad as we catch our flight back to Brisbane tomorrow night at 21:20.
Its only a 7 hour flight which will hopefully pass in a blur of great first release movies, delicious food and quiet rest. Generally our flights pass with a straight-to-video film (why is it that the films are always fantastic on the flights going the opposite direction than we are??), inedible food and screaming children kicking the back of our chair. I think we're due one of the former.
Singapore is an island that has a lot of rules. Fined if you don't flush a public toilet, no chewing gum and no urinating in the lift (do you really need to spell that rule out?). As a result it is a very safe destination, but one can't help feeling that they've regulated all the fun out. As a government minister mentioned when trying to dissuade visitors that Singapore was "boring" - "we need to think seriously about the issue of having fun". I think he's missed the point really....
Do we sound jaded? Well, we certainly feel it. We've had a great time, but we've definitely got the back-to-school vibe. The trip back to reality is complete as I may even have a phone interview on Friday afternoon. Oh well, it could be double Maths....
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Land of Smiles
Well our overnight stay in Koh Samui was lengthened to err... umm.. two weeks!? Part of this was due to our fantastic spot at Moon Bungalows where we had a lovely beach 100 metres away. Part was due to our overload of shopping and our heavy bags. Part of it is just travel tiredness and the fact that we like to have some sense of permanency to a place. It was a wrench to leave especially having made some good friends in Claire and Mark (hi guys!).
But we did and we've now made our way to Phuket via the most backpacker-crowded ferry I've ever seen. As Martin said, it would be a big loss to the backpacking fraternity if the boat went down. We hadn't thought about our dates and were leaving on the same ferry as all the full moon party attendees. Listening to their conversations about the party, we didn't feel that we'd missed that much (eg. "I was so stoned Dude!"). We needed our witys about us to attend a quiz at an expat bar on Samui the next night... and lost by one point. Questions that are haunting us now include where the first winter olympics were held, the number of times Borg won Wimbledon before losing to McEnroe and the European country which has a white flag with a red cross on it.
Mark had been to Phuket before making it to Koh Samui and had recommended a nice hotel at bargain prices. We're now in unknown luxury land of air-conditioning, mini-bar, satellite TV and DVD players (though it doesn't seem to like some of our dodgy Chinese bought ones). We're here for about 5 days before we head to our penultimate country of the trip, Malaysia. I hear its national dish is satay - so I'm getting excited already.
In the meantime we're off for a big bowl of Tom Yum Gaeng (Banz's minus the prawns of course!).
Well our overnight stay in Koh Samui was lengthened to err... umm.. two weeks!? Part of this was due to our fantastic spot at Moon Bungalows where we had a lovely beach 100 metres away. Part was due to our overload of shopping and our heavy bags. Part of it is just travel tiredness and the fact that we like to have some sense of permanency to a place. It was a wrench to leave especially having made some good friends in Claire and Mark (hi guys!).
But we did and we've now made our way to Phuket via the most backpacker-crowded ferry I've ever seen. As Martin said, it would be a big loss to the backpacking fraternity if the boat went down. We hadn't thought about our dates and were leaving on the same ferry as all the full moon party attendees. Listening to their conversations about the party, we didn't feel that we'd missed that much (eg. "I was so stoned Dude!"). We needed our witys about us to attend a quiz at an expat bar on Samui the next night... and lost by one point. Questions that are haunting us now include where the first winter olympics were held, the number of times Borg won Wimbledon before losing to McEnroe and the European country which has a white flag with a red cross on it.
Mark had been to Phuket before making it to Koh Samui and had recommended a nice hotel at bargain prices. We're now in unknown luxury land of air-conditioning, mini-bar, satellite TV and DVD players (though it doesn't seem to like some of our dodgy Chinese bought ones). We're here for about 5 days before we head to our penultimate country of the trip, Malaysia. I hear its national dish is satay - so I'm getting excited already.
In the meantime we're off for a big bowl of Tom Yum Gaeng (Banz's minus the prawns of course!).
