冒它的风险为饼干

Understand? Nope, didn’t think so. No matter how much I tried to imagine a country so alien that I could not understand one single thing, written or spoken, I don’t think I could have done the resulting confusion when we crossed the border into China justice. It is a little bit disconcerting when you’re met by a bewildered – and sometimes frightened – look everywhere you go when you’re simply just trying to say “Hello”. So, in this manner, we began to guess and point our way through Chinese menus.

Getting our visas for China proved a little difficult. As always though, the solution was startlingly easy – we simply took the audacious risk (see title… well, sort of) of paying a small fortune to send our passports away for 10 days, down the entire length of Vietnam, with a sketchy budget travel agents, plus a large “fee” – the recipient of which we weren’t completely sure – and waited in the misty mountains of Sapa on the border to be cheerfully greeted by our passports. Needless to say it was a long wait.

Sapa

Sapa, it transpires, is actually a lovely place to spend several anxious days, counting down the minutes until our only really imperative travelling possession is returned safely to us. We passed the time on a trek into some of the neighbouring minority villages, drinking ‘happy water’ – or rice wine – and fighting off attacks from determined souvenir saleswomen. However, they finally did arrive, and we were away!

Have you ever woken up suddenly with the feeling that you’re falling? Well, we both woke several times actually falling on our first night bus in China, as our cumbersome death trap ploughed off the tarmac, onto a dirt road only suitable  for heavily armoured military vehicles. However, this was not as unpleasant as relieving yourself in a Chinese bus station toilet (for men or women), as the facilities consisted solely of a floor with holes in it – and no partitions. Lovely.

Dali

To overcome our traumas, we’re currently spending a few days relaxing and exploring Dali – a hippy paradise set in the high Yunnan hills. So now you will have to excuse me, I have a Mandarin lesson with Laura.

Bonjamon x

Good Night Vietnam

Vietnam today is very different from the image that many of you probably have imprinted on your memory from the war time or just the numerous Vietnam war films we have all seen.  Today, Vietnam is a country of 5 star beach resorts, beautiful mountains and the most lovely people that we have met in all of South East Asia.

Vietnam is roughly the size of Italy but has a population of over 86 million making it the 13th most populous country in the world. The ever increasing population causes many problems within society but it also means that the roads are jam packed with motorbikes making them virtually impossible to cross. Pedestrian crossings are non existent and even red lights are ignored. It can therefore take an inexperienced Westerner like me up to 30 mins to cross a road! You must move very slowly out, letting the traffic drive round you and at times just stand there with your eyes closed hoping nothing will hit you;

A quiet Sunday morning in Hanoi

Aside from that adventure, our journey has been very calm and relaxing. We have been travelling around in Vietnamese sleeper buses. An innovative invention which does exactly what it says on the tin, a bus with beds on it! Like me, you may have visions of a rock star’s tour bus and you wouldn’t be far wrong. Well, if a tour bus had 3 rows of bunk beds designed by a a very short person who wanted to take revenge on tall people by designing the smallest, narrowest beds possible. I tried to take a photo to show you but unfortunately they just don’t do it justice!

Onto more cultural subjects and shopping! Vietnam is one of the best, and cheapest, places in the world to have clothes custom made for you. You can literally walk into any shop, browse through the Next catalogue, choose an outfit and it will be made in 24 hours. Amazing. We both had suits made and I also had a dress, skirt, shirt………..(!)

Seriously though, we have done some cultural things! Whilst in Hoh Chi Minh (that’s Saigon for our slightly older readers) we visited the harrowing War Remnants museum and the Cu Chi tunnels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_war). Although we were very saddened to find that the latter had been turned into a veritable army run theme park.

Finally, I’m sure any bookmakers would give you very long odds on meeting someone you know whilst travelling but I managed to bump into not one but two old school friends on an overnight bus to Hanoi! We have been travelling with them for the last week and had a fantastic trip sailing on a junk boat in Halong Bay. For once, adventure sports were off the menu as we enjoyed relaxing kayaking, cycling and trekking round the numerous islands in the bay.

So it’s Good Night Vietnam and please keep everything crossed that we will be able to get our visas for China!

Much love, Lau x

Trying a local speciality, snake wine!

