Finding computers that work and time to spend sitting inside writing is not so easy when you have awesome things to see and people to catch up with, so sorry that this blog entry is a bit delayed.
Now where were we...... Oh yes the bus ride from Laos till Vietnam. Eventually we got to Hoi An, after 30 hrs sitting on a bus with only 10 front seats left with the rest filled up by sacks of potato and rice doing the 2 hrs mandatory lunch stop 30 minutes from the destination and getting 6 or more shots of homemade whisky from the driver!!( extremely rude to say no thank's).
Hoi An was a nice and relaxed place, very beautiful with it's old architecture, islands and river setting. This was the town to get tailor made clothes! we hadn't planned on getting anything, but as we were there, and as the hotel manager insisted more than 3 times on driving us to her boutique, we went with and got some stuff.
Around the town of Hoi An is lots to see, so we hired a motorbike and went to the marble mountains. They are cast peaks in the landscape, they only remain because they're of marble and everything else eroded away by the ancient sea that used to cover this area. Now it is used for religious purposes, it's caves and every available surface full of Buddhist temples.
China Beach is only a stones throw away so we took some time to hang out there, famous from an American TV show (though never shown in Sweden?or maybe just before Frida's time) now it's just a very quiet place with fishermen in strange basket boats.
We also visited My Son, the first temples built by the Angkor people. Not so spectacular now, but the history goes back nearly 2000 years which is impressive in itself.
To break up the trip toward Saigon and find a little more party we headed for Nha Trang, a beach town 10 hrs south. Here we found little. Mainly some old British men hanging around in the European pubs. Though the beach was nice, there was no vibe nor tourists as we had hoped for. After a visit to the giant Buddha and the beach we left.
Arriving in Saigon at 4 in the morning turned out to be an adventure. We took the local bus to town and found a cat, a witch and a ghoul in a pub (oh yeah Halloween). Waiting for any hotel to open, we decided to join them for a beer, turned out they were Irish and English - what a surprise.
There are many differing opinions amongst travellers, most seem to like Saigon over Hanoi, but to us it was the opposite. Saigon just seemed plain.
Outside of town however, are the Cu chi tunnels, 250km of underground "villages" built by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam war. These amazing feats of human persistence were carved out of almost solid rock with three levels, escape routes, kitchens and traps set for American "sewer rats" (soldiers small enough to fit down the tunnels back in the 60's). It was a great experience and proudly shown off by the local people.
In town we visited a few museums including the war remnants museum which had many captured US hardware and vehicles displayed but most chillingly, all the facts on the use of chemical agents during the war - especially agent orange to which the effects are still seen today in the people. A table spoon of this could kill millions of people and the US dropped tonnes and tonnes of it... It was used to clear the jungle to find the guerrillas, it poisoned the drinking water, generations after would suffer from it. Making people sterile, disfigured or dead.
After Saigon we headed for Cambodia and Phnom Phen. It was an awesome city, maybe since we had no expectations it became a nice surprise. Just like normal we hired some bicycles and went around the city which turned out to be an adventure with 10, 000 thousand mopeds, wagons, cars and the random elephant to compete with. We stayed at the lake, which is about to disappear because of landfills and buildings, it was a nice place with stilt houses made into hostels and dodgy restaurants with joints for 1 dollar on the menu. Everything was dealt with in $US.
The population is very young and when you visit the S 21 prison museum and the killing fields you notice why. About a third of the population died during the reign of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot 1975-79, from starvation and murder. The Khmer rouge army and S-21 prison guards was mainly young boys who were brainwashed by to torture and kill every non-communist and their families. S-21 was an old High school in Pnohm Phen, that was turned into a prison where people got tortured until they confessed to a crime against the regime and then sent to the killing fields to get their skulls crushed and thrown in mass graves.
We visited the coast in Cambodia for a couple of days, at Sihanoukville. But it was a bit of a disappointment. The beach had gotten washed away and the restaurants at the beach were made from crumbling concrete and the only people there were Englishmen, many hanging out with suspiciously much younger local girls. We did have a good time at the pub with a group of finns but it was nice to leave.
We went to Kampot, famous for its green pepper. It's a small town on the river surrounded by jungle clad hills. It was full of old colonial buildings charmingly ruff. We did a hike up the mountain at Bokor, to see nature and the old casino complex up there. It was a luxury resort on the op of the mountain in the 20s, but stopped by the french war and after used by the Khmer rouge as guerrilla headquarters. It was a ghost town now.