Monday, June 13, 2005
Seven Nights in Bangkok
After waving a sad farewell to Lisa in Delhi, we wasted no time in jumping on a flight to Bangkok. We definitely enjoyed India and will be back, but I think its a small dose country for us. Much respect to the six monthers out there.
The change upon hitting Thailand was sudden and welcome. Simple things like walking down the street and not having any hassle were commonplace.
As we've been to Bangkok a couple of times before we were quite content to primarily catch up on emails, shop, catch up with our friends Anthony and Tu, oh and did I mention shop! Our first morning after arrival was spent in Chatachak weekend market. I love Chatachak as there's a huge amount of stuff there, quite a bit of variety and because a lot of Thais shopt there is not the silly prices that you get at the more touristy markets like Patpong. My alarming (to Banz) shoe fetish has continued here and we are now at shoe critical mass of 11 pairs of shoes. I've never been a shoe person, but the cheap prices and styles (mainly sandals) available in India and Thailand have sent me on a buying frenzy. I did point out that the amount of paid for 11 pairs is equivalent to about 25 english pounds. I don't think he's convinced though...
We also found time to go to the cinema. Hooray for Thai subtitles! In two days we went three times and have managed to see
Sin City - we absolutely loved this film and are excited by the prospects of sequels in the next couple of years. If anyone has found a definition of what all the colours mean send it on to us. Viewing pleasure was increased by being the only two people in a "luxury" cinema with sofas and blankets (Thai air-conditioning is of the arctic standard).
Mr and Mrs Smith - great no brainer that we really enjoyed. Brad Pitt in suits - Jennifer Anniston are you nuts? Angelina Jolie kicked butt and can't really imagine Nicole Kidman (originally destined for the role) doing it as well.
Star Wars III - and then we went and spoiled it all by watching Revenge of the Sith. What a waste of time this film was. Anakin Skywalker is the one but somehow is the stupidest person ever. Definitely has sullied the memory of the original trio with this one. Worst moment - Anakin's first moments as a suited and booted Darth Vader and is informed of Padme's death. Darth lurches forward Frankenstein's monster style and lets out a James Earl Jones induced "Noooooooooooo" whilst holding his hands in the air.
We put our horrific Revenge of the Sith moment behind us and had dinner with our friends' Anthony and Tu at a fabulous Italian place near their house. I've been craving pasta since being in India (craved curry whilst in Italy - no pleasing some people) so this was a great treat. It was also great to catch up with them and share some experiences of India together. They've had extensive business dealings there to which I hope their patience is one day rewarded.
Darth Vader was not the only one to be suited and booted during our Bangkok stay. On our first trip to Bangkok five years ago we (Banz, Spence and HiG) had some made to measure suits done. These suits looked great on the boys and Banz decided to get another made for job searching purposes. We journeyed back to our friends at Arena Fashions for a fitting and were warmly welcomed back. One pinstriped number later and Banz is looking dressed to kill. Well at least dressed to obtain a highly paid IT position (fingers crossed!).
We have now ventured south and are chilling out on Koh Samui for a while before continuing onto other islands and then further south through Malaysia and finally onto Singapore. The trip is coming to a definite end as we have booked our flight out of Singapore for July 20th. Our feelings are both of sadness and excitement.
We'll see how that changes as the final date approaches.
After waving a sad farewell to Lisa in Delhi, we wasted no time in jumping on a flight to Bangkok. We definitely enjoyed India and will be back, but I think its a small dose country for us. Much respect to the six monthers out there.
The change upon hitting Thailand was sudden and welcome. Simple things like walking down the street and not having any hassle were commonplace.
As we've been to Bangkok a couple of times before we were quite content to primarily catch up on emails, shop, catch up with our friends Anthony and Tu, oh and did I mention shop! Our first morning after arrival was spent in Chatachak weekend market. I love Chatachak as there's a huge amount of stuff there, quite a bit of variety and because a lot of Thais shopt there is not the silly prices that you get at the more touristy markets like Patpong. My alarming (to Banz) shoe fetish has continued here and we are now at shoe critical mass of 11 pairs of shoes. I've never been a shoe person, but the cheap prices and styles (mainly sandals) available in India and Thailand have sent me on a buying frenzy. I did point out that the amount of paid for 11 pairs is equivalent to about 25 english pounds. I don't think he's convinced though...
