http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Chunka/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Chunka en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:10:58 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:10:58 +0000 After having to return back to Auckland we did a real quick trip to Rotarua and back and had the best buffet we have ever had in tourist type place the Maori Hangi traditionally is cooked in the ground but in Rotarua having access to the power of the geothermal hot springs by the bucket load they cook using steam. A complete selection of cold starters followed by steamed and then maybe roasteds http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Hawaii/blog-384459.html After we dashed out of Christchurch we had a couple of days to kill in Auckland including Christmas Day the strangest one we have ever experienced. After various web cams and phone calls bridging the 13 hour time delay to the UK we were jealous of the mounds of turkey stuffing and roast potatoes being prepared back home and damnable Brussel Sprouts for Shabana. Our Christmas lunch was a buffet http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/French-Polynesia/Moorea/blog-370021.html First off this was the country I had most been wanted to see. No one I have ever met that has been to NZ has a bad word to say about the place. After spending almost 3 weeks here I can echo all the great things people say and commit to print that NZ is probably one of the nicest places in the world and comes a close second to London look at the photo above this. Awesome My one caveat is that i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-368623.html So I guess this was our return to civilization the land of the white folk where we could understand the native speak and drive on the right side of the road that of course being the leftGiven that the slightly knobby geezer in STA travel had given us super bozzy flights we were forced to change them and in the course of doing so we gave ourselves an overnight in Perth. Now in retrospect this ma http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-368621.html Another day another quick post.Bali is something Shabana has been looking forward too for so long it was the carrot that i used to get her round all the sightseeing i wanted to do her chance to lay on the beach and do nothing.Unfortunately it wasnt to be. We landed with the gently falling rain and grabbed a taxi out to Sanur beach which was to be our home for a few days.By the time we had check http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/blog-370019.html Hong Kong the land of the Anglo Chinese big buildings Bruce Lee and a surprising amount of hills. The first thing we noticed that was a little strange were how the buildings were occupied. Each high rise block would contain a mixture of stuff within shops were often not on the ground floor so you would have to decide you really wanted to see into a shop and get the lift to the right floor in or http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-370015.html We were not intending to come to Malaysia this time but the rains in Vietnam forced us to push forward a bit quicker than we planned then the fact that the cheapest way to get to Hong Kong was Air Asia from either Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. Our choice was clear we had in 2004 visited Malaysia and we had missed our Penang and Georgetown on the way through so as we had just been to Bangkok we though http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-369751.html After the Sick After the depressing sites of the day before we got back on the road to see the temples at Siem Reap a 6 hour journey to the north along some reasonably smooth roads.We got the 12 o'clock bus from Phnom Penh PP so we arrived as the sun was setting which turned the sky over the green paddy fields 100 beautiful shades. The town itself is a lot smaller than the capital and as the pri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-368619.html I won't beat around the bush we were told some fairly scary things about the state of Cambodia how the food was terrible and how dirty it was but it was the first country this trip that we ran out of time in before we had seen all we wanted to see and we thought the country was great.We arrived in Phnom Penh to be confronted with a fairly hefty line for the visas on arrival it took around 30mins http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-368602.html Firstly let me say i became a victim of my own picture taking mania i got so many that it became too much of a hassle to sort out in the limited time i had in the internet cafe. Thats why it took me 3 months to write anymore on here. Apologies.Our last stop in Vietnam was Saigon and the Mekong Delta a load of the people we met said Saigon was going to be busier than Hanoi the sister capital in t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/blog-365852.html There has been a bit of delay in this entry cos i guess we have been busy actually traveling to different places and doing stuff v long v long sorry Ed.This is being written in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City if you prefer in the last almost 3 weeks we have been North to South starting in Hanoi. We arrived on a Saturday to be confronted with the pouring rain and a thunder storm thankfully by the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-339328.html So we survived the road show downs and enter a sparsely populated tourist town that is Vang Vieng. It's a one road town really with a few side roads. Even by Luang Prabang standards it is pretty empty. I guess the only reason people come here is to open a tourist type shop guest house or you are a tourist yourself.Once we decamp to our hotel paying the extortionate rate of 6 a night we wander http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-335666.html The road to Vang Vieng from Luang Prabang is a twisty turny one for the most part followed by a straight potholed one that means you do just as much twisty turny to avoid the holes.The first 3 hours takes you through the hills and valleys and it is then you realise how green Laos is i mean really green. The place is vibrant everywhere you look verdant lushness assaults the eyes. The day is ove http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-335023.html Our second day in L.Prabang and it was activity dayA slow boat up the Mekong to visit the Pak Ou caves and its 1000's of unwanted buddhas. It took us about an hour and a half or so to motor upstream stopping at the so called whisky village. Here they makes 3 types of rice whisky that range from crazily 50 odd proof and taste like lighter fluid to the more sedate 15 or so that taste a lot more http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-333587.html Well we made it to Laos it was a day later than planned due to an unfortunate combination of sickness malaria tablets food and timing. Suffice to say I didn't have a very nice night and on arrival at the airport i decided that discretion is the better part of valour and thought we would postpone the flight until the next day.The next day we did make it and entered the Bangkok duty free section http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-332609.html Ok now for the first real entry of the 2008 trip.Bangkok is what it is London in the east with more noodles and motorbikes and less McDonalds and tubes.It's busy and hectic stiffling hot or air conditioned into oblivion. There is always someone in eyesight eating or drinking something on a motorbike or chatting on a mobile phone. It doesn't take many minutes to find someone doing all three.On http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ko-Samet/blog-331051.html Well we meet again dear friendsLet's hope this trip is not like the Matrix Reloaded which is all about the glitz glamour and cgi with very little substance and no story.Wait a sec up until now that's pretty much what my life is like obviously without the cgi as i insist on doing all my own stunts.Jokes aside hoping this really will be the honeymoon to beat all honeymoons the power of wifi a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Walthamstow/blog-327649.html Well thats it then back in Blighty. Cor blimey govnor that holiday went quick.14 weeks 8 countries 14 airports 40 odd hotels and guesthouses countless bottles of water environmentally unsound i know taxis tuk tuks rickshaws bikes hundreds of I wonder what that tastes like hmm sweet. Thousands of photos and look at thats and we are back in the London and the cold safe and sound.Dubai http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-2640.html Hello everybodyWelcome to the first entry in the blog it's going to be a crackerNah not really just getting warmed up.Just to get the ground rules sorted out I am not sure how often I am going to be able to update this blog especially with pictures. I have visions of busted Indian pc after busted Indian pc refusing to upload as much as gif without a good kicking with Shabana trying to drag http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-1112.html Well here I am about 10 excited 10 daunted and about 80 worried that I am am not going to have sorted all the things I need to do before leaving. These gap year students have it easy no house to worry about no council tax water electricity gas house insurance to get sorted before they swan off round the world. Bloody students soap dodgersTry and get the Indian visas done tomorrow a v http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-1113.html