Cambodian contradictions

I realise that this will sound ridiculously spoilt, but it’s difficult to retain the ‘wow factor’ whilst travelling. Once you’ve seen the world’s biggest waterfall, it becomes hard to appreciate all others, especially when your financial and time faculties are beginning to wane. So it is with these heavy thoughts, and several hideously smelly t-shirts, that we crossed into Cambodia.

I knew Cambodia would have to have an ace up it’s sleeve if it was going to impress this wizened nomad, and it did. Ankgor Wat, the biggest religious area in the world, could not fail to capture the imagination, looking like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.

Add to this a bizarre palate – fine Cambodian cuisine includes duck embryo and fried tarantulas – and anyone would agree that it is wondrous country in many regards.

Sadly, it is impossible to write about Cambodia without mentioning the Khmer Rouge  – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_rouge. Lead by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge committed horrific and indescribable crimes of national genocide, torturing and murdering over 2 million people in 2 years between 1975 and 1977. This is the reason that 40% of the population is under 15 years old.

In the capital, Phnom Penh, Laura and I visited Choeung Ek – the killing fields memorial which holds 9,000 human skulls – and Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. These painful and moving tributes to a sad history are difficult to comprehend and understand, but we both felt that it was important as visitors to try, to better appreciate and respect the country’s culture and psyche.

So, for me Cambodia will remain a country of contradictions: it managed to blow my mind and break my heart.

Bonj x

Many happy returns

Well, probably not. Don’t get me wrong - I’m looking forward to many more happy birthdays to come, but I’m fairly unlikely to return to the small Lanten village in mountainous northern Laos for any more celebrations. Many of the people there had only seen a handful of ‘falang’ – or white travellers – before in their life, and eating dinner with the chief and sleeping in a home was definitely a birthday not to forget.

During the overnight homestay on our jungle trek however, the feeling I had was 35% Bruce Parry, 65% visiting your girlfriend’s parents for the weekend – terrified you’ll say or do something silly that will humiliate yourself. Laura did come close actually, after inadvertently picking up a chicken head from the soup at dinner and nibbling at it timidly. Our tour guide quickly took the bullet, saving her by swiftly ramming the whole thing in his mouth and chewing wildly – yum!

Lanten village

In more traditional travel celebratory form, once back in civilisation, Lau & I spent a weekend in Vang Viang, where we kayaked down the Nam Song river. It is lined with bars selling cheap beer in the sun and offering enormous – and of course dangerous – swings and slides into the river. It reminded me very much of those primary school pool parties, but with more alcohol and arial acrobatics ball-shrivelling proximity to jagged rocks.

Laos is very different to Thailand, despite it’s proximity. Where Thailand is a commercial monster - chaotic, dirty and offensively loud – Laos is tranquil, charming and has enough French colonial influence remaining that it boasts more bakeries that you can shake a hot baguette at. Probably a lot like Thailand was 20 years ago I would imagine (minus the bread).

So it is sad then that we leave in a few days for Cambodia after having a such a brief amount of time here. But there in lies the beauty of travelling… you never now what’s in store for you just around the corner.

Laos across the Mekong

Ben x

Reassuring insurance

Hello everyone!

Before leaving the UK, I spent just under 2 excruciating hours talking to a man – who was so slow I wouldn’t have employed him as a speed bump – sorting out 12 months of holiday insurance. The negotiations finally completed, there were only two things for which they would not cover us: playing polo and swimming with sharks. So when our chance came to swim with reef sharks off the coast of Koh Tao, I very hesitantly jumped into the water with that painful conversation fully at the front of my mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_reef_shark

There are many other dangerous past-times available on the Thai islands – mainly featuring more Sangsom buckets – should one be so inclined. One of which includes fire skipping, which, as it suggests, involves skipping a fiery rope on the beach, normally at an advanced stage of the evening… I managed 2 graceful leaps before landing face first, yet safe, in the sand. The fire shows at the beach bars were equally as incredible.

Back in Bangkok, we were accompanied by John Wragg, where the theme of danger continued… I was unable to decide who was more insane, the crocodile wrestlers in the zoo, or the competitors at the Muy Thai kickboxing matches we saw, which were possibly the most brutal fighters I have ever laid my eyes on.

