http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/travelbugs/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from travelbugs en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:28:43 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:28:43 +0000 On Florians bday we happened to be back in Singapore and went to the beautiful zoo. Wow It was very impressive and we had a great time. Thanks to our friends Kim and Brian who so kindly let us stay in their apartment We LOVE SingaporeFlorian spent a few days in the Philippines being a beach bum while I visited friends in Hong Kong. We met up again in Macau where we enjoyed basking in th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-417881.html Welcome to Vietnam at least Northern Vietnam where we spent a short but happy weekWe arrived in Hanoi at 2 am after leaving Laos on a bus at 6 am the morning before. We were happy to finally make it Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and is a fascinating blend of East and West with Chinese influence from centuries of dominance and French design from its colonial past. Hanoi retains much http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-409025.html Welcome to lovely lazy Laos where it is easy to forget your troubles and be forgotten by the locals. It is probably the only tourist destination in Southeast Asia where you'll actually have to try to CONVINCE someone to do business with you Some may find it frustrating but we found it refreshing and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there.We started in the far south in the 4000 island area http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-403793.html Welcome to Cambodia It is a country with a split personality it revels in the pride and majesty of a bygone era and still writhes from horrors of the regime under Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge. We started our travels reveling in the beauty of Angkor Wat from the glory days of the Khmer empire. Angkor means Capital City or Holy City and Wat means temple so basically CapitalHoly City http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/blog-402273.html Funny There was a lovely Burmese chap who managed to get a passport and travel to India. He visited a dentist for treatment. Why not wait until you're back home in Burma and visit a dentist there he was asked. Don't you have dentists in Burma Sure said the Burmese visitor. Problem is we can't open our mouths.Not FunnyThe author o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-400654.html Welcome to ThailandFor all who follow our trip and did not get a notification for the Indonesia blog due to server distribution probs check it out It is one of our favorite blogs with lots of good pics videos even some of maneating dragonsOk now back to Thailand We started our stay on the islands of Ko Samui and Ko Tao. In Ko Samui we just had a nice few days swimming in the wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-393752.html Welcome to MalaysiaOur visit to Malaysia was short and sweet. After our two luxurious weeks in Singapore we had to get back on track Actually I visited Malaysia twice once in early March to visit some friends traveling there and once with Florian more recently. Both are on this blog.Florian and I limited our travels to Penang Island. On our first day we walked around Penang's capital G http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/blog-392434.html Singapore What a wonderful city You've probably heard some of the stereotypes associated with Singapore extremely clean yup chewing gum prohibited not anymore constantly raining that's an exaggeration shop till you drop that isn't. But what you may not have heard is how beautifully green the city is there is a really cool Chinatown and Little India minutes from the Financial http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-388065.html Welcome to Indonesia Before starting here a few technical details that might help out you can click on each picture to magnify itif the picture doesn't appear i.e. is black try clicking on itthis blog has several short videos including traditional Indonesian dances Komodo dragons and a panorama of some famous lakes. And yes the videos. It took us really long to upload them and it ta http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/blog-383839.html Welcome to Australia We were both VERY excited to get here it was my first trip back to OZ since I moved away over 10 years ago and Florian's first trip ever. I was so thrilled to see some of my old friends and we did as soon as we got off the plane in Perth at 3 am Jill and James we can't thank you enough for coming out in the dead of night to fetch us. It was the perfect start to o http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/blog-370523.html So we cheated a bit after Mozambique. We had planned to take a bus through Swaziland and Lesotho before a final bus journey back to Cape Town. But that was BEFORE Florian's bout with malaria Instead we headed to Johannesburg and relaxed a couple of days with the lovely Du Plessis family before FLYING back to Cape Town and then on to Dubai and Australia. Florian and I had met Bernard Du P http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-369546.html We were both very excited when we arrived in Mozambique Partially because of its reputation of being lost in a bygone era of colonial grandeur partially because it would give us an opportunity to practice our Portuguese and partially because we were relieved to have survived the border crossing across the Rovuma riverYes that was the first of many adventures that awaited us in Mozambique http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/blog-365351.html Welcome to Tanzania But for our intents and purposes Zanzibar We decided to do the dummies version of Tanzania we skipped the deep or hard stuff and went in for the fun New Year's was approaching so we decided that taking it easy was a good plan anywayZanzibar is known for exoticism and fragrant spices. It is also known for the beautiful old part of the main city called Stone http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Zanzibar-City/blog-359030.html The disgusting bus ride from Zambia was truly worth it we made it to MalawiWe didn't do much in the capital city Lilongwe. I was more interested in relaxing after spending 18 hours in the dirtiest stinkiest bus we've been on thus far. So we just soaked up a bit of the feel of Lilongwe and gathered ourselves for the next part of our trip.One of our first impressions of Malawi were the people http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Malawi/Lake-Malawi/blog-355576.html Since we had seen the Falls from Zimbabwe we decided to head over to Zambia to see them from the other side We didn't spend much time in Zambia so we'll keep it short ...When we walked over the bridge from Zimbabwe to Zambia we saw a steady stream of people heading in the other direction with huge supplies of food. Many Zimbabweans head to Zambia and Botswana to shop because the shelves in http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Livingstone/blog-353881.html Zimbabwe no way That was my original thought. It was the time that the cholera outbreak and Mugabe's horrific lack of response started hitting the press. I didn't think it would be a good idea to go. However a big part of traveling is meeting people along the way who can give you insight into the place you are considering visiting. We met a lovely couple in Botswana who made me feel less c http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zimbabwe/Victoria-Falls/blog-353879.html Happy New Year I hope all of you had a lovely holiday season and have a wonderful 2009Back to the blog we said goodbye to lovely Namibia and headed to our next destination BotswanaAfter an overnight bus trip we arrived about 30 kilometers from the Botswana border. We weren't quite sure how to get to the border from there or how to go further for that matter but again we were blesse http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Botswana/North-West/Maun/blog-353878.html Willkommen in Namibia Namibia was previously a German colony Deutsch Sdwest Afrika and the German influence is everywhere architecture food language... In several cities German is even the preferred language to English and it was fun talking to fourthgeneration Namibians whose mother tongue is German. It was so crazy to be in the middle of cafe with Bienenstich or a Kneipe with a Wei http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Namibia/blog-350615.html We LOVE South Africa. I guess that is as good as intro as anyWith Cape Town it was love at first site. Part of it certainly had to do with the magnificent scenery and the loveliness of the city. It certainly was also that it was the first time in a couple of months that I was back in a city where the air was clean everything was new and neat women wore normal clothes and nobody followed m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-345908.html Egypt is a crazy mystifying country. It is probably the most historicallyfascinating stop on our trip so far but it was probably also the most stressful. Allinall it was a great week that we will look back on with amazement for years to come.We arrived in Cairo at about 330 in the morning after taking a night bus from the South in Egypt. We were exhausted but we had met a lovely couple o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-340012.html