http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Bennett66/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Bennett66 en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:44:36 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:44:36 +0000 Firstly before I begin my blog a big thank you to Chris Brinkworth all the pictures used are his after my camera was stolen he has a site with video footage at www.chrisbrinkworth.com. You may even see a little of me at Halong Bay if not some of his footage and commentary is very funny and definitely worth some of your spare time if you want to get a little closer to the travel experience.Okay h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-139755.html The flight from Pakse Laos had been quite pleasant overall there had been a bit of turbulence along the way which at most had caused my coffee to leap over the cup rim and then belly flop onto my food tray. Luckily though the stewardess was quick on hand with a cloth before it could take a further dive over the sides and onto my clean light coloured North Face trousers. As we circled before http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-163816.html I fell totally in love what a great feeling it was it gave me that euphoric feeling of true love found at last. Of course I'm talking metaphorically as my love was instantly with the country of Laos the people the culture and the religion. Imagine for one moment lush rolling green hills and valleys sleepy towns and villages beautiful Pagoda temples buddhist monks strolling the streets in b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-144922.html Anyone thinking of travelling to Asia must be prepared for a little hardship and being a little uncomfortable at times its all part of the experience. Poor accomodation doesn't bother me very much as its only somewhere to sleep and the day is spent visiting temples and sights and the evening with a cool glass or two of local amber nectar. However here are a few amusing observations I thought I wou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-137699.html When I left Shaghai for Hong Kong I thought 'just another city' and if its like all the others in China so far dirty busy and smoggy I'm going to hate it. The moment I arrived at the airport it was an instant love affair a relationship I knew I was going to enjoy. The airport was large clean and had an instant air of calmness walking through customs took moments as did retrieving my rucksack. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-136604.html Dear all its getting very hard to update my journals online in Asia. Connections are slow they keep crashing and its taking me longer to update my blog due to the immense waste of time as these crashes occur. So here is an update or synopsis of what has happened since China. I travelled from South to North of Vietnam in just under a month through February. I was on the move after every 2 days a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-135247.html Hello everyone hope you are all well sorry its taken so long for the next blog but hey I'm finally soaking up some sun in Laos after leaving Vietnam and hard at work on the tan you know how hard traveling can be busy busy busy. Anyway straight onto China I left Tibet on the new train that opened just last year from Lhasa to Beijing and had booked a soft sleeper for the 48hr journey. I arrived http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-131923.html My journey to Tibet started by bus early in the morning I had said my goodbyes to Subin and the boys the night before and sadly boarded a bus for the chinese boarder and the beginning of the Friendship Highway to Lhasa. The Friendship Highway crosses the Tibetan Plateau and takes around 5 days to reach Lhasa across the most barren and unhospitable landscapes. The winds blast across the flat plate http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tibet/blog-122069.html I arrived in Nepal on November 2nd 2006 and leave on January 6th 2007 two months and also nearly 3 weeks longer than I had originally planned to stay. I don't know what I expected to find when I arrived in Nepal nor did I have any preconceived expectations I simply came here to see the Himalayas. There was a reason I started my journey here first I knew I was being drawn here but by what force a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/blog-116108.html Dear friends firstly a very Merry Christmas to you all and secondly a happy and prosperous New Year and 2007 to you all. I hope you all ate drank and were very merry for me and I hope Santa left some nice pressies under your trees and in your stockings. On December 29th I finished my third and final trek around the Himalaya and the Manaslu region this region sits roughly inbetween the Everes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/blog-114674.html My fellow friends countryman travellers and avid readers welcome to the next chapter in Nepal. Firstly thank you for your kind words regarding the Annapurna Circuit I'm glad you enjoyed reading about it as much as I did treking it. So lets get straight into the next little adventure which includes a real mixture of humour adventure hardship and unfortunately real tragedy. A reminder that no ma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-109989.html Well I finally arrived in Kathmandu on November 2nd however things didnt get off to a good start because my rucksack remained in London and was in fact sitting at Heathrow. There was me thinking flying the flag was the way to start my trip was this going to be sign of things to come. I had no clothes to change into no music to listen to nothing to wash with everything was in the rucksack all I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-105586.html Well everybody it is time to leave for my year long journey the adventure begins today. Thank you all for your best wishes and luck for the next 12 months. A special thank you to Simon and Andrea for the speakers and the hangover from dinner the other night. Thank you Shirin for the Ganesh and Jim for the chill out cd and all of you from my spin class for making last tuesday so special. So here I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-99476.html All Just cracked open the champers... Every good journey begins with a bottle of champers http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-99357.html