tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40295822024-03-09T09:35:49.601+10:00The Big TripLatest news and views...Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1128773783396315312005-10-08T22:07:00.000+10:002006-09-28T14:02:20.713+10:00<p><strong>They think its all over... it is now...</strong><br /><br />If there's still an audience out there for our musings even when we're not globetrotting, drop on by <a href="http://www.bansey.com">Bansey.com</a>.<br /><br />Until then... adieu, ciao, goodbye, etc...</p>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1121780165820899462005-07-20T05:20:00.000+10:002007-06-05T10:09:40.171+10:00<p><strong>The Penultimate</strong><br /><br />When we headed out from Stockton Town Hall all those months ago we really didn't envision what our homecoming would be like.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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....<br /><br />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....</p>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1119790369919806252005-06-26T22:31:00.000+10:002005-06-27T20:33:13.753+10:00<strong>Land of Smiles</strong><br /><br />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!). <br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.<br /><br />In the meantime we're off for a big bowl of Tom Yum Gaeng (Banz's minus the prawns of course!).Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1118649905431880052005-06-13T16:07:00.000+10:002005-06-13T18:05:05.443+10:00<strong>Seven Nights in Bangkok</strong><br /><br />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.<br /><br />The change upon hitting Thailand was sudden and welcome. Simple things like walking down the street and not having any hassle were commonplace.<br /><br />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...<br /><br />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 <br /><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/">Sin City</a> - 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).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356910/">Mr and Mrs Smith</a> - 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.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121766/">Star Wars III</a> - 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!).<br /><br />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. <br /><br />We'll see how that changes as the final date approaches.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1117953235471194072005-06-05T15:22:00.000+10:002005-06-05T16:33:55.476+10:00<strong>Things We've Learnt About India</strong><br /><br /><img src="http://bigtrip.blogspot.com//blogpics/images/oyebubbly.jpg" align="left">1. You can have too much curry<br /><br />2. Indian Salesmen are the most tenacious in the world. We <em>mostly</em> managed to shake them off.<br /><br />3. Completely unrelated to No.2. We are now carrying a third bag full of shopping.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://pepsizone.yahoo.co.in/bubbly/downloads.html">here</a> (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.<br /><br />5. Praising the Indian top 6 increases your chances of getting money off in a shop.<br /><br />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....Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1115732103580375312005-05-10T22:42:00.000+10:002005-05-10T23:35:03.623+10:00<strong>High Anxiety</strong><br /><br />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....?).<br /><br />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!). <br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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 <em>just</em> 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.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://www.explorersweb.com/">Explorer's Web</a> for his progress.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />We definitely feel we're back into our world now - driving on the left, cricket in the streets and fantastic food. <em>Namaste.</em>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1114598656696931122005-04-27T19:56:00.000+10:002005-04-27T20:44:16.696+10:00<strong>Fly Me to Tibet</strong><br /><br />We've now had a couple of days in Chengdu and have enjoyed relaxing at a very cool hostel we found called <a href="http://www.donkey-pal.com/">Mix & Backpackers</a>. 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.<br /><br />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.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1114406735314831822005-04-25T14:27:00.000+10:002005-04-25T15:25:35.316+10:00<strong>Cruising the Yangze</strong><br /><br />We last left you in Datong and the aforementioned Great Firewall of China is still playing havoc with our attempts to update the website or upload photos. Frustrating as memory cards are starting to move as slow as me on a fully loaded bike going uphill.<br /><br />From Datong we stopped off in the town of Pingyao. When we got off the train we were slightly concerned to see the usual tower blocks that mark Chinese towns abounding around the station. After ditching the persistent trishaw drivers, we wandered for a bit and finally found the walls that enclose the old city. We entered through a gap and found the charming old town that we had been expecting. The instructions for our chosen hotel were vague so we followed our mother's advice and asked a policeman (who was playing pool at the time). He attempted no english niceties and bundled us (Banz, myself and another traveller, Nick) into his van. Two minutes later we were deposited at the front of our hotel and before we knew it he had left.