Happy New Year

It's finally here and this year and we are celebrating in a different way. We will be somewhere over the Timon Sea when the clock strikes 12. This was not our original plan as we had some visa issues keeping us here until now but Celia & I will ensure we have a glass of champagne (or the cheap stuff) in our hands toasting you all.

We have had a great 4 days with the lovely Tim and he has been more than hospitable as always. Taking us to all the great bars near his house drinking asahi, massive pints of Hoegaarden and my favourite Sam Adams. Sadly i think this will be the last time we visit Singapore for a while so it is a bit of a double whammy. You can't beat a warm 27 deg all year round with good food and great shopping.

Hope you all have a fantastic evening wherever the party leads you.

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Phuket - hell on earth

Christmas day was not as I had expected it would be, but Celia & I were together, enjoying another day on our awesome trip, so not all so bad.

We had to catch a flight from Phuket to Singapore which left early in the morning so sadly we had to be in Phuket the evening before. If the ferry ride was unbelievable, what awaited us was even worse. Granted we did go to the worst part of Phuket, Patong Beach, as we wanted to stock up on some good cheap clothes and possibly a movie or two, but oh my word, I beg you to give it a miss on your next trip in Thailand.

The streets by day are mostly empty (in comparison) as most of the seedy bars have closed but when the sun sets as in some kind of zombie movie all the lady boys and sex tourists come out to play. The bars are steaming with loud music, men with boobs / woman, gyrating around street side stripper poles. This seems to go on all night as when i woke up in the morning to get a taxi the bars were still serving and i was still getting propositioned by men / momen - not sure...

Couldn't wait to get back to our happy place, the lovely Singapore!!

Feliz Natal from Ko Lanta

Firstly don't get confused as my last blog entry was about a month ago, but as you can see by this amazing beach and sunshine its really tough to seat myself in front of a PC when the prefect day is passing me by outside.

Well its finally here again for another year and it is a really strange day for us. Once again Christmas without our families and its our last day with all our great friends we have made in Thailand as we are leaving for Phuket and off to Singapore the following day, so excuse me if i sound like i am on the verge of getting a little choked up.

I built a little Christmas tree today out of branches and Celia is about to go into town so we can get some decorations for it. Ko Lanta in Thailand has been a fantastic and really memorable place for us. Celias birthday was fantastic, then our German friends proposed to get married and today Christmas eve.

Love and miss all of very much like you cannot believe and have a very merry Christmas, feliz Natal, and frohes Weinachten.

Heres a couple more pics if you would like to check them out

Lets get Narc'ed

So over the next two days we had four great dives, King Cruiser ship wreck, Hind Daeng, Hin Maoung and Phi Phi Lay.. Best diving i have done in my whole life (I have now done 10 dives) and one of the most jaw dropping moments was not the magnificent Manta Rays or various species of sharks we saw, but when we dropped down to the sea bed at 30m and stared right at this ship wreck. Its amazing to see such a large structure ahead of you in the water, hard to describe unless you have been there yourself.

I'm hooked now and realyl lookiing forward to dive in Australia at the great barrier reef.

Sadly we never experienced toxic narcosis at 30m from having too much nitrogen in our system, i was looking forward to a little disorientated and a drunk. Guess i'll have to save that for the bar this evening.

Diving good, food good

The diving on day one was fantastic, unfortunately we had to do some exercises for our advanced diver qualification which limited our time to see fish. Sadly for Celia Koh Ha is a great place to see turtles but we were underwater practising our bouyancy (yawn) so no turtles for us.

The food on the boat was superb. Great breakfasts, good lunch between dives and fruit at the end of the day on our way back to Ko Lanta. Diving makes you unusually hungry as you dont think you are actually doing any work because it is so relaxing, but you come up with a devilish hunger.

I went for a run after the dive in the evening and it was my first since Hong Kong. I'm dreading how i'll feel tomorrow, need to keep this up or the amount we have been drinking and eating here in Ko Lanta with ze Germans and Swedes.

One of the guys that works at Suza, is this Thai guy called Rin. Every evening he goes fishing with my hand line on the beach and manages to bring back some crab or tiny fish. I usually just attempt to fish with him and catch nothing. I'm sure he's thinking, dumb tourist...

Job done: Great Success!!

That evening when we went to sleep not only was I itching from the killer mozzies that devoured me a couple weeks ago, but I was itching to finish this damn deck. I did get up before eight the following morning and by the time everyone arrived for breakfast i was halfway to finishing it.

Jay and I managed to finish our master design by midday and admired it for the next hour or so. Sadly Celia & I had to go into town to book our diving course so the deck will have to be confined to memory.

Bin Saladan is the only town in Ko Lanta and has many great shops with good knock offs and i so wanted to get myself a Breitling or Tag Heuer watch but we had to spend our hard earned money on the diving course which was fine with me. I'm super excited because we are going on a wreck dive and going to this underwater pinnacle called Hin Daeng which is meant to be one of the best dive sites in the Andaman sea. Our friends were all pretty sad because we would be away from them for three days, not too sure what they are going to do without us really?

Had another great meal at Suza hut in the evening. I have now only had a third of the great selection of Thai curries on the menu. Best food I have had in Thailand bar none. I go to sleep content.

Men at work

We arrive at Suza Hut in the morning, if you didn't know by now we spend at least 10 hours of the day there as well as most meals, and they are building a deck in front on the bar. I ignored them for a while and let them get on with it but my fingers were starting to itch and soon I was investigating what was going on. They were doing okay, but my many years of carpentry were telling me they could do a little better so i started throwing in a few suggestions. I'm sure they hated it though, but were doing what i suggested. You see they needed more support under the main beams, this was killing me so i took the tools myself. Jay (Johan) walks past and he's no slouch with the hammer either as he's busy remodeling his house and together we have in the space of twenty minutes taken over the show and the rest are just watching. Marco warns us that he has two left hands and it would be dangerous for him to help, so we assign him the knife and fork work like sawing and hammering while the two big boss boys do all the thinking. This was a great idea as after 10 minutes of digging in the sand for the supports and i had a blister on my thumb. What a pansy!

Within no time we had the base boards all nailed down and were busy formulating a plan to build back supports. I was naturally trying to make it as complicated as possible and my design was taking considerably longer to build than I imagined. It was not aided by the drill that kept dying on us due to a dodgy internal connection. The rain timed it perfectly as the wind had finally left our sails and we could call it quits for the evening and blame it on something else. Our job, half done.

Let's get a drink!!

New Friends

Day two in Koh Lanta arrives and we have made new friends. We met the new Team Sweden, Johan & Linda. They are an awesome couple and Johan does a great Borat impression, so him and I start speaking in our best Kazakh, great success!

Its a pretty lazy day as everyone is suffering the effects of last nights party except me of course as I am still made of steel and under 30, so.. indestructible.

The only thing to note that day was I had to rescue ze Germans from the cockroaches in their room. They had now moved into the same resort as us and had a bit of an infestation in their closet (they were moving back out). I learned that they lay thousands of eggs when they are killed too (cockroaches - not Germans), well due to me tens of thousands of cockroaches were given life that evening. I believe that to be very noble... Noe?

Happy Börsday Strelitzia

So we arrived in Ko Lanta and after a bit of a struggle and a refund managed to get a room at the 'Sea Pearl Bungalows' which are right next to our dinner venue at the 'Suza Hut'. We had a veeerrry relaxing afternoon. I did a bit of a reconnaissance mission to see what was happening up and down the beach and Celia got some rest, I'll allow her cause its her birthday. She's now feeling loads better and excited about the evenings festivities.

Dinner time arrived and we are sitting at Suza Hut waiting for ze Germans but they were late. Can you not see the issue already. Germans are never late so we knew something was amis. Can you believe they arrived over 15 min late, if that had happened in Germany you would have gotten a black stamp in your passport and 3 points on your drivers license. Turns out they were so delayed on the ferries that they had to beg their way on private transport to be there at that time. Well done, you have done your nation proud.

The staff and owners at Suza hut recognized ze Germans at once and i never realized that they had been there so often. Great news for us as our fantastic dinners were followed by a complimentary birthday cake. Good start to the evening. The wine and beers were flowing well at this point and we needed another couple to get over the size of the bill, yes - even in Thai Baht. We went to the beach bar a short walk down the beach, I think it was called Funk Fish and the girls tucked into a few cocktails. Marco introduced me to my first bucket in Thailand which consists of a bottle of their locally brewed rum Sangsom, loads of ice, a bit of Coke and a Red Bull. After two of these its generally time to go to bed or take off your shorts and shirt and jump in the ocean. We all chose the latter. It was loads of fun because as well as being naked in the sea (always fun), the plankton shimmers and shines when you disturb it in the water which makes for minutes of endless fun when you are feeling mellow due to the effects of over celebration (is there such a thing).

Time for bed!

Bon Voyage Ko Tao

We decided to skip the sea sickness causing ferry and caught the overnight car ferry to Surrathani as we were heading onwards for Rai Leh beach. Little did i know that this would be a disappointing day.

