http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Dee-and-Lorna/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Dee and Lorna en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:38:22 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:38:22 +0000 While staying in Puerto Iguazu we decided to take advantage of its location on the Triple Frontier by visiting the neighbouring countries of Brazil and Paraguay. The three countries are so close that it's possible to drive between them in less than an hour. So we hired a driver for a day to explore the sights starting with a shopping trip to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. Ciudad del Este Parag http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Paran-/Foz-do-Igua-u/blog-437575.html Though not quite the end of our trip yet there was one last place on our mustsee list before leaving this incredible country. However getting there would involve another long distance journey on another bus this one would take 17 hours. So with the scars of our recent experience getting to El Calafate still fresh in our minds see blog entry we decided to make it as painless as possible b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Puerto-Iguaz-/blog-449029.html After leaving the wilderness of the Los Glaciares national park behind we arrived 3 hours later in one of the most populated cities in the world. Buenos Aires is home to more than 12 million people and is the financial and political centre of Argentina. Our first glimpse of the city was from our taxi window as we drove down the massive Av 9 de Julio the widest street in the world with no less th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-430492.html Tuesday 21st JulyWe looked out the window of our hostel in Puerto Madryn. The weather was starting to change for the worse the wind was picking up and the rain was getting heavier. We were starting to panic our taxi had still not arrived. It was now 6.25pm the bus station was 10 minutes away and our bus was due to leave at 6.40pm. C'mon we can't wait any longer yelled Gaston as he ran to t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-428275.html After leaving Bariloche we had been hoping to continue our journey south along the legendary Route 40 the road that Che Guevara famously travelled in his book the Motorcycle Diaries. Unfortunately though it turned out to be closed for the winter so we decided to head east to the Atlantic coast instead. After a 14hour bus trip from Bariloche we arrived bright and early at our hostel in Puert http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Puerto-Madryn/blog-426811.html From Valparaiso we decided to head east into Argentina in the hopes of experiencing Independence Day on the 9th of July so we booked some tickets for the 8 hour bus journey to Mendoza. This turned out to be an incredible journey right through the heart of the Andes and was a great introduction to longdistance bus travel in South America.After reaching the bus station in Valparaiso ahead of sche http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-423686.html We left Auckland shortly after 6pm on Saturday June 27th and after 11.5 hours on the plane we touched down in Santiago just after 1pm on Saturday June 27th. Magic Crossing the international date line would wreak havoc on our body clocks for the next week and a half though. During the flight we were amused by the map of the plane's route which consisted of a blue square labelled South Pacific http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-414615.html After enjoying a 3hour cruise through the stunning scenery of the Marlborough Sounds and across Cook Strait we arrived in Wellington on the North Island. Windy Welly certainly lived up to its name when we were there treating us to a mixture of rain hail snow strong gales. Despite the weather though we managed to catch the cable car from Lambton Quay up to the Botanic Gardens where we had s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-405435.html Our first glimpse of New Zealand was the spectacular sight of the Southern Alps from the airplane window as we flew over the South Island. It was like flying over a frozen world and considering we were going to be driving around it the views both frightened and excited us at the same time We touched down in Christchurch on 2nd May and began our Kiwi adventure.ChristchurchChristchurch is New Zea http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-398462.html Our first port of call after Townsville was Mission Beach on the coast which is a cassowary conservation habitat. Cassowaries are an endangered species in Australia now and it's believed there are only 12001500 of them left in the rainforests of north Queensland. Unfortunately for us though we saw neither cassowary nor beach in Mission Beach as we were drenched in over 12 hours nonstop tropica http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-392358.html The next part of our journey follows the Bruce highway from Brisbane to Townsville. Our first stop after leaving Brisbane was Landsborough on the Sunshine Coast. Landsborough is just up the road from the Australia Zoo home of the famous Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. We saw lots of native animals there such as eastern water dragons crocodiles cassowaries emus koalas and echidnas and also wa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Townsville/blog-388445.html The next phase of our round the world adventure began on Monday 9th March when we picked up our Jucy campervan at Mascot in south Syney. The barney van as it's now affectionately been dubbed is a neon green and purple Toyota Estima that is kitted out with a sink fridge and stove at the back and has two benches that fold out into a double bed at night. This cosy crib would become home for the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-383340.html We had been looking forward to Sydney for several reasons... looking forward to a bit of civilisation after South East Asia for sure but we were also excited to see family friends and to see the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. On the plane from Bangkok we got into the spirit of things by watching Australia the movie a documentary on the First Australians and listening to Yothu Yindi's Tribal http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-378917.html Our trip to Cambodia began with a 6hour bus journey to Siem Reap. Cambodia is one of the world's poorest countries and on our way to Siem Reap we passed through several small villages where locals live in stilted houses made of palm leaves or wood. These tiny houses contain just one room for an entire family and typically have a stack of hay and a mud kiln out front on which the women place lar http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-376890.html We arrived in Noi Bai airport late on Wednesday evening and were met at arrivals by the driver from our hotel who proceeded to take us on a kamikaze spin through the city streets into Hanoi's Old Quarter. Two minutes into the drive the beeping started....There are no lanes or traffic lights in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Surprisingly there are pedestrian crossings but these appear to be more road art http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-374563.html A 1 hour flight courtesy of Air Asia got us to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand saving us an overnight train journey of 1214 hoursOur visit to Chiang Mai couldn't have been better timed as Friday 6th Feb was the start of the annual Flower Festival. Chiang Mai is known as the Rose of the North for its variety of flowers which all come into bloom in early February. The annual Flower Festival in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-371500.html Sawat dii ka from Bangkok We arrived safe and sound in the City of Angels and have spent the past couple of days acclimatising and exploring the sights. Bangkok's real name is actually Krungthep mahanakhon amonratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnopparat ratchathani burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amonpiman avatansathit sakkathattiya witsanukamprasit which means city of angels... goo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-369646.html We headed out of Bilbao past the Euskalduna Congress and Music Hall across the river on our left. Lorna's friend and our guide for the day Nerea explained that the Music Hall was built on a site that once housed a shipping construction company one of the symbols of the industrial city that Bilbao was from the end of the 19th century onwards. The left bank of the river was traditionally the in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/Gexto/blog-351876.html