We also found time to go to the cinema. Hooray for Thai subtitles! In two days we went three times and have managed to see
Sin City - we absolutely loved this film and are excited by the prospects of sequels in the next couple of years. If anyone has found a definition of what all the colours mean send it on to us. Viewing pleasure was increased by being the only two people in a "luxury" cinema with sofas and blankets (Thai air-conditioning is of the arctic standard).
Mr and Mrs Smith - great no brainer that we really enjoyed. Brad Pitt in suits - Jennifer Anniston are you nuts? Angelina Jolie kicked butt and can't really imagine Nicole Kidman (originally destined for the role) doing it as well.
Star Wars III - and then we went and spoiled it all by watching Revenge of the Sith. What a waste of time this film was. Anakin Skywalker is the one but somehow is the stupidest person ever. Definitely has sullied the memory of the original trio with this one. Worst moment - Anakin's first moments as a suited and booted Darth Vader and is informed of Padme's death. Darth lurches forward Frankenstein's monster style and lets out a James Earl Jones induced "Noooooooooooo" whilst holding his hands in the air.
We put our horrific Revenge of the Sith moment behind us and had dinner with our friends' Anthony and Tu at a fabulous Italian place near their house. I've been craving pasta since being in India (craved curry whilst in Italy - no pleasing some people) so this was a great treat. It was also great to catch up with them and share some experiences of India together. They've had extensive business dealings there to which I hope their patience is one day rewarded.
Darth Vader was not the only one to be suited and booted during our Bangkok stay. On our first trip to Bangkok five years ago we (Banz, Spence and HiG) had some made to measure suits done. These suits looked great on the boys and Banz decided to get another made for job searching purposes. We journeyed back to our friends at Arena Fashions for a fitting and were warmly welcomed back. One pinstriped number later and Banz is looking dressed to kill. Well at least dressed to obtain a highly paid IT position (fingers crossed!).
We have now ventured south and are chilling out on Koh Samui for a while before continuing onto other islands and then further south through Malaysia and finally onto Singapore. The trip is coming to a definite end as we have booked our flight out of Singapore for July 20th. Our feelings are both of sadness and excitement.
We'll see how that changes as the final date approaches.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Things We've Learnt About India
1. You can have too much curry
2. Indian Salesmen are the most tenacious in the world. We mostly managed to shake them off.
3. Completely unrelated to No.2. We are now carrying a third bag full of shopping.
4. Cricketers are the real stars of India... well that and a couple of ubiquitous Bollywood Stars who to our untrained eyes just look smug. Download our favourite, the Oye Bubbly Video for Pepsi here (make sure you download the Music Video, not the TV Commercial). Sachin, Dravid et al appear at about the three minute mark. If anyone speaks Hindi we'd love a translation.
5. Praising the Indian top 6 increases your chances of getting money off in a shop.
6. Telling them that VVS Laxman broke Australian hearts in the series before the last one and you're even more likely to get a discount. Swings and roundabouts....
1. You can have too much curry2. Indian Salesmen are the most tenacious in the world. We mostly managed to shake them off.
3. Completely unrelated to No.2. We are now carrying a third bag full of shopping.
4. Cricketers are the real stars of India... well that and a couple of ubiquitous Bollywood Stars who to our untrained eyes just look smug. Download our favourite, the Oye Bubbly Video for Pepsi here (make sure you download the Music Video, not the TV Commercial). Sachin, Dravid et al appear at about the three minute mark. If anyone speaks Hindi we'd love a translation.
5. Praising the Indian top 6 increases your chances of getting money off in a shop.
6. Telling them that VVS Laxman broke Australian hearts in the series before the last one and you're even more likely to get a discount. Swings and roundabouts....
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
High Anxiety
Our flight to Lhasa was fine. The scenery outside of the plane was fantastic (Martin is working as we speak to get these photos up) though the food inside gave us a slight cause for concern if it was a sign of things to come (salty porridge....?).