We caught a longtail boat to Rai Leh beach which as the postcards depict, present you with absolutely breathtaking views. I dunno what is was, I think I was just "travelled out", but the limestone cliffs emerging from the aquamarine sea, looked like just another beach to me and equaled another picture on the camera.

Off the boat and we needed to get some accommodation but the east side, the affordable side is so run down and literally smells. We did eventually find a room that was nice and affordable but was not ready and we could only get it in a half hour. We went over to West Rai Leh and it is spectacular, really a pity there are only 5 star resorts on that side, i suppose they try keep the rubbish like me off there.

We got back to our hotel and they told us it was full for the night, i stood there in shock, as we had just gone off, left our bags with them and now they had give our rooms to someone else. This was a blessing in disguise as now we could get the hell off the island. We'll leave the sandstone cliffs and world renowned rock climbing to someone else. We had the next day to look forward to as it is Celias birthday on the 15th and ze Germans we met in Cambodia, Marco and Sonia, are meeting us in Ko Lanta to celebrate.

All done

So with the final dives come and gone, test passed and a PADI open water dive card in the pocket, i was ready to tackle the graduation party. Not quite - on this final day of the course i had woken up up with some sort of vicious fever and a terrible stomach which plagued me throughout my dives. Too scared to let one out or i might fill my wetsuit, i had to press on (for search of a better word), but that night my drinking shoes were not polished and I faded after just a few quiet Changs.

One thing they did on our last day was film our dives and package it all up for us so we could one day bore our friends and relatives with the experience. Its fun watching the whole thing underwater, but not so much when you see yourself still learning how to dive and flapping your arms around violently when you should be looking pretty graceful

Tonight our chef was so wasted on something. Don't know if it was the the local weed or local rum, but he had no idea. I had to ask him many times to put my food on the grill as during the walk from it to the fish tray he would forget that he had spoken to me. Naturally he burnt everything as all time frames were completely lost in his mind. It was hilarious to watch though.

Celia and I booked out of our dodgy free room at the dive school and into a cabin on the rocks in Shark Bay. It was fantastic and we relaxed there all day the night after with the sound of the waves at our feet. Pure paradise. Sadly we did not see any sharks in Shark bay but then there we're no turtles on Turtle island either...

So far so good

We have done 2 days of open water diving now and I'm loving it, although this "vis" (visibility), you see i am getting into this diving lingo, has not been so good, there is still much to see underwater. So far we've seen loads of varieties of fish, but one of my favorite things to see are the Christmas tree worms which recoil as you swim by. To experience weightlessness once you have mastered your buoyancy is another art which when practices correctly gives much joy.

Tomorrow will be our final dive and along with our test, will be a good end to these lazy days. Celia is still a bit under the weather, but i have been making her get out of the room and guzzle down some food and electrolyte.

Being out on the dive boats is great fun, getting your gear prepared, munching on the unlimited supply of yummy biscuits, slowly descending into the water, this all still makes me smile as i write this and can't wait to dive again. Unfortunately you do run out of air at some time and can't always stay under water :( Gotto practise my underwater breathing. I'm sucking air at the same speed I drink beer.

Back to school

Everyone who has done their Open Water dive course knows that some days are boring to say the least. Reading text books and watching videos in class, we unfortunately had such a morning. We were were also introduced to all our dive buddies and instructors. Jasper the Dane was our instructor and due to years of practice knows all the jokes and tricks in the book. Very funny for us but how boring it must be for him to recite those old gags year after year.

That afternoon we packed on our dive gear and tried breathing with scuba gear for the first time. A great experience even if it was only in 4 feet of water. We even did the feared 'clearing your mask underwater' which is so simple but often manages to go wrong somehow. We also had to tread water for 10 minutes as part of the course training which is bloody tough after a good lunch. Remember what your mom always said, " don't swim for an hour and a half after lunch". Cannot wait until tomorrow when we get to dive in the sea for the first time!

Ran into some more Dutchies, many Swedes, ze Germans and some Spaniards. Got chatting to the one of the Spaniards who is on his way to SA in May, so I think we will definitely catch up with him then. Good humour followed as usual and in the short time I realised this Valencian is a really nice guy and I will enjoy many good beers with him even if he does sound like Enrique Eglesias.

Another great fish barbecue went on that evening and some good beers with our new friends. We stayed up till some hour as roll call was only at noon. Richard the Kiwi, Team Spain and Thomas my dive buddy were left to the end as Celia's mysterious illness drew her back to bed before the rest of us were done. Miguel (Enrique Eglesias) popped up with a pearler that I "drink with a good rhythm". The Latinos do have a way of putting it sometimes, and he is right, i too have a tendency to gulp down my beers, and why not? No one enjoys a warm beer do they?

Navy diver here we come

So Celia seems to have picked up something in Cambodia and is bed ridden, this sucks as I have to go exploring on my own because you all know I cant sit still for a minute. I forget that i am not in Kansas anymore and the sun here on the islands in Thailand is unbelievably hot and a swim in Shark bay was on the cards to rejuvenate my sizzling skin. Ko Tao seems to be a beautiful place with many pristine bays, all with resorts kitted out for diving.

Enough walking now, I headed back home for a cold Chang and wait for the barbecue that Buddha View dive resort put on every evening. The food really is fantastic. Many different types of fish and meat or Thai specialties all cooked to perfection.

Tomorrow, dive course.

Outbreak

After the overnight bus to Chumpon where i was devoured my killer mozzies, jeeeeeesssshhhh the bites are irritating me, we had to hop on this ferry to Ko Tao which was the most unbelievable trip ever. Rough seas and high winds make for green faces. After about an hour of rocking up and down on the bow, Celia and I decided to see if it would be less volatile at the stern. No chance. The people we saw there looked like they were straight from the set of a zombie movie or Outbreak 3: The virus takes Thailand. I have never seen such a collection of green faces in my life. By now the crew had begun handing out sick bags which were filled to the brim... yeach.

The key to my success, praying my hardest and staring at the horizon. This fortunately worked and 5 minutes prior to getting there i went to fetch Celia inside from the morgue. On my way i bumped into Richard, an old friend from our horror bus trip to Bangkok, he's and old hand at ferries so no illness there either. The faces of the other passengers were lime green though, about 90% sea sickness success rate. Next time we take the overnight ferry. I'll write that down.

Two nights in Bangkok

So Bangkok is not that offensive. After hearing such bad reports, i had awful visions of the place, but Celia and I really enjoyed it. Key is to not stay on Kao San Road unless you would like to easy access to great fake clothes, a press pass, NY State drivers license or any other qualification you seek, the Thai's have copied it. Incredible....

The road side food just off Kao San road is some of the best we have eaten in a while and full of healthy foreigners so we know it must be vaguely safe to eat. The vibe there is unbeatable and the banter between the cooks and the guests makes it quite special. Although their addition often leaves something to be desired, always erring in their favour, you still have to love them.

Finally i got to go to the floating market i had been hoping to see since Vietnam. I knew it would be overrun with tourists but it was still great to see the images that have ordained postcards for years and with a couple days work on photoshop, my pictures will look exactly the same. Celia was not feeling well so I went myself and had a great time people watching, eating some noodle soup on the banks of the river and generally having some good alone time. We had an option of going to see the Cobra show on the way back which included showing how they retrieve the venon (interresting) and a man who catches 3 cobras - one with each hand and one with the mouth... ridiculous. That was my queue. I'll leave that one to those who enjoy those types of sensational money grabbing techniques while i go back and watch some Orangutan boxing.

Our transport to and back from the market was via longtail boat which is hilarious. I do have a couple pics. These small little wooden boats mostly have reused car engines on them, sometimes up to 1600cc. I was canning myself as they screamed by.. what next.

One of the main objectives of Thailand was me getting my PADI dive qualification. So off to Ko Tao where the cheapest dive schools exist. They even throw in accommodation for every night that you are on the course. Great success!! Unfortunately this involved being scammed by the tourist agengy again.. Getting tired of this... But we got it booked at the 11th hour and were ready for the overnight bus trip which now do not phase me anymore. Before this trip if i had to travel longer than 2 hours you would see me start to sulk, but 11 hours is more than acceptable. Shup

Confucious say, man who walk through airport door sideways

So last night we had to introduce the Germans to the Von Trap family. Can you believe it, never heard of the "Sound of Music". Celia and I were singing it up at the top of our lungs with ze Germans staring at us like we were crazy. The hills are aliiiiiiiiiiivvve with the sound of Lehmannnnnnnnnnnns.

We we're finally on our way to Thailand, great as this may seem, it was unfortunately time to say goodbye to some great friends we made.

Wait one sec.. just imagine some great music montage (prob. Barry Manilow - Trying to get that feeling again) going on in the background ala "Friends" with all our magic moments together rolling over in background.

Got the mood..?

Marco & Sonia were off to Laos, Isabella and Heindrick to Perth, The Dutchies off to Aus and more of Cambodia and Simon & Sarah the English couple now off to ... not sure.

