Hola Chicas!!

...there we go, nearly the extent of my spanish!  But despite that, still managing to eat, find places to sleep and get buses.  Thanks Tim.

Now in Bolivia, having skipped pretty speedily through Chile & Argentina.  Chile was taxing our budget a bit, & really deserved some good walking shoes.  Still, particularly liked Valparaiso; a very ramshackle multicoloured old city decorated in graffiti and mosaic.

Argentina we didn´t do justice to, stopping in a few cities and checking out some parks and squares.  Bolivia we´ve attacked more thoroughly, with a four day jeep tour through some rugged and beautiful spots.  Desert, mountains, multicoloured lakes, flamingos and salt flats.  Incredibly high altitudes, and cold nights, but worth it.  We´re now in Potosi, the highest city at 4090m.  Previously an incredibly rich silver mining site, it is now more famous for mineral mining in atrocious conditions.  We did a tour of a community mine yesterday which was...pretty horrible.  Physically taxing, dusty with pollutants and we weren´t even working in there.  Glad we did it, glad it´s over! 

Heading to Sucre soon, then north to La Paz and hopefully some good spots to chill around lakes...

Chile, jetlagged at 4am

Morning all.  Really need a coffee and some breakfast.  After a cursory torch-lit investigation of the hostel,we´ve been unable to locate kitchen looking things & settled on it being a bit early to venture out into the city again.  Blog, I´m hoping you can distract for a little while!

We arrived here yesterday at lunchtime, having left Auckland yesterday afternoon & spending 11 hours in transit.  Thus the limited grasp of time & sleep patterns.  Not much to report on Santiago yet, other than it´s definitely a city, busy, & with a proliferation of cream cake shops.  Other food options seem mainly to centre around big chunks of meat & cheese in baps, so I foresee a diet of cheese & cakes in the immediate future.  Fairly happy with that!  I´m worried about my lack of Spanish, but Tim´s getting stuck in.  My survival may depend on that a bit..

The last couple of weeks in NZ were good, if a bit hectic & emotional in places.  Tim & I got our 10 days on the road, with some awesome views of the North Island.  Good to experience stinky sulphur expiring Rotorua, with it´s surreal steaming lakes.  A National Park , Tongorua, provided some snow capped mountain views (one of which is an angle of Mordor).  Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel - limestone(?) carved rocks & walk trhoughs on a white beach - is as beautiful as we´d heard.  & some excellent Dept of Conservatin campsites, especially Uretiti(!!) & Oramure, south of the Bay of Islands on the coast were stunning.  Some great beach walks & deserved sunny spells!

Tough leaving what has become our home in Auckland.  Marco & Clara have looked after us very well, & we´re going to miss them, & our occasional surrogate baby girl Paula.  Very much.  A hurried last list of missions on Fri morning included throughing together a framed photo collection of our housemates, which I´m pleased I finally got around to doing!  But just us again now, for a couple of months.  I´m sure they´ll fly. 

Soon to be travel blog again..

Hi blog.  & obviously, hi to any persistent checkers of this page!  I'll wait till I get on here again to make any promises of regular updates!

The whirlwind update of recent highlights definitely has to focus around the 10 days I had on the South Island with Katt (mid August), & the weekend we spent on Great Barrier Island with Tim just before that.  New Zealand is truly stunning, as I suspected it was.  The Barrier was lovely; very few people, windy roads between meadows/forests/mountains/beaches.  Lovely walks & beautiful views.  & the South Island was very much the same, only with more snow!  Oh, & lakes.  Gorgeous lakes with idyllic reflections of mountain ranges in them. 

If I've been anywhere I could imagine having a lovely relaxed life, it would be on the South Island of New Zealand.  Trying my hand at painting, probably keeping some chickens, & having children who could ski soon after they could walk.  & doing heaps of tramping.  (This, to us, is trekking.  Not the result of getting a bit stuck for cash or company on a Fri night)

Whilst working at the council I've met a few brits applying or intending to apply for residency here.  The main prerequisite is working in NZ for 18 months.  & it's been tempting, especially since getting out of the city.  If only New Zealand wasn't quite as far away as it's possible to be from home.  I've met people who maintain their closest relationships via Skype (which is excellent by the way, everyone should have a Skype account).  But I can't help finding something sad in that; I don't think I could handle not being able to see people face to face.  Maybe one day I'll regret not staying & keeping that option open for myself.  I suppose I could always marry a big Maori guy!

