tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51468288936327088652024-02-19T21:20:50.569-08:00Nick & Natty do the World...well some of it!A stupid idea? I think not! People may doubt that we have made the right decision in doing this whole travelling thingy...but what else are we to do, sit at home and wait for the recession to bugger off? Nah! Think I'd rather wait on a nice beach somewhere or while waking up in the Himalayas...sounds like a terrible plan doesn't it?Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-29122432235906578092012-03-25T04:22:00.016-07:002012-03-25T06:22:22.831-07:00Nick and especially Natty feed a generation of mosquitoes in Borneo!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkl93T4XUuuQU5hPefhFVwz9182xGNbtokcTaCKiGpCwpneu7jErvf1ISOvzRcE-L7spMQBoPdcQxKblMl0NG-nMNOlGmmRU_GQe86gw924JSAD51AA3R0m4WPi3ynuTrq_FP0WthrLo/s1600/P3160202.JPG"></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDCwNdNZvB455lfluViRmsXpV2srYnfl6AxfZtRMb1j-jj5CRbHv6Pyn0FNwUsi4w4SETSWA50RRN5Lxscj8yCcgy7U-OasxYkljElJqvQGWBf26MGIaOQBJ9XhHEV88AfDqsWBmXtzw/s1600/P3160088.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDCwNdNZvB455lfluViRmsXpV2srYnfl6AxfZtRMb1j-jj5CRbHv6Pyn0FNwUsi4w4SETSWA50RRN5Lxscj8yCcgy7U-OasxYkljElJqvQGWBf26MGIaOQBJ9XhHEV88AfDqsWBmXtzw/s400/P3160088.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723815130577030434" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">On crocodile-infested waters</span><br /></div><br />So, it's been a whirlwind of a journey through the jungles and beaches of Borneo. After a few nights in Kota Kinabalu, with a wet day of riding up to the national park of Kinabalu mountain and riding right back down again because it was so cold! Poor Nick was soaked to the bone, riding at the front, and we never imagined we could get so cold in such a hot country! I would say it was a rooky mistake, but we have been through this before!<br />We took a plane to Sandakan, which is a town out to the east of KK in Malaysian Borneo. We went straight to Sepilok where we stayed at Uncle Tan's, the hostel that is attached to the jungle camp where we did a 3 day and 2 nights package.<br />Before leaving for the jungle, we went to the Orangutan Reserve in Sepilok. We seemed to have a similar experience to everyone else we've spoken to. We paid about 8 quid to stand for 45 minutes with a few hundred other folks to watch some orangutans have their breakfast. After such a long time waiting, we were graced with the presence of a young male orangutan, who came out of the jungle hand in hand with one of the reserve staff. It was a little disappointing, and although atleast we can hope our money is going to the orangutans (if there are more than one), I wouldn't go back there. There were supposed to be a maximum of 50 people viewing the feeding, and it was pretty noisy despite signs saying 'BE QUIET' all over the place. So, in the future I hope the reserve sticks to keeping visitors to a minimum, rather than crowding the place with so many people that the orangutans stay away.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7bmgwDfz8tcHxy3IDyWFFBdlYNV70Pjqj44UMEpZZLqh6u41b1sg4fgKOUH6M9VSHrLcTOTCaxphtWV_P4bGPpHbhHBR-p8djRnEYI8BOROXltWEMTEHoFLerfCbVbtKg-GSnKt5DBw/s1600/P3170323.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7bmgwDfz8tcHxy3IDyWFFBdlYNV70Pjqj44UMEpZZLqh6u41b1sg4fgKOUH6M9VSHrLcTOTCaxphtWV_P4bGPpHbhHBR-p8djRnEYI8BOROXltWEMTEHoFLerfCbVbtKg-GSnKt5DBw/s400/P3170323.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723813219017787378" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">The entrance to the jungle camp<br /><br /></span></div>Luckily for us and the lovely Kristel from the Netherlands who we met that morning, we proceeded to the jungle where we ended up seeing 4 wild orangutans!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkl93T4XUuuQU5hPefhFVwz9182xGNbtokcTaCKiGpCwpneu7jErvf1ISOvzRcE-L7spMQBoPdcQxKblMl0NG-nMNOlGmmRU_GQe86gw924JSAD51AA3R0m4WPi3ynuTrq_FP0WthrLo/s1600/P3160202.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkl93T4XUuuQU5hPefhFVwz9182xGNbtokcTaCKiGpCwpneu7jErvf1ISOvzRcE-L7spMQBoPdcQxKblMl0NG-nMNOlGmmRU_GQe86gw924JSAD51AA3R0m4WPi3ynuTrq_FP0WthrLo/s400/P3160202.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723819985135193186" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A wild orangutan<br /><br /></span></div>On top of that we got to see plenty of Proboscis monkeys, the kind that have that huge nose. And we saw a ridiculous amount of Long-Tailed Macaques, or as the locals call them, the Jungle Gangstas! They call them this because they are constantly fighting. These are the least shy and roam around in groups of up to 25 monkeys.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSELpQVgaQ-jGI0ScJoAJ75hHMxL4J8rffYQcchJrvE9vSPg1LWhopfrF0gGtoQMMHCPAEBb-5xm63FWVGF_IrQ8aI3ts_-o2N_74X1rkCAyjWG5hUELtEaKsCq03baRtHqeEuVoFIQU/s1600/P3170315.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSELpQVgaQ-jGI0ScJoAJ75hHMxL4J8rffYQcchJrvE9vSPg1LWhopfrF0gGtoQMMHCPAEBb-5xm63FWVGF_IrQ8aI3ts_-o2N_74X1rkCAyjWG5hUELtEaKsCq03baRtHqeEuVoFIQU/s400/P3170315.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723814222561970850" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A pathway leading through the camp<br /><br /></span></div>My favourite was the night trek, where we got to see beautiful kingfishers and other colourful birds sleeping on low branches, so close you could touch them, though of course we didn't!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2xd4bzyJH-CbqHEqy6fSjLnjVxW757e-eGeG6kd2rDnBxnI26CbTp9vu69yIH3mpMQNEeHa0VnRAVWoEPr-912sgyxCAax3GN-QpRA-gFwcWmSWkm4pArMgt-1UgUMEr5AZV2OCwAro/s1600/P3160093.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2xd4bzyJH-CbqHEqy6fSjLnjVxW757e-eGeG6kd2rDnBxnI26CbTp9vu69yIH3mpMQNEeHa0VnRAVWoEPr-912sgyxCAax3GN-QpRA-gFwcWmSWkm4pArMgt-1UgUMEr5AZV2OCwAro/s400/P3160093.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723812258805707234" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Black-backed Kingfisher (inappropriately named?!), asleep from behind<br /></span></div><br />We also saw plenty of big spiders which is, let's be honest, what Nick was looking forward to the most! In the end we also finally saw a crocodile, which is really what you want when you spend the best part of 3 days on crocodile infested waters!<br /><br />After our jungle adventure we spent one more night in KK (after a seven hour bus journey) and then headed up north to just outside of Kudat, at the Tip of Borneo. The beaches here were pristine and beautiful, basically empty, and we stayed at Tampatdoaman, a resort and restaurant.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-XgS6zvO-MtrO55qjrnSp66ifxy2i5cwpp_AB6mO3M58A_hMMCWkDHvcuNYLKJIF6ntUUJwq5eLb0P36JQqKzh6AEQyXmegHuJT_SYBO60ZR2hjDkgzV0k7XHXoZcNxbwQkakkaOkjM/s1600/P3220355.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 96px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-XgS6zvO-MtrO55qjrnSp66ifxy2i5cwpp_AB6mO3M58A_hMMCWkDHvcuNYLKJIF6ntUUJwq5eLb0P36JQqKzh6AEQyXmegHuJT_SYBO60ZR2hjDkgzV0k7XHXoZcNxbwQkakkaOkjM/s400/P3220355.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723822308382420562" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Not a great picture, but wanted to show one of the beaches<br /><br /></span></div>The accommodation was simple, a traditional longhouse where we all shared compost toilets and showers with a fantastic view into the jungle around. We also had the company of some ducks, one who was particularly crazy called Fred, some chickens and roosters, and the odd dog. And don't forget the spiders and mosquitoes!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6XaC6L_9bAFK885FT4-YQVO2vS-26P390K7YOUbpgOkJPqg0LgMHlEdP2NW39-DVPkNDzhyphenhyphenyGjs4uutpkka_ZDj_QoirVgh9RB6WQ4Pdav1sz4ChsN-QpiCguwl9aBcB4JxHFxQyZig/s1600/P3190338.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6XaC6L_9bAFK885FT4-YQVO2vS-26P390K7YOUbpgOkJPqg0LgMHlEdP2NW39-DVPkNDzhyphenhyphenyGjs4uutpkka_ZDj_QoirVgh9RB6WQ4Pdav1sz4ChsN-QpiCguwl9aBcB4JxHFxQyZig/s400/P3190338.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723820576679220850" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">One of our roommates!<br /><br /></span></div>The owner, Howard, who is from Stratford, is expanding and building some 'nicer' accommodation, but we were very happy with our little room! It's a very sociable and relaxing place and the staff, Howard, Bronson and a few lovely ladies are very helpful. We spent a week on the beach, reading and eating delicious food from Howard's TipTop Restaurant. We spent one of our days on a challenging bike ride exploring the other beaches down the coast, but to be honest, the one we were on was the most beautiful!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Aw66-N-1Vs5fXC9Ha4hfuG9dOlU04-ftv2ecdQb0nEtApcuxZej1ZkB9TamcQxlARYFUL2BUnM4ptE4TYt9uol5GdSIqOlEZdAb7rhB1M3YjjLJ0jIwnLHat3Ue5HGEj_wJMWw4H3LI/s1600/P3220356.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Aw66-N-1Vs5fXC9Ha4hfuG9dOlU04-ftv2ecdQb0nEtApcuxZej1ZkB9TamcQxlARYFUL2BUnM4ptE4TYt9uol5GdSIqOlEZdAb7rhB1M3YjjLJ0jIwnLHat3Ue5HGEj_wJMWw4H3LI/s400/P3220356.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723821639258088754" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Taking a breather on a hot journey up and down hills<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oZpc8V5lF0hEKMAayfNwTeWNesbxjWCZCVM6AG98PuovghYglMcW6AvKKC3NfYpbJ0ZmGZFMTt6GinthbyeR8stq3VO70OD1MH1GAv_rPR7YLXXz1AwYHu5iVEDRa7brCTOE3yszgYA/s1600/IMG_2087.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3oZpc8V5lF0hEKMAayfNwTeWNesbxjWCZCVM6AG98PuovghYglMcW6AvKKC3NfYpbJ0ZmGZFMTt6GinthbyeR8stq3VO70OD1MH1GAv_rPR7YLXXz1AwYHu5iVEDRa7brCTOE3yszgYA/s400/IMG_2087.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723822813280492594" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A beautiful sunset from the beach</span><br /><br /></div>Every morning Howard or Bronson drove us the 2km to the beach from the longhouse, and every evening they ferried us back. It was a truly relaxing week and we met some great people.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxyK3mJhOPfbjPelvZLDBZQkWZiLj6cQfPqVThVKVPX840RWhAOdC71eJmmqC8cWuVp1fMnecutOX-AGCWbmZIfCsRzzi7Dd-nwBonWXXntDdXZy6C1a5ncvIKk8CD_ZgkLbEofEaNYY/s1600/IMG_2094.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAxyK3mJhOPfbjPelvZLDBZQkWZiLj6cQfPqVThVKVPX840RWhAOdC71eJmmqC8cWuVp1fMnecutOX-AGCWbmZIfCsRzzi7Dd-nwBonWXXntDdXZy6C1a5ncvIKk8CD_ZgkLbEofEaNYY/s400/IMG_2094.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723824185060686722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Nick with the lovely Lisa from Sweden and Kristel from the Netherlands. Watching the sunset at the very tip of Borneo.<br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Next stop, the Philippines....<br /></span>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-60728369456351093082012-03-13T14:30:00.003-07:002012-03-13T14:30:00.385-07:00Well I think we say Mt. Kinabalu...So after a couple of days exploring KL, and having done a bit of research into our 14 hour lay over in Jakarta ( voted one of the worst airports in the world), we decided to bite the bullet and book a new flight straight to Kota Kinabalu. KK as it is known by the locals is a bit of a surprise really. It's not what I expected but I don't really know what I expected...Maybe something less, commercial.<br /><br />I mean don't get me wrong,it's quaint, there's palm trees everywhere, walking along the promenade( much like morecambe) you can see the local fisherman doing their thing and from the middle of town you are only a 30 minute drive into beautiful mountains and jungly looking stuff...but there's something off about the place. Maybe it's the Burger king and Pizza Hut, maybe it's the Rashid Mall style mall at the end of the road, but hey it's Asia and it seems ever<br />country round here has a knack of making things a bit odd.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLs_9_2zVfOtgOZTZXywQwl-kGi0gK1nXRKYR1EtPh_BG2a_lVM9vLRJk5fDM6XG1ccQU57Sy5fQgSCM-CuWoHLApjbh3LzWte7LHEVxeOjVpu3_58jGnCrlUL0SmzyaP259xy6vV7Us/s1600/P3110003.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLs_9_2zVfOtgOZTZXywQwl-kGi0gK1nXRKYR1EtPh_BG2a_lVM9vLRJk5fDM6XG1ccQU57Sy5fQgSCM-CuWoHLApjbh3LzWte7LHEVxeOjVpu3_58jGnCrlUL0SmzyaP259xy6vV7Us/s400/P3110003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719276222911464146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Just like More - e - cambe right?</span><br /><br />Beer's expensive, room's cheap, internet is fast, Indian breakfast is great ( masala Dhosa every morning with a steaming cup of chai), oh and it rains here.<br /><br />Yesterday we rented a Honda Wave. Bog standard, semi automatic bike seen all over asia that we thought would be a great way of driving up through the mountains to Mt. Kinabalu and back. Now the idea of flying through the twisty turny roads with Nat on the back and the wind in our hair was appealing to us both as you've probably all gathered we like being on bikes, but the image I had for this fun day out was of us under a blue sky, a few whispy white clouds and looking in awe at the peak of Mt. Kinabalu from the hot springs which on the map we had were just down the road...<br /><br />WRONG AGAIN NICK!!!!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJVkFG87XtEl9Qy0bqJrqqLelWX8xzqveuCu1mrIETdSuHZjiJhEoRlvp7zzsTOvHEqMLiVlqkTWZHNElTJFwS1eEg0QX5FIkjcnzkK4t4f8Nq7AdUyyTi49Ho0P2htVZ-7bmzLc4BZQ/s1600/P3120037.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilJVkFG87XtEl9Qy0bqJrqqLelWX8xzqveuCu1mrIETdSuHZjiJhEoRlvp7zzsTOvHEqMLiVlqkTWZHNElTJFwS1eEg0QX5FIkjcnzkK4t4f8Nq7AdUyyTi49Ho0P2htVZ-7bmzLc4BZQ/s400/P3120037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719277790247512050" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Don't we look so happy!</span><br /><br />We took off from KK and the weather was lovely, weaving in and out of the traffic, having to wave to the locals as they were big and smiley at seeing us ' doing as the locals do'. Lots of lane splitting and chatting to other bikers at lights basically. We followed the directions we'd been given and after filling up at 'the last petrol station before the mountains' we started to head up<br />an incline into the hills. It was delightful, within 30 mins we couldn't see anything that resembled a village let alone a city and the jungle just went on and on. We then saw the cloud line in the distance, but it looked broken, as if we would pass through them into a land of unimaginably beauty...but alas this was not to be. From the moment we entered the cloud cover, that was it. the last time we would see blue sky until the following morning!<br /><br />It rained.<br /><br />Not too much at the start, but enough to get us wet when we just had shorts and a linen<br />shirt on. But by the time 2 hours later, when we had arrived at the Mt. Kinabalu National Park, it was pelting it down. Visibility was down to 20m ( metres not miles) and when we got to the park map, we couldn't see the tree behind it, never mind the illusive mountain itself!<br /><br />Ah, you say, it's ok because your plan was to stop at the hot springs anyway right? Warm up, dry the clothes? WRONG! the hot springs were another hour into the rain, NOT GONNA HAPPEN! so we turned around, and drove back to KK. Another 2 hours, this time on really slippery roads. Freezing cold and hard work!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vOYwFb_fScls6uWxNUTIrmsqBqaOp_isgAvJ4R3Miq0gqj2p9-rg9nhT56Pp81egrLR6gbp0BXggLv5CaGW2fdwB0_zpNVaJBIZeyqEROj-n7NYvUOzCw4mq1sZ59h6J-5bk6InWGM4/s1600/P3120041.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vOYwFb_fScls6uWxNUTIrmsqBqaOp_isgAvJ4R3Miq0gqj2p9-rg9nhT56Pp81egrLR6gbp0BXggLv5CaGW2fdwB0_zpNVaJBIZeyqEROj-n7NYvUOzCw4mq1sZ59h6J-5bk6InWGM4/s400/P3120041.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719279063909481266" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Look what I got for a quick refreshing drink on the way up the mountain...this was just before it got really bad! </span><br /><br />For anyone who hasn't ridden a motorbike in the rain it actually asks some very difficult questions of the driver. You basically have two choices. (A) drive faster, get out of the rain faster but get really cold, wet, and the rain actually hurts when it hits you at 80kph! or (B) drive slower, be a bit a bit warmer but get just as wet and spend more time in the rain wishing you were at home. I found 60kph was my happy medium!<br /><br />So we survived, it was a long day but fun either way, didn't see the mountain, but got a fun story out of it anyway, and believing we'd deserved it went and had a slap up dinner and a few beers. You'll be pleased to know, and not surprised in the slightest, that I still managed to get sunburn on my hands and forearms...typical.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAzATakeMdjPaYtkMjf8qI4fE06IPa3LomL_Rvb1TretJ3HjXpYAIFIXleuLVewGjlpAxFXKCcdPa8plNl6U7nT_Vob9qxoNhj72JoET_7idXG_mrA5mLzJsWPjQAapErWTfx68wNq40/s1600/P3120043.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSAzATakeMdjPaYtkMjf8qI4fE06IPa3LomL_Rvb1TretJ3HjXpYAIFIXleuLVewGjlpAxFXKCcdPa8plNl6U7nT_Vob9qxoNhj72JoET_7idXG_mrA5mLzJsWPjQAapErWTfx68wNq40/s400/P3120043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719278408489148786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">A little bit wet, but we gave the locals something to chuckle about!</span><br /><br />What else, seen a few rats. Having a beer with a couple who were on the Queen Elizabeth round the world jobber and a kitten fell out of the roof, somehow dodging the fan on the way down and landed on the fella's lap...in true Northerner style his first comment was " It's not often that pussy falls right in my lap" - Not bad and very quick for an 81 year old! haha. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9EihoOerGHNecriWUFERN0gUf8yF5uOeJTDsiQSdTU-qSeX2FTBIV4ILy0znMwD7U0OcDxK5MBP8bTuDD1YbsfoPUHqqNomkOGtqJPMm9EOuK-y82d2_bkM6yw2Uw1DTYQADMEkhtfc/s1600/P3110015.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9EihoOerGHNecriWUFERN0gUf8yF5uOeJTDsiQSdTU-qSeX2FTBIV4ILy0znMwD7U0OcDxK5MBP8bTuDD1YbsfoPUHqqNomkOGtqJPMm9EOuK-y82d2_bkM6yw2Uw1DTYQADMEkhtfc/s400/P3110015.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719275146407064146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Brian- the pussy magnet!</span><br /><br /><br />We agreed before we left that we had to surprise each other with something during the trip and Nat's arrived on our second day here. I'd booked us into a rather exclusive and very good massage here, most relaxing couple of hours we'd had for a long time!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU6k4VOJkc3eK5h7TONUX5BJF6Ynf8uhp3jCk603s_9dM9WqmkZDfa7EG9tIP3Ebdgj02tjjzbFRJdcbx1J_Ari9fu8bkjfP5UwnDyPBHCdaQsblJIaV-nT_X02KxA9o-9w-AzrjxQ_M/s1600/IMG_2065.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU6k4VOJkc3eK5h7TONUX5BJF6Ynf8uhp3jCk603s_9dM9WqmkZDfa7EG9tIP3Ebdgj02tjjzbFRJdcbx1J_Ari9fu8bkjfP5UwnDyPBHCdaQsblJIaV-nT_X02KxA9o-9w-AzrjxQ_M/s400/IMG_2065.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719274248654940914" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Nat's feet at the start of the spa afternoon.</span><br /><br />Ate some lovely food as you would expect from some rather questionable establishments but have stayed healthy so far!!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGizVgM14Z8qVZgmai6tt2nE8VG4L2yRUlKUJPvwhLCWW5gWRBbjZaX62S7zjCgST1txVcgompq4-GPibC67VRJs2Wia-qRicfuIChRDQz13UpBooru1Qrff69xLbkrZDc1Zibrn8cgo/s1600/P3110020.