We jumped on the 10h bus trip which as i found out later was actually called the "Siem Riep to Bangkok bus scam". Aptly named as the drivers stretch a 6h trip into about 15 hours so that when you get to your destination you are so exhausted and it's so late that you end up booking into the guest house they drop you off in front of. They end up with the commission, so great success for them. Unfortunately this time the drivers were as tired as us and we just ended up finding our own spot to stay for the night.

Exhausted, we headed straight to bed. A little disappointed we missed the Kings birthday celebrations though. He's is the longest serving monarch in the world and is very loved by all the Thai people.

Good night

Before i forget

One night in Hoi An we(kiwis, aussies, saffers and a couple germans) spent the evening at our hotel bar sharpening up our pool skills. The poor barman was trying for hours to get rid of us as it was way past closing time but was so polite that he kept seving us drinks. He got his point across when he brought out his mattress which he uses to sleep on behind the bar. Drinks done.

Celia decided the evening was not yet done had another skinny dipping session jumping from the balcony into our pool. I had to keep watch while the man at reception had his back turned. When he heard the splash he came running but Celia was already gone and in the shower. Portugeezer

The Temples of Angkor

We travelled to Siem Riep in the morning and arrived at our guesthouse along with ze Germans. We would all be touring the Wat together. Now you ask Wat i am talking about. This is my latest attempt at cheap humour as I neve meant 'what' only that a 'Wat' is a temple in Cambodia/Thailand etc.

We took a trip up to the temples, Wat temple you ask? Well i do not know - there are so many (you see what i did there) . Spent sunset on the first evening on top of one trying to get a decent pic for the millions of tourists, everone with a camera fancier thatn the next. I tell you cameras are bragging rights theses days, its so ridiculous, most people do not even know how to use any of the features, nevermind the manual focus...

Oh yes. That evening i say a horrific bike accident in which a bike with 2 passengers sans helmets hit a car head on. It was horrific, i had to stop and help as everyone was just driving by, i will not go into details, but needless to say i will bot be hiring a bike in Cambodia.

The following day we tried our best to do all the majot temples in Angkor in a day. Many said it could not be done, but after spending 2 weeks in Egypt looking at them, don't aske me what any are called, this is the only way i would want to do it.

The day was great and we saw just enough for me to remember what they are all called.. bonus! I really did like Ta Prohm where they filmed Tomb Raider. This temple has roots growing all over the walls, but not mini ones, big ass roots. Its fairly magical to see and makes you realise how old these structures are.
Picture of team Angkor at Ta Prohm. From left to right. Heindrick, Isabella, Dieter, Celia, Sonia, Marco

The afternoon that followed

We headed from the shooting range, my mind still going a million miles an hour and off to the killing fields (Choeung Ek). Let me first give you a short history lesson.

The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Communist regime Khmer Rouge, which had ruled the country since 1975. The massacres ended in 1979, when Communist Vietnam invaded the country, which at that time was officially called Democratic Kampuchea , and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime. Estimates of the number of dead range from 1.7 to 2.3 million out of a population of around 7 million.

(I did not steal that from Wikipedia)

The 25 min we spent there was quite chilling as the guide explained to us where and how everything on the site unfolded. The pits where the bodies were buried are still visible as is the lake where many more uncovered bodies still lay. The have built this shrine in the center of the site which houses 100's of skulls they have dug up. The majority of these contain cracks from being struck with blunt objects or axes. They used this method as they did not want to waste bullets.

Many say the regime of Pol Pot was more worse than that of Adolf Hitler as he use more torture. I say they were both silly.

We went from here to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21)

(again - no Wikipedia)

When we were in Lithuania for the second best wedding of the year we went to see the KGB prison that is there and this has a very similar feel to it. Many torture chambers, horrendous living conditions, no cable and a horrible atmosphere.

Walking through there you can hear a pin drop, and everyones mind is working overtime as they read the testimonies of the guards and other people that survived the atrocities.

There was prisoner during this time that did not get executed and he has painted what he witnessed of the atrocities. These pictures are hanging throughout the cells and are extremely gruesome.

I could not wait to get out of there and meet up with old friends (a whole 3 days now) and have a cold cold beer. What a day!!

A taste of Russia

So over breakfast we organised our days activities. Visit S21 prison, the Killing Fields, and due to my morbid curiosity, a shooting range to fire the 'Avtomat Kalashnikova' 47. I was not prepared.

We got to the shooting range and the guy explained how the gun works and that the majority of these guns are reclaimed from the war in Cambodia. They also had Rocket Propelled Grenades, anti aircraft guns, tommy guns, uzzy, M-16 and AK-57's. Again... unbelievable. I went to shoot, dressed in my camo overalls and sporting my gun, i had 25 rounds. They took the longest time, first on single shot, but with a break between each shot to wipe the sweat and then we put it on automatic. I quickly got rid of the rest of the bullets. I was glad when i heard the final empty click.

It might sound a bit soft but this was not a happy experience, i really wanted to feel what it means to shoot this gun as it has caused so many deaths worldwide and is the favoured weapon in guerilla warefare.

Ticked that box. Done.

Delta dawn

Well the sunrise that awaited us on the morning of our trip was amazing. We had not yet seen a great sunrise and i think this one would be hard to beat. The floating market we were about to visit on the other hand was nothing like i imagined or had seen in the postcards. Another disappointment.

The day had just begun and we had a long boat journey ahead to get to Phnom Penh. We stopped off at a fishing village which was quite interesting as the whole house (which floats on water)  has cages underneath full of ravenous fish which they feed multiple times a day (i was great at feeding them too).  

The border crossing into Cambodia was a good laugh, we did all our Vietnamese exiting stuff and were queueing up for our entry stamps in Cambodia when the chap at the counter stops Celia and asks her with a serious look on his face if this was her in the picture. I realised what had happened and cracked up laughing, Celia had given him my passport and he thought she was a lady boy post sex change. In stitches.

We arrived a good hour and a bit out of Phnom Penh and the bus was there to pick us up as arranged. Here we go.. After about 45 min driving on the worst roads i have ever, ever been on. I mean we were hitting our heads on the bus roof after some of the bumps we went over to bus trickled to a halt on the side of the road. All amazed, but not surprised,  by what was going on we calmly got out and started taking pictures of the locals who were just as interested in us. Word came though after the bus drivers boss handed one of us the phone to ask us if we could loan the driver money for petrol. I know.. unbelievable. After we all refused as we knew he had money on him somewhere, he went to get petrol on the back of someones bike. We were on on our way again but no sooner had we picked up speed than the bus ground to a halt again. This time it was serious, possibly terminal. They tried in vain to resuscitate it, but no luck. We got in one more time but it again splattered to a halt.

We had had enough as night was falling and no one had any accommodation booked. We decided to seek alternate modes of transport. I put my head torch on flashing mode and hoped a car would stop. Some of us managed to flag down a double cab, others got in another bus but us, the lucky ones, flagged down a motor bike propelled proper local cart with some planks on the top that we could sit on. We negotiated the price to around 10US and headed the 20km into town. Quick point - in Cambodia nobody used their own currency as it is worthless so the dollar has basically been adopted. We arrived in town to rousing applause similar to the queen when she arrives in her gold gilded horse card. Ours was not gold but i still managed to give my best wave when required.

We eventually found a guest house and who happened to be there? The dirty Germans and the cheap Dutch (only joking) so all the crew were together once again by complete chance after going our separate ways after the bus disaster 

Mekong Delta

Well we booked a overnight stay on a houseboat cruising from near HCMC in Vietnam to Phnom Penh in Cambodia which turned out to be another great scam, but no major loss so we fought bravely on.

There more disapointments on this trip than i'd like to mention but we did manage to do a couple really cool things on the first day. At one time we got dropped off on this island and the rowed us to our destination on these really diny vietnamese rowing boats through narrow canals. We learnt how to make their local type of pancakes (Gordon Ramsay watch out - i was amazing), pop rice (like popcorn) and other local confectionery. 

At one point we took these bikes to cycle round the island and one of the guides, mesmerised by my size jumped on a bike with us and kept saying "who win, who win". I finally gathered that he wanted to race so the two of us were going hell for leather on these really old Vietnamese bikes where i felt something could break off at any time, but I'm glad to say that "I win, I win". These Asians are not built for cycling, i could have told him that and saved him the calories. 

When we eventually got onto our overnight boat, after another bulls@#t story about it breaking down so we had to jump in another bus for an hour to get to it, it was working fine. Unbelievable.

I managed to meet a great bunch of guys over some beers after dinner and we got chatting as usual about our forthcoming travel plans. There happened to be some Germans and some Dutch which was the standard mix in Asia, little did i know that we would spend many more days with this lot which made our evenings loads of fun. 

Saigon

Well our last day in Hoi An was just the perfect amount of time to get all our clothes back, fitted perfectly and off to our next destination Saigon, but not before I had to be extremely firm with some cheeky Vietnamese woman for my money in exchange for shoes of Celias that she never finished in time. What drama and I hate getting that upset.