The flight was on-time and when we landed we started to wonder if all this talk of Altitude Sickness is just lies. Headaches, dizzyness, out-of-breath, yeah right. We were fine and we're only in the airport (kind of like that time we beat jet lag and woke up in a hotel room in Gympie at 9 o'clock at night - try finding food at that time of night in Gympie!).
It was another two hours before we were able to feel its first effects. The airport at Lhasa is over 90 kms outside of town and so felt fine for the two hour coach journey into town. We arrived at our Hotel and proceeded to walk up two flights of stairs to the reception. After the first flight we started to breath heavily and by the second we were panting like we'd just done the Ventoux. After checking into our room we discovered we needed to have a good lie down (involving a four hour nap) after which we had the strangest feeling in the world - the dizzyness of being tipsy combined with a hangover size headache. Hmm, hardly seems fair to have them both at the same time.
Its probably a good time now to say we were pretty disappointed with Tibet. Perhaps our perceptions were too unrealistic. We knew it wasn't going to be the Shangri-la of "Lost Horizon" fame and we knew that the Chinese had altered it forever, but we just couldn't get a good feeling for it. Maybe it was the harrassing monks shouting "Money, money!" at any white-faced tourists they see or being persistently overcharged by shopkeepers. Alternatively it could be the sinister Non-Government operators (NGOs) who seem to each have a token Tibetan with them in each of the restaurants we went to. Tibet's case also wasn't helped by the profusion of 17 year olds on their gap year whose Mummy has given them a round-the-world ticket which gives them a stop in 20 different countries for five days. I hope somebody back home will tell them how stupid they look in their collection of "ethnic" hats. I didn't have the heart.
As it stands we were happy to leave Lhasa and head towards the border on a Jeep trek that would take in some of the sights as well as Mt Everest Base Camp. We were lucky to be paired with Ana and Juan Carlos (from Spain and Argentina) for the trip. Apart from an opportunity to practice my ever-diminishing spanish, Ana and Juan Carlos were great companions and always up for a laugh. Lucky this as we keep running into them here in Kathmandu!
We departed on my birthday (4:00am start - that's why I'm starting to look old!) and over the next few days passed through several of Tibet's towns, monasteries and forts. All these were only a pre-cursor for the big one - Everest. All through the last couple of days our guidebooks had promised glimpses of Everest. It wasn't until Day 4 as we went over our highest pass that we saw it. I'm not going to bother with words as the four of us in the jeep certainly didn't. Instead we jumped out of the jeep and were giddy as children (not just the altitude this time) and ran about photographing Everest and us in various combinations. After half an hour here we jumped back in the jeep and headed towards Everest Base Camp where we would spend the night.
Everest Base Camp was an interesting place for an evening, but I can't imagine spending five weeks there as some of the mountaineers we met had. All that time for acclimitisation must drive them potty. One climber we met, Humphrey Murphy is hoping to go up in a few days time if the weather is right. We've got our fingers crossed for him and will be keeping an eye on Explorer's Web for his progress.
After Everest, we thought the last day would be a disappointment. Thankfully it wasn't. As we lost 4,000 metres of altitude and headed to Nepal the road hugged the river and we had some amazing scenery. The friendliest border crossing ever, a cheap and tasty dhal bat lunch and a five hour bus ride later and we were in Kathmandu. Obviously there are bigger issues in Nepal with the Maoist rebels in the countryside (our bus went through about 6 roadblocks), but Kathmandu is fine and a friendly and welcoming place.
We definitely feel we're back into our world now - driving on the left, cricket in the streets and fantastic food. Namaste.
Our flight to Lhasa was fine. The scenery outside of the plane was fantastic (Martin is working as we speak to get these photos up) though the food inside gave us a slight cause for concern if it was a sign of things to come (salty porridge....?).
The flight was on-time and when we landed we started to wonder if all this talk of Altitude Sickness is just lies. Headaches, dizzyness, out-of-breath, yeah right. We were fine and we're only in the airport (kind of like that time we beat jet lag and woke up in a hotel room in Gympie at 9 o'clock at night - try finding food at that time of night in Gympie!).
