Diary

This is the diary of our Round-the-World trip as originally written and updated.

Bangkok, Thailand  1 November 2003

Hi Everbody - A quick update and some more pictures. We visited the royal palace buildings today and also a couple of temples - it's so easy to get temple fatigue here, every time you turn a corner you trip over another one!

Also discovered some interesting food variations, see the pictures for details if you have a strong stomach!

Now booked to fly to Hanoi on Wednesday, so will probably send another report from there. Have just discovered how to publish additional pictures easily on the site, but have only set it up for Singapore etc. so far, as the access speed at the local internet cafe is so slow.

All for now - Peter & Lynne

Hue, Vietnam  12 November 2003

Good Morning - Vietnam,  Sorry about the delay in this report, anyway here goes. At the moment we are in Hue and it's raining. What better time to update the web site except that this is the fourth attempt so far today, all the previous attempts have been frustrated by power cuts.

We flew into Hanoi from Bangkok courtesy of Air France, almost civilized really. We first realised that Vietnam would be a little different on the mini-bus journey from the airport, when we spotted this chap on a moped with six live pigs trussed up and riding pillion!

Hanoi is a real assault on the senses - the noise, the smells, the sights are all at overload levels. China has bicycles, the west has cars, Hanoi has mopeds - literally millions of them and at any one time half of them seem to be headed your way! On our first walk from the hotel we came to a road junction where we decided to cross the road. The decision was easier than the action. We took a few cautious steps forward into the road, followed by an equal number of hurried steps backwards as wave after wave of mopeds headed straight at us. We repeated this several times and had almost given up on this crazy idea of crossing the road when the unexpected happened. This little old lady, eighty if she was a day and grinning from ear to ear, took pity upon us, and taking us by the hands led us out into the maelstrom. Mopeds sped at us from all directions missing us by a millimetre here and half a millimetre there, we thought our ends had come when suddenly we found ourselves on the other side of the road. Hearts pounding, adrenaline rushing, but miraculously unscathed. We had discovered the secret - shut your eyes, walk straight ahead and pray, pray like you have never prayed before!

On the cullinary front, we have been offered 'deep fried whole crunchy frog', 'rice boiled into the ground', 'chicken torn to pieces' and snake wine (we knew it was snake wine because the snake was still in the bottle)! You may think that we bang on a bit about food, but believe me - our appetites are dwindling day by day.

After a 13 hour bus ride we have now arrived in Hue. Hue is a completely different type of city, with a different climate and by comparison to Hanoi it is almost peaceful. Things happen slower here, water boils slower, waiters take longer to forget your order, and we have just been startled by a fire engine - lights flashing, bells ringing, as it hurtled past at 5 mph.

No pictures at the moment as the internet cafe computers don't have disc drives, but will add more pictures when possible.

Cheers, just off for a Cobra Chardonnay - Lynne and Peter

Mui Ne, Vietnam  20 November 2003

Hi everyone. We are now relaxing on a beach in the south of Vietnam, our last stop before Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and our return to Bangkok on 24th November.

After Hue we travelled to Hoi An where the weather and floods caught up with us forcing an early departure for Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a large brash seaside resort, vietnamese style. The main downside of the place was the number of street hawkers who rarely left you alone for five minutes. We did manage to escape their attentions for one afternoon when we discovered a four star resort with swimming pool which allowed us to use their facilities for the price of lunch. Mui Ne where we are now staying is a peaceful (relatively speaking) half tourist accomodation, half original fishing village development with one of the best beaches in this part of asia.

Having trouble spending our money here, a meal seldom costs much more than 1 pound, a room with air conditioning and en-suite facilities costs around 6 pounds, a pint of beer 60 pence!

Still no pictures, apparently they just don't like to risk catching a virus from a strange disc as there is virtually no anti-virus software available. Will make up for this when we return to Bangkok.

Must go and lie under a palm tree now, it's so hot - Lynne and Peter

Bangkok, Thailand again, again  1st December 2003

Hi everybody, just arrived back in Bangkok after our trip to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The journey itself was hard work, we had a 14 hr bus ride to get there and a fourteen hour bus ride back but luckily we only had two breakdowns so it could have been a lot worse. The journey to the border was OK except that the "VIP bus" was probably fine when it first made the journey some 25 years ago.  Now it sounded distinctly wheezy, and had long lost the spring in it's step - as well as the springs in the suspension and upholstery! At the border we had to change to another bus, if only we could find it, after an hour in the melee at the immigration office we were taken to another bulding down the road to wait for the bus. After a mere 2 hours a bus appeared that seemed to be adequate for "the job", and after a wheel change we were off. If only we had known what "the job" was, the thin layer of tarmac soon disappeared, half metre deep ruts appeared which the bus had to negotiate along with the oncoming traffic, people farm vehicles etc. The whole road was covered in a fine red dust which hung in the air after each vehicle's passing and we were shaken, jolted and bumped around for hour after hour. Darkness fell, but there was no chance to sleep - we were so pleased to finish the journey at Siem Reap, it was definitely the worst bus ride so far. The thought of the return trip made us want to stay there for ever. The monuments that comprise Angkor Wat really are magical, made especially so by the fact that they lay undiscovered for centuries after the demise of the Khymer empire. Cambodia itself we found very depressing, a lot of the people are desperately poor and very little of the tourist dollars filter down to them. On top of that there are so many disabled beggars around, mostly victims of the millions of landmines that litter the countryside. So despite the splendour of Amgkor Wat and the other temples that make up the extensive site, despite the really bad bus journey ahead, we were glad to set off for Bangkok once again. Cambodia was also incredibly expensive compared to the other countries in Asia, many are milking the tourists for all they are worth while they can but we wonder whether it can stay like that.