Saigon was a another huge misunderstanding as we managed to get in another cab scam from the airport which was not a great start to our trip. We ended up in this seedy backpackers street at this guesthouse which was sex tourist capital. You can't get away from it in SE Asia and it's really tough for me because I like to point to Celias constant embaressment.

This truly is the city of Mopeds and i have many great pics showing hoe absolutely packed the streets are.

We went to the War museum which is like heaven to me, all these planes and tanks and helicopeters from 'Nam' and its not 'Namibia' this time. Boys will be boys. Celia on the other hand read all the stories in the museum and came back saying its so awful, i was just thinking... this is awesome, what the hell is she talking aboud.

That evening we went to this great Vietnamese BBQ / open air restaurant where we had the pleasure of great steaks (cooked on a coal fire on our table), superb mussels and crunchy scorpions. Not a bad taste, body is a bit tastless, but the big old claws are a bit like eating crab and quite meaty.

Options on this menu included Beef and Goat penis, snake and various other random dishes that i would not put my lips near.

We obviously ended off the evening with an ice cream as has become standard on this trip and got an early night as we were leaving for Cambodia via the Mekong Delta early in the morning.

The tailors of Hoi An

Hoi An is spectacular, this was definitely the highlight of our trip in Vietnam and one of our best times of our trip so far. Hoi An is renowned for its tailoring and the streets are dotted with shops stocked with mannequins sporting suits, dressed, shirts, coats and whatever else you can wish to see on a Milan catwalk.

Celia and I stayed in this fantastic hotel that was offered to us by chance for a measly $12/n with a room that had a balcony overlooking the pool, DSTV (no lies) and Internet. We also had a great recommendation for a tailor so we were set. I had absoluterly no idea what i wanted but i knew i needed a suit for Rick and Tess' wedding in Auckland, in Feb. So Celia was sitting in the tailors shop, a short camp Vietnamese man with a penchant for bad courdoroy suits from the 60's. He knew his stuff though and although he never had much on show, he worked on reputation.

So i was off scouting for ideas because i drew a blank when asked what kind of suit i wanted, i eventually found a Prada & Gucci catalog and asked Mr Xe to make the suit accordingly, while i was at it, i had a second one made as well as two shirts and a lens cover for my tele lens.

Celia was like a kid in a candy store and before i knew it has ordered a pants suit, skirt suit, two stunning dresses, a skirt and two blouses.

Now all these clothes were ready for first fitting in a day, unbelievable.. Some of them fitted perfectly, but i had a few changes to made to the suits and shirts. So we hired some bicycles to see more of the town in a shorter space of time. Well I cycled to work every for about 3 years in London, so i never forgot how, but Celia reckons she has not ridden a bike since school, so it was a treat watching her get accustomed to the whole experience again.

Now whenever i am on a bicycle whether its cycling to work in the pouring London rain, or in the baking sun in Vietnam i have to win and whichever cyclist i see ahead of me will be watching my back tyre sooner or later. So when Celia passed me when i got off to adjust my saddle it was game on. She was almost half a km ahead when i got on again so i was in for some tough pedalling. Another thing i have to tell you is that i always pretend i am in the Tour de France when cycling, its like a stage every time i get on the bike so in this stage i was way down and slipping back in the General Classification. I had to treat this like a time trial and gradually pedal my was back up to Celias wheel. She was a bit confused as to why i was wheezing when i arrived at the beach but in my mind i had just won the stage and the yellow jersey for the day.

The beach in Hoi An was a prize on its own and we spent the afternoon there eating sea food and drinking the local grog before we had to saddle up again for another epic stage back into town

Hue

We took the overnight sleeper bus from Hanoi to Hue which was a novel experience. On the bus where there should be seats, there are beds, amazing. They somehow manged to overbook the bus and some people had to sleep in the aisles. They were incensed but I was not surprised as this had and would become the norm in this part of the world.

Hue, called “the old emperor city” is really not so old. It was built in 1802 as the capital of the kingdom and modeled on the Forbidden City in Beijing.

We walked around the Citadel which was very interresting and beautiful and went for some lunch at a restaurant run by these deaf mute people. The food was great and when you leave they give you a bottle opener made of a piece of wood with a bolt on one end. It's such a great idea and they have an album with them with pictures that people have sent in from round the world opening beers.

Halong Bai

We arranged an overnight trip to Halong bai from Hanoi which was picturesque as all the postcards depict. The problem is that there are literally 1000's of tourists which translates to 1000's of boats and much pollution. The amount of diesel fumes you breath in while waiting to leave the dock would put a small dog under and does tarnish a beautiful experience.

After leaving the docks you are really not bothered by the other boats as the bay is huge and you sail along soaking up the sun and cliffs that rise dramatically out of the sea.

Celia & I were lucky enough to be given the room next to the engine which pumped disel fumes by the gallon directly through the wooden wall boards. I guess this helped us to fall asleep but i did wake up with an almighty headache which could also have something to do with the rice wine the boat captain was poring down my throat. I only compare it to some of the schnapps my father has at home. An aquited taste i think it is called.

Day two on the boat and back to Hanoi. We booked into a cozy little guest house with balcony right where all the action happens near this busy junction full os streetside stalls and kids selling copied books and travel guides. There is a great atmosphere there with great food at a quarter of the price of the restaurant. Vietnam is by far the cheapest place that we have been so far and a dollar, or 16000 dong, goes a long way.

Another day another dong

Hanoi was an eye opener, but i was still so shattered from the the evening spent on the airport benches that i crashed for about 5 hours, leaving us just enough time to wake up and accustom ourselves to the roads before night fall, this is a must for all of you that have not been to Hanoi!

The roads, wow!! Crossing them is like trying to cross the N3 to Durban on easter weekend. Ridiculous. There are no traffic lights or pedestrian crossings in the old city so making it to the other side is very imtimidating. I found the trick is just go, and carry on at a steady pace without looking at the traffic on either side. Easier said than done though.

The old city is realy beautiful and exploring it on foot through all the alleys and busy sidestreets with stalls and markets leaves you with many a memory.

The food in Hanoi is meant to be some of the best in Vietnam and it didn't dissapoint and to add to the experience, many of the restaurants have the quaint little balconies where you sit and watch the hustle and bustle down below in the streets. Just be careful to avoid those that serve instant noodles (my speciality back home - just add water) and preheated dishes, as there are many othem.

Macau

So the day finally came where we had to leave 'one day lay do' and head to Hanoi. Unfortunately due to financial restrictions we had to go via Maca and Bangkok, making a 1 hour flight into a 24 hour jaunt. To some this would be a dream.- ticking off 2 countries in the matter of a day, But after a week of relaxation, this was a tall order.

The ferry to Macau was pretty painless and upon arrival you think you are in Vegas. Casoinos as far as the eye can see, all designed and architectured to represent some or other theme. The Venetian was the most impressive with gondolas going under their fake Rialto bridge, all quite authentic. Unfortunately this place has retained nothing of its Portuguese heritage apart froma a few sign posts and a very special restaurant in the south called Fernandos.

It's a fantastic little place on the beach with a Portuguese only menu and makes you imagine what a relaxing mediterranian vibe this place must have had before all the money to build casinos poured in.

Celia and I tucked into our first SuperBock and eagerly awaited our meals of fresh porra(sorry) rolls, sald, bacalau and octopus.

The experience was fantastic, but the food was ot what i expected and would at any time rather have been in Observatory having a sunday lunch Portuguese style with the in-laws where the food is guaranteed to be good and the wine even better.

Evening arrived and we boarded our flight to Bangkok dreading the evening ahead. sadly Bangkok airport is not like Singapore as is not 24h so after a couple hours of wandering we found ourselves sleeping on bencheswilling the morning top come so we could head off to Hanoi

Turning Afrikaans, I think i'm turning Afrikaans, i really think so..

By now Celia and i have really sorted out any shortcomings in our Afrikaans. It has really been the language of choice for almost 3 months now when talking about prices and various things you don't want others to hear. Its hilarious and sometimes we even forget to switch back to English. I don't quite have the accent down yet or wearing the jean pant while listening to my favourite Dozi & De La Rey album but my matric Afrikaans teacher would have been proud, as would Oupoot.

Hong Kong addition

Just remebered something i saw in HK that i thought i'd share. Its not witty, but in fact the complete opposite. Celia and i went into this shoping centre to get some passport pics made and saw this gallery of drawings made by children. The pics were good if not a little dark and all had a little message next to them. The one read something like this

"My sister and I always wanted a TV so my dad went to give blood to make money so he could buy us one. Then he started getting really sick and after a while he died. I really miss my dad and wish he could come back"

Wow! I thought this was horrible as all those girls wanted was a TV and that is something that you and I take for granted. The following day whwn we went to pic up our pics we say that it was a gallery from families affected by AIDS. It's really sad and especially cause he got it from a dirtly needle during blood donation. I never realised how the population of AIDS victims has risen in Asia. They have this website with stories of children similar to this, have a look.