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMGizVgM14Z8qVZgmai6tt2nE8VG4L2yRUlKUJPvwhLCWW5gWRBbjZaX62S7zjCgST1txVcgompq4-GPibC67VRJs2Wia-qRicfuIChRDQz13UpBooru1Qrff69xLbkrZDc1Zibrn8cgo/s400/P3110020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719276836218890226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">How'd you like them prawns! </span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU6k4VOJkc3eK5h7TONUX5BJF6Ynf8uhp3jCk603s_9dM9WqmkZDfa7EG9tIP3Ebdgj02tjjzbFRJdcbx1J_Ari9fu8bkjfP5UwnDyPBHCdaQsblJIaV-nT_X02KxA9o-9w-AzrjxQ_M/s1600/IMG_2065.jpg"></a><br />Tomorrow we fly into the jungle for a few days before heading to the 'Tip of Borneo' for week on the beach. Hope you are all well, and we'll try and post an update when we can.<br /><br />Take care,<br />MOT!<br /><br />Nick and Natty, doing the world once more!Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-51889452064404228632012-03-11T13:45:00.000-07:002012-03-13T00:01:10.047-07:00Nick and Natty back on the road...first stop Kuala Lumpur!<div style="text-align: center;"><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><u><br /></u></span></div><span><span style="font-size: 16px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnNIMl5loDSjX5TL1roQgjd-m3unJ3eLpWGxILP-dgLEVgLst4Wr0OPVx2nWf-ElLlJLBegqmEki-UQqCx1QgMla8gxBbkax4VJbDlppHa3-9-MC40Y7FTMxImjD1E80mM51sLjm3hHw/s1600/IMG_2004.jpg"></a></span></span><span><span style="font-size: 16px; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnNIMl5loDSjX5TL1roQgjd-m3unJ3eLpWGxILP-dgLEVgLst4Wr0OPVx2nWf-ElLlJLBegqmEki-UQqCx1QgMla8gxBbkax4VJbDlppHa3-9-MC40Y7FTMxImjD1E80mM51sLjm3hHw/s1600/IMG_2004.jpg"></a></span></span><span><span style="font-size: 100%; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnNIMl5loDSjX5TL1roQgjd-m3unJ3eLpWGxILP-dgLEVgLst4Wr0OPVx2nWf-ElLlJLBegqmEki-UQqCx1QgMla8gxBbkax4VJbDlppHa3-9-MC40Y7FTMxImjD1E80mM51sLjm3hHw/s1600/IMG_2004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnNIMl5loDSjX5TL1roQgjd-m3unJ3eLpWGxILP-dgLEVgLst4Wr0OPVx2nWf-ElLlJLBegqmEki-UQqCx1QgMla8gxBbkax4VJbDlppHa3-9-MC40Y7FTMxImjD1E80mM51sLjm3hHw/s400/IMG_2004.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719263230025034354" /></a></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnNIMl5loDSjX5TL1roQgjd-m3unJ3eLpWGxILP-dgLEVgLst4Wr0OPVx2nWf-ElLlJLBegqmEki-UQqCx1QgMla8gxBbkax4VJbDlppHa3-9-MC40Y7FTMxImjD1E80mM51sLjm3hHw/s1600/IMG_2004.jpg"><br /></a></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><u>Lokhee and Anthony took us for galmegisal. Delicious! Beautiful Lokhee. x</u></span></div><br /><span><span style="font-size: 100%;">So, we're back on the road, but before leaving South Korea we spent a week in Gwangju and Seoul with friends Lokhee and Anthony and then Josh and Mel. </span></span><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Before we left Seoul, with plans to return in six months, we went for a much anticipated 9 course meal with Josh and Mel at OKitchen in Itaewon. It was AMAZING! Forgive the terrible pictures, but this was what was on offer!</div></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnNIMl5loDSjX5TL1roQgjd-m3unJ3eLpWGxILP-dgLEVgLst4Wr0OPVx2nWf-ElLlJLBegqmEki-UQqCx1QgMla8gxBbkax4VJbDlppHa3-9-MC40Y7FTMxImjD1E80mM51sLjm3hHw/s1600/IMG_2004.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLr-v-7VXqg4R6xqfvTHUrs9SRacxEctVbeyGx-gBG_g-LsDnc1ZEFmL-HMBu056u_0fCP6GxV5nT5xS93RlzSySC-owBYM0nHgwdMzYnNxaM4cMYmdbEIjb7bD6xBKrbOkfYTRDS5FWY/s400/P3060003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719264173170201618" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /></a></div><div>This was the very first course, some delicious seafood. There was plenty more but I am no food photographer I'm afraid!</div><div>It was a pleasure staying with our friends for our last few days in Korea, we'll miss them!</div><div><br /></div><div>On the 8th of March, we set off for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a cheap upgrade to premium class on Air Asia! Nick had a wonderful time in their flat beds, as you can see!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWqlSmee4xh8aEAElH-ruF9KLNv7eZmFTXQU5zX2DCkTfhBfcZB0gCG4bXLKtKGNbSuRFe6oDc5iE2KX7TlVuYEElxumb-jBbfiLO3zRzvRdzY9AjMzcNDCqkOyQd0Blm6FVR8I3qo_-I/s400/IMG_2009.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div>We stayed at Ribbon Stayyz guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur for two nights and it was comfortable enough, with the only downside being the shared bathrooms were very busy, seeing as half of them were being repainted and therefore were out of use. Good location though, with the busy Petaling Street just around the corner.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiciaTRyVJrw_7n9TLZMloX14GPsXDLv6oqBYqbXOA23FGtlK5zbpD0xCRxaIHMX632HM9eCG2e3fwr2888c15yhx6jrQ41dijPGGrzuOqm5jzfhXadT1mKnmEG7zY8S9vRwKZNd967-uA/s400/IMG_2012.jpg" /> </div><div><br /></div><div>Our first breakfast was in a vegetarian restaurant in what we believed to be the Little India neighbourhood...it turned out this was not where we were, but we got to eat Indian anyway! Nick got his Puri Bhaji for breakfast after such a long time!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgixPTVu_KbzaEoRxHWkVV_LGof-bDkCJ4t2R5oJY62EoK3Tk0kL_K2OMFEUc439iJ1xW-d6D3EAKIHwUnkEvfjlKL8vJxkNVjVRlTflB26SW3dL0pGwqaVP51buURxLCwj2kY2GmR1_QM/s400/P3090020.JPG" /> </div><div style="text-align: left;">We had a great start to our travels in Kuala Lumpur. It is a much nicer place than I imagined, people don't seem to have a lot of nice things to say about it. The colonial buildings are overgrown and charming, and we found everyone to be helpful and friendly.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOWG8bTOfzCsCk-zp_Xazu6ho3d_lyT1Qw3fL29D4lS_iQciE2B9QrzH7hhEX_6WuGXLxGyq1I4FpJNkjXmp4TtEfivPfnPGT0qdJDmd0_WmdrEvxvoAAGsLDtqqL6y22xVBEmwIM_NDA/s400/P3090087.JPG" /> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The highlight for both of us was probably the KL Bird Park. It is the biggest walk in aviary in the world, and there are plenty of species to see. Nick was especially pleased when this Hornbill regurgitated a piece of banana in an apparent attempt to befriend him and possibly share his lunch! If only the cage hadn't prevented an exchange!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEBlp7-XHjkN2r4ivZryokVtajEZwkUnV9lvejMSnYlB1sQcLy_TlJw-uxth5P0MCMS2uQihoE672BQarxabE0hqznVtCeSoizksK9_P_hvr-W9BiHSQ3G5YdbPADwxdeTJ9T2Ke6cWU/s400/P3090040.JPG" /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVGNaUYdKilfucPrDsH0wnf_TcPhGC2j0kzF3w9vSDRvHyU-4tI6XPi0CzVObTe0b46SyWKyoyWvrmMstbWc5BN6CSAawWzhpTBKoE8geJIUMa_9mbo373C1Aa5nvVSbxH3UzyBH9mJKQ/s400/P3090057.JPG" /> </div><div style="text-align: left;">Nick also enjoyed it when I I decided to feed some parakeets who were apparently very hungry! They have surprisingly sharp claws, and I should have know it wouldn't be the peaceful experience I had imagined!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL33AafdSdsS-EJ8aM9wZThgUojKzhs4gxJ9bGa6-L4QFLLs6W-M_cNCMAo2oBezhyGLiBDhHcKijg_LLmVmcRqym2gXm4VLKR9TWiBtifROQVYa7JpyFUOiaQX8Je5OJrAreV9f1y0c/s400/IMG_2044.jpg" /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9P78_pqdNGzHLEzil8iouVGznsw-U84vtwQ8aeyiVFFQPrku1RcvGULm_X6pFtjvZj7psAWTDL_yrnO2b9KrLHmfcf0-e_I4mDqgZ70wuXyB7i_QV7g8gMdLC8a9w3IhrQ7NWGKd1lss/s400/IMG_2049.jpg" /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhO9KburM6rD03LOHPx4caltGC8tarZxy04C5D3m206NJptWlXaCPc-TU9clPTvlo39kboEfPxcKyInBmpYw4GCpC-OhZsV4Im171Yl7TUSuHmSrYy3V_KSWYHvSA460dtVpqfc3bTlY4/s400/IMG_2055.jpg" /> </div><div style="text-align: left;">That'll teach me to feed the birds! It isn't like Mary Poppins promised!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, fun times were had all round, and next we are off to Kota Kinabalu, on the island of Borneo! Woopee! Natty xxx</div></div>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-81166938507866665032012-03-10T22:02:00.000-08:002012-03-13T00:26:25.565-07:00Nick and Natty's two years in Korea...a summary with photos!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOjg4B-TQwXK6eTn8eYKK57yT8LGfJjm3j5TUPjAHmmtixLosyCZy9d4ZhaQnbCn5chZBt-dILcbAmfdFJwH4dBc8IO1xhpwhId93CPooDCgOXYVzUILDyZqICtk23GAyVRpmxrfNHkUw/s1600/IMG_1772.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOjg4B-TQwXK6eTn8eYKK57yT8LGfJjm3j5TUPjAHmmtixLosyCZy9d4ZhaQnbCn5chZBt-dILcbAmfdFJwH4dBc8IO1xhpwhId93CPooDCgOXYVzUILDyZqICtk23GAyVRpmxrfNHkUw/s400/IMG_1772.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719260475833928354" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnzQ5P-hrowtFmIDJmUKjpMLBw7flVPxDTnCO4N_KfWGGhY-3s2Q6pvcrxH9W4MXdwuaf9qtkdTnIHUL9ZxbkXiqnM8Czq-Lt9BdTbJRteUhDfunch8cHZxqFTHHUmS8TBtejSDnvkZ18/s1600/007.JPG"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZJ_PJvVh06N543H8caR27p9CtWHbKRDUjZ5JnBJ62XMEkEMNjLVtQpOo4ZdlU5kC-x_LTAU-FzmL74vL-wclmAdKybMAEyvVH-8657t8FbmuJftNB0LEn5ZUPLI80Ua4SCK8tmhpF1Ks/s400/last+days+in+england%252C+first+days+in+korea+225.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719244904491913122" border="0" /></a>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-82244243837801815962010-01-04T18:08:00.000-08:002010-01-04T18:32:13.973-08:00Nick and Natty do NYE by the harbour bridge...Happy New Year everyone!!!<br /><br />How bad are we! it's been almost 2 months and Nat is really sorry she hasn't been blogging...no but seriously big sorry for not updating you all on our whereabouts. <br /><br />We had a great time after Laos travelling through Cambodia and back to Thailand and Chiang Mai. It was great to spend Nat's bday with our friends Bart and Inge ( the guys we did the trek with in Nepal) and as you've all probably seen Nat's prezzie to Christina went down like a treat! We then spent a few days on the most amazing desert island and hung out with Fran and Jennie in Chaing Mai ( old friends of mine from saudi ). Then that was it, we boarding the plane to Sydney and we said our farewells to the 'backpacking' part of our trip. We'd survived, both as individuals and as a couple! have some great memories and made some great friends along the way, but now it was holiday time. We met up with the rest of the Hough gang and have had a great time down under so far!<br /><br />We rented a car and heading down the coast for a few days, we've done the Opera House, Zoo and spent New Year's Eve on the biggest balcony i've ever seen watching the fireworks over the bridge and all along the river. We've seen tom and Sarah, old friends from back home who I went to uni and lived with, went to the opening day of the test match and saw the Aussies colapse to 127 all out in an afternoon of play! drank lots of beer, visited the real Aussie beaches, not this Bondi and Manly rubbish. I jest really, we've had a great time and been shown around by Hannah and Sarah the cousins here, cooked for by the great Eric and Julie and been made a fuss of which has been great!! <br /><br />So going forward, we have our tickets booked for the uk. Yes we have to go hom for a couple of weeks. We've been offered a job in korea and need to go do an interview with the consulate in London. Would have loved it if during the last 9 months that we've been looking at doing this, that someone had mentioned that we would have to do this. All the agencies said that we would have been able to do the interview over the phone...rubbish. Except that now we can go home , see family and friends and Luna of course and also get our winter clothes...urgh that last bit sounds nasty!! <br /><br />Before all that we're going to Thailand again...we should have residency by now i reckon! and seeing mum and dad, Chris and Di too. It'll be great to see them all and spend a bit of time together although we'll be seeing them a few weeks after anyway!! <br /><br />Anyway, please check out the flickr accounts in the next few days as we are putting a load of pics up from the last couple of months...finally got a connection that is pretty good!! <br /><br />Love to everyone, and see some of you very soon! xxx<br /><br />Nick and Nat<br />xxxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-34648700153349906782009-11-16T00:56:00.000-08:002009-11-16T01:41:31.928-08:00Nick & Natty do Laos...and meet a famous actor!Well, we're currenly in Pnom Phen, Cambodia after a long 12 hour bus journey from the border ( which was meant to be 9) we have spent a couple of days here and are heading up to Siem Reap tomorrow. PP is a mental place, we went to the killing fields yesterday and S21 which is the prison where Pol Pot kept over 20,000 people over a few years back in the 70's. It was quite a heavy experience, not to say that it wasn't worth it but seeing the memorial a the killing fields is incredible, there are 12 floors of skulls and bones that were pulled from mass graves in the area, in 5 years Pol Pot killed over 3 milliom Cambodians, at the time there were only 7 million in the whole country...<br /><br /> Anyway, before all this we spent a great 2 and a bt weeks traversing the incredible Laos. So at the end of the last post we were in Luang Nam Ta, a great little place, so peaceful after a week in bangkok! Now Laos was lovely, but the north is VERY hilly! We spent 9 hours on a bus that got us 250k...but it was worth it.<br /><br /> Luang Prabang was wicked, its a world heritage site now so hardly any development has take nplace, still has te 'old charm' we had baguettes for breakfast and some crazy hot noodle soups for dinner! Met some crazy Europeans but hada great tome, one night we were sat with 4 Germans, a Dutch couple and 2 guys from Belgium we were all speaking English with funny accents but was great, bit weird hearing them not speaking their first language but using it to talk to each other! <br /><br />Then onto Vientienne where we were going to spend a few days as we had to get our Cambodian Visa, turns out it took 1 day and we got a 90 visa whichwe certainly dont need but it wa the same cost so... Vientienne was cool though, we stayed in a great little guestouse with a lovelyfamily, we bought food from the market which we took back and they gave us stuff to eat it with, we had fried fish from the Mekon, some of he est fishi've ever had and the pancakes! oh my god the pancakes! these were crazy though, folded over and then sprinkled wit sugar and condensed milk. I know sounds weird but ate 3 in a row they were that good! the belly's back!<br /><br /> We were kinda sad to leave but lookng forwad to the next stop, the 4000 islands. Now a lot had been said about these islands and we were eventually not dissapointed...first though we had an overnight sleeper bus, see video<br /><br /><OBJECT id=BLOG_video-34bba75279870adb class=BLOG_video_class width=320 height=266 contentId="34bba75279870adb"></OBJECT><br /><br /><br />and then a night in Pakse where the street chef tried to blow my face off with the Beef Laap! but we arrived safely if a little jaded on Don Khong. The big isalnd. Crap, nothing there and nothing to do. To be fair we met some lovely people but really the lonely planet let us down again...familiar story there then. Next was Don Det, a totally different story. Despite the electricity running only from 6 -11 every night, we had a great time. Hired bikes and cycled around, relaxed on the varanda, read books ate good food, Natdid a yoga class one morning, i did a cooking class and this is where we met Keifer Sutherland. Legend.<br /><br /> <A href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVwKm10cB3s9rHmL5xRKL_yyylOLvhZc7y-r0LHznErYwPLFiH3GrLRjvypwkac-dOKw-tntRGSc-TSbh_wefwCsjj0ST1rjsITMkUmOuUShxP2LfQJngrwg4XrQv0ORhYWJrbNmAF2HY/s1600/PB150680.JPG"><IMG style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404630771392781938 border=0 alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVwKm10cB3s9rHmL5xRKL_yyylOLvhZc7y-r0LHznErYwPLFiH3GrLRjvypwkac-dOKw-tntRGSc-TSbh_wefwCsjj0ST1rjsITMkUmOuUShxP2LfQJngrwg4XrQv0ORhYWJrbNmAF2HY/s400/PB150680.JPG"></A> <br /><br />The memorial at the killing fields<br /><br /><A href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdq2j4iOx5ZotcbDMdtjxe7SSHvmOgsmr9j5WDDrP706NGK99rx16TXhpJ930ia5vrjoluAsf9nDTc7YJMBFYa1QplFwBMyWZsxfePQYu3PYgctyCuUcefnFuXFNpypWScyxyKt909h4/s1600/PB130677.JPG"><IMG style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404630765165559266 border=0 alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifdq2j4iOx5ZotcbDMdtjxe7SSHvmOgsmr9j5WDDrP706NGK99rx16TXhpJ930ia5vrjoluAsf9nDTc7YJMBFYa1QplFwBMyWZsxfePQYu3PYgctyCuUcefnFuXFNpypWScyxyKt909h4/s400/PB130677.JPG"></A> <br /><br />The one, the only, Keifer Sutherland!<br /><br /><A href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCkOWVpWwASxmCXQrJ-QdPIFvbx8LBxYWbeSg5X6Ub0gAPG55mfoqEjjajMYBm5dIo3igKCLAmHoqNmr8cOg5_LdhSpgp-Y_wjpm0OxtoowUz19AAAYqQTkf49qV4i3ENrhhFabbOi_E/s1600/PB120657.JPG"><IMG style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404630761685477922 border=0 alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCkOWVpWwASxmCXQrJ-QdPIFvbx8LBxYWbeSg5X6Ub0gAPG55mfoqEjjajMYBm5dIo3igKCLAmHoqNmr8cOg5_LdhSpgp-Y_wjpm0OxtoowUz19AAAYqQTkf49qV4i3ENrhhFabbOi_E/s400/PB120657.JPG"></A> <br /><br />Sunset on Don Det<br /><br /><A href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMAc4z1f7_w9R6nBPZc02L9yCP8yOR49-K5U1mBx1mMUAmzV3nNIfQcjIjxW1ogkyo-eENMtg6RLqPJpO4wliHr0sUwXbEwYMahkp19r0UhJJN9hlsXBP7ZToEGM8YJ3wscIl4aFhb9I/s1600/PB080590.JPG"><IMG style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404630755164398930 border=0 alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMAc4z1f7_w9R6nBPZc02L9yCP8yOR49-K5U1mBx1mMUAmzV3nNIfQcjIjxW1ogkyo-eENMtg6RLqPJpO4wliHr0sUwXbEwYMahkp19r0UhJJN9hlsXBP7ZToEGM8YJ3wscIl4aFhb9I/s400/PB080590.JPG"></A> <br /><br />On top of Champask ruins outside of Pakse<br /><br /><A href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIDpxJRVWPLshnLTXBGKcmkbBNvKdsY7Q6zMjoy8hQkvCrBsbecyGwgAcDdqUc2rrpJ4CW7WsAldFzsiLr-RgdE_6AZhgtE6sFQLA4xPw8GJa4InBQCPLlhkQyr0TZkQOCq4pJ84glU0/s1600/PB020476.JPG"><IMG style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404630743520704146 border=0 alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIDpxJRVWPLshnLTXBGKcmkbBNvKdsY7Q6zMjoy8hQkvCrBsbecyGwgAcDdqUc2rrpJ4CW7WsAldFzsiLr-RgdE_6AZhgtE6sFQLA4xPw8GJa4InBQCPLlhkQyr0TZkQOCq4pJ84glU0/s400/PB020476.JPG"></A> <br /><br />The waterfall just outside Luan Prabang...so much fun<br /><br />So that was Laos, we're doing our little tour of cambodia now and then heading back to thailand before our flight out to oz on the 20th december. Can't believe it's here already but i guess we've been going long enough. It kinda feels that once we hit Oz the 'travelling' is over i mean we are more like on holiday at that point before we get to korea and can move out of our rucksacks! Hope everyopne is well, Love to you all, Nick xNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-52022488189831570902009-10-29T00:51:00.000-07:002009-10-29T01:59:17.948-07:00Phew...Nick and Natty get pulled back into a consumer society and hence fail to blog or do anything else for about a week...So, Bangkok was AMAZING!!! We have obviously both been before, and I recall the first time I arrived there I was overwhelmed by the chaos and couldn't wait to get out. BUT thanks to our sojourn in the manic land that is India, there was relief and calm rather than shock and we both felt rather at home in Bangkok. Siam Square is dominated by malls aplenty and HOORAY they love Boots in Thailand (must have happened since I was last here 5 years ago) so I went body butter, eye liner and general toiletries crazy! There are some crazy posh malls with posh car show rooms up on the top floors (how did they get them there?). Nick also got his tattoo in Bangkok, I will post a video on here (when time allows), so yes, it was an expensive BUT highly enjoyable week.
