Mr and Mrs T's Most Excellent Adventure

Last stop, Bangkok baby!

2009-12-16T04:30:00.000-08:00

After moving through 11 countries, 7 time zones, countless towns and a few pairs of flip flops, we arrived in Bangkok, the last stop on our most excellent adventure!

We had been looking forward to getting here the whole trip, not because we wanted it all done and dusted (quite the opposite!) but rather because waiting for us here in BKK, thanks to Brandusa, Horia, Aine, Ian, Andrew, Rosie, Alistair and Fiona was our luxury room at the Sofitel Silom Hotel for our last three nights! Yeehar!

So after 7 and a half months of 'slumming' it around the world (apart from the wonderful wedding gifts we got from our lovely friends along the way), we finally arrived at a hotel befitting our status as 'Honeymooners'! Bellboys to lug our backpacks to our room, a bath big enough for Dave to stretch his legs out in, room service, newspaper each morning, even a member of staff who came round to 'turn our bed down' on the first night!

And to top it all off, our first complimentary honeymoon gift - a heart-shaped chocolate mousse cake with dark chocolate shavings! Delicious!

Apart from enjoying all this extravagance at the Sofitel, we spent a lot of time at the super convenient, super cheap shopping mall, MBK, where Christmas shopping has never been more affordable. Needless to say our backpacks will be topping the scales when we check in for our flight home!

We also treated ourselves to some alfresco cocktails at the fantastic Vertigo Bar at the Banyan Tree Hotel, sitting out on the 59th floor with unparalleled views across the neon lit skyline, as well as a sumptuous dinner at Eat Me art restaurant - the theme of this trip really has been 'watch us eat and drink our way around the world!'

The other highlight was when we walked past Patpong Road and one of the strip bar touts came across offering a 'ping pong show' and Libby said to Dave "What was he selling? Pink Ponchos?!" Classic. Oh how we laughed!

With the adventure almost over, we'll save the thanks and reflections for a last entry once we get home tomorrow. So for now, we'll just say, thanks for the memories.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Pee Pee

2009-12-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

By the time our ferry pulled into Ton Sai Bay at Koh Phi Phi, we were well and truly relaxed after our four days on sleepy Koh Lanta and were seriously winding down for our last week of travelling.

As a result, we didn't get up to anything much other than working on our tans on the beach outside our resort, paddling in the warm and crystal clear turquoise waters of the bay, a little frisbee here, a little beach tennis there, more good food at night as well as watching a few fire poi displays on the beach...you could hardly call it culture but that wasn't really the point of making a stop on this island, which has long been turned into a traveller's plaything.

We came to relax and reflect on the travelling we've done over the last 7 months and somehow, prepare ourselves for the trip home and the shock of returning to 'real life'. But we tried to keep that out of our minds for now and just enjoy the long sunny days and balmy nights in this little slice of paradise.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Koh Lantaaaaaaa!

2009-12-16T03:29:00.000-08:00

Getting from Chiang Mai to Koh Lanta, we had to stay a night in Phuket and the less we say about that place the better. Its a noisy, classless den full of noisy classless people. We were glad to get the hell outta there the next morning, boarding a ferry that took us to Koh Lanta via Krabi.

Koh Lanta is the next big island along from Koh Phi Phi but much more relaxed. Dave visited here in 2006 and while the mostly Muslim local communities have kept development in check, the roads have now been paved and there are a lot more 7 Elevens! We checked into the Lanta Mermaid Boutique Hotel for a little slice of luxury at the end of our backpacking sojourn and watched another amazing sunset on Klong Dao beach as locals fished good sized clams out of the sand for their dinner.

The next day, Dave reacquainted himself with scuba diving, having first learnt to do it on Koh Lanta four years ago. Completing two dives out at Koh Ha, he shared the water with lots of big squid, gropers, angel fish as well as a good sized octopus sliding his away across the ocean floor. There were tall towers of bright coral, some like brilliant pearls, electric blue starfish and even an underwater cave where Dave surfaced in.

Libby spent the day sunning on the beach, working on her tan but upped the ante the next day with a one-on-one yoga class, completed as the sun was going down at the beach. Very impressive.

