http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/LauraBlackhall/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from LauraBlackhall en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:47:57 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:47:57 +0000 Oh look Another wildly hilarious blog from Laura the intrepid traveller But why does it look so plain and boring Where are all of the awe inspiring turn your face green with envy photosWell dear reader I was robbed by two Guatemalan village idiots and they stole my camera with all of my beautiful beautiful photos on. Photos that were so beautiful they would have turned your face so green that http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/blog-460818.html I am typing this blog with two hands. I typed the last blog with one. Not because I thought it would be funny or because I lost a bet or because I like to time myself doing strange tasks but because I had an accident. Actually I've been having quite a few accidents recently. But ill get on to that in a bit.On 24th September we flew from Cartagena to Leticia a teeny weeny town in the far south http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Amazonas/blog-447308.html On the 15th we left Caracas for Santa Marta Colombia. Of course the bus left an hour late took about 10 hours longer than the ticket lady had told us it would and broke down for a good hour when we were nearly there. But this should have been expected given that the transport fairy hates me. All in all it took about 24 hours and was pretty straight forward. On the approach to the Colombian board http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-442930.html Trinidad to Venezuela was one hell of a journey. It started at 6.30am on Wednesday the 9th when i jumped a couple of buses to Pier 1. That was where i met Julia and Patrick a nice Swiss couple who had been travelling around the Caribbean for a few months Nice huh. So that was my entertainment sorted for the 3.5hr trip to Guiria the port on the eastern most tip of Venezuela. Everything was going http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/blog-438754.html My dad would call it the scenic route. It definitely wasn't scenic. Chester to London was fine. I went first class. It was cheaper London to Heathrow was good Rayna came and met me on route and hung out at the airport with me. I haven't photo documented this awesome last minute surprise because she'd been out the night before hadn't had a shower and had a couple of big juicy zits on her face. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Trinidad-and-Tobago/Trinidad/blog-435017.html Irsquove done a Madonna and got myself a Brazilian boyfriend. Mine is much hotter than hers. And has a more sensible name. Although Irsquom not really sure how to pronounce it. Hersquos a graphic designer and a model. Oh and the lead singer in a band. Hersquos way out of my league but he hasnrsquot noticed yet. Actually he hasnrsquot met me yet He lives in the jungle in Brazil. Well http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cheshire/Chester/blog-433757.html When I left England last October I never dreamed that I would end up in the Galapagos land of the giant tortuga the archipelago that is home to wildlife that exists nowhere else on the plant totally fearless wildlife that you can practically rub noses with. But I was in Ecuador at the end of my holiday already over budget and I thought ah feck it whats a little bit more debt After all the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-317698.html After my tour of the mines in Potosi I had 41 hours to get to the airport in Santa Cruz. Loads of time I thought. I was going to take an afternoon bus to Sucre 3hrs and then an overnight bus to Santa Cruz 15hrs which would get me in with about 12 hours to spare. But the roads to Sucre were blocked by a protest and all of the buses had stopped running. So i booked myself onto an overnight bus t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-310587.html If I felt posh when I took the Vistadome train up to Machu Picchu I felt like I had royal blood running through my veins when I boarded the Andean Explorer an Orient Express train which took me from Cusco to Puno It was a beautiful train 1920s decor full of actual furniture as opposed to regular train tables and seats. I had a big comfy armchair to sit in and there was a gold lamp on my table http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-308338.html After the ordeal that was the Santa Cruz trek I spent four whole days in Huaraz doing nothing I had the whole dorm room to myself because the protests in Lima which you may have seen on the news where disrupting transport and stopping a lot of people from traveling. The uproar was basically because the Peruvian president's free market policies are only benefiting the business sector and multin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/blog-302246.html Well the last blog seems to have caused quite an uproar So I will start by addressing all of the comments suggesting that this whole trip is in fact a hoax Firstly to mum and dad no the pictures were not fake and I am not in fact staying in some theme park in America Secondly to Uncle Ged no I am not in fact living in a bedsit in Manchester working in Primark and photoshopping myself into pi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-296236.html I left my hotel in Manila at 6am on the 17th of June. 47.5 hours later I arrived at my hostel in Rio de Janeiro Or was is 36.5 hours laterFrom Manila I flew to Tokyo from there to New York and then on to Sao Paulo from where I caught a bus to Rio and finally a taxi to the hostel. When i boarded my plane in Tokyo it was 8.20pm on the 17th. When i touched down in New York it was 8.15pm on the 17t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-291731.html After 2 nights at Alona beach on Pangloa Island where we enjoyed the fresh seafood restaurants along the beach front the bars a massage from an old lady that was quite clearly senile and the company of a transsexual called Fiona see pic on previous blog we headed back to Cebu city for a couple of nights. Cebu and the Pacific Pensionne guest house has very much become our base here in the Vis http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Cebu/Cebu-City/blog-285287.html We arrived in the Philippines on May 18th and have spent the past 3 weeks island hoping around the Visaya's. We had heard a few bad stories about the Philippines before we came terrible infrastructure unreliable transport dodgy planes boats that sink constant hassle from people trying to sell you stuff and rip you off and the really bad stuff like muggings kidnappings bombs.... But my e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Manila/blog-285279.html On May 5th we left Beijing for Hong Kong where we were meeting my mum and dad for 2 weeks. We were more than ready to leave that's for sure Beijing had some fantastic sights to see and some great food to be eaten if you could find it but it was hard work and wasn't what i would call a holiday. of course the case would have been different if you went with lots of money stayed in a nice hotel an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/Kowloon/blog-279598.html And it is nowhere more obvious than in Beijing. Everything about it screams lsquoI'm big Irsquom important and Irsquom here right herersquo. The buildings are HUGE all of them the roads are ridiculously wide and there is empty space everywhere. For those who are unfamilia with China it can seem to exude a my back garden is bigger than yours Irsquom better than you kind of attitude. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-272366.html Well time really has been flying Over the past month Irsquove endured problem after problem with the air shipments of products to the UK. If its not flying because its not finished production its because the containers didnrsquot arrive in Beijing. And if thatrsquos not the reason then its because the paper work is wrong or the captain of the plane got ill and didnrsquot show up Are the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kyoto/Kyoto/blog-269189.html Well this restaurant deserves a write up all of its own KAGAYA owned by Mark Kagaya Is his name is really Mark I doubt it But it's easy for gaijins foreigners like me to pronounceI think I should start by saying that I had read a few things about this place on the internet. Mainly on other peoples blogs and normally proceeded by a subheading like weird and wacky places to go or followed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-259526.html OK time for a pop quiz Q Japan is one of only 4 countries which boasts its own A DisneylandAnd thatrsquos exactly where me and Danny headed the day after the fish market expedition I remember going to Disneyland Paris back when I was a kid and I was no less excited this time around Tokyo Disneyland is only 15mins outside central Tokyo and is connected up with a direct http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-247755.html Well time really is flying here in Tokyo I feel like Irsquove done so much and told you about so little So over the next few installments wersquore going to jump back in time and Irsquom going to tell you about a few of the day trips Irsquove made. Back in November I visited Tsukiji Fish Market. Now you may be thinking oh brilliant a fish market I learnt everything I need to know about http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-246470.html