http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mark-and-his-bag/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Mark and his bag en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:11:17 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:11:17 +0000 Since returning to the UK after our 'big' trip we've been getting more and more restless so to keep our sanity and our spirit of adventure alive action was taken. After years of being my pillion Gill passed her unrestricted motorbike test we went out and bought two motorbikes a Suzuki Bandit 600 for me and a Kawasaki ER 5 500cc for Gill and we used themTwo days after Gill passing her t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Isle-of-Skye/blog-211194.html Hello. Delayed again but for a good reason this time because Irsquove been putting it off and denial is as good a reason as any. As I write it is Nov 23 which gives us one and a half weeks before we fly home although thatrsquos not entirely true as we decided to ease the shock of returning to the UK after nearly 21 months travelling by landing short in Amsterdam for 5 days of R an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-85480.html It is frustrating and some may say lsquoannoyingrsquo that our uptodate entries are less than current sohellip Letrsquos skip one and get a little more currentFor the past 9 weeks or so wersquove been staying in a small village in NZ itrsquos a town for one reason and one reason only SNOWBOARDING. The title says everything as with our stay in Bright and the Paragliding wer http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Canterbury-Plains/blog-85276.html New Zealand described on a tourist lsquoTrsquo shirt as a country in three parts the North Island the South Island and the West Island Irsquom quite sure the Australians have similar jokes regarding NZ but despite their similar accents wersquove found NZ and Oz to have quite different cultures.When Gill and I were trying to be specific about the differences we found them difficult http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-72478.html It finally came to pass that paragliding and Bright was ending. We had many flights in many directions. Gills farthest straight line distance was 25 kms which took 2 hours she then made it back to our camp in record time by being offered a lift all the way back by the owners of the field in which she landed In fact she arrived back in plenty of time to receive my lsquoplease come and get m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-68293.html I could probably sum up our time in Bright simply and quickly we came we saw we stayedBright is in the Alpine region of Oz and features a mountainous vista it has skiing in the winter while offering summer activities enjoyed by the whole family. It has also been hailed as one of the best areas for Paragliding Now you see why itrsquos been months since we updated the web siteAs we approa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Bright/blog-45754.html This is a brief entry to fill in the New Year gap left by the previous blog. After this we can get reasonably up to date with our current experiences ones which over the past few months have followed very similar trends but more later. When we arrived in Melbourne and finally navigated the city the way we wanted to the map we had was out of date and used some different road names we went t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-45748.html Our onward location was to be Adelaide with a few stops on the way. A strange occurrence on this leg was crossing the state border where a man took our Onion The explanation he gave us for this lsquodaylight robberyrsquo was onion rust. Not one local can tell us what the problem with rusty onions could be the only explanation forthcoming being his lack of ingredients for his dinner thi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide/blog-40124.html Ok yet another exceptionally late entry but why change a habit that works.After the preparation we set off for our test run down the coast to Margaret River mmm wine region. The first taste of 'camping' was a small concrete block next to the toilets in a tree laden park. At the time we thought the park was dingy but tolerable and the price was high 24. Since then we've realised our sta http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Margaret-River/blog-40114.html Irsquom afraid to catch up on the page that a little condensing is required possibly a little more than a little. The time that wersquove spent in Aus has gone quickly this has overflowed to the typing of the web page and other lsquohouse keepingrsquo type things.After our little trip to Margaret River and the surround we returned to await our package from Gills folks. A relativel http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Kalgoorlie/blog-40117.html Without meaning to reduce this great nations variety and beauty we have to admit that without keeping note of the wherersquos whenrsquos and whyrsquos we find it difficult to tease apart the different areas and cultures although they are similar in theme. Each of the small towns along the way have left an impression be it small in some cases and negative in others and these have all http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/blog-40120.html We arrived in Australia tired and sullen. Asia was gone and a lifestyle abandoned. It was back to western values western attitudes and western costs the latter being the most daunting. After 6 months of cheap food and accommodation we were apprehensive of the forthcoming cost cascade.Our first shock was the accommodation fee our second the price of food. On that first day we spent hours lo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-31085.html We alighted at Ha Noi in the early hours of the morning and were met with the image of thousands of Vietnamese jogging performing callisthenics and playing badminton in the streets. After being 'mislead' once more as to the destination of the taxi we were placed in not the coach office as told but a hotel to sell us to we destressed with a short nap to catch up on the sleep lost from the o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-31079.html Arriving in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh if you hold with the politics the locals didn't seem to we found a hotel. Later that night we had a look around and settled into the new culture.There were only a few things we wanted to get out of this city time willing one being the Chu Chi tunnels built and lived in for 20 years by the Viet Cong formerly the Viet Minh and the other was the museum wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-31076.html Apologies for the gap in submission but we are who we are.Angkor has to be hailed as a must see at some point in ones life. Of course when I say this I refer to all of Angkors sites. Again and we have said this about other locations it will change. Already having an airport and a Hilton this site is catering more and more to the rich and shameless but to be fair if we had more money http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-30798.html The border crossing into Cambodia went surprisingly well. We had our doubts about this visa issue and fully expected to be travelling back to the hammocks later that day but all went well and only 3 'tax' a piece to the officialsThe journey down to Phnom Penh took about 9 hours down reasonable roads considering during which we acquired our long overdue puncture. We arrived in the city at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-26894.html We Traveled down through Laos for about 11 hours over night and arrived in Pakse at about 7am. The next bus took us to one of the islands of Si Phan Don and seemed a bargain until we realised we were in the middle of nowhere. One hour one boat and 5 dollars later we arrived on Don Det the small island we'd decided to stay on.It must be said that Don Det is in our eyes a paradise unfound bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/South/Si-Phan-Don/blog-26886.html On Vientiane we shall be brief. We didn't do much here partly because we were saving money partly because we didn't travel around the city much and mainly because we got a room with TV and settled in to watching the grand prix qualifying GP race and the England world cup qualifying game. Sometimes you've just got to have a break from thingsWhat we did see of the city was nice. Again ther http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-25397.html Before we get bogged down in the usual travel 'blog' I think we have to clarify a point. It appears because of the way the site is laid out no offence ally that we have an ambiguous title. Mark and his Bag was decided upon as a pun Gill is the bag The front page reads 'Mark and his bag Mark and Gill. However we didn't realise that if you join half way that title doesn't appear and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-24068.html On the Drive down to Vang Vieng there was a inkling of apprehension. Although there hasn't been any attacks on transport in recent years the sight of young lads on motorbikes carrying rifles was a little disconcerting. The driver appeared to have one eye on the road an one eye on the ridges and no he wasn't cross eyed another source of concern.After sixish hours on the non aircon bus tho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-24072.html