The highlight of our visit to Cambodia was probably the Angkor temples. We stayed in the town Siem Reap just 3 km from the temples. The area where the Angkor people built their temples is enormous and spans over several hundred years of constructions. We bought a 3 day pass and spent the days looking around as much as we could. We biked 2 days and hired a tuk-tuk driver one day when it was to far away. The best day was probably when we biked in complete darkness at 5 am to arrive at Angkor wat for sunrise to see the profile of the towers and reflections in the moat. It was spectacular to say the least.
The feeling we had in Cambodia was very positive, the Cambodians try hard to make a living from tourism and seem to be doing well for themselves. The people we met are very family oriented and friendly. You'll find that the head of family is a 23 year old guy already with 3 children and a wife and all the sisters and brothers all helping out in the family business. There were many children running around selling things and there are many orphanages around, but the kids are all very smart and know good English, all what they have learnt from tourists. I think the future is bright for Cambodia.
We took the cheapest possible bus to Bangkok from Siem Reap, and I suppose we got what we paid for (6 $US). In non-air con bus in style of an old school bus from the USA with the bags lying in the aisle the trip went ok until we got to the border of Thailand were we had to wait for about 5 hrs for the bus to take us the rest of the way.
In Bangkok we stayed at Khao San rd, an ok area made up for backpackers and other budget tourists. The Pad Thai there was the best, a big serve of fried noodles and seafood for about 2 $US.
We headed down to the southern islands almost immediately. At Koh Tao the weather wasn't the best for lying on the beach, but we were there for the dive. Aaran took his open diver certificate and I followed on some fun dives. Since we signed up with a dive school we got accommodation and some food for free, it was a sweet deal. The dive was good the first days, but the weather got ruffer and after Aaran finished his course it was time to move on and check out the other coast, the Andaman sea. We just had to make a visa run to Burma to get our stay in Thailand prolonged, since going overland in to the country only allows a 14 days stay. The visa run was simple, but the boat ride from Koh Tao to the mainland made me sick and I just didn't recover on a speeding minivan.
Koh Phi Phi was super touristy but still nice. It was small and nice without any mopeds or cars. The main part of the tourists seemed to be Europeans on a 3 week holiday. In Phi Phi it was all about diving again. The water was beautiful and warm (30 c!). Getting on the dive boat out amongst the cast limestone peaks was great. Aaran did his advanced divers and nitrox course, I did fun dives. We saw some stingrays, octopus, leopard shark and tonnes of fishes. At night we tried out the nightlife with the typical fire shows and buckets.
We took a ferry to Koh Lanta and stayed there for a few nights, just to do nothing. We got a bamboo hut on a calm beach with not much around. We just swam and watched the sunsets. That lasted for a couple of days, but then the ants in our pants started bugging us and we had to do something. We hired a moped and drove around the island.
Taking our time we did a slow tour of the island, checking out the oldest seafaring town, watching the local macaques (monkeys) scurry off the road as we cruised along. We went to the viewpoints and looked out over the islands of the Andeman sea, went past the mangrove forests of the east coast and finished up at the lighthouse in the national park on the western most tip as the sun was setting to finish off a fine day.
That night we splashed out and bought dinner in a fancy seafood restaurant over looking the beach. Barbecued squid and snapper broke the budget for $US15......
Next morning we went for a quick dip before starting the 14hr bus ride that would take us back to Bangkok where we had one night before heading off to Western Australia. The day was 34deg and 85% humidity so we took it easy and had a few last great Thai dishes. The fabled land of Oz awaited us!! See you all next post
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Northern Vietnam and Laos
The adventure continues. From China we made our way to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam to see the karst limestone islands that are scattered in the ocean. We took a boat tour for 2 days and 1 night on-board. Our group was a bunch of nice people and we had a good time despite a little foggy weather. As always here though you can never rely on the word of the tour sellers...
Our "english speaking" guide got daily lessons off an English couple who were on the tour and the crew was feasting on seafood when we ate dry toast.
Hanoi was next. A crazy fast moving sea of motorbikes, vendors and people. We loved it - somehow it just worked. We hung out with a Spanish couple that we met in Ha Long who were really cool and together we sat on tiny chairs and took US$0.15 draft beers in the street.
