http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Bowthy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Bowthy en-us Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:57:50 UTC Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:57:50 UTC One night in LAMy good pal Daymo came over from London to meet me in LA and we finally met after Daymo got through a very sluggish immigration queue. Jetlagged tired after the long flights from the UK and Fiji with no guide book and no plan except to head to San Diego at some point it took us a while to get organised plus of course we had to have a couple of beers for old times' sake. It http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/California/blog-263914.html Great curry.Arriving in Nadi airport starving hungry as the muck the airline served was inedible I was excited to find a cafe in the arrivals lounge with the same ambience as some of the best restaurants in the world found in ramshackle buildings throughout India and Nepal. The veggy curry they served me was simply delicious. My time in Fiji was off to an excellent start.Pressure DropIt turns http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Fiji/Yasawa-Islands/blog-263571.html Christchurch to AucklandStarting in Christchurcha sleepy city with bags of character and friendly people and finishing in Auckland a vibrant town with more of an edge I cruised round New Zealand some of the time with my good friends Lana and Stu me in my 95 model Toyota Corolla with its 1.5 litre straightfour beast of an engine under the hood delivering an almighty 104 BHP to its balding http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-251382.html Home and AwayAfter a few very relaxing days on the island of Lamma a short boat ride from the always impressive Hong Kong enjoying the hospitality my good friends and future purveyors of fine chocolates all being well Adam and Vicki I took a flight to Sydney. Initially I thought I'd made a big mistake the skies were grey and it was drizzling and the rushhour commute had begun. It felt http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/Australia/blog-226961.html Happening HanoiAfter a couple of weeks European rest from the rush of Asia I was excited about arriving in Hanoi and I wasn't disappointed. After eventually finding a taxi driver that would reset and use his metre I found myself in the middle of one of the most exciting Asian cities I'd ever visited.Hanoi is a champagne explosion of sensual delight on every street corner is a scene from a novel http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Vietnam/blog-216229.html BangkokIt was my brother's first time in Thailand so we did the sensible thing and headed to Pat Pong for some food beers and unexpectedly live Thai kickboxing.The boxing wasn't live in the same way that football is live in pubs it was actually two Thai blokes having a proper scrap in a tiny ring next to the bar. I'm guessing that they were once top fighters but they were knocking on a bit http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/blog-210565.html Luang PrabangI only had a few days to spend in Laos but I still had time to have a good look round the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site of Luang Prabang enjoying the excellent food including my first delicious taste of bacon in a few months in the French colonial restaurants along with one or two glasses of Beer Lao and the odd twoforone mojito with some friends I hadnt seen since Rishi http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Laos/blog-210558.html Phnom PenhAfter having yet more contraband toiletries confiscated at the airport I arrived in Phnom Penh Cambodia and was pleasantly surprised to find it a chaotic and welcoming place with friendly locals and at last some draft lager. The beer in the hotel bar was cold enough to take the edge off the humid city air and a delicious plate of amok the local fish and coconut curry and a game of http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Cambodia/blog-209752.html JungleI arrived in Borneo without having read anything about the place as I'd spent a good deal of my time in Singapore fast asleep. I had thought that the island was an untouched jungle paradise and with this in mind my vague plan was to spend a couple of weeks living in the trees with a family of orangutans. A quick chat with the staff at the very comfortable Step In Lodge in Kota Kinabalu sh http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-206925.html Best Coffee Shop EverOnce back in Manali after the excitement of touring round Ladakh I went back to Dylan's Coffee Shop to relax with my mates Raj and Riyaz. Dylan's is the best coffee shop I've ever been to. It's run and owned by Rajan one of the most laidback and yet hardestworking people I've met with a great team of assistantsRamesh Raju and Chaman when the Bob Marley song Jammin c http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Manali/blog-193202.html Where is everyoneWhen I reached Manali it seemed that anyone on a motorbike and a sense of adventure had already left for the town of Leh in Ladakh a jouney of about 700km through some of the most amazing terrain you'll ever see. An 365km stretch of the road to Leh has no petrol stations or bike workshops a distance too far for the standard 12 litre tank of the Bullet. I didn't fancy doing http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Jammu-and-Kashmir/blog-192301.html Problems with TravelblogApologies for spamming you with updated blog emails. Travelblog managed to lose all my blog entries and everyone elses the other week and when I restored them emails were sent out. I accidentally put the photographs for this entry on the previous blog and it's taking too long to move them so please look there for the photos for this entry.Travelblog's run by one blok http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Manali/blog-192239.html Jazz ClubDue to sickness and socialising it took me longer than expected to leave Kathmandu and start my trip to India. I'd heard that there was an excellent jazz club about 20 minutes walk from Thamel and so the evening after meeting Sayed Terri and Chanel for a goodbye or is it just au revoir dinner Jessica and I wandered along the busy street to Jazz Upstairs to meet Dessie a lovely http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Nepal/Mahendra-Nagar/blog-192238.html Walking through the tourist bubble of Thamel towards Kathmandu Durbar Square with Jessica the next morning a scruffy little dog hobbled across my path looked up at me and then went to lie down under a parked car. She was shivering and obviously in a lot of pain. I couldn't walk past. In a country such as Nepal where life for the human inhabitants can be incredibly tough animals are sometimes no http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-169461.html Pokhara's a great place to put your feet up get your washing done and eat food that isn't lentils after a trek and I ended up staying there longer than planned. On the first morning I was momentarily disturbed from my relaxed musings of the beautiful Annapurna range sitting in a barber's chair having my Grizzly Adams beard shaved off as a large cow came into the shop. Sorry I have to buy cake http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Nepal/Pokhara/blog-169420.html One hundred yards out of the garage the bus shuddered to a halt. ldquoBesi Saha Besi Sahardquo cried the two lads hanging out from the doorway at the side of the bus alerting potential passengers to the destination of the bus. Noone got on and the bus accelerated at just above snail pace creaking and groaning over the pot holes in the road. ldquoNow wersquore on our wayrdquo I tho http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-169106.html I've heard it said that Kathmandu is a stinking cesspit of a city and to an extent I would have to agree. The fumes from the adulterated mix of kerosene and gasoline used by some of the city's 2.5 million inhabitants can be choking especially on a hot breezeless day. The torrential rain storms that happen every few days give some respite and the morning after a downpour is often clear and coo http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-168311.html Delhi was waking up to a lazy hazy Sunday as the morning sun warmed me through the window of my Ambassador taxi making stars out of the dust particles that swirled out of the back seat as I sat down. A trip to the ATM to pay the Sikh behind the wheel took me through shady streets shining with stall upon stall of grapefruit orange and melon. The wide treelined avenues of Souther Delhi were al http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Nepal/Gorak-Shep/blog-157875.html Due to a slight breakdown in communication my driver for the next three days Mahaveed was waiting for me at the Yatri Guest House at six am sharp. Three hours later after getting up reasonably early considering my jetlag and a leisurely breakfast I was also ready to leave for a jaunt round India's Golden Triangle. The trip started with a drive towards Agra and the Taj Mahal a building I'd no http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-156966.html It's easier to get to Nepal from India than direct from the UK and so India is my first port of call. The flight to Delhi was excellent. I managed to stay awake long enough to enjoy a curry a couple of glasses of wine and at last Casino Royale. The next thing I knew I was being woken up for my breakfast with 90 minutes until landing. I was braced for lots of heat chaos hassle and noise on my http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-147552.html