THE LEICESTERSHIRE BLOGGER

LATEST NEWS...................................................

2012-02-01T01:00:00.001Z

02 FEBRUARY 2012 - Finally wrote the first part of costa rica <CLICK HERE>

COSTA RICA - PART 1

2011-12-27T18:53:00.000Z

After the summer trip to Iceland I couldn't make my mind up where to go next. As a result I left it far too late to go anywhere within Europe. If I combined christmas with the rest of the time I had left to have off work it would give me 3 weeks away at the least. I was very tempted to go back to South East Asia again, the flights were cheap and I knew the area but in the end I made up my mind that I had to see something new. I would achieve nothing by doing yet another 2 weeks in somewhere like Thailand
Central America sort of picked itself, North was too cold and South was a bit too far and cost a hell of a lot more to fly to from Europe. Costa Rica was the obvious choice for the first timer to central America.

I spend Christmas at home and left the day after boxing day. The previous year I felt like I was sitting around at home just waiting for new years eve so it was the best time to get away. The first day I went down to a hotel near heathrow airport as the flight was early the following morning. I can't say I was impressed with Iberia airlines but it was cheap for the distance I had to fly.

Due to a delay it was a mad dash to catch the connecting flight to Costa Rica at Madrid airport. I'm still amazed that after clocking up nearly 2 years travel in nearly 30 countries that was the first time I had ever set foot on the spanish mainland.

When I landed it was straight to a pre booked hostel in Alajuela. I knew full well that the town was a purely functional one with nothing to offer the traveler other than being close to the airport and a good place to sleep off the jetlag. You could walk round town for an hour and find almost nothing worth getting your camera out for.

There was a bar in the hostel which was a good chance to meet up with others and get some travel ideas. As expected all of them were staying for one night only and were just arrived like myself or just about to leave the country.

As I had booked 2 nights I used the full day inbetween to have a look round the capital San Jose. Hardly a great city and like Alajuela just a quick stop for most travelers on the way to somewhere else. I had a few hours round the main drag and located the bus terminal which I had to use the following day.

Three years earlier I said I would never visit a country where there was a big language barrier as I always believed it would be far more trouble than it was worth. That changed when I first went to China. It's true that it can be a pain when having to point and make signs when ordering food for example. However for me that's nothing compared to being in a country where you are being constantly hassled by the likes of touts, vendors, taxi drivers and rip off artists every 10 paces. I'll take the language barrier any day of the week.

The second night back in Alajuela was uneventful so I had an early night which finally cured the jetlag. In order to get to the next destination I had to go back to San Jose to the Coca Cola bus terminal a place which I had read more than a few scare stories about. However it had police nearby and looked tame compared to places I had been in the past.

The plan was to head to Jaco to drink party and see in the new year before heading inland to see the "real" Costa Rica. After a scenic bus ride I had a nightmare on arrival. I couldn't find the hostel anywhere and I was walking round in the hot midday sun for well over an hour. In the end I asked for help and it turned out the hostel had been relocated about half a mile away since my guidebook had been printed.

The hostel was very laid back, the typical person who stayed there was a 20 something surfer from the USA who got up early for the high tide, spent the rest of the day on the beach and/or getting stoned while waiting for the next high tide...some of them would live like that for months on end. Great if your a surfer but not my kind of thing......

The first night was uneventful for good reason everyone was saving themselves for new year eve. I got to know a few people and had an early night.

The following day I hired a good quality mountain bike and went to explore the areas around Jaco. First south to Playa Hermosa but turned back when the road headed inland for several miles. Then north to Playa Herradura which seemed to be full of very costly hotels and loads of yachts. Obviously not a place for backpackers.

Then it was back to the hostel for new years eve, the plan was to drink in the hostel until about 10pm then head to the beach party which consisted of several dozen people drinking cheap supermarket alcohol round a fire until the new year came in.

Several of the group had the idea of going to a local bar/club which I was more than up for. The problem was getting everyone together to get there, people would randomly vanish, everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else. After an hour we had covered what was probably a 10 minute walk. At this point I gave up and headed back to the hostel to continue drinking with others who had also gone back. An hour later the original group came back still having not gone to the bar/club they intended to go to.

The night did end on a funny note when I found a supermarket trolley and ran down the street outside the hostel with some young surfer in the front. He was laughing about it for most of the following day.

As always New years day was hardly lively with everyone hungover and drifting in and out of sleep.

We did however manage to get out and go to an observation point overlooking the town to see the sunset.

On the final day I headed out for a daytrip to Manuel antonio national park with a group who were leaving the hostel. I split from the group as they were now staying there but arrived at the park to find that it closed Mondays. I killed an hour walking back to the main bus terminal then it was back to Jaco. Worse still some of those at the hostel knew that it was closed that day!!!!

By this point at least half the people I had got to know had left the hostel. Jaco was ok for a few days and did the job new years eve but it was just another touristy beach town at the end of the day and hardly worth the massive hype it got in some travel guides.

Time to move inland and see the real Costa Rica..............

ICELAND - PART 3

2011-08-03T10:06:00.000+01:00

Final full day before heading back to Reykjavik, public transport was not very regular in that part of the world and as much as I like the tours I had been on they had cost a small fortune and I wanted to do something different.

I started walking in the direction of Mount Sulur not intending to climb to the top but just get as far as I could. It was a long way just to get to the start of the climb itself. The motivation to get to the top came from seeing people at least 20-30 years older than myself coming back from there.

I couldn't go Iceland without getting a picture of myself in some snow. No matter where I am in the world, climbing a mountain in Iceland or walking around Dubai I always seem to wear the exact same amount of clothing (Jeans and T-shirt)

The view at the top was worth it even if I did have some painful slips on the snow pictured above on the way back down. On getting back I had 2 shocks. Firstly I had got sunburned which was the last thing I had expected, Second I had done the round trip in just over 5 hours when the guidebook said allow at least 7 hours for the return journey. Not bad for saying I had about half a dozen beers the night before !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did go out that evening but it didn't seem to happen as it had done the previous one so I had an early night.

I flew back to Reykjavik and back to the same hostel as before. It had seemed unsocial for the number of people before but this time I got talking to an Australian in my dorm room. Soon we had arranged to do the one thing missing from the trip which was a proper night out on the town.

We headed to several bars some full of tourists, some full of locals , some inbetween but all of them good. I quickly noticed that they seem to throw as much alcohol down their throats as in the cities back home. The big difference being that I didn't see any police, any arguments, any fights or anything in the way of bad attitude. I also noticed that there was hardly any overweight people despite there being fastfood outlets everywhere.

They obviously do something right!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last but one day in Iceland I took a look at the small but interesting Saga museum and walked past the beach area.

After that I felt like I had done everything that I had wanted to see and do in that city. I was hoping for another night out with the Australian but he was on a long trip round Europe and having to watch his budget.

Due to the fact I had an early morning flight back home I had to spend the last night at Keflavik. It was a purely functional town, nothing wrong with and ok to walk round for a couple of hours but that was it. The hostel was a good place to stay just a pity about the location.

Apart from the costs Iceland had been a great place to visit. Another "northern trip" maybe Greenland or the Faroe islands is definitely on the cards for the future................

ICELAND - PART 2

2011-08-01T10:03:00.000+01:00

Akureyri looked as good a place as any to stay for a few days. When planning the trip I discovered that every hostel was booked up solid that week so at the last minute I managed to get hold of a sleeping bag and a tent.

It had been 11 years since I had last slept in a tent, I had to have a practice run at home in setting the thing up. The wind, rain and cold were the things I was not looking forward to but they were hardly noticed in 3 nights. The campsite itself while being a good place to sleep was an hours walk down a very dull road to get to the town. I went into the tourist office and booked a trip for the following day.

It was just as well as I did, back at the campsite they had a kitchen/dining/common area. The handful of people who were there seemed to take all their effort to reply when I said hello. Hardly the best situation when your a solo traveller!!!!!!!!!!

There were only 4 of us on the trip round Lake Myvatn the following day which was good. Even better was the fact that everywhere we stopped was not full of people unlike the golden circle trip a few days earlier.

Godafoss waterfall was the first stop but a bit too cold and windy at that time in the morning. By the time we got to a lake area called Stakholstjorn it was a lot better..

Reykjahlid was the small tourist town near the lake where were stopped for food. If I had more time it would have been worth stopping there a night.

Dimmuborgir was an area of strange rock formations, our driver/guide insisted on taking us round due the fact previous tourists had got lost there....

The hole in the rocks (above) instantly reminded me of a previous trip. It took a search through my pictures to find out it was Yangshou China (below)

Grjotagja was another part of the country where the Europe / North America plates are slowly pulling apart. There was an underground cave full of hot water but the pictures didn't turn out very well. After a quick look at a crater lake we stopped at an area full of bubbling hot mud pools and steaming vents. Everyone else was having a "warm your hands over the steam" picture so I thought why not.