Ho Chi Minh was out of town. His corpse was getting it's yearly embalming upkeep ( three months worth in Russia)! We saw his monument anyway, built in true communist style. The city was a mix of old chinese architecture, shacks and communist buildings. The food was really good and supercheap, vietnamese coffee also hit the spot.
We decided to explore some things in the countryside so we went 2hrs south to Nihn Bihn and Tam coc. The place is similar to Yangshou in China, with the limestone peaks, but here we took a row boat ride through the peaks. The river had carved caves under the mountains. It was spectacular, even though the weather was not on our side. A storm had moved over northern Vietnam and an early exit to Laos became the best option.
With bad weather and worse roads we opted for the short flight to Luang Prabang. Set in a bend on the Mekong and dotted with Buddist temples, this place was the perfect laid back start to Laos. We hired bikes and went on the "easy" 72km round trip to the magnificent Kuangsi waterfalls and natural swimming pools. Showing complete disregard to the Laos landscape we trudged and sweated up and down hills on gear less bikes through beautiful scenery with many "excited to see foreigners" children wanting high-fives as we cycled past. The hard slog to the waterfalls made the swim all the more rewarding and gave us plenty of time to relax before the homeward journey. Aaran as has become the norm lost his chain and had it jammed requiring some locals assistance to get it back in place.
After some great days in Luang Prabang we took the grueling 11 hour night bus along the worst rd in Laos to the capital Vientiane. The city itself didn't seem to have that much to offer but we met some great people and had a great time taking in the sunsets each night with cheap beers on the Mekong river. The crazy budda park, an hours local bus from town was one of the highlights here.
A more relaxing sleeper bus journey alongside the Mekong found us in the town of Pakse. After a frustrating search we found a place that rented motorbikes to our liking and headed towards Champasak and the ruins of Wat Phu. Chapasak used to be the capital of Laos but is now a relaxed and charming little village that requires a strange ferry (planks nailed to two canoes) to carry the motorbikes the 1km across the river. The Wat Phu religious complex was amazing, set at the foot of some lush mountains with stone carvings and a natural spring feeding it.
Next day we continued on the motorbike doing a 220km round trip on the Bolaven plateau to the east of Pakse. It is criss crossed with rivers and accentuated with many stunning waterfalls. We visited a tea plantation and an Animist village (where the locals live subsistence lifestyles). It was quite an adventure on the bike on some challenging roads but the best way to see the countryside! (as usual got a puncture with about a km to the drop off point.....)
Last stop in Laos was the 4,000 islands in the Mekong delta bordering Cambodia. Wet made the last chicken bus of the day to Nakasang where one needs to take a fishing boat to the southern most of the islands. As it was pitch black when we arrived all the locals had packed up for the night but to our luck a guy on our bus had a boat and small guesthouse on the southern most island Don Khon. This eerie trip in the darkness was a great experience idling past the ghostly forms of islands and trees in the river. Next day we walked around much of the island, to the main waterfall past rice paddies and local grass and wooden houses and eventually ran into an old guy herding a few water buffalo. He asked where we were going and we said to the river to try and see the dolphins. His son, a local fisherman, had a boat and took us to the dolphin watching spot (technically in Cambodia and requiring a little bribe to the border police to turn a blind eye). as there is only 15 river dolphins left in the Mekong and the water a little murky we didn't pin too high hopes on seeing them. We were wrong in a big way, and got an hour or so show from these magnificent creatures fishing and playing with each other and a few just before the sun sank giving us a few jumps out of the water. Back at the fisherman's little hut, his dad wouldn't let us leave without a few shots of the local Lao Lao home brew whiskey.
Next day was the short walk over to Don Det island. Another relaxed little island with nothing more to do than take a beer and read a book in hammocks overlooking the Mekong as life slowly went by. Great finish to Laos before another gruelling night bus over the border and back into Vietnam, but that's for another entry.
Our "english speaking" guide got daily lessons off an English couple who were on the tour and the crew was feasting on seafood when we ate dry toast.
Hanoi was next. A crazy fast moving sea of motorbikes, vendors and people. We loved it - somehow it just worked. We hung out with a Spanish couple that we met in Ha Long who were really cool and together we sat on tiny chairs and took US$0.15 draft beers in the street.
Ho Chi Minh was out of town. His corpse was getting it's yearly embalming upkeep ( three months worth in Russia)! We saw his monument anyway, built in true communist style. The city was a mix of old chinese architecture, shacks and communist buildings. The food was really good and supercheap, vietnamese coffee also hit the spot.