Well that is it for now - we may add some more to this part at a later date. Tomorrow we head for Laos so will let you know how that was in a few days time. There should eventually be some more pictures but are still having some trouble with the server software - Lynne and Peter

Bangkok (or Bangkok again, again, again) 7 December 2003

Hi all, back in Bangkok after a few days in Laos but depart early in the morning for Hong Kong.

We had a 12 hour bus journey to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and the same back again - we are becoming quite used to these bus journeys now, after the first 11 hours it's a doddle!

Laos was surprising for the fantastic scenery in the mountains and for the sense of stepping back in time. The rural people mainly live in wood and bamboo houses of just one or two rooms, surrounded by their livestock. They spend a lot of time in the rice fields, sometimes working, sometimes lazing in the shade of trees or in simple shelters that they erect in the fields. The pace of life is slow and that is reflected in the service provided in the restaurants. It can be difficult to get served in the first place, and when you do manage to give an order for food, they are just as likely to climb back into their hammocks, while they contemplate the task ahead of them, as they are to actually start preparing food. The capital Vientiane has more the feel of a small provincial market town than a capital, only the scattering of embassies found in dusty avenues give the game away. We travelled from Vientiane to Vang Vieng about 100 miles away in four hours using the local bus. Before we left Vientiane the bus had already collected about 60 crates of beer from a depot and we had to wait patiently while these were loaded one at a time and stacked on the bus roof. The bus drove slowly up into the mountains, stopping at every village to take on more goods or passengers. At some stops roadside hawkers offered their wares through the bus windows - grilled sparrows? on a stick, over-grilled sparrows (or were the blackened shapes really bats?) on a stick, various vegetables and fruit - none which we recognised - for us to snack upon. We declined, but the locals tucked in and were soon spitting pips, feathers, and other bits and pieces either out of the window or onto the floor. A bag of crisps would have gone down a treat!

We spent a couple of days wandering around the village of Vang Vieng which nestles by the side of a river and is close to the sheer rock faces of the mountains. It really was a delightful place for a quiet break, although it is frequented by lots of backpackers there are no mainstream tourists there yet, so there are no big hotels or restaurants.

Unfortunately we had to leave all too soon and this time we were offered a pickup truck fitted with two bench seats as transport down to Vientiane. Eight passengers would have been comfortable, twelve crowded – somehow they managed to fit 23 bodies on board (including the roof, sides and tailgate) plus a motorcycle on the roof! To say that the journey was less than comfortable would be the understatement of the year, but we survived - tired, dusty, and definitely bowed - Lynne and Peter,

PS. Sorry about the pictures, or rather the lack of new pictures, myself and the website builder software are having a little battle at the moment. There should eventually be some more pictures when I win.

 Cebu, Philippines    16 December 2003

Hello everybody. We are now spending a few days on the beach (dodging the raindrops) before we travel on to Oz. Our stay in Hong Kong was shorter than we had originally planned as we stayed on in Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos a few days longer. Our itinerary had called for us to stay in Hong Kong for eight days, but that changed when the BBC decided not to film us for 'Holiday' as they had first stated. As it turned out the weather in Hong Kong was a little inclement, but our choice of accommodation on the island of Lamma was excellent. Lamma is only 20 minutes away from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong itself by ferry but is a tranquil oasis by comparison. There are no cars or motorcycles allowed on the island, our hotel collected our bags from the ferry using a hand cart and we walked behind. The hotel itself was directly on the beach in a small cove and for comfort was our best choice yet.

The island has a fairly large population of british ex-pats, many who have lived there for years and years. We hear that work for a lot of these people has dried up in recent times but they still manage to hang on there and to keep the bars in business!

There are some spectacular walks around the island and most of them seem to involve walking uphill for what seems like ages. We took one of these trails to the fishing village of Mo Tat Wan (two and a half hours) from where we caught a ferry to Aberdeen on Hong Kong island, a bus ride to Central and another ferry ride took us back to Lamma. Unfortunately while we were there the visibility was poor so we decided against trips up to The Peak or to Lantau island - though on the day we departed for the airport there was a strong breeze to clear the air and the sun was shining! Hong Kong is much the same as when we last visited nearly three years ago, they are still building new banks and shopping malls, hotels etc., though we did notice that there are fewer ex-pats here nowadays post SARS.

After leaving Hong Kong we spent a night in Manila, at a guest house inside a guarded compound not too far from the airport. We did take a walk outside the compound that night to search for a restaurant (none found) but felt rather vulnerable in what was a really poor area of the city. After a quick 'hot dog' at a fast food outlet, which arrived breadless on the plate - we did say no to the offer of rice - we retreated to our compound faster than we had departed.

The next morning we flew on to the island of Cebu and are now staying at a resort on Mactan island - Lynne and Peter,

Sydney, Oz 23 December 2003

Hi All. Finally made it to Australia where we have been joined by our daughters, Rebecca and Sarah, for the Christmas and New Year celebrations. The weather here is still a little changeable, so far we have had two sunny days and two overcast days and heavy rain two nights running!

We left Cebu after our short break by the sea and flew back to Manila for a nights stay there before our flight to Sydney. We took a taxi from Manila airport to a hotel in the centre of Manila that was recommended by the "Lonely Planet" guidebook only to find that it had just closed down. A short walk away we managed to find another hotel which was a little better than the one that had closed so we were quite pleased about that. Manila doesn't have a lot to recommend it, the country is poor and the capital is full of beggars, but there are a few redeeming features. The main form of public transport are the jeepneys, these are unique to the Philippines - gaudy chrome plated, hand crafted, vehicles that were originally based on the jeep but now seem to be cobbled together from parts of any vehicle. The country is predominantly Catholic which is unusual for the Far East, so this was the most 'Christmassy' place that we have visited. We were bombarded from all directions by various renditions of carols and other Christmas songs right up to the departure lounge in the airport!