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<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">nick's a badass now...</span></span>
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<br />Oh yeah, and we saw 3 movies here, which was such a pleasure! It's between 1 and 5 pounds to watch a movie, and for 5 you get really mega posh sofa sort of seats and I got a nice latte and it's just super cool! But the 1 pound tickets were good too, much better than home! We also ate Korea BBQ three times, our friends Mel and Josh told us we'd love it once we got to Korea, and we do love it and can't wait to eat more! They bring you all this meat and veg and you steam the veg in a moat thing around the heated grill and you cook your meat on it! Nick had a little system that developed over the 3 visits, which consisted of a marinading bowl that he had all his garlic and sauce and chillis in and then it became 2 bowls (one for fish and one for meat) and then he began hording his food in there so even when it was all gone from the plate he still had two courses to get through. He's special isn't he?
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<br />I could happily live in Bangkok, it's great. The guesthouse we stayed in was recommended to us by Mr Joseph Weeks of Bristol and we are truly grateful as it was a pleasure staying there for the week. There was free internet, free washing machines and a swimming pool and some great and affordable food. There was also a lot of chatting and meeting of many nice people and we will be going back there when we return to bangkok in early december.
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<br />So , we left BKK a couple days ago, getting the (awesome) VIP night bus up to a place called Chiang Rai. The bus was unbelievable and I will get a video on to illustrate this, and even this will not do it justice. I think we both actually slept, so apart from the random 2am wake up with music and tea (not complaining on the tea front) it was pretty special, as night bus and sleep does not go hand in hand.
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<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">2am tea...awesome</span></span>
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<br />We arrived at 7 in the morning and our room was not available yet so we decided to rent a moped and go and see some sights while we waited, as we were only staying 1 night. Yes, we were tired, but there is no kind of wake up like a fast ride al fresco styley! We drove about 15k to What Rung Khun otherwise known as the White Temple. It is this crazy modern temple (1997?) and is still being painted now. It is almost entirely white with mirrors too that make it glitter and some really modern sculpture. It also has some crazy murals such as the twin towers being crashed into and some star wars stuff and various other trippy things.
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<br />We also visited a lovely waterfall in the hope of getting a swim...no such luck after monsoon, it was bursting with water, so we stood as far away as possible and got pretty wet, which was refreshing for all of 10 minutes!
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<br />We were pretty tired after our nightbus so we had an early night, but unfortunately my alarm was set for 4.45am so we could catch the bus to the border, and catch it we did! A river crossing and a few buses later and here we are in Laos a place called Luang Nam Tha about 3 hours north east of the border of Laos and Thailand. We did plan to take a boat for two days down the Mekong but after we started to talk about it and heard that they pack people on tight (ie max copacity 80, minimum passengers in high season tending to be 100) we decided to do things differently and we've come here to do some cycling and trekking. We are in a Unesco protected area and there are lots of larger mammals to been seen if we go trekking (maybe even a tiger...?) so we shall see. After that we'll head down to Luang Prabang to immerse ourselves in all the ex-french colonialism, maybe sample a few couissons here and there, and see sone lovely temples. Then down to the capital at Vientienne and after that we shall see. We plan to reach Cambodia around the 16th of November to have a bit of time to see the place before we head to the beach with Graeme and Rachel from Abu Dhabi and Inge and Bart from the Netherlands for a week of fun (with mine and Cina's birthday in the middle!). Then it's back to Thailand and up to Chaing Mai to see the McGuire's and have a generally nice time before we fly out to Ausland! hoorah!
<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3pd7niUNg5-6vhx44CuXYKlYmBPlWuuxAlcyzEei-8AS5515LKkIT4_Z6Aqkm3jwsY71ZHdSI8ohR8C1SXgI0cKqfMaV-_6kps4grB-qL-Ed2_rBac0Va-tY9WISMXxRHj7geBW9ALw/s1600-h/PA290358.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3pd7niUNg5-6vhx44CuXYKlYmBPlWuuxAlcyzEei-8AS5515LKkIT4_Z6Aqkm3jwsY71ZHdSI8ohR8C1SXgI0cKqfMaV-_6kps4grB-qL-Ed2_rBac0Va-tY9WISMXxRHj7geBW9ALw/s400/PA290358.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397938656457731154" /></a>
<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;">Our wholesome lunch</span>
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<br />We've just had a lovely lunch, some huge bowls of soup with sticky rice for a very reasonable price and I feel sleepy now. So I'm off to see Nicholas in our air conditioned room to watch bbc news on our satellite tv and relax after excessive bus journeys before doing all our biking/trekking for the next few days! Not bad for 4 pounds! I think I'm going to like Laos!
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<br />Much love and hugs to everyone, can't wait to see you Houghs for Christmas and hopefully you Wades in the new year!xxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-4641046458331405902009-10-16T02:51:00.001-07:002009-10-16T23:57:58.144-07:00Nick and Natty ... are back in India!SO, firstly sorry for not updating sooner but the Internet in Nepal was temperamental to say the least! <br /><br />Going on from our last update we did go kayaking, amazing! had such a great time and would definitely do it again. Scary as hell but its an adrenalin sport so yeah...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvc_1fBrrjxSdsr0fdjh4ubXDEh6Fxhua856EY5S38kaFaOFfU0rP2H0g2uvf_RHqt2onjXGiC1XF4Xz5_GpbAL0c-8mzV8QkjXZktclNc6meoCBPCrU4cFe5cq3CypHIqdO0pEg7eJ7I/s1600-h/kayaking.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvc_1fBrrjxSdsr0fdjh4ubXDEh6Fxhua856EY5S38kaFaOFfU0rP2H0g2uvf_RHqt2onjXGiC1XF4Xz5_GpbAL0c-8mzV8QkjXZktclNc6meoCBPCrU4cFe5cq3CypHIqdO0pEg7eJ7I/s320/kayaking.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393457949989780690" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIN5duadzUy1-lC9pdgR2rg70c8LbWPlhEFpNhUcPTAj0Ha3ApFkRXMQuKvBdXZdp7c6QOZOzGJDYa537_3jsfNCh_B3LdHoPi6g04-B9UpsWwz_JhyphenhyphenNcmH3D45QPThG9dyHW7L__fAzk/s1600-h/kayaking2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIN5duadzUy1-lC9pdgR2rg70c8LbWPlhEFpNhUcPTAj0Ha3ApFkRXMQuKvBdXZdp7c6QOZOzGJDYa537_3jsfNCh_B3LdHoPi6g04-B9UpsWwz_JhyphenhyphenNcmH3D45QPThG9dyHW7L__fAzk/s320/kayaking2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393457958645289890" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJ5zn-1YiE1w7dXqJRDGELgFzJ5QTXSFbPW2Vh4bkB6U3zE0lojl26GMJPtyYSA-QGTwBrtGZ6iC4h4XpXIfagOzO13tB5A5TSt0XbyCrWXMXs7g6sxpVCj6dalQ4FBZZcUPsPtqzhAo/s1600-h/kayaking3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJ5zn-1YiE1w7dXqJRDGELgFzJ5QTXSFbPW2Vh4bkB6U3zE0lojl26GMJPtyYSA-QGTwBrtGZ6iC4h4XpXIfagOzO13tB5A5TSt0XbyCrWXMXs7g6sxpVCj6dalQ4FBZZcUPsPtqzhAo/s320/kayaking3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393457965759921858" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrompUomVzIurt-HuyV87lcsZuPgweN3pByiaecxiSjrL5MsW5nV_4PJzrZZEQT4oNRHtRbNmnV2icS8qUIJGUlg5FLb-7Toq6jxAilv-6p7Ew3PAlFdsbB1NT-lHhRb8flpVO-o2j2BA/s1600-h/kayaking4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrompUomVzIurt-HuyV87lcsZuPgweN3pByiaecxiSjrL5MsW5nV_4PJzrZZEQT4oNRHtRbNmnV2icS8qUIJGUlg5FLb-7Toq6jxAilv-6p7Ew3PAlFdsbB1NT-lHhRb8flpVO-o2j2BA/s320/kayaking4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393457973634124050" /></a><br />the trek, the 14 day base camp trek...yeah well that was too much, so we settled for 4 days. Much better, although not easy, at one point we had over 3,000 stairs to climb all in one go...nice first day that was in the driving rain too!<br /><br />Luckily for us the skies cleared and we had some great views over the Himalayas, awesome. Did the trek with Bart and Inge from Holland, absolute stars. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-MmwOtVtREkqKz81C-gGz3Dco9v5_MyeRvXifHwspT0oNxKaskBKLohpz2PsWGzHT7k9TEINDCgZCKe_ltuNpE95pwMqTCU3KbQYZ_Wo_PeL7KsMXLFnjcNItVYdGe5BxEwFLbS5_6jA/s1600-h/PA080095.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-MmwOtVtREkqKz81C-gGz3Dco9v5_MyeRvXifHwspT0oNxKaskBKLohpz2PsWGzHT7k9TEINDCgZCKe_ltuNpE95pwMqTCU3KbQYZ_Wo_PeL7KsMXLFnjcNItVYdGe5BxEwFLbS5_6jA/s320/PA080095.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393457982617826834" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ii8tKsJ2hIPEQjmstSVwUbw_90ZT6xCFB0Hfh-SKye8yyjOa8-FQZ_apzaVYj7KgUua4KRm1ETAetJQTmzqWhnm0XwvLp9R8r_R0BD_pS170R7SmMtaOgCrOo7RS2M6Uburbiwu6STI/s1600-h/PA090179.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ii8tKsJ2hIPEQjmstSVwUbw_90ZT6xCFB0Hfh-SKye8yyjOa8-FQZ_apzaVYj7KgUua4KRm1ETAetJQTmzqWhnm0XwvLp9R8r_R0BD_pS170R7SmMtaOgCrOo7RS2M6Uburbiwu6STI/s320/PA090179.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393459113990271810" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqX0CbPlp70kQR7IrlBwkki3E9TT9GD6KgeFQsFRKW2Q7unXPHmmuUpp8nOu5QyMm6hyphenhyphenLq8R3GDne1SMewcwy3b6TSRDSqDB7WjDcIkdE3auAmGTjjZP4cdc7SL2do5XPqdNX797HvPg/s1600-h/PA080108.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqX0CbPlp70kQR7IrlBwkki3E9TT9GD6KgeFQsFRKW2Q7unXPHmmuUpp8nOu5QyMm6hyphenhyphenLq8R3GDne1SMewcwy3b6TSRDSqDB7WjDcIkdE3auAmGTjjZP4cdc7SL2do5XPqdNX797HvPg/s320/PA080108.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393459109211322994" /></a><br /><br /><br />Got back to Pokhara and the next day spent 9 hours sat in the cabin of a tourist bus to Kathmandu, the same kind that had been trying to kill us on the RR. Not fun in terms of comfort, there was no in flight entertainment, but the views were really incredible. Seems like i am repeating myself but honestly there can't be many places in the world that are more naturally beautiful, except for maybe Elland Road and the Lurpak stand...<br /><br />Kathmandu drove me mad! It was find for a day, maybe two but after that the constant hassle sends you loopy! I was pretty damn glad to leave even if thta did mean heading back ot India and into the chaos of Kolkata...<br /><br />Wrong again, this place is lovely. I mean there is still the gut wrenching sights of the dirt poor on the streets. A guy today may well have been dead, and nobody cared as he lay across the pavement. But i think there is something slightly different about this place. There seems to be more greenery, the Maiden in the middle of the city is a huge park, with a great big monument to Victoria. Flying in and we thought we were flying into Leeds & Bradford with rolling hills all around us, (Except that at closer inspection these hills were infact fields of palm trees )so yeah just like leeds & Bradford!<br /><br />We've met a lovely Irish couple and shared a cab from the aiport, apparently there is a lovely bar with very cold beer that would be devastating to miss so we've got to pay a visit tonight. We've got 3 more days before heading to the calm and tranquility of Bangkok...hhhmmmm.<br /><br />Incase you don't already have them the links to our photos are:<br /><br />www.flickr.com/photos/nattyandnick<br /><br />www.flickr.com/photos/nawade<br /><br />Nat's are just about half way through the trek, the one of me is at 4 in the monring before heading up to the viewpoint...and mine are up to the end of the rickshaw run...when we find a mo we'll add the rest, or more, but don't hold your breath!<br /><br />Love you all and hope everything is going well back home<br /><br />Just an update on travel plans. We're heading to thailand,then Lao and Cambodia before heading to Oz for xmas and new year with the Hough's ( What have I done to deserve that!?!?!) then heading back to thailand for a few weeks with my mum and dad... ( What has Nat done to deserve that!??!?!!) WE'll then be heading to Korea to start work about the middle of Feb...<br /><br />Much Love,<br /><br />Nick<br />xxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-49969490722440850482009-09-28T05:16:00.000-07:002009-10-05T02:33:54.258-07:00Nick and Natty finish the Rickshaw Run with all body parts still attached!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lvyL7UGrTxYy4ssXaHFqg7cdu4G0cBk2GflV-AgMWXITs51l2A_CaPgVU4JqpeBrs9uFfrS71smyrmK01JK6f9YCpUTsDYF-Ybcyca9y8p00f3cAT3zXL9pK9HMAusP5iYhPjay7KYo/s1600-h/P9130348.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lvyL7UGrTxYy4ssXaHFqg7cdu4G0cBk2GflV-AgMWXITs51l2A_CaPgVU4JqpeBrs9uFfrS71smyrmK01JK6f9YCpUTsDYF-Ybcyca9y8p00f3cAT3zXL9pK9HMAusP5iYhPjay7KYo/s320/P9130348.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387921117557477010" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Just before we set off...</span></span><br /><br />Phew...what a mental few weeks! We have made the bestest friends and had the most wonderful time! It is far too difficult to explain all that went on during those 12 days, and the few days prior and after, but here is a few high, low, and downright odd points...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96q8yoqM85dhSL4R1GauX1NuPGHjjlFLVf7mUf3NL4uo761IBJ9_Ulwqk0z-XHk1nG7WU2FN08nz_I2mTz6ongGfaUfLnhDSc3ZyGprUc0o08uFkANfmr6fiQ8zreEoKk17RZewzNB4U/s1600-h/P9120295.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96q8yoqM85dhSL4R1GauX1NuPGHjjlFLVf7mUf3NL4uo761IBJ9_Ulwqk0z-XHk1nG7WU2FN08nz_I2mTz6ongGfaUfLnhDSc3ZyGprUc0o08uFkANfmr6fiQ8zreEoKk17RZewzNB4U/s320/P9120295.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387917672361544690" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hanging with the Abu Dhabi teams the night before the big off...</span></span><br /><br /><br />1) There are lots of dogs in India.<br /><br />2) There are lots of truck drivers on speed in India.<br /><br />3) This means there are lots of dead, bloated smelly rotting roadkill dogs in India. It is rather the most horrible thing about the drive we did. Number 1 gross dog moment... dog eats other dog (which is dead) through other dogs bumhole. Nice.<br /><br />4) We were photographed by a mental AP photographer who while riding in a car with our friend Josh in the passenger seat hit a water buffalo. Just because. We were shocked the following day to find ourselves all over the internet and in various Indian and Canadian papers (there are prob a few other countries out there too!) and in the legend that is the Metro!<br /><br />5) Stayed in a tiger reserve which was closed so hence saw no tigers but did see the biggest stag with the biggest horns I have ever seen! And a load of monkeys. And we drank loads of super strong beer and had a giggle and felt awful the next morning.<br /><br />6)Drove on 'highways' that would be hard pushed to be described as a dirt track! This resulted in the total obliteration of our roofrack and the need for it to be welded twice and still we returned it broken! This also caused our one and only break down in the form of a flat tyre. Luckily as we came to a stop in literally the middle of nowhere we found we were among a large group of taxi rickshaws, apparently waiting for business in the least frequented spot in India! They proceeded to change our tyre for us and refused money! This is when we realised that the Ganesh statue that was in our rickshaw when we picked it up was a magic Ganesh (he is the elephant god that represents prosperity) so we started touching it in a touch wood type manner and nothing went wrong, so thank you Ganesh!<br /><br />7)Saw the 'standard' burning body in Varanasi. As you do.<br /><br />8) Almost got into a brawl with a guy at a petrol station, long story but one of the yanks drove into his motorbike and broke the tail-light...wanted 150 quid for it...we refused and he picked up a brick...there were 7 of us and 1 of him, the sight of us all running towards him unsurprisingly led to him putting the brick down and accepting the 2 pounds we had been offerings.<br /><br />9) Nepal - literally crossing the border and the horns stopped, the roads were cleaner and the beer was cold!<br /><br />10 ) The convoy, we travelled the whole time with 3 english lads from the Abu Dhabi Team they work there and Josh and Mel from the 'Monkey Legion ' lovely couple from Mississippi and Nova Scotia, they've been working in korea and are hopefully going to get us a job! <br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dylog1H3s5BQXRoEje4HwLU2esBTe70kaIAAJWLoSPjumQotHYK7StB1vFpoj0wHPySlGtk1mKWV5a1SHifYA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Abu Dhabi Green team freestyle it in their Rickshaw...</span><br /></span><br />11) The drive from the Tansen ( another highlight, stayed at a hotel which overlooked the most beautiful valley scene ) to Pokhara, not only was it the last leg of the journey and everyone was all giddy, but the road was amazing. twisting and turning up through the foothills! <br /><br />12) The finish Line - Seeing all the guys we'd met 2 weeks previous and hearing their stories, some of which were amazing! <br /><br />Right that's enough for now, we have a briefing now for our kayaking trip, we're heading down the river, white water kayaking down to the Chitwan national park to see some tigers and elephants! we'll be back in Pokara in about a week and then we're going to trek to annapurna base camp which is 14 days and involves a pass of over 5000m...altitude sickness here we come! <br /><br />hope you are all well and we'll be putting some pictures up when we get back next week! <br /><br />Lots of Love,<br />Nick & NatNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-11475505372794638402009-09-11T03:22:00.001-07:002009-09-11T03:34:36.102-07:00Nick and Natty are Ready to Goa!The sun is shining, it's bloody boiling and our Rickshaw has turned up!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghtC5uOO9g1onkMXpnrJxQYw8RAQK4wA9LDrM4w-YubKb8hSMplyBTIc6DtYcdiLOI-6b7XLKafgdyFi0sWYqhHH-8aooE816WVLsM0BY7UotRrRNYiqkik-NdrvNMREWcU4XNFCekvNQ/s1600-h/P9110276.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghtC5uOO9g1onkMXpnrJxQYw8RAQK4wA9LDrM4w-YubKb8hSMplyBTIc6DtYcdiLOI-6b7XLKafgdyFi0sWYqhHH-8aooE816WVLsM0BY7UotRrRNYiqkik-NdrvNMREWcU4XNFCekvNQ/s320/P9110276.