http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/hollypaterson/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from hollypaterson en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:54:39 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:54:39 +0000 well possums this is my final blog hello to you all ahhhhwhen i said in the penultimate blog that i was in my last country that wasnt strictly true. in actual fact i was in my last travelling country. and with every last travelling country comes the last travelling scam. and mine was no exception... i really thought my scamdar was finally switched on to full throtle but these locals they have http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Calgary/blog-422756.html well on to our final country. let me first say that all these photos from cambodia and vietnam are actually kates because in true binge brit style i got hilariously drunken in na trang in vietnam and lost my camera. oops thankfully at the end of the trip and not the beginning and i had backup the majority of my photos only 2 weeks lost. not so bad. but i did only have 5 days left of the trip so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-421260.html well this blog is only about one place. and the reason for that is becuase i wanted to put vietnam all in one blog so this was the only way to do it.on we go.so we went back from siem reap to number 9 in phnom pehn for 1 night because we had to pick our passports up that had been with the vietnamese embassy getting our visa for vietnam. the next day we caught the bus 6 hours down to the only beac http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-421258.html yet again people i have neglected to keep up with these little entries of my life... but fear not for i am on full steam ahead and within the next couple of days i will be up to date like you would never have expectedlet the blogging commenceso after thailand was done and dusted and the bucket blanket had just about cleared from our heads well we had only stopped drinking them about 4 hours b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-420800.html luckily for everyone envolved the time came to hit south east asia. our last night in joburg was spent in greenside the nice area with the management of a newly built hostel taking us to an authentic restaurant for a tapas of south african grub served up on a slab of corrugated iron listening to the african drums. coolonwards to thailand. and this bit of the whole blog affair should be pretty http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-416137.html amazingly we managed to get onto a trip to kruger for the next morning for 2 nights and 3 days amazing. so we got picked up at 5.30am and headed to the national park to do one of my all time top things to do before i die.. safari in africai was unbelievably excited it took all day to drive up there we stopped at a couple of places on the way.. a view point over the 4th i think largest canyon http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/Kruger-National-Park/blog-413708.html for once i think this might be a quick blog... coz it was 6 weeks ago nearly oops.so we went to chinsta west stopping off in gragamstown for lunch... which was v v african no white people and nowhere to eat except kfc missed dinner in buckeneers and played sopious amounts of drinking games instead hurrah and as i said before the breakfast was greatid like to say the drive to coffee bay was http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Coffee-Bay/blog-412206.html its been a month which obviously means im having a good time. and that i may not remember some things as my brain doesnt go that far back.after ridign osteriches i have a recollection that we headed to plattenburg.. but only for a swift cocktail and to watch the sun set we were going to stay there but didnt have time in our tight schedule. so it was onwards to jefferys bay sverving several roun http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/Jeffreys-Bay/blog-409106.html so back on the road again the itrip working its magic and the tunes a blasting. off we went along the 'alternative garden route'... the Route 62. very pretty it was too. up hill down dale through vineyard and around the mountains. we even stopped for a spot of tea scones and cheescakes at a farm shop in a village along the way. so beautiful was the landscape that it was again a testament to th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Oudtshoorn/blog-406091.html and so... the time had come... we had to say ....farewell to capetown.the best way to travel round south africa and to get from capetown to jo burg in 10 days is to hire a car and self drive. this sounded like an epic adventure to us and one that we simply had to do. and it was cheaper than any other form of transport as well. sold to the 3 girls from england we had also found some awesome peopl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-405789.html the first thing you notice about south africa is how western it is and it was great.. there were real buildings and pavements and roads and petrol stations and everything. it felt like home which was a welcome break after africa. at 6am we stopped at a petrol station and as the sun was rising we warmed up to a steak and kidney pie yumcoming into jo burg wasnt the most horrific experience we've http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-400544.html its been too long. which means im going to scoot through as fast as i can to catch up with myself and be able to be more detailed next time.we vacated moshi the day after kili. the bus joourney to dar was non descript save the AGAIN aweful choice of tv they played.... generally adulterous women getting bashed about by their husbands then a film about an albino boy devils child in africa who k http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Lake-Malawi/blog-399344.html the internet is infrequent and unreliable in africa. much like telephones roads public transport and prices. enough said as to why this blog is delayed i think.so we arrived in moshi mid afternoon having caught a local bus from arusha where our taxi driver from the airport had categorically told us that if we caught that bus we were going to be mugged and killed so of course we must take his t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-397514.html mambo friendsgot to be quick as usual coz the computers in Africa are rubbish.so... i made it to Africa... finally when i arrived in dar i was told that my visa was about to expire a mix up with the way they worked on my part...hmm...a slight waste of 50 quid so i had to spend ages going to the cash point then converting the Tanzania shillings into us dollars coz thats the only currency th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Nungwi/blog-394931.html now you may be wondering as to the location of this blog entry... let me tell you a story it will take the whole blogi was well excited to be back on the british airways plane and heading back to england for all of 6 hours brill get to see the family show the photos and have some well earned good food then back on the plane with kate and elle for phase 2. so i had my pane food very nice http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/East-Sussex/Brighton/blog-393039.html my time is limited as always... i want to see my last sunset on zanzibar which will commence in T minus 1hr.the bus station in rio is a hectic place to say the least. luckily they have a full on taxi rank which gives you a gananteed fixed price before it takes you to your destination. phew i could not be doing with any more negotiating over travel prices. they took me to the mellow yellow hostel http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-390664.html its been a while.. too long. im aware of this fact and how much i need to catch up and talk about. but ive only got an hr before i need to go to the airport. and this moving on and shuffling around all the time is why i havent written for so longanyway...so last time od written id just finished telling you about muchu piccu. basically the next 4 days were spent in cusco partying hard and then gen http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Nazca/Nazca-Lines/blog-390589.html hola chicas and chicosseeing as its been a week and much has happened in that week i better get a shimmy on... not less because i have a bus to catch in 3 hours.ok so last saturday i went on a 2 day tour to macchu picchu. we got picked up at 7am and our mini bus consisted of me roanne the south african 2 ozzi guys 2 norweign girls an italian a crazy french guy and one completely insane drive http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-387705.html hey guysits been a while so i've got so much to say... i better get on with it straight away less i get disracted... againwhen i last wrote i was in peru in cusco but writing about la paz. well a week on and im still in cusco for my sins but now im going to write about life after la paz.on the 19th of march having recovered sufficiently from st paddys to be able to function again although http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-386200.html i will write more here when i am less hungover...i am less hungover today..SO.. the weird and wonderful world of La Paz..set in a canyon 3500m above sea level surrounded by snow peaked mountains la paz is unarguably the highest and most spectacular captial city in the world. home to only 2 million people this high altitude city boasts a wide range of people everything from the business men on http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-382878.html