After all our travels in Asia we have come to be less than attracted to offerings of rice and noodles, so we were rather looking forward to the meal on the Qantas flight to Sydney. You've guessed it - what was the choice on the menu but 'Fried rice with chicken' or 'Noodles with seafood' - not a potato in sight!

Now that we are in Sydney for a while I will have the chance to correct all the mistakes and omissions on this site, but not today, we still have some last minute shopping to do before Christmas. There are a few pictures attached but most will be added after Boxing Day (we plan to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race) and more after New Years Eve when we plan to watch the fireworks display near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

So before then we would like to take this opportunity to wish all our friends and relations a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year, especially all our friends in Knaresborough not forgetting Maureen, Dave and Andy - the original 'Also Rans'; friends in Germany; past colleagues from IDEXX and TECHSPAN and people we have met recently on our travels including Gudrun and Matthias from Calw, C.J. and Christina from London, Jim and Anton from London, Andy from Manchester, Justine and Sean from Leeds, Julie and Scott from the USA, Wim and his wife from Holland, Lee and Kim from S. Korea, Paul from Manchester plus many, many others. MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!

Lynne and Peter

Sydney 5 January 2004

Hello everybody, we are a bit late this time with news of our exploits, Christmas and New Year festivities intervened.

Christmas here was very low key, there were very few decorations in evidence even in the main shopping areas. The main business area had a large Christmas tree outside the Bank of Australia but that was about it as far as municipal decorations were concerned. The churches were much the same, there didn't seem to be any special notices posted outside to remind people what Christmas means. Christmas day itself didn't appear to be any different from a Sunday here, lots of small shops and convenience stores were open all day long and although most bars were closed, there were still some that were open throughout the day.

We had our Christmas dinner in a restaurant located in an entertainment complex call Star City, it was a help youself buffet that claimed to have all the trimmings expected for the occasion, but although most of the food on offer - from oysters to roast hams to exotic fruit salads - was excellent, the Christmas pudding and mince pies were terrible, nothing like we have in England.

After dinner we all went to Bondi beach, along with half the populace of Sydney! It was packed, there was virtually no room to sit on the sand what with the people and beer crates, so we sat on the grass behind the beach for most of our time there, and only went onto the beach to take a few photographs.

New Years Eve was much better, this appears to be the main festive occasion of the year and the city takes on the air of a giant outdoors party. Everyone wants to get a good view of the fireworks and if possible including the Sydney harbour bridge, this means that some of the prime locations in parks start filling up in the early afternoon. Our daughters had met up and disappeared with some other people of their own age so we were left to our own devices and went to a park not far from our accommodation at around five in the afternoon and stayed there until midnight. We took a blanket from our room, picnic food and drink and made ourselves as comfortable as possible to wait for the big event. The city had supplied some wandering minstrels to entertain people and surprisingly the time passed relatively quickly. There was a 'small' fireworks display at 9 pm which was probably better than any that we had ever seen and the main display at midnight was absolutely spectacular - well worth the wait.

In between we have visited the Blue Mountains, the zoo and have walked the length and breadth of Sydney.

The day after tomorrow we say goodbye to our daughters - as they are staying here for an extra day before they fly back to UK – while we collect a hire camper van to drive up the east coast to Cairns. We shall then drop off the van before we fly back to Sydney and then fly on to New Zealand. More on that in the next update which will be when we find a place to stay with an internet cafe within easy reach. 'Bye for now - Lynne and Peter.

Airlie Beach, Oz  21 January 2004

Hi Folks - Yes we are still alive but we have had trouble finding an internet cafe in the smaller towns where we have stayed en route.a

We have now reached Airlie Beach, about 600 km short of our final destination Cairns, having driven about 2500 km so far. Life in the camper van has been fun, but we will be glad to sleep in 'normal' beds again someday - not on the table top!

After leaving Sydney our first stop was at a small town called Tea Gardens. Honestly it really was called that, they do have some strange names for places down here. The region was very picturesque and although we saw some wild wallabies we failed to spot any koalas in the wild. There was supposed to be a colony in the neighbourhood but we suspect that they were all hiding behind trees. We took a drive up the road to the Mungo Brush national park on the recommendation of some locals we met at the campsite, and found a piece of coastline you could only dream about, miles and miles of deserted pristine white sandy beaches backed by sand dunes and not a Walls ice cream van in sight!

We travelled on after a couple of days and stayed at a place called Nambucca Heads, calling in at a Koala bear sanctuary en route where Lynne was able to stroke one. They aren't furry - they are woolly, as if they are wearing a romper suit. Our next stop was at Tweed Heads on the NSW/Queensland border we had tried to stop at Byrons Bay a resort town popular with surfers but found it to be too expensive - the site charges on the campsites were double those elsewhere. Driving back on to the main highway after declining the kind offers of overpriced accommodation, I (Peter) was breathalysed! Those of you who know me well will have guessed that I passed with flying colours, especially at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon!

Further up the east coast we called in at Brisbane and had a quick look around. The towns and cities in Australia are not very interesting compared to their European counterparts. Generally speaking the 'historic sites' date from ca. the 1800's which is almost yesterday, well for some of us it is! Not too much further north we found a small town/village on the coast called Coolum which turned out to be one of the best places that we have stayed at. The camp site was directly on the beach but not too distant from the shops and other amenities. The only evening entertainment was at the Surf Life Savers Club - so we joined. The next morning we were rudely woken up by parrots dropping seed pods onto the roof of the camper. The bird life in Australia is quite remarkable, we have seen all sorts of parrots, parakeets, lorrikeets, cockatoos, various wading birds as well as other unknown species. We could almost become 'twitchers', but only “almost”!