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380153781581682274" /></a><br /><br />We're setting off on Sunday and it's all very exciting! We had a lovely lovely lovely time the last few days, staying with Richard and Drbbie and their cutey kids in Candolim! We'll write a proper blog after the Rickshaw Run, just want to relax now and enjoy the sun before the big journey!<br /><br />You can keep track of us at http://rickshawrun09a.theadventurists.com/index.php?mode=ontheroad for the next 2 weeks! Us and all the other teams...we're Team Some Like It Hot!<br /><br />Much love,<br /><br />NattyxxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-47855070638484599802009-09-03T22:49:00.000-07:002009-09-11T03:49:11.777-07:00Nick and Natty see water, water, EVERYWHEREBy Natalie Hough Part 1 of this blog will explore water of a positive nature. But part 2 will explore the downsides of excessive hydrogen hydroxide. <SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><EM>Part One</EM></SPAN> </SPAN>After saying our goodbyes to Deano and Ems, Nick and I set off into the backwaters of Kerala, finding ourselves in a strange town called Alleppey. Strange in it's air of a small town, but a population of a small city! In the evening the streets were packed with people and you had to push yourself through the crowd and avoid all the young boys selling flutes. Nick noted that for every boy carrying flutes for sale of which there were atleast 100 flutes, maybe more, there were not enough children in the area to buy all the flutes. While sitting on the beach one afternoon we saw three flute-sellers all walking along within 10 metres of eachother pipping away on their flutes, (that's atleast 450 flutes in a 10 metre radius) and there were maybe at most 100 children on the beach, and that is pushing it. What's more, none of the children had flutes, and to be honest none of them looked paticularly interested and preferred to play with the kites made of recycled material on sale. <br /><br />So aside from the not particularly thriving flute industry in Alleppey, there is a much more lucrative houseboat industry which we had come to the backwaters for.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yC7sTMzJwFofbCb0a3ySJLwUIeFu-L9Wp62bsR3ACjtOBwy8yuiU1Oui5WFI_s3ExA5wb8s1mu8ssS2pfO8LeLTDdUOcu98RJvXvOf_-wu01g5GlGd4lhundcON2v3zLIfgz7MUPAvw/s1600-h/P8290031.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yC7sTMzJwFofbCb0a3ySJLwUIeFu-L9Wp62bsR3ACjtOBwy8yuiU1Oui5WFI_s3ExA5wb8s1mu8ssS2pfO8LeLTDdUOcu98RJvXvOf_-wu01g5GlGd4lhundcON2v3zLIfgz7MUPAvw/s320/P8290031.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380159495682132674" /></a><br /><br /><br />We ended up using the guesthouse we were staying in to organise the houseboat just like Deano and Ems had, and their recommendation was brilliant! We looked at one other boat which was more expensive and pretty grotty! Our houseboat was lovely. We had to 2 nice men (whose names have left me I'm afraid!), one the captain and one the cook, on the boat with us. We made our way slowly through the backwaters from midday onwards watching the world go by and lolling in the sun or under the shade. In the evening we were left to our own devises as we moored by the guys village so we relaxed with a couple beers and did some fishing (or attempted to with no bait-it got pretty boring pretty quick!). The cook had promised to return to feed us at 8, but a bit after 8 his brother showed up from the boat moored next to ours saying his nephew had been taken ill and his brother had gone to get medicine, and did we mind if he cooked for us? Of course we didn't, we were grateful to be fed, and before he'd finished cooking his brother had returned with time to serve dinner up! What amazing food we had on that boat! My goodness! Definately without a doubt the best food I've had in India! I put on about a stone in 24 hrs. Our boat costs us 3000 Rs for 24 hours, which is approximately 40 quid, about all we could afford with the months left of travel we have. The boat that was moored next to us where our cooks brother worked was 80000 Rs per night, which is around 1000 pounds! No way! It had AC throughout and it was basically an amazing posh apartment on water! We slept in our comfy but sweaty room and woke at 7am just before breakfast. We had yummy omelettes and set out for Alleppey with legs dangling in the fresh backwaters and the sun on our faces! Not the worst way to wake up! <br /><br />We had to spend a couple more days in Alleppey after this waiting for the day of our train's departure, with a little trepidation that our train ticket would not get us seats, as in India if you don't book well ahead for sleeper train you tend to get put on a waiting list which can be hundreds of people long. Despite this we somehow had our sleeper seats and settled in to a not so long 19 hour train journey. At this point the monsoon decided to show it's not so pretty face for real, and this leads me to part two of my story... <br /><br /><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Part Two</SPAN> </SPAN><br /><br />With tired eyes and hopeful hearts we settled down for a wobbly (and seasicky in Nick's case) nights sleep in the sleeper, dreaming of sunny days spent on the beach in Goa, relaxing and reviving ourselves before our long and arduous journey on the rickshaw. The reality of the situation is this: we have arrived in Goa just as the monsoon has decided to really show up. For the past 3 days there have been few moments when it hasn't been raining and half the time this is not just rain, it is a downpour of torrential proportions! We rented a scooter and yesterday we ventured 40 miles away to the capital of Goa (there was no point sticking around the wind and rain whipped beach) with Nick driving through what can only be described as a natural liquid exfoliation, rain tearing at exposed flesh and blinding our eyes! I was lucky enough to have Nick's body to partially shade me but poor Nick despite our newly acquired waterproofs, was soaked to the bone all day. Despite all this we managed to look at some old Portuguese houses which are in the process of rotting to the ground, and also to visit Old Goa where all the old Portuguese churches are and where the former capital stood. It was a shockingly fun day, as once we got over the fact that we were wet and were going to stay wet it didn't really seem to matter anymore! <A href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPtZ0K4iv30my0ete6A0sA8u8p0XD9Y84xN_OZeeYPFKLFIql2ddnbI6wLApj7irsVLDpWSiy1ZqqnY5o8OxeovsFwsmF55lpmbeNcBo0p4kseEJHiIbpon4tK0S6HvfNaGMFb5haSHA/s1600-h/P9030196.JPG"><IMG id=BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380157730293434194 style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPtZ0K4iv30my0ete6A0sA8u8p0XD9Y84xN_OZeeYPFKLFIql2ddnbI6wLApj7irsVLDpWSiy1ZqqnY5o8OxeovsFwsmF55lpmbeNcBo0p4kseEJHiIbpon4tK0S6HvfNaGMFb5haSHA/s320/P9030196.JPG" border=0></A> So there you go! We plan to head up north in the next couple days to stay with a friend of Nick's cousin's husband who apparently has a nice house on the coast, so that should be nice! After that we'll return to Colva and get ready for the Rickshaw Run! Not long now! The party the night before we leave has been confirmed as a beach theme party, so I'm now trying to think of some exciting ideas to make a more original costume than just a bikini. Nick says he plans to wear his lungi, that skirt thing he bought with Deano, so maybe I need to man up for the event since my boyfriend will be the most effeminate man there. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures after the 12th... Much love and hugs to everyone, Nattyxxx<br /><br />Here is a random video to illustrate the wierdness of India...this is taken outside a jewellery shop.<br /><br /><OBJECT class=BLOG_video_class id=BLOG_video-d298d5a31bb264bd height=266 width=320 contentId="d298d5a31bb264bd"></OBJECT>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-49632321630433896062009-08-30T23:33:00.000-07:002009-08-30T23:39:53.590-07:00Nick and Natty put some pictures of Nat up cause she's feeling left out...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3PUdQxhwrUQ0nZltoqkwWgJTouvv1S1avMiJrEMMft_XImOR9TuLZqRpksmJfWSNcfg4IjW5_XsdeIFACSoTNw__tmCo6lkNtiMjb6OdK_LX4c4b3gK_qK3OFooLSLMvBx2lf1LBUHQ/s1600-h/3845237358_8ecd34d671_m%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3PUdQxhwrUQ0nZltoqkwWgJTouvv1S1avMiJrEMMft_XImOR9TuLZqRpksmJfWSNcfg4IjW5_XsdeIFACSoTNw__tmCo6lkNtiMjb6OdK_LX4c4b3gK_qK3OFooLSLMvBx2lf1LBUHQ/s320/3845237358_8ecd34d671_m%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013850603803266" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIEaRCPLE24-Oqwar6otq9ce31LtdMEctOFAk8lkC2jQoR9r_KcvaWdAHCi2mAJgzsi85jnM_bvoag4VU3QNsAtYnpo_FnykQTAol0nJNDqsY_RiH0bYBdxlkumPAlHiXU_Uakl4tb6g/s1600-h/3845211912_f2f997bdf6_m%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIEaRCPLE24-Oqwar6otq9ce31LtdMEctOFAk8lkC2jQoR9r_KcvaWdAHCi2mAJgzsi85jnM_bvoag4VU3QNsAtYnpo_FnykQTAol0nJNDqsY_RiH0bYBdxlkumPAlHiXU_Uakl4tb6g/s320/3845211912_f2f997bdf6_m%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013849818346002" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-L3My7RezmOQBjhohD-rGPOcCAU07ssXT4_j6ydZFXgSS7P4h77qpYjTB3u4YoxvfhNvBZC3sBNLO2WdCpuRW2def_DOgUit6cQ8-w6HLQLRzEPXXAH6JuRPhkZZircXGqudbrhIh_8U/s1600-h/3844437859_e82d96453a_m%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-L3My7RezmOQBjhohD-rGPOcCAU07ssXT4_j6ydZFXgSS7P4h77qpYjTB3u4YoxvfhNvBZC3sBNLO2WdCpuRW2def_DOgUit6cQ8-w6HLQLRzEPXXAH6JuRPhkZZircXGqudbrhIh_8U/s320/3844437859_e82d96453a_m%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013839958168290" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfwEWi1FGjvMmXWtftSWOwMFm0cP19goXgEtxfK2wq_vrRZMJ34N2_avTgHq5uo_EDQ0tPyHZzmp5ZeMB24bOHHBdxX5uYpt3RgRMQJkCYGPFHTN-Cbdj6Q3rmQwuh0AAW0ZVXeSIGq4s/s1600-h/3833775910_baede16681_m%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfwEWi1FGjvMmXWtftSWOwMFm0cP19goXgEtxfK2wq_vrRZMJ34N2_avTgHq5uo_EDQ0tPyHZzmp5ZeMB24bOHHBdxX5uYpt3RgRMQJkCYGPFHTN-Cbdj6Q3rmQwuh0AAW0ZVXeSIGq4s/s320/3833775910_baede16681_m%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013833620165522" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7tVDcBnEDQH-63JI3-PBdqQXI2AUxrM60xiWh45NN8XK2nuZ1vqh1kjejAbVBzDN4pFGMR4fgeIj8oo7hoJhjTmaYQOYtEWZwuVGX7QZYMKXmLYN9J3ti5S4pAHR8L4O673YD2XHR_E/s1600-h/3832958277_0b8d5379dc_m%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7tVDcBnEDQH-63JI3-PBdqQXI2AUxrM60xiWh45NN8XK2nuZ1vqh1kjejAbVBzDN4pFGMR4fgeIj8oo7hoJhjTmaYQOYtEWZwuVGX7QZYMKXmLYN9J3ti5S4pAHR8L4O673YD2XHR_E/s320/3832958277_0b8d5379dc_m%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013831427486850" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZX9_qGEwCZeqheDrJ7vjhvQM92trm4aWvhPhgGW6mxh-sFA6q2mluNYbynT9SWLeY7mnLofqWirof4KGyJflC92Ed72_yiM-l9lpU_M_LLM2lQEGoF_H-BwCzzGBnIOEyohyphenhyphenCJ7fau3A/s1600-h/3832958277_0b8d5379dc_m%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizT_xQHp9PrUdiqPWwTh7ip8xoRf9bC6DnmpepiFzbu5vVa6WG0arD6SC_8lslt-HKNXKaupOa5cg0TLcSgetLiO-lkk5tGq7OIR4I8V4-iLvNla1QZcFFx9JzEO2rw04ny7JKMosaLXM/s320/3757468663_751633e20d_m%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013534389774418" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUurQbi9SY_X24t33iJNV0Sy92Xfi6BXC8m-PwqKn-PhegC_Ff_HH3l8vnxobiY221NV8GLYbqCHk7vJwAvPe5sDzi_3ODE3pjvM7pixnCS2QCu1D3eJDYMFHkffuPbOe5Zs5zi7P_Ac/s1600-h/3710718992_609c497506%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguUurQbi9SY_X24t33iJNV0Sy92Xfi6BXC8m-PwqKn-PhegC_Ff_HH3l8vnxobiY221NV8GLYbqCHk7vJwAvPe5sDzi_3ODE3pjvM7pixnCS2QCu1D3eJDYMFHkffuPbOe5Zs5zi7P_Ac/s320/3710718992_609c497506%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013526550853042" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MCuHREQ2AgzbGi1wkREoelliR8d_3-jJueiHW3e4Wk9Lkc01IsUMVzJ4MTPjWKzGxfMVQ0ZQqWQZvPfX4HzhOVKnb6a2h7H5JHGvj21aqNpNKsg3mHTJJH9L9CohoZLR8RL4keRHJ7k/s1600-h/3709929741_a73f40ebe9%5B1%5D.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9MCuHREQ2AgzbGi1wkREoelliR8d_3-jJueiHW3e4Wk9Lkc01IsUMVzJ4MTPjWKzGxfMVQ0ZQqWQZvPfX4HzhOVKnb6a2h7H5JHGvj21aqNpNKsg3mHTJJH9L9CohoZLR8RL4keRHJ7k/s320/3709929741_a73f40ebe9%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376013519733487650" /></a>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-76603647222031788022009-08-27T04:16:00.000-07:002009-08-27T05:56:50.253-07:00Nick and Nat learn to drive motorbikes!It's been a while since I put a blog up so thought I'd take the opportunity...we're heading off from Cochin tomorrow, heading south for a few days to Allepey and the Backwaters. Going to stay on a houseboat for a couple of days and drift along and a very slow pace! Since leaving Mumbai however we've had a great time!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDTNhcS9xIOB3hm8K12KpmjDVsWkQGiUKoSdZ87LHyuPhqmbzCNSQcVqDHCsfiGGgfoR9gEreEJ23mFB5x62GBX-Evm9t1gUFWZBA4Q7zbejCirv2U4eu4BpfsRxQyYKtyVAgFzwOyPk/s1600-h/Natty+069.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDTNhcS9xIOB3hm8K12KpmjDVsWkQGiUKoSdZ87LHyuPhqmbzCNSQcVqDHCsfiGGgfoR9gEreEJ23mFB5x62GBX-Evm9t1gUFWZBA4Q7zbejCirv2U4eu4BpfsRxQyYKtyVAgFzwOyPk/s320/Natty+069.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374621419650659618" /></a><br /><br />The train was cool, OK so it was 26 hours but the ac worked, the food was great, and the family across from us were fantastic. They didn't speak much English but they tried. We seemed to be drawing a bit of a crowd at one point, think everyone loves to try their little English out on natives whenever they can!<br /><br />Got to Cochin and then the ferry across the bay to Fort Cochin a small peninsula full of character! We went from a very industrial harbour to one with ancient Chinese finishing nets, men in long wooden canoes going out for the day and lots of Rickshaws ( by the way I have now driven one and it's not going to be easy! <br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbf-0w1GJo_tq6wQ7h0SmmCuEGeKRB2v48KJ631pYZvJN39JgLhrFcIAbl6JXYxzvsB1KTSWT9wckOd5sm2WtzqFEFcf8zSZXTl8-zNeNyaY9R773wDqtCP7yA8Sqoh8pcR_DTVhK3A1I/s1600-h/Natty+365.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbf-0w1GJo_tq6wQ7h0SmmCuEGeKRB2v48KJ631pYZvJN39JgLhrFcIAbl6JXYxzvsB1KTSWT9wckOd5sm2WtzqFEFcf8zSZXTl8-zNeNyaY9R773wDqtCP7yA8Sqoh8pcR_DTVhK3A1I/s320/Natty+365.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374616538430140082" /></a><br /><br /><br />Fort Cochin has been occupied by the English, the Portuguese, the Chinese as well as others I'm sure...and you can tell, you walk along the streets and there are beautiful old buildings everywhere, some rather more dilapidated than others but it certainly has its own charm. <br /><br />We got off the ferry and met up with Craig 'Deano' and Ems. Deano for those that don't know is an old family friend who has been traveling round India for 7 weeks in the opposite direction than us. It was pot luck really that we contacted each other but we've just spent 5 days together and had a great time! First day we hired mopeds and drove to the beach. Hang on, so we're waiting for the ferry to cross onto the other island where the beaches are, and as we're watching the fishing boats and ferries travel between us and the other island, out of nowhere appears a great big bloody submarine! Didn't see that one coming!<br /><br />Anyway so we drove about for a few hours discovering some beautiful little spots and establishing that we are going to suffer on these roads on the Rickshaw Run! Did a bit of swimming and headed back for some beers.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIef8EM2Q6KZ2jM5U8zkEArsw0w7ae3Tu9DHI2QJVeXpP7fXi7X6aSnfwaw0pydPXiFF51B5XkSoFiYfAEZzOqgMcLgdVQW2KM79z_SO4XDt1WJSCBYDiPxkECcrhN26fSRt9eY6Ec9GU/s1600-h/Natty+403.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIef8EM2Q6KZ2jM5U8zkEArsw0w7ae3Tu9DHI2QJVeXpP7fXi7X6aSnfwaw0pydPXiFF51B5XkSoFiYfAEZzOqgMcLgdVQW2KM79z_SO4XDt1WJSCBYDiPxkECcrhN26fSRt9eY6Ec9GU/s320/Natty+403.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374617878930279074" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdq5wI6_zq5A2Bbt-YzB4-j9ZQpOebJjY9VdULvtixsUrveWCKxKu-sI9xf9s6b1NDcy8wAUnyTVkiLyzYJ4DZ2sXMvyTgRNNMPTmbETYtR3WLsWvAcGitob-58nDSTkgxGziKtyL6w8/s1600-h/Natty+070.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdq5wI6_zq5A2Bbt-YzB4-j9ZQpOebJjY9VdULvtixsUrveWCKxKu-sI9xf9s6b1NDcy8wAUnyTVkiLyzYJ4DZ2sXMvyTgRNNMPTmbETYtR3WLsWvAcGitob-58nDSTkgxGziKtyL6w8/s320/Natty+070.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374620706011926738" /></a><br /><br /> The only non-hotel bar was the ' Bob Marley ' Bar playing psychedelic remixes of the Marley...think that's a bit strange, in Cochin alcohol is not really licensed so to make sure there was no sign that we were drinking beer we had to use teapots as bottles and tea cups as glasses...so Raj!<br /><br />Next day we went up to Munnar on a 4 and a half hr bus journey, these guys are the ones I'm worried about, they drive like utter maniacs! anyhow, he got us there so fair enough. Munnar is a tea plantation town right up above the cloud line. It was a manky little town but we found good places to eat and litre bottles of beer for 50p<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkGv-HKCHaZdNm-1JFqJq2Y5dhGifqfFPVEjjQbLQqGawKZqCZIg5EzjXxVPM9_WjxOhhzN3eLOaFG5CJMhAe_-9Iu2LbEOzCpZ3j8A51TgVVuER-BNGxSHqpbdgDN-5E4xhba6FWazE/s1600-h/Natty+390.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkGv-HKCHaZdNm-1JFqJq2Y5dhGifqfFPVEjjQbLQqGawKZqCZIg5EzjXxVPM9_WjxOhhzN3eLOaFG5CJMhAe_-9Iu2LbEOzCpZ3j8A51TgVVuER-BNGxSHqpbdgDN-5E4xhba6FWazE/s320/Natty+390.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374623079786546274" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEitUHzTzUsvPXOMAsxvuOEB0vpSd1IKeIgJpKLm0kixl2ggy8URtL7OS634cw7EPXAAPHWDx8rGqMxLMI7Dc-ZPFjL17XkNu0UYxK1ySrvlOhTrg4_AeqizX5kh_fOnsuH_ezFyIzEdU/s1600-h/Natty+383.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEitUHzTzUsvPXOMAsxvuOEB0vpSd1IKeIgJpKLm0kixl2ggy8URtL7OS634cw7EPXAAPHWDx8rGqMxLMI7Dc-ZPFjL17XkNu0UYxK1ySrvlOhTrg4_AeqizX5kh_fOnsuH_ezFyIzEdU/s320/Natty+383.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374624303332148786" /></a><br /><br />We rented bikes once again and spent 2 days driving to waterfalls, through the tea plantations and through little villages on the hillsides.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3kP25ZiInj3zWIA6d9bq48dLKoEnGZOGCqxnXcQ__Ql8afao9_Mlnl2kL7T5hwaa9Rn-dBncI3Rl6FQnJNgKNaFom_qe_7FmexdD7sy3P7MOCPDkaojWElIXz0YXYJYjyBmhhtADoNM/s1600-h/Natty+424.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3kP25ZiInj3zWIA6d9bq48dLKoEnGZOGCqxnXcQ__Ql8afao9_Mlnl2kL7T5hwaa9Rn-dBncI3Rl6FQnJNgKNaFom_qe_7FmexdD7sy3P7MOCPDkaojWElIXz0YXYJYjyBmhhtADoNM/s320/Natty+424.