Page 2 of sparteness Travel Blog Posts


Asia » Cambodia » South » Sihanoukville August 31st 2011

Ok, I am actually in Phnom Penh in my room with a cool fan blowing on me, the city is melting and I am hiding until later on but now is a better time than any to reminisce of my time on a desert island and diving on various locations around the bay which was only 1 week ago now. I arrived in the place that all expats call sinville ona rainy morning but I held out for the sunshine and low and behold it didn't let me down, so with a new revived spring in my step after an overnight bus I booked my two day dive trip and then hit the beach and caught up with my other travelling buddies. The beach here is a place where you can every hair of your body ... read more
Watching the sun go down for another day
Sunset on Koh Rong
Our neigbours

Asia » Cambodia » South » Phnom Penh August 26th 2011

It seems I am not the best blogger as I spend most of the time having to play catch up. I have been in Cambodia 10 days now and my schedule beckons me as I am leaving for Bangkok (Thailand) on the overnight bus and should be arriving 15 hrs later, although it is just another city I am looking forward to going as I hope to be catching up with a friend who lives there and it would be great to see a familiar face, secondly I got my visa for Myanmar (Burma)yesterday and I have a flight on Sunday 4th to Yangon. For now though I am still in Cambodia and first things first I want to blog about my last few days in Vietnam and brag about what a wonderful country Cambodia is, ... read more
Floating puppet show
Can Tho
Bailing us out

Asia » Vietnam » Central Highlands » Lam Dong » Da Lat August 22nd 2011

Here it is, be it only maybe 1% of the dream but it felt good. Seeing that we are all on a bit of a schedule we could only manage 2 days of motorbike touring and Lak Lake was a must see and plus they have elephants there and I wanted to ride one, this destination was possible in 2 days and with taking in a few sites along the way. Originally we all wanted to have a crack at it solo but it seemed where we made up for it in enthusiasm we lacked in experience , so for a few extra bucks we had a guide and a plan. We finally got our act together and set for the 155km journey to the Lake, we stop offs at the obligatory temple and a laughing ... read more
Elephant Falls
Silk factory
Boiling 'em up

Asia » Vietnam » South Central Coast » Khanh Hoa » Nha Trang August 22nd 2011

Well after another over- nighter we touched down in Nha Trang where we delectable baguettes & mouth watering water melon on the beach for breakfast, despite being on the coast the heat is still intense. So in an act of escapism we jumped on a boat and went snorkelling and diving. Yippee! Once we were done with our marine frolicks we hired tandems and went to visit a Budha and a gentle cyle around town. That is one thing you don't do here, infact the 25 years I added to my life span by jumping into Lake Baikal I have actually gone into a defecit with having to negotiate Vietnam traffic.... read more
All kitted up
Another set of wheels
Taking a break

Asia » Vietnam » North Central Coast August 22nd 2011

So, once our feet were back on dry land we were on that overnight bus to Hoi An. We are melting with the heat and anywhere air conditioned is a welcome shelter. So, here is Vivieen Westwards dream town, with dress makers galore and shoe makers all touting for busines and all telling you how beautiful you are and what great taste you have when you are designing that custom made ball gown. I of course went for something completely tastless (no leopard print) and a pair of shoes. When you are not getting suits or dresses made up it is a great place just to hang out by the river and drink a beer or two or three. The one thing about travel is that you always end up doing something completely unexpected and here ... read more
Me and easy rider
These ruins are centuries old
Hoi An

Asia » Vietnam » Mekong River Delta » An Giang » Chau Doc August 22nd 2011

I know it has been a while and i have flown through Vietnam, everyday there was something to do and then once we were done with the days activities it was back on a night bus. I have now become 1 of 6 we all met up on the overnight bus from Kunming to the border and we have just stuck together ever since. So I will keep all this very brief, first stop was Hanoi and HaLong Bay, we ended up on a 3 day two night stay, 1 night on Cat Ba Island & the second night on the boat in the bay , with a few caves and some Kyaking as well and of course the floating villages. I will be totally honest it all looks fantastic on the pictures but at least ... read more
What a life
Before we capsized
View from the summit

Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming August 3rd 2011

For this part of the journey and palled up with two couples, Tim and Charlotte and Tony and Heidi. It was like a mass exodus leaving the hostel as we all had been there for a while now. Infront of me was my first overnight bus in China, now I had seen them before and basically it is a bus with beds in, be it they are built on the specs of a Chinese person but I can survive one night of being curled up in a foetal postion, but what I had failed to pay any attention to was how the beds were laid out, which I will move onto later. Our bus wasn’t until the evening so we had a little stop off at a part of the highway which was totally devoted ... read more
Kilns fired up
making the Chines moonshine
A real character

Asia » China » Yunnan August 2nd 2011

Playing a little catch up here. Shaxi was recommended to me by another traveller and after having such a great experience on The Tiger Leaping trek I wanted to spend some more time in Yunnan and with my extra days on the passport I had nothing to stop me. Shaxi was on the old tea horse trail and was once a main crossroads. I had originally intended to only stay for 2 nights but ended up extending my stay for another 3. I arrived on the day they were celebrating their fire festival which involved little physco children walking round with a 3ft torch throwing some sort of powder at people which resulted in the victim literally going up in flames. However I found a way of not falling prey to these prospective ASBO adolescents and ... read more
Temple in the hills
Budhas galore
Lunch with the locals

Asia » China » Yunnan » Tiger Leaping Gorge July 29th 2011

I should mention that I am now in the province of Yunnan and prior to the trek I spent a night in Lijiang which was again very touristy consisting of an old town which was a maze of cobbled streets and rebuilt rickety wooden buildings but to be honest I feel there was not much to blog about so I shall move swiftly on. Well, here it is, the much anticipated Tiger Leaping Gorge trek. I am pleased to say that there was no tigers as the chinese have eaten them all and another bonus was the only things I had to negotiate along the track was an over-protective mountain cow, a snake a couple of mountain ponies and the scourching sun. Have you noticed something? I haven't mentioned Chinese tourists, ok they were a couple ... read more
Aview
Cliff edge
Peril

Asia » China » Sichuan » Songpan July 20th 2011

Don't even want to know what possible nutritional value these have, but I guess they are popular as after we went back a couple of hours later they had gone. Picture was taken in Songpan a small backwater town with a population of 72,500 which is tiny in Cninese city terms. Hope it hasn't put you off your dinners!... read more
Delicases of Chinese cuisine




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