Tim finishes working next Friday, & then we have two weeks to drive around the North Island (where Auckland is) before returning the van to our flatmate Marco & flying off to Chile.  Chile, Peru, possibly elsewhere in South America & then back home via a weekend break in Amsterdam.  It will be good to get rid of the unnecessary stuff we've accumulated (ie office clothes) & get back in the backpack. 

Oh I remember now..I have a blog!

Haha, what happened to the last couple of months?!  I've been in Auckland, getting up at 7 for work, & watching the autumn slowly becoming winter.  Can't complain though, as we've been following the sun around for a good year!

Managed to get out of touch with people a bit of late, which is perhaps an inevitable result of being on the other side of the planet.  Any updates, via email or facebook or messages in bottles, greatly appreciated :)

We've covered little ground since I last wrote, but the bank balances are looking a bit healthier now.  For me, I'm half way through what's turned into a 3 month contract at Auckland Council.  I'm taking a break from phoning people who owe us rates, as we speak!  I don't mind it - my manager's pretty laid back & the atmosphere is fairly relaxed here.  I have a nice colour coded spreadsheet, & a nice collection of envelopes.

Tim's working for a chaotic insurance firm, trying to work out who should be dealing with the backlog of claims.  Following the Christchurch earthquakes, I think insurance firms all over NZ are in similar situations.  I don't fancy his job, but he doesn't seem to mind it!

I found a kickboxing class, & as a result, Frankie & Kyle.  They're an English couple, who now pretty much are our social life.  Tonight after work we're getting the ferry to Waiheke Island for Frankie's birthday weekend.  Waiheke is famous for it's vineyards, so there should be quite a lot of wine 'tasting' involved..

Tim & I have been going to kickboxing and the gym a bit, & have rectified most of the damage done by months of curry & fried rice!  I actually took one class the other day, which was a first for me.  Possibility of doing a bit more teaching..

We're starting to sort out the next moves, which should entail getting hold of a campervan and taking it around NZ for a couple of months.  That might be August/September.  Until then, a bit more work, a few mini adventures to the outskirts of Auckland, a bit more kicking of things... :)

Back to the 9-5..

..one of the good things about having a relatively short term job, with relatively low expectation is that no one will notice a sly half hour spent on an overdue blog!  Especially on a Friday afternoon. 

It's taken a while to get things together in Auckland.  The odd thing about it is that it looks and feels a lot like home, but with none of the normal things, like friends at pubs.  Saying that, there are weird differences, like the fact that our clocks go back this weekend, and therefore winter's coming.  (Our timing's been a bit out there!) 

The usual fun of job hunting(!) has eventually come good, after a few weeks of knocking around the house, cooking everything in sight (apart from the baby) and taking it out on Tim.  Now we both have jobs, and have quickly remembered how lucky we've been being bums full time for 5 months!

Tim's working for vodafone, taking alarmingly few telephone calls about pay-as-you-go packages.  I'm holed up in Auckland council, collecting land rates.  I know it sounds dull, but it's fine, the people are friendly & I seem to've already collected a few gold stars.  A pretty easy way to stash some funds for the next leg.

We're hoping to get hold of a camper van, do it up and head off around NZ.  The only problem is the afore-mentioned timing - we may end up doing that in the middle of winter!  Some big coats are on the 'to-buy' list.  But nevermind.  I'm looking forward to properly checking out the country, snow or no snow!

In a nice safe place..in NZ

Hello!!  It's 3:23pm here, and 3:23am with you!  Feels kind of strange to be about as far away as it is possible to be.  & starting to settle again in a city, if just for a few months.

Firstly though, for anyone following the news, I'm nowhere near Christchurch, and the earthquake worries.  That's the south island, and we're in Auckland, in the north.  It's been saturating the news here, & there are loads of fundraising events going on everywhere.  Wearing red & black for Christchurch is in at the moment, & as it transpires, that's what I'm doing today.  What are you wearing?!

Our brief jaunt through Brisbane also closely followed the end of their floods.  On their south bank of the river running through Brisbane, they have an artificial beach which had been completely washed away.  (Despite that, very much enjoyed the south bank, & in Londonesque style, a very cool modern art gallery.  I'll try to put up the picture of me in the universe room, surrounded my multicoloured neon 'stars'..)

