After our Indian breakfast in Munnar we got a 9am bus heading towards Thattekkad Bird Sanctury, we had to get 2 buses in the end and a rickshaw. One bus went from Munnar to Adimaly and from there we had a swift transition to a bus going to Kothamangalam from where we paid 150rs for a rickshaw to take us to the bird sanctuary. We decided to add another destination into our travels en-route to Kochi airport.

The journey in total took around 4 hours and we arrived at the sanctuary at around 12noon. We had contacted Ms Sudah at The Jungle Bird Homestay the day before to say we would be travelling to them the next day. When we got to the park entrance we managed to communicate about the home-stay and after a while someone understood were we wanted to go. The driver took us straight to her door and her family were all sat on the steps of the bright and multi-coloured house to welcome us. We were instantly welcomed into their home and shown a large 3 bed room with a bathroom at the back of the property upstairs. We couldn’t have any of the other rooms as a film star from Tamil Nadu was occupying the rest of the place with his entourage of actors, dance instructors and female dancers, they were shooting a film in the area. Ms Sudah reassured us he was very famous in the area!

We had lunch not long after we arrived and knew we would be in for some good food whilst staying with them. We explained that we were only going to stay the one night but then she convinced us to stay a second when she said she could arrange a taxi to the airport at 4am the following night rather than us staying in an airport hotel we opted for the more homely option. The home-stay is inside the park entrance and is on the left just after the lake.

That afternoon we enjoyed our first spot of bird watching, something neither of us have claimed to do before now. We went with Ms Sudah as it is only permitted to explore the sanctuary with a guide and she is one of them, along with her son Ginesh who wasn’t at home. So off we went along the paths and into the forest. We saw plenty of Malabar Grey Hornbill’s amongst other exotic birds, she informed us well about the local area and the types of birds and species in the national park. She has been living there for 43 years and so most people passing her would say hello, we knew she was a highly regarded lady and she even owned the shop right on the outside of the entrance to the park. A woman with fingers in a lot of pies.

Ms Sudah couldn’t have been more accommodating, cooking us breakfast, lunch and dinner which was included in our 750rs/person per night fee. Her family were inquisitive and would sit around watching as she told us stories about other guests, long-term friends she has made from owning the home-stay and she even brought out her sons wedding album.

There’s not much else to do in the area if you’re on foot other than to explore the park and wildlife. Although boating is optional, we couldn’t go out on the second day due to a big storm but we did manage another excellent bird watching walk in another side of the forest once again with Sudah.

There she was in her camouflage green and black sari taking us on local buses and guiding us through the park. We climbed up to a high point on very smooth rock and all along the path were old elephant droppings, a constant reminder that you’re never alone in the wild in this part of the world. Another example of this was when at 5am in the morning we both got up to use the toilet and Helen nearly screamed when she saw a massive tarantula right on the tile behind the door, Dave had completely missed it and it was about the size of an A4 piece of paper. Never have either of us seen one so close and so big just there! Sudah said we needn’t worry about it, it was more scared of us than the other way round. So easy we thought! ha ha!

We saw loads of birds that morning and Dave has lovingly compiled a list below of what we had right in front of us:

• Black Rumped Flameback Woodpecker
• Common King Fisher
• Pied Kingfisher
• Malabar Grey Hornbill
• Crested Goshawk
• Whistling Duck
• White Cheeked Barbet
• Dollarbird
• Chestnut Headed Bee Eater
• Plum Headed Parakeet
• Malabar Parakeet
• Vernal Hanging Parrot
• Green Imperial Pigeon
• Pompadour Green Pigeon
• Common Iora
• Hill Myna
• Red Vented Bulbul
• Black Headed Bulbul
• Asian Fairy Bluebird
• Black Headed Orioles
• Ashy Drongo
• Bronzed Drongo
• Greater Racket Tailed Drongo
• Rufous Treepie
• Scarlet Minivet
• Darter (snakebird)
• Pond Heron
• Cormorant
• Little Egret
• Whisked Tern
• … and a Giant Malabar Squirrel!

Each time another bird came into view Sudah would point in amazement even though she has seen these birds day in day out for years she was still as enthusiastic and amazed as she probably was the firs time round. Her son does a lot of the tours and got her into bird watching about 6 years ago and she is really knowledgeable too. This is her home after all. The bus journey back to the home-stay was a typical Indian experience. The bus was full when we squeezed on, however at least another 30 people “squeezed” on and the bus was incredibly packed!

When we were back at her home later on we enjoyed more good home-cooked food and opted for a nice session of relaxation in our room. It was incredibly hot and humid and so we needed a break from the heat.

