http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/anneandalex/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from anneandalex en-us Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:27:48 +0000 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:27:48 +0000 So this is where I am spending my days... welcome to ENSO studios.My desk is a little out of the shot but it's similar to the others. I have my own G5 Mac and pile if job bags print outs and sketchpads strewn across 1 12 tables I work in quite a small team there are just 8 of us 3 designers 2 marketing consultants and 3 web technicians and coders. If you feel like looking into it a bit more http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-262119.html We popped down to Coolangatta at the weekend for a break after some serious house hunting on Saturday. Quiksilver were running the annual Pro competition so we popped down for a look in and to take in a bit of beach weather and escape the city.We have been frantically hunting jobs and searching for employment. I have another interview tomorrow morning. Anne has been networking through University http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Gold-Coast/blog-252169.html I am currently sitting in intense heat directly opposite a fan with Alex spreadeagled on the bed in front of me in an attempt to cool downAs you may have gathered we have reached the tropical paradise of the Cook Islands. And this is one place that truly does live up to that title. Rather like Fiji it has beautiful beaches stunning azure seas and lush green vegetation. But what makes this p http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Cook-Islands/Rarotonga/blog-245830.html Visited US States Map http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-242532.html Although we flew into Washington DC and have used it as a hub for our trips to Boston and New York it is only now that we have started to explore the Capital properly. The evening we came back from New York after a 5 our horrible greyhound trip we met Dad G at his hotel for the weekend. He spoilt us all weekend and we had a wonderful time. We got to eat real food even for Alex the salad was http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/District-of-Columbia/Washington/blog-242529.html Even though we're not really huge fans of the bustling city life we could not resist the temptation to visit New York. Allie put us on to cheap Greyhound bus etickets perhaps the only cheap thing we had fir the week excluding our outstanding 5 Pizza and soda combo deal which sustained us along side an unhealthy dose of coffee and muffinsWe started our stay by checking into the hotel Alex st http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-241615.html We hired a car from College Park and headed out from Boston on Tuesday afternoon. We picked up a discount motel guide and used it as our bible to determine each days' final destination. After falling foul to a lot of Interstate tolls we finally caved and bought a road atlas to help us along the way.By all reckoning the journey should have taken 8 hours total to get to Boston from DC yet after a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Maryland/blog-239841.html Back on the road again and taking up the backpack is definitely harder second time round. All the funny little details soon come flooding back to you. For example just how much you have to cram into your bag how much you hate flying having to convert every dollar you spend into a logical and meaningful value and of course finding somewhere to stay and something to seeLuckily we were picked u http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/West-Virginia/Harpers-Ferry/blog-239838.html We set aside a few days to see Bangkok shop in Bangkok and also to visit 'the Bridge over the River Kwai' in Kanchanaburi. However as all travellers know plans often change. Especially when one comes down with a severe bacterial infection of the stomach. I have since spent 4 days getting to know our hotel room intimately Luckily for the first time in weeks we have a flushing toilet and a hot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-202133.html We arrived in the most 'isolated' of the Gulf Islands to find that it is in fact a very busy place due solely to the extreme amount of diving carried out here. Anyone who's been to Cairns will understand the emphasis on a single activity but concentrated into a few beaches on an island. We took a taxi to Chalok Baan Kao and were dropped off an an awful large diving company who saw people as sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-202131.html ldquoAlright materdquo ldquoInnitrdquo ldquoFkin' 'Ellrdquo Welcome to Koh Phangan. The island is world famous for it's Full Moon Party a beach rave fuelled by psychedelic drugs and cocktails in beach buckets and disembarking from our boat this is all you hear from numerous touts trying to sell you their rooms.Spotting the English man isn't too hard and I had had enough of the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Pha-Ngan/blog-202130.html Coming from our deserted beach with 68hour electric every day it was a shock to see neon lights beckoning the ferry into Port on Samui. The rain hammered as we disembarked and jumped onto a minibus to the North coast on Maenam beach. We looked at a variety of bungalows and settled for the cheapest one A short walk to the beach a cool little Rasta Bar tucked under the rocks at the end of it an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Samui/blog-202128.html We flew into Krabi airport on a special offer flight after the night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. It turned out the shuttle bus had already left so we had to pay the earth to get a taxi to Ao Nang. Getting out of the taxi we found it was the wrong pier so had to sprint backpacks and all yelling for the taxi to come back. 2nd time lucky we got to the right place where we waited to catch http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi/blog-202125.html Our border crossing from Cambodia is notoriously the most grueling route in SE Asia. The ldquoroadrdquo from Siem Reap turns to dirt dust and bunkers almost as if bombed in a recent air strike. The car attacked the road at 80kmh for just over 3 hours to get us into Thailand. I would have shares in suspension and tyres if I drove that road dailyOnce at the border we managed to get onward ti http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-202123.html Stunning doesn't start to sum up the huge remains of the Angkor temples just North of Siem Reap.We took a tour by tuktuk out into the jungle in search of the ruins famed on the backpacker circuit and an icon of Cambodia itself. We saw so many temples in the one day each slightly different from the one before on all scales and stages of delapidation. The Angkor Wat grounds were huge and after 1 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Angkor/blog-195046.html The bus to Phnom Penh was quite good and due to a lack of people onboard we could fully recline our seats into an almost horizontal position. There was a little phaffing at the border but we had come to expect this of Vietnam. Luckily our second encounter with Vietnamese immigration officials was considerably faster and less worrying than the first.There was an instant stark contrast between t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-195042.html We took a day trip to the mekong delta from HCMC. It was arefreshing change to have an enthusiastic guide who spoke good English and to only pay the price LISTED on the wall...ahhh.The bus ride out to Mekong City was filled with factual information from our guide. We arrived and clambered onto very small very worn old wooden boats. The water is a filthy brown due to running through a number of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/blog-195039.html Ho Chi Minh City aka. Saigon. South Vietnam's capital renamed in 1975 after a tank crashed into the government palace ending the North South War.We have only had two days and one very late night but for a city allegedly notorious for crime prostitution and hassle we have found it quite the opposite. Our flight left Danang over 1 hour late. We arrived in Saigon somewhere around 1.15 in the mor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-193051.html We took a morning bus from Hue to Hoi An calling in at a Vietnamese beach resort and 'Marble Mountain' another notsogreat tourist attraction on route. The drive in parts revealed some spectacular scenery of paddy fields complete with people in conical hats lagoons strung with huge fishing nets on bamboo poles small villages bomb damaged buildings... and in the distance the mountains over t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-192743.html Back from Halong Bay we arrived at our hotel to find arguments in full flow regarding being overcharged for rooms tours lack of rooms... all the problems we had had. I decided for once to stand up for my principles and tell everyone I met in the hotel not to book a tour with them as they would be overcharged. I even butted in when I saw a couple agreeing to a tour with the manager they left p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-192606.html