We decided to explore some things in the countryside so we went 2hrs south to Nihn Bihn and Tam coc. The place is similar to Yangshou in China, with the limestone peaks, but here we took a row boat ride through the peaks. The river had carved caves under the mountains. It was spectacular, even though the weather was not on our side. A storm had moved over northern Vietnam and an early exit to Laos became the best option.
With bad weather and worse roads we opted for the short flight to Luang Prabang. Set in a bend on the Mekong and dotted with Buddist temples, this place was the perfect laid back start to Laos. We hired bikes and went on the "easy" 72km round trip to the magnificent Kuangsi waterfalls and natural swimming pools. Showing complete disregard to the Laos landscape we trudged and sweated up and down hills on gear less bikes through beautiful scenery with many "excited to see foreigners" children wanting high-fives as we cycled past. The hard slog to the waterfalls made the swim all the more rewarding and gave us plenty of time to relax before the homeward journey. Aaran as has become the norm lost his chain and had it jammed requiring some locals assistance to get it back in place.
After some great days in Luang Prabang we took the grueling 11 hour night bus along the worst rd in Laos to the capital Vientiane. The city itself didn't seem to have that much to offer but we met some great people and had a great time taking in the sunsets each night with cheap beers on the Mekong river. The crazy budda park, an hours local bus from town was one of the highlights here.
A more relaxing sleeper bus journey alongside the Mekong found us in the town of Pakse. After a frustrating search we found a place that rented motorbikes to our liking and headed towards Champasak and the ruins of Wat Phu. Chapasak used to be the capital of Laos but is now a relaxed and charming little village that requires a strange ferry (planks nailed to two canoes) to carry the motorbikes the 1km across the river. The Wat Phu religious complex was amazing, set at the foot of some lush mountains with stone carvings and a natural spring feeding it.
Next day we continued on the motorbike doing a 220km round trip on the Bolaven plateau to the east of Pakse. It is criss crossed with rivers and accentuated with many stunning waterfalls. We visited a tea plantation and an Animist village (where the locals live subsistence lifestyles). It was quite an adventure on the bike on some challenging roads but the best way to see the countryside! (as usual got a puncture with about a km to the drop off point.....)
Last stop in Laos was the 4,000 islands in the Mekong delta bordering Cambodia. Wet made the last chicken bus of the day to Nakasang where one needs to take a fishing boat to the southern most of the islands. As it was pitch black when we arrived all the locals had packed up for the night but to our luck a guy on our bus had a boat and small guesthouse on the southern most island Don Khon. This eerie trip in the darkness was a great experience idling past the ghostly forms of islands and trees in the river. Next day we walked around much of the island, to the main waterfall past rice paddies and local grass and wooden houses and eventually ran into an old guy herding a few water buffalo. He asked where we were going and we said to the river to try and see the dolphins. His son, a local fisherman, had a boat and took us to the dolphin watching spot (technically in Cambodia and requiring a little bribe to the border police to turn a blind eye). as there is only 15 river dolphins left in the Mekong and the water a little murky we didn't pin too high hopes on seeing them. We were wrong in a big way, and got an hour or so show from these magnificent creatures fishing and playing with each other and a few just before the sun sank giving us a few jumps out of the water. Back at the fisherman's little hut, his dad wouldn't let us leave without a few shots of the local Lao Lao home brew whiskey.
Next day was the short walk over to Don Det island. Another relaxed little island with nothing more to do than take a beer and read a book in hammocks overlooking the Mekong as life slowly went by. Great finish to Laos before another gruelling night bus over the border and back into Vietnam, but that's for another entry.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Hong Kong, Macau and China
Gday all, after the dry heat of Jordan Frida and I continued our travels to the Humid heat of Hong Kong. We arrived late in the night and found our way out to southern Kowloon and checked into the Beverly Hills Mansion (but those of you know the Mansion houses synonymous with lower Kowloon will forget any thought of luxury). We walked around that night and went back around 3.30am with Hong Kong still buzzing!
After heavy rains the next day we did a little sight seeing around town and finished our time in HK next day with the famous tram ride up Victoria peak for fantastic views of the entire city and surrounds. That night was the anniversary of 60 years of the Peoples Republic of China which culminated in a fantastic fireworks display over Hong Kong harbour. We stood amongst 10s of thousands of people listening to communist propaganda songs (we think as who understands Chinese). The food here was definitely one of the highlights!!