The final stop of the day was at the baths which I wasn't interested in so I went for a walk round the area for about half an hour. Overall it had been a good (if a bit costly) day out. Back to town and to the very long drag back to the campsite which I had got fairly sick of by that point.

Due to the unsocial nature of the campsite common area I headed into town in the evening to checkout the local bars. I heard that alcohol cost a small fortune in that part of the world but it was not a massive amount more than back home. 4 pounds a pint compaired to 3-3.20 in England so I couldn't complain that much.
Within a few minutes I got talking to locals and other travelers who were there. I noticed a middle aged couple being pestered by two younger men, they were all obviously English and the conversation was about football. Later in the evening I got talking to this couple and they told me their son was playing for England under 17s in a competition that was being held there (explains why I couldn't find any accommodation) and the two younger men who were pestering them were football agents. It was hardly a wild night out but great to meet a few locals and other travelers.

ICELAND - PART 1

2011-07-29T09:53:00.000+01:00

Iceland had been firmly at the top of the "countries I most want to visit" list since arriving back from my world trip in March 2010. I didn't want to book that first year due to the volcano. When another eruption came in 2011 one of the lads at work commented that "someone up there doesn't want you to go to Iceland!!!!" It was a risk I was going to have to take, so I went ahead and booked anyway.

Getting there was a nightmare in itself. I might have only been in the air for about two and a half hours but after getting all the way down to Gatwick airport on two trains with long waits inbetween then ages at the other end waiting for the shuttle bus it was over 12 hours between leaving home and booking into the accommodation. I had a very sleepless first night, the fact that it's only dark 2 hours a night was something I had never came across before. The other problem which was someone else snoring is a regular problem when trying to sleep in dorm rooms.

The first day in Reykjavik was a "walk round and find my feet day". It seemed more like a small town than a capital city I didn't do too much because of the rain. Back at the hostel the lack of people gave me the impression this was the kind of place where people spent most of the daytime out on trips. So I headed back into town and booked for the following day.

In the afternoon I headed to Videy island and spent about 2 hours walking all the way round. Despite being near the city it felt like it was miles away from anywhere.

I got an early night in and headed out the following morning for the golden circle daytrip. I'm not a massive fan of organized daytrips but like Jordan 11 months earlier there are lots of tourist attractions that cannot be reached by regular public transport.

It didn't take long to get out of the city and into the real Iceland within an hour I felt as far away from civilization as you could get. This picture was taken at Skalholt.

Gullfoss waterfall was difficult to get a picture of without loads of other camera clicking tourists in the background.

A still picture at Geysir is not good enough to be honest.

It didn't take long to find a clip on youtube.

Pingvellir national park is the point where Europe and North America are slowly pulling apart. So geologically speaking at least I can say I have set foot in America. Looking back I wouldn't have minded staying here a night.

The day after the tour I left the capital for the second city. I found it shocking that there was only one bus a day between the two places but there were 7 flights which only took about 45 minutes. A couple of hours before I left I took some pictures from the top of Hallgrimskirkja.

It was an eventful first couple of days, I was not going to make the same mistake as I did in Sri Lanka earlier on in the year trying to see too much in a one week trip.

The domestic airport had to be one of the smallest I had ever seen. Pity there was cloud 90% of the flight or I would have got loads of great pictures.............

COALVILLE TOWN GO TO WEMBLEY

2011-05-08T16:21:00.010+01:00

Seeing Coalville and Wembley on the same piece of paper was one of those things that happen once in a lifetime. I knew several people who had gone to watch Coalville town on a Saturday afternoon and it was one of those things that I said "I will have to come one day" but never got round to doing. When they reached the final of the F.A Vase I never thought of going but at the last minute I was offered a ticket from someone who had pulled out.

In a way it felt a bit strange going to watch a team that I couldn't name a single player and I felt a bit like I was jumping on the bandwagon but the bottom line was that everyone was going and it would be a more than welcome day out away from the village.

It was an early start with everyone going into the pub at 7:30am and drinking beer before going onto the coach. Arriving in London several hours before kick off means everyone hit the pubs around the ground. It felt more than a little strange to be where we were but constantly meeting people you had not seen for ages. I bumped into 3 old school friends I had not seen for at least 5 years. The atmosphere was great but we noticed how most of the pubs had the policy of admitting one set of fans but not the other.

It was the first time most of us had been to the new wembley stadium and it was not as impressive as we thought it would be. A few more people might have helped but this was a 9000 non league football crowd in a stadium that seated 10 times that figure.

The Coalville fans were making far more noise than the Whitley bay fans despite being behind for chunks of the game.

Some of them did get a bit of grief off the stewards for constantly standing up. As for the match itself it was a bad result for Coalville for how they played but that's football for you.

At the end of the game one of the Coalville players came over and carried his little girl on the pitch only be hassled buy some official looking man in a suit which I thought was a bit out of order. The player rightly pushed him off. There are many pro players that will never play on that pitch so you could hardly blame him for having that moment on there.

THE OFFICIAL MATCH VIDEO

MATCH REPORT
Whitley Bay won the FA Vase for the third successive season with a narrow victory over Coalville Town.
The Bay took the lead when Paul Chow converted after Craig McFarlane's neat run and cutback.
Matt Moore levelled with a powerful header from Cameron Stuart's centre before Lee Kerr flicked the Bay back in front from Paul Robinson's cross.
Adam Goodby nodded in from Anthony Carney's ball to level once more only for Chow to poke home a late winner.
The victory means that Whitley Bay become the first team to win the Vase three years running.
Additionally, their two goalscorers Chow and Kerr have both scored in all three of the Seahorses' wins.
The result was cruel on Coalville, who dominated large passages of the game.
After being under pressure in the early stages, Whitley Bay came into the game with first Robinson seeing a shot blocked and Chow almost being played in by Coalville defender Stuart.
Minutes later the holders took the lead.
Kerr's pass was expertly controlled by Craig McFarlane, who tricked his way past his defender before squaring a fine pass for Chow to convert from close range.
The Ravens responded well to going behind and thought they had levelled when Jerome Murdock nodded in, but the assistant's flag quickly curtailed the celebrations.
Moore then went desperately close for Coalville, his curled effort rebounding off the post and into the grateful arms of Seahorses keeper Terry Burke.
Burke, playing his last game for the Bay, saved well from Ryan Robbins' low effort but, the team from Leicestershire soon got the goal their play deserved when Stuart's deep cross was powerfully headed home by Moore.
Parity lasted just a matter of minutes as the Seahorses restored their lead when Robinson did well on the edge of the area before sending over a delightful near-post cross that was headed home by Kerr.
Carney's cross was headed against the crossbar by the unlucky Moore as a shell-shocked Coalville looked for an immediate response.
Murdock twice forced super saves from Burke before the Ravens pulled level again through Goodby's header from Carney's cross.
With time running out the Bay grabbed the winner when Kerr's free-kick came back off the crossbar and Chow was on hand to make history.
Coalville Town: Bowles, Brown, Stewart, Goodby, Costello, Woodward, Miveld, Moore, Murdock, Anthony Carney, Robbins.Subs Not Used: Williams, Wells, Attwood, Gardner, Dodd.
Goals: Moore 58, Goodby 80.
Whitley Bay: Burke, McFarlane, Callum Anderson, Timmons, Williams, Robson, Kerr, Chow, Robinson, Pounder, Ormston.Subs Not Used: Coulson, Smith, Rowe, Gibson, Hayes.
Goals: Chow 28, Kerr 61, Chow 86.
Attendance: 8,778
Referee: Scott Mathieson (Cheshire).

SRI LANKA - PART 2

2011-02-21T17:03:00.008Z

It was a long drag on the bus to Galle, first to Colombo via a very hectic bus terminal then down the coast which was a lot more scenic, it gave a good "tropical island" impression.

Galle fort was an interesting place to walk round in the afternoon. A couple of obvious scammers were hovering about but nothing I couldn't deal with.

At night there was no one at the accommodation so I went for a walk round town. With the number of tourists about in the day I thought it would be easy to find a bar with people to talk to at night.

The streets seemed almost completely empty after about 8pm which was a bit of a let down. All I wanted was a couple of beers and some travel conversation. It was a bit unreal walking around thinking "where the hell is everyone?????".

The following day I walked a few miles up the coast to nearby Unawatuna a typical ramshackle, touristy beach village. I should have stayed there instead of Galle and gone to Galle on a daytrip instead of the other way round. I did get lost in some woodland but was helped out by some friendly locals.

Time was running out fast so I headed back to Negombo for the last 2 nights. Sick of buses I thought I would give the trains a go. Dirt cheap even by Asian standards and on time. I took the above video clip on the way to Colombo. Had a well need rest after all the walking and hot sun.

9 out of 10 people who I met told me not to bother staying at Colombo but I thought it would be worth a daytrip on my final day. It was a fairly typical Asian city but to be fair I could name many places with more traffic, noise, pollution, poverty etc. Even the few locals I spoke to were more likely to engage in friendly conversation (ask me about cricket) than ask for money or try and sell me something.