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374625203665318530" /></a><br /><br /> On the second day we drove up to the top station, at the peak of the Western Ghats and could look all the way down into Tamil Nadu, the next State. Unbelievable views and having Deano and Ems with us made the few days really amazing. It was great to see them and hear their stories about the north of India in particular, i think we may well be staying for a bit longer after the rickshaw run now, so much to see! On a slightly crazy note...<br /><br />Took my shoe off when we got back to the hotel on the second day and a leech fell onto the floor...thought it was a slug until it wouldn't shift. Here's the video of the little bugger, apparently you have to wait until it's full and then it'll just fall off...must have had it's fix and was ready to go! <br /><br /><br />Nick<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyTHwuXagRPE_82U0b3feRT3LCo35sSD87LhJS-4woRTd0ee_QT2KsCq6NFRnnG76VpY1y0jBd42DSDPvlcjw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJgC0lmgF5Fm-9ULvfI-isif6BQFbbMhCW2-I2-oCbr8VYXssxIFY_fHm31_O05f2FQDX4ZaynwpLCvO_HYG_Awx5Og0Xv8EbASqk6jsENmmdSOLAVyFNPuAkqCVvi20V77A5mpRCuPQ/s1600-h/Natty+088.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJgC0lmgF5Fm-9ULvfI-isif6BQFbbMhCW2-I2-oCbr8VYXssxIFY_fHm31_O05f2FQDX4ZaynwpLCvO_HYG_Awx5Og0Xv8EbASqk6jsENmmdSOLAVyFNPuAkqCVvi20V77A5mpRCuPQ/s320/Natty+088.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374626289697425682" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyEo8UeFMOLkHuovjUsKWskH7qOAI94hkVWB36AWZZLbM8aSCTHCHCs32GlaVs31gjmldfbj7qMza8jKiUKVtCGsrrZrQ0NIFdvSSUhnEzJY8h9n1A-TfN6CTp8bYfniXigOAakuNQBxs/s1600-h/Natty+087.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyEo8UeFMOLkHuovjUsKWskH7qOAI94hkVWB36AWZZLbM8aSCTHCHCs32GlaVs31gjmldfbj7qMza8jKiUKVtCGsrrZrQ0NIFdvSSUhnEzJY8h9n1A-TfN6CTp8bYfniXigOAakuNQBxs/s320/Natty+087.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374625768000250562" /></a><br /><br />After a few days in the fine drizzle and freezing mountains we headed back to the heat and Fort Cochin for a last night before Craig and Ems headed north. We really loved being with them for the past few days, they're great to be around and there's certainly not many quiet moments when Deano's about.<br /><br />Nice to see that Leeds have managed to start the season well, wonder how long that'll last. We'll see. We've now got a few options for xmas so we'll keep you updated once we reach a decision but it'll be fun no matter! <br /><br />Hope you are all well, we're loving it here and both have managed to stay healthy ( touch wood although I've pretty much been veggie for the past few weeks, need a fat steak dinner or a nice Sunday roast...i even daydreamed on the way back to Cochin of fish fingers, chips and broccoli...i don't even like fish fingers that much.<br /><br />We're setting up a twitter account for the Rickshaw Run so once we're up and running we'll be able to text updates and let you know we're safe...but that's still a couple of weeks away.<br /><br />Love you all and hope you're safe.<br /><br />NickNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-36214813880051720002009-08-18T07:01:00.000-07:002009-08-27T05:01:34.667-07:00The lap of luxury...followed by MumbaiSo, we've had a crazy whirlwind of a trip through the Middle East and into India.<br />We landed in Dubai and headed straight for Abu Dabi, an hours bus ride away, to stay with our new friend Graeme. We met this lovely chap via facebook as he is also taking part in the Rickshaw Run in September. He offered to let us stay with him in Abu Dabi and we jumped at the chance (apparently they only have 4 star or plus hotels in the UAE!). It was unbelievably hot in the middle East, 50 degrees or more, but the wonderful thing about that area of the world is the power of AirCon!<br /><br />The phone number we had written down for Graeme didn't work so we decided it best to rock up at the British embassy, as we knew that he had some sort of dealings with them! The walk from the taxi to the gate (10 metres) left us soaked in sweat, and we asked the security guards if they might be able to get in contact with Graeme. They very kindly did, as it turns out he works just behind there office in the embassy, and they let us sit in the cool office while we waited for Graeme to come back from home, as at 3 he had already left (those expats and their laidback lifestyle!).<br /><br />Anyway, turned out Graeme is super jolly and entusiastic about all things Abu Dabi and straight away we were walking around the Palace which is the most expensive building to have ever been built! Graeme lent us his car (a jeep with no AC-sweet!) which was so generous and useful as otherwise we would've been stuck in the flat all day everyday!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYps23A737uNNvLpkKU69XeHkJCpDmB5xEeBvEVY-his0pthK3pavgjzWtOsP2RRqfhsVT_4u3FfeNIubxUkv5OxBLOOO48d53Un1FKamVBrpxzl7KrjEcswo6WPXyxv3z66mlQ8LRu8/s1600-h/Natty+080.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYps23A737uNNvLpkKU69XeHkJCpDmB5xEeBvEVY-his0pthK3pavgjzWtOsP2RRqfhsVT_4u3FfeNIubxUkv5OxBLOOO48d53Un1FKamVBrpxzl7KrjEcswo6WPXyxv3z66mlQ8LRu8/s320/Natty+080.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374604957831767154" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLjIO-XhuyLeZ3_8iXOTo8VWOYWEOUt_oCsnS6ffpDVtP0Iq3H3F_CwjSwaKDc3bGH8ahq35ctc6cgoAyTuiM29K17kE7mKch_YyrLT2ap2QyVvoKrCCK_lPfpvCAKuR4IHi32kIMLkY/s1600-h/Natty+122.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijLjIO-XhuyLeZ3_8iXOTo8VWOYWEOUt_oCsnS6ffpDVtP0Iq3H3F_CwjSwaKDc3bGH8ahq35ctc6cgoAyTuiM29K17kE7mKch_YyrLT2ap2QyVvoKrCCK_lPfpvCAKuR4IHi32kIMLkY/s320/Natty+122.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374604166518045794" /></a><br /><br /><br />We spent the next three days visiting everything there is to visit in Abu Dabi. We took tea at the palace (quite outside our budget!) and had gold topped cheesecake which was the yummiest cheesecake I ever had! We visited the Grand Mosque which is just unbelievably beautiful, and holds lots of world records including the worlds biggest carpet (it is BIG) and the world's most expensive/large chandelier (around 50 million dollars!).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiGVPhfNxlWIRho64mFdEhxSVBq-hcl2Oi2mNwzh9x8rd4RNzddTrLT5JMVwPhHYMdQunM5vWfkZy8ZkKGxuFUyQHUTt6NiBk-cdCZesg0TnjL_3FR6c6GhXzmRixIntkAewIIRpK8E0/s1600-h/Natty+190.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiGVPhfNxlWIRho64mFdEhxSVBq-hcl2Oi2mNwzh9x8rd4RNzddTrLT5JMVwPhHYMdQunM5vWfkZy8ZkKGxuFUyQHUTt6NiBk-cdCZesg0TnjL_3FR6c6GhXzmRixIntkAewIIRpK8E0/s320/Natty+190.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374605418338782338" /></a><br /><br />We also saw the world's biggest car and various other oddities owned by "The Rainbow Sheikh" and held in a big warehouse where few people bother to go (Graeme has been 3 times!).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbIwqxxMCD3VIu1l1GfLbftShU0qfFpGt-zOtTX9Bmrb7Spir2XX4EFjVlevH5WBs4ZaBSX70bgvMuW240KHPxdAupaaFhpQU6VpL7FCR3ViNY0hiD8U1tLMubFznVbk1UybTySfglAw/s1600-h/Natty+301.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbIwqxxMCD3VIu1l1GfLbftShU0qfFpGt-zOtTX9Bmrb7Spir2XX4EFjVlevH5WBs4ZaBSX70bgvMuW240KHPxdAupaaFhpQU6VpL7FCR3ViNY0hiD8U1tLMubFznVbk1UybTySfglAw/s320/Natty+301.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374609069829915218" /></a><br /><br /><br />It was so awesome spending time with Graeme, and we also met two of his teammates for the Rickshaw Run, so we're looking even more forward to it now!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3LzxUgQv_TgOxNijp2A9GYwOWZTWx-FLCJs-cidbHClPmfx8_5jL6Gf08PVIoDhKAUjdFXFWsOu-SySt-htNCWs4SQ0vRd-dDPFrrhGv9Nt7Y87YfL9EYiqdrHg7Q65rBApZAcauDgb4/s1600-h/Natty+195.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3LzxUgQv_TgOxNijp2A9GYwOWZTWx-FLCJs-cidbHClPmfx8_5jL6Gf08PVIoDhKAUjdFXFWsOu-SySt-htNCWs4SQ0vRd-dDPFrrhGv9Nt7Y87YfL9EYiqdrHg7Q65rBApZAcauDgb4/s320/Natty+195.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374610240194429810" /></a><br /><br />After 3 days we headed back to Dubai to spend some time with Mark Hughes, a friend from Dhahran. He has an amazing flat in the marina, but unfortunately for Mark he works ridiculously long hours so barely has time to appreciate it! Nick and I spent our days watching Extras on DVD and our evenings out for dinner with Mark. It was so great to have some down time and just relax before hitting India.<br /><br />But hit India we have and by jimminy it's insane! People always tell you about the poverty but you just cannot imagine it until you see it. During the day you become used to seeing families sitting in the street surrounded by the few things they have and the kids begging for money or just a drink of water. But it's nighttime it really gets you. To get to our hotel on the fourth floor of a building, we walk over sleeping families, and when we returned last night a father was laying his child down for the night on a thin sheet outside the elevator shaft on the second floor. It is insane how divided the rich and the poor of this country are.<br /><br />We have only seen Mumbai thus far, and we had an amazing first couple days with our couchsurfing host Hemal. We were his first ever couchsurfing guests, and having seen that I am an artist on our profile he heard about an event this past Saturday and knew he had to take us along.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSpW0V75GgUeeXd3diWLR19e14DKpu9zGTGwZqdQ3zD-RwZG_ouRrD_SS-0MwjVGcQ1D_cEZJrUKsYaywqgYImzcwcXd3o77M_knbBCuY5Odw6zPRZqJUtI2v-dtMkjih-vEwiCBgnE5Y/s1600-h/Natty+356.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSpW0V75GgUeeXd3diWLR19e14DKpu9zGTGwZqdQ3zD-RwZG_ouRrD_SS-0MwjVGcQ1D_cEZJrUKsYaywqgYImzcwcXd3o77M_knbBCuY5Odw6zPRZqJUtI2v-dtMkjih-vEwiCBgnE5Y/s320/Natty+356.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374611244487242306" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqOkhAorcpdLAYYBybzLlQPHWX8NkxnEUOrOORxJH-3o0cgV9-1r13_3Uu9SsuBAdvX1GUNEx-KR5c8B-gT7sBxAtfuSZW159SZwB6IHuvw-oH40Jynj4EDr1ZkDBK_-lEtBg2E_onPQ/s1600-h/Natty+355.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgqOkhAorcpdLAYYBybzLlQPHWX8NkxnEUOrOORxJH-3o0cgV9-1r13_3Uu9SsuBAdvX1GUNEx-KR5c8B-gT7sBxAtfuSZW159SZwB6IHuvw-oH40Jynj4EDr1ZkDBK_-lEtBg2E_onPQ/s320/Natty+355.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374612148254676018" /></a><br /><br /><br />There is a wall in Mumbai running along the railway line that up until Saturday was brown and dirty. The government, after encouragement from a group of graffiti artists, invited anyone and everyone to paint the wall, even providing a van full of paints and brushes. Hemal is a big Michael Jackson fan, so Nick, Hemal, Umang (Hemal's brother) and I did a Michael Jackson tribute mural! It was a great way to spend our first day in Mumbai. We got on the news and in the Sunday Times of India! Pictures and quotes! Not bad eh?<br /><br />The last few days have been spent generally trying to get things done and not getting very far. Mumbai is FRUSTRATINGLY slow. It took us 3 days to get anyone to agree to give us a sim card, even after following all their instructions. You have to give all your information before getting anywhere near an internet cafe, and it took us 3 hours today to send some parcels home. They SEW UP THE PARCELS. With a needle. And string. And then you tie the custom declaration form to the parcel and write on it with a black marker. It looks great but it takes forever to get done. <br /><br />So we're looking forward to getting our train out of this crazy place tomorrow morning and heading for Kerala where we hope things will be slightly less hectic. <br /><br />On a positive note though, we visited a charmingly named restaurant called Gaylord last night and ate the best curry of our lives. We are looking forward to the yummy curry trend continuing. And as of 8.08pm Indian time on this day the 19th of August 2009 there are still no jippy tummies...yet. Watch this space.<br /><br />NattyNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-15139194523528370972009-08-08T07:32:00.000-07:002009-08-27T02:49:33.673-07:00My mother's mother's motherland...So, as the title suggests, this is Nat typing from Armenia! We're actually at the end of our journeys here, and Nick has been asking me to blog for about a week, and I suppose it's time to stop putting it off.<br /><br />We've been here for about two weeks and have yet again spent most of our time with the boys, Asaf, Kovi and Nick (t'other one aka Shaggy).<br /><br />First impressions? Yerevan is a much more 'developed' city than Tbilisi or indeed anywhere we've been since Istanbul and in some ways it felt a bit closer to home, with a real modern European feel to it. Cranes line the horizon as there appears to be plenty of money going into making sure that Armenia's capital catches up with the rest of the world after much distraction and devastation has left the country a little behind in terms of it's appeal to tourists, other than Armenian diaspora. Yerevan is home to the genocide museum which we visited on our second day in the country.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALRaG9x1aQYTInx5YTZnVuXcdttSFPmfauoPDJuUbd_ANxUXITErxXmVedlfz5b65Xm-U_4D8Nqq2Ty6x0YMaqjsbM4_5ogKWU1cWpI57ObA-zBi2aXztnnwufJax0uJ9AW1qhnMfxf0/s1600-h/Natty+166.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALRaG9x1aQYTInx5YTZnVuXcdttSFPmfauoPDJuUbd_ANxUXITErxXmVedlfz5b65Xm-U_4D8Nqq2Ty6x0YMaqjsbM4_5ogKWU1cWpI57ObA-zBi2aXztnnwufJax0uJ9AW1qhnMfxf0/s320/Natty+166.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374566762892862210" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWKGwB5IlqiwlW0vwu4qWwfe7gDjmuroBcyzi7sc2g-wHifqiA8L_h6aPeFpFkggv2qjIJelJ2OAFBPHrMc6FVsE-S5WY5KuNSotIa_FhG1e0OxWd1k6HvmlpM0kCsi_E_fDj3uds40Q/s1600-h/Natty+163.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWKGwB5IlqiwlW0vwu4qWwfe7gDjmuroBcyzi7sc2g-wHifqiA8L_h6aPeFpFkggv2qjIJelJ2OAFBPHrMc6FVsE-S5WY5KuNSotIa_FhG1e0OxWd1k6HvmlpM0kCsi_E_fDj3uds40Q/s320/Natty+163.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374567806662312946" /></a><br /><br /><br /> Despite the fact that we had all visited various Jewish genocide museums, you can never become hardened to the images and words you find in these places, and as I have been finding throughout Armenian genes are strong and I see in the faces of the photos (and peole who live here) similarities with Omama and even Mum and her brothers, and that made the Armenian genocide museum a bit more personal to me. That Armenian streak seems to have faultered at the 3rd generation in our family, as Nick and I have been told frequently that we look like brother and sister (what?! Me look like that ginga?!).<br /><br />We hired a car for what turned out to be 7 days and drove around the country. It was wonderful to have the freedom to go and do as we pleased without relying on public transport, especially in a country that despite being small is quite spread out in terms of places to visit.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7yd6_pZ4xO-Ht9jl4YaPQvkg7soX9w9S6JY4hQsWOJGufKXU8yrdYjYXUkukgChDmAXzGVArdEBYngjV_z4YsOB2LY6x2Rwcr_UZCJD41rYslTsyegFeQIlkx1cejdzDlOyXLsK0Nz0/s1600-h/Natty+180.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr7yd6_pZ4xO-Ht9jl4YaPQvkg7soX9w9S6JY4hQsWOJGufKXU8yrdYjYXUkukgChDmAXzGVArdEBYngjV_z4YsOB2LY6x2Rwcr_UZCJD41rYslTsyegFeQIlkx1cejdzDlOyXLsK0Nz0/s320/Natty+180.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374570178102378994" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSMgQstzs-CeQfSkHQ3PeQhsKTE8DycQgZBDNE7Y1Qowj81S2pfOdSZfZWWlX8uScGC6CcHpr_33_GEC_KvvMrRYAmrmHcxfpwNFnotkOGknWaodzcikn88yikLtcVykkSXApeGhXnWg/s1600-h/Natty+182.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSMgQstzs-CeQfSkHQ3PeQhsKTE8DycQgZBDNE7Y1Qowj81S2pfOdSZfZWWlX8uScGC6CcHpr_33_GEC_KvvMrRYAmrmHcxfpwNFnotkOGknWaodzcikn88yikLtcVykkSXApeGhXnWg/s320/Natty+182.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374569615005366962" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwICL44jMh83wSW6nUoY1CmP2Vp-F6sl7jMMykiLumA0ScNw7ZKulurHhf-uEqgAroOK9B0evQ88mCf1ocPxH-586PUslqk-bZx15zGoqCYt01DoIn0N65WmVGIA2tKBmymbODqkJPHGU/s1600-h/Natty+181.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwICL44jMh83wSW6nUoY1CmP2Vp-F6sl7jMMykiLumA0ScNw7ZKulurHhf-uEqgAroOK9B0evQ88mCf1ocPxH-586PUslqk-bZx15zGoqCYt01DoIn0N65WmVGIA2tKBmymbODqkJPHGU/s320/Natty+181.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374571585157528354" /></a><br /><br />The first night we stayed near an old monastery in the north (forgive me forgetting the name) and we arrived at a very unsuitable camping location on the side of a road where we discovered many a cow enjoys a good expulsion of waste. Along with that splendid aroma we were also very hasty in putting up the tent (due to aproaching darkness and a fear that we had no idea what was up or down tentwise!) and therefore found on lying down that we had placed the tent on what can only be described as a mound of rocks with a bit of earth to hold them together.<br /><br />One appalling night's sleep later and we were ready to get out of there nice and early (especially since we'd left the matches and the wood outside to get damp all night and therefore could not start the fire to make a nice cup of tea English style milk and all).<br /><br />Nick, Shaggy and I set off again, due to meet Asaf and Kovi the following day by Lake Sevan as Asaf had decided to join his friend in seeing the Sabbat in with a fast, and therefore remaining in Yerevan.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTHCZJDm8CmwoCVVIaFM5SvLgUX399BBrtILY4TaRYwy53YUBo7Ula9fIfRrHA-R9fGSHlZxUAkC4WH2C9bC4QU3_zBvUCeSPf0czyIRPStbIU-RgOCc2bj6f_ZiTPvjNq0eRO_0p5fQ/s1600-h/Natty+199.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnTHCZJDm8CmwoCVVIaFM5SvLgUX399BBrtILY4TaRYwy53YUBo7Ula9fIfRrHA-R9fGSHlZxUAkC4WH2C9bC4QU3_zBvUCeSPf0czyIRPStbIU-RgOCc2bj6f_ZiTPvjNq0eRO_0p5fQ/s320/Natty+199.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374572291971225554" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJAxc0waD-OdwPgw06ielRCzKOXXE-RU5wWOHo2I5YQ16hIQ8o9kfDn5CwNiF8wGoo6qSy82h-Zk0TsZgyJL94cn7H5c7eJW_1gNVXooniDHFkik3pejnPmyFlA7h8SKWqQQVbMH5np8/s1600-h/Natty+205.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrJAxc0waD-OdwPgw06ielRCzKOXXE-RU5wWOHo2I5YQ16hIQ8o9kfDn5CwNiF8wGoo6qSy82h-Zk0TsZgyJL94cn7H5c7eJW_1gNVXooniDHFkik3pejnPmyFlA7h8SKWqQQVbMH5np8/s320/Natty+205.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374573172860415874" /></a><br /><br /><br />We made our way to Lake Sevan that day and found a lovely (?) little spot where we had to pay for the pleasure of camping but where there were very few rocks (a great relief) and a ten metre walk to the lake. The lake was gorgeously cool and not crowded in the area we stayed, and the three of us made a lovely meal and had a leisurely evening. Nick was highly impressed with my firemaking skills, and I reminded him that I had actually picked up some very important skills up in Utopia in Scotland a few summers ago, and it wasn't all about drinking wine at the local pub, going to Tescos and sleeping in Yurts!