Floating market

Incredibly, we also found time during the rest of the weekend – between beers and yet more deadly buckets – to fit in a trip to the ancient Chinese floating markets, an elephant show and a very eye opening trip to Pat Pong. However, we are now thankfully spending the final days in the capital recovering and waiting for our Indian visas to be processed before we can move back up into the jungle and on towards Laos…

Watch this space!

Ben

Fasten your seatbelt

Nope, not because your getting into a rental cal in Australia with moi behind the wheel. Because we’ve hit Bangkok – the city that never stops moving… or smiling. We initially stayed in the back-packing fleapit of Khao San Road, where the hedonism is palpable and Sangsom Buckets (Thai whisky, coke and illegal Thai Red Bull) are strong enough to kill and elephant. And Laura. And me actually.

I had my first of many Thai massages, and although the administration was agonising – my tiny but deceptively strong masseuse had me in some pins would make Legions of Doom cry – it was incredibly relaxing. At one point however, she did locate my weak spot – a shoulder still painful from a past dislocation – and hammered it relentlessly like a torturer that had found a soft spot in their victim. Alas, I didn’t know what information she wanted to get out of me, and had to tolerate the pain with a series of brave faced moans.

After some sightseeing, including the enormous Reclining Buddha at Wat Po, and some very lackadaisical partying, Lau did some further work to offset her moral footprint by working at a local school as a teacher’s assistant for a week (sorry God, I’ll make it up to you!), whilst I received some more parental hospitality in Phuket.

Reclining Buddha

We have now been reunited in Phuket, and plan to do some Thai island hopping* whilst recovering from being my parent’s private travel agent for 3 weeks. I will duck under the radar now after this one final thought – on the plane from Sydney, I realised that we’ve now been to the furthest place away from the UK, and although our current return is booked for late June, we are slowly now making our way home.

Lots of love

Bendy & Lau xxxx

*For an introduction on Thai beach culture, please see Danny Boyle’s The Beach http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beach-DVD-Leonardo-DiCaprio/dp/B00004WA65/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1235017848&sr=1-1

Down Under

Whilst Ben has been doing a grand tour of Australia, my Mum and I have been travelling at a much more relaxed pace, taking time to visit the Blue Mountains and have a good walkabout (!) and to explore one of the most beautiful cities in the World, Sydney.

3 Sisters in the Blue Mountains

To try and understand more about Australia’s history, we visited an Aboriginal cultural centre. The history of this group of people is devastating and there is still much to be done to improve their equality. However, I was really surprised to learn the following interesting facts; firstly, that boomerangs are not just nifty frisbees that come back to you, but are actually used as a weapon to hunt with, and secondly, only men are allowed to play the didgeridoo because it is very dangerous for women to play when pregnant. Random, but interesting!

Didgeridoos (well, they will be after a bit of sanding and painting!)

In Sydney, we were fortunate to visit many of the cities beautiful beaches; Manly, Bondi and Camp Cove (another great name!). Two of which are reached by taking a ferry across the harbour allowing you to take in the full wonder of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

To try and add a bit of culture to our trip, we went to see stand-up comedienne, Judith Lucy, perform at none other than the infamous Opera House. I have to say the play was slightly aimed at the more mature members of our group (aka my Mum loved it!) but she did have a brilliant take on life and what it’s like to be getting old.

Now we’re onto the next chapter of our trip; Thailand, so stay tuned for more adventures soon!

Lau x

Walkabout

Hello again!

Backpacking, it would seem, is not without its subtle touches of irony. For example, following my speeding misdemeanours, my parents and I were divinely gifted a bright red Ford XR6 rental car to razz around the sleepy, rain forest roads of Port Douglas.

Neither fast, nor furious

There, we stayed in a rain forest tree house, which served as an idyllic base as it sounds for our stay in the monsoon country. Unfortuntaely, the hospitality offered to us by our host was of the over-imposing and intrusive nature that sends you running at the nearest window… or off the nearest balcony, as it were, into the snake infested canopy below. I concede however, it was a fair trade for the breakfast views.