Dave completed another dive a few days later, much deeper this time, at Hin Mueng (purple rock) and Hin Duang (red rock) - two underwater cliff formations covered in purple and red coral. The first dive at Hin Mueng was full of huge giant moral eels, trumpet fish, rainbow runners and trigger fish, one particular fellow taking a dislike to Dave and attacking his fin! There were gorgeous juvenile emperor angle fish at Hin Duang, as well as fluorescent wort slugs, orange spined unicorn fish as well as bird wrasse attacking a poor little jelly fish at the surface. So much to see.

As if the island surrounds were not enough, the people on Koh Lanta make it unforgettable. The family who run the Lanta Mermaid Hotel were brilliant and even the tuktuk driver we befriended, Mr Ivory, offered us 50% off at his (yet to be opened) restaurant if we returned to Koh Lanta, AND our unborn children would eat for free! We must add that Mr Ivory had a vision we would have 5 babies!!!! YES 5!! and the first one should be named Robin - the first one will be a boy said Mr Ivory. He also said one of the girls should be called Diana! Mr Ivory was slightly insane, but very funny all the same.

Poor Mr Ivory. If our children are born with Davey-Two-Meals genes, they are going to put him and his restaurant out of business!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Chiang Mai

2009-12-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

Our first night in Chiang Mai was spent indulging each of our favourite pleasures - food and shopping.

The Sunday Night Markets here are not to be missed. Hidden off the main thoroughfare in a series of courtyards is a seemingly endless array of food stalls, selling fresh rotti, noodles, sushi, juice, duck....the choices are endless and cheap beyond belief! As a result, we bought more plates than we could carry and eat more than we should - no surprise there.

Libby then indulged in some retail therapy as we worked our way through the hundreds of stalls manned by the small boutiques from the region - t-shirts, shoes, handbags, paintings, ornaments, jewellery...so many stalls, so much for Libs to buy!

There were two main reasons we came to Chiang Mai, not just food and shopping, but cooking and elephants. We trumped for a fantastic full day cooking school at Baan Thai, starting with the usual visit to a local market for our super fresh ingredients. It was then back to the lovely provincial townhouse to start off our class with some easy stir fries (sweet basil prawns for Dave, chicken and cashew nuts for Libs), before moving onto a little more technique for the fish cakes, spring rolls and deep fried bananas no calorie counting here! It was time for muscle after that as we pummelled the mortar and pestle for our curry pastes that formed the basis of our Chiang Mai noodle and Panaeng curries. There was also soups of hot and sour prawns and seafood in coconut milk and when you consider we ate everything we prepared that day, needless to say we were stuffed! But the best result of the day was when Dave managed to talk his way into getting an old photo from the houseowner that showed Elvis Presley sitting with the King and Queen of Thailand - the King and the King! That's going straight to the pool room!

As for the elephants, we spent an amazing and without sounding cliched, life changing day out at the Elephant Nature Park, just 40km outside Chiang Mai but a world away from the hustle and bustle of Thailand's second biggest city. It is a slice of real paradise and seeing their 35 Asian elephants (together with dogs, cats, water buffalo and who knows how many birds) living and playing out their days without fear and full of love, it changed the way we thought about these graceful but threatened giants.

The people of Thailand worship the elephant as a national symbol of strength and perseverance. And yet, the Thai government watch idly as elephants are tortured as they are 'broken in' to serve their masters for profit. Asian elephants were traditionally used as cheap labour in foresting but after that industry was ended in the early 90s, elephants were out of work and became a nuisance to villages' crops. As a result, many were shot, starved, abused or worse.

The Elephant Nature Park was set up by a woman named Lek (which means small in Thai) to save those elephants treated most poorly. Elephants like Jokia who was blinded in both eyes by her forestry employer when she refused to work after losing a baby. Or Hope who was made an orphan when villagers shot and killed his mother for eating their corn crops. Or Lily who became addicted to the amphetamine used by her masters to get her to work around the clock. So many sad stories, all turned around by Lek and her merry band of mahouts (elephant trainers) and volunteers who brought these gorgeous giants to this sanctuary where they live out their lives happily and free of harm.