10 days was nowhere near enough time to "do" Sri Lanka, a month would have been more like it. I never gave the country a thought while on my 16 month trip which was a pity.

SRI LANKA - PART 1

2011-02-16T16:59:00.002Z

With 8 days works holiday to use by the end of February picking a destination was a bit tricky for reasons highlighted on the previous trip to Jordan. In the end I came up with Sri Lanka (Costa Rica and Mauritius were other options I looked at). It was going to be a slightly shorter trip than Jordan because of the longer flight times and I gave myself a day at home before going back to work.

Got a good flight time arriving at around 8:30 in the morning. First impression of the locals were good with plenty of waves and smiles. I figured the best place to start was Negombo as it was not far from the airport. Met a few others to talk to at the accommodation but as expected it was jet lag and recovery day.

Day 2 I hired a bike and rode south to a place called Ja Ela then after recovering for a couple of hours went north to Kochchikade. For some reason I was expecting Sri Lanka to be "different" from south east Asia.

Most of it including the town I was staying in didn't look a lot different with the obvious exception of the people. My biggest fear of the locals was being asked about cricket (a sport I hate) at the start of every conversation. I did get a few shocked looks during my time there.

The heat and humidity limited what I could do during the day time. After getting a bit burned I figured my sunscreen was past it's sell by date. At night there was the Rodeo bar which was a great place to meet other travelers as well as some of the locals.

I stayed another night after that exploring Negombo town and the smelly fishing area during the day.

I moved on to Kandy with a woman from Finland who had been there before. We didn't leave until after 10am and it was a long crowded and very slow bus ride. The previous nights beer didn't help a lot. When I got there my pre booked accommodation was "full" and after a long wait and endless repeats of "I booked on the internet" I was relocated to their other accommodation on the other side of town. I have had days like that on previous trips but they are a lot easier to deal with on a long trip. When you are only away for about 10 days it's a big chunk out of your time.

I had a proper explore of the area the following day including the big temple. Then I headed up to some woodlands on a hill, seen a bit of wildlife but felt a bit uneasy walking round as there was no one else up there. Also my guidebook said there had been muggings in that area.

In the space of 24 hours I felt that it was time to move on from Kandy to the south coast. I did have a couple of other people to talk to at night but it felt too much out of the way.

I came out my room in the evening to see the guesthouse manager hitting what I first thought was a rat or mouse with a big broom. It turned out to be a massive spider.

I didn't sleep too good that night........................

JORDAN - PART 5 - WADI RUM

2010-11-20T21:42:00.007Z

The final event on the Jordan trip before the last couple of (dull) days back in Amman was the overnight 4*4 trip to Wadi Rum. There were 3 others on the overnight trip (Germany, Belgium, USA) the girl pictured from Brazil was just doing a half day there before having to cross the border to catch a flight. Something we all questioned the logic of.

The deserts I had seen before were all flat and featureless but the scenery here was amazing. We spent the first hour climbing rocks to look at water sources. Didn't find it but at least got a good picture.

Only 2 out of our group was brave (or stupid) enough to climb sand dunes in that heat and yes I was one of them.

Our waiting point.......that bridge was a lot safer than it looked.

There were of course lots of other groups on tours but everyone was spread out over a vast area. We did all meet up outside this canyon for a break.

The four of us finally made it to our tents for the night. The German dropped his very costly sunglasses down the toilet!!!!!!

A few more people and a couple of beers wouldn't have gone a miss but we managed to stay up talking until late.

There was another group that looked miles away but they sounded very close across the desert at night. It would have been great to go walking over to them but we were advised not to by our guide.

The following morning that was it for Jordan. I did think of going to the coast for a day but was advised by several who had been not to bother. Overall it had been a great country to visit.

The following clip was taken driving back.............

JORDAN - PART 4 - PETRA

2010-11-18T21:40:00.002Z

Long before I went Jordan I knew that Petra was one of them places that deserve to be mentioned in the same list as the pyramids, the great wall and Angkor. Asking other people if I should get a 1,2 or 3 day pass resulted in different answers each time so in the end I went for a 2 day judging by the distances on the map. At over 40 pounds it was one of the most costly tourist attractions I had ever done but it was more than worth it.

My plan was to see all the obvious things on the first day, head back early afternoon so I wouldn't be too tired or burned out then see the rest on the second day.

While there was obviously lots of people there. The site was vast enough to spread them out a bit.

This was the first of many long shadeless climbs, I never seem to learn my lesson with these.

Despite the crowds I kept bumping into people I had met earlier on in the trip. One was good enough to take this picture.

My only problem with the place was the amazing lack of signposts. It was so easy to get lost even with the map in my guidebook. One minute you are in the crowds, the next you are alone.

It was at this point I called it the end of day one and headed back.

Day 2 I walked straight through until I got to where I left off on day one. I got lost the first time and followed a large group to this canyon. Here I met a German from the accommodation and we headed down this canyon. It was a clear footpath but got worse and worse. In the end we were walking along the side of a shadeless hill. After a long time it came to a dead end by the time we got back to where we started over 3 hours had passed. During this time we didn't see a single other tourist.

By the time I got back to the main part I was finding it more and more difficult.

It didn't matter how far you got away from the other tourists you would walk round a corner and see locals at random points.

A rest, water and study the map stop !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not many I met got this picture, I did miss a couple of the sights around Petra but I felt I had done all the best bits. With that I headed off, Petra had been well worth it......................

JORDAN - PART 3 - KINGS HIGHWAY TO PETRA

2010-11-17T21:37:00.002Z

I got to travel to Petra but also was able to do it as a full day tour seeing the sights on the way down. The other option was going via the dead sea but as I had already been there before I picked the kings highway.

Madaba church was the first stop and to be honest the least interesting. I didn't even bother taking a picture.

Mount Nebo was a fairly short walk to the viewpoint at the top. I find it strange that as an atheist I have been to more biblical sites than my church going relatives.

Wadi mujib is Jordans "grand canyon" the scenery was great all the way along it. Stopped for a quick photo several times and talked to a few locals.

Despite having seen a few already Kerak was a long way from being "just another castle". It was the best (man made) highlight of the day. (Note for visiting castles BRING A FLASHLIGHT NEXT TIME !!!!!!)

By the time we got to Wadi Ai Hasq and Dana time was running out and as a result Shobak was closed when we got there.

All we got was an outside view but overall it was a good day.

I stayed at Wadi musa (next to Petra) for 2 nights while visiting Petra itself (covered in Part 4). Took a side trip to Wadi Rum (covered in Part 5). Then went back for one more rest night before heading back to Amman.

The accommodation was basic but a great place to meet other people A lot I already knew from Amman. I had not seen the film Indiana Jones and the last crusade for many years (some of it was filmed in Petra) but it got annoying having it on in the TV room every single night.

There was not a lot to do in the town other than rest, talk to others and plan the next day in Petra. I did go out on the second night for a couple of drinks in the (very costly) cave bar with a girl from south Africa. She had lots of stories of living and working in Saudi Arabia.

JORDAN - PART 2 - DAYTRIPS FROM AMMAN

2010-11-14T21:35:00.003Z

Within half an hour of checking in late at night I had booked to go on a day trip outside of the city. As there was about half a dozen others it was a good way to meet other solo travelers. The landscape reminded me a lot of Egypt and Israel.

First stop were the Roman ruins at Umm Qais which also had a great view from the top.

Ajlun castle while being interesting was a bit too dark inside to get a photo.

After stopping for food the last stop just before it got dark were the Roman ruins at Jerash. This was easily the highlight of the first 2 days. We had over an hour to look around and needed it as well because it covered a big area.

That day was a good first impression of the country, there were plenty of tourists at the sights but not too many to ruin it. With that I booked a second day trip soon after getting back to Amman.

The Desert castles daytrip was one of them I would never have done had I gone to Jordan earlier on in the year. With no public transport out to the eastern desert there was no option but to go with a tour group. The city of Amman didn't seem to have a limit but the number of buildings, houses and people just got less and less the further away you got. In the end it was flat and featureless. It felt a bit strange seeing the road signs pointing towards the Iraq border.

Qasr Kharana was the first stop, we usually had about half an hour at each of the stops.

It was at Qasr Amra I learned that this featureless desert was once full of wildlife and only became how it was now in the last couple of generations due to the groundwater being pumped out of it.

Qasr Azraq

Qasr Hamman As Sarah was hardly worth stopping the car and getting out for.

Qasr Al Hallabat was the final stop of the day. Not a bad day out but it was very hot and dry. There was also the danger of getting "Castle burnout" (seeing so many that it becomes just another castle). I had a bit of a rest and an explore round Amman before heading south in the direction of Petra.

JORDAN - PART 1 - INTRO AND AMMAN

2010-11-13T21:32:00.001Z

I had been lucky to land a well paid job within a few weeks of getting back from the 16 month backpacking trip round the world. 8 months later it was time I visited foreign lands once again but this time it was to be a short trip within works holiday time.

