Annie Barker

Tabs

Annie Barker

With a washing line, sink plug and a friend with a compass, what more could a girl need?!

Travelling is something i've wanted to do since about the age of 9 and even now with a backpack that i stuggle to lift, having had countless injections and spending a small fortune on flights i don't regret it at all.
I don't doubt that the trip will be an experience and rather stressful at times but i'm overjoyed that i'm going. What can i say about me? Well as my godmother pointed out i'm a geographer that needs a sat nav to navigate the local town center, I've had a couple of bad expericence's trying to use local languages including one in Mallorca where i ordered a table for ten rather than 6 only to piss of the waiters when i then explained to them in english that there where only 6 of us, however i'm all about making an effort and with any luck that'll help me through some of the trip.
Our trip is rather sketchily planned out with flights and the first week of accomodation but thats about it, i will try to keep this updated with our escapades although I suspect they may turn out to be badly spelt.

Adrenalin Junky! Me?

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland July 10th 2010

Tabs

Airport control We noticed the difference as soon as we entered New Zealand, firstly their airport control is really anal, I swear the people who work there are a little power crazed, a little bit too much self importance. Luckily these first impressions were soon overcome by the friendly dustbin men and bus drivers right outside the airport. By this point I'd well and truly noticed the cold chilling my bones, at that point it was actually still about 15 but after Malaysia i felt like it was below freezing. After catching the airbus into Auckland city center and lugging our stuff up to base we found ourselves in the first proper chain hostel leaving us wondering if all our accommodation in New Zealand would be that impersonal. Luckily the next morning we jumped onto the ... read more

Rest and recuperation in Malaysia

Asia » Malaysia » Wilayah Persekutuan » Kuala Lumpur » Bukit Bintang June 19th 2010

Tabs

Kuala Lumpa We arrived at Kuala Lumpa povo terminal (a special not so nice terminal for those flying on air Asia) and were quickly stunned by the immensity of the city. We went to a hostel called Pondock lodge near the golden triangle area and were pleased to find dorms with air con and fairly friendly staff, it was only later we discovered that the bar down stairs plays unbearably loud music till 4 in the morning, and this is coming from someone who can sleep through almost anything. Over the next few days we visited the KL tower, taking pictures of the city, walked round some of the capitals more cultural sites, and shopping a little in Chinatown for presents for home. Strawberry's and more beautiful islands Having had enough of the big city ... read more

Thailand; riots and beachs!

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai June 1st 2010

Chaing mai the first time

Tabs

The political hotbed of Chiang Mai Having assured you all in my last blog that there was absolutely nothing to worry about in Thailand as it didn't really appear to be affecting tourists when we arrived we quickly discovered we were wrong! Not that i personally saw any trouble at all, other travelers in our hostel had come into occasional contact with violent riots with people throwing rocks and fires being lit, but the main inconvenience was the curfew imposed a couple of days after we got there. Chiang Mai was the best place i visited in Thailand, the people didn't try to rip you off too much and were generally really friendly, it was cheap and we met some great people. Luckily we visited the night market before the 8 o'clock curfew was put in ... read more

From 4000 Islands to tubing in Van Vieng

Asia » Laos » South » Don Det May 3rd 2010

Sunsets at don det

Tabs

Don Det Now for this part of the blog i can pretty much summarize what we did in a short paragraph; We chilled, chilled some more and drunk some whiskey which was not much more expensive than water at a pound a bottle and then played some cards and chilled and chatted some more. Don Det is an amazing place which has the ability to draw in travelers who only plan to make a short stop and end up staying a week. Everyone one the island is so laid back that they are in fact most of the time horizontal with only short spates of upright as a consequence of venturing out for samosas, more booze or perhaps to vary restaurants. We did at one point rent bikes and cycle down to a waterfall at ... read more

Phnom Penh and Cambodia

Asia » Cambodia » North » Siem Reap April 19th 2010

Tower of skulls

Tabs

The Horrors of the Khmer Rouge Arriving in Phnom Pehn after what was the shortest flight i have ever taken we grabbed a tuk tuk and headed into town, we arranged to get a Laos visa here but due to new year, ( my third this year), and the weekend it was going to take 4 days. Our first day we did the Killing fields where there was minimal information about the Khmer Rouge but a chilling atmosphere, the tower of skulls and little signs saying things like this is the tree used by soldiers to kill babies by throwing them against it. Following this we went to S21 prison a converted school (which had all been shut down by the Khmer Rouge) where classrooms had been converted into cells and barbed wire placed over ... read more

Easy Rider!