During our day here, we got to feed the elephants twice, pet the baby calves through their enclosure as they ran around in the dust, even bathe the elephants in the river that runs through the sanctuary, scrubbing their rough skin with brushes and tickling them behind their ears.

To get so close to such powerful animals,to feel their appreciation of our affection, to see love and good replacing pain and hurt, was something truly powerful and unforgetable.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Crossing the borders

2009-12-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

Leaving Luang Nam Tha turned out to be a little easier than leaving Nong Khiaw. We knew when the mini van was leaving, we just couldn't find anyone who would sell us a ticket! But never fear, in true 'she'll be right mate' Laos style, we turned up at the bus station and someone was waiting there with his mini van and ushered us aboard! Too easy!

The road to the border town of Muang Xai passes through the province of Bokeo where the scenery is gorgeous, all lush green ranges, valleys suffocated by untamed jungle and lots of small villages of bamboo stilt huts lining the roadside. There were some patches of rough road that played havoc with Dave's belly after taking the Pepsi challenge with the Laos chilli pastes the day before but he grinned and bared it.

Once we had crossed the Mekong and into Thailand, we boarded our "express bus" to Chiang Rai. It was amazing to see the difference in development between these two South East Asian neighbours. All of a sudden it was all sealed roads, street lights, large houses - sights we had grown accustomed to not missing in Laos.

Chiang Rai itself is friendly (particularly our slightly crazy, singing hostel owner) but not especially pretty. We checked out the night markets and watched some local entertainment over beers and dinner.

We had a little lie in the next morning despite the local school brass band practicing their scales at 9am! In the afternoon we took another local bus, this time heading north to the border with Myanmar at a town named Mae Sai. The bus itself was teeming with people and Mae Sai is just your typical frontier town with the typical frontier town market - though we did buy rather fetching animal hats to wear this Xmas (a prize to anyone who can guess what animals we each are).

The following day we made the crossing to Myanmar though we almost got ourselves in hot water straight away as we somehow managed to walk straight past the passport checkpoint (they had a curtain covering the door) and so when we realised nobody had checked our documents, we turned back and they showed us the way. Phew!

The Burmese frontier town of Tachilek is also full of the usual guff, with a few special extras like Viagra and Saddam Hussein playing cards! We took a tuktuk to see some local temples and another large gold stupa before skipping back into Thailand to catch a bus and a 'songtheaw' (basically a ute with two long benches in the back that acts as a taxi for smaller destinations) to Mae Salong, a pretty alpine town that sits atop a mountain ridge line and was settled by the Kuomingtang Army after they retreated from China following their defeat by Mao Zedong's Red Army. As a result, the town is just as Chinese as it is Thai, evidenced by the architecture and signage, as well as the faces of the local people themselves.

While in Mae Salong, we walked up the 700+ steps to reach the temple at the top of the hill but opted for a motorbike the next day to explore the local Akha and Laho villages, bounded by tidy tea and coffee plantations. We also visited a weird unfinished tea pot monument that looked like something out of an Alice in Wonderland movie set!

That morning, Dave had got out of bed early to see the sunrise and wander through the small but very interesting morning market where some ladies wore their tribal headresses as they tended their stalls. Watching the deep fried doughballs being prepared and fried was slightly meditative, as was watching the local children kneeling before the monks to offer them donated food and to receive their blessing.

There was also the crazy-cymbal-playing-man who walked through town with his huge bright orange glasses and crashed his cymbals while walking his brightly decorated pony! Maybe all this mountain air was too much for him!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Luang Nam Tha

2009-12-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Getting to Nong Khiaw was pretty easy, getting out was proving to seem a little more difficult. The general idea was to take a public bus to Odomxai, a kind of arterial town in northern Laos, and change for a minibus to get to our destination, Luang Nam Tha. Seemed simple enough.

The problem was that nobody was entirely sure what time the bus to Odomxai was actually leaving (one person said 9am, another 9.30, another 10am). As the ticket window was closed when we arrived, we couldn't ask there so we took the safe option of getting to the booth at 8.30am the following morning, whereupon we were kindly informed that the bus was leaving at 11am! Dammit!