Auckland, so far, seems pretty great.  The coastline around the city is really bendy, with little outcrops, penisulars & islands - I know now that this is due to it being on a volcanic spot.  A bit of geography there!  Very much looking forward to checking out the sights, maybe getting back on some beaches & there's even a cool wreck dive site, which I think is an old Greenpeace boat.

Our attention has so far been based on finding somewhere to live, so that we don't have to invest too much in staying in backpacker hostels.  Yesterday this came together, & we found a crazy commune type place full of various europeans.  There's even a baby!  It looks pretty cramped, but something about being expected to be in to have dinner with everyone, being the chef once a week, & having lots of people around is appealling to both of us.  I'm already planning some baking!

Next on the agenda is getting some jobs & a bit more of a social life.  At the moment we're getting stuck into the free events on the fringe festival programme!  Found some charity shops, a cool guy called Louie on 'couchsurfers', & a cafe that does free cake when you buy coffee, so it's all looking OK!

Citier & citier

We worked out earlier that it's only been 10days since we left Koh Tao, & Thailand.  Since then we've spent a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpar, a couple in Singapore, a couple in Brisbane & a couple in transit! 

The cities have been a bit of a shock to us (& the increasing costs of everything!  We miss India!) but at least the route we have taken has been quite a nice progression. 

Kuala Lumpar was quite an approachable place, apart from the sweltering heat!  Easy walks to China Town & Little India.  Singapore has larger versions of both..  Nice to be back within easy reach of some decent curry!  & I narrowly avoided spending too much money on some pretty chinese dresses..not the most practical backpacking attire!

We've now been in Brisbane a couple of days, & back to proper western prices.  Scary stuff.  We'll be in Fiji tomorrow, & it looks like our cash will go a bit further there..  Soon enough, hopefully, we'll be stocking up the funds a bit in NZ.  Tim's very keen to get working.. I'm still enjoying the holiday myself!  Haha, it's nice if you can get it!  After we got over the shock of Australia, we have made the most of being central.  Places here (& Singapore) look almost exactly like parts of London.  They have a great modern art gallery here!

Anyway, a few more photos to get online before I disappear again.  Sorry about the rambling - my head's a bit all over the place!

Pretty Thai islands

Getting ready to leave Thailand, and head down to Malaysia.  30hr journey to Kuala Lumpar, appealing!  Oh welll, although it's sad to be leaving Katt & Tim's sister Yasmine, we have some ground to cover.. we should be in Australia in about a week!

The last couple of weeks we've been doing little on Koh Tao.  It's an island that revolves around diving, everyone dives.  So we got involved; I dived a couple of days and Tim learnt to free dive (hold your breath & go for it!).  Very cool seeing as he snorkeled for the first time a month ago.  Katt's thing here is flying trapeze.  She's training most days, & looks pretty great already.  I had a go...reluctantly!  Yasmine's sticking around to master her back flip!

Before Koh Tao we checked out Phi Phi, which is a beautiful island.  More great diving and snorkeling - lots of fun in the sea!

I'll miss the excellent cheap massages, good thai food, a currency that I've just about got the hang of, & some great friends.  But there's packing to do, & a boat, minibus & bus combo to catch.  & we need to start looking for jobs in New Zealand soon!

Love to all, over & out x

Tim's eye view

Ok, gonna throw things out a bit and put a little male perspective on things so far.
Hit India some time ago, well the 2 places in India that aren't real India, that's Mumbai and Goa. It was cool, I think I like it but can't be sure. Stayed there for a while and saw some stuff then flew to Thailand.

Thailand is nothing like how I imagined, for a start it's built up, and in many places they use concrete and cement and bricks, stuff like that, not bamboo and rags, coming from India it looked High tech and sofisticated, compared to England it's unimaginable. They've got a road system here that they don't dig up every week, they just leave it alone because it works and in Bangkok they've created a whole street especially designed to attract Tossers so that they aren't wandering the city causing trouble.

Laos is different again, didn't see a lot of it but I liked what was there. We were in South Laos and it was a world apart from tourist Thailand, the locals are aware that these white people come into their country and pay money to live in a crappy wooden shack but  I don't think they've quite grasped exploitation yet so it's a good place to stay from a stingy guys point of view.

On a border run tomorrow, to extend our visas once more, hopefully the last one then out of Thailand to see some other places..

