http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ZosoLondon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ZosoLondon en-us Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:36:40 +0000 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:36:40 +0000 Well I have reached the end of my travels as I am back in the pressure cooker of Bangkok awaiting tomorrow's flight back to London. I had a fascinating final week in Cambodia to finish things off.To say Cambodia has had a turbulent recent history would be an understatement. A millenia ago they ruled Indochina with the Khmer empire stretching from Myanmar to Vietnam. At the apex of this great emp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Siem-Reap/blog-411799.html Had a pleasant few days in Luang Prabang achieving very little but enjoying a bit of downtime after a busy week. Well busy by my current standards. Luang Prabang is a UNESCOprotected heritage city full of charming French architecture. It's a nice place to wander around and most people here are doing the same thing as me relaxing. Including all of the locals who would wipe the floor with even http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vientiane/blog-408659.html Currently writing from the sleepy French colonial town of Luang Prabang on the banks of the muddy Mekong Laos after a fantastic twoday slowboat trip from Huay Xai on the Thai border.After a fun weekend in Chiang Mai myself and new Dutch travelling buddy Sophia made our way to the northern hippy retreat of Pai close to the border with Myanmar. On the way we met a guy called Nick who lives fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-405431.html After leaving the oppressive heat of Bangkok I headed south to the fabled islands in the southern Gulf of Thailand Ko Pha Ngan home of the legendary monthly full moon party and Ko Samui the bigger and more touristy island further south. After a taxing 20hour journey from the capital to Ko Pha Ngan with new Canadian travel buddy Jason I arrived at Bottle Beach a secluded bay on the northern http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-401354.html After leaving Australia last Friday I arrived in Hong Kong for the weekend. Now of course HK is under the rule of Beijing and despite being overwhelmingly Cantonese still has lots of expats and many ties with Blighty. HK is split into two main parts Hong Kong island a thin strip of land surrounded by forested hills on which every cubic centimetre has been used to build neckache skyscraper http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-396674.html Currently writing from Hong Kong airport while i wait for my flight to Bangkok in an hour or so after a great weekend in the Cantonese megacity. But that's for the next blog.After the anticlimax of New Zealand I flew over to Melbourne for a week. I have been to Melbourne before but this time I thought I would come back to catch up with friends I had met travelling see a bit more of the city I http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Fremantle/blog-394854.html Currently residing in Prahran which everyone pronounces Praaaaahn in sunny Melbourne Aussie after I hate to say a disappointing two weeks in New Zealand.It was inevitable I suppose that after the South America Experience New Zealand was going to feel a bit pedestrian. It felt like England and not in a good way. Sure it is a beautiful country scenerywise the Kiwis are very friendly http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-392876.html My South American odyssey comes to an end tonight while I currently loiter in Santiago Chile waiting for my flight to Auckland New Zealand. I have spent the last week in Chile's capital after leaving Mendoza and Argentina last Monday. The border crossing was one of the more intense in South America. Chileans are very protective of their apparently fragile agricultural equilibrium and visitors http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-388018.html From Iguazu Falls myself Mike and Kelly moved on to the capital. Getting back to Buenos Aires meant that I had now completed a loop of South America. I even checked into the hostel where all the fun started seven months ago the Milhouse. Sadly like most things in life it wasnt to be as much fun the second time around. Unhappily it now it seemed to be full of obnoxious 18yearolds with mispla http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-385318.html This week has been one of heavy travelling leaving Colombia for Rio de Janeiro and tearing through the southwestern corner of Brazil to enter Argentina. Leaving Colombia was a sad moment. I had spent so much time there and had managed to forge real friendships and ties with the country Medellin in particular that it felt homely and familiar. However going to somewhere as iconic as Rio helpe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-381911.html February in some choice places in South America is a special time of year for one reason Carnaval. Most famous in Rio Carnaval is a fiveday long decadent street party that builds up to Ash Wednesday with parades floats silly costumes and enough quantities of booze to submerge East Anglia. Fortunately the second biggest one and much less touristy and commercial and therefore more fun is http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Barranquilla/blog-378580.html After a few weeks partying God I swore I would never use that word as a verb but hanging around with languagemangling Australians has seen my standards slip on the Caribbean coast I headed back down to Medellin for a taste of real life and a fourweek volunteer placement in a children's day centre. My 16hour bus journey from Santa Marta to Medellin even gave me a warmup I shared a cab wi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-370206.html The New Year began with a trip to the 'historic' city of Cartagena a few hours along the coast from Taganga. The main draw to Cartagena is its famous fortress built in the 17th century to repel pirates and the invading English which houses an old colonial city now referred to as the old city. All the hostels are in a seedy poor neighbourhood to the south Getsemani which seems to be populate http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Santa-Marta/Ciudad-Perdida/blog-362825.html To wake up on Christmas morning with three fans whirring in your room and sunshine bursting through the balcony window was something of a rarity and a treat. Stepping out onto the balcony avoiding nudging the sleeping person in the hammock I looked across the tiny fishing town of Taganga and realised Christmas was going to be different this year. As well as the already searing heat the beach wa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Santa-Marta/Taganga/blog-359366.html With Christmas fast approaching I believe it is high time to leave Medellin amazing city though it is and hit the Caribbean beaches on the north coast. Tonight I have something of a shlep 18 hours of it to Taganga a tiny beach resort near the Venezuelan border. Instead of watching Noel Edmonds Christmas Show and recovering from a Charles Bradlaugh hangover I plan to be lying on sizzling h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-356180.html Like a favourite album Colombia grows on you. After the disappointment that was Cali we haved moved onto the capital Bogota via a coffee plantation and an amazing trip to Villa de Lleva a delightful colonial town about four hours northwest of Bogota.Cali was a bit like a tropical Milton Keynes. A Bracknell surrounded by banana plantations. Myself Joe Tristan and Rob went out on a Saturday n http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-352878.html Well my 10day whirlwind Ecuadorian adventure came to an end on Thursday as we crossed the border into Colombia. Myself and travel friends Joe Tristan and Rob stayed in the Colombian border town of Ipiales as we were too late to get a nightbus to Cali Colombia where we reached the following day without incident.But more on Ecuador. Last Saturday myself and Joe left Banos in the early morning to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-350013.html After saying farewell to Raj who had a harrowing 30 hour journey home from Lima via Miami I decided it was high time to get out of Lima. I decided to head to Perus far north Pacific coast to a surf town called Mancora. On the 18 hour bus journey up the Panamerican highway which pretty much runs up the west coast of the double continent from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in the far south of Ch http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-347273.html After a final weekend in Cuzco Raj and I decided to skip town as we discovered that the muchmaligned roadblocks had been lifted for a day. So we got tickets for an overnighter to Arequipa the lovely colonial city to the south where I had already been. I had vowed to avoid overnighters after the nightmare 12 hour stint to La Paz last month but it seemed like our sole window to escape Cuzco. How http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-340086.html My Cusco odyssey has now lasted three weeks and looks set to last a little longer as the tiresome roadblocks and strikes have resumed with renewed vigour. Myself and new travel sidekick Raj were due to head off to Puno on Lake Titicaca tomorrow but it appears in Cuzco we will remain. I started off saying I didnt want to leave this town now it seems I actually cant. Someone I know attempted http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-338638.html