We stayed on at Coolum until rain stopped play and we headed northwards once again as far as Hervey Bay opposite Fraser Island. The rain followed.

We took a day trip over to Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world and supports all sorts of fauna and flora, from dingos to tropical rain forest. There are no 'proper roads on the island so all transport has to be by 4WD vehicles including the tour busses.  It rained off and on all that day and the ferry crossing was quite horrific because of the winds whipping up the sea. We didn't see a solitary dingo (they din’go out in the rain?), the tour bus broke down twice, the second time fatally so we had to be rescued by another bus to take us back to the ferry, but we still enjoyed the day - I think.

At Hervey Bay we joined the Hervey Bay Yacht Club for the evening entertainment - there was live music each night.

Another days drive took us to Yappoon where we stayed one night, once again the weather was variable.

Onwards, ever onwards, we reached Mackay and stopped at a caravan park which claimed to be 5 minutes from the centre of the town - big mistake! We set off on foot for the town that evening, after the first hour we did begin to wonder where the town was. Tired and weary we finally arrived in the centre of the town but almost walked out the other side before we realised it! A couple of refreshing beers later we took a taxi back to the camp site exhausted and vowing never to believe the camping guide again. The rain caught up with us again the following day so we left the camp site a day earlier than planned and headed north once again. Not far from Mackay we visited the Cape Hillsborough national park - we had seen pictures in a brochure of people sat next to wallabies on the beach. We arrived at the beach in the middle of a force eight gale, the sand came at us horizontally and nearly flayed the flesh from our limbs. No wallabies there then! Alternative plan number one came into play, we took a bush walk to the Hidden Valley and to see the remains of an aborigine fish trap. Due to the high winds several BIG trees had fallen accross the trail, we clambered over or around them and did succeed in completing the trail but were always waiting for the next tree to fall so were glad to leave. No wallabies there either!

We travelled on again and stopped here at Airlie Beach, hoping to have a cruise out to the Whitsunday Islands. The rain and high winds once again stopped play - the boats have stayed in harbour for the last two days.

What next? Watch this space. - Lynne and Peter,

Auckland, NZ   2 February 2004 

Cairns and beyond

Well actually we're in Auckland, New Zealand at the moment but didn't manage to update this site before we left Australia.

After leaving Airlie Beach in the rain we drove up to Townsville (named after a Mr. Towns) and stopped at a campsite on the outskirts. The site turned out to be a veritable bird sactuary with sulphur crested cockatoos, rainbow lorrikeets, curlews, and others wandering around at your feet - we wonder if we want to see birds in cages ever again. The first evening we walked into the town and were soaked by a sudden rainstorm on our return. Par for the course! The next day we visited an animal sanctuary not far away and Lynne finally reached her nirvana - she was allowed to hold a koala bear in her arms, as well as a wombat. True to form the heavens opened, and once again we found ourselves drenched to the skin. The following day was fine so we took the opportunity to drive inland to Charters Towers, an old gold mining town that at one time was the most important in Australia. We visited a small museum, had an ice cream and drove back again, a total of 280 km which is a very long way to drive for an ice cream!

After Townsville we drove a short distance further up the coast to Mission Beach which has one of the best beaches in the area and is still only a small village despite having a couple of campsites and a small hotel. The following day it rained but this time it was to our benefit because it enabled us to see a cassowary in the wild. A cassowary is a bit like a two metre high turkey with attitude - well honestly would you really mess with a turkey that big anyway. The region around Mission Beach is 'cassowary country' but you seldom see them mainly because there aren't many around - they are a protected species, on the survival danger list - we just happened to be one of the few vehicles driving around in the rain when all of a sudden there it was by the side of the road. We slowed down but before we could get a camera out it had walked back into the forest so we don't have a photograph. We did see it, honest!

Due to the rain we drove up to Cairns and handed the campervan back, 'camping ' is fine when the weather is fine but not when it rains . . . We booked into a hotel for the final night of the hire period, at least we had more room to sort out our belongings.

Cairns is a lively town with lots of shops and restaurants and as soon as we handed back the campervan the sun appeared. As a grand finale for our time in Oz we took a boat tour of the outer Great Barrier Reef for a day. Lynne did some snorkelling and I did some lying around in the sun followed by a semi-submersible boat ride along part of the reef. A really fantastic day out. The next day we flew to Auckland where it has rained ever since our arrival. Tomorrow we pick up a hire car for a five or six day tour around North Island, more on that later.

'Bye for now. - Lynne and Peter,

Auckland, but not for long  11 February 2004

Here we are again folks. We have just arrived back from our tour of North Island, we have driven about 2400 km in the last week but only managed to see the northern half of North Island. The scenery here in New Zealand really is spectacular, the country is very mountainous due to the relatively recent volcanic activity and has a variety of different types of landscape. Sometimes you would think you were driving along roads in rural Hampshire, a few miles along the road and you could be on the yorkshire moors, past the next village and you would think you were in the alps. The only giveaway is the vegetation - besides the grass and pine trees most of the flora is completely alien to the northern hemisphere. Australia seemed very different because of the predominence of eucalyptus and gum trees, but New Zealand appears stranger still, mainly because of the tree ferns that grow almost everywhere. At first glance these look like palm trees but on closer inspection they are giant ferns, with leaves similar to bracken but growing on the top of a straight trunk up to 10 metres tall. Other plants that grow wild here are trees that would appear to be related to dragon plants on sale in english garden centres, 'pampas' grasses, and white lillies. The largest tree seen here is the Kauri - we saw one example which was more than 50 metres tall with a trunk diameter of around 5 metres and is reputed to be around 2000 years old!