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOFalCGcwq-mz_tcDhghhEqrah-QVixVkOHfYLEVaZatENsiCXMEJOasxvFdKGyBZvqQuYW-GOqjTs_snVvdvXK0ZLlWuDMUkjJqFkDt7wlhy_wnLf91sFXbxLcL8qfCvrVtHR1Oebjc/s1600-h/Natty+206.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOFalCGcwq-mz_tcDhghhEqrah-QVixVkOHfYLEVaZatENsiCXMEJOasxvFdKGyBZvqQuYW-GOqjTs_snVvdvXK0ZLlWuDMUkjJqFkDt7wlhy_wnLf91sFXbxLcL8qfCvrVtHR1Oebjc/s320/Natty+206.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374574958377912402" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsTsRX_QzkiOgeTl9jXGlub1EMin9CHXZQsV-XZhuicMtwWQJ_p2_dzh6fJzEeC3jHbadXeuRBMnMu7z2HBw1NajyCKU0lxre8L0VTc-3aNHR5V-b5jo8WqJHxy7qj5OCMu8-1AMn_WM/s1600-h/Natty+207.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsTsRX_QzkiOgeTl9jXGlub1EMin9CHXZQsV-XZhuicMtwWQJ_p2_dzh6fJzEeC3jHbadXeuRBMnMu7z2HBw1NajyCKU0lxre8L0VTc-3aNHR5V-b5jo8WqJHxy7qj5OCMu8-1AMn_WM/s320/Natty+207.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374575842224727202" /></a><br /><br />So, the following day we were joined by our lovely Israeli boys, only to be left as three again as Kovi returned to Yerevan and Shaggy went off into the world to do some solo travelling before meeting his friends in Euroland soon.<br /><br />The three of us, Nick, Asaf and I, spent a lovely 2nd night on Lake Sevan, although due to a mega super storm and our cloth 1970s tent, we didn't quite trust sleeping in the tent, so we ended up kipping in Dolores, our trusty Lada circa 1984, bright Orange, maximum speed 110kph, up a hill 30kph, the legend that is Dolores.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhieuUdv6I3ICYWjVCSVdf7EE4wgkkRNj3r3ngUO6_g5y3kkodY7XezowRuWt5zwXDsmNhL_isEA8r4gArk9G7Hh2WPbsXvYmCiGcQCWonsJr2UUis04k8BzpxzDmT3gOwyT0iCN1RcVw0/s1600-h/Natty+208.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhieuUdv6I3ICYWjVCSVdf7EE4wgkkRNj3r3ngUO6_g5y3kkodY7XezowRuWt5zwXDsmNhL_isEA8r4gArk9G7Hh2WPbsXvYmCiGcQCWonsJr2UUis04k8BzpxzDmT3gOwyT0iCN1RcVw0/s320/Natty+208.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374576814047795474" /></a><br /><br />Thank my 5 foot 4 lucky stars I got to lie down in the back seat (would've been wasted on the boys) and the other two slept with their feet on the dashboards. At about three Asaf and I tried or luck with the tent, and found it to be very dry inside, leaving Nick to stretch (hee hee) out on the backseat.<br /><br />We met Kovi in Nagorna Karabagh, an unrecognised country that is wartorn between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The people speak Armenian and it has a very similar feel and of course landscape to Armenia. The only difference is the world recognises it as the property of Azerbaijan despite the fact that the people within the country are ethnic Armenian.<br /><br />We visited a 'town' called Aghdam which was almost completely obliterated when it was bombed to smithereens by the Azeris. You can climb to the top of the mosque there, which the boys did but I found it all just horrible and didn't want to go any further or see any more of the awful place.<br /><br />I was relieved to return to Armenia (I think we all were) and here we have been back in Yerevan for a few days, and heading to Dubai tomorrow on our way to India. All the boys (apart from Nick obv) have left and although it is nice to have some alone time after so many weeks, we've had such a wonderful time with them and became quite close. Asaf was the last to leave yesterday morning, back to Georgia, and we miss his big smile and jolliness! <br /><br />That's the thing about travelling, you meet so many wonderful people, but ultimately you're from different lives and you have to go your seperate ways at some point. But now we have a great reason to visit Israel...but that's for our next trip...<br /><br />Onwards East...via the Middle East.<br /><br />Much love,<br /><br />NattyxxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-19394319881695369942009-07-26T05:39:00.000-07:002009-08-27T01:57:06.102-07:00Nick and Nat do 'Bandit Country'So this will be our last blog from Georgia as tomorrow we head over the border to Armenia and the next chapter of the journey. <br /><br />Georgia has been an absolute delight, not just because we've had a great time travelling with ' the boys ' but because the place itself is beautiful. Tbilisi is a crazy place, busy but with a certain rustic, european charm, described by someone in the hostel as Paris 50 years ago. But the countryside has been spectacular. Kazbegi and then for the last few days Svaneti ( Bandit Country ) have been an experience i'll never forget.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ehJwNwvgy3PtL_r8uiJByke5HmjyZpKybVbXuSBijfEhQwSOqMCTkyNUxihOrYH1D4vEh8eHl5da__ZShuqygABywR-d2bKId8NAC7Fc5NDpBmzD3d30js_3t5gDHUxtEhWuD_cAypU/s1600-h/Natty+017.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ehJwNwvgy3PtL_r8uiJByke5HmjyZpKybVbXuSBijfEhQwSOqMCTkyNUxihOrYH1D4vEh8eHl5da__ZShuqygABywR-d2bKId8NAC7Fc5NDpBmzD3d30js_3t5gDHUxtEhWuD_cAypU/s320/Natty+017.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374557310800858578" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYdkyWaMPYJKbThRbuCSN5i3gh8Vs56H6IgUAZwP5tDKV0EyOQN4q_vs6D4fcMb2wGKMszZsFK3rYR20BXTIe0s5mVCFueeFTiFI2iZVJwNp34TKE9yCjg44hoqxt1F9LtQ_ItnrT_6U/s1600-h/Natty+016.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuYdkyWaMPYJKbThRbuCSN5i3gh8Vs56H6IgUAZwP5tDKV0EyOQN4q_vs6D4fcMb2wGKMszZsFK3rYR20BXTIe0s5mVCFueeFTiFI2iZVJwNp34TKE9yCjg44hoqxt1F9LtQ_ItnrT_6U/s320/Natty+016.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374558348322002226" /></a><br /><br />We've been treated so well during our stays, we were living in people's homes, paying 8 pounds a night and having bed, breakfast and dinner included...can't go wrong. The hosts were both great, always trying to help and make us feel welcome. There was something about being in the mountains, washing your own clothes in their fresh spring water, and hanging it to dry that made me feel so clean!<br /><br />Svaneti was totally different though. Whereas Kazbegi was more tourist orientated, it took an overnight train and a 6 hour bus ride through roadless mountain passes to get to Mestia the provincial capital. We thought we would get off in town and look around for somewhere to stay but actually to bus driver took us to his own homestay ( should have guessed that one ) and we ended up staying there. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnu8AplyudxUMN1SzVAs8su-pn5E3KyIU6ZoGupUHHixOVhaTU-6PG5dNWVlZ03CyA838IGyTyL1-Eb558hE-0xufUol6Z4qUQah-jTvyQ6JM3_tfNC53KlMXw2R30vfYby-eDpCnM6M/s1600-h/Natty+001.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnu8AplyudxUMN1SzVAs8su-pn5E3KyIU6ZoGupUHHixOVhaTU-6PG5dNWVlZ03CyA838IGyTyL1-Eb558hE-0xufUol6Z4qUQah-jTvyQ6JM3_tfNC53KlMXw2R30vfYby-eDpCnM6M/s320/Natty+001.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374559182986554674" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRhnJFyxM7fwF1DjZLaO2a7-YhkaQ33ibcM3mfRYaTeGAdbsxFBWf0fm-o1p5dkR2-PK0NKk4apCrVl2eJ4Cj8QOsEb3o2ewnu8AobzCwj3cP6lnfu-88Tb5T6F1q7pUDmqpCe1uDcww/s1600-h/Natty+024.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRhnJFyxM7fwF1DjZLaO2a7-YhkaQ33ibcM3mfRYaTeGAdbsxFBWf0fm-o1p5dkR2-PK0NKk4apCrVl2eJ4Cj8QOsEb3o2ewnu8AobzCwj3cP6lnfu-88Tb5T6F1q7pUDmqpCe1uDcww/s320/Natty+024.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374562178100377138" /></a><br /><br />The pine forest covered valleys were covered in fog trails in the morning and early evening. The sun shines off the peaks of the overlooking snow-capped mountains, it's a tough place to live for sure, but an amazing place to visit. We did the mandatory walk to the glacier...you wouldn't believe it but i took my shirt off for 20 mins and almost got 3rd degree burns. typical. <br /><br />The accomodation was great, again we had food delivered twice a day and i kid you not, THE comfiest beds ever made. We've made some great friends in Asaf, Kovi and Nick, it's been a pleasure travelling with them and we're both really glad we are spending Armenia with them too. I only hope that we are able to head to Isreal someday and see them at home.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJu93JUQnEmSUeoy3cqJ6bJ18Muur8gxUwS_Eiqm97QH8nMeeLsznI7zl6jD8YizCs_tNxYnH3uMgXPADKLFuK5Ra35VIp00f0yo3uwlSjFqljtrgejzgjMbGKt7w9GUGgFRok6ddLWY/s1600-h/Natty+039.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJu93JUQnEmSUeoy3cqJ6bJ18Muur8gxUwS_Eiqm97QH8nMeeLsznI7zl6jD8YizCs_tNxYnH3uMgXPADKLFuK5Ra35VIp00f0yo3uwlSjFqljtrgejzgjMbGKt7w9GUGgFRok6ddLWY/s320/Natty+039.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374563407055786898" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVU-KZmmM8odfctWhKW24FeX_Uz2ikvTtG4L7sblAbi1w4l4hbriJ3x5GhZaKG2l2L1w52DPNYxA8_aFi8zUMfYBmqJFyeS7nVumUzYLDZYN6jpwWwSsp0S8FEODmLUzpTnYQ1z_MriM/s1600-h/Natty+046.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVU-KZmmM8odfctWhKW24FeX_Uz2ikvTtG4L7sblAbi1w4l4hbriJ3x5GhZaKG2l2L1w52DPNYxA8_aFi8zUMfYBmqJFyeS7nVumUzYLDZYN6jpwWwSsp0S8FEODmLUzpTnYQ1z_MriM/s320/Natty+046.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374564771448929442" /></a><br /><br /><br />Well the trip back to Tbilisi was slightly less fun, 10 hours in a minibus is never fun, but Asaf, Kovi and myself decided that instead of going for a 7 hour walk on our last day in Svaneti, we would simply buy 3, 2 litre bottles of beer and spend the day drinking. Great fun, until I woke up at 4 am to get the bus on that very same road that has a rather non-existant surface. <br /><br />But we're here now, stayed in a great homestay last night and met a real travel writer! woo hoo! was great to chat to him about his travels he's done some amazing journeys and has so much to talk about, gave us some good tips for s e asia too! <br /><br />Well i'm 37% through the last lot of my turkey photos, my flickr name is ' Settled Nomad' for those who want to see mine as well as Nat's photos, and i guess once i get to armenia I'll start uploading the Georgia ones...yeah i'm rubbish i know.<br /><br />Right going to make a dash, grab some food and come back to see who's wone the grand prix. Hope you're all well and the next time we write we'll be in armenia somwhere!<br /><br />Lots of love,<br /><br />NickNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-45873692606657891562009-07-21T03:07:00.000-07:002009-07-21T04:09:52.058-07:00Hoshakahlihn Turkey, Gamarjobat Georgia...So, as the title says in terribly pheonetical Turkish and Georgian, goodbye to Turkey and hello to Georgia!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrN5KUIKIzdxEnoY3I8HvOen_8z5axxVNiXe0jvkb5ljTKzteuNOdoa4lo48fs6b3oxgFU1MIKagCQlx8HkvkLCxwHMNH3vjOFz8TFXjsaKRMXyqIhsbukRm_Xt4e3OaG6VLop83AOeQ/s1600-h/P7140716.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrN5KUIKIzdxEnoY3I8HvOen_8z5axxVNiXe0jvkb5ljTKzteuNOdoa4lo48fs6b3oxgFU1MIKagCQlx8HkvkLCxwHMNH3vjOFz8TFXjsaKRMXyqIhsbukRm_Xt4e3OaG6VLop83AOeQ/s320/P7140716.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360864500670863906" /></a><br /><br />About a week ago we rocked up to the Georgian border and my relationship with the country got off to a rather bad start! As Nick mentioned I wasn't paticularly fond of the lack of queuing etiquette that the Georgians (and Turks) seem to have at the border crossing, but as my blood boiled I found myself joining in on the pushing culture so I guess I can understand how if you'd grown up with the monstrosity of manners you'd just join in or you'd never get anywhere!<br /><br />The funny thing is in comparison to this pushing and shoving Georgian people, as promised, have been as friendly and hospitable as the Turks, and I've certainly had my cheeks and nose squeezed off more in the last week than ever before (I thought that kind of behaviour stopped once you reached adulthood, but apparently the grannies here don't adhere to that rule...either that or I'm cute as a button!).<br /><br />Anyhew, we hopped on a mashutka (?) a little minibus thingy and were in Batumi, a Georgian beach resort within half an hour. We met the lovely french girls and guy on this bus and they helped us out of our culture shock.<br /><br />The weather was awful but we had a traditional Georgian dinner with Pierre, Laurienne and Miriam. We all ate khinkali which is basically a giant dumpling with usually mince meat inside. It's....nice. Nick like it more than me, maybe a bit to meaty for my liking.<br /><br />We were helped to buy tickets to Tbilisi the following day by a lovely Georgian fellow we met on the street. There are, like in Turkey, four types of tickets on Georgian trains, and we booked our sleeper car and set out to pass the day before heading to the station for the evening. <br /><br />We randomly bumped into Nick the Aussie yet again! We first met him briefly in Fethiye and then again in Kars, where we had a few drinks and exchanged emails in the knowledge we'd all be in Georgia at the same time. The emails it turned out weren't needed because there he was in a cafe in Batumi! We ended up spending most of the day cafe/bar hopping as the rain tipped it down almost constantly. This was not exactly the best plan (6 beers and 1 sleepless bumpy train ride later=not jolly) but we had lots of fun and got to know the lovely Nick aka Shaggy.<br /><br />We organised to meet Nick in Tbilisi the following evening as we were getting different trains.<br /><br />The train ride was awful but we saved on a nights accomodation atleast. We arrived in Tbilisi and after a couple hours of early morning waiting around we were given two beds in a dorm at Dodo's Homestay and had a couple hours sleep.<br /><br />Over the following 24 hours the two Nicks, two Israeli guys Assaf and Kovi also staying at Dodos and I all decided to set off to Kazbegi, a region in Northern Georgia about 3 hours from Tbilisi. We arrived to a very eager man called Rezo insisting that we stay at his homestay. We had been given contact details of someone else by Dodo our pushy, odd but sweet guesthouse owner, but were eventually convinced by Rezo to go with him. SO glad we did. What a wonderful place. For 9 pounds a day we had comfy beds, hot water, cooked breakfast and dinner and a packed lunch. There were sweet little kids running around giggling and playing football which was very cute!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzv9JS6zlmkU9yV10QG85yn6M5-ZRuHQm0d5GUt8XQXia8ZmyE0Tng9rECs0mgavsTbqNrW4vwdsFj9PGNHK-SnHtcXziPFvGXzG3kaj-9VCykzaPV-IR6wkaV5Jd0pro_9XriC5GT4Zg/s1600-h/P7200882.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzv9JS6zlmkU9yV10QG85yn6M5-ZRuHQm0d5GUt8XQXia8ZmyE0Tng9rECs0mgavsTbqNrW4vwdsFj9PGNHK-SnHtcXziPFvGXzG3kaj-9VCykzaPV-IR6wkaV5Jd0pro_9XriC5GT4Zg/s400/P7200882.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360868692084558418" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkFzTJcgdI6qasXXjzQk8QRb7IQQfrYSk-z9CpM2u8o19JklQnGQu_9ZAaVcZZgvNePzJF-pvgnF7SyxLA7x0_bO-7y1J4SMP9NJPr87GW0Sl-34UVGnN2CsZSXzYf7xd1Njgl24KU7g/s1600-h/P7190878.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkFzTJcgdI6qasXXjzQk8QRb7IQQfrYSk-z9CpM2u8o19JklQnGQu_9ZAaVcZZgvNePzJF-pvgnF7SyxLA7x0_bO-7y1J4SMP9NJPr87GW0Sl-34UVGnN2CsZSXzYf7xd1Njgl24KU7g/s400/P7190878.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360868665099540770" /></a><br /><br />We had our own little apartment and spent the days walking the valleys and the evenings drinking and playing cards! One day we went off into the distance on a terrible road and ended up having to hitchhike back in a tiny Lada with Nick sitting on Kovis lap in the front seat! Georgians will pick up anyone, certainly a great country to hitch hike around!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizudTLAZzqhGxQHWVivzQNnB1GdwH0RNga5zds2j9QYZVaqRmbabLmfQpAOQwmAlFH9mL6fAVY_hvFEZxtWPolU-DpDv4DgpuxfldwylHAPcgo6wMhrdMxDfWZuOIwsgd5GSXzbihyC3U/s1600-h/P7180820.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizudTLAZzqhGxQHWVivzQNnB1GdwH0RNga5zds2j9QYZVaqRmbabLmfQpAOQwmAlFH9mL6fAVY_hvFEZxtWPolU-DpDv4DgpuxfldwylHAPcgo6wMhrdMxDfWZuOIwsgd5GSXzbihyC3U/s400/P7180820.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360868659328966306" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcNyJ5hMOE-HX1JNGjN3_Miq8tvkPNZUC68cIkwq3pHpqoADyqSDQrhWBs3hdLZkn1jFtonJsp84qkgEVDgeG9EVC4du9ti2wUghcMHPuS6ZScsPOSLwEt7h7VG7JbIiaw5QyJYWnNqY/s1600-h/P7170776.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcNyJ5hMOE-HX1JNGjN3_Miq8tvkPNZUC68cIkwq3pHpqoADyqSDQrhWBs3hdLZkn1jFtonJsp84qkgEVDgeG9EVC4du9ti2wUghcMHPuS6ZScsPOSLwEt7h7VG7JbIiaw5QyJYWnNqY/s400/P7170776.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360868651700217442" /></a><br /><br />The Israeli boys are very sweet, both are about to start university after having sertved in the Israeli army. They really couldn't be more different, Kovi is a devout Jew, a thoughtful and more reserved guy, while Assaf is gay with a cute little lisp and a big personality! They're the best of friends and along with Nick the Aussie (Shaggy from scooby doo according to Assaf) who's awesome we've had the best time.<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrGWpkHMRVr7xT8KN1_tdESpjnZ6uegDZ-G-oVgMa901so7xvD084N5-XXYHkoy3VH-YSGNP2EbRUsa4JL7VY8nD7CSASeJZTiCS83ap1LB3BPQ8t9hj6SJm3WBMXVmQvU1M87ZF58x8M/s1600-h/P7170759.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrGWpkHMRVr7xT8KN1_tdESpjnZ6uegDZ-G-oVgMa901so7xvD084N5-XXYHkoy3VH-YSGNP2EbRUsa4JL7VY8nD7CSASeJZTiCS83ap1LB3BPQ8t9hj6SJm3WBMXVmQvU1M87ZF58x8M/s400/P7170759.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360868631650808578" /></a><br /><br /><br />We returned to Tbilisi and we went off to couchsurf and the boys went back to Dodos for the night. We stayed with a lovely girl called Natalia who has 4 rescue cats one of which wears a diaper and drags itself around as it's spine was broken by a dog bite. She was so kind and welcoming and yet again couchsurfing has been a pleasureable experience.<br /><br />So in a couple hours we'll be back with the boys on a night train off to Sveneti for some more valley walking and card games! Can't wait! From then we'll be thinking about heading off in the direction of Armenia....