The return to Budapest meant a re-entry into the world of modern conveniences (flushing toilets and hot showers) and gave us a final chance to remove the last lodged bits of mud and dirt from our bodily orifices. Freshly scrubbed clean, gleaming skin that mum would be proud of - we met up with our paddling mates for a farewell dinner, that was cooked in more than one pot and didn’t consist of Nutella or paprika! It was almost hard to recognise each other without the requisite swimsuit, sunglasses and lashings of mud we normally donned for paddling. We spent a [View Full Entry]

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It has been sometime since my last entry, and much has happened in my life here in China. I am trying to gather my thoughts, and compile them and all of the hundreds of pictures of my past eventful weeks into my computer for a next series of TravelBlogs. It will take me some time, and I hope to become more prolific in presenting you so many of my joys and adventures in China from this past summer. The classes at my college have also commenced, and my focus will once again be more on my work, and in sharing many [View Full Entry]

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HARIDWAR What a nice surprise this holy city by the Ganges was! Spiritually, it's more significant to Hindus than Rishikesh. It's one of the 7 sacred Indian cities, attracting a multitude of pilgrims and shadus to bathe and do "pujas" where the Gange River emerges from the Himalaya. Haridwar has the frantic confusion of the Indian cities, but in a much smaller scale. A huge plus was the fact that we were left alone, without pushy vendors or touts. The crowd was more interested on their pujas than on us. We hired a cycle-rickshaw for 3 hours (just little over one [View Full Entry]

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It's one of those traumatic childhood stories. We all have one. Moonlit graveyards, sock eating monsters under the bed, the Boogy Man, fluffy bunny rabbits, lumpy toads; there is a spine-tingling nemesis out there for everyone. Some are a bit more understandable than others, such as my strapping 6 foot 3 Scottish friend who has an apprehension towards turkeys (of the gobble gobble variety, not the sort found at the local pub, although both should understandably be feared). Well, when I was wee lassie, innocent and harebrained, (about sixteen year old), I discovered a four foot long bull sn [View Full Entry]

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Day 3: Bargaining Into Retreat A hard bargain to beat—morning coffee, tea and breakfast in Bali. At the table there is an assortment of weary eyes detached from their bones. This is us—Laura’s retreat group—most still jetlagged, hovering above hot drinks with susu dan gula (milk and sugar). Then with a little more flare and color, there is papaya, watermelon, pineapple, honey melon, and lime squeezed over white plates like morning clouds over the rice paddies. With sustenance, we wake, smile and laugh. Off to yoga led by [url=http://www.lau [View Full Entry]

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Life is full of experiences...and diving well...has a lot to offer! Diving in Sipadan was truly magical, colorful and full of life...but has as well something else to offer for the one who are looking for a 'slightly' different experience! Cave diving! Welcome to a pitch black underworld where ones life holds to a tiny lifeline...Ready for some high adrenaline sensations??.... Guess it took me half a second to make my mind...the very moment I saw on the diving board that cave diving was available I was technically harassing our dive master to meet the tech dive instructor and immedia [View Full Entry]

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Early morning we got ready to do a day trip to Tiraspol, capital of the self proclaimed republic of Transnistria, perhaps only Russia recognizes it, anyway you cant stay for longer than 6-8 hours in the area if you try to spend the night, will be lots of hassle, there is a border we need to cross and we heard bad things about the way customs deal with foreigners says our homestay host but we really wanted to get there so we wing it. took the minibus to the Central bus station, where we were supposed to meet Tuuka and Yarom [View Full Entry]

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El Salvador has a dirty reputation. It’s famous for its creepy pre-pubescent moustaches, massive guns and the fact that it boasts more prostitutes than tourism. It also gets a bad rap for being dangerous - I can count the number of us gringos I saw whilst in El Salvador on two hands. The local men are mean looking characters - short, ruddy and broad - wearing cowboy hats and requisite moustaches, yet their faces and entire demeanor transforms when they break into a smile. I also discover that they often speak English, even if they claim not to - teenagers on [View Full Entry]

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