When we set off from Auckland we travelled to the north first and visited an area called the Bay of Islands and did a circuit of the 'Northland" before returning to Auckland and on to Rotorua. Rotorua is the main centre of geo-thermal activity in New Zealand, the whole area stinks of Hydrogen Sulphide (the rotten eggs smell) and steam and fumes escape from fissures in the ground all over the place. In one of the geothermal parks we went to see a geyser that didn't perform as expected, but we did see boiling pools of mud and bubbling lakes of sulphurous water, the whole lot are on top of so called dormant volcanos - I wonder.

From there we drove out to the east coast which once again had some very dramatic scenery and as a bonus we discovered a place called Hicks Bay which was good for a photo shoot but not much else. Not finding any accommodation in the neighbourhood we drove on and on until we came to Gisborne, the home of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, where we tried to find somewhere to stay. Unfortunately they were holding some sort of sports festival that week so we ended up driving from place to place until luckily we found a motel which had a room vacant due to a 'no show'. The next day we discovered just how lucky we had been because the next place that had a room available in our direction was about three hours drive away. It should have been one hours drive away but what was shown on the map as a 'national highway' turned out to include a 115 km stretch of unsurfaced gravel road over the mountains. The rain started as we climbed up and the road was quite slippery, there were no barriers on the corners of the hairpin bends, the road deteriorated to a one way track in places and to make things worse (if that was possible) there were lots of vehicles coming in the opposite direction with boats on trailers. The people with boats were coming from a large lake up in the mountains, why they wanted to drive along that 'road' rather than visit one of the other lakes in the area beats me.

The journey over the mountains ended in Rotorua once again where we decided to stay for the night before continuing to the Coromandel region. We left early the next morning and we must have been still in shock because we managed to leave a bag behind that contained all our guide books for the rest of our trip, unfortunately we didn't discover this until it was too late to return to collect it. This was worse than the previous occasion when we 'lost' some of our belongings - when we were in Australia we drove off one day and left two pairs of shoes behind that had been put under the campervan overnight.

The Coromandel coast was really spectacular with lots of splendid views along the coast and out to islands nearby. The Coromandel was famous at one time as a gold mining area and there are still various museums and displays related to those times in the towns and villages.

Then it was back to Auckland to hand in the car. Auckland doesn't have a lot to offer so we have decided to leave a couple of days earlier than planned. We fly on to Tahiti this afternoon and arrive yesterday evening - Yes honestly - because we cross the international date line we go back a day, it plays havoc with my diary!

More on Tahiti when we have chance to find another internet cafe. More photos of New Zealand will appear when I have the opportunity and time to download them. - Lynne and Peter

Bora Bora, French Polynesia   19 February 2004

Hi again. Life is tough being a round-the-world backpacker, lying on sun kissed beaches by the side of the lagoon, under a palm tree waiting for the sun to set and dreaming of England. Seriously though, that has been the picture on some days however we have also sat under cover watching the rain fall. I must add that the rain is warm and in February that must be a bonus. The island is very small with a population of about 5000, there is only one 'town' - Vaitape - which is busy when the visiting cruise ships disgorge their passengers for a few hours, otherwise it is quiet and peaceful - just the place to relax and enjoy the respite from the rigours of travelling. We were due to sail here from Papeete, Tahiti on Friday 13th but the boat broke down and we had to run around trying to arrange alternative travel arrangements before we decided to fly. We are staying in a simple room directly on the best beach on Bora Bora (Matira Point). No pictures this time due to the limitations of the computer in this internet cafe -  the only internet cafe on Bora Bora! Will probably update this diary again next week when we should be on Easter Island - Lynne and Peter

Hanga Roa, Easter Island    29 February 2004 

Reluctantly left Bora Bora after two weeks there but not before time - we hired a couple of bicycles and did a complete circuit of the island, half killing ourselves in the process (neither of us had ridden a bicycle in the previous nine years).

We arrived here on Easter Island 26th February not really knowing what to expect besides the famous statues (Moai). The island is quite small and at a guess I would think that it only has around 2000 to 2500 inhabitants. The island belongs to Chile and uses the same time as Chile which means that because it is about 3700km to the west of Chile, it is displaced from the correct solar time. Sunrise here is at ca. 8:40 am and sunset at 8:40 pm. We hired a 4WD vehicle yesterday and went in search of Moai. The car hire process was interesting - no contract to sign, no driving licence necessary, just pay and wait for the neighbour to turn up with their car, hop in and go.

The tour was interesting but more of that later because we are being asked to leave this internet cafe as it’s almost closing time - Lynne and Peter.   

Santiago  4 March 2004 

Hi folks, here we are in South America at long last. We arrived here in Santiago three days ago and so far we are finding it very agreeable. After the tropical climate of the pacific islands it is very pleasant to be able to walk around without generating so much perspiration. Santiago which is home to around 4.5 million people lies close to the towering Andes and is a vibrant bustling city but relatively clean and tidy in comparison to some of the asian cities we have visited, and the colonial style architecture here is great. The only downside we have found so far is the limited variety of food available in the restaurants, it's great if you like rice and hot dogs but not so good if you hanker after a boiled potato or two. Our magnificent lack of spanish makes us feel a little vulnerable here as very few people speak English. Tomorrow we head off south by bus to the Chilean lake district and Chiloe Island, we had hoped to reach Patagonia but that is another 1600 km further south. On our return to Santiago we are flying up to Arica on the Peruvian border where we shall once again travel by bus up into the Andes. We plan to visit La Paz, Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca but that is another story - Lynne and Peter,

Frutillar, Lake Llanquihue, Chile  14 March 2004

Hello Everyone, just a quick update this time to let you all know what we are doing. Unfortunately we have the same problem as before, so there are no pictures available until we return to Santiago.