Up early the next morning we jumped on the ferry to Macau to see the fusion of Portuguese and Chinese architecture, colonial buildings, pagodas, temples, small fishing villages and macanese food. The next day we caught up with Darren Mcloed (a friend from Melbourne), his wife Micarla and their house mate who showed us great hospitality. They all work in the biggest casino in the world there - its massive!!!!! They rustled up for us tickets to circ du soliel and then it was Micarla's birthday which we celebrated with vigour and got to have a few beers with another old friend who lives and works in Macau.
The big challenge came when we crossed the border into mainland China. Not only did all English disappear, but so did any recognisable letters of the alphabet. First stop became Guangzhou after a taxi driver took us to the wrong bus station and after much visual actioning, found another bus there. It is a huge city of 12 million or so that are just in a hurry. It has no particularly nice redeeming features except maybe a few of its inner city parks which are a welcome relief from the masses. One day proved enough.
Yangshou lived up to all its hype, karst peaks formed over millions of years from the limestone mountains surrounding the area on a river setting - picture perfect. Hiring a cycle was the perfect way to see the areas offerings and even though we got lost and and i got a flat tyre 2.5 hours out of town we got off the beaten tourist track and found sleepy villages still living subsistence like they did thousands of years ago, harvesting rice with bare hands and Buffalo's.
We caught a bus one day to the town of Yangdi and walked the 25 km to the town of Xing Ping along the river Li for fabulous views and some refreshing dips (which drew many confused looks from the locals trying to sell us rides on their bamboo rafts, Hello Bamboo became the catch cry).
We found a cool hostel named Monkey Janes after the crazy owner who was definitely schitzo, that had a rooftop bar and many travellers with whom to swap stories and information with. We even learnt a fun new drinking game - chopsticks - hayeee yaa!! Uutttzzz!! We can explain when we see you.....
Nanning became the next stop on our way towards Vietnam. It was a pleasant surprise with enough sites and sounds to keep us occupied for a day or so - the food market was the highlight!! Some of the food we ate didn't taste like it looked though.... live and learn! Dumplings in China are must and their seafood and noodles exquisite.
China proved a big surprise in one way in particular - everyone wanted to say hello and have their picture taken with us - especially Frida who was treated like a movie star with screaming girls and comments on her beauty and giggles as embarrassed girls said hello to her, and guys stared like they had never seen tall fair skinned woman before. Nothing threatening or perverse except a group of guys who followed us one time asking for Fridas telephone number.....
Recommended to all, China has many wonders and the people are generally friendly even if they have no clue about body language - even the smallest gesture of pointing was asking too much sometimes!! As we were in China during their national holidays we saw a people proud of their country with flags flying everywhere and a willingness to travel mostly within home borders. Contrasting to Jordan and so far Vietnam, China was very clean with bins everywhere which was a pleasant discovery. The journey continues..
After heavy rains the next day we did a little sight seeing around town and finished our time in HK next day with the famous tram ride up Victoria peak for fantastic views of the entire city and surrounds. That night was the anniversary of 60 years of the Peoples Republic of China which culminated in a fantastic fireworks display over Hong Kong harbour. We stood amongst 10s of thousands of people listening to communist propaganda songs (we think as who understands Chinese). The food here was definitely one of the highlights!!
Up early the next morning we jumped on the ferry to Macau to see the fusion of Portuguese and Chinese architecture, colonial buildings, pagodas, temples, small fishing villages and macanese food. The next day we caught up with Darren Mcloed (a friend from Melbourne), his wife Micarla and their house mate who showed us great hospitality. They all work in the biggest casino in the world there - its massive!!!!! They rustled up for us tickets to circ du soliel and then it was Micarla's birthday which we celebrated with vigour and got to have a few beers with another old friend who lives and works in Macau.
The big challenge came when we crossed the border into mainland China. Not only did all English disappear, but so did any recognisable letters of the alphabet. First stop became Guangzhou after a taxi driver took us to the wrong bus station and after much visual actioning, found another bus there. It is a huge city of 12 million or so that are just in a hurry. It has no particularly nice redeeming features except maybe a few of its inner city parks which are a welcome relief from the masses. One day proved enough.
