http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/GJSS/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from GJSS en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:10:17 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:10:17 +0000 The bus journey to the region of Cappadocia was unfortunate because of my spectacular miscalculation in travel time. I first travelled to the large city of Antalya with its multistory 150 platform bus station but could only get a connecting bus to the village of Greme central in the Cappadocia region at 1600 that afternoon. That seemed feasible and I figured that we should arrive at around http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-330137.html I mentioned before that the Turks like to travel in style and I can report that this extends to the bus companies too. Mercedes Benz appears to have had a field day here with almost all the bus companies using new luxury air conditioned Mercedes Benz coaches. I guess it8217s a kind of arms race 8211 first one company ups the ante by buying a luxury coach and soon all the others have to do th http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Fethiye/blog-325340.html You can take a bus to just about anywhere in Turkey 8211 buses are to Turkey what trains are to India 8211 it is how this nation travels. However I learned of a rail route that would take me in a similar direction and after my mostly pleasant rail journeys in India I decided to give this one a go. It wasn8217t going to be straight forward though but that was fine it would just make th http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Sel-uk/blog-325306.html Istanbul was a real surprise especially after a few weeks in India. Istanbul is large busy modern and wealthy. It felt strange to see modern cars again luxury German brands like Mercedes BMW Audi and VW. And clean the streets were so clean. People dress smartly yet conservatively and the shoes especially the men are smart pointy Italian leather shoes. Elegant spires of mosque minarets ad http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-324742.html From Jodhpur I took an overnight train east to Agra to visit that most iconic of Indian monuments the Taj Mahal. It was going to be a couple of long days now as my time in India drew to a close. We left Jodhpur at 1930 and I settled into my top berth in 3AC class three bunk beds with air conditioning. The good thing about the top berth is that you can lie down whenever you please as the lower http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-321320.html The bus climbed a steep winding road as we left the hot plains of Rajasthan and headed towards my next stop a village called Mount Abu. A place completely different from anywhere else I8217d been in India and I8217m very glad I decided to visit. Mount Abu is the highest point in Rajasthan and as we climbed the temperature steadily dropped to a comfortable 22 0C. The hills were covered in ta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Mount-Abu/blog-319806.html The short hop on the train to Ajmer was fine but I wasn't planning on staying there. Ajmer was merely a staging post to get to Pushkar. I caught a government bus from the bus station and we took a mountain pass into the valley next door. Government buses are extraordinary vehicles. I8217m not entirely sure what holds them together but the bottom half of the bus appears to be independent of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Pushkar/blog-319074.html I walked from my hotel early in the morning 0500 towards the main road to flag down some transport to the railway station. Before long a small van pulled up and after some haggling on the price whisked me to the station. The train journey to Jaipur was good. The train arrived right on schedule 0600 and I settled into a comfy chair like a basic aircraft cabin chair complete with folddown ta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaipur/blog-318624.html To fly from Bangkok to New Delhi takes a mere 3 hrs a pleasant flight with good entertainment and food aboard Jet Airlinersquos Boeing 737800. It would however be a further 6 hours after landing at a wet Delhi International Airport before I arrived at my hotel at 0300 in the morning hellip welcome to India.First impression from the plane before landing at 2105 was how dark the city was. Af http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/Delhi/blog-317198.html Instead of flying straight on to India I delayed my flight to Delhi and headed towards some islands off the coast of Thailand. First stop was Ko Samet a small island about 6hrs drive by minibus 40min ferry from Bangkok. I also later visited Ko Chang a much larger island further east. First though a few days spent in Bangkok where I visited the Chatuchak market. An amazing spectacle attended b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ko-Chang/blog-317192.html I havenrsquot fallen off the edge of the world just yet but I have fallen behind in reporting on my recent travels. To remedy that problem I have bought a laptop. I should now be able to write as and when inspiration strikes perhaps maintain my photos.Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City as it has been renamed since the 70rsquos but most people still refer to it as Saigon is altogether more modern http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-317182.html The bus from Hanoi left at 1930 an overnight journey that should arrive in Hue at 0800 the next morning. They have this thing called a sleeping bus here in Vietnam. I've never seen anything like it before but in principle it sounds like a very good idea. Instead of seats you have three rows of bunk beds so you're almost lying flat while you travel hence sleeping bus. The bus only takes aro http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Nha-Trang/blog-303034.html I have to admit that I didn't really want to go to Halong Bay. Yes it is recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site and yes the photographs look interesting but I have to learn to listen to and trust my instincts. The weather had been poor in Hanoi overcast and showery and Halong Bay is only 170 Km northeast of Hanoi so I knew that the weather would be much the same and not the best condition http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-299003.html I have the body of a vietnamese an observation from the women selling slices of sweet carrot cake from a window of the bakery in Hanoi. Thin and short although to be fair I'm a little heavier set than your average Vietnamese person they are small people and on more than one occation I've been glad that I do conform to their proportions. The seats on buses and in theatres for example are tiny http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-297867.html After a quiet evening in downtown Kuala Lumpur I hopped onto the express train for a 30 min trip to the airport for my flight to Bangkok. After all the new cities I've been to recently it's comforting to be visiting a destination I've been to before. I'm pleased to say that Bangkok is exactly the same as I remember it except that it seems to smell SO much better than before perhaps it's the se http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-296568.html I stepped off the plane this afternoon in Kuala Lumpur my sandals still damp and sandy from the morning rains on Palau Kecil in the Perhintian Islands. I visited the little group of islands on the northeastern coast of Malaysia with the intension of a short stop of 23 days. I stayed for more than a week and couldn't find any reason to leave.A week earlier I had stepped onto the bus at 0900 tr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Kelantan/Kota-Bharu/blog-294838.html After sunset is the most interesting time to explore the streets of Kuala Lumpur. Not only is it cooler but most of the stalls and restaurants are open for business illuminated by neon signs and flashing strings of christmas lights. A strange sight are the large number of reflexologymassage studios that line certain streets. They claim to be able to cure most ailments by simply mapping the tro http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-289921.html I went to Pizza Hut for lunch the other day. I know not too adventurous but bare with me it was actually quite an interesting meal. I was served by no fewer than 4 waiters. One ushered me to my seat one took my order another delivered the drinks and yet another person delivered the meal. You get the soup of the day when you visit Pizza Hut too That's right soup then pizza served in this litt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-289616.html I only spent a few hours walking around Brisbane's CBD but in that time I had one of the best meals of my entire trip. A short walk from the bus terminal I walked into a bar and ordered lunch. For 12 I had rump steak with beerbatter chips and mushroom sauce plus a beer yum Lunch always tastes fantastic when you haven't had breakfast.Brisbane looked like a nice enough place downtown buildings http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-289106.html A warning sign declared NO ENTRY 4WD ONLY and to drive the point home what had only moments before been a good tar road suddenly turned into the bumpiest stretch of road I have ever been on. Backpacks went flying through the air people were thrown from their seats and all fifteen of us roared with laughter over the thrumping stereo bashing out tunes from the driver's ipod song library. The http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-288642.html