We set off from Santiago on 5th March by bus heading south. Our first stop was at Chillan, a small market town, the journey took us through one of the main wine making regions of Chile but besides the vinyards the landscape was not particularly interesting. Chillan market was bright and colourful besides being very cheap, on the fresh produce part you could buy 20 kg of desiree potatoes for one pound, 2 kg tomatoes for 15p or 1 kg of carrots for 20p - nothing was more than 30p per kg. Unfortunately none of this fresh produce seems to find it’s way into the restaurants, with the exception of potatoes.

After Chillan we headed further south to the town of Valdivia, a reasonably pleasant town but the highlight was the fishmarket or rather the fishmarket ´customers´. A large group of sealions had set up home in the waters beside the market and appeared to be part of the local community, the fishmongers fed them the scraps and so they now have no reason to go hunting for food.

Our next port of call was at Castro on the island of Chiloe where we had hoped to see some penguins, however after a long dusty ride on a bone shaking bus along a dirt road and a long trek along the coast in the national park we failed to spot even a crab!! On our return to the mainland by ferry we were fortunate enough to see many more sealions and a large pod of dolphins.

More later as this internet cafe is closing for its siesta, besides which it is cold and draughty at this terminal !!  - Lynne and Peter

Santiago 20th March 2004

Hi All, here we are again in sunny Santiago, and it really is sunny compared to the places we stayed in the southern part of Chile. The journey south was a little disappointing as we had hoped to go right down to the southern tip, but we are slightly late for the main season. Instead of there being several boats a week only one boat a month goes down to the ports in the south and nobody seems to know when it sails. There are no roads to the southern part of Chile on the west side. The only access is by air (too expensive), boat or a 27 to 30 hour bus ride via Argentina. When you do get to Punta Arenas or one of the other settlements there is no further transport at this time of year to visit the penguin colonies on Isla Magdalena for instance, so we decided against going any further south than Chiloe Island. After our trip to Chiloe we returned via the town of Frutillar where we had hoped to visit some volcanoes and lakes but the weather turned for the worse so we moved on to Temuco before returning here to Santiago. The southern part of Chile tends to be very European, partly because of the large numbers of germans that settled here in the 1850's and 60's. The town of Frutillar could have been a town in Bavaria, but despite the Hotel names and restaurant signs being in german hardly anyone speaks German there today. Tomorrow we are off to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar for a couple of days before we fly up to Arica on the border with Peru. More news then. - Peter and Lynne

Arica, Chile    29 March 2004

Hi everyone, we are now in Arica, a small town in the far north of Chile near the Peruvian border. The weather is an improvement here as we are once again in the tropics, but without the fierce heat and humidity of the tropics in Asia. In fact it hardly ever rains here down on the coast, unlike the higher 'altoplano' which has a rainy season. There is one town further south Calama, that has never seen rain in it's whole recorded history, which helps to explain why the Atacama desert is the driest desert in the world. Arica is surrounded by sand coloured hills without a trace of vegetation, but at least one valley nearby has enough water to allow trees to grow and has a thriving olive and olive oil industry.

Before we left the Santiago region, we went to Valparaiso which is the main port for that part of Chile. Valparaiso started as a small town at the base of steep hills and as it expanded the only way to grow was to move up those hills. The result is that there are many impossibly steep roads going directly up the hills and where the hills were too steep they built funicular railways to transport people up to the houses above. Most of these 'railways' were built in the 1860's to early 1900's and are still running today with little or no modification, or apparently maintenance. We took a ride on one of the shorter ones, but I for one, had my eyes closed all the way up!

Vina del Mar next door to Valparaiso  was a pleasant enough seaside town but had a distinct 'end of season' feel to it.

Yesterday we visited a local archaeological museum in the Azapa valley. It was a really good museum for its size and traced the lives of the indiginous peoples of the region from ca. 2000 BC up to the present day. What really impressed us were the really old textiles that have survived complete with their original colours due to the extremely dry climate.

In Arica we have found a good place to eat - the fire station canteen!! A three course lunch costs just one pound and sixty pence and a glass of beer cost fifty five pence! The only possible drawback is that when there is a fire alarm the cook disappears.

Tomorrow we take yet another bus to Tacna in Peru where we will stop for a night before continuing to Arequipe. We plan to stay there for a few days to see if our lungs work at 2350 metres above sea level before going up to Cusco at ca. 3500m - Lynne and Peter  

Arequipa, Peru      5 April 2004

Hi folks, here we are in sunny and oxygen starved Arequipa. The city is the second largest in Peru and was founded in the mid 1500´s so it has a lot of old buildings.

We left Arica and first stayed in Tacna, just over the border from Chile. We travelled by ´collectivo´ a taxi service that stops and collects other passengers en route. We negotiated a fare so that we had the car, a 1960's Oldsmobile, to ourselves. The journey was a 2 hour ride through fairly flat desert including a twenty minute wait at the border. When we arrived the driver demanded twice the fare that he had agreed to earlier, we refused so he accepted what we gave him, shrugged his shoulders and drove off. Such events happen quite often in these parts! Tacna was not very interesting, so one night was enough before we caught a bus to continue our journey to Arequipa. The ride took us through some spectacular scenery and over one pass at approximately 4000m before we descended into Arequipa some seven hours after our departure from Tacna.

We have spent a few days here to adjust to the altitude - it's not too high at 2350m - but probably as high as we have ever been before when skiing in the Alps. Even so, we have already found ourselves slightly out of breath when climbing up stairs and hills, what we will be like at our next stop in Puno (3820m), only time will tell.