A holiday within a holiday. 30th in the sun!

Hello!  Here I am back in Bangkok, I'm 30 and it's 2011.  That's enough numbers for now.

The last few weeks Mum & Dad have been over visiting, & it feels a bit weird now they've gone home.  No doubt it's a bigger shock for them though.  We had a great few weeks..

New Year was mainly spent at their (pretty plush!) Bangkok hotel, & dipping a toe into the craziness of Khao San Road in full party mode.  Mum & Dad did a tour of the big buddha temples, which are all gold & shiny.

We spent a couple of nights in Pattaya, & braved a mini tour with Mum & Dad.  For those blissfully unaware of such things, you can hardly move for working girls in Pattaya.  People watching on the notorious 'Walking Street' throws up the most weird & wonderful sights.  Mum spent a while commentating on the half hearted attempts of a couple of girls on the nearest lamp post to get picked up.  We just about stopped her before she started offering tips.  & Dad fortunately gave up on any serious attempts to get souvenirs for my uncle Ian..!

The main destination was Koh Chang, a large island 'relatively' near Bangkok.  We spent about 10 nights there, sampling a few different beaches.  We drank, ate, sunbathed, dived & snorkelled.  My birthday was spent under water with lots of pretty fishes, & in a restaurant eating some tasty BBQ fishes...sorry.  Big shout out to Jen for shiny jewels she sent over.  Big shout out to Keith who should have been in Thailand with us & was missed!   Love ya both lots.

Oh, & now I have short hair again!  Despite the hippy awesomeness of the dreds, short is a more peaceful existence for me.  Or I'm having a 30s existential crisis, it's hard to say! 

Next, Tim & I meet up with his sister Yasmine, who arrives this very evening.  Then we have 10 days to get out of Thailand before our visas expire, during which time I'm hoping to dive with some sharks.. but don't worry, I'll avoid any hungry ones!!  Then down to Singapore & on to Australia.

Retreat to Bangkok, grazed but still kicking!

A very happy belated Christmas all round!  Ours was very nearly spent camping in the wilderness with no tent, but fortunately Father Christmas smiled down on us in the nick of time..!

As planned, we hired a couple of bikes the day before Christmas Eve with Nathan, our American neighbour from the island.  Banking on a fairly relaxed few days, we packed a little backpack and told the lady at the hire shop we'd probably be gone 3 days.  Some gorgeous waterfalls, a few minor accidents and a massive detour later, we were very lucky to make it to a town for Christmas Day (rather than being stuck out in the middle of nowhere, out of fuel, water, & range of presents!)  Fortunately Tim put his foot down in both senses, and insisted we stop driving along the mental dust track we had ended up on, and detour for civilsation. 

Christmas was very thankfully spent drinking Lao Lao & watching shit TV in a cumfy hotel room in Attapeu.  We met the only other westerners in town, a couple of Aussie girls, Mel & Sam, who were also on a motorbike tour and waiting for Sam's bike to be repaired.  Mel, in a fit of festive generosity, gave me a pair of trousers to replace my blood & mud stained ones.  There's not much you need for Christmas but that was massively appreciated!!

Unfortunately I've been suffering with an eye infection the last few days - contact lenses and dusty roads are not happy bed fellows - and this has proved quite debilitating.  Tim's been an excellent nurse!  So despite another stop at another gorgeous waterfall sight, we headed on back to Pakse, where we hired the bikes, ahead of the others. 

Next stop, back to Bangkok to meet up with Katt, and with Mum and Dad.  South Laos has been great, but we're up for a change again and hopefully the end of health related issues!  A very happy 2011 to everybody, big love, xx

A disturbing lack of trifle in Laos

Morning readers.  Or morning here, it's still last night with you so you're well behind.  You're missing out on a pleasant morning in Pakse, a nothingish town in south Laos.  I'm just glad that they have a reasonable internet connection here and sell toothpaste at 7:30 in the morning.  (Also managed to find Tim a couple of little Chrimbo presents, stationary mainly, but our needs are small!)