I didn't want to fly too far as I had enough of air travel after taking over 25 flights on my previous trip. I had to fly far enough to escape the cold weather in November. I didn't feel "ready" to do Africa yet and having an Israel stamp in my passport seriously reduced my optionsin the middle East. So in the end I came up with Jordan which had plenty of things to see, not too costly, backpacker friendly and was also in a way carrying on from where I had left off earlier in the year.

I did of course have to put up with the usual stupidity and ignorance off friends down the pub and at work. I got the typical blank look when I said "Jordan" usually followed by "where's that " or "what's there". Then there were the people who assumed that because it was in the middle east and/or it was a muslim country that it was not safe to go to!!!!!!!!!

Getting there was a bit of a nightmare because I had to go all the way down to and through London to get to Heathrow airport.

I spent the first 4 nights and the last 2 in Amman. It was not until the third day that I had been more than 2 minutes walk from the accommodation because I had been on long day trips out of the city (covered in Part 2).

The city itself was hardly full of tourist attractions something I quickly picked up from the other backpackers. It did however give a great first impression of the people there. They seemed far more friendly and welcoming than in nearby Egypt. Despite having a lot of refugees in the country there were hardly any beggars. There was no intense sales pressure or the constant obvious rip offs that turned visiting a country into a battle.

Also there was the other backpackers I met while there. Jordan is hardly the first country people would travel to so most there had done a bit before and had interesting stories to tell. It was great to be back on the travel scene...........

The Roman ruins on top of the hill were interesting as well as giving a great view of the city. There seemed to be very few of what I would describe as tall buildings.

Then there was the Roman theater not far from where I was staying. For some reason both of these tourist attractions were free that day not that they would have cost much anyway.

Unlike the 16 month trip I had finished earlier that year when I didn't know when my next pay day was going to be I had a lot more money to spend per day. I did several things on the trip that I wouldn't have done had I gone there on the previous one. I more or less packed most days full of being out and seeing things.

The exception was the last 2 days back in Amman when I did a typical walking tour of the city away from the downtown area up Rainbow street. I did see a few areas that I would describe as being a bit more "up market" but overall I was glad I didn't linger in that city any longer than I did.

FRANKFURT - GERMANY

2010-03-01T16:15:00.002Z

Got on the plane in Israel wearing a T-shirt in warm weather and got off the plane in Germany in the middle of a snowstorm.

OUCH!!!!!!

Met Renee at the airport who I had kept in contact with since we met in Bangkok a few months earlier. She couldn't get the time off work to show me around but still let me stay at her place. So for the second time on the trip someone who I had only known for a couple of days gave me the keys to their place. I must have a trusting face!!!!

Frankfurt seemed very clean and orderly compared to a lot of the places I had been to earlier in the trip. During the day I explored the town on foot while Renee was at work. I stuggled with the cold weather a lot.

In the evenings I had a more guided tour of the city. Renee seemed happy enough living there and only went back to the Philippines to visit family.

On her day off we went to a town by the river an hours drive north. Walked up the hills and stopped for some food on the way back.

A couple of days before the end one of her friends was getting married and we went to the reception at night. He was German but she was also from the Philippines like Renee. As I had been to the country I was not short of conversation with half of the guests.

On my final night in Germany I went out for a proper beer in a local bar, just the one as it was double the cost back home.

That was it !!!!! 16 months of backpacking the world was over. I did well since I only intended to be away for 12 months. In someways it was strange to be going back but I felt I was ready by that time.

Sarah took the above photo just after meeting dad at Birmingham airport.

JERUSALEM - ISRAEL

2010-02-22T10:02:00.000Z

I made a split second decision to visit Jerusalem after booking my flights home. After coming from Tel Aviv it seemed a bit of a strange place, I don't know why it just was. I stayed near Jaffa Gate.

Obviously it had a very historic feel to it, the old city was like a maze and I got lost several times. Only managed a days exploring because of the rain.

From the city I did a daytrip to the dead sea, unlike the pictures you see on TV there was no one actually in there floating and reading a newspaper. In fact there were lots of no swimming signs.

I went straight to Ein Gedi national park which was full of school kids. After passing the waterfall it was a long hot shadeless walk to the top.

Seen a Hyrax which stayed nice and still for the camera unlike the Ibex which ran off.

I walked all the way round the top of the canyon, if I had got there a couple of hours earlier I would have had time to go all the way to the top. Still it was a great day out

TEL AVIV - ISRAEL

2010-02-19T09:59:00.000Z

The hassle factor had for the third time on the trip drove me to a place I never planned to visit. Bali was so annoying that I got out of there very quickly and had a great time between Lombok and Flores.

Second was the horrible attitude of the people in Vietnam towards tourists that drove me to escape across the border into China and again I had a great time.

Then there was Egypt which was so bad I had the "see the pyramids and get out as soon as I could" attitude.

Now I found myself in Israel, a country that I knew little about apart from what I had seen on the news. It was the biggest change I had ever seen when crossing a land border. The high level of security and the vast number of people carrying guns was a bit of a shock but understandable. I had no guidebook and lost my map in Tel Aviv bus station but somehow managed to find my hostel in the dark.

The town looked a lot like a European holiday resort with a great atmosphere. I liked the place within a couple of hours walking around. Went to explore old Jaffa

A disturbing event took place in our hostel on the second night I was there. A man from Argentina was going crazy, it turned out his whole suitcase had been stolen from our dorm room. In all the time I have been on the road the number of big things stolen from dorm rooms I could count on one hand. This could just as easily been myself as whoever stolen it had to walk near my bag as well.

Had a day exploring a lot of the city on foot with others from the hostel. It was obvious it was a big party place but at this point on the trip I did not want to be spending European sizes bar bills.

I headed to Jerusalem for a few days then back to Tel Aviv for the last few days before flying to Germany. That last few days it did nothing but rain and I did very little beyond talking to other people in the hostel.

TRAVEL BURNOUT
When I went away for the first time to Australia in 2004, on returning someone said travel is like a drug....you will keep going back for more. I also discovered that like a drug it required bigger and bigger hits to achieve the same "high". At this point I had been to so many different places/tourist attractions etc that I had a feeling that could only be described as hitting a wall. A lot of long time travelers told me about this and some of them hit this stage in just a few months. There was nothing wrong with Israel but after so long on the road I was ready for home.

DAHAB AND ST KATHERINE - EGYPT

2010-02-12T11:16:00.002Z

Once you leave the river Nile Egypt quickly turns to flat featureless desert and scrubland. It was an all day ride to get to Dahab.

Dahab itself looked like a typical holiday resort type place. You could see Saudi Arabia across the water. A story I heard several times was that someone once crossed in a boat and got arrested.

It became obvious very quickly that the place didn't have a lot to offer if you were not into skuba diving. I made the mistake of hiring a bike to explore the areas north and south of town. There was very little shade. At night I bumped into a group I had previously met in Luxor, also spent another night in a bar talking to a diving instructor from London.

I headed off to St Katherine for a couple of nights before returning to Dahab for one more night then crossing the border to Israel.

On the way to St Katherine there was some very barren scenery with the odd military checkpoint to break the journey up a bit.

Climbing the nearby mountains was the thing I wanted to do but you had to hire a local guide to go up. This is meant to provide employment to local people but it does have it's downside to solo travelers like myself. I did bump into someone at breakfast from Switzerland to split the costs with. If I hadn't I might never have gone up.

Having to hire a guide seemed pointless once we arrived at Mount Sinai. The path to the top was clearly signposted, the mountain was completely bare so there was no chance of getting lost in daylight hours, our "guides" English was poor and unable to answer our questions anyway. To top it all off he spent most of the time stopping, talking to vendors and telling us he would catch us up.

The views from the top were amazing, my knees needed a day to recover after climbing back down. Had an uneventful rest day before heading back to Dahab.

CAIRO - EGYPT

2010-02-07T11:14:00.002Z

The bad news.....Cairo was as hot, dirty and overcrowded as most guidebooks, websites and other travelers say it was.

The good news.....After visiting Kathmandu, Manila and Medan it didn't seem that bad after all.........

The first day was spent sleeping off the night train and I had a bit of a look down by the river. Accommodation was very clean and had several other travelers to talk to. The downside was that it was above a very busy main road and very difficult to sleep at night.

Went to the Egyptian museum which was close to where I was staying. As with several other places in Egypt it was strictly no cameras. I'm not a big museum person but I was in there for at least 5 hours.

Obviously the main thing I wanted to see was the Pyramids and like every other visitor who expected it to be in the middle of nowhere found it strange to be next to the city.

Priority one was to avoid the touts and scammers so I headed out into the desert first to get my photos before seeing them close up on the way back.

It was a very long and hot walk to the top of that hill but the view was worth it in the end.

On the way out I passed the Sphinx which was fenced off from the tourists and looked more than a little worse for wear.

Cairo was not the sort of place I wanted to hang around for long after that so I headed for the coast.