<br /><br />We had a pleasant day in Pingyao, just rambling about, checking out the old town. Allegedly ghosts from the Ming Dynasty still wander the streets after dark as the streets are still the same as they were in the ghosts' heyday. We didn't see any, but were content to be the usual point of interest for passing schoolchildren and pensioners.<br /><br />We chatted with Nick over dinner but were put off exchanging emails by his turning his nose up at our books while recommending the Robbie Williams biography.<br /><br />Next stop was Luoyang. We had booked a hard sleeper (basically a dorm on wheels) to take us there and were a bit distressed to find we arrived at 2:10 in the morning. Nevertheless we sleepily piled into a taxi and made some new friends by waking receptionists in the budget hotels we had selected. All were full or not as budget as we expected. The driver moved on regardless and despite continually pointing at "luxury hotel" in our phrasebook we managed to steer him in the right direction and were comfortably ensconced in our room by 3 am. Only problem was we were too tired to sleep and so didn't nod off until after 4. Imagine our joy when the same taxi driver knocked on our door at ten o'clock to take us on an overpriced tour of the local sights. Our response really wouldn't be allowed out by the Chinese authorities.<br /><br />The principal sites of Luoyang were the Longman Caves and the park where Peonies grow. The Longman Caves were fantastic despite the persistent use of megaphones by Chinese tour guides. It didn't seem to matter how small the groups were, the megaphone was always necessary. So much for the serenity.<br /><br />The Peony Park (for the life of me I can't remember the correct name) is the reason half of China flocks to Luoyang in the Springtime. A handful of reasonably pretty flowers was hardly compensation for finding our hotel was full and we couldn't extend our stay for one night. As a result, Banz had to spend a good couple of hours making contacts with doormen from Five Star Hotels as they organised a night for us in a reasonably priced Three Star. Our thanks to the good people at the Triumphal Arches are eternal.<br /><br />The extra day was required as we had a one hour bus journey to Shaolin Si - the birthplace of Kung Fu. We were pretty disappointed with the temple grounds as it was more elderly Chinese tourists than kickass Chinese monks. Saying that, the Garden of the Thousand Pagodas was pretty interesting and the return journey was enlivened by the showing of Jet Li's first movie called Shaolin Temple (shot in and around Shaolin Si). Of course, the bus conductor turned it off with 20 minutes of the film and forty minutes of the journey to go so he could talk in Chinese about another temple we were passing. <br /><br />From Luoyang it was a short six hour train ride to Xi'an. Xi'an seems to want to be the Chinese Las Vegas with its flashing neon lights. We were just happy to see Pizza Hut and welcomed some comfort food from "home". The other reason to visit Xi'an was to see the Terracotta Warriors which were as impressive as expected.<br /><br />We had a panic as we coordinated our train and boat journeys. With a lot of phoning, emailing and a dash to the station we were set to travel to Yichang and catch the President No. 4 boat to Chongqing. There are several options for journeying up the Yangze, but we had decided to treat ourselves and go for the 4 star option. It was a decision that paid off as we had air-conditioned en-suite accommodation with fantastic meals whilst on-board. At our first dinner we were alarmed to discover that all the other guests were in tour groups and we were to sit at a table by ourselves. Another cause for concern was the table next to our's which had an average age of 75. The third concern was when all the tour groups were in turn introduced and then finally, we were told there was a group of Australians on board. When nobody else had put there hand up we realised they meant us and reluctantly rose our hands.<br /><br />Not being used to the Tour Group way of things, we were raised from our beds the next morning at 6:40 by piped Chinese muzak and made our way as instructed to the dining room. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that we would be dining with 2 Chinese couples as well as a couple from Singapore for the rest of the trip. It was also over breakfast that people started to sidle up to us and say, "So you're the Australians". I think this was partly due to the friendliness of the people involved (hello Peter, Richard, Hilary and Julian!) but also due to our novelty factor as independant travellers. "You mean you're travelling alone!?", was the often heard remark when we said we weren't with a group.<br /><br />The next few days passed in a whirl of amazing scenery (especially the Three Gorges), great food (battered coconut), the opportunity to learn mahjong as well as flying a kite off the back of the boat (and almost through some powerlines).<br /><br />After four days of luxury we have now journeyed onto Chengdu where we hope to organise our onward travel to Tibet.