Hong Kong in a nutshell

Jeesh were we tired when we got to HK, we had done about 40 hours without sleep so when we got to James and Weenies'aparment it was time to crash. No so, James came home early from work to meet us so a little bit of conversation was in order. Celia neatly excused herself and slipped out the room for 40 million winks.

Weenie made us a fabulous dinner and we cracked open one of many bottles of Meerlust Rubicon that James had very generously bought. The evenings we had there were generally spent at the Hoing Kong Football Club (where james and Weenie are members) munching on burgers or tasting Weenies interesting cooking (joking).

Days just flew by as we were so shattered we tended to wake up around noon and get our the house a 1:30, only to return again at 6. All our attempts to go sightseeing in HK were severely thwarted by the sandman. We did manage to catch the peak tram to get a view of the city and harbour which is very impressive from up there, the ferry to Kowloon at sunset allows you geat views like this one, Wan chai wet market was something else too. To prove the fish are fresh they slice them half open at the spine and leave all the organs intact so the heart is still pumping and the head is wondering what the hell.. its is really unbelievable to see.

Weenies dad was also there at the time and we wen out with him for lunch on the Sunday to Cococabana near the Marina Park yacht club and SA embassy. It was a fantasic meal and one of my top 5 of our tip so far. We had another ice ceam for desert as this seems to be the thing we now do on our trip. Not sure why but after were were intoduced o XTC ice cream in HK we never looked back. We were very tired on this day as James had inoduced me to another whole world of partying Hong Kong style. Fliday and Saturday night involved dinner, and many drinks in the university town atmosphere that is generated my the sports club dinners and drinks. On the Saturday night 5 of us ended up in Wan Chai dancing on bar counters till the early hours. What a night! Thank you James!!

Last day blues

We were both sad on our last day in Goa, but it had to come sooner or later. Our growing waistlines were very thankful though.

That morning i went as per usual to put my towel on the sunlounger in true German style, but the full blooded ones had already beaten me to it. Gutted, I laid it our nicely on the sand.

There was still time for plenty suntanning as well as purchasing a couple of trinkets for friends and family. I tried to capture any moments that i had missed thus far and continued suntanning. Attempting to pay for our stay was always fun and games as those nice people in the fraud department at Natwest in the UK seem to block our cards every time we attempt to use them in a new country abroad, no matter how many times we call them to say we are going here, here and here, they still leave us hanging at bill time. Many phone calls later in my polite aggravated voice we managed to check out and pay, relax on the beach some more and fit in a good lunch with our new Austrian friend Anna. Little did i know that this ongoing bank saga was the last of our worries for the day.

Over lunch Anna kindly offered us all her unused medication she had with her. No she is not a dealer or addict, she's a doctor. So Celia and I gladly took them when offered, now we carry everything you could possibly want for aches and pains in the winter, malaria, dunshiss, flu, you name it. We were sorted so no longer worried about eating scraps off the floor or drinking tap water.

We had booked a train trip back in 3AC to Cochin but were on the waiting list as it was full, the ticket office had assured us that there would be cancellations so no to worry. Well there weren't and that evening we had to take the 15 hour trip back to Cochin in general class. We were scared i think is he word. Fiortunately we met some nice indian fellows on the platfom that kept us 2 seats on the already overcrowded hard wooden bench. I can exclusively tell you tha this now 6 seater bench is only meant for 3 and to say it was a squash is an understatement.

Now already an hour into this trip and this Indian opposite me is violently coughing and spitting. All that is going through my head is the nurse back in London saying you don't need your TB shot unless you are going so sit next to someone that has TB for more than 3 hours". I was screwed. When tiredness finally set in we were rudely awoken at about 3am by some guys having a punch up in the carriage, it was pretty hectic and i never went to look in fear of being involved. Then came the moment on the trip thsat made i completely worth it. The guy sitting opposite me pipes up "there seems to be some confusion over the seating", the understatement of the century. The rest of the trip we saw policemen with hancuffed criminals beside us and many more things to make you laugh and simultaneously feel sick. Ecstatic to be back in Cochin, all that is left is a flight back to Singapore and then onwards to Hong Kong.

Same again

So day 4 started went pretty much according to plan. Woke up with the noise of the staff at about 7:30am, put on my running pant and ran the 1.5 km from our end of the beach to the other side and back. Its a fantastic way to start the day. Everyone small beach resort is just starting to stir and the farmers have just led the cows onto the beach.

If you time time it right you can see the local fishing boats coming in trying to sell their catch to the highest bidder. On this day i was in for a treat as they had dropped a huge net in the sea and were busy pulling it in on either side with the help of other fishermen who were hoping for a share of the catch.

I continued my run to the end of the beach quite briskly as i was going to go back and get the camera. The end of the beach was one of my favourite places on Palolem beach as there were no huts there where the river led into the ocean and i could do my training in peace. I looked forward to seeing the resident white-bellied sea eagle perched on the coconut palm over the river searching for prey, and on this day i was in for a treat. Not only was the eagle there but an Indian gentleman was perched on the bank of the river having a daga. Not pleasant.. I did a quick u-turn and headed back for my camera (no - not to take a pic of him).

By the time got back to the fishermen with my camera they had almost pulled in the net and had drawn quite a crowd. We all waited in anticipation to see these seasoned veterans full off Indias greatest catch. Could you believe it... the nets were completely retrieved and they managed to pull in about 5kg of fish. I felt really bad for them as i am sure many years ago such an exercise would have yielded many more fish. Dejected, they folded up the 100m long net and put it back in the boat. I had my pics so i went back for some coffee.

The late afternoons on Palolem bring about a most interesting scene on the beach. The tide practically races out to sea and does not return for hours, exposing a perfectly flat ocean floor brimming with sea life. The children search for starfish and crabs collecting them in buckets while some of the locals search for clams under the sand with forks and spoonsm seemingly collecting a potential meal. I'm just there for the cricket.

All along the beach, cricket matches are being played with intensity. The wickets are hard and flat and the rivalry between the local boys and the tourists could not be fiercer. Playing with them, i soon realised that whenever i went into bat they would set a perfect field in order to tempt me into a false stroke. A hook or pull shot here would result in the ball landing in someones lap or lunch, but a ball sent flying over the resort into the trees was seen as bad form and frowned upon. I loved every minute of it and the only thing stopping us form playing all evening was the returning tide which would wash away our stumps. I took great pride in being a South African in India as they do love our people, if only due to seeing our cricketers on tv, then so be it. But i got along with all of these young boys and they invited me back every day to pit our cricketing brains against eachother.

Goan adventure: Day 3

Woke Up; Ran; Swam; Coffee; Breakfast with Celia on beach; Tanned; Lunch on beach; Tanned; Swam; Played with the hermit crabs and starfish at low tide; Watched the sunset (clearly took photos); Had dinner on the beach; Slept;

Done

Goa here we come

The train journey to Goa was great fun, 12 hours in 3AC (which means 3 berths with A/C in the carriage). Was expecting worse but we both had a great rest and arrived in Goa ready for the hard slog of 5 days on the beach.

We got to Palolem and enjoyed a delicious meal. Celia once again had a bout of order envy as my coconut chicken was one of the best meals i have had on this trip. Got the tuk-tuk to the resort we had booked but were so disapointed by the cleanliness and state of the place that we thanked them for holding the room for us and left. We wanted someting closer to the beach anyway.

By this time it was raining againand the search for a room was proving fruitless. All the beach huts that we wanted to stay in were not yet ready for use. I later found out that the resort owners rent out the land (the beach) only for the tourist season. This translates to 6 months, so when everyone is gone in May, they dismantle all the beach huts and restaurants, pack them nicely under a canopy ready for them when they arrive mid October and start assembling everything in anticipation for the tourist trade. They arrive in hoardes from late November right through to Feb. Apparently Goa is a huge rave party town in Season, so beware, if you would like an idyllic time, skip Dec and Jan.

As first days go, this was not the greatest, but breakfast on the second and a beautiful beach hut to answer all our prayers was exactly the start we needed. We were very fortunate as this resort, "San Francisco" as it was called, had just opened for the season and had some available rooms at very reasonable rates. Being South African also seems to be advantageous, as often when you are mid haggle, they ask you where you are from and telling them you are from this proud nation usually gets you what you are after.

Allepey House boat

So the last and final stop on our Kerala round trip is Allepey. there you can rent these amazing bamboo crafted house boats for a night or two. They take you through the canals, backwaters and lakes in the area. Really relaxing, and a must do in the area.

We booked our houseboat through a connection of our homestay owner and sadly the coonnection did not deliver. The boat we wanted was booked but the one he had available was apparently "just as nice". Unfortunatly it was not, it was very run down, and the dissapointment on our faces could not be hidden. We decided to get over it as it was pointless to spoil our time sulking.

Well the trip turned out to be really special. We cruised around for the entire day, taking in all the fauna and flora that the lake had to offer. The area is really rich and abundant with birdlife and i have some award winning shots of the various species. Loving the different types of kingfishers we have encountered all over our travels. Don't only old people like birding.. better get out my Sasol book of birds. My dad would be proud.