Asia March 29th 2010

Party in Na Trang

Tabs

We arrived at Na trang after a rather grueling night bus, due to windy roads and beds too short for even me we were all a little lacking in sleep. After settling down in our hotel we headed to the beach with the guys from Halong. I made the mistake of sunbathing a little and got extremely burnt. After using almost an entire bottle of aftersun we all headed out for dinner and drinks, we ate at the green apple bar where you got a free cocktail bucket with dinner, this meant that due to the long wait for our food we were all fairly drunk before dinner got started! Floating Bar The next day we went on a boat tour of the islands around Na trang , snorkeling, visiting the most tacky aquarium in the ... read more

Vietnam, One man disco yeah!

Asia March 17th 2010

City of bikes

Tabs

Hannoi We arrived in Vietnam, on the 12th of march in the evening having met the lovely Becca on the plane whom we have travelled with since. Hannoi is quite an incredible city, yes it is polluted, the smells assult you, the motorbikes scream at you as you wade your way through them to cross the road and the people they will sell you anything and smile like an angel whilst blatently trying to rip you off, I loved it! We spent just a couple of days there ended up at an Irish pub watching the rugby and football plus the hostel bar had a happy hour with drinks for the equvilent of 50p. During the day we also got some more cultural bits in exploring the old town, the french quarter and visting the army ... read more

Shangri La and the rest of China

Asia » China March 6th 2010

Shanggri-La and Snow

Tabs

Snow in Shangri-La So when i last blogged we hadn't yet left Dali, finally managing to drag ourselves away from the lovely lilly pad where the staff gave us free scarfs at the end and actually thought of us more as friends than guests, nicolas's words when we left. Anyway so travelling the 7 or so hours to Shangri-La was an experience, we where stuck at the front of the bus and no exageration the bus driver must have used his horn about 150 times during the journey, a lot of the time for no disernable good reason. Arriving at Shangri-La we were a little shocked to see snow everywhere as apparently only a few days earlier it had been shorts and t shirt weather, instead i am sitting here in almost all the clothes i ... read more

Yunnan Province

Asia » China » Yunnan » Dali February 24th 2010

Cramped!

Tabs

you want bracelets, you want hair-clips, no? You want to smoke the ganger? We seem to get stared at a lot more here, kiwi gets stared at everywhere because she's a novelty , not many Indians and especially travelers here, but even I'm getting a little creeped out by it. The train journey was not so bad, managed to sleep through quite a lot and read through even more there were a lot of little children around who had managed to get up the confidence to practice their English with us by the end of it which was sweet, i attempted to practice a little Chinese but didn't get far. The tones are very difficult to grasp and the second you get anything right the start babbling expecting you to understand, tombelding or something along those ... read more

Stairs!

Asia February 23rd 2010

Longji rice terraces

Tabs

Guilin We arrived.... finally 13 hours later at 6 in the morning on a surprisingly smooth train, only to find that we could not find a taxi driver who spoke english and the chinese name of our hostel was not written on any of the papers we had with us. Eventually we found one who acted like she understood only to have her drive us round to a chinese travel agency who couldn't speak enlish either, after around 20 minutes we did manage to make it to the hostel by getting a receptionist at a posh hotel to translate for us. The hostel was lovely with the rooms in the dorm only slightly smaller than a double, understandably we wern't up for to much that day and explored the town, ending up in an 'irish' pub ... read more

Joined	January 25th 2010	Trips	8
Last Login	December 9th 2010	Followers	0
Status	BLOGGER	Follows	0
Blogs	11	Guestbook	3
Photos	172	Forum Posts	0