So we cooled our heels in a cafe for a few hours and when we returned at 10.30 to buy our tickets, some confused murmuring went on between the driver and the ticket man and then suddenly, at the last minute, they offered to take us all directly to Luang Nam Tha! Score! Only in Laos can they be so attractively nonchalant.

The road was yet another sinuous and often very rough test of our stomachs and backsides, though the scenery was, once again, glorious. There were a lot of roadworks going on using Chinese machinery and lorries, proof of the support Laos is now receiving from its big northern neighbour. We made it to Luang Nam Tha, a little brittle and broken, but after another very good Indian dinner (this time at Yamuna), we felt human again. Dave even had a few of the Hmong tribes ladies offer him (in very hushed tones) some opium for desert, which he politely declined!

The next day we did some exploring of the lush areas surrounding this dusty little town on some hired bicycles. It was cold in the morning as we pushed out to see Tam Dee Waterfall but the weather changed quickly around 10am as the mist burnt off and the sun came out so we had to double back to change into cooler clothes! We saw some local boys playing football on rice paddies and a giant golden stupa on the hillside before heading back out of town to the excellent Boat Landing restaurant for lunch. They do great northern Lao food and their menu is brilliant as it explains the genesis and (very importantly) the chilli content of each dish. Dave decided he had tiptoed around the mild dishes for long enough and jumped in for some chilli paste and sticky rice, a decision he lived to regret the following morning!

In the afternoon, we passed through small rural villages of black Thai people. We had bought educational books and pens from the excellent literacy NGO called Big Brother Mouse in town, with the hope that we could give them away at schools we passed along the way, but each one we passed was closed! Seems Lao children only do mornings!

As we returned to town, we got a real treat when we stopped by a local wedding party and were invited in. Apparently this was day 3 of the festivities and the bride and groom had cleverly taken their leave yesterday, leaving their family and friends to get suitably sozzled! Libby was invited to join in a traditional circle dance, kind of like the macarena but without the hip wiggling! Libs was really getting into it while Dave took pictures and drank rice whisky with the local brewer.

Good times.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Upriver to Nong Khiaw

2009-12-01T02:36:00.000-08:00

Most travellers taking a boat out of Luang Prabang take a two day slow boat up the Mekong to the border with Thailand. We decided to take the river less travelled and jumped on a slow boat up the Nam Ou river to reach the village of Nong Khiaw and we were glad we did.

We were lucky enough to snag one of the six cumfy seats on the boat (the rest were all just small wooden seats with even smaller pillows on them) and could then just sit back and watch the world go by as we pushed against the current in the clean emerald water, the river bounded by lots of limestone karst mountainside and small villages on the banks going about their daily life.

Nong Khiaw itself is a small and basic village but it is set between beautiful limestone mountains and the sunsets there are gorgeous. If you are leaving Luang Prabang, you could do a lot worse than getting out by boat to Nong Khiaw.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Luang Prabang

2009-12-01T02:10:00.000-08:00

It was a another long and winding minibus ride from Phonsavan to Luang Prabang, twisting through sinuous roads, hugging the rising and falling terrain of longview landscapes - it all had Dave wishing he was out on a motorbike again!

Luang Prabang is a beautiful UNESCO listed city where the main streets are lined with shuttered and whitewashed French colonial townhouses and the city itself is bounded by the Mekong and Nam Ou rivers, while limestone mountains look down on it from all sides. It is truly stunning.

We ran into Felicity (who we had met at Lazy Beach in Cambodia) and her fella, Tim, and we spent a day mooching around the lovely surrounds as we cycled on bikes. We swung around the Nam Khan peninsula, passing lots of provincial buildings as well as a nice collection of cool art deco houses built in the 60s and 70s. We headed over to the local market where there were lots of 'interesting' fresh meat stalls, including lots with jiggly flourescent red blood cake, small bags of iridescent green buffalo bile and a man sporting a 'hambag' - a shoulder bag made of bamboo for carrying a live piglet! So wish we'd got a photo of that!