All the food is served and cooked on the boat and is tasty as always, i am yet to have not had a bad meal in India. The only problem staying with people in homestays or having people cook for you is that you feel bad if you do not finish it, so you continue eating past the point of no return, this evening was no different. Most nights we groan at our stomoach pains post meal and hope that by morning we will feel better.

This sunset that greeted us on this day was very special, it might not have the romance of a beach sunset, but the scenery and colours were treemendous. We were exremely lucky as the previous evening they had monsoon rains (the monsoon rains have carried on for months after it's supposed departure here ). As usual, picures were in abundance.

A good nights sleep followed by a tasty Kerala breakfast on the boat, a short cruise along the backwaters and we were sadly back at the docks. We had long forgotten about our boat that had seen a season or two too many, just great moments and memories which everyone should try and do at some time if they are in Kerala. The locals bathing along the canals, fishing for dinner or going places in their hollowed out canoes are really special sights which i will never forget.

Periyar Tiger Reserve

With our time in the tea plantations done, our next stop was Periyar Tiger Reserve. We had been assured that seeing tigers in the wild is increasingly rare as in this 700 hectare reserve there are only 46 of the beasts. Still i prayed the entire way hoping for this rare sighting.

We booked in to stay the night in the tented camp, excited! Our 4x4 picked us up in Kumily and we headed towards the reserve. On the way we tried to fill up with diesel but because there was a strike the day before all the pumps were empty. Good thing we're in India because down the road there was some guy allowing people to siphon fuel from his bus, love it!!

The weather was not with us that evening and we had to cut our game drive down dramatically when the monsoon rains started again. Fortunately before that we had seen a large herd of Indian elephants grazing on the hillside. Elephants truly are amazing creatures, no matter if they're the real deal or from India. They still move around devouring the grass ahead of them without a care in the world. This herd had a really young baby and all the adults were guarding it so picture opportunities were at a minimum.

The landscape in this park is truly different to any park I have been to in South Africa. There are grass covered rolling hills and rivers that cut through their base bringing the natural spring water from the mountains. The animals that are found there in this park are Bison, Bears, Tigers, Leopards, elephants, Sambar deer and various others. Sadly we only got to see the Elephants, Bison and Deer but i really enjoyed being back in nature.

The staff in the camp prepared us our meal of curry (what else) and some chapatti, waited on us hand and foot while we were eating and made us a massive campfire to sit around after dinner.

We found out there were some varsity students on a nature camp nearby and went to explore. Bad idea... They were so excited by this that they placed us on the stage facing the group and prepped me for the 10 min speech i was about to blurt out. The speech went very well and opened up new possibilities for a career in public speaking. They were most interested in my views of cricket, nature, Eco-tourism and campus life. The round of applause i received was not dissimilar to that when John Smit lifted the RWC trophy. Best thing is we were asked to sing them a song.... only one i knew was Nkosi Sikeleli, so asking them to stand to attention i broke out into song. I think they underestimated how long the anthem was so they just humoured me to the end... lol, it was good fun though.

We retired to our tent, not before a thorough check for leeches, and got to sleep, only to be woken up at 2am by the locals who could hear 2 elephants in the camp. We spent about 10 min watching them feeding (from a good distance of course). When i crawled back into my sleeping bag i found i nice fat leech that had just fallen off my leg after a hearty meal... not pleasant. The rest of the night was pretty restless as every time i felt something anywhere i would wake up and shine the torch. What a girl!!!

The morning came and we went out trekking which was a lot of fun. We never trekked anywhere near the distance we were meant to as the path we had chosen was blocked by a herd of elephants, so we just sat there and merrily snapped away while they filled their bellies with grass.

So sadly no tiger or leopard, but we did see faeces from both of them full of Sambar Deer remains. Maybe next time.. Still dying to see that tiger!!

Tea, glorious Tea

A good nights rest was welcomed by some fantastic pancakes with coconut sugar and home made honey fort breakfast. Mouth watering isn't it?

We took a tour of the Munnar tea plantations taking a peek at the various spice plantations in the area too. It was surprisingly interesting to learn about how they make tea and different variations of tea, and did you know when they pick the trees they only use the top two leaves and the tip..? Well it was news to me too. Tommy taught us so much when he took us through the spice plantations, breaking off leaves here and there asking us to smell them. You never really think which plant all these spices come from and i felt like i was in school again, taking all this knew knowledge. Tommy studied botany at university and has his own nursery and plantation in his backyard behind the homestay, so i say he's is about the best qualified guy in the area to show you round the plantations.

Lunch and dinner were again no small matters. The curries in south India are really fantastic, so much flavour and not too spicy at all. When i asked Tommy why the food is like this, he reckons the curries you get in Europe is Punjabi food cooked by Bangladeshis passed off as Indian food. Point taken.

We also manged to get a real taste of what third world can be like. They live so far from the main electricity exchange that when there are loads of people using their power, theirs cuts out and during the worst instances they even sit in the dark. Writing this i realize it doesn't sound too dissimilar to SA these days..

All in all we had a great time in Munnar, walking along the waterfalls and seeing the villages. One thing i hatet was the leeches that feast on your legs and between toes when you walk through the bush. So vile... if you do not notice them when they bite, by the time you look again they have sucked so much blood they are the size of a jelly bean... just searched whether leeches can spread HIV cause i was worried... for the next guy, no seriously - looks like i have nothing to be concerned about.

It's not about the taxi

We arranged a round trip of Kerala with our homestay. So he organized us a taxi to take us round as all the tour bus prices were exorbitant. Biiig mistake. Our taxi driver could not speak a word of English so when he arrived at a place where we wanted to go to let us know by saying "yes". Celia and I by the third time of asking were as well trained as the Elephants we were going to see, so we knew to get out the car.

We stopped off first at this Elephant training camp, it was amazing to be able to see fully grown Indian elephants at such close range and we even fed them coconuts. The trainers ordered them to lie down on the banks of the river and with the left over coconut shells, we gave them a good body scrub. Celia's index finger clamped to the camera shutter release (gotto get that thing checked). It was really exciting and the young elephants were really cute too. The one adult loved you playing with his trunk so much and used to sniff away at anything you wore on your wrist, trying to grab it with the tip of his trunk.

This is about where the fun stopped because when they were turning them over to wash the other side if they did not listen they would whip them and poke them with this massive brass hook. Did not enjoy that, but they ensured us it was all for training. This carried on for a while and the elephants were calling out in distress so we left.

We left early and went from there to the training center where in this cage at the entrance they had 2 baby elephants separated from their mothers, apparently "lost from the herd", not older than a couple months. Their trunks not longer than my forearm. It was horrible, they were crying out when the trainers hit them... it's disturbing just writing this.

There happened to be a TV crew there from some Indian channel, obviously seeing Celia and I visibly distressed, asked us if they could interview us. We both gave our strong opinions. Mine obviously more elaborately expressed than Celia's (still want to be a TV star) and went on our way. Taxi driver bleak that we ditched this place without even going in (obv. a gem of a place to him) so service getting increasingly worse.

From here we headed off to Munnar, but first a couple introductory facts:

Munnar its nearly 1600 metres above sea level and happens to be the highest tea plantation in the world. Adjacent to the tea fields is Anaimudi, the highest peakin South India, standing there at a massive 8 842 ft.

Now back to my story. Just passed Munnar town is Eravikulam National Park and home of the Nilgiri Tahr, an endangered species of the wild goat and the only one to be found south of the Himalayas. Its really amazing to see, and the trek up the single windy mountain road def worth it albeit a bit expensive.

By the time i got out the National Park it was pretty late and time to find our accommodation, with the driver already starting irritating us, i wanted to get to my room as soon as possible.

The story of this evening could use another blog post but it's so tiring and so old i will not bore you. Basically I sent the idiotic driver home on the evening of the first day because he was trying to cheat us out of money and get home early the following morning, therefore ruining our time.

Now that he was gone for good we could enjoy our dinner at the Rose Gardens homestay with, Tommy, Rajee and their fantastic children.

I sat back with a cold Kingfisher, chapatee in hand and enjoyed the fresh mountain air Kerala was offering me.

Cherai Beach

So last night we went to see some tradional Kerala dancing which is not really my thing at all and were gonna leave halfway after the best parts were over, but surprise, surprise it wasn't bad and i actually stayed till the end. Just love watching these South Indians bobbing their heads from side to side and all.

No rain on this day so we decided to take a day trip down to Cherai beach as my tan needed some topping up after my shower. We hired a rickshaw for the day and had a fantastic driver, when the Indians hear you are South African all they want to do is talk about cricket which is fine by me. They are so passionate and their lack of language is made up by colourful facial expressions and head bobbing (love it).

Cherai beach was not all that it could have been. There's been a lot of rain here and they were experiencing a very high tide, so no swimming on the rocky beach as it was pretty dangerous even for a Baywatch veteran as myself.

Memories of Mauritius soon came flooding back to me as the local men found out about this white female lying on the beach. All taking turns to come and stare, young and old, eyes almost bursting out the sockets. I had to put a stop to this, getting seriously bleak. One guy was taking the mick so i told him where to go, in the most polite way i could muster at that point.