OK, so I've covered some serious miles since I last wrote.  I think I was in Cambodia about to go and meet Tim, post monestary.  That was a 24hr journey with Katt, through Bangkok and down to where the south party islands are.  I'm glad to report that his mental health seems to've been largely unaffected by the experience!  The main damage appears to be that he's now renounced mosquito repellent in favour of 'loving kindness'.  (Clearly he can't get away with calling me a hippy any more)

After that, Katt, Tim and I went to check out Ko Lanta, a little island south.  The rain has continued to follow us round even though the season should be well under way, & this put a bit of a downer on beach life.  Long story short, Tim and I decided to head to Laos earier than planned and Katt set off to Phi Phi, where she's been doing some big partying. 

Another 24hr+ journey (in the opposite direction for me) later, and we hit Don Det, one of '4000 islands' right in the south of the Mekong river.  The place claimed us for a week.  We've put in some serious hammock hours!  A bit of tubing out to tiny little sand dunes for a beer at sunset.  I've never found a place that was quite so horizontally chilled out.  Unfortunately, food handling seems to be one of the areas in which the good people of Don Det remain entirely relaxed, and as a result Tim and I both got a bit of food poisoning.  & although I've since tried to survive on cake from the organic veggie place, it came to a point yesterday when we just had to leave, or risk merging with the hammocks forever.

So, Christmas and all.  Feeling a touch odd being away from home, and unfortunately meeting back up with Katt hasn't worked out with the whole food poisoning fiasco.  We've decided to rent a couple of scooters with an american neighbour from the island, and check out some waterfalls and local towns.  I hope that I'll be able to get online at some point over Christmas, but if I'm not, a massive Merry Chrim to one and all.  Think I'll miss it a bit more than I expected!  Any spare trifle or mince pies, please send with my Mum & Dad who are coming out on the 29th (fingers crossed Heathrow is working now?!) xxx

Under the sea & all around some temples

It's nearly time to head down to Surat Thani, near the south islands, to meet Tim from his course.  I've been pretty manically busy since he headed down there, and a lot of ground has been covered. 

The first few days, in Pattaya (beach resort near Bangkok) I ended up doing 3 days' diving and snorkelling.  The best bit was a wreck dive which I haven't done before - really amazing.  Saw rays, camouflaged scorpion fish and a massive turtle.  I'm hoping to be able to do some more diving in the south, I've heard about some great spots.

Katt got a lift to Pattaya with two friends of hers in Bangkok, Neil & Kwan.  We all drove up to Ubon, in north west Thailand, where Kwan's family live.  We helped cut some rice, which was a cool experience (& pretty back breaking work!)  For them, it was a matter of some prestige to have farang, foreigners, helping with such lowly work.  Even if we did make a pigs' ear of it!

Neil then dropped Katt and I at the Cambodia border and we've been here for a few days.  In tourist style, we're at Siem Reap, checking out Angkor Wat.  Massive temples, in the abbreviated form!  & truly awesome.  Because of the timing, we haven't been able to do much else in Cambodia, which is a real shame because Cambodians seem like laid back, nice people.  It's horrible to ponder what happened here almost within my life time..

Tomorrow we get the bus back to Bangkok, and then travel on south.  I'm hoping to be back on a beach within a few days.. sorry, that's pretty insensitive isn't it?! xx

Tim has left me for a load of monks

What more is there to say?!  I'm temporarily going it alone whilst Tim gets stuck into 10 days of silent meditation.  I'm mildly terrified for his sanity, but he has promised to call me if it gets too bad..  Any spare positive vibes, please send his way!

Katt's in Bangkok on a massage course, and I'm nearby but sensibly back by the sea.  I'm going to get back under water tomorrow and do some diving.  It's been too long - I hope it comes back to me OK!  I met a nice American guy called Eric at the hostel I'm staying at who was conveniently also needed a dive buddy, so that's come together nicely!

Thailand, fireworks & lady boys

Hey!  I return with added energy after hearing that loads of people are logging in :) Leave me some comments, otherwise I feel a bit like I'm talking to myself!  (& you obviously, Mum!!)

Anyway, so been in Thailand for just over a week now.  I'm sure I missed off the end of Goa, but it was a bit more of the same - chilling on and around beaches.  Can't knock it!  Thailand is a different kettle of fish, almost literally.  Saying that, I think the mad frustrations of long distance travel in India, and getting a bit accustomed to a different pace of life and, unfortunately, quite a lot of poverty, has helped adjust to here pretty quickly.  The fact that Bangkok is a truly amazing place to shop though came as a surprise, and the budget has suffered a bit of a kick!