We stopped for some noodly lunch at a local cafe where a crazy monk sat and drank his ice coffee while trying to scribble the That Chomsi temple out of the sky with his finger!? So we took our bikes and crossed the rickety bridge to the other side of the Mekong to sip some afternoon cocktails and watch the sun slowly set.

In the evenings, we worked our way through the excellent night markets where some of the best and most original handicrafts we've seen in South East Asia are sold at very good prices.

The following day we took a trek to see local tribes, elephants and waterfalls. We started at the Elephant Sanctuary where ex-working elephants get looked after. We crossed the river and made an easy trek to the first Khmu village, full of laughing kids. It was a steep climb to reach the Hmong village where the kids seemed less happy and then steep down again to the last Khmu village which was huge but very quiet. Then it was back down river to reach the beautiful Tat Kuang Si limestone waterfalls before heading back to town to catch sunset. That evening, we joined Flic and Tim for a 'Rambo Hotpot' which was not as hot as it sounds!

On our last morning in Luang Prabang, Dave got up at 5.30am to see the processions of monks file out of their temples and through the main streets to receive their alms (donations of food or money), their bright orange robes juxtaposed against the whitewashed buildings and ornate gold stupas. There were a lot of tourists out to experience this daily ceremony but there were also a number of local ladies who obviously make this part of their daily routine. It was a magical way to finish off our visit to this magical city.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Hmong New Year and the Plain of Jars

2009-11-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

We took a minivan to Phonsavan on true Lao time - the driver first had to stop for air in the tyres, then fuel, and then brunch an hour later - we eventually made it to Phonsavan in time to catch some of the Hmong New Year celebrations.

There was a fun fare in full swing, packed with locals and pretty Hmong girls in their traditional dress - layers of multicoloured tassels dangling with bells and coins attached to tunics and all different shaped brightly coloured hats finshed off with not so traditional socks and heeled sandles! The girls stand in lines, abreast from each other, with boys doing the same and opposite them, while they throw tennis balls to each other while they chat and sing songs as a way of courting one another - speed dating Hmong style! AND if they decide to take a wife, the young suitor 'kidnaps' his chosen bride and keeps her at his parent's home while he goes to negotiate the dowry.

The main reason for visiting Phonsavan and braving the very long and winding road (the locals really struggle with car sickness!) to reach it is to see the Plain of Jars, a mysterious collection of huge stone jars spread across the local plains and hillsides. The jars are dated at around 2500 years old and there are two theories as to their origin - the Lao theory is that there was a very powerful tribe that won a battle against their local enemies and the jars are basically what's left over from the huge party that ensued and were used to make rice whisky; while the western theory, researched by a French archeologist in the 1930s is that the jars are actually funereal urns however the bones found by the archeologist at that time were lost and never found again particularly after the US significantly carpet bombed the region during the late 1960s and early 1970s (in fact, a ridiculous number of unexploded ordinances remain in the regions and hundreds of Laotians, including children, die each year from trying to recover these unexploded bombs).

We took a tour to visiting three of the main sites - the first was a plain with more than 300 stone urns, some more than 2m high; the second on two small hill tops overlooking lush valleys; and the third was a small cluster of large jars on the other side of some rice paddies. We also dropped in on a rice whisky home brewery where Grandma rolled out her best drop but as you can see from the pic, Libs was not impressed!

Phonsavan was also our first taste of cold weather for some time so we had to unfortunately drag out our winter clothes and wrap up warm for the freezing nights. We don't know how we are going to cope in the UK in December! Best not to think about it.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Laid back Laos

2009-11-30T01:42:00.000-08:00

It was a fairly smooth flight into Vientiane, Laos on the twin propelled plane with all 6 of us on there plus 4 crew (we're both still surprised they didn't actually cancel it with so few of us!). On arriving into Laos we could already see how relaxed Laotians are - there was some confusion on our part as to where to get a taxi from but no one seemed to worry...eventually someone told us to buy a ticket here and wait here and then eventually that same guy who did that turned up in the taxi. Brilliant! It was a quiet taxi ride to our hotel in what is meant to be the busy capital!