THE DARK SIDE OF EGYPT

2010-02-06T11:10:00.003Z

While doing research for the world trip I read about the concept of tipping in America which I didn't end up going to anyway. People are paid low wages in places like restaurants on the assumption that they make up the shortfall in tips. If I had of gone across America it was unlikely I would have come across this a lot because I would have done it on a budget and not done things like eating out anyway.

This brings me on to Egypt where the concept of tipping or "Baksheesh" as it's called is taken to the ultimate extreem level. In short "Baksheesh" is expected for almost anything and everything.
Ask for directions......"a hand comes out for Baksheesh". Someone points out the obvious in a museum......"a hand comes out for Baksheesh". Someone opens a door......"a hand comes out for Baksheesh".......I think you get the picture by now.

There are three ways people respond to this. One is to actually pay the Baksheesh, this can be difficult as small bills are in short supply and flashing large ones leads to demands for greater Baksheesh. Two is to avoid situations where you have to pay Baksheesh, this is very difficult and it's hardly the best situation when walking round a museum constantly keeping an eye out and avoiding any local people who drift up to "help". Three is to refuse to pay it and end up in a hostile situation with the local in question. None of the three are good !!!!!!!!!!!!

The worst example of this was at the valley of the kings when one of the women from our group went to use the toilet. As usual there was someone outside with an outstretched hand for payment. The woman told us that the toilet was filthy and horrible. I'm sure most people wouldn't have minded paying a small amount for a clean toilet. Our tour guide later told us that these people don't even clean the toilets but just sit outside them all day. Multiply the pound or two by the thousands of people who use them and they get paid many times more than the average person in that country (like our knowledgeable and far more deserving tour guide).

If the constant demands for Baksheesh or constantly having to avoid situations was not enough then there was the constant hassle factor on top of that. Overcharging was on a level I had only previously seen in Vietnam. It was not just the usual suspects like taxi drivers and touts but everyone. Walking into a normal shop and being shamelessly asked for 5-8 times the normal cost of a bottle of water is nothing unusual.

Some of the people were just awful, outside the Cairo museum I was offered the services of a guide. His "offer" consisted of snatching my entry ticket out my hand and agressively trying to get me to go to another ticket booth.

Like Vietnam I quickly reached a stage where I wanted as little as possible to do with the local people. It came to a point in Aswan where I was even thinking about leaving the country as soon as I could without seeing the Pyramids.

The bottom line is however is that Egypt contains sights that the rest of the world wants to see. It does not matter how badly the tourists are treated (I did read on one website that 90% of visitors would never go back) there will always be people who want to go there........................................

The following is an extract from a blog I found on the internet about the subject. The original post is here I don't usually like using other peoples writings but this was written far better than I could explain it........

Egypt is plagued with discrimination by both the government and locals against foreigners. They charge foreigners 10-20 times the local price for everything. Although we are accustomed to being charged a 2-3 times higher, "tourist price" by private parties and for some museum entrances, we have never been to a country where even government transportation services charge foreigners more. For a ferry boat ride that should have cost about $7-8, they ask foreigners for $70. For a train ride that should have cost about $10, they want $60. This attitude of sticking it to the tourists starts at the top and extends all the way down through the ranks of society. The result is that almost everyone will steal from tourists or ask for money for any little thing they do. The bribe, tip, or extortion (depending on the situation) is called "Baksheesh," a rather ugly sounding word for a rather ugly societal practice.

Baksheesh is requested for anything and everything. If you ask someone for directions, it's a 50/50 that they will ask you for baksheesh. In one case, Rusty asked a police officer at the train station to point him toward the bathroom, thinking that an officer on duty was a safe way to avoid the baksheesh shakedown. After walking Rusty 30 feet to the bathroom, the officer asked for baksheesh. Similarly, if a bus driver grabs your bag and lifts it 18 inches into the cargo hull of a bus before you can stop him from doing it, he will ask not only for the usual luggage charge, but also for baksheesh of up to $1 for "his trouble."

Even in bathrooms, "paper towel boys" wait around for foreigners so that they can hassle them for baksheesh if the foreigner is naive enough to take a paper towel handed to him from the boy instead of grabbing it from the dispenser himself. Rusty got keen to this and and opted to use the electric air dryer, but the moment he looked away as he was drying his hands, the paper towel boy dashed in and threw a paper towel over Rusty's hands! He gave Rusty a triumphant look and extended his hand, saying "Baksheesh!?" with a swagger.

The baksheesh scams follow the tourists right into the pyramids. If a local gets his hands on your camera to take a picture of you, you won't get it back without some hefty baksheesh. If a foreigner points to a site before you notice it on your own, he'll ask for baksheesh. In some places where photography is forbidden, you are even required to turn your camera into the local guards. Even though they paid a salary, they extort baksheesh from foreigners as ransom for the return of your camera.

By now, you might be tired of the word "baksheesh," and so were we after hearing requests for it dozens of times per day for every little thing. Like us, many people are unwilling to pay baksheesh, so some Egyptians have no problems with simply taking money by dishonesty, petty theft, or extortion. In one situation, we were lied to by an animal driver/guide that the pyramids are not entirely accessible without a guide and animal transportation. The guide lied to us that he represented a government office and told us we needed to ride a short distance to see his manager to get the price for the animal service. He got us 4 feet off the ground (camels are really tall) and took us about 10 feet before stopping and demanding an exorbitant price. He probably figured we'd rather pay than try to climb down, but he didn't know that we'd already been smartened up a bit in India.

While we weren't robbed or pick-pocketed in Egypt (many tourists are), we lost a decent amount of money by petty dishonesty. On several occassions we didn't know the correct price of transportation, and the government employee at the ticketing counter charged us several times the price and pocketed the difference, which we realized later. This happened as well with private business. In our travels we have encountered numerous scams, but nowhere have they been so ubiquitous as in Egypt. There were some very nice people who helped us without thought for money, but by and large, Egypt has a lousy way of treating her guests. And we found most people we encountered who had traveled to Egypt have had similar sentiments.

ASWAN - EGYPT

2010-02-05T11:08:00.002Z

On paper it was a simple 3 hour train journey down to Aswan starting at 9:30am. At midday we asked 3 different guards when the train was coming and got 3 completely different answers. To cut a long story short I arrived at Aswan at 6:30pm and it was dark.

This has to be one of the worst examples of food hygiene I had ever seen. Putting bread for later sale on the seat of a crowded train station. Worse still the knife he used for spreading the bread was put into his mouth!!!!!!!!!!!

On arrival the first person I spoke to lived less than 5 miles away from where I do. He was cycling from the UK to south Africa overland. I could only stay at the accommodation 2 nights as it was booked up solid.

I spent the day exploring Aswan on foot and making a boat trip across to Elephantine while there I visited the museum.

It was in Aswan that the hassle factor started to wear me down a lot. It had been full on in Luxor having to constantly fight off touts trying to sell overpriced boat trips. However in Luxor I had a laidback hostel to retreat back to.

In Aswan the minute I walked into the accommodation I was constantly being pestered to buy tours. The person was still trying to sell me a tour for the following day despite the fact I was checking out and had showed him my ticket to Cairo. The kind of mentality I hate the most.

On the 14 hour night train ride to Cairo I had a bit of a bust up with some locals on a train. They demanded I moved out my seat despite the ticket matched the seat and car number. I had abuse hurled at me in broken English and the man behind started kicking my seat. In the end I found an empty car about 3 down

My opinion of the people in Egypt was getting lower by the minute.

LUXOR - EGYPT

2010-01-31T11:00:00.004Z

Arrived in Egypt in the early hours of the morning and it was a case of find the well named Bob Marley hostel (which was a shrine to the man) then go sleep. Following my 12 hour walk around Dubai I did little the first day apart from rest and have a little look around.

It was not bad timing as Egypt were in the final of the African nations cup that first night and won.

Within minutes the noise errupted in the whole city. Everyone seemed to head outside to a massive random street parade. Loads of flag waving, shouting, beeping the car horns so much it made my ears ring and cramming onto the tops of cars and trucks.

All the police had to do was block off a few roads to the parade went onto a single loop. To me it seemed so strange to see such a mad party without a single drop of alcohol in sight. The party went on well into the early hours. Not a bad start to Egypt!!!!!!!

On the next day I went on an organized tour which included the valley of the kings and the valley of the queens. In both places cameras are strictly banned, you can't even take them into the valley let alone the tombs.

The temprature in Egypt varied widely, far too hot to do anything early afternoon but you needed a coat on by 5pm.

Walked up alongside the nile to the impressive Karnak temple complex. Spent several hours looking around there.

On the way back I passed the Luxor temple but since it looked similar to what I had just seen I cheated and took these 2 pictures from the road going past. I also visited the Luxor museum but like the valley of the kings strictly no cameras.

At night I spent most of the time talking to other travelers on the hostel roof. One night a big group of us went out for a meal.

On the final day I hired a bike and explored the area south before crossing the bridge. With the heat it was a good job that area was so flat. The plan was to head south from there before going north to Cairo.

