http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Flo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Flo en-us Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:31:00 +0000 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:31:00 +0000 This is how I'd imagined monsoon in Palolem We are blessed with sunshine which stretches on for days before the humidity builds and releases torrential downpours which reflect and revive. We get a fantastic deal on a penthouse apartment on the Palolem Patnem road just 5 mins walk through coconut groves to the beach. We are living in sparkling clean luxury complete satellite TV internet conne http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Palolem/blog-427796.html The train ride from Goa to Karnataka takes us up through the Western Ghats passing the spectacular Dudhsagar Falls near the state border. The heavy monsoon rains of the past fortnight have swollen the rivers so the falls are heavy with water and up here in the hills it is cool and misty. As well as the main falls a huge 600mtr drop we pass many smaller waterfalls and rivers coloured rich red http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-427782.html A pigeon poos on my head whilst we wait for our bus to Mumbai...I feel very lucky especially as for the next two and a half days we will spend over 30 hours on lsquosleeperrsquo buses. Itrsquos a long way from Udaipur to Goa but we are stopping in Mumbai the half way point to break the marathon journey. We catch a bus to Ritchrsquos Auntie Fayersquos apartment where wersquore stayi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Palolem/blog-427779.html It's funny how quickly you get used to the finer things in life. Following the 'incident with the rat' in Pushkar we've steadily upgraded our way through Jaisalmer and Jodhpur culminating in our night in a maharaja suite courtesy of Peeping Tom. And now there's no going back Udaipur is a town of many palaces most now converted to hotels charging hundreds thousands in some cases of dollars p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Udaipur/blog-424641.html From the Golden City to the Blue City...six hours on a bus takes us back east to Jodhpur. It is much bigger than Jaisalmer the urban sprawl housing around one million people. Jodhpur is the Blue City because many of the buildings are painted with whitewash tinted with indigo. Originally used to mark out the houses of high caste Brahmins the colour wash caught on and has spread throughout the wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jodhpur/blog-424629.html We paid in advance for a double sleeper berth on the 'deluxe' overnight coach to Jaisalmer and sit waiting by the side of the road covered in dust from the constant stream of trucks trundling past. When it pulls in at 11pm it is far from deluxe and already jammed full of people...three people squeeze into seats for two and even the floor space is knee deep in slumbering bodies and it smells like http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-424613.html There's another English girl on our bus to Pushkar who I get talking to. I ask how she's finding traveling on her own here and how she's been coping with unwanted male attention. She has more than a couple of tales of harassment her trip sounding more like a test of endurance than anything else. As if to illustrate our point a group of men get on the bus and take the rows behind us eyes on sta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-420587.html Jaipur is the gateway to Rajastan...a huge transport hub and shopping mecca it is known as The Pink City after the painted city walls. In reality it's more a dirty salmon colour and the heavy pollution in the intense heat don't really help my first impressions We hook up with a young rickshaw driver and his everpresent sidekick who takes us to a good cheap guesthouse and offers his services http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-420582.html No one ever has anything nice to say about Agra the town that surrounds the Taj Mahal. Everyone has stories of hassle from agressive touts and scammers so my expectations aren't that high. On the other hand everyone has loads of good things to say about the Taj Mahal and so as we're finding is the way here we're ready to take the rough with the smooth.Our delayed train finally pulls into Agr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-420574.html Our plane lands in Delhi it's 33C which would be fine if it wasn't 2am. I'd emailed the Star Hotel to reserve a room and airport pickup but not having received any reply was not holding my breath. So it's a very pleasant surprise to see the young man holding the sign with my name on it. We'd decided to soften the blow of arriving in Delhi a destination that seems to fill every traveller with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-412118.html A brief pitstop in Bangkok to collect our visas for India and we're on our flight to Hong Kong where we're spending the weekend with Sarah. Having gone there to teach for a year...6 years ago we know the living must be good. We arrive onto a Hong Kong island shrouded in misty rain with clouds gathering round the lofty peaks of hills and giddying forest of skyscrapers clustered on the slopes. A http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/blog-412111.html Although Paul's home on Phuket is very near the island Koh Phi Phi where the movie was filmed 'The Beach' there has long been changed forever by rampant development...the glow of it's streetlights now visible from the mainland every night. We know we don't have time to venture far so nearby Krabi province with the secluded beaches of Rai Leh and Ton Sai seem our best bet. Accessible only by boat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Krabi/blog-410074.html It's funny how easily you slip back into old friendships it's not been ages since we've seen Paul although he moved to Thailand over 8 years ago. He visited us in Brighton last year but this is the first time we've visited his home and properly met his family...his wife Am and their children Billy 8 and Jasmin 6. We're already in the pool shooting hoops some more competitively than others http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Phuket/blog-410063.html When travelling or taking an extended skive from gainful employment as some may call it the 'work' side of things becomes the hauling of your heavy pack in the heat enduring endless bumnumbing hours on public transport and the time spent at the mercy of immigration officials and in visa officials. Whilst living the life of Pai we were all too aware of the time ticking away on our 14 day vis http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-410048.html High up in the mountains of Northern Thailand along a twisting road that has more hairpins than a Winehouse beehive there is a paradise called Pai. As our bus pulls onto the main street I spot a group of old hippies with beaded beards deep in conversation outside a cake shop and know this is going to be a very different expat scene. The sleepy pretty streets radiating off the river are fille http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Pai/blog-405768.html We leave Laos in a longtail boat which takes us the short hop across the Mekong from Huay Xai to Chiang Khong. The Thai visa laws have recently changed for land border crossings and instead of the free 30 day pass of just weeks ago we are now granted only 14 days. This means we'll be doing a border hop in a fortnight which is a bit of a pain but not the end of the world. I just wonder why the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-405474.html The day we leave Muang Ngoi Neua is entirely spent in transit. It says a lot about the landscape we're in when a journey of around 100kms takes 12 hours. The longboat is followed by a succession of ever increasingly dilapidated minibuses which take us further up into the highland ending in Luang Nam Tha just a few miles from the border with China. I'm feeling grotty coming down with a cold and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/North/Muang-Sing/blog-405472.html The plan for our last week or so in Laos had been to head into the far north for some trekking. Although now I'm confident that my foot isn't broken it still really hurts and is so swollen that I couldn't squeeze it into my hiking boot if I wanted to. But we still want to head north as this remote region is home to a rich diversity of ethnic hill tribes who still try to live independently of c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Ngoi-Neua/blog-405471.html The morning after my bamboo bridge mishap we catch a bus to Luang Prabang my swollen foot turning some exciting shades of yellow and purple. We decided against postponing our onward journey for a rest day as we are just a couple of days away from the Buddhist lunar new year called Pii Mai in Laos. The new year and coming coming monsoon are celebrated with a 3 day street party and huge waterfight http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-405470.html So far we've spent idyllic weeks in rural Southern Laos and had a taste of sophistication in the capital Vientiane. But now it's time to hook up with the backpacking massive to join in with the Laos 'must do'...tubing at Vang Vieng. From tales told of wild partying while floating downriver in huge tractor inner tyres I'm imagining a kind of Club 1830 on the river just with Khao San dreads and h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-405469.html