Arequipa has many fine old stone buildings built from a white volcanic stone called sillar, which gives the city it's nickname of 'the white city'. The city is overshadowed by a volcano called Misti and other mountains that are 6000m plus, the first time that we looked out of our hotel window to try and see Misti we were looking too low down, we had to look up at around 40 degrees to see the summit - it is enormous!

We have changed our travel plans slightly, we are heading off to Lake Titicaca next and hope to visit La Paz in Bolivia before we return to Lake Titicaca and then travel on to Cusco and Macchu Pichu. That however, will be another story. 

We wish you all a Happy Easter  -  Lynne and Peter  

Cusco, Peru   12 April 2004

Hi folks. Well we have now reached Cusco and are beginning to wonder if we have accidentally shot an albatross or something. First we had to abandon our plans to visit La Paz because of local disturbances at the border and on Saturday there was a landslide on the railway line to Macchu Pichu so we have to wait for it to be cleared before we can visit the site!

We caught a bus from Arequipa to Puno on Lake Titicaca, and what a bus it was! The stench on board was indescribable, without going into detail I think every possible foul odour was present. What was worse was that as we left Arequipa we were trying to take shallow breaths, but as we quickly climbed up to higher and higher altitudes we eventually found ourselves gulping large quantities of 'air' into our lungs. The scenery was spectacular and by the time we reached the highest point at 5200m we had almost forgotten the condition of the bus. We passed large herds(?) of alpaca and small isolated communities, never more than a couple of thousand inhabitants and mostly just a handfull of herdsmen and their families. Seven hours later we finally reached Puno, a large straggling town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Puno is also the closest town to the uros indians and their villages on floating islands in the lake. Theirr lives nowadays revolve around making and selling handicrafts to the tourists, which seems a pity but they do manage to keep most of their traditions and way of life intact.

While we were in Puno we heard the first rumours about trouble on the road to Bolivia. Apparantly the locals living near the border didn't like their new mayor, and there were also some objections to do with a planned road to be built across the border. So like all good latin americans they decided to display their ire and stage demonstrations that closed the border crossings. The last we heard was that they were still setting light to cars and tyres and after a week the borders were still closed. So we had to abandon our plans to visit La Paz and decided to move on to Cusco. Before we left Puno we visited an old inca and pre-inca necropolis site at Sillustani nearby. This place was unusual in that they buried their dead leaders in stone towers. The pre-inca indians built fairly crude stone cairns, when the incas arrived they adopted the same rituals but built sophisticated dressed stone towers instead.

When we arrived in Puno, 3820m, I caught a heavy cold which made it difficult to judge whether I had any symptoms of altitude sickness. This apparently can be fatal especially above 3500m and some of the initial symptoms are headaches, tiredness, lack of appetite, breathlessness, and a dry cough. Well I had most of those symptoms except the lack of appetite, so for a few days I was a bit worried.

We caught a train to Cusco (only 3400m), a ten hour journey that covered 350km - yes that's correct, the average speed of the train was just 35 km/h! The train was actually quite comfortable and once again the scenery was astounding (I'm running out of new adjectives here). The train fare was just eight pounds sterling but we paid more than that for the food on board which was served at your seat by waiters who had to leap accross a gap between the kitchen wagon and our carriage whilst carrying plates of food!

Cusco which is the nearest city to Macchu Pichu is enchanting, it contains many old buildings from the inca and conquistadore periods that we have yet to visit and hopefully, if there are no fresh landslides we will visit Macchu Pichu later this week.

So that's about all for now, most of the pictures for Cusco will have to wait until the next update as they are still in the camera!  -  Lynne and Peter     

 Cusco, Peru    19 April 2004

Hi Everybody! Well we finally made it to Machu Picchu, and the more astute amongst you will have noticed that we now know how to spell it! We took the train from Cusco at 6:00 am, which was rather a strain on the system considering the altitude and everything. They run the trains that early to allow the 'day trippers' enough time to visit the site and get back to Cusco the same day. The journey took around three and a half hours, descending from Cusco 3480m, for the most part along the Urubamba river valley until we reached Machu Picchu village, otherwise known as Aguas Calientes 2040m. The final stretch from Ollayantambo to Machu Picchu village is the only way to reach Machu Picchu, there is no road, so all materials and provisions must be brought there by railway. The train stopped a little short of Machu Picchu village due to the landslide damage the previous weekend. We had to walk over rubble and silt past the wrecked buildings where several people had died. We checked into Gringo Bill's Hotel/Hostel near the only 'square' in the village, we never did see Bill but met his smiling wife. The following morning we took the 7:30 bus up to the site at 2400m, the road was a dirt road with 13 hairpin bends and very little in the way of safety barriers, and to make it worse it had rained heavily the night before so the road was slippery. We arrived at the top, nerves shattered, only to be reduced to quiverring heaps when we saw where they wanted us to walk! There was either a zig-zag path up a steep slope (no handrails of course) or a more gentle walk along a terrace with a few hundred feet drop off the side (no handrails there either). We contemplated crawling on our hands and knees, but then saw a couple of spritely 80 year olds go sailing past us. We gathered what courage and dignity we had left and, trying to ignore our jelly-like legs, we tottered off down the path. Seriously folks, there were some really horrendous steps that led over the edge of the cliff, and there was only twenty feet of handrail on the whole site, and that was near the ticket office. They certainly didn’t want anyone falling over the edge before paying their entrance fee. There were many places where we thought - one slip and we are ‘gonners’ - but nevertheless we survived. The site is certainly spectacular to say the least, and the engineering feat of the incas is mind- boggling. We reached one part of the site with a gate to Waynapicchu a connecting 'hill' to the main site, also with inca ruins at its summit. We saw several people climbing up and down stone ladders near the top. We heard later that this walk is really only for experienced climbers with nerves of steel, especially when it rains and the steps become slippery. This summit would seem to be the place from where one of the more spectacular shots of Machu Picchu, as seen in most guide books, is taken.