Yangshou lived up to all its hype, karst peaks formed over millions of years from the limestone mountains surrounding the area on a river setting - picture perfect. Hiring a cycle was the perfect way to see the areas offerings and even though we got lost and and i got a flat tyre 2.5 hours out of town we got off the beaten tourist track and found sleepy villages still living subsistence like they did thousands of years ago, harvesting rice with bare hands and Buffalo's.
We caught a bus one day to the town of Yangdi and walked the 25 km to the town of Xing Ping along the river Li for fabulous views and some refreshing dips (which drew many confused looks from the locals trying to sell us rides on their bamboo rafts, Hello Bamboo became the catch cry).
We found a cool hostel named Monkey Janes after the crazy owner who was definitely schitzo, that had a rooftop bar and many travellers with whom to swap stories and information with. We even learnt a fun new drinking game - chopsticks - hayeee yaa!! Uutttzzz!! We can explain when we see you.....
Nanning became the next stop on our way towards Vietnam. It was a pleasant surprise with enough sites and sounds to keep us occupied for a day or so - the food market was the highlight!! Some of the food we ate didn't taste like it looked though.... live and learn! Dumplings in China are must and their seafood and noodles exquisite.
China proved a big surprise in one way in particular - everyone wanted to say hello and have their picture taken with us - especially Frida who was treated like a movie star with screaming girls and comments on her beauty and giggles as embarrassed girls said hello to her, and guys stared like they had never seen tall fair skinned woman before. Nothing threatening or perverse except a group of guys who followed us one time asking for Fridas telephone number.....
Recommended to all, China has many wonders and the people are generally friendly even if they have no clue about body language - even the smallest gesture of pointing was asking too much sometimes!! As we were in China during their national holidays we saw a people proud of their country with flags flying everywhere and a willingness to travel mostly within home borders. Contrasting to Jordan and so far Vietnam, China was very clean with bins everywhere which was a pleasant discovery. The journey continues..
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Jordan
One tip for the traveller, don't go to Jordan when it's Ramadan, or when it is just finished. We arrived in the middle of the night to Amman airport, the same night as Ramadan was over. Amman city was crazy with cars filled with people celebrating. This could be cool we thought, but little did we know this holiday meant that everything would be closed for the next 3 days, at least.
The hostel was a hole in the wall, even that is too nice. The owner was a fat and dirty man who seemed to never leave the place or make any attempt to keep it clean. Nightclubs are of two types - clubs with eastern european strippers or with arab ones, he informed us.
Next day we thought it could be worth looking around town. The tourist sights in Amman are an amphi theater in the center and on one of the hills in town are some ruins from the roman time. We had a look at both, it was ok. Down town Amman, where we stayed was just really dirty and there was nothing to do because of the holiday. No restaurants were open, just the fast food shawarma place, and no shops neither. The only people out was us, some confused elderly Spanish tourists, and some local perverted men walking the streets making western women feel like objects.
In the evening we took a taxi to another area of town, the rich area, in hope of seeing something nice. It was a pedestrian street with American style shops and restaurants. Here we saw some young local people, of both sexes. The young ladies here wore lots of makeup and European style clothing, very different from down town.
The second day in Amman we chose to leave the city, we shared a cab with two malaysian guys we met at the hostel and went to mount Nebu and the Dead Sea. Mount Nebu was a place with a monastery, and the place where Moses was buried. It had a view over the countryside and to Palestine, Israel and dead sea. Then we went to swim in the Dead sea. We paid 12 JD to be at aprivate beach with facilities and a big pool, a little expensive but it was pretty cool. The sea was super salty! Noone dipped their heads, it would had been difficult but also a health hazard. The best was the pool after! It was great to just relax in a clean and nice place after the start in Amman.
Then we finally left Amman to see Petra. It was about 5 hrs bus ride south. We had a tip to go to the Valentine hostel, which was really good. They had a big patio where everyone hung out in the evening and ate a good buff'e of all the foods we had longed for. Look at the pic!
The same day we arrived we went to Petra, it was just down the hill in town where we entered. It was great! We explored Petra for 2 days, literally we went everywhere! There was lots of little hikes up the mountainsides and Roman and Nebatean ruins to discover. In the hostel we met many fantastic people, some of which we planned a desert trip to the Wadi Rum desert with.
Another early and exhausting day saw us travel out to the desert and explore much of what it had to offer over the next 15 hrs. Luckily we were a group of mainly young and fit people who could climb the awesome rock formations and sand dunes. In the evening we set camp in an open beduin camp. We ate together and after we played some drinking games with a bottle of vodka and some tequila. It was a fun night that was a perfect ending to the tour, the star filled sky above our beds was one of the highlights.