The drive back was just as enjoyable, you can take in so many sights and sounds on a rickshaw and this guy was willing to stop whenever we wanted to take a photo. We saw a large male Elephant on his way to temple walking down the road. This is very strange as everyone just carries on as per normal. This nation really do have wild animals in their backyard unlike the rest of the world believe us Africans do.

On our way back in Fort Cochin we stopped off in the local bazaar to get Celia a sari, i splurged on the most expensive one there, a whole 900 Rupee. Celia chose while i got malayed by mozzies coming out of the infested drains, it was worth it. The sari is beautiful and im sure Celia will look lovely in it.

The rain in Kerala...

So we've been in Kochi for the most of a day and we've been fortunayte enough to be stuck in major storms which is why i am on the internet again. It's either that or Bollywood movies in the hotel room.

Just a quick one: Asking Celia this morning what the exchange rate is from the pound to the rupee, she says and this is not a lie... " 31 pounds will get you 2500 rupees", I still look at her in disbelief. You would expect someone to say "1 to 10 or 1 to 270..." but her answer was special enough to add to this blog...

Yogya

We arrived in Yogyakarta after a crazy 6 hour travel journey (minibus ride). The area where we stayed, Marlioboro, is a street of batic stalls, street vendors and sidewalk eateries Indo style.

We found a nicish hotel, but again, as always in Indo, it required lots of haggling. It was still overpriced in my opinion, but we were both too tired to care. Hardest thing in the world is to find a restaurant that serves beer in an Islamic dominated city. Celia and i walked the streets flat looking for that elusive Bintang to quench our thirst. We eventually ended up back at our hotel and smashed a couple in record time.

Can't really remember what we did on the second day there, but a lot of our time is often spent trying to get flights to our next destination or try sort out odds and ends, Internet, blah blah. Very time consuming. I'm glad people actually read this. Oh yes.... we went to pizza hut for lunch. A nice change from nasi (rice) but as usual we ordered too much and totally stuffed our faces swearing to never go back there again. Pizzas these days are hilarious, you get a thick based pizza which obv. has melted cheeze on top, a base which contains cheese and these cheese finger type things around the edges loaded with extra cheese... (Borat: What is this.....???)

The evening ends up with a trip to the Sultans palace and the bird market. Apparently the Yogya people are very proud of their pet birds. The cages and local birds are very beautiful, some people also sold exotic reptiles and mammals - not sure how legal it is, but it made for some interesting photos. When we got back to the hotel room i turned on to one of the very few English channels we have there and was treated to one of the worst movies i have ever seen - "Frankenfish", can somebody please hire it one day, pleeeaaaaassseeee??

We end up at Bourbadour (think that's how one spells it) on the last day which is the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, yes you heard it, the world! It's a registered world heritage site and looks truly impressive from afar, just as the pyramids do, but when you get on it there's not too much to it if you don't really understand Buddism and all that. Sorry to sound so uneducated... i will try read up on it at a later stage.... NAAAAAATTTT!

One really funny moment, you had to be there though, was when our Indonesian driver was trying to call these passengers in the bus, they never heard him, so he shouted "Hey Japanese..." Was rolling off my chair laughing, only in Asia could someone get away with that.

Evening arrived and we set off on our 8 hour (supposedly) train journey to Jakarta Executif class. I am writing this now so we did survive the bumpy ride home, but oh my word...

Anyway I love Singapore airport..

Nerves!!!

The two women at the reception are from the Compassion project and are as nervous as we are. It is the first time anyone has come to visit their sponsored child in this area. apparently the translator was up all night practising English dialog.

The hired car drops us off at the families home, i am first out the car, and there is a wierd moment as I greet the mother as we cannot realyl communicate in English or Indonesian. The father, the grandparents and the lovely Kathryn all come out of the house (it's still wierd).

Kathryn was very nervous and she has a cute little 5 year old pout on her, refusing to smile :) The morning went really well, they made is this fantastic Indonesian food, and we chatted (through the translator and the fathers broken English ) and played with their dog Manis and goats. The family dis seem to warm to us and i managed to make a frind for life by giving their 7 year old son a football and pump. We kicked it around all afternoon until the sweats got the better of me - not as young as i used to be.

They really are a fantastic family and are so thankful for our support through Compassion as it provides Kathryn as well as the family with benefits they would have never had :(

It's tough to say goodbye (you know me, i'm never good during these times), there's a chance will will never see the family again and we seem to already have a bond due to our support and love for their daughter. Its tough to see people in such need when you were brough up having so much more. All you can do is bless them with as much as possible.

We visited the Compassion project in the afternoon. This is where they feed the children, teach them and give them fun activities to do. They made a big fuss of us and even made us get up on stage for them. Once again i own the stage and that rendition of "I love you Jesus (deep down in my heart)" will be remebered longer than my rugged good looks and golden tan.

We get to spend the evening with the family at the arcade (without Gabriella the 14 year old daughter as she has to stay home with the grandparents). They have never been to a mall or arcade before which in itself is astounding, but knowing how much money they have is truly believable. The kids were in heaven, staying on the trin ride until the last millimeter of movement, playing the racing games and anyting they could fit a coin into. I played a couple of games of fussball with the dad and he loved it. Celia played air hockey with the mom and it seemed nobody wanted to leave but the kids needed to go to school in the morning so we went back to our hotel said some teary goodbyes and got some good sleep.

Compassion

What an experience! We flwe into Surabaya from Bali, having no real idea how to get to Blitar where we would visit one of our sponsored kids.

3 bus trips.. where you have to watch what the locals are paying so the conductor cannot charge you his own dream price, plus a trip on on the bicycle / rickshaw type taxis , poor guy had to cycle Celia plus a grumpy German and 150l of baggage. This all equals 6 hous to get to our lovely hotel. Not sure what day of the week it is, but Celia ensures me she took the pill that said Monday so therefore it is still the 22nd. We get a good noghts sleep as the following day we are going to visit Kathryn, one of out sponsored children.

3AM rugby - 10 AM surf

With Celia booked in for a 10Am surf lesson, sleep time was short. I finally mastered all the waves Kuta beach had throw at me that day so next time i am here i will venure out a little further above my category ( Kelly Slater you need not worry). Celias lesson went very well and i believe she has been converted. A couple more days of this before we head to Blitar in East Java will be just fine. Especially now that the hordes have gone home after Ramadan

World Champs!!!!

Having a pretty uneventful day by normal standards, but a pretty peachy day by Bali standards (surf; breakfast; beers; late lunch with beers; snooze; sunset with beers; dinner with beers ) Celia and I start talking up the the evenings rugby over a few more Bintangs. A few more later and a decision has been made where we will watch the 3AM kick off, we head to bed for a well earned power snooze.

The alarm goes, leaving me enough time to psyche Celia and myself up witha few "come on Bokke" and telling Celia about the time Jake White and I discussed rugby tactics after a Sharks game at Loftus. I put my pristine white away Springbok jersey and head for the bar on foot to Kups Corner. The game is an entirely tense affair with scoring oppotunities falling to both teams, but its the solid defense of the South Africans that pulls us through. A special mention must go out to Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Butch James, \percy Montgomery and out Captain John Smit for allowing me the pleasure of seeing the irritatingly loud English we were watching the game with, walk out sans pride walk out before the end of the game!!

Ingriss

I know my ability to speak Indonesian is non existent, but as a tourist it is my right to laugh a bit at the locals take on English. I have seen loads of menu faux pas in my life but "Chicken Garden Blue" has to take the cake. We also have classics like "Japples" - coming from their inability to say "f" which also means i been "surping" every day. Old stereotypes like "flied lice" pop up their funny head occasionally too

No time, no blog, no pics

Hey all that read this, i wonder how many... I am stuck in places with very slow internet connections, unable to upload pics and only very limited access to writing my blog. Will try catch up tomorrow when i have a bit of time.

Still thining of yu all and can't wait to tel you about the beautiful sunsets, awesome waves and general life in Bali.

chat later :)

They have just started playing 'Make it all for one, all for love' by Bryan Adams in this dingy internet cafe and i didn't even feel like dancing, clearly not enough Bintang in my blood stream. Wheres that wife of mine, need to get outta here.... xxxx

The Endless Sunset part troix

So with the bike trip out out the waybut the memories still as fresh as the deep scars on my toes and the schoolboy exhaust burn on my calf, Celia and I set out to find another perfect sunset.

With the beautifule Canggu beach already negotiated( about 60 pics) , and Legian beach shown us its best end of day pose ( about 55 pics) we head off to the famous Uluwatu. This is one of the best surf breaks in Bali with some of the buggest waves on the island. Note: My surfing bravery has not reached thgis level of stupidity yet. The board stays home.