<br /><br />Love and kisses,<br /><br />NattyxxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-10067438972907226632009-07-21T02:13:00.001-07:002009-07-21T03:00:31.130-07:00Nick and Natty do wwr and the Georgian border...So I know we're crap at this but we are trying! We've been in Georgia for a week now but hardly been anywhere with internet...Nat is going to say more on that after this post. <br /><br />After our last post we took a great bus ride through the mountains to a little town called Yusefeli. A gorgeous place in a steep ravine, out hotel / hostel was right on the river and you could actually sit and watch rafts going down the river in front of our window! made sleeping interesting though as the noise of the river made it sound like it was throwing it down! waking up to bright sunshine and the noise of a storm was a bit confusing to say the least! <br /><br />We arrived in the afternoon and although we were offered a place on a raft that day, it was with a bunch of meat-head biker dudes from the Czech rep who looked like they would have preferred to just swim down the rapids! So we left that one and decided to have a relaxing evening. We had some chay with a young guy who was the expert rafting guide from the LP. Seemed like a lovely guy but a bit lost in himself, there was something about the town and all the inhabitants that wasn't quite right. <br /><br />We ended up having dinner with a couple from Istanbul who were there on holiday and they took us for a pide with the english speaking guide who had gone rafting with them that day...this is where we met Sean. The little Turkish Yank was an absolute legend, apart from the fact that he had obviously spent too long in San Fransisco he made us feel totally welcome and we had a great night chatting and even took us to his mates Sheesha bar, which happened to be some plastic chairs on the roof of his house. ( Turns out that was the last night it was in operation as the police closed the place down after we left! ) <br /><br />Sean was the translator for our rafting the following morning, the guide and his two sons were ace, we even went for a drink that evening with him at the local 'gentleman's club ' Nat was the only lady there not 'working'! haha good fun though.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinCB7ejjpDK5iQdX-JMrAuGrtgFsh0rLYk1niErkXx7XQQpdz_UvxulF-2VJNyK5zm9oGVyyxusoE9rOFj2JtOErUaWuTfIyE08bIQuHFYAs58WEZxXKjkpP-duYcNOMucNpbItzrauN8/s1600-h/P7130642.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinCB7ejjpDK5iQdX-JMrAuGrtgFsh0rLYk1niErkXx7XQQpdz_UvxulF-2VJNyK5zm9oGVyyxusoE9rOFj2JtOErUaWuTfIyE08bIQuHFYAs58WEZxXKjkpP-duYcNOMucNpbItzrauN8/s320/P7130642.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360849872774461362" /></a><br /><br /><br />The actual rafting was amazing there were some really hair raising moments and Nat loved it, even if she did get soaked a few times in freezing cold water! there's pics on flickr too but here's one as well.<br /><br />Turns out the reason why the town has such a strange atmosphere is that for the past 15 years they locals have been told that the government are building a huge damn in the area and that their town will be flooded and they will have to move. Obviously they will be compensated but there is no time line, they have no idea when this is going to happen and therefore cannot prepare for the inevitable. On a longer term level there has been no development in town for years, why would you as a local businessman invest in your business if you know that it will be flooded at some time in the future! It was really sad to see, that these people lived in such a beautiful setting with so much to offer, at the same time as living in an awful limbo that kept them from moving forward with their lives.<br /><br />So that was the rafting, we had a great time but had now decided it was time to move into our second country, Turkey was done ( for the time-being ) Georgia here we come! <br /><br />The journey to the border was great only 5 hours and over the mist covered mountains, felt like northern Thailand! When we got to the border it was raining and it didn't stop for 3 days. The crossing was fine, not too long but the Georgians certainly haven't queued in England before. No rules, no etiquette. The worst are the little grannies who push in, you feel bad because they're old ( not sure how that makes them in any more of a rush ) so you let them. Only to find that they turn around and call for their whole family to join them...poor Nat was getting tutted at and pushed about, she was about to flip out it was hilarious! Sometimes it's so hard to hold the laughter in, but it was certainly worth the skin on my back to do so this time! she may have dumped me in the black see at that point! <br /><br />It was only on the bus into Batumi, the border / coastal town that we realised we spoke no Georgian or Russian and had nowhere to stay and no LP for the area! Up a creak with no paddle. Luckily three french travellers jumped in and we managed to get them to take us to their hotel and found ourselves a place to stay! Relieved to say the least!<br /><br />I'll let Nat go on, but I'd like to say from me anyway that Turkey was amazing, we had such a great time all the way through and it is a magnificent place to visit! We'll be coming back for sure and I'd advise anyone looking for a holiday to go too. no matter which area you go too you'll be made to feel really welcome and meet some great people long the way. Good bye Turkey, for now.Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-63223057604011689912009-07-11T04:50:00.000-07:002009-07-11T06:34:42.830-07:00Nıck & Natty are now headıng west agaın and then to Georgıa!!!Well ıts been a couple of weeks sınce the last update ı know but we havent really had the best connectıons for ınternet use out ın the east! <br /><br />So a quıck recap and then ı promıse we wıll keep you a lıttle more updated. It seems a shame to quıckly run through thıs stuff but Nat ıs currently uploadıng pıctures to her flıckr account ( www.flickr.com/photos/nattyandnick/ and please forgive if thıngs are not the rıght way up etc takes ages to load stuff on and edıt!) so you can see what we've been doıng! <br /><br />Cappadocıa was amazıng. If you are lookıng for somewhere to lose yourself ın a book ın beautıfull surroundıngs thıs ıs the place! we spent 3 days ın Göreme and had a great tıme. Funny story, we got the overnıght bus from Fethıye wıth a bus load of people ıncludıng Sımon and Donna who became our cappadocıa buddıes. the bus was meant to get ınto a town an hour and a half away and then we would get a shuttle bus to Göreme arrıvıng about 8:30 ısh ın the mornıng...well the drıver was very kınd and drıve us dırectly to our destınatıon. Great you may thınk no shuttle bus, however ıt was 4:00am and the town was empty, well almost, we were greeted by the everlastıng ımage of thıs huge, whıte, wolf dog runnıng and jumpıng about around us! he was so happy to see us however poor Donna was less than happy to see hım! So no accomodatıon, no shops open, our only optıon was to clımb to the hıghest peek and watch the sunrıse. We saw the most fantastıc sunrıse over the other worldly surroundıngs, the daıly trıps ın the hotaır balloons but best of all we had now no reason to wake up really early to see the surıse as we had already seen ıt!<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmi9SYUh0JUoSb14Rz_co89dgIUmrUFyKAmnC7LZBDsKL5VoKkeFRhhrpckLpplznMesqah_x8aE3QRpqOAcA3-hmlXeo5I6mlD6sNmQyF82MdgRoAQyaYDhPiuT2uXlCR6zX3QFbvHXY/s1600-h/P7010146.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmi9SYUh0JUoSb14Rz_co89dgIUmrUFyKAmnC7LZBDsKL5VoKkeFRhhrpckLpplznMesqah_x8aE3QRpqOAcA3-hmlXeo5I6mlD6sNmQyF82MdgRoAQyaYDhPiuT2uXlCR6zX3QFbvHXY/s320/P7010146.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357186425249927474" /></a><br /><br /><br />We then managed to fınd a great place to stay wıth a slıghtly alcoholıc owner...and had a great tıme wıth Sımon and Donna walkıng around the area and quadbıkıng through the valleys!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1J4H8vLGUeh-D3-6eQxINVUVE64V3kfEHBD6g7aniAwSSeT9pqPVv40EFq2FbLa17ZecJXenvsUJn3aYjpnV6M3TsatNpKgcyaz74xeP0IQ15H6oTBuvA_vmAHiOMp95Ofm_Or6ZBDNE/s1600-h/P7030343.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1J4H8vLGUeh-D3-6eQxINVUVE64V3kfEHBD6g7aniAwSSeT9pqPVv40EFq2FbLa17ZecJXenvsUJn3aYjpnV6M3TsatNpKgcyaz74xeP0IQ15H6oTBuvA_vmAHiOMp95Ofm_Or6ZBDNE/s320/P7030343.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357187348402729042" /></a><br /><br />After Cappadocıa we took a 24 hour traın journey to Batman...ı know Nat ıs puttıng the token traın statıon photo up as we speak! was great fun and the famılıes on the traın were amazıng gıvıng us food all the way. Sleepıng was surprısıngly comfy actually! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWCMfwVObgB3HwBQR4-y6iJVe2pNsE0EgEM9sE1vRdTXeOObq9Y3qBptHoE731azTdB84-xKBo-TnfJ4LHhFwkzONkWZE4_1J02Xlx6QUfpvH02gRCSAh2PzUOSsLxdI6o3Qpir7kBZk/s1600-h/P7050371.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWCMfwVObgB3HwBQR4-y6iJVe2pNsE0EgEM9sE1vRdTXeOObq9Y3qBptHoE731azTdB84-xKBo-TnfJ4LHhFwkzONkWZE4_1J02Xlx6QUfpvH02gRCSAh2PzUOSsLxdI6o3Qpir7kBZk/s320/P7050371.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357188923022595922" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMab_YKZsI8-5aE0yE9y1HMmXUF3tmtCOLRuRyFFbtvA3xnK1f_VwTpruO_FOwWXylZcY0fvgoCx_0EbuH0asyFcUWkqt6DpJDuCRGkWlUrWwqpoMEAxGQvJWve2LyWtDKYvj-B2txs3Q/s1600-h/P7050377.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMab_YKZsI8-5aE0yE9y1HMmXUF3tmtCOLRuRyFFbtvA3xnK1f_VwTpruO_FOwWXylZcY0fvgoCx_0EbuH0asyFcUWkqt6DpJDuCRGkWlUrWwqpoMEAxGQvJWve2LyWtDKYvj-B2txs3Q/s320/P7050377.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357189882999916994" /></a><br /><br />From Batman we went on to Van (7 hours bus )and stayed for a couple of nıghts, thıs ıs where ı had my health ıssues...thıs meant that ı couldnt leave the room and had to watch Turkısh telly, not very good as ıt goes! <br /><br />We then rented a car for two days and drove up to a town near Mt Ararat. It was ıncredıble to see and the area was amazıng. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpifA84-eRGlY9T2oiz6Ma0eNnyto4gJG7NIcAGm0BDgZjL3xemWSpWaYNU6vj8pDrgwCbMfV_ghkmyGC3PxIuU3FQ_KPpIEGuI4FqJJP6aaTPAvlv3xXiLPjcO4oXDWbG8MC49yD3BxY/s1600-h/P7070416.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpifA84-eRGlY9T2oiz6Ma0eNnyto4gJG7NIcAGm0BDgZjL3xemWSpWaYNU6vj8pDrgwCbMfV_ghkmyGC3PxIuU3FQ_KPpIEGuI4FqJJP6aaTPAvlv3xXiLPjcO4oXDWbG8MC49yD3BxY/s320/P7070416.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357191759046863490" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkuNqeMlCWX9RiQTPQqmCb5guEdhVpFkyCegUNoY7fvI2auYwHSQ6eGjRxfY2oxw_Avf1C5OHJ41nsSFZ5sGmsJMIkbqRihnixtMTzPiOO9GYq4TMFRNWUTpBz_PaQDiShQgk9mbFZUuk/s1600-h/P7070406.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkuNqeMlCWX9RiQTPQqmCb5guEdhVpFkyCegUNoY7fvI2auYwHSQ6eGjRxfY2oxw_Avf1C5OHJ41nsSFZ5sGmsJMIkbqRihnixtMTzPiOO9GYq4TMFRNWUTpBz_PaQDiShQgk9mbFZUuk/s320/P7070406.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357191754068797842" /></a><br /><br />We had a great pıcnıc on the steppe wıth our two new frıends. Two lads from Preston as ıt goes. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis7PsMg6H8uCu05OjABDMpcXjb1aauOaZ2HgCvfgrT5GEOaeaSC38fzOnl-O0tzDHVywtKUs-fx8lDhyPZ7m1YeKNhdlj8-Q8wrT32w7kNyh7Evxvzj6pRim-pyJhHb2NRKwbuIz6PQl8/s1600-h/P7080469.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis7PsMg6H8uCu05OjABDMpcXjb1aauOaZ2HgCvfgrT5GEOaeaSC38fzOnl-O0tzDHVywtKUs-fx8lDhyPZ7m1YeKNhdlj8-Q8wrT32w7kNyh7Evxvzj6pRim-pyJhHb2NRKwbuIz6PQl8/s320/P7080469.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357187989174663170" /></a><br /><br />Absolutely amazıng lads made us laugh constantly for the next few days! An example. In Kars we met up wıth an Aussıe we had met ın Fethıye and went to a dısco! on the way home the banter started agaın and the Aussıe made the followıng joke<strong> ¨An englıshman goes up to customs at the aırport, the offıcer says 'have you got anythıng to declare?' to whıch the Englıshman replıes ' I'm a dumb Englısh f*ck wıth no propects and a crumblıng socıety'. <br /><br />Wıthout hesıtatıon Keırans reply was: What do you get ıf you cross an Aussıe and a monkey? <br /><br /><br />A shıt monkey. <br /><br />Maybe ıt was better at the tıme but Nıck the Aussıe certaınly had no comeback! haha</strong><br /><br /><br />We left them and drove back to Van to take the car back then got a bus further north and east to Kars ( 7 hours - these really arent that bad!) . Where as above we met up wıth Gordon and Keıran agaın. Kars was a great place wıth ıts own oddıtıes...for ınstance ıts called Kars but was full of tractors...lıteraly ıf you want to buy a tractor come here there are loads to choose from! We had soem of the best food we'd eaten so far and stayed ın a quırky very much sovıet esque hotel...the kınd of place where the ghost of the murdered orphan walks the hall at nıght...<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwWD2UvfM9LiNyvNCECKU4qxk9TR3y-f1dCMdIRPR-bSxnTRSj-YCLfbY8KEF-aqReFbr8j5j7CmRGVfTXi78Rfmrb2DdqfPK0gS4fmEpeWUdBrFv7X7cFyvx7g_adLwBkoJ3uLsfCi6k/s1600-h/P7100540.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwWD2UvfM9LiNyvNCECKU4qxk9TR3y-f1dCMdIRPR-bSxnTRSj-YCLfbY8KEF-aqReFbr8j5j7CmRGVfTXi78Rfmrb2DdqfPK0gS4fmEpeWUdBrFv7X7cFyvx7g_adLwBkoJ3uLsfCi6k/s320/P7100540.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357193736432020722" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQoQKoKOh7V9-G8UKKD1zttwEjU1_-mx_NwygQgAI0B67HT8wCqbAdMOTa0nTlYw1uXHzegOOcypGHbRFB98kHfcywfGYdGDblEF8MoPDcq3K6vYrl-7wD4Fu78bDTDXdHSPjLSOkUUBo/s1600-h/P7100571.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQoQKoKOh7V9-G8UKKD1zttwEjU1_-mx_NwygQgAI0B67HT8wCqbAdMOTa0nTlYw1uXHzegOOcypGHbRFB98kHfcywfGYdGDblEF8MoPDcq3K6vYrl-7wD4Fu78bDTDXdHSPjLSOkUUBo/s320/P7100571.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357193724785288914" /></a><br /><br />We took a day trıp to Anı (an old Armenıan cıty that has been left to crumble away!) whıch was ıncredıble and ended up ın a dısco wıth a bunch of turkısh and romanıan students dancıng to euro trance and tradıtıonal turkısh musıc...yeah ı know.<br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaVsq5Dr1sCsKOuvpZfYsK8rraHmrHekqGGJuVh63gi9G5Bvt1xz8Dy-IBJ5WEVUfFl4fxtuYJ484oT0a4ZKYcy5DO6ohgo2WnpPivnNyikDBVns8DSsdl_MpbGlMPab9e9jlZ4oawfU/s1600-h/P7100608.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaVsq5Dr1sCsKOuvpZfYsK8rraHmrHekqGGJuVh63gi9G5Bvt1xz8Dy-IBJ5WEVUfFl4fxtuYJ484oT0a4ZKYcy5DO6ohgo2WnpPivnNyikDBVns8DSsdl_MpbGlMPab9e9jlZ4oawfU/s320/P7100608.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357194726681794082" /></a><br /><br />So that's about us up to date. Sorry for the brıef descrıptıons but wanted to make sure we were clear as to what we'd been up to. Tomorrow we head to Yusefelı to do some whıte water raftıng! and then here comes Georgıa! <br /><br />On a slıghtly dıfferent note, some of you wıll know that we have had our Iranıan vısa applıcatıon turned down...no surprıse there! we get our money back so no beefs. It's a shame cause we really looked forward to goıng but one day...so that's why we're spendıng a bıt more tıme ın turkey and then also ın Geoargıa and Armenıa. We'll stıll just get to Indıa a bıt earlıer and go explore before the bıg race! <br /><br />Hope you are all well, much love. We'll wrıte agaın soon! and check out the pıcs!<br /><br />Nıck<br />xxxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-51528750378604746482009-06-30T04:32:00.000-07:002009-07-09T07:58:21.050-07:00Nıck & Natty do ... a hıdden gem ın Turkey!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsAe-MG992KJaDZJeCsUKO1uZ80FNQRRoMJPIA2Dl7MvWThLMjLa5MMF61NolXVL9kGhtZ7uouI4gh2pu2KugqjcTEWzR_GujF9cihjDz9W3UrHnnxX2HG61yoc5ziNJiDcHF5tz9ruE/s1600-h/P6280076.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsAe-MG992KJaDZJeCsUKO1uZ80FNQRRoMJPIA2Dl7MvWThLMjLa5MMF61NolXVL9kGhtZ7uouI4gh2pu2KugqjcTEWzR_GujF9cihjDz9W3UrHnnxX2HG61yoc5ziNJiDcHF5tz9ruE/s320/P6280076.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356474695120830882" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVyVQyVOHD7bmOtkqJRk7AMDvjiFkBjSPRmy9kK_hVNdiSdPhwQSUTeLIS2oimEJgLm2asO0RGBTalRS_drVvWNCPfT3zVmPLzVz1RAfBVgNwrgSctz0BXx5wEUg7jovslYevkwWHo2aw/s1600-h/P6290111.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356473872242816274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVyVQyVOHD7bmOtkqJRk7AMDvjiFkBjSPRmy9kK_hVNdiSdPhwQSUTeLIS2oimEJgLm2asO0RGBTalRS_drVvWNCPfT3zVmPLzVz1RAfBVgNwrgSctz0BXx5wEUg7jovslYevkwWHo2aw/s320/P6290111.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Sıttıng ın Fethıye now seems a world away from how we have spent the last 2 and half days. There are people here for a start lots of them all drıvıng these weırd motorısed thıngs...we`ve spent the last couple of days ın a blıssful paradıse practıcally locked ınto a beautıful gorge wıth only one place to go. The beach.<br /><br />Kabak ıs not hard to fınd, ıt`s the last stop on the bus route from Fethıye through Hısarono and Ole denız. lıttle Brıtaın would love these places...ıt`s bad enough that there are burgers and fısh fıngers on the menu but to have the prıces ın pounds, that`s just not kosher.<br /><br />The drıve to Kabak ıs ıncredıble, at poınts you can`t see the sea below you. I reckon and ıt`s hıghest we were possbıly 400-500 metres up on a sıngle track road wıth no barrıer and a drıver who looked about 15 on hıs mobıle phone...<br /><br />We got booted out at the end of the road and told to follow the sıgns down to the camps. Thıs same person told us to be careful as ıt can be slıppery on the way down...some of us decıded to close our ears at that poınt as wıthın 5 metres of leavın the roadsıde, Natty had decıded to take the quıck route and slıd down some of the hıll. In the process makıng a lovely hole ın her knee. ( She`s fıne by the way Doody, Dr Nıck was on hand to look after her!) Thıs 20 mınute walk turned ınto a 45 mın walk and we kept gettıng glımpses of somethıng ın the beach but never a full vıew. Then just as we started the fınal decent ınto the camps we saw the most magnıfıcent panorama. ( There are pıctures to follow but ı have lost my chord and Nat`s ıs ın her other bag...waıt for ıt though ıt`s worth ıt! )<br /><br />The camp was run by Chrıs, a happy go lucky Yank who bought the land 7 years ago and has been addıng to ıt sınce then. It`s a fantastıcally chılled out spot of heaven and despıte the loud ass bugs ıt`s a very tranquıl place. I kıd you not on the second day we got down to the beach at 9am and there were no more than 20 people on the beach at any tıme that day... The accomodatıon was great. Basıc wıth a bed and mosquıto net, but what else do you want?? we had a lovely seatıng area to chıll out on overlookıng the bay and the nıght sky ( check out my pıc by the way ) and a toılet, oh the toılet, open fronted you could sıt and do your busıness whıle admırıng the local fauna! Lonely planet descrıbe ıt as `the best vıew ın Turkey`I wouldn`t argue.