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1113189716417953192005-04-11T19:20:00.000+10:002005-05-11T20:12:22.466+10:00<strong>The Great Firewall of China</strong><br /><br />Well, we're having issues with keeping the site up-to-date as we would like here in China. The big issue is the aptly named Great Firewall of China. Our website is unable to be seen. They also block the BBC website so at least we're in good company....<br /><br />We are now currently in Datong. Its a smallish town by Chinese standards of only six million people. It has to be said that we're one of the prime attractions in town though. We had heard and read stories of the Chinese propensity for staring at caucasians. We thought thought that the stories were overblown. We also thought that this would be the case in small provincial towns that don't have two of the main attractions of China nearby that attract a string of international visitors. We were wrong.<br /><br />Sitting in a restaurant by the window on Saturday night we were constantly the subject of double and then triple takes and then staring - not just from people walking by, but from people on bikes and scooters (we were actually quite alarmed for their safety). One little boy (about 6) walked past with his table tennis bat in one hand and his Dad in the other, pointed and stared and then came in to say hello and test his english. Incredibly sweet as he then became very shy and would look down on the floor when we talked to him. Banz was most disappointed that he forgot to drop into the conversation one of our easily remembered Mandarin words - ping pong.<br /><br />Previously on Saturday we had been to visit the Yungang Caves and the Hanging Temple. The Yungang Caves were amazing. Buddhas of various sizes (the biggest about three stories) were housed in about 50 caves. As well as the Buddhas the caves themselves were intricately painted and carved. According to our guidebooks, the earliest caves were created by sculptors and painters from as far away as present day Afghanistan and India.<br /><br />From here we braved our Chinese driver (mobile phone constantly in one hand whilst overtaking on bends in the road on a mountain) and headed the Hanging Temple. I was a bit disappointed with these as a lot of the work was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and looks a bit Disney-fied and quaint. Banz went for a closer investigation whilst I practised my Mandarin much to the amusement of the stallholders trying to get me to buy verdigree turtles.<br /><br />In a couple of hours we'll jump on our train and head to Taiyuan. We're mainly using this as a staging post en route to Pingyao which is a well preserved town which dates mainly from the Ming Dynasty where we'll arrive tomorrow.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1111059292617799542005-03-17T21:29:00.000+10:002005-03-17T21:34:52.620+10:00<strong>Mega Update for the Galleries</strong><br /><br />Today had its ups and downs. We said goodbye to Hig (downer) but were able to do a mega update and clear all the photos off the digital camera (upper).<br /><br />For your viewing pleasure the following galleries are now available -<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery59.html">Latvia and Estonia</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery60.html">St Petersburg</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery61.html">Pushkin</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery62.html">Russian Dacha</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery63.html">Moscow</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery64.html">Trans-Siberian Railway</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery65.html">Irkutsk</a><br /><br />As always use the forward and back buttons down the bottom of each gallery to navigate. Watch this space as the Lake Baikal and first Mongolian galleries are imminent.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1110613461704159512005-03-12T17:00:00.000+10:002005-03-17T20:52:35.966+10:00<strong>Mongol Empires</strong><br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 371px; HEIGHT: 309px" height="408" alt="-20 degrees - still not as cold as Darlington Station" src="http://bigtrip.blogspot.com/images/blogpics/baikal.jpg" width="326" align="left" />We last left you as we were heading for Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. I wish I could think of the words to describe this place. All I can say is that it is probably one of the most beautiful and magical places that I've seen in my life.<br /><br />We spent 4 days and 3 nights there on a tour with Jack Sheremetoff from <a href="http://www.baikaler.com">Baikaler</a> tours. Our nights were spent in a homestay on the island of Olkhon (the largest island on the lake) eating the best food we ate in our entire time in Russia. During the days Jack would take us for walks on the lake as well as a memorable day driving across the ice to see some ice caves and sacred sites (the area is understandably very important to the indigenous Buryiat people) and lunching on the local salmon (omul) which was absolutely delicious. We've got literally hundreds of photos and as soon as we can get a fast internet connection we'll have them up for you to see - though I'm not sure they'll do it justice.<br /><br />Since then we've had a day trip to Ulan Ude. We arrived at 6:30am, napped for a couple of hours, went off to the Datsan (Buddhist Monastery), returned to Ulan Ude and saw the world's biggest Lenin head (really!) before testing our Russian for the last time at the hotel restaurant and retiring relatively early.