The journey down the mountain was just as terrifying as the journey up earlier on, so we were quite pleased that the visit was finally over. As we reached the bottom the heavens opened once again and we felt sorry for the people in the following busses. That evening they found the bodies of the final victims of the landslide, making 11 in all from just two families. The villagers held an all night vigil for these last victims in the village square, and there was a general sombre mood about the place.

Cusco 30th April

When we came to leave Machu Picchu we had to wait some distance away from the train before boarding, while the workers blasted some of the large boulders that still lay near the railway line.

We are now back in Cusco where we plan to stay for a few nights before taking the bus to Arequipa and then eventually flying to Lima.

More on that later - Lynne and Peter   

Arequipa and beyond   8th May 2004 

Hi folks. First, the trip from Cusco to Arequipa was almost painless, I say almost because we were nearly frozen on the Altoplano. The bus we took was an overnight bus and despite looking around at the options offered by the different bus operators we failed to find a bus offering a 'full sleeper' facility. We settled on a 'semi-cama' or reclining seat bus that departed at 8pm and arrived in Arequipa at 5:30am  the following morning, however on inspection at the departure point the bus wasn't quite the sleek modern one depicted in the glossy brochure. Surprise, surprise! Too late to change our minds anyway, so we set off on the rather tired but comfortable bus that was to take us over the Altoplano and down to Arequipa. A snack was provided on board and a blanket each. The blanket turned out to be a life saver - by the time we reached the high point of the Altoplano at around 5000m the temperature had fallen to below zero and ice was building up on the inside of the windows. The buses they use for these journeys are obviously specially made for Peru, because they don't have heaters fitted or maybe they are fitted but nobody has told the drivers how to operate them. We were absolutely frozen by the time we finally arrived in Arequipa and were deposited in an almost deserted bus station. A hot drink wouldn't have gone amiss, but all the cafes were closed so we caught a taxi into the centre of town and spotted an open cafe. We took a leisurely breakfast and thawed out in time for sunrise. Luckily our hotel which we had booked for our return was open by 7:30 and we were able to check in, few beds have ever felt so comfortable!

We then spent a few days in Arequipa, visiting a few minor museums and generally taking it easy before booking a side trip up to the Colca Canyon. This canyon is said to be deeper than the Grand Canyon in USA and it's certainly spectacular. However the main reason for this trip was to see condors in flight. On the allotted day we were collected by a minibus which arrived fashionably late. The drive was first accross plains where all there was to see were distant views of volcanoes and herds of alpaca and llamas. Then we climbed up and into the canyon. The roads were hairy and so was our driver who was easily distracted from keeping his eyes on the road. After several close skirmishes with the edge of the road and the empty space beyond we were all reduced to praying to our Gods for safe deliverance from the suicidal headcase who sat behind the steering wheel. Eventually we made it to our hotel and celebrated our survival in a local hostelry for most of the evening. After a few hours sleep we were wakened well before dawn  and invited to partake in breakfast before setting out to search for condors. We don't remember much about the journey but at some stage we halted and were ushered off the bus to wait for the sun to rise in the valley when, we were told ,the condors would come out to play.

Lima Plus

We flew from Arequipa to Lima on the 3rd June, arriving just in time to catch a taxi through the rush hour traffic to our hotel which we had booked on the internet. This wasn't quite so good as the picture either, so we moved to another place the following day. Lima is a big sprawling, typical south american city surrounded by shanty towns and with a total population in excess of 8 million souls. The centre is interesting with some old colonial buildings, and also some good museums with inca and pre-inca artifacts, after that it goes downhill fast. The area where we stayed, Miraflores, which was next to the coast felt fairly safe, but when we took a bus into central Lima we were warned by the 'conductor' to keep the window closed in case people on the street reached in and stole our belongings. All for now – Lynne and Peter

Now for the surprise news - we are back in UK!

Harrogate, UK    12th June 2004

Our apologies in advance to all those of you who will now have to find another website to scan during your coffee break of a monday morning!

When we originally set off we said that it would be for  nine months - we always planned to be back by the end of June for our daughter Rebecca's graduation - we have now been away for eight months and ten days which isn't too bad. The last couple of months have involved a lot of travelling and I think that despite the interesting places that we have visited, we are both pleased to hang up our boots and rucksacks for a while - until the next journey anyway! There were a few things back in UK that needed sorting out as well so we decided to call it a day and reschedule our last couple of flights to get back this week. We flew from Lima to Madrid, spent a night there and flew back to Manchester yesterday. As a footnote, it cost us more to get from Manchester airport to Harrogate using public transport than it cost us to travel 1000 miles in either Peru or Vietnam! That however is what travelling is all about, to discover the diversity of cultures and lifestyles around the world first hand, and you just can't stop yourself making comparisons!  -  Lynne and Peter    

PS. In the next few days we intend to put our favourite pictures from the whole journey on this site so stay tuned - the fat lady hasn't sung yet!

We have also added a map that shows roughly where we have been, if only we could remember where places are on the map (we can't find an atlas).

 Here's a few statistics on our trip that we have put together:

Total number of miles travelled                ca.49,850 (all forms of transport)

Number of flights                                    21

Number of countries visited                     14 (in 11 of which we visited the capital city)

Number of hotels / hostels stayed at        61 (plus a twin berth cabin on a train and a  few overnight coach journeys)

Oh, and Yes, we would do it all over again in case you're asking!

Lynne and Peter      Harrogate, England