Travel Blog Posts
Thermals and alfresco dining
Published: January 19th 2011South America » Chile » Coquimbo Region » La Serena
November 29th 2010
We had our first go on South American buses, a 7 hour journey north to the town of La Serena. Incredibly after our previous bus journeys this actually seemed short! We're pleased to report that Chile buses rock, the seats are similar to business class aeroplane seats. Much easier to take a snooze in with the seats near horizontal and a pop out foot rest...bliss. La Serena was a pit stop enroute to the Atacama Desert and we had intended to see a few of the sights, however we only had 2 days there and plans didn't work out so well. We arrived on a Sunday for starters and it was like a ghost town. The only place open for dinner was a 'local' fast food joint, we bought something big, fried covered in a rainbow ... read more
November 24th 2010
Vowing to return to Sydney one day and excited about South America we arrived in Santiago very, very, very jetlagged. The flight took 15 hours, but we arrived only 2 hours later and it was the most disoriented and tired that we'd felt from our journey so far (in fact in our lives!). We spent a few days acclimatising at our funky hostel Don Santiago, a cool, welcoming place with a penchant for Jam sessions (singing, guitars, keyboards and bongos) and a pet guinea pig (NOT for eating! Guinea pig is a delicacy out this way!). It also held a BBQ evening where we ate stacks of beef washed down with Pisco Sours (South American Cocktail). We had a bit of a meat craving after Asia but a few days here sorted that out, red meat ... read more
November 18th 2010
We were very sad to leave South East Asia behind, but very excited about our Sydney pit stop. It was fantastic, but a little on the expensive side. You could travel for a month in Asia for what we spent in a week. Life in Sydney seems very chilled out, you work in the day then straight to the beach afterwards! When we first arrived it was cold, grey and raining so we almost turned around, walked back into the airport and demanded a refund. Fortunately we had glorious weather over the rest our stay. Our hostel was like a home away from home, with a big comfy bed (amazing after suffering Asia beds) and a big kitchen where we prepared most of our meals including one evening eating 'Kanga Banga's'. After catching up on sleep ... read more
November 16th 2010
Back to Singapore, just a quick uneventful stop over before our flight to Sydney, or so we thought. Upon arriving at Singapore Airport Jim had already had his hand luggage thoroughly searched, then our luggage was the last to come out on the conveyor belt, making us think it was lost, then a final x-ray scan showed up the bullet case we kept from the Chu Chi Tunnels shooting range! An empty bullet cartridge, not dangerous, no big deal right? Wrong, detained for 30 minutes, interviewed by airport police, bullet case confiscated and an official warning for Jim. Oh well, lesson learnt. Fortunately our flight to Sydney went without a hitch... Singapore...you weren't there man! Love Jailbird Jim and Carla xxx P.S. Enjoy some pics from Singapore Airport, the best airport to kill time in ever ... read more
November 4th 2010
After a 15 hour journey from Sihanoukville to Bangkok (in 2 minivans, 2 buses and a very confusing border crossing), 2 days stuck in Bangkok due to the trains being sold out, then an overnight train journey...we finally made it to Chiang Mai! Another 'must do' for our trip was to see ELEPHANTS!!! We visited the Elephant Nature Foundation, an amazing place founded by one lovely Thai women who rescues orphaned and ill treated elephants as well as educating others to abolish cruel practices used to domesticate wild elephants. During the day we heard all about the stories of the current inhabitants and how they came to be there as we helped out with feeding and washing them. During the 3 feeding sessions we even got to feed an elephant all by ourselves, they eat washing ... read more
October 30th 2010
Off the coast of Sihanoukville on the island of Koh Rong Saleom, we stayed a few days on 'Lazy Beach', in a little wooden bungalow right on the beach front, decked out with our own hamocks, perfect! The beach was all ours as we were pretty much the only inhabitants on the island, other than a few of the Cambodian navy who owned the place. There was a great bar to chill out in and a couple of dogs to take you for a walk, Boyce and Spoon (although we did have a run in with some water buffalo). But, before we had the chance to enjoy Lazy Beach we had a terrifying 2 hour boat trip in very, very choppy water. Waves rocked the boat side to side, forcing the boat into a 45 degree ... read more
Soaking up the sun in Sihanoukville
Published: December 26th 2010Asia » Cambodia » South » Sihanoukville
October 24th 2010
We were in Cambodia four years ago and it has changed a lot, sadly not all for the better. We spent one night in the capital Phnom Phen, which has become a bit on the sleezy side. We made a new friend on the bus ride there from HCMC, Emma, and went out for some dinner and drinks with her along the river front. The next day we caught a bus to Sihanoukville for some chilled out beach time and a chance to top up that backpacker tan. Sihanoukville had gained plenty more bars over the years, but still had plenty of charm. We treated ourselves to a nice room with an amazing view of the coastline and spent days soaking up the sun, exploring the beaches, eating super fresh sashimi and drinking too much at ... read more
October 20th 2010
We stayed in a very welcoming and helpful family run hostel in HCMC who advised us to eat in a nearby seafood night market (which was super tasty), explained all the sights and arranged our trip to the Chu Chi Tunnels for us. We lucked out on our trip to The Cu Chi Tunnels by having a guide from south Vietnam who served in the Vietnam War fighting with the Americans. He had many interesting stories about the War and the Viet Cong, showed us booby-traps, how they made weapons and explained how they lived and fought in the tunnels. Half way round we were offered the chance to fire guns at the shooting range, why not eh!?! We were equally nervous and excited about the prospect and signed up to fire an M16. You pick ... read more
October 16th 2010
Time to try out the Vietnam sleeper trains for size, we travelled overnight from Hanoi to Hue in a 4 berth compartment (no seats here) on ‘soft’ sleeper beds, a hard sleeper must be made of cold steel because that’s the only thing harder than what we slept on! Luckily a duvet was provided which we used as a mattress and after the Halong Bay trip we were very tired and had a bit of a cold coming on so we actually slept very well. There had been lot of recent flooding and enroute we saw the extent of it, outside the train the world looked like a marsh land and it continued to rain for most of the journey. We were grateful to arrive only three hours late in Hue where we spent a a ... read more
Halong Bay and Happy Birthdays
Published: December 26th 2010Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Halong Bay
October 13th 2010
For Carla's birthday we took a 3 day trip to Halong Bay (2000 ish unique islands created from a dragons tail which crashed into the sea thousands of years ago, or so the story goes) it was one of our most anticipated trips of the journey and it was epic. The first day we sailed through the amazing islands, visited a huge cave, then moored up for the evening and jumped from our 3 storey high boat in to the sea (Jim from the top Carla from lower deck). After an amazing seafood dinner the karaoke commenced. To begin with most people weren't keen on singing, however after several cans of Dutch courage there was no stopping everyone. It was an incredibly fun evening, but also an incredibly drunken one. The next day, officially Carla's birthday, ... read more
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