DUBAI - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

2010-01-29T13:06:00.002Z

It might have only taken a few minutes to get through Kathmandu airport going into the country but it was several stressful hours getting through endless queues to get out.

As with going into Nepal flying out was one of the best views I have seen out of a plane window.

Arriving at Dubai was as much trouble as leaving Kathmandu. A 90 minute wait for my bag, a taxi driver who didn't have a clue where my hotel was and no cash machine that would take my bank card. It was well after dark before I had everything sorted out.

I was not actually staying in Dubai but in Sharjah several miles away. The main reason being cost, even the people who work in Dubai usually live in Sharjah.

I had a bit of a look around on that first evening. Most people seemed to be Indian or Indian looking. 90 percent of the people on my flight in had obvious looking work papers in their hands when getting off the plane.

I was flying to Egypt the following night so I had a single day to explore Dubai. I got the bus into town before 8am and spent the day walking round.

With no guidebook and only a poor map on the back of a leaflet from the hotel it helped a lot having the worlds tallest building as a marker. Like in Macau I was the poor backpacker in a millionaires playground trying to see it on the cheap. I was walking in the heat for most of the day, a lot of the city looked like one big building site.

By the time I got my picture of THAT HOTEL it was time to head back. I would have liked at least one more day to look around but it was good to see the place. Got the late night flight to Egypt.

KATHMANDU - NEPAL

2010-01-23T10:55:00.005Z

After being in the countryside of Nepal I was not looking forward to going back to dusty, loud Kathmandu. Went back to the same place as last time in Thamel. It took a day to find my feet again !!!!!! The second night a big group of about 20 of us went out for food, a few beers and see some live bands.

The main highlight was walking to the top of Shivapuri with a student from Australia. It was of course done the hard way as we quickly got lost off the footpath and just guessed the way to the top (up). We were followed by 3 army people at a distance but it became obvious that they were just keeping an eye on us.

Had a look round the top and within minutes found the correct footpath down. My knees were aching for days after.........

This was taken near the bottom just heading back into the city.

Last thing on my "to do" list for Kathmandu was the monkey temple west of the city. The views of the city from the top were poor because of the smog.

The final day after packing was spend reading my new guide book to Egypt which I was going to after a stop over in Dubai.

CHITWAN - NEPAL

2010-01-19T10:51:00.003Z

Chitwan was flat unlike the rest of Nepal and was also looking more like pictures I had seen of India. Had the usual first day look around and walked through several local villages. A night I bumped into a few people I talked to in Bandipur a few days earlier. We sat around a fire and had a few beers.

I had also booked a combined elephant trek (morning) and jungle walk later in the afternoon for the following day.

The two and a half hour trek included half an hour each way going through the streets to the actual national park which I thought was a bit of a con.

After visiting exotic forests in Borneo and Sumatra it was strange to be there but without the heat and humidity. In fact it felt the same as an early cold morning back home.

Seeing the Rhinos were great and several deer as well. The Elephant ride got uncomfortable after about an hour.

Later that day was the trek, now while it was good to see the Rhinos on top of the elephant well out of harms way I was a bit uncomfortable about walking into there.

Before we reached the woodland we were given a safety talk on the Rhinos, Sloth Bears, Tigers and Cobras !!!!!!!

As soon as we headed out on the walk it became obvious that we were not going to see anything by the way the guide spoke to us. With the exception of a few monkeys and the strange insects pictured above that was it.

Headed back to Kathmandu the following day....

BANDIPUR AND MANAKAMANA - NEPAL

2010-01-16T10:49:00.002Z

After leaving Pokhara the most obvious destination was Chitwan but first I wanted to have a look at 2 small places off the main highway. The first was Bandipur which was several miles up a steep winding road.

As with most of Nepal it was loads of walking up steep hills for some great scenery. The first evening I walked to the top of a nearby hill with a Banker from Kathmandu who I met on the bus.

On my full day there it was more walking, on the way to the top of the peak I wanted to go to I got lost and ended up walking round it instead.

Walking round the town itself was like going back in time 500 years. Both nights there was no power at all and I was in bed well before 9pm. There was only a handful of other tourists about but the place is trying to open itself up to far more.

I got to Manakamana early for the cable car ride to the top. There were even cars for the goats but they only get a one way ticket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being such an important place for the locals there were thousands of people at the top. I couldn't believe that I was the only westerner there.

After looking round the town and the temple I escaped the crowds to the hills around the top.

By about 4pm I had seen everything but had already paid for a room which was grim compaired to Bandipur. At night there was the usual powercuts. There were flames coming from the electric wires outside my room at one point which was a bit worrying.

I was kept awake most of the night by stray dogs and went back down the cable car to Chitwan the following morning.

POKHARA - NEPAL

2010-01-11T10:45:00.002Z

I have to admit the transport in Nepal was far better than what I expected. The roads were far better than Laos or Indonesia and when I was told the journey to Pokhara would take 7 hours that's how look it took. The sight of smashed up cars 100s of meters below did worry me a bit!!!!

Looking out the window and seeing stunning 5000M + snow covered mountain peaks was just a normal thing in Nepal.

It was so foggy on the first day I seen little point in heading to the hills so I went to the Gurkha museum instead.

I hired a bike for the day which was a case of going uphill for as far as I could through loads of small villages until I was too tired then heading back down.

When the weather cleared I went on a full day (8 hour) walk round the lake. Going up the hill to the world peace pogoda looked similar to the woods back home with the exception of the women collecting firewood.

It took hours just to find the top of the hill.

The peace pagoda

It was a long way to the top...................

On the way back down I passed through lots of small farm areas.

As with Kathmandu the power was going off on a regular basis which made things a bit difficult at night. By that point I had got into "Nepal time" going bed at about 9:30pm...............

KATHMANDU - NEPAL

2010-01-06T10:40:00.006Z

It was great to get away from Thailand and see something different. You don't get better views out of a plane window than flying past Mount Everest.

Despite all the places I had seen in the world Kathmandu was still a bit of a culture shock. It had a fascinating mixture of sights sounds and smells. It also had obvious problems such as fast moving motorbikes down narrow streets, pollution and poverty I had only previously seen on that scale in Cambodia. Outside our accommodation there was a gang of barefooted kids who sat round burning rubbish (plastic) and sniffing glue.

After being in hot countries for so long the cold at night hit me hard. The power goes off for hours at a time which I had already been warned about beforehand. Sitting round a candle listening to the sound of generators was something I was going to get used to. The first day I explored the main part of Thamel and Durbar square on foot.

Day 2.....I hired a bike which was great once you got out of the city into the countryside but it was getting out the city that was a complete nightmare. Looking back you couldn't see Kathmandu because of the horrible smog. That day was a bit of an uneventful meaningless random wander. I was covered in so much dust when I got back the hostel owner thought I had been in an accident.

Day 3 I walked all the way to Patan which was a tough couple of hours. The smell of the river I had to cross was awful and so was the sight of people living in what looked like a landfill sight.

It was worth it however........

At night the accommodation had a few more people in it so I ended up going out for dinner with them at night. We arranged to go on a cycle trip the following day. I didn't want to go at first but then I was told the strikes were on so there would be no traffic on the roads anyway.

I headed out with 3 others (2 New Zealand, 1 America) through several small villages. We had a map but didn't care where we ended up for a start.

We thought Boudhanath would be worth a visit and it was.

We stopped for a meal at a nearby hotel. The food was great but the butter tea did not go down well with any of us. On the way back we seen a load of street protests watched carefully by the local riot police.

As I knew I would be flying out of Kathmandu later on I left some other places to visit until I returned. The next stop was Patan

Several months later one of the girls who I went on the bike ride with posted a clip on youtube of several of the places we went to that day as well as other things. I get on there at 4:57.......

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN - THAILAND

2010-01-01T10:25:00.005Z

Due to the events of new years eve I woke up not in the best of moods and just wanted to get away from Ko Samui as quickly as I could. I spent most of the day with long waits for the ferry and 2 buses. I got as far as Chumphon where I spent the night before heading off again. The plan was to get to Hua Hin but I had to wait ages for the bus (I had dinner with the driver). I was going to change buses at Prachuap Khari Khan but it was getting dark so I thought I might as well stop the night.

The plan was to climb the nearby hill first thing in the morning then head off. There was an interesting crowd of people at the accommodation I was staying at so I chosen to stay another night.

There was only a handful of westerners around town. The locals seemed friendly enough and it was the kind of place where you sit and watch the world go by. After more than a week of high costs and endless hassle it was the perfect antidote to Ko Samui.

I ended up staying there until my last but one night in Thailand.

What made my time there was the crowd of people at my accommodation. Everyone seemed to have an interesting story, one worked in India, one was cycling round the world, one was recovering from a motorbike accident etc

We spent many hours around those tables...................

At the time of writing the town was going to be opened up as a border crossing. This would flood the place with people, push up costs and a whole list of other bad things that come with being a border town. I was glad I went there when I did.

