Neil Garner
I have just arrived in New Zealand where my plan is to travel around without a care in the world. It will be just like The Littlest Hobo, except I'm not a dog and I refuse to help kids in trouble. neil g
Travel Blog Posts
December 27th 2006
Singapore for the festive season. Christmas lunch at Raffles: damn the expense! That was the plan decided in October when I was relatively rich. It was now December 24th and there I was on a soggy Orchard Road fighting my way through the hoards of fellow shoppers in an attempt to find some clothes suitable for the posh hotel. To make matters worse the torrential rain was not to the liking of my sandals and I was slipping and sliding like Frank Spencer. There was a general pattern to my shopping: after much searching I would find something that I liked only to find they wouldn’t have it in my size (curse my elongated western frame). In the end I managed to settle on something appropriate but I gave up on any smart footwear: I would ... read more
“Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket!”
Published: January 29th 2007Asia » Thailand » Western Thailand » Kanchanaburi
December 22nd 2006
With a couple of days to kill and getting bored of Bangkok, we headed out of the big city and to Kanchanaburi; the site of ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ and its infamous death railway. As well as visiting the museum (and its ghoulish life-size statues of those that were involved in WW2), we walked upon the bridge itself. Whilst we did, a train appeared. Fortunately there was room for all of us. Bit disappointed that it looked nothing like the bridge in the film, but then remembered; a) They blew the bridge up at the end, and b) It was a film and not real. On the way back to the Bus station we stopped off at the War Memorial Cemetery; the resting place of many of those who perished during the construction of ... read more
December 21st 2006
Yangon: A couple of days were spent in the capitol Yangon (Rangoon for all those colonial types); looking at more golden stupas, avoiding the large holes in the pavements and admiring the “classic” cars still running on the roads. The highlight was probably the Shwedagon Paya temple. We had wandered around only for a few minutes, admiring the buildings and statues, when an elderly gentleman came up to us and started explaining the layout of the temple. The Shwedagon Paya’s arrangement was based on the points of a compass and their relative animals in accordance with Burmese astrology. He asked what days Dan and I were born and we replied Thursday and Wednesday night respectively. He explained that as I was born on a Wednesday evening I should pray in the North-West of the temple to ... read more
Ch-Ch-Chang Chang! (Mai)
Published: January 20th 2007Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai
December 6th 2006
Laos- one of the most relaxed countries in the world - had worn Dan and I out, so we headed to Chang Mai in Northern Thailand in search of some R’n’R. In between book reading, playing pool and attempts to get on a meditation course (a surprisingly infuriating experience that is surely against the whole ethos of meditation. Then again maybe it was an excellent marketing ploy to raise stress levels), Dan and I booked ourselves on a two-day multi activity trek to the north of the city. The first day was spent trekking up a hillside. Our guide was called Jungle Jim (an alias?) who was very nice but obviously suffered from a form of Attention Deficit Disorder for he kept singing, whistling and clicking to himself and to those within earshot (i.e. everybody). His ... read more
Laos: The Land that Time Forgot. No dinosaurs, though. Or Doug McClure.
Published: January 3rd 2007Asia » Laos
November 25th 2006
From Cambodia, Dan and I took a speed boat to Laos which sounds exciting but, after sitting next to a noisy engine for an hour in a rather uncomfortable position, I was glad it was all over reasonably quickly. The rest of the speedboat crew contained two Danish guys, an English couple plus the token Aussie. For a short while we were stuck in international no-mans land as after the Cambodian border no-one who sold us the travel ticket had told us where we should head next. Eventually we worked out that we should walk 500 metres up the road to Laos where we had to bribe, sorry, pay various “official” charges, to get into the country. Once there we headed to Don Det, part of the 4000 Islands region on the mighty Mekong River. Don ... read more
Indiana Jones and the Rather Pleasant Temples of Campuchia
Published: December 2nd 2006Asia » Cambodia
November 10th 2006
After a three-day excursion on the Mekong delta in Vietnam, Dan and I trundled into Cambodia’s capitol: Phnom Penh. We were told a few days earlier by fellow travelers that would arrive just in time for Cambodia’s water festival; where the Tonle Sap (the Great Lake) reverses its current and flows into the mighty Mekong. Whilst waiting for the party to begin we visited “The Killing fields”, a few kilometres out of the city. This was just one of the many spots around the country that the Khmer Rouge dealt out their thoroughly vicious party line in the late 70’s. Killing around 2 million (from a population of 7.1 million) through enforced labour, torture, execution and starvation; it was a pretty depressing place. The Khmer Rouge made the Nazi’s look like absolute sweethearts. * In a ... read more
N-n-n-n-nineteen days in Vietnam (plus a few more but if I said 28 days then I couldn't use the Paul Hardcastle reference. Which I think would be a shame)
Published: November 28th 2006Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hanoi
October 24th 2006
They say a picture paints a thousand words; which is good as I have lots of pictures which should save me having to write many words. As you can see, Dan and I did stuff, met people and saw things. It was all very enjoyable. I would love to go into it in more depth but it has taken me enough time to upload the photos that if I were describe everything in detail I would need an extra week to do so! Who reads what I write anyway? If I were you I'd just sit back and scroll through the photos, and make up your own story. Thanks very much.... read more
October 5th 2006
Bangers in a nutshell: Dan and I spent the first few days arguing. We were both tired and emotional. Mostly tired. Once we had caught up on sleep we started to relax and enjoy ourselves, * We struggled to book ourselves into the hostel. We wanted to upgrade to a twin room in a bid to recharge the batteries. This concept was very difficult for the girl behind the desk to grasp. After 15 minutes. She showed us to our new room. Proudly placed in the centre was a double bed. After much hand gesturing (“what’s the international hand signal for twin room?”) and head shaking we sorted it out. * We visited many temples and palaces. We tried to hide from the sun but it always found us in the end. Dan tried to convince ... read more
October 1st 2006
Shopping in malls and sitting Dan’s office. This is what I did in Kuala Lumpur. Having arrived from Brit-like New Zealand I entered a completely different and exciting new part of the world.The first things I do are go to the Asian equivalent of Bluewater and then sit in an office surfing the web. I am an tourist trailblazer! To be fair I needed a few last minute items for the trip; hence my numerous shopping excursions. Sit back and relax whilst I bore you with the details. * My camera has been playing up since I arrived in Wellington. Essentially it only takes photos intermittently. Sometimes it will. Mostly it wont. For me the essence of a camera is to take photographs but maybe I’m just being pedantic. I tried getting it fixed in Kerikeri ... read more
September 26th 2006
There has been a nagging, unpleasant sensation at the back of my skull for a few weeks now. It has steadily grown in size and I fear if I don’t do something about it soon, my noggin will expand to the size of the clay model featured in Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” video. This disagreeable sensation is guilt. Guilt that I haven’t written a single blog entry in over four weeks. It is shameful thing and something must be done about it. * The last entry concerned me being miserable in Napier. I had high hopes for Wellington but as so often with life, these hopes were dashed upon the jagged rocks of reality. It was raining when I reached New Zealand’s capitol. Not a delicate mist-like rain akin to the diffuse spray from a perfume bottle; ... read more
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