Weixiao82 | Bethan Liu | Travel Blog

Antsirabe

Africa » Madagascar » Antsirabe August 14th 2005

Weixiao82

Geo: -20.5183, 47.4197... read more

Fianarantsoa

Africa » Madagascar » Fianarantsoa August 12th 2005

At the club

Weixiao82

Geo: -21.494, 47.5117We'd heard a lot about 'The F... Place!' as Aina is writing his dissertation on tourism there. Of course, this worked hugely in our favour as Aina knew everything and everyone! It took us all day to get there in our bling mobile, stopping at Parc National de L'Isalo for a scenic picnic with the friendly flies! On our arrival we were met by the owner of The Tsara Guesthouse, a very important figure who has done a fantastic job saving and restoring the traditional tile-roofed buildings in the city. Very worthwhile as they are beautiful! Fianarantsoa is like a baby Tana, very similar but smaller. I immediately warmed to the place. It has a wonderful friendly atmosphere.The highlight of our stay here was a pirogue trip. A pirogue is a dug out canoe ... read more

Toliara

Africa » Madagascar » Antsiranana » Toliara August 12th 2005

Weixiao82

Geo: -23.6199, 43.5433... read more

Anakao

Africa » Madagascar August 11th 2005

Anakao

Weixiao82

Geo: -23.9831, 43.4513The Lonely Planet says Anakao is one of the best places in Madagascar so we remained faithful and left our madagascan companions for a night to take a look. It is undoubtedly beautiful but needs much more time than just one night to be fully appreciated. It's quite a chore reaching it, taking a bus then a boat and then a truck. We were automatically dropped off at 'La Reserve.' There were no bungalows left so we took the tent. I hate camping but the tent was in a wonderful location right on the beach. 'La Reserve' was a bit too isolated for our liking. It took 45mins to walk to the village, well 3hrs after we had paddled and searched the beach for shells. There were so many beautiful shells and it went ... read more

Toliara

Africa » Madagascar » Antsiranana » Toliara August 11th 2005

Weixiao82

Geo: -23.535, 43.5959... read more

Ambalavao

Africa » Madagascar » Ambalavao August 9th 2005

Baobab sunset

Weixiao82

Geo: -21.6786, 47.1175We were very lucky to find space at our next stop over, the paper making capital of Madagascar. We definitely loved that paper, so pretty! Early the next morning our clever friends had arranged a real special treat for us. A genuine and close-up lemur encounter. We drove up to lots of rocks armed with bananas and then appeared lots of lovely cuddly, absolutely gorgeous ring-tailed lemurs. They took the bananas from our hands and jumped onto our backs, snuggling around our necks. They were so gentle, they didn't even seem to have teeth. Their feet were amazing with little suckers. It was amazing and then just as I was regretting not having brought more bananas with us our guide (who is mentioned in The Lonely Planet so famous!) pointed out the lemurs on ... read more

Ranomafana National Park

Africa » Madagascar August 8th 2005

Baby panda lemur

Weixiao82

Geo: -21.1736, 47.7088The rain forest!! Wow!!! We arrived at night after a 4hr journey along probably the bumpiest road in the world! It was like a roller coaster! When I woke up in the morning I gasped on seeing the view from the door. In front of me stood huge mountains covered in lush green forest. It was magical. I just couldn't believe it! We headed off for Parc National de Ranomofana, said to be the best place to see the lemurs. Our driver knew a guide (our driver knew lots of people!!) and off we went into the depths of the forest. Every plant seemed to have some kind of medical use. After about an hr we saw our first lemur, a tiny little brown thing. It was adorable. The only problem was that for ... read more

Antsirabe

Africa » Madagascar » Antsirabe August 8th 2005

By the lake

Weixiao82

Geo: -20.4687, 47.3671This must be the ricksaw capital of the world! It's a wonderful and colourful place and the ricksaws create a fantastically relaxed and old-worldy pace of life. We had a go of course! Definitely felt rather strange and quite cruel especially as I'm three times the size of the average Madagascan passenger but sure I could get used to it! We visited the beautiful Lake Trivatia where 2 lovers whose parents forbade them to marry jumped together to their deaths. Madagascar's very own Romeo and Juliet! The lake is a stunning emerald blue, surrounded by fur trees. We walked around it follwed by a tribe of children trying to sell us rocks. Definitely showed how unfit British people are! We had our picnic by the larger lake next door. Just the first of our ... read more

MADAGASCAR :) :)

Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo August 4th 2005

Baby crocs

Weixiao82

Geo: -18.9201, 47.5237Madagascar has become my most favourite place in the world (sorry China!) with my most favourite people in the world living there! It is paradise! Sweet little houses, mountains, rainforest, cuddly lemurs, palm trees, perfect weather, desert and palm trees all in one. It's a world of its own. And the Madagascans are even better than the lemurs! Lots of waves and smiles and an amazing warmth. I went there to visit a long term penpal, Domoina. It was a bit of a gamble and Rebecca had already planned many escape plans but it couldn't possibly have been better. I just couldn't believe it had all worked out so perfectly.I've never been anywhere like Antananarivo, more easily known as 'Tana.'. It is a grotty higgelty piggeldy mess in the most wonderful way possible. Flying ... read more

Penguins

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town July 31st 2005

'Goats Do Roam'

Weixiao82

Geo: -34.1826, 18.4584Needed to keep Rebecca happy and make a lightning trip to Cape Town to visit the penguins in Simonstown. We stayed in our nicest hotel so far, right on Boulders Beach where the penguins were. The penguins put on a fantastic performance. So many of them and they're pretty entertaining birds to watch. So clumsy on land but acrobats in the water. Rebecca was in paradise as she's loved penguins all her life. We woke up early for the sunset and that was magical. Beautiful beautiful colours silhouetting the penguins. I was tempted to pppick up a penguin but apparently they have razor sharp beaks!! We stayed in Cape Town at Long Street Backpackers for a few nights. Had lots of fun most of which I can't remember! Cape Town's a fun place to ... read more

Joined	July 5th 2017	Trips	19
Last Login	July 6th 2017	Followers	0
Status	BLOGGER	Follows	0
Blogs	181	Guestbook	48
Photos	2,341	Forum Posts	0