Later on we experienced a huge storm and sat on their front step taking it all in. Earlier on in the day Sudah had experienced a close encounter with death when a coconut fell from a tree landing on her arm, she thought someone had hit her and then realised it was a coconut, she was very luck and couldn’t help but keep everyone entertained as she retold the story. Later on as the storm hit a coconut fell from the tree in their front drive-way and very nearly hit their car, whilst the next door house got their roof tiles smashed in by a falling palm leaf! So it was all about the palm trees getting some kind of revenge that day! Throughout the afternoon and evening we had continued power failure and so we were in candle and torch light as it went dark

When we finished our last meal we were entertained by the grandchildren who were encouraged to perform, sing and dance in front of us. We could tell they really didn’t want to do it, but in the end we were all laughing along and as they performed their songs in front of us. When Ginesh came back in he was really egging his 3 and a half year old little girl to sing on her own and so we decided to film it. We want you to see how special a moment this was for us. We couldn’t help but love this family who open themselves towards complete strangers in their home.

To them everyone is their friend and family and we certainly felt like we were part of it when we said goodbye to them all as they hugged us and welcomed us back next time. The incredible spider was there in our bathroom again later that night, and again Dave had just missed it. It didn’t stick around for the rest of the night though which was a little more comforting for the two of us.

Ms Sudah charged us 1500rs/room/night including all meals as well as tea and biscuits along the way and 600rs for the bird watching. We then paid the driver 1000rs to take us to Kochin airport which is some 40km away from Thattakad.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8, Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

Before we left Kumily we couldn’t resist another fabulous Claus breakfast, the same as the day before , perhaps we’d been subconsciously craving this kind of food as it was so completely delicious. It definitely set us up for the journey to Munnar and after we paid the bill we took a rickshaw to the very close bus station and boarded the green bus on the right hand side. It only cost 81rs each, a bargain for the distance covered.

The main problem though with this kind of travel and perhaps even more so on private buses is it’s about getting on as many passengers as possible to keep the bus conductors till ringing. We were tightly packed in as the driver swung around and horned his way passed other vehicles through the hilly landscape. It was a beautiful drive though, as soon as we were an hour or so into the journey we were hitting tea plantation territory which is quite unique.

After 5 hours we arrived in Munnar and quickly got a rickshaw to Rheinberg Homestay on the hill directly looking down over the bazaar. We contacted them in advance as it’s peak season for Munnar at that time and a festival would be taking place a few days after our arrival. Rheinberg is a small home-stay with only 3 rooms, and it is set up to be very separate from the house, for example no communal area other than outdoors and they weren’t a family who welcomed you in. The owners are very sweet though as we got to know them, and the room…well it was no Claus Garden but it would do for the price at 1000rs a night and we had a lovely little garden with roses surrounding our room. We’d recommend taking breakfast elsewhere though as it wasn’t very good.

When we settled in we head out for lunch at the very popular Hotel Saravan Bhavan serving a good range of South Indian vegetarian food on banana leaves. Helen had a vegetable thali and Dave a paneer massala with lemon rice, our waiter couldn’t be more attentive and so we tipped generously at the end. The food there is really cheap but excellent and so we thought we’d be coming back again and sampling more from the menu. We explored the town of Munnar which isn’t really that attractive but is surrounded by lush tea plantations. We walked up to the Hindu Temple, wandered the streets a little and bought some tea and spices (cardamon, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, star anise and black Munnar tea all for 330rs). We also documented some of the fantastical painted decorations that appear on so many of the buses and trucks over here. Later on we met more travellers and holiday makers who were staying at Rheinberg and so we sat out with them until bedtime chatting away.

On our full day in Munnar we opted to keep it quite cheap and so after breakfast we walked out towards the Kanan Devon Hills Tea Museum (formerly the Tata Tea Museum). The name change confused us a little and we ended up walking past the museum but we also did this because the walk in this part of town is really nice, suddenly we were in quiet villages and still the tea plantations surrounded us. After a few kilometres we went back towards the museum and decided to see what it was all about. It’s the closest you can get as a visitor to a working tea plantation but everything is for show. It costs 75rs per person including a couple of cups of Ripple branded tea and a tea demonstration. We actually enjoyed our little tour of the factory museum, it was informative and full of Indian tourists loving the Tea story.

We then came back through Munnar this time enjoying doss’s at Saravan Bhavan with the same waiter, Helen’s ravi dosa was quite something and we promised ourselves breakfast there the next day.

We followed lunch by taking a rickshaw out to Pothamedu Viewpoint some 4 km out of town, we stopped to take in the view, which is stunning and then began a little half day hike down through tea plantations and across to the Atthukad Waterfalls. The path had plenty of signs saying no trespassing but when we asked locals the directions they sent us this way. We passed by tea harvesters and ended up taking a short-cut down steps which lead straight through the plantations because we followed them to help us with our direction. When we came out at the waterfalls we didn’t really stop as there isn’t that much to see, but it was a beautiful walk and nice to be on our own un-guided hike. We took the paths uphill to the Tata processing factory and then we were led up to the main road back to Munnar where we caught the next bus for 6rs each back to town stopping at Kurinji Gift Shop south of central Munnar and walked back from there.