That was it for Thailand, I went back to Bangkok for the last night before flying to Nepal. I was now heading in the general direction of home..........but it was going to be 3 more months before I got there.

KO SAMUI - THAILAND

2009-12-23T10:20:00.002Z

After a lengthy visa run from Bangkok to Penang and on to Ko Samui it was good to settle for a while. The first night I had arranged to met Tim and Marisol at Chaweng beach. The problem was no one had bothered to discuss where. But somehow after half an hour of going through 1000s of people in dozens of bars I walked straight into them and we had a great night.

The following day I met Luke and Jade who were staying about 10 minutes walk up the road from where I was. To me Ko Samui was just another overdeveloped tourist trap but to them it was the best place from earth. That was their first time in Thailand.......

Seeing people wearing santa hats and other christmas stuff in the hot weather looked out of place in Australia but even more so in Thailand.

Yet another motorbike accident !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the days I went exploring the island firstly on a bike with gears that didn't work, later on foot. To be honest I had already seen what I wanted to see on the island during my previous visit in 2006.

I only went to Ko Samui because there were people staying there that I knew. Things started to go wrong from there, firstly Tim and Marisol came down with food poisoning. I seen them only once after that first night as they were staying about 5 miles further north than I was.

Several times I had arranged to meet Luke and Jade but Luke was making the classic mistake of drinking loads of beer in the daytime sun then being too tired to come out and do anything at night.

I only stayed there longer because of new years eve, they were all staying at Ko Pha Ngan. There was no chance of me getting a room because everywhere had been booked out months in advance because of the combined new years eve/full moon party.
I could get round this as the boats would be running to and from there during the night.

When I got there I hit a big problem, none of them had bothered to message me telling where they were going to be. So I had the task of trying to find them on a mile long wide beach.

Once it got dark there was little chance of finding them. I must have walked up and down that beach a dozen times. By 10pm there were over 15000 people there. I could have passed within a few meters of them and not even seen them.

2010 started in a bad way, while everyone around me was having the time of their lives and I was walking back to the boat. I had spent all that time doing that visa run and money staying in Ko Samui (one of the costly spots in Thailand). Christmas and new year had been one big let down.

I left the island as early as I could the following morning with the sight of busloads of people still coming home from the party.......

VISA RUN DOWN TO MALAYSIA

2009-12-12T10:13:00.006Z

Now I had planned to stay in Thailand for christmas and new year I had the hassle of the long run down to Malaysia to get a new visa stamp. The first stop was my old favourite Hua Hin but this time I was going to use it as a base to visit other places during the day but have a good place to go out at night. Within an hour of arriving I had met 3 people who remembered me from previous visits.

The first daytrip was to the town of Phetchaburi which sees only a handful of tourists.

Had a good look round the historical park which was full of monkeys. After all the time I had previously spent in Hua Hin I left wondering why I had not been there before.

The second trip from Hua Hin was to the beach town of Cha am. I left a bit late and it was very hot when I got there. 90% of the people there were Thai. On the beach they all sit in the shade until late afternoon unlike the westerners. Spent about 2 hours in a bar talking to a Brit who had retired there.

I had a day of trying to get as far south as I could and made it as far as Surat Thani. For the traveller it's purely a junction town where you only go to catch the ferry to the islands. It was a case of arrive, walk round, eat, sleep and leave the following morning.

The following day was more of the same, I didn't want to go back to Krabi again but it looked a far better choice than Trang. Headed back down to Ao Nang beach for the night. Went into a bar and got talking to 3 lads from Norway and ended up staying out till the early hours. Had an unexpected good night.

Had the third day in a row of long bus rides choosing to stay at Songkhla. There looked a days worth of things to see so I stayed 2 nights as a break from long bus rides. The corridors of my accommodation were full of bats. There were a lot of westerners in a small street full of bars. They were probably working there as it was an oil town.

Spent the day exploring town and had some food stolen by a gang of monkeys. The town seemed fairly clean for that part of the world but there was an area of beach that looked like a rubbish tip.

I crossed the border to Penang in Malaysia, this was now the 4th time I had been there and the third on this trip.

I was glad I booked my room in advance on the internet as everywhere was full up because of the motorbike races. I never seen anything like that before. I do have to admit that motor sport is not "my thing" I don't get how you are meant to be following a race when all you see is a bike that takes a couple of seconds to pass your field of view.

While in Penang I met what was likely the most stupid person I had ever met on my travels. Like myself he was on a weekend visa run but was teaching English in Burma. Turned out he had a load of drugs on him, the amount would have probably only got him a fine back home but in Malaysia would have easily got him many years in prison. Worse still he had carried the stuff across the border. I didn't even like being in the same hostel as him and was glad to get away from there.

After another long bus ride to Surat Thani, another overnight stay and a ferry ride I finally made it to Ko Samui where I was going to take a well needed break from Buses and trains.

SUKHOTHAI - THAILAND

2009-12-05T10:10:00.002Z

On return to Bangkok from the South East of Thailand the plan was to get my visa for Nepal and head off there. When I went to the embassy I found it was closed for a couple of days. So rather than hang around for yet more time in Bangkok I headed up north to Sukhothai.

I was joined at the last minute by Renee from the Philippines who lived in Germany. I was invited to stay with her in Frankfurt on the way home which I later did.

That first night we had some amazing food in a big place that was nearly all local people. The only catch was that you had to cook it yourself on the table. I didn't need to eat again until late the following afternoon.

The historical park was very similar to what I had seen earlier on in the trip at Ayutthaya. We hired bikes which was a good idea as it far too big to walk round in one day. It had been a long trip up north but it was well worth it.

I got back to Bangkok and finally got my visa for Nepal. My research told me that Christmas/New year was not the best time to go as it was the cold/low season. At around this time I found out that a group from home were going to Ko Samui for christmas so I arranged to join them.

Problem was my visa was going to run out, I was now going to have to do a visa run i.e cross into another country then come back in again to get a new stamp.

While I had been away Thailand had changed it's rules so you only got a 30 day visa it you arrive by international flight. Crossing a land border you only got 15 days. This did not help matters !!!!!!

From here it was all the way down to Malaysia and back..........

KO SAMET AND KO CHANG - THAILAND

2009-11-28T10:06:00.003Z

Ko Samet was a bit of a change from the high rise hotels of Pattaya. Low buildings and dusty track roads gave the place a completely different atmosphere.

I spent most of the 2 full days there exploring the middle of the island.

At night the place came alive it was not party central but it was not quiet. I met a group of other travellers and we went out to see a live band both nights. There was loads of Sky lanterns being launched from the beach each night.

Ko Samet was OK but nothing special so I headed down to Ko Chang which I liked a lot more.

Went on a long and hot walk during the day to a waterfall. I felt like I was going to pass out on the way back.

At night there was some big party taking place in a bar opposite to where I was staying so I ended up there until about 3am. The following night I spent the evening talking to some Brits who owned a nearby bar.

The accommodation was great, low cost and cheap huts right in the middle of the main area. We did get a lot of visits off the local monkeys.

BANGKOK AND PATTAYA - THAILAND

2009-11-20T09:58:00.006Z

After Taiwan the plan was to travel overland through mainland China, visiting Tibet and ending up at Kathmandu. However there were several factors why I scrapped this plan.

Firstly there was the Tibet issue.....in the words of Wikipedia "Tourism to Tibet is strictly controlled by the Chinese government, and restrictions were further ratcheted up after the riots before the 2008 Olympics. As of 2009, the previous "backpacker" tours, which included the permit and a couple of nights stay in Lhasa is no longer an option and all travelers must stay with an organized trip the entire time they are in Tibet"

Second there was money as the one hour flight to Hong Kong cost double the cost of the 3 hour flight to Bangkok. On arrival in costly Hong Kong it would be several days waiting for a visa on horrible Nathan road.

Finally it was heading towards winter, after being in the Philippines at the back end of rainy season I was not going to take that chance so it was back to Bangkok.

At this point I felt like I had done "Bangkok to death". I was almost a travel guide for every new arrival in the city. After coming from Taiwan it was a bit of a downer to back there instead of going through China.

I did visit the grand palace which took up a good chunk of a day. As it is the top tourist attraction in Bangkok I spent a while wondering why I had never been there before. It was several days before I made my mind up where to go next.

South East of Bangkok was one part of the country I had not been to before so I headed down to the infamous resort town of Pattaya. I got on the wrong bus that took all day stopping at every little town and village on the way.

I actually stayed a few miles south at a beach called Jomiten which I figured would be a bit less hassle and there was a cheap hostel.

The usual first days explore of the place confirmed what I expected. Endless high rise hotels, deckchairs, full English breakfast, fat sunburned Europeans and a lot of the "I have been to Thailand a dozen times but only ever seen Bangkok and Pattaya" type of people.

The one issue I would give the place credit for was the low hassle factor. The obnoxious taxi drivers and Indian suit sellers were only a fraction of the amount you get in Phuket and Ko Samui.

