http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Flora/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Flora en-us Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:45:02 +0000 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:45:02 +0000 After our Mekong Delta trip and 2 weeks of a busy sightseeing schedule we were ready to settle ourselves on the beach...but after diverting our trip several times due to bad weather...we decided to postpone the beach just one more day. We saw a weather forecast for clouds and rain in Sihanoukville and so we spent a day in Phnom Penh to explore the citys sights and most of all its horrific histo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-445496.html On our last day in Saigon we had an impressive day at the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels were dug by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war and are so tiny that most Westerners do not fit in. Itrsquos an impressive network and from above the ground you canrsquot imagine that hundreds of people were living there. They made all sorts of horrific and painful looking traps to protect themselves fro http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/Central/blog-432956.html After few hours of sleep and a 4 hour flight we arrived safely in Jakarta. The first difference the heat was noticeable straight away. A sign saying ldquoWelcome to Jakarta. Death Penalty for Drug Traffickersrdquo was also quite noticeable in the arrivals hallhellip.a warm welcome indeedOnce we had picked up our luggage we met our driver Kiki who would accompany us for our 10day stay i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-245514.html Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now officially called is a crazy busy and buzzing place. Having experienced Hanoi Saigon seemed like more of a worldly city with large department stores big cars and very big roads. At the airport we had some bargaining issues with the taxi driver who was about 18 years old but in the end we made our deal and left for the guesthouse in Pham Ngu Lao the to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-355070.html We landed in Hue only to find out it was even rainier here than Sapa. Yay........It wasn't really bad luck every other person we've spoken to on our trip said they left Hue after one day because it was just 'so rainy'. For us this was the perfect opportunity to have a lazy afternoon in our hotel 'Thang Long' where I'm almost sure we were the only guests. Looking at the weather forecast for the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-347776.html When we arrived in Sa Pa it was foggy wet and pretty cold so I was glad I had stuffed all my warm clothing in my small bag at the last minute along with an extra scarf. After a nice warm shower we felt a little better and were ready for our first visit to the towns of Lao Chai and Ta Van. As we walked outside we were immediately approached by the first of the local minorities the Black H'Mong w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-347527.html Time for a new update Me and Krista have decided to head off on another holiday together this time to explore Vietnam and Cambodia and a minivisit to Thailand with a few days in Bangkok at the end. We started with an extremely long journey to Hanoi...the cheapest deal we could find was with Finnair and so we thought a few hours in Helsinki would be fundo a quick tour of the city in 8 hours http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-347515.html So the start of a new trip... My younger sister Simone has been on a university exchange for the past 5 months at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology HKUST and with the end of the exchange approaching my parents had planned to visit and continue on to visit Jakarta with her as she was born there. My notsosubtle hints saying I wanted to come along seemed to work as it soon turned http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-235263.html My third summer spent in the US is now officially over and working life in Amsterdam has started but the last weeks travelling the States were wellspent lots of states covered From New Hampshire I headed for Boston to meet my camp buddy from 2005 Jenny. I spent the first days relaxing and enjoying lazy days which had not been possible in camp where there is a LOT of structure so there sho http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-235246.html Time is flying by.....We're already in the last session of the summer there are 4 sessions of 2 weeks then one week of family camp and my camp summer is already over with a few days of traveling around the US before heading back to the Netherlands.Some personal highlights were Olympic Day in 2nd session and going to Hampton Beach NH on International Staff Day Off. Olympic Day is as the nam http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Hampshire/blog-189947.html So finally my first entry after being back here at camp in New Hampshire for the third year Leaving the Netherlands in the early hours of a Sunday morning I slept through most of my journey to New York. In New York I had a few hours at the airport which I spent trying to find my way around JFK airport even the staff wasn't always able to tell me where my terminal or gate was... No wonder http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Hampshire/Freedom/blog-176893.html After 5 nights in Tulum it was time to move on yet again. Our next stop was Playa del Carmen where we had heard it was pretty touristy and as we arrived we quickly saw this was true. Everything is written in English and everyone speaks English...and all the shops have their prices in US Dollars just to make it that little easier for the tourists I guess...not that the exchange rate is a tough ca http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Playa-del-Carmen/blog-104742.html Back in Mexico after our wonderful weeks in the somewhat chillier but beautiful Guatemala and the super laidback lifestyle of Belize. Our last night in Caye Caulker had been spent in the local dive Oceanside Bar where a local band which means they were actually two old guys from the US who have settled in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye It had become a late night about 2am which is pretty crazy http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Tulum/blog-103655.html San Ignacio and Caye CaulkerWe left Guatemala early at half past seven and as a pleasant surprise the bus driver was grumpy for a reason we still don't know but it didn't make our drive pleasant at all..... However we enjoyed our last views of Guatemala and crossed the border where the first real Belizean people that told us that we probably never wanted to leave Belize again as it was just http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Belize/Belize-Barrier-Reef/Caye-Caulker/blog-102406.html From rainy rainy Coban we left our hotel early to get the one direct bus which we had been told left at 10am. While walking through the market looking for the bus terminal we were stopped by a guy who asked us where we were going. We told him Flores and he said hang on got out his cellphone and phoned someone. Next thing we know he tells us sit in the cafe order a coffee the bus will be here http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Flores-Tikal/blog-100629.html From Antigua we went to a very remote little town called Lanquin to the El Retiro Lodge a laidback backpackers place alongside the river...we fell in love with it the moment we saw it See the pictures to believe it The first day we just relaxed with our Israeli friends who had come with us from Antigua relaxing on the swings and the hammocks on the porch of our little huts and playing car http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Semuc-Champey/blog-100356.html After a short trip from San Pedro we arrived in Antigua a cute cobblestone colonial city in the early afternoon. I Flora was quite sick and went to have a liedown in our small dorm in the Black Cat hostel a place which is full and buzzing every night. With a Norwegian who was on our bus we explored the city centre a little bit later that day around the Parque Central where you have a great http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-100349.html Our first diary from GuatemalaAfter a bumpy ride of 10 hours from San Cristobal to Panajachel we could barely feel our behinds and were definitely feeling the horseride from the previous day When we arrived at the border we switched shuttle buses and we had one extra person in the van so we were the lucky two to share one little chair. This meant awkward positions for about one and a half hour http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Lago-de-Atitlan/blog-97938.html In San Cristobal a very cute colonial and clean city in the mountains we found theMagic Hostel recommended by the Lonely Planet close to the city center. When we arrived we already felt the cold and we were really tired of all the activities of all the previous days and decided to go to bed early. It was quite strange to sleep under two three thick blankets and wearing our warmest clothes http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Chiapas/San-Cristobal-de-las-Casas/blog-97909.html From Merida we took the nightbus to Palenque what seemed to be a good idea but turned out not to be such a good idea or at least not for me krista. The bus driver was more or less a wild rider who just bumped his horn when overtaking another car besides he got confused with his light and turned it of and on and off all the time.... As you can imagine it gave me small heart attacks and kept my http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Chiapas/Palenque/blog-97895.html