For our second evening in Munnar we ate at Rapseys in the undercover Bazaar where we joined the group who we’d met the night before. Dave got carried away as the dishes were coming up at 30-40rs each and so the two of us ended up with more food than the other three combined! Two small vegetable curries, a potato curry, some curd, 2 chapatti’s, roast peas and a vegetable biryani! The food was good here but we preferred our favourite down the road. For some reason we keep talking about food but it’s been really fantastic for us in South India and often some of our highlights have been the food we’ve eaten and so for breakfast the next morning we went back to Saravan and had our first local Indian breakfast (we did have Indian breakfasts at Kunnar Beachhouse) but this was out first out of a home stay. We enjoyed Idly’s, vada’s and a slightly sweet rice cake style dish. This was served with a mild curry, a coco-nut, spiced yoghurt and another little vegetable dish. Yum! We hope you are now salivating!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

We enjoyed our time in Varkala however it was now the time to sadly leave the beaches and cooling ocean behind and head inland to the small town of Kumily where the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary is located, home to wild elephants and tigers.

A 2.5hr busy train ride departing Varkala at 7am to Kottayam was quickly followed by a speedy 3hr bus journey to Kumily, which should normally have taken 4hrs but the bus driver had obviously been to bus racing school. Our home-stay of choice was Claus Garden at 1400rs/per night, run by Claus of German descent and his Indian wife, who both welcomed us on arrival to their lovely house. Large open rooms with wooden fittings, solar hot water, wi-fi, communal area, kitchen that we could use, breakfast if you wanted it and a lovely roof top terrace with the occasional black monkey.

We both loved the setting for our next two days and quickly increased our time here by another night. A cheap lunch was served up at the Annapurna vegetarian restaurant located on the main road running through Kumily. We booked onto a “Nature Walk” tour in the wildlife sanctuary at the Ecotourism office costing 800rs for up to 4 people. Once the afternoon heat and sun had receded somewhat we headed for the Miracle Mile road which leads surprisingly to Miracle Point! The views from the top are worth the hike which can be steep in places and we walked back towards the town passing little family homes, children waving and dogs barking angrily at us.

Breakfast consisted of pancakes, fruits, really tasty homemade jam, tea and coffee all for 180rs each. We had a relaxed morning exploring the garden of Claus Garden and working on editing photos and writing for the blog. Before we knew it we were at Chrissies for a lunch of Italian pasta variety. The food was good, especially a great cardamon shake, but the dining environment was a little lackluster.

If you are in a mountain region like this one then you really should visit a spice/tea plantation. A short rickshaw ride (50rs) to Abraham’s Spice Garden, which is noted in the Lonely Planet and featured in Micheal Palin’s Around the World in 80 gardens, was also highly recommended by Claus. We toured the lush garden with Mr Abraham himself for 1 hour which included tasting herbs, leaves, bananas and fresh papaya straight from the tree. The tour was very good costing 100rs each and we would highly recommend it, over the more commercial plantations in the area. We jumped on a local bus back to Kumily and the home-stay for more blogging, reading, napping, yoga and a body circuit  – not all at once and not all for both of us! Evening meal was eaten at Sree Krishna, a South Indian Thali filled us to the brim.

Up early and in a rickshaw for 6.15am, we would have to wait for breakfast until we returned from our guided “Nature Walk” in the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary where we would hope to see some lush natural landscapes and wild elephants. The tour began 20 minutes after the 7am scheduled time slot and our guide was of the mute variety. No introduction, just some form filling waiving our rights away, he mumbled inaudibly whist we followed him through grasses and forest. We came within 20m of an elephants bum sticking out of some bushes and we retreated to observe from afar. We know and understand that elephants are very dangerous, not really the harmless gentle type, but we spent most of the 3 hours heading in the opposite direction from any of the elephants that we spotted, even at 100m+ away!

With temperatures rising and frustration setting in after passing the same few trees several times we arrived back at the beginning and said goodbye to our friendly if not very informative guide. Back at Claus Garden breakfast was a grand affair which included home-made brown bread, north Indian soft cheese from a can (think mozzarella), tomatoes, home-made jam and peanut sauce, fruits, tea and coffee, all of which were quite spectacular.

During the afternoon we explored more of Kumily on foot and then spent the afternoon and evening relaxing in the home-stay. The following morning was our departure day from Kumily to journey onwards towards Munnar, a 4-5hr journey on a private local bus leaving at 9.45am.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

Prior to leaving Kathmandu we had arranged to leave one of our bigger bags at Pilgrims Guesthouse and we also took advantage of their free security safes at the desk and hid away our valuables. The return date written on our bag was for around the 22nd March, 21 days away! EEK!

We had a taxi pick up booked for 5.15am to take us to the main bus station for our Super Express Bus to Jiri at 6am. It was a little confusing in the dark as to which one our bus was but after asking around and a small tip to one of the vendors we found the Jiri bound bus and opted to take the first two seats behind the driver. We mainly did this so that we had space for our backpacks. One thing we’d forgotten to mention was that we weighed our packs the night before and we were at around 15kg’s each, perhaps a little too heavy!