What put me off was the idiot factor, there seemed to be a lot of the football hooligan/get drunk and have a fight type of people who should have stayed in Benidorm.

Seen it, done it, time to move on to the islands..............

TAIPEI - TAIWAN

2009-11-08T10:35:00.003Z

While back in Taipei I signed up for WWOOF where you do 4 hours work on a farm and get food and accommodation in exchange. The idea was to extend my stay in the country, I did an e-mail blitz of every farm on the list and waited. I got one reply which happened to be outside of Taipei. When looking for the exact location of the place on the internet I stumbled across a blog written by someone who said the accommodation there was awful. I gave up with the idea soon after and didn't get any other replys anyway.................................

This time I stayed close to Taipei 101 near the night market area which had amazing and very cheap food. The hostel was down a dark alley but like everywhere else in Taiwan felt perfectly safe walking down alone late at night.

First daytrip was to Tamsui, the two places I wanted to visit that day were closed........still worth a look.

Taipei might not be far from Taichung but the rainfall was a lot higher. Spent about half of the last week and a bit in Taiwan sheltering from the rain in the hostel. It was just as well there were plenty of people to talk to.

I found a gap in the rain to visit the National palace museum. Nearby was the small but interesting Aborigines museum. Before visiting Taiwan I just assumed everyone living there were all descendants of people from mainland China.

I also revisited Yangmingshan national park with an Australian from the hostel. It was a bit of a wet and muddy afternoon !!!!!!

The final daytrip was to Wulai which like the national park involved a fair amount of walking. Had to go miles to get this waterfall picture.

Despite the bad weather overall Taiwan was one of the top places I went to on the trip. Good food, friendly people, easy to get around, value for money, English is understood (by the younger generation)..........the list goes on.........

DOULIU - TAIWAN

2009-10-31T10:32:00.006Z

Earlier on the trip in Beijing I met Marlene from Canada who I kept in contact with until I met up with her in Taiwan. She offered to meet up and let me stay at her place in Douliou. Like most from America and Canada she was teaching English.

She was recovering from a broken foot which happened in a cycling accident a few weeks earlier. We went back to her place and she gave me a set of keys to her place, unlimited use of her bike and internet which was very good (and trusting of her).

The first evening we met up with her other English teaching friends cooked food and drank beer in a nearby park before heading round one of their houses until the early hours.

The town itself was not in my guidebook or in the internet travel guides I use like virtual tourist. I didn't see any other westerners during my first days explore of the town. That's what you call off the beaten track...........

I spent about 2 days exploring the countryside by bike but the map I had was not very clear and I ended up getting lost several times. I also went on a train trip and had a look around the town of Chiayi
.

While it was ok for a couple of days it was not the best time I had in Taiwan as it got a bit boring sometimes with not having anyone to talk to during the day. English seemed to be spoken by the locals here less than anywhere else.

The night before heading off I was sitting in a local internet cafe when an earthquake struck. Living in England it was something I was not used to but the locals didn't seem to react to it a lot. I jumped up and was ready to run outside.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A magnitude-6 earthquake hit Nantou County at 5:32 p.m. Thursday, causing buildings to sway all over Taiwan.The quake was the biggest to hit Central Taiwan since the 7.3-magnitude quake on September 21, 2009 which killed more than 2,400 people nationwide, but no deaths were reported Thursday.
The main quake’s epicenter was located at a relatively short distance of 19.3 kilometer under the surface 10.3 kilometer southeast from the township of Mingchien, where the tremor’s intensity reached seven, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The same area was hit by several aftershocks during the rest of the day, the first registering 4.7 about six minutes later. The biggest, measuring 5.7, struck Mingchien at 7:34 p.m., according to the bureau.
The quakes caused light injuries by falling objects inside buildings and forced the high-speed rail line to suspend traffic in Central and Southern Taiwan.
A female student was taken to hospital after she was injured by pieces of the ceiling falling down at the Tzuming High School in Taichung County, the fire service said. Cracks appeared in houses in Mingchien, with ceilings and walls damaged at a local government building.
There were also reports of hundreds of households in the Nantou area losing electricity and phone service.
High-speed rail traffic stopped all along the line as a security precaution, but service between Taipei and Taichung resumed after 7 p.m., reports said.

TAICHUNG - TAIWAN

2009-10-23T10:28:00.004+01:00

On arrival at Tainan I discovered that the only budget accommodation was available for one night so I was out of there the following day.

The hostel in Taichung was a bit costly for a dorm room by Taiwan standards but had a great owner Jessie who was very welcoming and helpful. After a couple of days you didn't mind paying a bit extra.

On the first full day I joined her and a few of her friends to the big open air Jazz festival. To be honest I was not expecting it to be "my thing" but it was watchable and there was great food available and all the people were friendly.

When it was finished I couldn't help but notice that despite thousands of people being there no litter was left on the ground. If this had been back home they would have to employ dozens of people just to clean up after.

After getting the cycling bug back in Kenting I made the big mistake of trying to explore the city by bike and got very lost. Later that evening Jessie took me on a walking tour of the city.

TUESDAY 27 OCTOBER 2009 - I HAD NOW SPENT A WHOLE YEAR ON THE ROAD

Took a long bus trip to Sun moon lake which was very scenic but a bit too foggy for my liking. Would like to have stayed for a couple of days but it seemed to be all costly hotels.

Jessie took me out to the Dakeng scenic area which was where I was trying to reach by bike a few days earlier. She had never made it up to the top before so I made sure that she did.

It was very steep in places and there were times I was thinking of giving up.........3 hours later in hot weather we made it!!!!!!

I took a trip to a couple of nearby towns. Firstly Changhua with it's 26m statue on a hilltop.

Then the town of Lugang, both were worth a visit but I didn't feel worth staying any longer than a day trip.

Back in Taichung I went to the science museum on the advise of Jessie expecting to be in a couple of hours but the place was massive and also interesting and took up at least half the day.

I left for a few days to meet someone who I had kept in contact with since Beijing. (Covered in next chapter). I went back to the same place for the last couple of days before heading back to Taipei.

As I had left the Philippines early I had about 100 pounds worth of their money. I must have visited 20 banks and money changers while in Taiwan but nobody wanted to touch it. Some of them looked at it like it was radioactive. Very strange for saying it's only a couple of hours by plane away.

Got it changed in the end at Bangkok airport a few weeks later.

On the last day I got talking to a lad from Belfast who like all the others was in Taiwan to teach English. I noticed that the locals attitude to alcohol was a lot different to ours. They looked at us in shock when we came back from the shop with our SECOND beer.

What they would make of my friends back home I could only guess at..............

KENTING - TAIWAN

2009-10-19T10:25:00.002+01:00

I didn't actually stay in Kenting but in a small town called Hengchun a few miles to the north. With the exception of two others the accommodation was empty. That was enough other people to get the bus down to Kenting. We got talking to a group of 3 from Finland and ended up going out for something to eat.

We also got mobbed by loads of local school kids wanting to practice their English while waiting at the bus stop to come back.

Not hired a bike for sometime so that was the first thing I wanted to do. There was no deposit/passport as security or even asking where I was staying which was a bit strange. Just a "here's your bike" and that was it......very trusting people.

The other went by motorbike (which I can't ride) I was meant to meet them at a waterfall but missed it because it was badly signposted. The views round the coast were great. Nearly hit a snake going round.

Went out again on the bike the following day, somehow passed the aquarium at the hottest part of the day and had a good few hours inside. The other two went out again and taken a close up photo of a snake that turned out to be deadly!!!!

On the last but one night we went down to Kenting again for a few beers. Got a load of cans and drank them on the beach as it costs a lot in the bars. Got talking to a group of locals and had a good night. Then someone got a load of fireworks that were about a tenth of the cost of back home.

We must have let dozens off on the beach before noticing the "NO FIREWORKS ON BEACH" sign.......alcohol and fireworks is not ta good combination.....No harm was done however.

Had a rest day before heading north.........................

KAOHSIUNG - TAIWAN

2009-10-15T10:22:00.002+01:00

It was a bit of a task getting down to Kaohsiung as the railway lines were blocked by landslides so I somehow got there half by bus. Spent 45 minutes walking through the heat and humidity only to discover that when I got to the hostel that an underground rail system had been build since my guidebook was published!!!!!

On the first full day I headed out with a girl from Hungary into a wooded area on a hill. Despite being in the middle of the city we somehow got lost for about 2 hours. When we did get the top the view could only be described as ugly and industrial. On the way back down we seen what I thought was a snake but turned out to be a massive worm.

Later that afternoon we finally found what we went to see which was Lotus lake. Went to the top of the Dragon and Tiger pagodas.

On the second full day we went to Cijin island which was a lot closer to the hostel. Went to a lighthouse on top of a big hill and sampled some very strange foods off a local fish market.

The sunlight was a bit bright on this picture !!!!!!!!!

After two days of solid walking I had a rest day talking to the others in the hostel then headed to Kenting on the south tip of Taiwan.