http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lonard/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lonard en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:10:30 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:10:30 +0000 Waiting roadside we hailed down the tourist bus going direct to Sauraha. The only thing was we were going to have to sit on the roof. I always wanted to do this and with the journey supposedly only another hour I thought 'why not' The girls weren't too keen on this idea and ended up finding space inside whilst Pauly and I took up seats on the left rear. I was nervous to begin with and was just im http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-448306.html Birethanti 1050mTikhedhungga 1540mWe are going trekking today Had a great sleep last night with only a slightly weird dream. Everyone has been having some crazy dreams over the last couple of days. We are all slightly suspicious there might be MSG in the food. The girls bags looked bigger than I had anticipated when we walked down the road to get a taxi to the Baghlung Bus Station for the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Annapurna/blog-444847.html Here we go again This time it will be slightly different teaming up with 3 other people but that doesn't mean it's not going to be as fun. Nepal...I just love the mountains and to be able to experience the Himalayas will be a dream come true. The tea houses friendly locals and their traditional cuisine I am all looking forward to. Yeh its going to be peak season but hopefully it will be peacefu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-442268.html The boys had arrived. After a few months of emailing back and forth Jb and Dunco had now made it to the continent. We met in the sleepy town of Rio Gallegos where Argentinean life was uneventful so to speak. They didnrsquot seem to mind after a late night in Brisbane pre flight and then partying in Buenos Aires the previous night. I had sorted out or exit plan in a days time where we would trav http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-433850.html We arrived just after lunchtime into El Calafate and with time not on our side we decided to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier in the afternoon. After checking into our hostel we realised that we had missed the last tourist bus for the day so we ended up hiring a cab which actually saved us a few pesos. That was until we had to pay the entrance fee...its hard in Patagonia to stop churning through th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-436680.html I looked to the left and to the right scanned the aisles front to back. This was the Easyjet flight from London to Split and there were Australians all around me. I swear I went to university with that girl I have seen him somewhere before as well. This flight may well have been a Jetstar flight from Sydney to Melbourne. Its funny how word gets out about a place. I remember when I first moved t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Dalmatia/blog-433066.html So after seeing the Argentinean side of Iguazu falls and living the resort life at The Hostel Inn A.K.A Rancho Relaxo we caught the bus to the border just before midday. With all the hassles that Bryan and I had in Buenos Aires trying to obtain a Brazilian visa I would compare the experience in Puerto Iguazu to buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Pay the money wait for the stamp to roast let http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-401782.html Do you mean I can have 4 days off I said to my boss after double checking the roster. Sounds good to me I thought perfect time to get away for a couple of days. After looking around at my options I decided to take the Eurostar to Belgium for 4 days. Some chocolate beer and waffles would do me nicely.So after spending Thursday evening with my friends in London also for the last time at our ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/Antwerp-Province/Antwerp/blog-426531.html Berlin. I thoroughly enjoyed myself last time I visited as a tourist and was looking forward to a 4 night break to escape the working life in England. I have just entered back into the daily wonders of working and it felt like the right time for a little side trip. On that note it was nice just to take a break for a couple of days and in a city like Berlin it was sure to be a pleasure.Sarah and I http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/blog-412267.html I vividly remember when I was first thinking about travelling to South America 1 year ago when I came across a picture of Quilotoa Crater. It was a stunning photograph and it kind of filled me with excitement about the type of adventure I was going to have when I went to the Latin Continent. So no surprises it was top on my list of places to visit in Ecuador. As soon as my plane landed at the Mari http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Quilitoa/blog-373661.html Whilst in my first week at spanish school I was talking to a Norwegian guy about what he did on his weekend. I climbed a volcano with my friend who is a guide he was telling me whilst we had a cup of tea and munched down the free bread that they provided for us at morning tea. It was horrible weather very tough and not much of a view at the top because of the weather. But I would do it again. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Cotopaxi/blog-373665.html THE DEATH ROAD.....AARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH No seriously it isn't that bad. If you have no common sense and no idea how to handle a mountain bike on a dirt track than maybe this isn't for you. But for most kids who grew up tearing around their neighbourhoods and hitting some sweet jumps as Napoleon Dynamite would say it is one of the most enjoyable and exhilarating rides I have ever done. After s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Coroico/blog-373627.html The salt flats. That's all I thought we would be seeing to be honest as a Swiss friend and I headed south from Potosi to the small town of Tupiza. We received a few tips from people that this would be a better starting place as we would get to see more of the countryside and would not come across any other jeeps for the first two days. In hindsight this was probably one of the best bits of advice http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-373635.html I have been looking forward to this trip for so long now and it was quite a relief once I jumped on board the Ushuaia on the 26th Of February. I arrived in Ushuaia 2 days before and kept everything pretty low key as I was constantly glancing towards the harbour and the waters that lay further south. Just from gathering comments from a few people who obviosuly didnt like it there they painted a du http://www.travelblog.org/Antarctica/Antarctica/blog-380564.html Wow That was my reaction alter we reached the mirador de cristo after battling through the fog for the last hour. The view either side was a patchwork quilt of greens with houses sporadically jutting out of the steep hillside. Sorata lay in the valley below so after diving down in the collective I was ready to relax and unwind.I had a good time in Copacabana but I dearly missed the mountains and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-370741.html Well I will do my best to describe what it was like to live like a Quiteo for one month. My first impressions of the city were slightly mixed. After the spectactular landing in the valley I was surprised how clean the city was. For some reason I thought it was going to rival Bangkok but apart from the local buses that spit out black fumes all over the city it was quite the opposite. I had organis http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-350380.html Yay Back to the mountains I had a nice time on the coast but I was constantly questioning what was missing and I found it as soon as we entered Huaraz in the early hours of the morning on the night bus from Trujillo. The cool air hit me as we left the bus and the white snow capped peaks all around the city made me feel at home again. After having around 6 weeks in the mountains of Ecuador I w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ancash/Cordillera-Blanca/blog-359742.html 2 weeks in and I am definitely getting better. The last week of spanish had let in a few rays of light I was looking forward to getting away again and practicing a bit more. This time we had a group of around 6 poeple though and everyone could speak better spanish than me so negotiating prices at hostels was not going to be my job. Oh well maybe next time.We decided to leave early Saturday mornin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Otavalo/blog-348833.html After my first full week in Spanish school in Quito and way too much information trying to make its way into my head my housemate and I took a bus on Friday afternoon to the relaxing town in the valley about 3 hours away Baos. It was good to get out of Quito after a hectic week there and I was looking forward to some hiking and a bit of R R.Considering it is low season we had no problems find http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-356745.html After climbing Cotopaxi we were all looking forward to spending some time relaxing and closer to sea level. Therefore the Cuyabeno was the perfect place. Firstly we had to negotiate a night bus from Quito to Lago Agrio. After having some dinner at the German girls house we were all pretty tired from the last week and all 3 of us fell asleep instantly as we settled into our seats. To our surprise a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/East/Cuyabeno-Reserve/blog-356697.html