<br /><br />The next morning we were again on the train, this time departing at 6:30am and travelling to the Russia-Mongolia border. The train stopped at the border and after about an hour of waiting (and being reassured by a Danish girl who had talked to the <em>providnitsa</em> that the train would be there for 4 hours), Banz and I went in search of some food at a local market as the restaurant carriage on the train had closed. Whilst at the market buying very random items to spend the last of our roubles (noodles, strange kind of marshmallows and the largest bag of biscuits you've ever seen), we began to be alarmed by the fact that we could here train whistles. As we quickly paid for our goods (which had been added up on an abacus) and returned to the station, we saw to our dismay an empty platform where our train once had stood. We immediately panicked and started running up the tracks (me having to pick my way through the ice as I still slip over at the slightest patch). The train was there being shunted about and locomotives and carriages being added and subtracted. We met a worker halfway there and started shouting "ULAN BATOR!! ULAN BATOR!!" at him and he calmly told us to wait there and the train would be coming back to this very spot. The train was true to his words and as it pulled up, we ran and found our carriage, Banz opened the door (without waiting for the stairs to be lowered) and threw his three packets of chicken noodles and then himself on. I waited for the <em>provodnitsa</em> to lower the stairs and then hauled myself and biscuits on. We then found Hig who had been doing his own panicking (his was more for the fact that he would've had to carry our backpacks as well as his own if we didn't make the train). After we sat down, made ourselves a cup of tea and tried to relax we began getting visits from the other foreigners on board who had been alerted by Hig to our absence. We had become carriage celebrities!<br /><br />The train then finished shunting and returned to the exact same spot on the platform where we had left it for our sojourn to the market. And stayed there for five hours. Yes, five hours - the majority of which we spent playing cards and incorrectly filling out Russian customs declarations.<br /><br />We then travelled through no man's land to the Mongolian border and filled out four forms (2 customs, 1 entry and 1 health clearance) before actually continuing the journey to Ulan Bator where we are now. Ulan Bator seems quite relaxed and we've been excited by simple things like English in a menu, BBC World Service being on FM and clear instead of SW and crackly and the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) having a channel on our TV in our room. Makes a nice change from attempting to follow Beverly Hills 90210 in Russian.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1108734153050597422005-02-18T23:10:00.000+10:002005-02-18T23:42:33.053+10:00<span><strong>White Nights in St Pete</strong></span><br /><br />Well for those of you keeping track Boro managed a 0-0 draw with Bolton. The game wasn't as dull as the scoreline suggests and it gave us an excuse to stay at the Dickens pub for extra deep-fried Latvian garlic bread.<br /><br />Football could hold us no longer in Riga (even though the Dickens was showing Boro's game last night - 2-2 with AK Graz for those taking notes - played at the Arnold Schwarzanegger Stadium, seriously - <a href="http://www.stadiumguide.com/arnold.htm">check here...</a>). Our appointment with HiG was duly approaching so we hopped a bus for six hours to our last EU outpost of Estonia. HiG arrived on time to the tiny Tallinn airport. We welcomed him and a supply of Marks and Spencer Teacakes and headed back into the city. The bus journey took only about 10 minutes as the airport is only about 3kms from the edge of the city. After dumping off our gear we all headed out into the evening to find some food and drink. After quite a bit of fruitless searching (a lot of places in Tallinn shut at 10pm, so had their doors locked for 9:30) we managed to refuel at a Tex-Mex eatery.<br /><br />Next morning found Banz with a bad headache and achey joints. After ensuring that it was a bit of a cold and not a hangover, HiG and I left him to recuperate whilst we explored the Old Town. The area itself is quite compact and so after a couple of hours wandering about and checking out a couple of churches we had seen most of the Old Town sites. We then went in search of the Central Bus Station for our tickets for St Petersburg for the next day. We checked before boarding the tram that it was heading to the bus station - though of course we didn't specify which one and ended up at a suburban, rather than inter-city station. After jumping on the tram back the other way (and giving the locals some amusement at our pitiful attempts to validate our tickets) we were on our way. 10 minutes later and we had our tickets and were ready to leave the next morning at 11:00.<br /><br />The bus journey to St Petersburg was rather uneventful. So uneventful that the bus pretty much didn't even stop for longer than one five minute period to stretch our legs between Tallinn and the border, and then again when we had to go through Russian customs. <br /><br />Russian customs was surprisingly quick and efficient. Where's the whole queueing experience we've been expecting? One amusing "highlight" was the fact that Banz and HiG had to have their bags x-rayed whilst when I mimed to the operator putting my bag through, he just waved me through the beeping metal detector.