http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/KerryAndGraham/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from KerryAndGraham en-us Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:50:02 +0000 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:50:02 +0000 Ok so you know how analytical we both are and some of you will know how much we LOVE spreadsheets. Well... here's us strutting our analytical stuffYou'll need to click on the images to see properly as they don't come out very clearly otherwise and I know you're just dying to see the detailSpend CommentsThailand includes medical expenses and replacement passport fees so is perhaps a little high http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-455502.html We're about halfway through our trip now and have been reminiscing on the past 6 months of travel the good the bad and the downright strange. So just for the record here's a collection of Top 5s plus a couple of other lists that summarise the first half of our travels........ 180 days 8 countries 54 townscities 8 flights 21 train journeys 5 boat trips numerous bus taxi and tuktuk j http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-455506.html by KerrySo.. Cambodia was our last stop in mainland S.E. Asia. It seems like we've seen a lot and we have Anyway see our next blog for our general 6 month round up.Siem Reap The Temples of AngkorAfter a 4 hour bus ride from Bangkok we walked into Cambodia from Thailand at the Aranya PrathetPoipet border in the late afternoon. To our relief it was a very quick and painless process to get the v http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-457407.html So.. after Thailand we took the ferry across the Mekong river into Laos Huay Xai where we booked onto a 2 day slow boat heading south to Luang Prabang before we had even cleared immigration. The process was both very convenient and somewhat muddled as we and others queued up to fill in visa applications we were helped through by friendly tour operators selling boat tickets while ensuring you http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-449133.html Visited Countries MapCountries in orderRussia gt Mongolia gt China Hong Kong gt India gt Thailand gt Laos gt Cambodia http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-453052.html Written by Kerry then Graham then Kerry and Graham at the same time on different computers and then stitched together at the end. Hence there may be some confusing uses of the words I We My Kerry and Graham as well as some interesting changes in narrative style along the way sorry Back into ThailandAfter a week of trying to arrange a replacement passport for Kerry from Vientia http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Southern-Thailand/blog-453037.html written by Kerry with some additions from GrahamSo after leaving Bangkok we went to..Phitsanulok Sukhothai Chiang Mai PaiPhitsanulok was more or less just a convenient location on the main train line to Chiang Mai where we could stay to take a day trip to Sukhothai. The airconditioning on the train we took from Bangkok was a little bit too good most people spent the journey wrapped up in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Northern-Thailand/blog-445436.html written in a random internet cafe in Vientiane whilst Kerry tries to hunt downreplace her passport which has unfortunately gone missing..... Also apostraphes are not working here now so using instead. Very annoyingIts been a month since we left India and I have serious serious cravings for yellow dhal fry and nan pretty much every day. I need it.Wow Thailand is tourist friendly I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/blog-445363.html Oh what fun Please do laugh at the ridiculous poses of us with tigers...Ok so we were a little bit worried after visiting Tiger Kingdom that it might be cruel but the website says this so we think it's all okWe love Tigers. They are not aggressive as you think. At Tiger Kingdom NONE of the tigers are drugged or tranquilised and we do not believe in using chains restraints or any other form http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-440480.html Uttar Pradesh Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi again......AgraReading over the various blog entries that we've made since leaving the UK I can't help but notice that the word awesome appears entirely too many times.But the Taj Mahal is awesome.We also did a quick day trip to Fatehpur Sikri which is just outside Agra home to a massive old palace built byfor Emperor Akbar. Very cool crumbly http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/blog-438196.html needs more photos but it's long overdue so recklessly publishing withoutwritten.. well started.. by Graham at 10.30pm in the Cozy Bangkok Place Hostel Bangkok waiting for the washing to finish 2 bottles of Singha down midway through a bottle of Chang considering whether or not to open another bottle. Kerry's in bed tired after several days of illness now resolved by a trip to Bangkok Int http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-436399.html by KerryTrauma I have learned an expensive lesson by not taking out separate insurance for loss accidental damage of my valuables. So far it has just been glasses related.First I lost my Armani sunnies. This was very traumatic. Think I left them on a wall at the beach I decided not to replace them as one of my 2 pair of glasses are those that double as sunnies by darkening in UV. So I'm wait http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-437775.html written by Graham in an internet cafe 12 hours before our flight to ThailandWe'll let the pictures do the talknig for this entry partly because we didn't do much besides eat drink sunbathe and swim and partly because we're behind on blog entries so need to crank this one out quickly.In summary........PalolemSouth Goa lots of restaurants nice sparsley populated beach often shared with str http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/blog-436398.html By GrahamWe weren't planning on heading into Tamil Nadu but after a couple of weeks of beach and swimming pool decided that we should at least TRY and do something cultural. A short 6 hour bus ride from Kumily got us to Madurai the most impressive of the many temple towns in Tamil Nadu. It's one of the oldest cities in south Asia and the central Meenakshi temple is truly a sight to behold.By http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-435072.html by Kerry So after leaving the Himalayas we headed back down to Delhi to take a flight to Kerala for some serious seafood consumption and chill out beach time.Cochin BI 1ishManaged to arrive in Cochin on Friday 1st August officially an alcohol free day across the state so posttravel beers were out of the question unfortunately. How gutted were we Apparently the 1st of every month is the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-432029.html So we escaped Delhi as soon as we possibly could. The phrase culture shock couldn't be more appropriate for how I suspect the majority of people who visit India's capital feel for the first 24hrs post landing we weren't the only ones about 24hrs after landing just as we were adjusting to the pace of things we met a very well travelled French judo instructor who had just stepped off the pla http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-426735.html So.. we left Hong Kong almost three weeks ago now 16th July. Time for an updateFirstly.......extra special thanks to Vince Nancy for not only accommodating us for 3 nights but also chauffeuring us to and from Hong Kong Island every day feeding us doing our laundry and generally making us feel very special indeed. We appreciate this even more considering that they're expecting a new baby fai http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-426152.html Cities that the points correspond withLondonRUSSIA Moscow gt Vladimir Suzdal gt Eketerinburg gt Lisvyanka Lake Baikal gt Irkutsk gt Ulaan UdeMONGOLIA Ulaanbaator aroundCHINA Beijing gt Xi'an gt Chungdu gt YangshuoHONG KONG INDIA New Delhi gt HIMACHAL PRADESH Manali gt McLeod Ganj Dharamsala gt Nahan for Lake Renuka random yes gt Shimla gtNew D http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-421641.html Ok so after our India entry a confused Ed asked how we managed to get to India via Hong Kong. It was apparent that an update was needed for China so we set aside a day to blog and chill..Our Itinerary Beijing 3 nightsOvernight train to X'ian 12 hours ishX'ian 3 nightsOvernight train to Chengdu 14 hrsChengdu 23 nightsEvening flight to Guilin 90 mins1 night in Guilin to sleep then http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guangxi/Yangshuo/blog-420569.html So it's 1120 and we've been in Delhi for 9 hours. Graham is still resting but I couldn't sleep any longer so here's my first impressions...It's hot. We arrived at the hostel at about 3.30am after a 45min wait for our baggage and a 2030min taxi ride. The dark 2 or 3 alleys leading to the hostel were stinking littered with bodies sleeping when we passed by. The main street leading up to it where http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-419347.html