http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Markio/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Markio en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:18:43 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:18:43 +0000 Using up great slabs of my precious holiday days is something I do with aplomb. My desire to keep visiting the swathes of SE Asia that I didn't manage to get to on my travels meant that Autumn 2009 saw the best part of 3 weeks being spent in Borneo. I'd roped in Steve and Chris to recreate the travelling trio from our first trip to SE Asia in 2005 and Sky was teaching English just a short hop awa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Sandakan/blog-456958.html After a longer than ideal boys club hiatus September saw us head to Munich to try and recreate some of the fun and mayhem than happened last time we hit Germany when we visited Berlin. After a few too many drinks on the Thursday night before we left it was a slightly subdued start to the trip as a little bit of exploring was done as well as a lot of napping Hostels.com had done us proud and th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-456957.html We had originally been hoping to do the three peaks challenge for Mandi's birthday but when we realised we didn't have any friends stupid enough to volunteer to do the massive amounts of driving involved we decided on a cut down version with a 2peaks challenge being the filling in a three day road trip sandwich. We roped in Fleur and Ed and soon enough we were rocking northwards for the Lake Di http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/Snowdon/blog-456949.html One of Chris Alger's wily investments had seen him purchase a one bedroom apartment in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko. So what better way to enjoy this than to cram six of us into the apartment for a 6 day skiing holiday and as we drew straws for the beds Chris ended up sharing a futon in the lounge of the apartment that he actually ownedGetting there had been the usual noqueuing affair http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/West/Bansko/blog-422308.html Dan Moss popping the question to his beloved girlfriend Rachel meant that a joyous occasion would soon be upon us.....another stag do Dan took the lead in organising this and as Rach says she wishes he put half as much effort into organising the actual wedding day and we're massively grateful as it turned out to be the best trip away yet A week of skiing and snowboarding in Chamonix all the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Rh-ne-Alpes/Chamonix/blog-422315.html What better way to beat the Autumn blues in London than a cheeky holiday in Thailand for 12 days to top up the tan get the feeling of sand between my toes and touch briefly on the traveller lifestyle of a few years ago. Sky and Matt two American friends who I had met in Santiago were doing an even better job than I had done of procrastinating getting into the real world and getting one of thos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-347848.html Amsterdam...blur of scrambled memories....arrival....welcome to the flying pig....cafe....how do you set up a backgammon board...drinks...cafe....drinks....I guess there was a meal in there somewhere probably an Italian knowing us....drinks...vibes... head to Leidesplein....more vibes and that's Friday.Another full English for breakfast we are good tourists....drinks...cafe....watch the foot http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-333632.html After Lawrence popped the question to Danielle most of us were only thinking one thing....stag do Best man Adam duly came up with the goods hiring a pair of cottages down in Ashcombe Devon that were complete with swimming pool a games barn and no neighbours to complain about the noise and mayhem created by the frivolities that go along with a stag do.We managed to assemble down in Ashcombe in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Devon/blog-308325.html Amongst other things the solemn promise of 80 degree sunshine and cloudless skies every day lured me out to Minneapolis to visit Sky a friend met travelling back in Santiago. Unfortunately especially given my frailties and love of hot weather I arrived during the middle of an unusually cold snap with temperatures virtually identical to those I had left behind in EnglandIf the weather wasn't q http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Minnesota/Minneapolis/blog-308308.html Having booked our flights to Riga back in November our trip East seemed to come around incredibly quickly after our last jaunt to Krakow. The usual silly o'clock start that we have become so used to saw us arriving in Riga without any problems and a first for boys club a taxi driver from the airport that didn't want to either rip us off massively or try and kill us with his dodgy driving. Resul http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Latvia/Riga-Region/Riga/blog-256679.html The plan was to have a uni reunion a road trip and a skiing holiday all rolled into one. It sounded like a great idea but it rested heavily on Mama and Papa Freitag's generosity as they provided not only the use of their chalet but also their car with winter tyres in order to help us get down thereSix of us James Sarah and Steve to complete the uni reunion along with my sis and her boyfriend http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/blog-251622.html January saw an ambitious boys club as rather than making a break for sunnier climes we were going to take on Poland...in January We knew that it might be a tad chilly but luckily the weather held as well as we could expect and it hardly rained at all However I think I was the only one that had brought a brolly and the light drizzle when we arrived meant that we made some Polish market vendors http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-251618.html Early October saw our next stop on the Boys Club European Tour and this time our numbers had swelled to 9 our biggest outing to date though with Rachel and Michelle joining the ranks for the first time it wasn't strictly boys club We had also split into three groups who would be arriving at different times. Matich Nug and Shaun were the first ones off to Spain heading out on the Wednesday mo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-212827.html From Veranassi two 11 hour bus journeys and a slightly out of joint back have got me to Pokhara in Nepal. Pokhara is just heaven after the hustle and bustle of India. A laid back city set on a lake and surrounded by picturesque hills and mountains just the tonic. I have reunited with a mate I met in Laos Sam with the two of us are trekking the Annapurna Circuit together. The trek is 150 200 m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Pokhara/blog-231503.html Upon arrival in Delhi I felt reasonably well equipped to deal with the inevitable scams and touts that are par for the course in this part of the world having absorbed lots of advice from fellow travelers that had already visited India. Straight away the taxi journey from the airport into the city provided me with an introduction to this aspect of travel in India as even though I'd prepaid for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-229783.html After a relaxing stop off in the four thousands islands in the far south of Laos I was headed for Cambodia. After some issues at the border over my dualnationality I was in and after bartering myself a spot on a speedboat wooden boat with huge engine and propeller strapped on back not luxury sports toy I arrived in the first major town Stung Treng. Here the journeys started to get really i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-229763.html Leaving the Western level imfrastructure of Thailand behind my journeys started getting more exciting. Firstly a two day slow boat got me into Laos and I docked in its main cityLuang Prabang. Luang Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage site with a stunning array of features both manmade and natural. I went cliff diving into the pool at the top of a many tiered waterfall and hired a very funky l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-229758.html Our intention after crossing into Thailand was to head up to the island of Ko Samui. We had flagged down a Songathaew to get us to the bus station and although the guy went via one of his ldquofriend'srdquo travel agencies where they tried to sell us some massively overpriced tickets we got to the station in the end and the tickets we bought apparently included the ferry across to the island http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-229753.html Heading north from Singapore we stopped over for a night in Melacca where it hammered down with rain but that didn't bother us too much as we had happened upon the ldquoTraveller's Lodgerdquo a plush guest house with full aircon wet room and 3 beds all for just a tenner. The three of us were definitely hoping that this was a sign of things to come In Mellaca we headed out for a great com http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Perhentian-Besar/blog-229750.html I flew to Singapore to meet my housemate from uni Steve and his older brother Chris as well as Emma my friend from back home in Basingstoke. The reputation of Singapore's airport had preceded it as one of the nicest in the world and when I arrived it didn't disappoint Mints and sweets were being handed out internet was on offer for free and the staff were actually friendlyThe four of us g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-229588.html