Speepso
Matt Chapman Joined: December 4th 2008
Logged in: January 1st 2010
Logged in: January 1st 2010
Travel Blog Posts
on the roof of the Banyan Tree for dinner
Typical me, but i guess better late than never? So we flew out of Laos, on a fun looking plane that actually made it! Was weird flying over proper buildings again, Thailand looks surprisingly developed after being in Laos. We landed in Chiang Mai, jumped in the back of a Tuk Tuk kind of taxi van thing, and got into the town to find a hotel. Ended up spending a week here, holed up in a place with beds like bricks, tv with Thai channels only, and an air con unit that could turn your room into a walk-in freezer over night. Isn't that right Gary? Chiang Mai was a chilled kind of time. We did pretty much nothing! Checked out the local X-centre where we Zorbed (not good) and paintballed (beaten by a 16yr old ... read more
bar on the river
$12 bus ride! I think i could put up with anything for $12. We were ready at our hotel by 5pm, got picked up a lil late, and taken out of the town to the Hanoi, or one of the Hanoi bus depots. well, kind of. We were dropped off on the side of the road, next to a bar. and a tree. Rude NOT to have a beer while we waited, so, we had a beer. It was while drinking the beer, that we spotted the bus depot was actually about 200m down the road. "why don't we go down there?". "no, not yet, we must wait here" we were told. O-K.... Eventually, we were allowed to walk down to the bus depot. Processed our tickets, and got on the SMALLEST bus there. Not what ... read more
matts 015
Hanoi We were in a bit of a rush when we were leaving Hue, and it didn't calm down for a few days... We arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital early on the morning of the 28th May. Although it was myself, Steve and Steve, we had arranged to meet the other Steve's, Steve and also Steve in an alleyway in Hanoi, from where we would buy tickets to do a cruise in Halong Bay. What a rip off!!!! Transport to and from the harbour (3 hours drive), cruise with kayaking, accomodation and food, then one day on Cat Ba Island with accomodation and dinner, less than $50!!!). Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Ha ... read more
first night in Saigon, The waitress (no good at taking pictures), Gary, brenda, Eddie, Auke, Shawn
A 9 hour bus ride took us from the coast of Cambodia, upto Phnom Penh, then across the troublesome Vietnamese border into Vietnam and along to Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it's affectionatley still known. Spent about a month in Vietnam, so will break the country up into 2 parts, (just like the yanks did LOL), starting with Mekong Delta, upto the Demiltarised Zone at Hue. Finding our feet in Saigon In any guide book you read, even my 4 year old one (idiot), they all talk about the traffic in Saigon, and more importantly, the amount of motorbikes! well, they aren't kidding. Tax is sooo high on cars, that just about nobody apart from very few taxi drivers actually have one. Motorbikes, well scooters really as the limit in Vietnam is 125cc, outnumber ... read more
Photo 1
Finally taking a break from my jet-set lifestyle to sit down and start catching up on the blog! Very Overdue, so with almost 2 months of Blogging to do, i will break it down into Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos... first up, Cambodia! ( a little pre-cam info; i left Cape Town, (FINALLY) on the 22nd April, flying with a very nice Singapore Airlines (where they give you Singapore Slings on request!!!!!) to Singapore, landed 6:30ish am, with a lay over of about 4 hours till i caught a flight upto Bangkok. luckily, Singapore Airport is prety impressive, with free internet, cinema and swimming pool! landed in Bangkok, got to Kosan Road (backpacker central), found a hotel with a rooftop pool, and got my head down. First big diff from Africa, you don't really get any hostels ... read more
what a pic!!!!!
Just a short entry for once... Gina and I started our long day off flying early (well early for me with no job...), from Cape Town to Jo'burg, Jo'burg to Nairobi, and finally Nairobi to Entebbe in Uganda, arriving at our hotel at approx midnight. pick up the next day was at 9, for what would turn out to be a 10 hour drive to Bwindi Inpenetrable forest. Our guide is Xavier, (he turns out to be THE WORST guide ever, and the most dangerous driver). anyway, he takes us an hour or so up the road to the Equator. here we get a demo on how the water does infact rotate in diff directions when poured down a sink, and when on the equator itself, does not rotate at all! NICE! The scenery is nice ... read more
SNV81816
sooooo, this is gonna be a long time sat in this seat i reckon. the English may get a bit iffy towards the end too! (and prob the middle!). My last entry ended with the arrival at Cape Town for New Year. allow me to summarise events... stayed in a place called Muizenburg with ze 2 Germans girls again (same as Christmas). went out to a club called La Med, met some people, got a lil tipsy, watched sunset on Camps Bay beach with a bottle of Bubbly, went to a bar in Kalk Bay called Polana's, slept. The Next couple of weeks after this have been spent seeing the sights and sounds of Cape Town, notably Table Mountain, Robben Island, and the museums and galleries. After all of this sight seeing, i found myself on ... read more
Knysna Heads
Knysna... i believe thats where i left things last time. a typically touristy place, with t-shirts and mugs ablazoned with the "I (heart) Knysna" slogan. this fact alone means that the place is pretty average again, and not really what we're looking for. do a trip to the Knysna Heads, which is nice enough, small party in the eve and then ready the next day to get the bus down to Mossel Bay. not sure if i mentioned in the previous blog, but Kristen has caught up with me (in Plett), so we are now following a pretty similar route again down the Garden Route. Mossel Bay; another delightful trip on the Bus to Mossel Bay, arrive at the backpackers, get off to a pretty bad start with the woman behind the desk. not sure how, ... read more
sa 1 006
hey!!!!! so, i finally make it to a computer hat has a half decent connecion speed! but the T doesn't work, so bare with me! and now that i've FINALLY uploaded some pics, (on here and facebook, don' ask) it seems i am hungry and i must make this brief so i can eat! travelling makes you v hungry by the way! So.... whas happened! i arrived in Jozi on a sunny sunday morning, at 6:30 in the am. quick call to Guy, a call to the taxi driver and i was on my way back to his (via every back street known to man due to a mamouth bike race that day! a lil snooze, then off to have some lunch. one of first things you notice here, is that every house has electric fences, ... read more