It was great to meet up with Katt at Bangkok airport, even though I felt pretty much like death after an insanely long journey from Goa to Mumbai, a mad day in Mumbai and a sleepless night flight.  Bless her, she'd also got up at the crack of dawn to meet us.  Lots of catch up on, but we've covered quite a lot of ground since then!

Katt knows a couple who live in Bangkok, and they were amazing hosts - giving us a quick tour of some local food, sights & rude entertainment options!  (Sorry Mum, I've seen some interesting things that, shall we say, were not necessarily as nature intended.  When you come to Bangkok I'll give you the tour!!)

Bangkok is fun, energetic and crazy.  Food being sold on the street everywhere, which really adds to that.  I was determined to try loads of crazy looking stuff, but so much is truly beyond recognition.  It's quite a stretch for anyone which vaguely vegetarian tendencies!  Still, plenty of time for lapsing.

The last couple of days we've spent in Chang Mai, north Thailand.  There's a crazy festival going on which requires (terrifyingly) constant fireworks, thousands of lanterns being lauched into the sky and candles floated out into the river.  What's kind of ironic about it is that the festival exists to apologize to the river for polluting it during the year.  I'm not sure how much this helps, but maybe that's my English cynicism! 

We've all been suffering a lot with mozzy bites, & in some pretty indecent spots, but other than that all is pretty well.  Tim seems to be quite a hit with the boys here, but I'm not too worried!  We're heading off again tomorrow I think, up to the Myanmar border to get out of cities for a few days and maybe see some tribes folk. 

Big love going back to England, xxx

Hampi: ruins, boulders & stuff

I gather it's now Wed, & our last day at Hampi (overnight bus from Goa inland - crazy missions!)  It transpires you can get to anywhere in India for practically no money if you can handle long distance buses/trains, and have plenty of time on your side.  Having figured this out, I feel like I could happily spend months here, travelling about and eating local grub.  However, Thailand beckons in a couple of weeks.  We've done pretty well and managed to do most of Goa, and Hampi has been a good tip (thanks, Lilly!)  A couple more weeks to check out a bit more of India before we head on!

This place is massive ruins, monuments and big red bouldery landscape everywhere.  Also, heaps of palm trees and paddy fields where we're staying, so it's very beautiful.  Tim and I have fallen into a massive chill out here - I got a great 75min massage yesterday for about 9 pounds which was amazing!  Tempted to get one every few days!!  Still, the money goes much further on food (thalis, veggie curry (of course) and dosas, my new favourite thing, big savoury pancakes with coconut/potatoe curry dips). 

Tomorrow we're going to mission a couple of buses and head back to the coast, Gokarna, which is a hindu pilgrimage spot.  The festival of light, Diwali, is on 5th Nov, and apparently that will be a good thing to see.  hopefully we've picked a good spot for it!

North Goa, a mission from down South

We've been in Arumbol, North Goa for over a week now and it's been a funny one - a mix between really loving the little apartment we're in, enjoying being able to do some cooking (we had a crazy mission buying a little kerosene stove last week; surprisingly user friendly!), and being frustrated by sudden downpours of rain.  It always seems to happen just as we're going out, bit uncanny!  So the tans we were looking forward to working on have faded a bit, and the cute little beach we're right next to has not seen as much sunbathing action as it might!  (Today was an improvement though!!)

Saturday before last we had a bit of a shock getting an autorickshaw at 5:30am, to get our train up here.  But we were very chuffed with the breakfast we had packed (banana bread and samosas!).  We'd just put away a samosa when a train turned up earlier than expected.  We were a bit confused generally, and when we'd got it together enough to ask if it was the train we wanted it had started moving and we needed to be several coaches down.  So I ran, jumped at a door and hoped for the best.  Unfortunately though, my bag wasn't over both shoulders so I just flailed whilst two very kind men pulled me on!  Tim made it look much easier!  (I felt even more of an arse when I found out the train was half hourly!)

When we reached Arumbol, I went on a mission and found the place we're staying.  Amazing view over the rocky coastline, and really cheep.  Also, hardly any mosquitos, loads of geckos and a bakery nearby that does the most intense chocolate brownies and croissants!!  It's taking great restraint not to eat them all!  All up the main street are shops/stalls selling generic hippy fare, it's a bit weary being constantly asked to 'look, buy something'.  We're planning to check out some markets on Wed, so any shopping will be attempted then!  We've had a scooter a couple of days and checked out the surrounding areas, but nowhere's appealing massively.  The loose plan is to head inland in a few days.  Hampi, I understand, is a good spot on the tourist route..