The bus ride to Jiri was actually okay, the driver was perhaps a little crazy but he knew the roads well and we were on the Super Express after all! We had anticipated around 8-10 hours for the 190km journey but we arrived in 7.5, and this was with a fast couple of toilet breaks, an excellent stop for Dhal Baht and a small automotive repair on the roadside.

Jiri sits at 1600m and it’s quite a bustling village and we opted for the Cherdunna Hotel and Lodge which was our first taste of the basic lodges we would encounter on our trek. We enjoyed our brief time in Jiri taking in the Stupa and village overlook whilst enjoying our first trekking meal of vegetable momo’s and noodle soup. The owners are really friendly at this place and even turned on the British commentated tennis match that was taking place on TV.

There were a few French-men on our bus who were ready for a big trek and we knew that when we started out our first day of trekking the next day we wouldn’t be seeing them for a while. The route itself is easy to find and thanks to the Cicerone Everest Guide to trekking in the region we had a really well described guide to the trail. There is a big blue sign and an orange dot that marks the start of the trail and so that was that, we were on our way to Namche in the Mid-hills.

Here’s how we did the first 4 days of our trek from Jiri to Sete:

• Day one: Jiri to Shivalya – 4 hours with a high point of 2400m

Many people go further than this but we wanted to see how we would get on with the backpacks and it seemed like a logical place to stop. This first day of walking was beautiful, we were surrounded by terraces, farmland and views of the valleys around. We walked through more smaller villages along the way and were welcomed by many orange/red circles which indicated the trail. We did get it wrong a few times though and locals came along to point us in the right direction. In particular at Mali when we managed to miss the path completely but were called back by some happy homeowners who sent us on the correct steep downwards path. We also had our first glimpse of snow-peaked mountains in the distance, we had a long way to go yet!

We crossed over a swing bridge and then as we approached Shivalaya we crossed another swing bridge which took us straight over to The river Guest House, located on the right as your enter the village. For 100rupees we had a room and we opted for a deal baht lunch with noodle soup later on. We met a handful of trekkers, some were pushing on quickly whilst others were already dealing with stomach bugs. Shivalaya is a picturesque village and we managed to buy ourselves a few bananas and suntala (oranges) for the next day.

• Day two: Shivalaya to Bhandar – 5 hours with a high point of 2705m

We were up early and trekking by 7.30am after a sound breakfast of porridge and bananas. So far our bills were low and we were paying around 1500-2000 rupees for accommodation and food. The first section when leaving Shivalaya (still accompanied with orange circles for the trail marking) is steep and gave us a good taste of what lied ahead of us. We once again enjoyed fine views back down the valley and to the village before making our way over and beyond to a high point at 2705m for lunch in Deorali. From here we looked down upon Bhandar which was our next port of call.

In total we trekked for 5 hours including the lunch break and we wound up in Bhandar at 1pm choosing the Shobha Tea House and Lodge. The lady owner here is quite a character and a little pushy but we were happy to be led into making our dinner order. This time we had one daal baht and a potato curry, no frills here though and a potato curry is what it says on the tin! We had our first encounter with a group of lads from Singapore and we had a feeling we would be bumping into them along the way. Bhandar village has a lot of charm and the locals are really friendly, the group of girls were more than willing to pose for the camera.

• Day three: Bhandar to Sete – 6 hours with a high point of 2575m

We started out fairly easy on day 3 although we knew some of the worst was to come today! The hike from Bhandar is downhill and fairly easy, especially after some tasty apple porridge for breakfast. We found the trail once more and took a few hours to get to Kenja, this could be another stop over point for trekkers but we were prepared to start the steep climb to Sete in order to break up a big hike over the next few days. We met the Singapore lads again in Kenja who were worried that they were going too slow.

Lunch was at The Buddah Lodge in Kenja, where we sat and watched the locals prepare for a market and we found some more suntala to boost the non-existent fruit intake. The food was good and cheap and we were ready to start more steep climbing upwards to Sete. This is where we would say it got tough! For 3 hours we were hiking up a steep hill which was relentless, dry and hot. We also knew by this point that we were carrying too much gear and so this made us grumble a little! Still you can’t help but be rewarded by the views over the valleys. We passed porters carrying goods up and down hill and again saw some of the Himalaya mountain range far far away.

We opted for Sete as our overnight stay at this point and arrived at around 2.30pm, greeted by a friendly American couple who we’d seen sign in on the check point sheets. They were moving on upwards but we thought we’d see them again also! So the Singapore lads carried on and we enjoyed a very nice afternoon on the terrace of The Everest View Lodge, looking out over the distant hills and close-by terraces. This was accompanied with a pot of milk tea and a warm foot bath. The family at Everest View are really friendly, we enjoyed more Dhal Baht and an apple pie, something that is commonly on the menus in this part of the world. The rooms at Everest View are really basic and we were happy to be the only guests staying as the rooms are packed in with lots of gaps all around.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

There was some misunderstanding between us and Pilgrim’s Guesthouse in Kathmandu; we’d tried to book a room but didn’t have any response and so when we arrived at the airport we decided we would head there first of all to see if they had any rooms. When we arrived they said they had a taxi waiting for us at the airport with our names written on a sign! We were none the wiser, it would have been a free pick up but their forms are way out of date, and we didn’t get an email to confirm this.