Uluwatu also houses one of the most impressive Hundu temples in Bali. I know this as the local Kwiki-mart has a fine array of post cards. Once we arrive at Uluwatu and negotiate the Macaques in the parking lot we realise the temple will have to stay on out to-do list. I assume the position. Camera round neck, Bintang in hang and a plate of Gado-gado on order. The scenery is breathtakin and the surfers down below make a mockery in my mind of my limited surfing ability. So many good pictures of them to prove it too. We snap away once again at the ama zing sunset andset off on the now infamous bike. Done

A long way round

So Celia and I saddled up for a trip to Ubud, which is meant to be about an hours trip by bike, there are meant to be great stalls there where you can buy loads of nice paintings, silver and various other crafts. The traffic was really heavy and we rode like mad, let me just add that this was my first proper experience riding a motor bike, when we checked the map again, we had gone way past Ubud and were headig straight for this mountain (Guning Batur). So we decided not to head back and drive on as we were having such a blast and seeing such amazing sights (the rice fields are amazing) and see where we would end up by nightfall.

We stopped off at Batur lake which is the major source of water for most of the island, had some lunch whicle we fought off the flies, and headed on, Celia humming the A-Team tune in my ear for the next hour.......? Don't know why..? Oh yes, and occasioanly the star wars tune.

This guy who took us to the restaurant gave us directions on how we would reach the north coast, but we had to leave soon and swiftly or we not get there before nightfall. These road signs.... we got a little lost to say the least and ended up on this tiny gravel road riding through this village. What an experience, the villagers carrying their food on heads and shoulders just staring at these crazy tourists as they drive through.

We arrived at the north coast after many a detour and stopped off at this small village on the beach. The old woman were busy planting the rice in the fields, the men were building something and the children just fascinated by us and our motion capturer, they laughed as we shoowed them the pictures we had just taken of them. We stopped off for a drink and to rest our weary asses as by this time we had been about 5.5 hours in the saddle.

OUR MISSION
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Find a place to stay as night was hastily approaching, we did not know how lucky we had it in Kuta as the second place we stopped at (the first was full) asked us $120 for a room which is a joke... We settled for something way out of our price range, only because it was gettgin late, but we did get what we payed for. Absolute bliss. Only one problem, we were surrounded by Germans... again. Where do they all come from, no exxxxxxageration but there must be more Germans outside the fine land than in it. Celia happened to be the only non German speaker there out of about 25. I chated a bit to the owner, Werner, who settled there many years ago and built that magnificent resort. It was one of the most beautiful places i have ever stayed in.

We relaxed for the morning and set off on our next journey round the coast. The coastal road was beautiful and quiet, giving me chance to open up that 100cc bad boy i was riding to an almighty 90km/h, with Celia still humming the A-Team tune in my ear, i was loving life. We stopped off at a cuople spots for kodak moments and set course for the east. We stopped off at this amazing water palace that belongs to the last king of Bali and a couple good surf spots before ending up in Candisasa for a well earned lunch.

Lunch at the spa and a swim in the pool was ama-zing, on our way out and back to Kuta we got chattig to this lovely Austalian woman Amanda who just asked us if we'd like to stay at here house for the night free of charge instad of hitting the traffic. Yes please!! We got to her place and not only was it a nice house, it was a lovely villa overlooking the ocean. We had the upstairs honeymoon suite (sweeeeeeeeet) with open lounge, outdoor bathroom, and just pure relaxation all over it. Celia and i watched some DVD's 'You, me and Dupree' and 'Hotel Rwanda' , although i fell asleep in the second, i do really want to watch it.

The food, hostpitality and setting were perfect and just what we needed before setting off to the hectic Kuta. We stopped off in Sanur for some mealies (corn to the non Saffers) and a Bintang (Bali Beer) on the beach and drove the highway home to Kuta.

What an experince. 3 days on the road taking in the scenery, we could have done more but we had the surfing to attend to. I would reccomend it to all that go here as you can easily get stuck doing nothing on Bali which would be a shame as it is a beautiful island with more to offer than great waves

Indo so far

Hey, so we been in Jakarta for a couple days which was an eyeopener to say the least. Was very interesting to go there, its amazing just how poor some of the areas are. I'm sure we'll get to see loads of that all over Indo. We just ended up spending our time in shopping malls, thanks for all the tips Sam. We had a great sushi in Talan Anggrek shopping center!!!! The touristy areas like Jalan Jakse are not all that during the day and pretty seedy, maybe at night it would be a little different. So my advice, stay in the malls.

We are now in Bali and it has been a pleasure. first night we had to stay in a dodge place as the island had no accommodation because of Ramadan, but we are now staying at the Suka Beach Inn in Kuta, which is lovely, looks like a temple :) . Kuta is this really wild surfing town with a busy nightlife and loads of street stalls selling knock offs of surfing gear. Have not been tempted yet as my boardies are still in one piece.

I've been out surfing every morning which is awesome and finding my feet but i still look at the local kids in awe, they are younger than 10 and ripping up the waves like crazy. Been thinking of gettting a board as the next 3 months we will be following good surf in India, Aus, NZ, US and Mexico. Board hire does add us and getting tired of the haggling for prices. It takes away from good surfing time.

Food here is so good and cheap and beer is fantastic too. Watched the Bokke win the rugby this morning at 03hoo and am thrilled we are in the final. Celia and I have hired a scooter and are off exploring tomorrow. Can't wait. The scooter has a little board rack so wherever you find surf on yout bike you can just stop off and jump in the water.

Well i'll chat you soo and hopefully have time to upload photos of some of the beautiful sunsets we have seen!!!

Bako National Park

Today we just got back from Bako National Park which was absolutley amazing!!!!!!! I cannot tell you enough.

Bako is situated on this peniunsula on the north west coast of Sarawak province. Screeu vir my 'province'. The higlights there being the rare Probiscus monkeys, Bearded Pig, Flying Lemur, Silver leaf monkeys, Pit Vipers and the various types of pitcher plants on offer.

Well we saw them all. I'm an old spotter i tell you, even managed to fit in a couple shy kingfishers, stick insects, killer ants, ninature bees and stick insects to name a few.

We set off yesterday afternoon with this german couple we met, Thorsten and Stephanie from Frankfurt, in search of the elusive Probiscus monkey. The search did not go well as we reached the end destination (the beach) without a monkey in sight, we styarted the walk back after some rock climbing antics and i assured them i would find them a monkey. 28 years Kruger Park grooming anf i couldn't find thema glorified Baboon... Well we got back to the start of the trail and again nothing. I was about to start my apologies when out rhe corner of my eye about 400 hundred meters away high up on a cliff obscured by trees i caught a glimpse of one of them. They were playing in the trees and we were all happy, checked that one off the 'to do' list.

We also spotted the silver leaf monkey which as its name siuggests is silver, but has orange babies so they are easily spotted. Incredible!!

Our night jungle trek was very interesting. We spotted this beatiful kingfissher sleeping, Pit Vipers, Tree frogs and various other night owls (but no owls), we also saw the flying lemur crouching against the tree trunk. We thought this was strange - more to follow.

The morning arrived with the Macaque's running around on our roof (glorified Vervet's) and so a new day. We set off pretty early on this trail to see birds but never say any, only another troop of Probiscus. This made Celia happy, so i was happy. We snapped away until the camera was overheating and wounding more like a semi automatic rifle. With intermittent bursts of me saying, 'Surely thats not a good photo'. the jury is still out.

We made our way back towards the jetty where the evening before the guide had told us the Probiscus chill out there chowing leaves and other stuff at low tide when low and behold we spot an entire troop up close, and i never even had to use my eagle vision.

We took many photos, Celia and I interchangably. When her index finger got cramp she handed the camera to me and we worked in tandem like a team. We do have some amazing shots of them, they became so comforable with us that we were even able to move within a couple metres of them. I believe it was my foresight in not having showered in 4 days in order to blend in with my natural surroundings. Incredible!

The rest of the day involved taking more jungle walks, seeing amazing Pitcher plants, a quick dip in the warm South China Sea and a extremely bumpy ride back to Kuching. Which leaves me here at Singasana Lodge waiting for the morning when we leave for Jakarta, Indo. Wish us luck!!

Semengogh Orangutans

We wake up all excited as this morning we are about to see Orangutans for the first time in the wild. I have a little wobble because we almost miss the bus which would have meant missing it altogether but we arrive inh Semengogh Orangutan Rehabilitation Center after our first Malaysian bus ride.. not looking forward to indo if it was this bad here..

Now this park is a rehabilitation center but it is still wild as they do not see the orangutan for months on end even though there is a daily feeding time. There isd enough food in the jungle to sustain them all. On the day we went the mother we saw had not been seen for over 3 years.

We were greeted by this young male who put on a display for us before we went to the main feeding area of the reserve. When we arrived the abovementioned mother was there with newborn baby eating the fruit they had on the buffet. It was amazing to see them but after a couple moments i dropped to the floor as it sounded like we had come under AK-47 fire, I looked around to see the RUF fighters but only saw Celia and about 5 others snapping away furiously at their cameras, i brought myself to my feet again and began to enjoy the lazy yet powerful way they move around. We managed to see another mother and baby before we had to leave after the hour's visit. We had seen enough and left with biiig smiles on our faces talking about the photos the entire bumpy trip home.