South Goa in two weeks

We've now spent a week in Agonda, followed by a week in Patnem - both quiet little places either side of Palolem.  Tomorrow we're planning to head up north, although we're mildly sceptical as we've heard it's quite busy up there.  Still, we're up for checking out the region, and if Arumbol is too busy, we'll explore!  I'm feeling a bit rough today as somehow I have a cold(!), but I'll throw done a bit of detail as it comes to mind. 

These two weeks have mainly been spent checking out lots of local places to eat, avoiding rain spells, getting some sun on the beach and zipping around on scooters, avoiding cows.  We've made it to a local wildlife reserve, where we saw some monkeys and lots of crabs in the forest!  (Fortunately we didn't spot any bears, deer or wild cats as the sign claimed - on foot doesn't seen the best method for that kind of exploration!) 

The place we've been staying this past week is set in a grove of palm trees next to the beach in Patnem - really chilled out.  You get used to the frequent power cuts, cats climbing trees like monkeys, dogs, chicken and cows everywhere, although maybe not the mosquitos!  They've been busily building a bar/restaurant where we're staying, as well as loads of beach huts, which all looks amazing.  It's surprising to see how most of the tourist accommodation, shops and food & drink venues are literally built at the start of the season.

Tim and I have been liking the cheap local places to eat and hang out, such as tiny thali places (big plate of rice with fish/veg, curry, salsa etc, usually 40R/60p), the local chai shop and a recent discovery, fast food vans that do a spicy omelette roll for 20R!  Just about to raid more of their menu for lunch!  Catch you later

Goa, by plane, train and taxi

Wow, what a crazy week.  Tues to Fri was pretty much spent travelling, and since Fri we've been having a well needed chill in a lovely quiet little place called Agonda, South Goa.  I'm feeling quite reluctant to do much, although today we've got round to getting a scooter and started checking out the surrounding area,  Thus, finding an internet cafe (with a surprisingly fast connection!)  We also got an ice cream and watched some monkeys! :)

So the flight to Mumbai was fairly non eventful, slightly delayed as someone poured fuel all over the engine of the plane we were meant to get!  Mumbai was quite a shock, especially the hour and a half taxi from the airport to the train station.  Talk about diving into the deep end of India - slums everywhere; children, animals, people walking along the sides of the road, chilling in any area of shade.  Traffic following no rules apart from the need to beep at and overtake as many other vehicles as possible.  We had expected rain, but it didn't rain for the first couple of days, so hot hot hot! 

The train station was intense - we felt conspicuous as the only white travellers.  We also had about 7 hours to kill after finally managing to get tickets for the sleeper train to Goa.  We spent much of it sitting on the floor with everyone else, and played some cribbage (Dad, thanks for the refresher course!!)  When 11pm & the train finally came, we had to overcome being told they'd double booked our bunks, but we ended up getting upgraded (with the help of a small bribe!)  Things work very differently out here! 

Coming into Goa on Thurs morning on the train was lovely: beautiful green views.  We'd got some sleep which was well needed, and had a near miss with some super-sweet chai tea!  12:30, we arrived at Malgao, where we opted for a pre-paid taxi down to Palolem.  We'd liked the sound of Palolem in the travel guide book, but although the journey there was stunning, the place wasn't quite what we had expected.  Clearly very geared up for the tourist season, with lots of hippy shops, bars and restaurants.  The guest house we were dropped at was grim, although we were desperate to stop so we said yes and regretted it later.  The evening we spent in Palolem was actually surprisingly lovely, with a spotting of two monkeys, an incredible storm and a wonderful meal on the beach (shark masala, mmmm!).  We ate whilst watching strobe-like lightning, which I've never imagined could last so long.  Going back to our room was a bit depressing - we had to play a game of 'things I hate about this room' to cheer ourselves up!  Water leaked out of the AC unit on the bed during the night..  We got the hell out of there in the morning!

So on Friday we came a bit along the coast to Agonda, where we're now staying, on a recommendation from a guy we met called Seth.  It's dead quiet, the guest house we're at has a little restaurant, and the beach is 2 mins away.  We're enjoying having some time to read, draw, sew and generally chill.  We also met a nice couple, Eve and Jay, who we've had a couple of meals with and got some good tips on, for example, how to haggle!

