http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/BradMan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from BradMan en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:24:03 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:24:03 +0000 Back in Delhi was had to pick up the surfboards from the Backpackers we left then in. Mushtaka our travel agent had our train tickets ready for Varanasi. Bupesh organised a porter for us at the train station and we said our goodbyes. The porter had agreed on Rps 200 but once he had got to the platform he said it was Rps 500 we did not pay the 500 cheeky. The porter also ran off without telling http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Varanasi/blog-384892.html It was a 5hr journey to Agra from Jaipur. First stop lunch and we shared a Talli which was amazing and headed for the Taj Mahal. We had to pay tourist price which was Rps 750 each local price Rps 10. With this you get a free bottle of water and paper shoes itrsquos not actually free as you pay for it in the Rps750. The Taj Mahal was beautiful and the gardens amazing. After and 1.5hrs of walk http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-384888.html Jaipur is known for its jewelry and textiles....basically we were not interested in either at this point in time. We started off the day at Bupesh's local restaurant. The food was amazing 3 curries 8 rotis 2lassi's and water Rps 144 AMAZING clearly local prices. Bupesh took us to see the CITY PALACE tourist price and it was interesting driving around the Pink City. We were then roped into http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-384884.html We left South Africa and had a stop over in Dubai next stop DELI. WOW were in for a shock To start with our 'prebooked' transfer did not arrive at the airport so we had to haggle for a cab and BTW we are now traveling with surfboards. We spent our time in chaos as there is no such thing as 'personal space'. Delhi was full of cars rickshaws tuc tuc and lots of cows nothing could prepare u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/blog-384881.html The Intercape was fantastic as we got to sleep through the night from JBay. Craig's dad Trevor was picking us up at the Somerset West petrol station at 600am. Unfortuantly for him we arrived 3 hours late and we had no signal until we entered Cape Town. It was really exciting as Craig was seeing his house in Penhill for the first time and I was meeting the family. After unpacking and introduc http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Somerset-West/blog-371289.html Arriving in JBay is like the feeling you get before going to watch a film everybody is talking about but with mixed reviews. When you travel to far corners of the earth and mix with local surfers its Jbay that they all know about and long to visit. On previous visits I failed to see what all the fuss was about and was hoping for an opportunity to experience the magic the place is famous for. W http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Jeffreys-Bay/blog-371286.html Back to early morning surfing beautiful clean waves...what a life. I am finally off the 7ft board and onto Craig's 6.6ft shortboard glad to be rid of the tanker. Camping is still cool...but at Buccaneers they gave us a patch of land down hill in a forest on an ant hill. The first night was not comfortable but we moved the next day to a camping platform which was good. The board bags came in h http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Cintza/blog-363992.html Coffee Bay..... what can I say...AMAZING We camped on a plot of grass walking distance from the beach and 2secs from the booze. As new arrivals we had to run through the HOUSEBAR Rules. Buffalo seemed to be a great rule as during the holiday a lot of backpackers got hammered. This is where we started the early morning routine.....Craig wakes me up at 530 coffee and then a dawny early morning http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-357898.html The start of the Baz Bus journey.....Sean kindly took us to Tekweni Backpackers at 600am so that we could get the Baz Bus to Umzumbe. After a 2 hour journey we arrived at the Mantis Moon backpackers only an hour from Durban in a car which my mom found hilerious. On arrival we were upgraded to a private Wendy House on suite. Mantis Moon has a junglefairy glen atmosphere. There were cats http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Umzumbe/blog-357883.html After deciding to bring our flights forward we landed in Durban with minimal sleep and looking a little pasty to say the least. Clairersquos Mom collected us from the airport and whizzed us back to the house where we began to get steadily wasted in celebration of our first day of annual leave. leave lasting a yearThe preceding days were much of the same and the arrival of Nicole and Simon http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/Durban/blog-357870.html The last booze filled party in London An eventful day which started off with South Africa smashing England in the Rugby followed by numerous amounts of shots and ending with a drunken dance at Henry J Beans. A good time was had by all............. and the pictures are posted to tell the story. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Wimbledon/blog-347931.html We have done the time to commit the perfect crime...... entering into a world of adventure and becoming masters of our own destiny......no work and all play WOWhellip.what a year Like all great things this didnrsquot come with luck. It has taken a great deal of planning and sacrifice and is a tribute to all who have helped us along the way. The countdown started at 302 days and after man http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Wimbledon/blog-344836.html