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Travel Diaries
One year one world one dream! Our 358 day journey took us through;Paul and Emma
South America - Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil & Chile
Australia - Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, West coast & Perth
Asia - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong & China
We have visited some amazing places and had lots of fun along the way, here are our top highlights: (in no particular order)
Ancient Wonders
1. Manchu Picchu. Peru
2. Terracotta Warriors, China
3. Great Wall of China
4. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Natural Wonders
1. Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia
2. Salt Flats, Bolivia
3. Halong Bay, Vietnam
4. Iguazu Falls, Argentina
5. Outback, Australia
6. Andes, South America
Best Travel
1. China train travel
2. Super Cama, Argentina
3. Flight to Broome, Australia
4. The Van, Western Australia
5. Moto Taxi, Vietnam
6. Tuk Tuk, Thailand/Cambodia
7. Halong Bay Junk, Vietnam
Best Beaches
1. Bondi, Sydney Australia
2. Ipanema , Rio Brazil
3. Cape Range National Park, Western Australia
4. Railey, Thailand
5. Great Ocean Road, Victoria Australia
6. Margaret River, western Australia
Best Nightlife
1. Lapa, Rio Brazil
2. Ko Phang nan Full Moon Party, Thailand
3. Fitzroy, Melbourne Australia
4. Fremantle, Perth Australia
5. Buenos Aires, Argentina
Best Food
1. All Thai
2. Nicks, Sydney Australia
3. Buga Bar, Sydney Australia
4. Corner Bar Pork, Rio Brazil
5. Steak, Argentina
6. Auzzie BBQ, Australia
7. Veal Sandwich, Salta Argentina
8. Camp food on Inca Trial, Peru
Best Adventure Activities
1. Snowboarding, Bariloche Argentina
2. Downhill Biking, Death Road Bolivia
3. Scuba Diving, Ningaloo Reef Western Australia
4. Inca Trail, Peru
5. walking the Great Wall of China
Best Sleeps (or most remembered!)
1. Tent on top of Mountain, Inca Trail Peru
2. The Van, Northern Territory/Western Australia
3. Hammock, Pantanal Australia
4. 334 Bondi Road, Sydney Australia
5. Kerr Street, Fitzroy Melbourne
6. Hard Sleeper Train, China
7. Boat, Yangzi River China
8. Monasteries, China
9. South America Hostels (Loki, Lao, Wave, Casa Roja, 141)
10. Concrete slab, Salt Flats Bolivia
11. Star Hut, Ko Phang Nan Thailand
Worst Bits (not everything was great!)
1. Vietnam
2. Flies in Northern Territory/Western Australia
3. Sydney Hostels
4. Living out of a bag/packing
5. Flight into Hong Kong
6. Death Bus (from end of death road back to La Paz)
Travel Blog Posts
July 20th 2008
China!! What a country, even after talking to people about it who we'd met along the way we still werent sure what to expect? What we can say after spending 3 weeks here is that its truely amazing and every single person we have met and talked to has been super friendly and helpful and every place we have visited has been a pleasure! Our three week Hong Kong to Beijing trip was led by our leader Bobo from Intrepid Travel. Bobo made sure we (and the other 10 in our group (1 welsh, 2 great danes, 2 german, 2 english & 3 ozzies) had a safe and enjoyable trip through China. To be honest it was a god send having Bobo doing all the organising, ordering our food and general making our trip easy. We ... read more
June 29th 2008
After flying in a holding pattern for an hour and landing in the tail end of a typhoon it was time to wipe of my cold sweats and get off the plane. Getting to the hostel was a snap, just jump on a bus from the airport and in about an hour we were in the heart of Kowloon which is to the west of the mainland city and supposedly the most populated area in Hong Kong. So we checked in to our "Hostel" Dragon Hostel, which was more of a collection of shoe box sized rooms in a 17 storey tenement. but the Guy running the show 'stanley' (typical chinese name) was really cool and helpful and the place was super clean and cosy. Hong Kong! it was time to hit the streets and as ... read more
Lazy Days & Full Moon on Ko Pha Ngan
Published: June 24th 2008Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Pha-Ngan
June 21st 2008
Kho Ph Ngan! We arrived on the island on a extremely wet day and spent two nights in Haad Rin on the south of the island which were also V-wet but it was nice to get cosy in our big luxury bungalow.. We originally wanted to stay in the north of the island on Thong Nai Pan Noi beach, so when the weather cleared up we headed up there away from Haad Rin (which was a bit more Magaluf than Thailand to be honest), and we found a really good cheap bungalow right on the beach which was much more picturesque and chilled than the south. So! cue lots of sunbathing swimming eating and chilling playing connect four! Also we had time to squeeze in another cooking course which is always a good idea! We really ... read more
June 9th 2008