Anyway it all worked out okay, we were excited when we first arrived. The streets were busy, full of bikes, pedestrians, cars and buses, and we were back in the land of horn honking! In this part of the world it’s okay to beep your horn at a person, a car, a truck whomever it may be to let them know you’re there. Makes sense in some ways. It’s really polluted in Kathmandu and we noticed this straight away, a soft haze is around all the time with only a 4km point of visibility.

So we checked into Pilgrims and agreed a price for 3 nights with the owner, a frank Nepalese man. We were happy with our room although failed to notice the schedule for electricity and hot water. Every place has a schedule we later learned. It was much cooler than where we had come from and so had our winter clothes at the ready.

For our first 3 days in Nepal we did little but focus on the trek. We were hoping to fit in some sight-seeing but we couldn’t quite fit this into our days of planning. Our plan was to start the Everest region trek from Jiri, the original route from which all Everest treks began before the days of the Lukla airstrip. We were aiming for a 20 day-ish trek taking in the heights of Gokyo-Ri and flying back out of Lukla.

First on our agenda though was to organise our Indian visas for the next month. We were ready for the queuing and thought we would need about a week to arrange this, but as we looked into it and with our time-frame we opted to pay for someone to organise our visas for us. This was obviously the more costly option but it did mean we would be able to start our trek by the end of the week, safe in the knowledge that our visas were being dealt with. It also meant we had to leave our passports behind in Kathmandu with our agent Deepak at Mount Fuji Adventure and Laxmi from the Indian embassy. We were very reassured though that we could put our trust in them and we felt that the steep $90 fee each was enough to confirm this.

So with the visa in hand we had to organise our TIMS trekking permits and find ourselves some gear as well as try to arrange for a one way open flight ticket from Lukla to Kathmandu. Although we were happy to do the Jiri walk in, we most certainly didn’t want to have to walk it out too!

TIMS is straight forward enough, just make sure you know the opening times of their office at the Tourism Board building, 10-4pm we think. It’s (1200rs) for the TIMS permit which is what you need if you’re not trekking with a group or guided tour. There is the 1000 rupee fee for entering the Everest Solukhumbu National Park and we were also told we would need to pay 1500 rupee each for a permit to trek in parts of the Jiri region. We didn’t have any knowledge otherwise and so paid for all 3, perhaps the Jiri one can be avoided, but hopefully it all goes to preservation and conservation of the local areas so for a small fee its worth it.

We rented some down jackets from Guide Himalaya Trekking Shop in Thamel and were happy with the standard of the jackets. We also bought some thicker gloves, a snood each and splashed out on a steri-pen, something we’d been advised to buy if budget could stretch to it. Little did we know how good the steri-pen was until we started using it and so it was well worth the $45 splurge.

Lastly our bus tickets to Jiri and the open flight ticket was bought through another agent who was working at Pilgrims. They don’t work for the hotels’ they’re just agents who pop in to see who they can sell their services to. Most of them are ex-guides and so have extensive knowledge of the system. We thought we would get our tickets through one of these men, he had a fairly decent deal on the table and it was easier for us to organise the tickets in one go. We were booked onto the 6am Super Express Bus from Kathmandu leaving on the 1st to Jiri, and we were told it would only take 6 hours! Hmmm we had our reservations about that one. We also paid $135 each for the open flight ticket from Lukla to Kathmandu, if you arrange a fixed ticket the price should be around $116 if bought in Kathmandu.

Our photographs from our first time in Kathmandu are a handful of street photography images, as we were gathering information, ideas and equipment for the trek. This was for either of us the biggest trek we had done in one go and we decided sight-seeing in Kathmandu would come at the end. We mainly enjoyed food at Pilgrim’s and during the day at other restaurants around Thamel. Very soon we would be venturing out into the mid-hills to start the trek of a lifetime.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

During the final week of our time in New Zealand we settled into our little cabin after one final nights stay in the van on the 1st. We met our Swiss friends at their hostel on the 2nd with hopes of getting to a Post Office to exchange ownership details. It was still classed as the Public Holidays and we were told nothing would be open until the 4th!

This did put a little spanner in the works but fortunately for us we had already picked up the ownership forms when we first got the van and so back at our camp we all sat around the table exchanging details and for that night they decided to stay at our holiday park. We figured that the next morning if nothing was going to be open we would let them leave with “Po” and trust them to complete the ownership changeover without us being there to witness it. We did this too when we bought the van but it is recommended that you don’t let the van go until you see proof of change, however there had to be some lenience as otherwise they’d be having to stay with us for the next 2 days.

After money was exchanged and forms signed we handed over the keys and retreated in our cabin! The night before we’d experienced a 5.5 earthquake when we were in the van and more were happening throughout the day. When our Swiss friends eventually left the next morning with “Po” we waved them goodbye and were ready for a week of not really doing much.