At the moment, we're back in Palolem making the most of the facilities (cash, post card for Nanny!)  Tim is off getting a bit more used to the scooter whilst I do internet stuff.  I suspect we'll do a bit more exploring this afternoon and find somewhere to have a meal later.  I think we'll be doing much of the same for a while yet!!

A-Z guide to travelling for a year

A - Addresses.  Because I might try to send the odd postcard!!

B - Blog.  Tick!

C - Camera.  Contact lenses.  Currency.  Chargers.  Cotton everything.

D - Documents.  Scanned passports in inbox, insurance details in duplicate, visa information somewhere in the bag where they may survive..

E - eBay purchases - teva sandals, rucksack, camera, international plug adaptors! (All bought with the proceeds of stuff I've sold on there, result!)

F - Face paints.  Because there are no doubt plenty of small thai children who need butterflies on their faces!  & enough random hippies.

G - Glasses, sunglasses.  (Getting a new pair of glasses is one of the things you can leave until the day before you go on holiday.  For more information, why not check out Tim's website www.thingstoleaveuntilthedaybefore.com!)

H - Hand sanitiser.  I knew there must be a reason Mum keeps giving me the stuff!

I - ipod.  & really cool little travel speakers, which were a leaving present form work.  I'm loading up some CDs as we speak.  (I managed to delete my entire iTunes library from my laptop earlier in the summer.  Who said girls never clean up their files?!  Squeaky clean.)

J - Jabs.  Bizarrely there doesn't seem to be much agreement of which ones to get, but it seems to be a good plan to get someone to stick some needles in your arm.  Within reason of course.

K - Katt.  Or if you can't pack her, arrange to meet up in Bangkok for some South East Asia exploration :)

L - Lonely planet guide.  We'll take the first one, then trade as we go round.  I'll need plenty of books too so I'm hoping this strategy will work!  ('Dune' should keep me going for a bit!)

M - Malarone.  Agghh!  OK, so if you've spoken to me within the last two months you've probably heard by anti-malarials tirade already.  But this is my blog and I may well be repeating myself, or missing out huge sections of relevant information.  Probably both.  So.. there are four types of anti-malaria tablets out there, varying from cheapy cheap to costing a substantial bite of the travel fund.  The cheapest option won't deter the hardy mosquitos in the areas we're going, so that's out.  The next one can cause psychotic episodes or exacerbate depression - I think not.  the third option makes you intolerant to the sun..  So, it's a no-brainer.  A few hundred squid each to Lloyds online pharmacy; I'm not going to think about what that is in rupees.

N - Net.  A massive mosquito net.  One lesson we've learnt after managing to get eaten alive in Portugal, is that we're going to stay inside this net 24/7.  It's just not safe out there.

O - Open mind.  This is one for me.  The kind of person who has it in them to write an A-Z guide for the hell of it, probably needs to loosen up a bit & go with the flow!  (Not just yet though, still a few things to sort out!!)

P - Pills.  We're going to India, I'm not taking any chances.

Q - Quick dry towel.  (Where does the water go??)

R - Rules.  No thai prostitutes.  Enough said ;)

S - Snorkel & face mask.  (Lou, I have a confession - you know the snorkel & face mask I borrowed about 5 years ago..  it turns out I still have them!  Do you mind if I borrow them again!?)

T - To-do list.  Somehow Tim has managed without one of these.  I don't understand boys.

U - Universal plug.  The type that goes in the sink, & the type that goes in the wall!

V - Visas.  Mission.  Ideally get someone else to sort them.

W - Waterproofs.  Sounds mental I know, but we will be stashing these just in case.  After booking up the flights and starting to dream about our first month or so living in Goan beach huts, we hit a bit of a brick wall.  It turns out the monsoon season lasts till the end of October, and the beach huts are kept under wraps till then.  Rubbish timing!  It may be 29 degrees, but it's heavy rain showers right now!!  Oh well, we'll get an apartment, see who we can chat up and hopefully we'll be drinking from coconuts, in hammocks on the beach by late October!

X - X-job, hooray!  X-house, sad face.

Y - Younger man, hehehe :)

Z - Z?  Nah, I'm trying to pack light!