<br /><br />Upon arrival, we were able to distinguish where the Metro was (in cyrillic, Metpo) and after being pointed in the right direction by a local arrived at our stop and soon after our hostel for the next five nights.<br /><br />All three of us were starving by this stage and found a local eatery with buffet style meals. We broke their system though when we had our hot meats and cold salads on one plate and then realised that the hot veg options were next door. The food isn't kept hot and so has to be microwaved once you have all your food on the plate. Queue our three plates having side orders of salad scraped onto secondary plates before being microwaved and returned complete with a stern Russian look.<br /><br />We're taking it easy today and are going to have a more indepth tour tomorrow when we join a walking tour from the Hostel.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1108210427632539372005-02-12T21:27:00.000+10:002005-02-12T22:17:26.610+10:00<strong>Warsaw Pact off to Lithuania and Latvia</strong><br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 344px; HEIGHT: 359px" height="317" alt="bit cold out" src="http://bigtrip.blogspot.com/images/blogpics/viclake.jpg" width="438" align="left" />Our time in Lithuania and Latvia is short due to our deadline of meeting HiG in Tallinn on Tuesday (though according to a Japanese woman I met in reception at our hostel in Riga, 10 days is way too short for Japan and way too long for Riga - she's been here for 3 years teaching, so perhaps she needs a break).<br /><br />Our original two days in Vilnius was extended to three due to a night spent imbibing Vana Tallinn (or Estonian Gutrot as we've since christened it). Our two other days were spent wandering about the Vilnius Old Town (vainly searching for the Frank Zappa statue) and on a day trip to Trakai to see the castle.<br /><br />The trip took about 20 minutes from Vilnius by bus to arrive at the touristy village. After leaving the bus stop it wasn't at first evident which way to go, but we followed our noses and soon worked out that we were on the right trail. A bit of cross country walking through the snow and next thing we knew we were walking across the frozen lake to the castle itself. Banz later remarked that it was a great idea to build this castle on an island in the middle of the lake - for six months of the year it would be damn hard to get to.... the other six you would have to be careful that you didn't slip over as you rolled your cannons, trebuchets and other heavy armaments from Age of Empires over the ice.<br /><br />Yesterday was our time for our first bus trip of The Big Trip Part II. I really don't like buses but unfortunately in the Baltics you don't have much choice. When you weigh up a fifteen hour/several change train journey against a four and a bit hour direct bus there isn't really a question. We haven't exactly been blown away by Riga (despite a fantastic curry last night - not exactly a selling point for Riga itself). I guess we're not going to be able to judge tonight when in true Aussie/English abroad style we're going to an Irish Pub to watch an injury-ravaged Boro side play Bolton. A good result might just put a nice shine on our time in Riga, a bad one may lead to an early departure for Tallinn.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Some New Gallery Updates Below</strong><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery56.html">Warsaw</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery57.html">Gdansk and Malbork</a><br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery58.html">Lithuania</a>Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1107868958982198682005-02-08T23:21:00.000+10:002005-02-08T23:22:38.983+10:00<strong>The Lingua Franca</strong>
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<br />Just a quick note to say that the number of countries that Banz's french has paid off in has risen yet again. From hotel rooms in (of course) France, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary, last night we were able to add ordering a kebab in Poland. That's five and counting.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1103977145427029792004-12-25T22:13:00.000+10:002004-12-25T22:19:05.426+10:00<strong>Merry Christmas!</strong>
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<br />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...
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<br />Our bright spot was our visit to Canada to spend with Martin's brother Lloyd and family, Yvonne, Laura, Amy and Rich.
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<br />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.
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<br />Martin and Victoria
<br />x
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1101900771673021842004-12-01T20:49:00.001+10:002005-01-21T04:21:47.310+10:00<b>Escape from Sophia</b>
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<br />Our arrival in Sophia was relatively painless and we made our way through the streets to our Hostel (the fantastic <a href="http://www.hostelmostel.com">Hostel Mostel</a>). 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.
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<br />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.
