http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Jean-and-Paul/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Jean and Paul en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:49:04 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:49:04 +0000 Hanoi chopsticks check. expandable elastic waist pants check. you're ready to hit the town.we don't quite know how the vietnamese stay so skinny especially in a city that has such delicious food being cooked on every street corner. perhaps it's the adrenalin rush you experience everytime you try and cross a road....your life flashes before your eyes as you see hundreds of mopeds screaming tow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-338551.html Halong Bay forget the cruise schmooze and junk it asian stylewhich is exactly what the pirates did during the turn of the 18th century. Our magnificent 'red dragon' junk was modelled on the historic boats plus a few minor inclusions to make the trip a little more luxurious....such as sun lounges....and a bar...and 12 well dressed staff. we're sure the pirates travelled in similar style our over http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-338542.html Bangkok trannies tuk tuks and the world's best tom yumswe haggled our way through this city....paul is a master haggler whereas jean prefers to shrink away and pretend that she doesn't know what's going on. the craziness of bangkok combined with the stifling heat made this a highly amusing visit for us...and it is a place of extremes....never have the homeless looked so...homeless or the dogs http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-336771.html Hong Kong How much bbq duck can you eat in the land of suzie wongWell a lot if you're a 6'5 brit who loves his msg. It was our second visit to the steamy city of Hong Kong in 7 months and it was no coincidence that we picked this cramped island for a whirlwind visit. From the weird wonderful and sometimes downright putrid smells to the maze of undercover walkways linking all the designer d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Hong-Kong-Island/Wan-Chai/blog-336769.html New York City the best of the best of the bestEverything claims to be the best in this city...and if you dare to challenge it it doesnt matter as theyll just proclaim they do something else better....at least better than you anyway. Weve fallen in love with this city over and over and over again. Having received countless recommendations thank you to everyone for sending them through you http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-334132.html Miami big beach big people big food big storms big bigsWe left La Paz as it started to snow and blew into Miami at the roasting temperature of 38 degrees....with our fingers and toes thawing in the balmy weather we spent our time acclimatising to the heat to the healthy food portions and to the fact that everything suddenly cost 100 times what we were used to paying in bolivia it was onl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-334118.html La Paz if you can't find it here it's likely you never wanted it anywaySo if it's preserved llama foetuses you want you got it which was quite creepy to see as we walked down the local 'witches market'. la paz has been quite the surprising city. in keeping with our trip to date we've sourced out all the culturally compelling experiences....whether it be female wrestling to hurtling ourselves http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-331618.html Copacabana the wheezy jewel of boliviaSleeping at almost 4km above sea level is not without its challenges....from the dehydration and breathlessness to the fact that our digestive tracts have ground to a halt causing heartburn and indigestion its a testament to the locals that they can reproduce in such an area. But the beauty and ruggedness of copacabana a lazy village sitting on the shores http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-331082.html Puno the great lake cityWe travelled in style from Cusco to Puno on a luxury coach complete with corny tour guide and complimentary fat american tourists. Stopping at ancient Inca ruins along the way jean managed to keep her blearly eyes open for 40 of the 9 hour journey. Puno looks like a shanty town....most of the buildings haven't been completed due to the exhorbitant tax the govt slaps on http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/Uros-Island/blog-329481.html Machu Picchu the lost city of goldHaving finished our incredible but arduous trek we spent a night in a comfortable BB in the tourist ridden town of Aguas Calientes flush with the anticipation of visiting Machu Picchu the next day. Not even a 430am wake up call could deter us and the city proved to be much much more than what we had expected.City highlights the extremely informative tour a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-328315.html Salkantay Trail If in doubt follow the mule pooWhich is exactly what we did given that our rogue guide had a habit of disappearing on us.....lucky for us our mules were kind enough to leave their plops behind like a personalised breadcrumb trail. Over the the 4 day trek it was an assault on all of our senses and a test of patience stamina and how long you could hold your breath at altitude http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Salkantay-Trail/blog-327963.html Cusco United nations of gringos meaning hassle me on the streets then charge me doubleIs it just us or are our blogs getting longer well then it must just be you.....we spent an agonising night at lima airport during our transfer to cusco and following the 'night from hellwe arrived in town very sore sleepy and swollen due to altitude 3500m above sea level. but Cusco is not the type of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-326428.html Quito You can take the mosout of quito and then stick it on the local male population in this townThe country also has a penchance for pan pipe music....this combined with the over zealous facial hair would no doubt rate this place high on the romance stakes. Our visit to Quito wasnt quite what we imagined with jean being talented enough to pick up the worst lurgy the town had to offer. But http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-325293.html Banos where taffy and karaoke dont mixWe experienced a mini bus crash on the way to the little town of Banos and proceeded to watch the bus driver and the butch female ute driver battle it out to determine who was at fault. Whilst it may have been perceived as a traumatising experience for some the local passengers on the bus opportunistic as always saw it as a chance to take a pee break an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-323970.html La Calera guinea pig peach wine and 1000 litres of beerDont worry we didnt get our stomachs pumped at the local hospital instead we spent 24 hours with a local indigenous indian family to witness their way of life and happened to stumble across not 1 but 2 wedding fiestas. We entered the primitive village of La Calera anxious at what to expect from our homestay and instead found that in t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Otavalo/blog-321737.html Otavalo a wonderful haven for midgetsWhilst the shrunken population of Otavalo lack in stature they over compensate in hospitality and general cogeniality. Weve been amazed at how incredibly friendly the local indigenous population have been to whom they perceive as goliath and his asian bride. We were fortunate to have arrived on the first night of a 10 day festival that overtook this small t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Otavalo/blog-321024.html Sao Paulo Brazils answer to Americas NYC....supposedlyOur run of good luck seemed to have expired when we were allocated the squashiest seats on the plane journey back to Brazil from Dublin. But even as we were hobbling our way back to Sao Paulo city we were still excited at the prospect of being back in a town where the weather is warm food and alcohol abundant and the locals as rude as he http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-319922.html Bellinter House Alan Joyce Chiswicks weddingIt was wonderful to catch up with Pauls family again especially for an occasion as exciting as a wedding. We maximised our luxurious 5 star accommodation and tried to scrub up as best as possible following our 6 week tour of south america. Contrary to the wet summer Dublin has been subjected to so far the weather over the weekend was glorious and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-319048.html Dublin home to Guinness and the worlds best buffalo wingsAs you can now tell our travel blogs probably wont be able to tell you much about the oldest buildings in the cities we visit or the most culturally compelling sights to see.....but we can sure sniff out a delicious basket of buffalo wings. and they come with blue cheese dressing It was paul in a 'jeansandwich during our stay in dubl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-319045.html Madrid Tapas delightIts always nice flying business class....but theres nothing sweeter than flying business class for free Following our delicious upgrade we entered the 34 degree temperature of Madrid city fresher than daisies and were delighted at the comfort of our hotel our day was getting better and better madrid is beautiful....this coupled with the laid back lifestyle the locals a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-319034.html