No rest for the wicked! The morning after we were a bunch that took the bus to Aqaba on the red sea, finally something wet!
For three days we just had a great time, relaxing at a little resort outside of town. The snorkeling in the red sea was great, just a few metres out in the water and you had coral reefs, ship wreck, a tank (that the king had placed there),etc. We hung out with some fantastic people we had met along the way, a German couple and a Lebanese couple, hopefully we can catch up with them some time. In the water we saw: Lion fish, sea turtle, moray eel, lots of angel fish and Nemos and more!
After all Jordan was a great experience!
The hostel was a hole in the wall, even that is too nice. The owner was a fat and dirty man who seemed to never leave the place or make any attempt to keep it clean. Nightclubs are of two types - clubs with eastern european strippers or with arab ones, he informed us.
Next day we thought it could be worth looking around town. The tourist sights in Amman are an amphi theater in the center and on one of the hills in town are some ruins from the roman time. We had a look at both, it was ok. Down town Amman, where we stayed was just really dirty and there was nothing to do because of the holiday. No restaurants were open, just the fast food shawarma place, and no shops neither. The only people out was us, some confused elderly Spanish tourists, and some local perverted men walking the streets making western women feel like objects.
In the evening we took a taxi to another area of town, the rich area, in hope of seeing something nice. It was a pedestrian street with American style shops and restaurants. Here we saw some young local people, of both sexes. The young ladies here wore lots of makeup and European style clothing, very different from down town.
The second day in Amman we chose to leave the city, we shared a cab with two malaysian guys we met at the hostel and went to mount Nebu and the Dead Sea. Mount Nebu was a place with a monastery, and the place where Moses was buried. It had a view over the countryside and to Palestine, Israel and dead sea. Then we went to swim in the Dead sea. We paid 12 JD to be at aprivate beach with facilities and a big pool, a little expensive but it was pretty cool. The sea was super salty! Noone dipped their heads, it would had been difficult but also a health hazard. The best was the pool after! It was great to just relax in a clean and nice place after the start in Amman.
Then we finally left Amman to see Petra. It was about 5 hrs bus ride south. We had a tip to go to the Valentine hostel, which was really good. They had a big patio where everyone hung out in the evening and ate a good buff'e of all the foods we had longed for. Look at the pic!
The same day we arrived we went to Petra, it was just down the hill in town where we entered. It was great! We explored Petra for 2 days, literally we went everywhere! There was lots of little hikes up the mountainsides and Roman and Nebatean ruins to discover. In the hostel we met many fantastic people, some of which we planned a desert trip to the Wadi Rum desert with.
Another early and exhausting day saw us travel out to the desert and explore much of what it had to offer over the next 15 hrs. Luckily we were a group of mainly young and fit people who could climb the awesome rock formations and sand dunes. In the evening we set camp in an open beduin camp. We ate together and after we played some drinking games with a bottle of vodka and some tequila. It was a fun night that was a perfect ending to the tour, the star filled sky above our beds was one of the highlights.
No rest for the wicked! The morning after we were a bunch that took the bus to Aqaba on the red sea, finally something wet!
For three days we just had a great time, relaxing at a little resort outside of town. The snorkeling in the red sea was great, just a few metres out in the water and you had coral reefs, ship wreck, a tank (that the king had placed there),etc. We hung out with some fantastic people we had met along the way, a German couple and a Lebanese couple, hopefully we can catch up with them some time. In the water we saw: Lion fish, sea turtle, moray eel, lots of angel fish and Nemos and more!
After all Jordan was a great experience!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Good old London
It feels like we haven't really started travelling yet, since London is common ground for both of us, more or less. But it is nice to be back and see the good old places and some friends. We are going to catch up with a few friends of Aaran's tomorrow night at the "slug and lettuce" in Fulham, where there will be no slugs and no lettuce I am afraid. There will be snake bites, a mix of beer, cider and black currant, they sound better than they taste (I have a bad memory of them from my first week in London some years ago).
Today I dragged Aaran to some art museums, the Tate modern and Tate britain. They were both good as always. Above is a picture from Tate Britain.
I have actually never been to Abbey road, the no 1 attraction for Beatles lovers, maybe because I am not one of them. But since it is something that I am curious about we will go there tomorrow.
By the way, thanks for a great going away party and day after.
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