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<br /><img style="WIDTH: 268px; HEIGHT: 232px" height="363" alt="Cheap wine and a three day growth" src="http://bigtrip.blogspot.com/images/blogpics/winecomp.jpg" width="257" align="left" />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!
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<br />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.
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<br />We've enjoyed our time here in Bulgaria and will definitely come back as there's a lot more here than we realised.
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<br />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.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1101912105163966732004-12-01T20:49:00.000+10:002004-12-02T00:42:14.953+10:00<b>Fame and its trappings</b>
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<br />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 - <a href="http://www.thehungrycyclist.com">The Hungry Cyclist</a> 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!).
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<br />After sending off the mail I kept exploring his site and imagine my surprise when I found that we were in his <a href="http://www.thehungrycyclist.com/links.html">Links</a> section. To quote -
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<br /><i>The Big Trip - Full of whacky facts about the two riders and what they are up to this site is great fun!</i>
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<br />We promise we won't let it go to our heads.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1100117821414099732004-11-11T06:06:00.000+10:002004-11-12T06:31:46.166+10:00<strong>Back in Europe</strong>
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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 <em>lingua franca</em> 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.
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<br />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.
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<br />All looks good for country number 9 of The Big Trip.
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1099751191872828042004-11-07T00:22:00.000+10:002004-11-07T00:26:31.873+10:00<strong>You can always start!</strong>
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<br />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).
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<br />As we walked past we had the following exchange with the salesman -
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<br />Pipe Salesman - Do you want a pipe?
<br />Banz and Vic - No thanks, we don't smoke.
<br />Pipe Salesman - Well, you can always start!
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1099228574230548422004-10-31T23:11:00.000+10:002004-11-01T22:32:27.873+10:00<strong>Hot new Jordan pics gallery</strong>
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<br />Well, we'll get our Google hits higher with a title like that if nothing else...
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<br />The following galleries are now up -
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<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery49.html">Wadi Rum</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery50.html">Petra</a>
<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery51.html">Aqaba & Amman</a>
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<br />We also have a new poll containing Banz's selection of "jokes" that he's thought up about Jordan.
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<br />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.
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1098544720957412872004-10-24T01:14:00.000+10:002004-10-24T01:18:40.956+10:00<strong>Censorship of Jordan</strong>
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />I guess 1939 Hollywood morals are still too much for Jordan in 2004.
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1097864230437150332004-10-16T03:43:00.000+10:002004-10-16T04:20:05.086+10:00<strong>The Gravitational Pull of Dahab</strong>
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<br /><img style="WIDTH: 245px; HEIGHT: 190px" height="315" src="http://bigtrip.blogspot.com/images/blogpics/viclaze.jpg" width="298" align="left" />Well, we're still in Dahab. We did mean to leave earlier this week, but, well, you know....
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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).
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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?
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<br />We hope that the Jaflong, Wagamama's and the Parmo retailers of Teesside are now on high alert.
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1097251500362578142004-10-09T01:39:00.000+10:002004-10-09T02:05:00.363+10:00<strong>Just to let you all know we're safe...</strong>
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />There is a lot of info at the BBC website <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3725662.stm">here</a>, if you want to read more as well as a map of Sinai <a href="http://www.geographia.com/egypt/sinai/map5.html">here</a>.Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1096822535598684392004-10-04T02:48:00.000+10:002004-10-04T02:55:35.596+10:00<strong>Another mass gallery update...</strong>
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<br />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...
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<br />They are -
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<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery44.html">Aswan and Abu Simbel</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery45.html">The Feluca Trip</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery46.html">Luxor</a>
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<br /><a href="http://www.bigtrip.blogspot.com/gallery/gallery47.html">Andre's Feluca Collection</a>
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<br />Blog to follow shortly...Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4029582.post-1094915821823941832004-09-12T01:10:00.000+10:002004-09-14T00:43:53.693+10:00<strong>Siwan Desert Rose</strong>
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<br /><img style="WIDTH: 237px; HEIGHT: 321px" height="371" src="http://bigtrip.blogspot.com/images/blogpics/desrose.JPG" width="220" align="right" />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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?
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<br />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.
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<br />After being dropped off by Mahmood at the <a href="http://mitglied.lycos.de/desert_rose_hotel/">Desert Rose</a>, 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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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).
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<br />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.
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<br />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
<br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10543082969574164167noreply@blogger.com