Our trip to the Great Barrier Reef whilst in Port Douglas was like coming face to face with God’s creation process during those first 7 days, when he still had all his colored crayons left. He obviously used up all His fun neon ones first on Australian fish because they all look like they’re on the way to a rave in Ibiza.

Our final stop on our Australian walkabout – well, manic romp would be more accurate – was in the original, Crocodile Dundee outback in Queensland to visit the Uluru-Kata Jtuta national park, home to the infamous Ozzy landmark, Ayers Rock. As soon as we arrived, amongst the sizzling heat and sanity testing flies, I was as overwhelmed as every other tourist, helpless against letting the parochial insect wildlife cruise into my open mouth.

We even absurdly braved a 4.30am wake up call to have breakfast whilst watching the sunrise over Uluru. The colours were amazing enough, but I’m not sure if I was just seeing the blood vessels from inside of my knackered eye lids. In my opinion though, it was Kata Jtuta, or the lesser known Olgas, that were the most inspiring. So I will sign off with a photo of my favorite view.

Until next time readers!

Bonjamon

New Zealand – Best bits part II

Dear All,

New Zealand went by in such a flash that we didn’t have time to write much so I thought I would supplement Ben’s post with a few more of our best bits, and of course some good pics! The skydive was without a doubt the best bit for me too but as Ben’s already waxed lyrical about that subject (it was absolutely amazing!) here are a few others;

1) Milford Sound

This is a fjord in the south west of the South Island, carved out of the mountains by glacial movement many years ago. We took a boat trip down the sound to experience the incredible views first hand. The scenery was even more spectacular as it was preceded by 48 hours of torrential rain which made the greenery lush and the waterfalls gush (although not so lucky seen as we were camping for the 48 hours before!).

2) Driving the West Coast

For our last week, I decided to take my life into my hands by hiring a car and letting Ben drive me around (I had conveniently forgotten to bring my licence).  It was fantastic to have the freedom to go where we wanted after spending 2 weeks on a guided tour and Ben even learnt how to put petrol in a car! We drove all the way up the western coast of the south island and back down to Christchurch. We even managed to fit in a 26km hike which I would definitely not recommend as I could barely walk by the end.

Ben and the wheels of steel!

3) Unusual rocks!

A slightly unusual title you may think, but New Zealand is absolutely full of weird and wonderful rocks which cannot be explained by scientists. Here are a couple of our favourites;

Moraki Boulders

Pancake Rocks

Oh yeah, they also have great names!

More news from down under soon!

Love Lau xxx

Parental guidance

It’s not every day that you see a grown man throw up on himself, or a savage fist fight, or Australia lose at cricket, but we managed all three in one afternoon from our seats with the bogans at the first of the one day tests against South Africa at the MCG. We also braved the 40 degree heat at the Australian Open for Lau to hang out with her new bezzie, Gilles Simon

Six months ago, chatting to my parents over a beer in London, driving the Great Ocean Road together with Laura’s mum sounded like an inspired idea. However, barely half a week after their arrival, lying in a hospital bed with a $230 speeding violation fine in my pocket, I was beginning to have my doubts. But they were very short lived indeed.

I recovered quickly from my gastro-entiritis – a highly polite way of describing my tummy’s mis-behavior – and paid my speeding fine… although it had crossed my mind on several occasions to not pay and flee the country as a fugitive. How ironic, I thought, considering the origins of our Antipodean ancestors.

The Great Ocean Road, built as a memorial for those who served and died during the First World War, which stretches down the South coast from Melbourne, is by far the most spectacular coastal scenery I have every seen. The Twelve Apostles, Lock Ard Gorge and London Bridge are all truly beautiful structures, skillfully sculpted out of the mainland by the Bass Sea.

We also braved our own little safari trip into a dormant volcano crater called Tower Hill to try and spot some Kangaroos in their natural environment. It took well over 15 minutes of noisy blundering to realise that we we actually surrounded by about a dozen of them, all curiously watching us stumble through their home in thoroughly unsuitable foot-ware.

Roos

We even had a stare off with an Emu, which it won hands down by chasing us back into our car, after we tried to provoke it to stand in a cute pose for our photos.

We are now taking a short break from the intense pressures of car navigation and communal cooking, and will reconvene on Bondi Beach. Until then readers…

Bendy x