SoodPav

The girls had arrived the night before without any hassle and we drank some beers and went for cheap eats down the road. It was fab to have them with us and we went to bed excited for our trip to Cambodia. We got to Vietdreams, the travel agency, at 7.30am as requested, only to be told that the bus was now leaving at 8.30am. This meant we had time to grab some brekko though – the girls had their first pho while Lisa could only manage a mango sinh to (yoghurt smoothie) at that time of the morning. We got chatting to some guys Ian knows from football, who were heading the opposite way to Nha Trang, before eventually boarding the bus. It was a pretty decent one, not masses of space but semi-recliners and ... read more

Just found this from a couple of weeks ago...enjoy! I have officially been inaugurated into gringo life here in Saigon as someone attempted to snatch my bag the other night while cruising home, after a delicious curry, on the back of Ian’s bike. Luckily for us, a multitude of factors came together meaning that the would-be thieves only got away with my bag strap. Ha ha! So, a run-down of how it happened...as they swung past us on their bike, I instinctively grabbed the bag back, Ian sensibly slowed down and the crooks obviously shot off super rapido stylies thinking they’d bagged a bag...but unlucky for them, they hadn’t counted on my bag being from that well-known and loved institution of high quality products, Primarni. All these factors conspired in our favour meaning I still possess ... read more

3 months after sending Ian off to new Asian pastures, I finally came to join him. Woohoooo!! The summer was great though, spending time with family and friends without the usual mad crazy rush, getting to know my beautiful twinkles who I’m going to miss heaps :( visiting old haunts in Leeds, finding new ones in London, working for a month on my terms, meeting Leo (congrats again Alex and Martin!) and enjoying a few home comforts – thanks Ma and Pa for putting up with me for what I am sure was longer than expected! And while it had been 3 months I’d been home, I still spent the last few days rushing about trying to get my life in order, ready to leave. But I got there in the end, thanks to Mama Sood ... read more

Back in Campo Grande we asked the driver to take us to the bus station (which he kindly agreed to by charging us to wait whilst we checked availability) on the off chance that we could get on a bus that evening, but there was nothing else going that day, so we decided to come back in the morning to catch the 7.30 or 8am bus. Thankfully the others didn’t mind waiting for us and we all went back to the hostel and had a few beers with the girls and Tom, who had joined us on the trip as he was off to meet his girlfriend the next day at the airport. We were in bed by 1am and up again at 6am to take a taxi to the bus terminal. Bad luck continuing, there ... read more

The following morning we were up and feeling a little sad that our time in the Pantanal was almost over. After brekko we wandered over to find our steeds for the morning - a bunch of skinny, fly-ridden horses, underfed due to the flooding. It was clear that they were not given much extra food and we all felt bad and wished we had brought something over for them from the Posada. Lisa had told Marcelo that Ian likes riding the little ones (referencing unlucky yet hilarious occasions in Banos and Tupiza when Ian got given little ponies to ride, check out the photos) but he forgot (unfortunately for us!) and so for once Ian was riding a medium sized horse, called Snow White (can’t all be perfect hehehe!). Lisa got the broken one, Troncho, who ... read more

Monday morning rolled around and we were up early doors for a brekko of fruit, cake, juice, eggs and proper coffee, before setting off at 8am for a morning of riverside fishing. To get to the river though we first had to wade through waist-deep water crossing what would normally have been fields, to get to the campsite and the river. The campsite was totally flooded with everything stored up on tables to keep it dry and you couldn’t actually tell where the campsite ended and the river began as it was all submerged in 3 feet of water. The sun was burning hot even at that time of the morning and so we stood in bikinis (Ian of course was not wearing a bikini but boardies instead, being the only guy in the tour group ... read more