It was another two hours before we were able to feel its first effects. The airport at Lhasa is over 90 kms outside of town and so felt fine for the two hour coach journey into town. We arrived at our Hotel and proceeded to walk up two flights of stairs to the reception. After the first flight we started to breath heavily and by the second we were panting like we'd just done the Ventoux. After checking into our room we discovered we needed to have a good lie down (involving a four hour nap) after which we had the strangest feeling in the world - the dizzyness of being tipsy combined with a hangover size headache. Hmm, hardly seems fair to have them both at the same time.
Its probably a good time now to say we were pretty disappointed with Tibet. Perhaps our perceptions were too unrealistic. We knew it wasn't going to be the Shangri-la of "Lost Horizon" fame and we knew that the Chinese had altered it forever, but we just couldn't get a good feeling for it. Maybe it was the harrassing monks shouting "Money, money!" at any white-faced tourists they see or being persistently overcharged by shopkeepers. Alternatively it could be the sinister Non-Government operators (NGOs) who seem to each have a token Tibetan with them in each of the restaurants we went to. Tibet's case also wasn't helped by the profusion of 17 year olds on their gap year whose Mummy has given them a round-the-world ticket which gives them a stop in 20 different countries for five days. I hope somebody back home will tell them how stupid they look in their collection of "ethnic" hats. I didn't have the heart.
As it stands we were happy to leave Lhasa and head towards the border on a Jeep trek that would take in some of the sights as well as Mt Everest Base Camp. We were lucky to be paired with Ana and Juan Carlos (from Spain and Argentina) for the trip. Apart from an opportunity to practice my ever-diminishing spanish, Ana and Juan Carlos were great companions and always up for a laugh. Lucky this as we keep running into them here in Kathmandu!
We departed on my birthday (4:00am start - that's why I'm starting to look old!) and over the next few days passed through several of Tibet's towns, monasteries and forts. All these were only a pre-cursor for the big one - Everest. All through the last couple of days our guidebooks had promised glimpses of Everest. It wasn't until Day 4 as we went over our highest pass that we saw it. I'm not going to bother with words as the four of us in the jeep certainly didn't. Instead we jumped out of the jeep and were giddy as children (not just the altitude this time) and ran about photographing Everest and us in various combinations. After half an hour here we jumped back in the jeep and headed towards Everest Base Camp where we would spend the night.
Everest Base Camp was an interesting place for an evening, but I can't imagine spending five weeks there as some of the mountaineers we met had. All that time for acclimitisation must drive them potty. One climber we met, Humphrey Murphy is hoping to go up in a few days time if the weather is right. We've got our fingers crossed for him and will be keeping an eye on Explorer's Web for his progress.
After Everest, we thought the last day would be a disappointment. Thankfully it wasn't. As we lost 4,000 metres of altitude and headed to Nepal the road hugged the river and we had some amazing scenery. The friendliest border crossing ever, a cheap and tasty dhal bat lunch and a five hour bus ride later and we were in Kathmandu. Obviously there are bigger issues in Nepal with the Maoist rebels in the countryside (our bus went through about 6 roadblocks), but Kathmandu is fine and a friendly and welcoming place.
We definitely feel we're back into our world now - driving on the left, cricket in the streets and fantastic food. Namaste.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Fly Me to Tibet
We've now had a couple of days in Chengdu and have enjoyed relaxing at a very cool hostel we found called Mix & Backpackers. We had actually met Mix (the proprietor of this fine establishment) in Beijing as he was travelling around China seeking cooperation and referrals from other hostels.
Mix has setup a great hostel and we're disappointed to not be able to spend longer here. Tomorrow we're flying to Lhasa. Despite a 5am start we're excited and can't wait to experience Tibet.
We've now had a couple of days in Chengdu and have enjoyed relaxing at a very cool hostel we found called Mix & Backpackers. We had actually met Mix (the proprietor of this fine establishment) in Beijing as he was travelling around China seeking cooperation and referrals from other hostels.
Mix has setup a great hostel and we're disappointed to not be able to spend longer here. Tomorrow we're flying to Lhasa. Despite a 5am start we're excited and can't wait to experience Tibet.
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