The cabin was a good space with bunk beds, a desk, chairs, a fridge and some drawers we were being spoiled with all this space! The only problem was that most of the tremors were taking place around 10km away from us at sea and so we felt nearly all of them most of the time. It was an unsettling week of aftershocks having never experienced anything like this before, and before long we were guessing the scale of the shock followed by Dave who would look it up on GeoNet A website which updates every 5 minutes after each tremor.

During that week we took the number 5 bus nearly every day to either do a little shop, change money or go to the beach. One day we went to the Christchurch Museum in the CBD, it reopened in September and is host to historical and contemporary artefacts. The same day we walked around the gated closed off area of the city centre. It sits still like a ghost-town with a few people photographing what they see. Its a sad state of affairs as the city can’t really move on with all the aftershocks taking place and it’s going to take a long time for the recovery. We really hope that something positive starts to happen as we could tell it was taking its toll on people who live there.

One little spark of positivity comes out of the Cashel Street Restart, a purpose made shopping area of shipping containers located the fringe of the city. It actually looks really cool and has coffee shops, some eateries, fashion and gift shops. There was a little hive of activity going on but as Dave said with an air of sombreness.

Back on our side of the city we enjoyed a day at Sumner Beach which sadly has also been badly affected by the earthquakes. The beach itself is fine but the houses on the cliff tops…not so good. We watched surfers waiting for big waves and Helen had a bit of a beach day, although the sun didn’t really come out.

Towards the end of the week we managed to meet up with our friends Vic and Dave and enjoyed a walk around the Botanical Gardens followed by a tasty pub dinner in one of the pubs still open in the area. It was lovely to see them again and we look forward to hanging out with them in Melbourne further on in our travels.

And that was that, we were waken nightly by earthquakes and on the last night we experienced a 5.2 which felt far worse being in our cabin than a 5.5 in the van. Helen panicked and thought we would be stuck out in Brighton, unable to get the shuttle to the airport in the morning, but alas at 7.30am when the shuttle arrived we knew we would be getting to our flight out.

We were definitely ready to leave after what felt like a long week but sad to say goodbye to a country we have loved travelling in and enjoyed and now have such a bank of memorable occasions and places. New Zealand is a real treat, a home from home, safe, clean, beuatiful and very welcoming.

Next stop, Sydney, Australia.

(Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Hello and welcome…

This is part three of our top tips for travelling which we learnt whilst on our first five months away in Asia. Not long now until we head off to Los Angeles USA for some yoga teaching training workshops and exploration of Venice Beach. New travelling posts will start appearing in August. Here’s part 3 of 3! We hope you find something useful…

Whilst on our travels we heard tales of survival and health remedies from lots of fellow comrades and we wanted to share the hints, tips and advice that we now take for granted. Part 3 of 3!

Bus Journeys!
Throughout your travels you will travel overland using buses, as these are a great way to see the country and also save some pennies as they are normally cheaper than trains and definitely planes! Vietnam has a good value ticket that allows you to travel the whole length of this surprisingly long country. This open ticket allows you to choose from a selection of places along the way you might want to stop at and then jump back on and head to the next destination.

We went from north to south (Hanoi, (Hue – a few hours stop over waiting for the next bus), Hoi An, Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City) for $49 USD. You give them 24 hours notice and if the bus isn’t full then you can normally get a seat for the following day! The ticket is valid for three months.

From our experience in many places in South East Asia buy the cheapest ticket that you find. There may be two options for a slightly better “VIP”/”King of Buses” bus, but at most times you will buy a ticket and no matter the price from various sales offices you will be on the same bus as everyone else! Bus journeys that advertise breakfast included – Avoid!! Also your ticket does not guarantee you a seat, sometimes when the bus is oversold or they ram the bus with locals, you may end up sitting in the aisle on a plastic stool or your backpack!

Security!
We did not have any issues whilst travelling through Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos. Common sense will get you through most situations without too much fuss. Thailand, relatively well off in financial terms compared to some of the other countries, was the only place we had a problem. At Surat Thani, where you get a short bus journey to the port to access Koh Pha-Ngan, Ko Samui and To Tao islands, the bus drives suspiciously slowly and when we got to the port we realised that our backpacks in the underneath luggage hold had been tampered with.

Confrontation of the bus driver, assistant (thief) and port staff just made them all do a vanishing act and loose all memory of the English language. On the boat across to the islands we learnt of other peoples fate, £200 missing and a gold ring missing! Luckily our bags had padlocks and any valuables were in smaller backpacks which we kept with us at all times. A document wallet which goes around your waist keeps passports and money safe.

Exactly the same happened on the way back after we had visited the islands, same bus driver and two assistants this time. Be careful and don’t leave anything expensive in your main backpacks when they are separated from you.

Hiring a scooter.
Make sure that your insurance covers you for the power of the scooter as it can be less than 125cc only etc. Also make sure that you wear a helmet and follow all the rules of the road and local laws. Scooters are a great way to travel around the local area, although we did see lots of people in bandages and hobbling around so be careful.