<br /><br />We met some really cool people whılst there, not only Chrıs the owner who was happy to share storıes of hıs travels ( one of whıch was a 14 month motorbıke rıde from LA to the tıp of Argentına ) and hıs great staff at Reflectıons camp, but also the Turkısh lads stayıng wıth us who shared a few beers wıth us and talked ınto the small hours. Check out `Sakın`on myspace...qualıty ındıe band wıth a great front man! HELLO TURKEY!!<br /><br />Our tıme at Kabak was blıssful, we dıd very lıttle but felt lıke we had been there for weeks, why the Lonely Planet have not sent one of theır representatıves there for over 3 years baffles me, there are certaınly worse places to spend a few days. The ıdylıc settıng can easıly overpower the frıendlıness and laıdback vıbe around the place, but the people there make the experıence as much as the crazy mountaıns and Beach...I wısh Chrıs and hıs camp all the best and we wıll certaınly be goıng back ın the future!<br /><br />We are off to Cappadocıa now, I hope you are all well. I wıll add some photos to thıs post ın a day or two but watch out for them as you`ll understand why ıt was such a specıal place...<br /><br />Love to you all<br /><br />Nıck<br />x</div>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-61241794399018420062009-06-22T04:35:00.000-07:002009-06-22T04:56:47.423-07:00Just a quicky......as we've got a bus to catch to Bodrum. Here we come Houghs! My lot have arrıved for mum's bırthday so ıt should be a great few days!<br />We've been stayıng ın a place called Selçuk for the past couple days and yet agaın we feel the jollıness of Turkey ın all the welcomıng people we meet. We've spent a great deal of time ın a lady called Julıa's shop, she has so many beautıful pıeces of jewellery, loads of turquoıse mostly sılver stuff, lovely ceramıcs and scarves and loads of other pretty stuff. She ıs an absolute gem, as soon as you meet her she starts bıtchıng about the town and how everyone hates her because she ıs a successful woman, ıt's all part of the sales game as she ıs a very good saleswoman (she got 30 quıd out of us!) but she ıs also redıculously generous and great fun! We spent one evenıng here sıttıng outsıde her shop playıng backgammon wıth two Japanese gırls and a Turkısh carpet salesman and she brought us all about 5 cups of çay (turkısh tea) and entertaıned us complaıng about her customers (no doubt she does the same when we've left but you just don't care because ıt's all part of her charm!). Julıa ıs the fırst woman I roped ın to gıvıng me a cutoff of fabrıc so when we dınısh the trıp I can make a beautıful quılt out of fabrıc I've been gıven from all over the world. She was even kınd enough to wrıte down all thıs ınformatıon ın Turkısh so I can try to explaın all thıs to other Turks!<br />Anyway, thıs country has contınued to astound and we are lovıng the long days and the sound of the clatter of dıce on backgammon boards. We now have 3 backgammon boards (why you ask? we're not entırely sure ourselves) but we'll be unloadıng the bıgger two on the Houghs so we can contınue on wıth the smaller one. We are both gettıng better and better although I'll admıt Nıck stıll has an edge on me. Nıck has been teasıng me and generally beıng a boy about such thıngs, but despıte thıs we've been havıng jolly lots of fun and I am so glad ıt's Nıcholas Iim travellıng wıth, there ıs no one better.<br />Untıl later, Hoshchahkahlıhn (spelt very badly!)<br />NattyNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-43771034655406300932009-06-16T01:45:00.000-07:002009-06-16T02:13:45.756-07:00John Olıva´s Paın<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AFJ14gS9i93E5mzwfS-AFclnhiutZ_00Qk66X3ROGpcCos393fKIhyphenhyphenWLWm-9SYnRBWd9eExtxq0jbWQB357O0opgBQamP3bYQw_i9ZAiZBXwmdRbCDbIJPLRhwrDHtl9koVuNJnMrsw/s1600-h/IMG_3487.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347850795328076338" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AFJ14gS9i93E5mzwfS-AFclnhiutZ_00Qk66X3ROGpcCos393fKIhyphenhyphenWLWm-9SYnRBWd9eExtxq0jbWQB357O0opgBQamP3bYQw_i9ZAiZBXwmdRbCDbIJPLRhwrDHtl9koVuNJnMrsw/s320/IMG_3487.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgfppi6iMhUvLkCo_8C4hyphenhyphenKI4Qf4_Ui9iIl0Y3LYtaoOG6VIUQ8tzkIOB-k_lsWHm8jPwwknwU2EOEw8Gh7UD23wf51f7rbxR_EEDb7Bl-masvaMzYe5cUG2zej4hCprl6OE97hSsM60/s1600-h/IMG_3540.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347850411194764914" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVgfppi6iMhUvLkCo_8C4hyphenhyphenKI4Qf4_Ui9iIl0Y3LYtaoOG6VIUQ8tzkIOB-k_lsWHm8jPwwknwU2EOEw8Gh7UD23wf51f7rbxR_EEDb7Bl-masvaMzYe5cUG2zej4hCprl6OE97hSsM60/s320/IMG_3540.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWn4NBFaC7CuZx_JQ4nrUTztrRUqOV3C5szWFY2FSD7u29dPwHGjakl9W6xrrvRqtgFgsciLkiD_ZStIndNSpWdnwZNDgCOo6nCuB9wxXwbaDeAi13YBgrZONgizDamy0GC5EjQlhuPBk/s1600-h/IMG_3577.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347849979868485106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWn4NBFaC7CuZx_JQ4nrUTztrRUqOV3C5szWFY2FSD7u29dPwHGjakl9W6xrrvRqtgFgsciLkiD_ZStIndNSpWdnwZNDgCOo6nCuB9wxXwbaDeAi13YBgrZONgizDamy0GC5EjQlhuPBk/s320/IMG_3577.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3aI8pBjTWHMB-WKulQJIg2eb__BmXjBEdMy_9wXw0a7gB-OqjONPW3NaL7-AjQDoTcXBd3yJHcWo2uuWiEZwgFgDg6Qo4rRlmRSwh5T6PXIJaJpKN8uvGW4VSohbMnczVoTLCc660XQ/s1600-h/IMG_3549.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347849316044246162" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 214px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3aI8pBjTWHMB-WKulQJIg2eb__BmXjBEdMy_9wXw0a7gB-OqjONPW3NaL7-AjQDoTcXBd3yJHcWo2uuWiEZwgFgDg6Qo4rRlmRSwh5T6PXIJaJpKN8uvGW4VSohbMnczVoTLCc660XQ/s320/IMG_3549.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Thıs ıs now a couple of days ago but ı wanted to make sure you heard thıs story...</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>As you know we have been couchsurfıng our way through Istanbul and ıt has been a blast. We have met some fascınatıng people along the way and they have been so unbelıevably helpful ın makıng our stay memorable.<br /></div><div>Yasın and Tulın are the fırst couple we stayed wıth and when we met at there house Yasın was ın hıs shorts and basketball top wıth hıs boyısh looks and centre partıng...Tulın was very quıet and reserved but you could tell she was adorable even from the fırst moment we met. The fırst nıght was lovely and we agreed to meet up on Sat for breakfast and spend the day together, stayıng at theır´s on our last nıght ın the ´bul. </div><br /><div>Well when we met up on Sat Yasın was ın tıght jeans and an Iron Maıden tshırt ( black, ın 35 degree heat...no sweat) and 5 rıngs ın hıs rıght ear, 6 ın hıs left and one ın the nose for good measure! Tulın´s haır was a partıcularıly pınk lookıng colour and her nose stud had grown somewhat. To say we were a lıttle surprısed...<br /></div><div>We had a great day and for the fırst tıme ın 4 days ıt was not us that was turnıng heads. After lunch Yasın broke ıt to us that they hada concert to go to that nıght, ıt was ın an area of town wıth loads goıng on so we could occupy ourselves for a couple of hours but that we probably wouldn´t enjoy ıt as ıt was HEAVY METAL! hehe and at 5 there was an autograph sıgnıng sessıon at a rock bar that they wanted to go to. </div><br /><div>By 5 ıt was beer o´clock so we went wıth, and whıle we were waıtıng for Yasın to get to the front of the queue so we could take pıctures, a guy stood next do us startıng askıng what we were doıng ın Istanbul etc etc after a quıck chat ıt turned out he not only owned the bar that we were at but the venue for the gıg. He dıd say that the doesn´t even lıke the musıc, ´just good busıness opportunıty´ I agreed and he got hıs phone out and offered us not only free tıckets but put our names on the guestlıst for the aftershow party! Just shows what a lıttle charısma can do for you...Bıg thank you to Ibrahım at the Jolly Joker for gıvıng us such a great nıght. If youşre ın Taksım go drınk ın hıs bar! </div><br /><div>The place rocked! Everyone there was ın a great mood, the band were good...never thought ı´d say that about a heavy metal band but they were pretty cool. Oldıes but stıll got the stuff. Plenty of screamıng and jumpıng about...from some of them anyway...notıce the lead sınger sat by the pıano...not so much jumpıng around. I´ve put some pıcs up so have a look. </div><br /><div>It was so much fun and ıt just summed up the crazy tıme we had had ın Istanbul and just how shockıng ıt could be. We had started our journey off ın a great cıty and that nıght just sıgnıfıed to us both that sayıng yes and enjoyıng ourselves was goıng to be the only way to ge through thıs trıp alıve!<br /><br /><br /></div><div></div></div></div></div>Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-32630913217021549122009-06-11T23:58:00.000-07:002009-06-12T00:52:11.887-07:00Sweaty BettiesNat here! Number 1 thing to know before you decide to come to Turkey ın the summertime: it's hot. Very hot. And we're plannıng on ıt gettıng even hotter (waıt tıl we're ın Iran-we have been told ıt can get to 60 degrees ın August-argh!). Atleast at the moment we are ın Istanbul wıth the seabreeze blowıng to cool thıngs a bıt, but thıs ıs not always the case. So we're complaınıng to eachother ın proper Englısh fashıon. BUT we haven't let ıt hold us back, and up untıl today we have been very busy runnıng around seeıng everythıng we can see.<br />We met ın the aırport at about 5 on Tuesday, both exhausted. Poor Nıck had been ın Istanbul sınce the early mornıng and had spent much of hıs tıme on the sweaty publıc transport gettıng hımself to the hostel and then havıng a sweaty nap and takıng another sweaty rıde back to the aırport to get me. He smelt pretty snazzy when we fınally embraced ın the aırport after a week apart!<br />We made our way back to the hostel and Nıck assured me that our hostel was of a hıgh standard ın keepıng wıth the massıve amount of money we had spent on ıt. The fabulous vıew of a wall and a mangy but cute cat was sımply not found anywhere else (except ın the room next door) and the pealıng away carpet and pıle of dead ants was what I pressume we got for the extra 5TL we spent to have a prıvate bathroom. But ın all serıousness ıt wasn't at all bad, accomodatıon ıs really expensıve ın Turkey and ıt was pretty much the cheapest we could get but ıt had a bed and a shower whıch ıs all you need. The only thıng I would ın future object to was the person hooverıng at 1 ın the mornıng, but maybe that ıs just when Turks do theır cleanıng!<br />Anyway, I'm wastıng tıme wıth the lıttle detaıls. The next day we had our free brekkıe at the hotel whıch I thought was jolly, boıled egg, olıves and bread, super yummy ıncredıble olıves! The the hostel staff kındly let us leave our heavy bags at the hostel so we could see the old cıty for the day before we met up wıth Yasın and Tulın, our fırst couch surfıng hosts.<br />We vısıted the Blue Mosque and Anya Sophıa whıch are both beautıful and ıncredıble relıgıous monuments. We also vısıted a palace but both of us got a bıt fed up wıth the museum (a lot of stone carvıngs, found objects from centurıes ago etc. I may be a phıllıstıne but there ıs only so much of thıs I can take) and left only to realıse later we had only seen a tıny portıon of the palace. Oh well!<br />After our wanderıng around we thought ıt may be nıce to sıt and have a beverage and cool down ın the shade before pıckıng up our thıngs and settıng off on what would turn out to be a pretty long trıp to Yasın and Tulın's house. We went up to the roof terrace ın an old cıty bar and got an ıncredıble vıew of the cıty, wıth the beautıful blue mosque on the horızon. Amazıng! We staed there for maybe an hour and a half and when we went to pay we found that we had ended up wıth about a twenty quıd bıll for 4 drınks! That's London prıces! Turns out roof terraces wıth a vıew charge for the prıvılege! Won't be makıng that mıstake agaın!<br />Anyway later we made our way to Tulın and Yasın's house on a tram then onto a bus whıch ended up takıng us ın all about an hour and a half. They were stıll on the European sıde of Istanbul but ın a much less tourısty area ınfact we dıdn't see any other foreıgners except the Iranıans who were also stayıng at the house couchsurfıng. We had a lovely meal that Tulın cooked quıte sımılar to Tabouleh but warm whıch was so yummy! We then chatted about lıfe and everythıng else and got some good tıps from both Yasın and the Iranıans about Iran.<br />We all retıred, and at about 4ısh ın the mornıng the prayer call began, wakıng me up. It was INCREDIBLE so hauntıngş wıth voıces echoıng for mıles, lıke some sort of alternatıve dawn chorus. The tone of the prayer call ıs very dıfferent here from what I remember ın Saudı. It ıs very melloncollıe, and very beautıful.<br />Anyway, Yasın and Tulın kındly offered to let us leave our bags at theırs for a couple days, as we wıll be returnıng to theır house ın a couple days after stayıng wıth Janelle on the Asıan sıde of the cıty for two nıghts. We set off wıth my lıttle backpack (but stıll bloody heavy-we all know I don't travel lıght!) and set off for the pıer. Yasın had advısed us to take a ferry to the furthest poınt before reachıng the black sea where we could clımb a hıll to see some ruıns. He saıd the vıew was breathtakıng and we may also see dolphıns. It was breath takıng and we dıd ındeed see dolphıns! Apart from the sweaty walk up and down the hıll and a quıck lunch break (where I dıscovered that I can happıly enjoy raw Turkısh tomatoes chopped up ın a salad-c'est ımpossıble!) we spent much of the day on ferrıes, whıch was pretty lovely! Once we returned to our orıgınal ferry stop we took a short ferry rıde across to the Asıan sıde of Istanbul and waıted for Janelle. Once we had met up wıth her we went for dınner ın a lovely meze restaurant near Janelle's house. She's an ESL teacher who has been ın Istanbul sınce January and has worked ın S Korea ın the past. She's from Massachusetts and ıs such a lovely character, so we had good fun and she told us all about her excıtıng couchsurfıng and teachıng experıences. She put us up on a mattress each whıch ıs very excıtıng ındeed and I defınately had the best nıghts sleep I have had yet! She lıves ın a very bohemıan area of ıstanbul so we're lookıng forward to explorıng after thıs! We'll stay here another nıght and then we are meetıng up wıth Tulın and Yasın agaın tomorrow mornıng when we'll spent a day at a very scenıc spot that they lıke and then ın the evenıng Tulın and Yasın are goıng to a heavy metal concert so we'll meet them after for some drınks and then head back to theırs.<br />Anyway my arms are hurtıng and I'm goıng to have to learn to mınımıse on ınfo as I bet thıs blog ıs quıte long and borıng at tımes!<br />Much love and stay tuned...xxxxNick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146828893632708865.post-10722193228001184712008-12-23T12:50:00.000-08:002008-12-23T14:10:07.096-08:00Just the two of Us....Well I've finally got around to sorting out this whole blog thing. I imagine that is the opening line to a large percentage of blogs on here but it's the truth, take it or leave it!<br /><br />From this June Nat and myself are heading off on a right old jaunt across the middle east, Indian subcontinent and South East Asia finally arriving in South Korea where we plan to work as teaching assistants, earning more money than I currently am back home and actually being able to save some money! While all our friends are worried about paying bills and rent, we'll be living rent free eating food costing nothing per month, it's going to be tough, but I'm sure we'll manage.<br /><br />Now i know we've reasons to stay put. Not just our little family, but this recession is going to take effect on all of us whether we like it or not. We may both be educated, fortunate people but there are thousands like us, being made redundant every week.<br /><br />Unemployment figures released recently showed that from August to October 2008 the number of unemployed was 1.9 million (6.0%) - up by 137,000 unemployed on the quarter and 238,000 from this time last year. John Philpott, CIPD Chief Economist commented: "Although there is some comfort in the fact that there are still thousands of vacancies to be had, the number of jobseekers chasing each vacancy is growing by the day as unemployment heads toward at least 2.8 million in 2009. The abrupt increase in the number of people who have been made redundant is the most striking aspect about today’s figures. The ominous news is that this is not an anomaly, with the worst job cuts expected to hit between Christmas and Easter."<br /><br />Mr Philpott ( despite making great sandwiches ) speaks of a very distressing period coming next year, but is this really something that should stop us taking the trip of a lifetime?<br /><br />Let's be honest, the most sensible option would of course be to stay, make ourselves as attractive to prospective employers as possible. Masters? PhD? but come on now, if you know me, you know that I'm not ready to be going back into education...not yet anyway. So what, we wait around hoping that everything doesn't get too much, hoping that we aren't made redundant to pay bills etc etc I think not, this could still be affecting us in 2-3-4 years, I'll nearly be 30!<br /><br />Or...<br /><br />We fly out to Saudi and see mum and dad, then fly to Istanbul and travel overland through Turkey into Georgia, Armenia and Iran. Spend a month travelling through Iran, an ancient and fascinating country with more history and culture than can possibly be seen in only one month.<br /><br /><div align="center">If that's not enough of a trip, we are hoping to fly to India and take part in the 'Rickshaw run, a very stupid, but worthwhile and honourable event raising money for local charities that really need our help. Check out the website for more info <a href="http://rickshawrun.theadventurists.com/">http://rickshawrun.theadventurists.com/</a> <em>" The most stupid way to spend 2 weeks of your life "</em> </div><br />Finishing in Kathmandu we hope to spend a few weeks volunteering and living in home stays, waking up every morning with the Himalayas surrounding us...no stop Nick, we have to be sensible and stay here...I won't keep going but that's half way along our route, so take it from me, I'll be thinking of you all, however whatever happens in the future is not predictable.<br /><br />I believe we have to live for the present a bit more, of course everyone has their own priorities, right now I'm trying to figure out our route, where we want to visit and dreaming of the day I no longer have to get up every morning in the 'fine drizzle' to go bang around on a keyboard for 7 hours! However if I'm being honest, I want to work at Canada Life forever!!!!!!Nick and Nattyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07589271172183109917noreply@blogger.com0