Thailand!! It’s such a pleasure to be here after Vietnam. (no horns blaring, no hassle from people at every turn, beautiful clean beaches and genuinely nice people) Getting to Krabi Thailand from Hanoi was so easy. We just hopped on a flight after one last argument with the taxi driver at the airport who was trying to get us to pay again even though we’d paid at the rank the previous day! (so long Vietnam) and we arrived in Bangkok airport just in time to buy another flight to Krabi. Krabi is on the Andaman coast, and we stayed on the beatiful Railay Beach which is joined to the mainland but only accessible by boat, so it’s like being on an island and from the pictures you can see it’s a stunning place with lots to ... read more
June 1st 2008
I'm writing this at the end of our time in Vietnam shortly after the Halong bay trip from Hanoi. First stop for us was Ho Chi Mihn city formerly Saigon. Saigon is a typical Asian city again and so busy with motorbikes (4 million just in the city alone) and people hassling us it makes your head spin. We took a trip to the Cu chi tunnels from here which is the battle field where the Vietcom resisted the American army from there subterranean tunnels (Tight fit for Me). Further up the coast is Dalat, a Hilly town where you can get trips with Easyrider. which is basically a motorbike taxi for 3 to 4 days around rural Vietnam. These guys have almost perfected the 'Hard Sell' teqnique but we hooked up with a Girl from ... read more
May 13th 2008
Cambodia! six hours on a bus later from Bangkok we were at the border and teamed up with another couple to take a taxi for another four hours on some of the worst roads I've ever seen (and I've been to Bolivia!) But bad roads aside it was good fun watching the scenery whizz past and also watching our driver dodge hundreds of other cars, motorbikes, bicycles, all kind of heavy plant machinery animals people and pot holes the size of bath tubs! I was in the passenger seat and hit my invisible brakes for him more times than I can remember... It was all worth it though because at the other end was Siem Reap, a "beautiful" (using the broadest sense of the word) little market town with lots of good restaurants and plenty of ... read more
May 10th 2008
Its good to be back in Asia, the flight from Australia and then the connecting bus to bankok was a pleasure. First stop was Khoasan Road which is one street in Bangkok that is crammed full of hostels hotels bars restaurants markets and every nationality of traveller/freak in the world, after dumping the bags in our room (right in the middle of Khoasan road) we headed out for a while until we couldn't stay awake any longer, Next morning after enjoying our free breakfast around the Koi carp pond we headed out to find Emma's Two Cousins Tim & David They were easy to find because they gave us such good directions quote "ours is the one that says swimming pool over the door!", so we arranged to meet up laters with them and three of ... read more
April 28th 2008
After the long road trip from Broome to Perth it was time to get things in order and sell the old camper van that had been our home for two months. As it turned out selling the camper was quite easy and we sold it for $300 less than we bought it, thats around 130 quid, Result!. First stop was Fremantle locally known as Free-o! fremantle is about 30 mins drive or train from the city and is a beautiful little town in its own right, we planned to stay for a week and stayed for two. A great place good restaurants and bars especially liked little creatures which was a huge industrial sized bar, restaurant and brewery in one. also we did a torchlight tour of the prison which was full of history and was ... read more
The Long Way Down: Broome to Pemberton
Published: April 7th 2008Oceania » Australia » Western Australia
April 7th 2008
Well, this is a long blog it has taken us 1month to travel from Broome(North of Western Australia) to Pemberton (South West Australia). Its been a great trip with many hightlights along the way - take a look the photos! The Ningaloo Reef was part of this trip but we was too excited and put the photos on the last blog Instead of writing everything we have done here is a few words to describe WA....Hot (not south west!), Barron, remote, rural, flies, long, wild, windy, big, exciting, unreal, scenic, clear waters, great beaches, wine, BBQ, fishing..... Heres where we have been and how far we have travelled in our trusty camper... Broome to Port Headland - 663km To Tom Price via Kiajini NP - 460km To Exmouth via Girlia Station - 645km To Cape Range ... read more
March 19th 2008
We wasn't going to do a blog until we got to Perth but we thought the Ningaloo Reef deserved a blog off its own! Our first experience of the Ninagloo Reef was from the Cape Range National Park which was amazing. It was back to basics at our beach front campsite-no electrcity, no water & a hole in the ground toilet! From the site we snorkled at Lakeside & Turquiose Bay - we only had to swim 25/50m to the reef to see the abundent coral and sealife...it was unreal! What was more of a suprise was the lack of people, and at times we had the fish to ourselves! We saw so much snorkling including loads of colourful coral, sharks, turtles & stingrays. We then based ourselves at Exmouth to do a intro dive. We ... read more
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