http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/radicalruss/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from radicalruss en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:54:08 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:54:08 +0000 131109Woke early and went off to my favourite wifi restaurant where I had some lovely Lao coffee then back to my guesthouse to fetch my stuff and then off to the airport. It is always interesting to see how technology has helped to speed things up in the first world and how we are so impatient when it takes 15min to check one person in as they donrsquot have a biometric scanner Welcome to th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-461174.html 311009On arrival at the border where the train stopped we quickly got a tuk tuk to a place where we could arrange some visas for Rachel and Andy and also arranged a private taxi to Vientane. At the border post Rach and Andy were required to fill out some additional forms and so I opted to wait for them to finish before I headed through and only found out that the visa that I had was not stamped http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Vang-Vieng/blog-461147.html 121009On arrival at in Thailand it is strange to think that this is third world with a lovely state of the art airport and a system that is regulated and ordered.Met Varun again and we headed to Bangkok to where I had booked my accommodation at Kaohsan road which turns out that booking is not necessary as there is plenty of accommodation at lots of prices as well as less than I paid.The hotel wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ranong/blog-461145.html 270909Woke after not enough sleep again and headed off to Narita at 830 am and only just had enough time to get to the airport and make my flight at 1230pm.The flight was all the better for the fact that it was on a boeing and it was not nearly full with me having four seats to myself which allowed me to catch some decent sleep on the 8 hr flight to Delhi.On arrival I was met with temperatures o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/blog-447411.html 210909I stepped off the plane after a good flight where the aircraft used was a rather old one with no TVs on the headrests so I decided to sleep instead.The humidity was the first thing that made me realise that I had arrived in another country and with Australia having so many Japanese travellers except for the writing you would not have felt out of place.Our bags came out very quickly and I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-442189.html 290809After a lovely flight where I watched star trek and some family guy episodes I finally arrived in Sydney after being there last 12 years and boy has it changed.The first thing I noticed was that I did not hear an Australian accent for two days and the next thing was that the prices to do anything were exhorbitant.I called my hostel to be told that the booking was changed to another hostel http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/blog-439887.html 3809Arrived in Auckland at 445 am after not much sleep on the plane partly due to turbulence and this stupid women behind me keeping on getting up by using the headrest of my chair as leverage. Came through the Bio hazard area that checks that you are not bringing in anything that might affect NZrsquoS ecosystem and handed over my soon to be lovely avocado if seems Irsquom not the correct ty http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-431805.html 10 0709After a day of checking out accommodation and moving around we are now ready to explore the island and are going on a tour of two thirds of the island and even though the senery is lovely I get the feeling that the info that the guide is giving us is not all that accurate. However a couple on the group turned out to be the couple who sat behind me on the flight and they had written in th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-424964.html 06 0709After much searching I found a nice hostel in Santiago But first I had to go and get my hopefully repaired camera at 7 am because my check in to go to Chile.I left it till So then went but guess what even though I was promised there was no one around so back to my hostel who phoned a mobile and after getting my bags and negotiating a deal to the airport lsquoheaded back of see if http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-424961.html 26609Today we woke up at 4 am to catch our taxi to the airport for our flight at 615 am. So got up and headed out for our drive with Mr Speedy Gonzalves who has the same habit of only turning only once he is in the corner whilst speeding unnecessarily. After some small amount of berating he magically learnt how to drive and the rest of the trip was uneventful. Once at the airport the fun startl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-415482.html 180609After waiting for nearly 3 hrs Angela said she had read of a place run by a trench man and a Swiss woman and so we set off for Dolche Vita which was surprisingly close to town and they had one room left. The place was marvellous after spending nearly a week in sub standard acc it was great to have a comfortable bed and a very hot showerThe owners spoke very good French german and English http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Chuquisaca-Department/Sucre/blog-412009.html 150609Woke up after not such a good nights sleep the bed being concave and offering no support at all oh how I miss the holiday Inn Went to town again and had another meal at Dumborsquos it is good food at a reasonable price. Emma and Lisa went looking for a way to get to Rio for the 27th but did not have much lack the prices being 325 lack excl tax. I suggest they just take buses old Par http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-411995.html Well I have now arrived in Bolivia and so feel it necessary to leave a few notes on my feelings about the country of Peru.Firstly the guide books are correct Cruz del sur is the best bus but Cial is also good the food is just not the same std.If you have the extra 20 soles go first class you will sleepThe roads vary from ok to terrible The beer is great but stay away from too much negra beer http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-408564.html 050609 Woke up this morning rather excited I had waited really 20 yrs since I had first seen Machu Picchu on the TV and now I was actually going lo climb her. I had booked a 4 day 3 night trip with a twist for 160 the first day we were going to mountain bike to our first sleep over. We were all picked up and there was a group of 7 of as and one guide and with the bikes tied to the roof of t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-407025.html 290509Arrived at 8 lust night and got a taxi to a lovely hotel.After quite a few nights of not sleeping well it was nice to just lie in so we only woke up in Huacachina at 10. Checked out of a lovely hostel the best so far had its on pool and very nice rooms.Climbed the dune overlooking the oasis fortunately I did not have my backpack or I would have diedThe view away from the oasis is lovel http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-405041.html 270509Today we are having a more leisurely day as we wait for our bus to paracas at 200.Got onto the internet and started of learn some Spanish so as to have a better understanding of what is going on around me. I would highly recommend learning some Spanish before you come here it will make your trip enjoyable and you are less likely to be ripped off.Went to the bus which was delayed by 45 m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Ica/blog-404731.html 240509Had a couple of hours sleep and then went out in the afternoon to see Lima with Arthuro who arranged our acc Casa del Arthuro which I would recommend highly however he speaks only Spanish and French.Lima is an amazing city with even by my standards coming from Africa the worst roads I have ever seenFor my trip I brought a mini laptop get a netbookan eee or the n10 from Samsung th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Lima/blog-402158.html 220509After a little trepidation i arrived on the real beginning of my trip the first bit of unknown New York and the states.Arrived via LAN which I would highly recommend they are prompt and very friendly with an almost limitless amount of programmes to watch on the short one hour hop from Toronto to New York.Got off and quickly onto the bus into Manhattan but with a bank holiday weekend th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-401522.html Well i have now traveled round Ontario and into Quebec and these are my thoughts.Initially i was quite looking forward to my trip to canada especially as i have not seen it in the summer time.02052009Well I hav finally started my world tour and started to learn how to use this new laptop and funny but the reality has not kicked in .I have left all I know so well all my friends and now I find http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/blog-401329.html