The only issue that we had was during TET, Lunar New Year in Vietnam, when we got pulled over by the police. No speeding, helmets on heads and driving safely we proceeded to stop when instructed to. The bike was impounded with the reason that the UK licence was not appropriate and we should have a Vietnamese licence (all excuses under the sun come out)! We had to walk back to the hostel luckily only about 3km.

We soon learnt that three weeks before TET and two weeks afterwards the police stop lots of people and impound bikes to basically get beer money. Lots of people were driving around, we were just one of the unlucky ones. Frustrating at a $50 USD fine which we split $25 each with the owner of the bike!

Mosquito Net.
A simple one this but take your own net that can stretch over a double bed, lots of provided nets have holes and tears in which most mosquitoes will find!

Re-hydration… (Tip from Corinne Walker)
It is possible to make your own rehydration solution. Put four teaspoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt in one litre of water. It is very easy to do and the ingredients are easily accessible from almost any guesthouse. (Good for a hangover cure too!)

Part 1 is here! Part 2 is here! Do you have any top tips? Comment below or drop us an email and we can add your suggestions to this post.

Today was to be our sightseeing day with a half day stint at the Grand Palace. We took the boat again to Tha Chang stop not far from the Palace area and followed some of the Lonely Planet’s walking tour for the area. We followed the first part of the route to the Bangkok’s Fine Art school which is located opposite the front gate of the palace, what a great place to study art and be inspired! Unfortunately there weren’t any exhibitions on so we sat in the courtyard for a while people watching and photographing the area. We crossed over the road to the Palace and as we passed through the gates were told we would both have to queue for longer length clothes to cover arms and legs all the way to our shoes. Helen thought she would need something but Dave’s passed the knee cropped trousers didn’t make the cut either so we both had to queue for half an hour for an assortment of sweaty shirts and skirts that had been worn by other tourists earlier that day. Nice! The annoying thing was that it was so hot, it was difficult wearing simply shorts and a vest let along trousers, a sarong and a shirt!!

Once dressed we continued onto the ticket office and purchased 2 tickets costing 350 Baht each. It is a very impressive sight indeed starting with pagoda’s, temples and shrines that glisten and sparkle in the sun. Vibrant golds, emeralds an ruby’s dominate the area with intricate gold leaf descriptive paintings along walls. You can’t go into the actual Palace or residence but walking around the grounds and visiting museum rooms, enthroning rooms and various formal occasion temples is pleasant enough if you don’t mind queuing with the many tourists who are also there. We watched the changing of the guards and after about 2 hours we decided to move on. It’s on a similar level to the Grand Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in terms of decadence, architectural design and intricate detailing.

There is a market around the corner from the Palace near to the ferry stop which we wandered through and people watched as they bargained for small collectible amulets. We also explored some back alleys where we got a glimpse of old Bangkok, houses on stilts on the river side and children playing in the narrow streets. After the long queue’s and heat of the day we’d had enough of sightseeing already and decided to head back to the hostel for a few hours as we were planning to make tracks on the sky-train later on to check out the night market and get some food.

We got a taxi to take us to the Ratchathewi sky train stop and from there took the sky train to Nana. This is the stop for the Paptong weekend market, perhaps an area that should be described as Bangkok’s red-light district! Although since 2004 Helen has noticed that things have been toned down a little and although there are many ping pong shows available it’s perhaps not thrown in your face as it used to be. We had a little wander through the streets and then got back on the sky-train for one more stop to Asok where we had planned to find a Tapas restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. We decided this would be our date night and we would spend over budget for our meal. The Tapas restaurant is located next door to Suk II hostel, a place Helen has stayed at many a time when she has been in Bangkok before. So we had a look around after enjoying a buy 2 get one free deal at the restaurant, it didn’t really soften the final bill but we did enjoy some lovely western food for a change. The main reason we didn’t book to stay at Suk is that they’re prices are now quite high starting at 700 Baht for a double with shared bathroom, we were paying 430 Baht a night at our hostel with our own bathroom.

On our last full day in Bangkok we went off in the direction of Siam, the business and shopping district. We directed our attention onto buying a few items for our camera gear, and purchased a tripod and a small camera bag from the MBK shopping mall. We also bargained for the first series of The Wire as well as experiencing their food hall which is a must-do if you’re having a long day shopping in Bangkok!

We had a few galleries earmarked on the map that we were intending to visit, the main problem being that we couldn’t find 2 of them, one was in between exhibitions and one was housing a small photographic exhibition. So Wooden Postcards at the La Lanta Fine Art Gallery was the only one that was open.

After this slightly disappointing search for off-the wall Fine Art we promptly found a taxi and decided to head back. Our taxi driver had only been driving for 2 weeks in Bangkok and didn’t know where we were heading to, but he was determined to get us there so we gave him a chance, he made a few calls and got on the right tracks. It started raining heavily too so we were happy to be out of the down pour. We couldn’t get dropped off at our hostel as their was a problem with a demonstration taking up the top end of the Phitsanulok Rd. We thought we would walk right through it on our way back and were amazed by the amount of demonstrators there were, it seemed to be a peaceful demonstration taking place outside government buildings and the UN building. We managed to pick up on something to do with the release of Thai Nationals, but we couldn’t get this confirmed. As soon as we stepped out from under cover the rain came down hard and we were drenched by the time we’d walked 100m back to the hostel. The rain halted our plans that night so we stayed at the hostel and caught up on the blog.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We started off the day by eating a fairly good breakfast included in our accommodation at the hostel, we’re not sure how 4 mornings of eggs and toast would go down! We spent a short while documenting the hostel downstairs as it really is a lovely space. Following on we took the number 56 bus to the Chatuchak weekend market which took around 45 minutes to get to. It’s a much cheaper option than taxiing or getting a tuk-tuk there and cost 26 baht between us. When we got there we went straight to the information office for a guide of the area, there are more than 8000 market stalls in a 35 acre area of land so we thought it would be good to know where we were going and plan our route.  We wanted to pick up a few items ready for the south and some replacement clothes for one’s we’ve been wearing over and over since we started travelling in October.

We started by exploring the vintage/second hand section which is any stylists and fashion designers dream. It houses anything from vintage tea dresses to leather bags, retro sports wear and re-worked seconds into new garments. It has to be said that the Thai’s on are top of their game when it comes to vintage trading, they know what sells to Westerners and they have a good depth of stock. Helen was very close to picking up some old tea dresses for when we get back home but managed to resist spending the pennies. We crossed through many fashion stalls and picked up sandals, shorts, t-shirts and vests whilst taking a few shots along the way.

The most memorable photo for us from this collection is of the giant tattooed man sleeping next to his market stall, surrounded by badges, paintings, bags and handmade crafts. He was covered all over in tattoos, piercing’s and leather and was disguised by the goods that swamped him…There were certainly many characters around. We walked by the music area and watched young children playing on their violins and we passed through the antiques section too. Seriously though you can buy pretty much anything you want at this market, we’ve read about illegal animal trading going on here too so if you do see anything you’re not happy about you can always report it to the police that patrol the site. We think we got what we wanted though with little fuss and enjoyed some decent street food too.

Later that night we took the ferry south and made our way to the flower market, it’s a 24 hour place with fresh flowers being prepared day in day out. If you get there late or very early in the morning it will be a real hive of activity. We got there at about 6.30pm at night and wandered through the street area and also some back street warehouses where we saw some of the work that goes on behind the scenes. We did want to go to other markets but with only one weekend in Bangkok most of the better markets take place on Saturdays and Sundays and there’s only so many markets you can get to in 2 days!

We ended the evening at a lovely restaurant overlooking the river right next to our ferry stop in Thewet, we had great views but the service was a bit of a mess, good job we weren’t in much of a rush.

The bus was due to depart from Siem Reap at 6am and we were informed to be at the ticket office for 5.30am. We arrived on time and several other travellers were waiting for the bus which was a medium sized coach but enough room for everyone on board, even if the bags were all thrown on the backseats! We paid $8 each for our tickets which was the cheapest we could find to Kratie with a change of buses in Kompong Cham, Doug and Emma were heading for Ban Lung and had to pay $19 each for the VIP bus, hotel pickup and a breakfast. It started in the usual way, drive around the area for at least an hour picking up passengers and packages to transport and then finally one last stop, it was to pick up Emma and Doug from a tuk-tuk, two hours later than they should have set off on the coach. Maybe the bus at Kompong Cham will be a VIP bus we thought!?

After 5 hours we arrived in Kompong Cham for our next bus connection and to all head off in different directions. The bus never materialised, either it left before we arrived or was non-existent, so we had to hassle the “travel coordinator” from our bus about what to do as the station office was no use and the bus driver had no inclination of trying to help. He arranged for us to go with another bus company on the other side of town, so the bus dropped us there. We would have to wait for 2.5 hours until the bus arrived so most of the stranded passengers (about 8 of us) headed for some food, fried rice with beef or noodles was pretty much the only option. Helen wasn’t feeling too good so she had plain boiled rice.

Finally a bus arrived, which incidentally looked pretty swanky, and we were informed we were all on the bus as it would stop at Kratie and then proceed up to Ban Lung. However there were not enough seats or luggage space in the hold on the coach so 5 people had to sit on their bags in the isle. Luckily people disembarked fairly quickly at random stops along the way so we all got seats within the hour. After a long journey we finally arrived at Kratie with an ounce of sunlight left in the sky and we found our preferred option for accommodation, the Balcony Guest House, over looking the Mekong River. Success, they had rooms with shared bathroom for $5. The room at the front of the building with a double bed was very large and had a huge ceiling with fan, it felt very Mediterranean in style and we loved the 70′s retro concrete building. We didn’t go far that evening and opted for some food from the Balcony’s restaurant which was pretty nice (real Heinz Baked Beans we think!!), but a bit overpriced for the portion sizes we received, washed down with some homemade Ginger Ale which tasted pretty boozy!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)