We hired bikes to explore the capital (something we wouldn't of dared dream of in Vietnam) but it didn't exactly take long to see the sights - one temple complex called Pha That Luang and an Arc d'Triumphe like gate called Patuxai - so after just a few hours we dropped off the bikes and took a bus to Vang Vieng. Again the laid back Laotians meant our supposedly 3 hour journey ended up being over 5 hours. Their laid back organisational skills are something you grow to love and have patience for in Laos.

Vang Vieng was much smaller and quieter than we'd imagined and full of young drunk or hungover travellers recovering from a days tubing. Our first meal in Vang Vieng was yet another taste of how laid back Laotians really are - the maitre'd/owner/chef/waiter/dishwasher was so laid back he was almost asleep - good job we weren't in a hurry to catch a bus or anything.

We awoke the following morning to a down pour which seemed to stay all day so unfortunately this put a dampner on our plans to go tubing (probably a good thing!). Instead we had brekkie by the Nam Song River and kicked back having a lazy day watching the rain - chilling out like true Laotians.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Angkor temples

2009-11-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

The temples of the lost civilisation of Angkor are really like nothing else on this planet, one of those rightly cliched "you've just gotta see it" places as no words or photos do justice.

Out tuktuk man, Mr Lucky, was waiting to take us through day one of our Angkor experience. We started at huge Sras Srang lake and Banteay Kdei which was beautifully quiet. Then it was onto the famous Ta Prohm where the armwrestle between the temples and the tress and vines growing over and through them continues but that temple is so popular that it is almost impossible to get a photo without another tourist in shot!

Ta Keo was a huge unfinished pyramid, too steep for us to climb, especially in our flipflops and in the driving heat so we went through the Victory Gate to the enormous Terraces of Elephants and the Leper King as well as the long causeway of Baphuon before arriving at the bewitching Bayon, where more than 300 huge stone faces look down and smile at you whereever you turn. While we were there, a great rainstorn hit, leaving us and Mr Lucky to take cover at one of the small stalls by the temple.

We waited out the storm before pressing on to Angkor Wat for a few hours of wandering and waiting for sunset, the sun fading over the western gate and throwing long shadows on the large grounds. It was more fantastic food for dinner, this time at Angkor Palm, whose fish amok is sure to become part of Dave's culinary repitoire!

Super early start for day two, up at half four to leave at five to try to catch sunrise over Angkor Wat but the cloud closed in just as the sun was rising, so we woke up Mr Lucky so we could beat the rush to Banteay Srei, some 20 odd kms from Angkor. Mr Lucky lived up to his name for us as after pushing through torrential rain to reach the temple, the sun broke through and when we arrived, there were only 4 other people there! It is a supremely beautiful temple with intricate carvings in salmon marble, a must do for any visit to the Angkor region.

We then doubled back to Eastern Mabon and Ta Som where a huge tree was overgrowing the eastern gate and very clever local kids sold their wares while counting to ten in english, french, german and spanish. We moved onto Preah Neak and the enormous Preah Khan where another massive tree was taking hold at the front of what was once a buddhist university, now covered in luminous moss and jumbles of vines.

By that stage, we were pretty templed out but you could on and back for days and days, exploring and sampling at different times of day and in different lights. It is a photographer's paradise and one we loved.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Siem Reap rewards

2009-11-29T23:40:00.000-08:00

It was with a heavy heart and serious hangover that we left Lazy Beach, at least thankful that the sea was as calm as a lake. We boarded a bus the following morning for the long ride across Cambodia to reach Siem Reap for some templing.

It was less torturous than we were expecting, good service on the bus and a good driver who managed to dodge the many cattle and pigs stepping out onto the road. We made a short stop in Kompong Thom where a street stall was selling bugs, crickets and tarantulas - Libby was revolted and Dave wasn't even tempted! We pulled into Siem Reap just after another magnificent sunset (how many of those have we watched on this trip?!?) and took a quick tuktuk ride to Good Kind Guesthouse where we seemed to be the only people staying there! No matter, like the sign said, it was good and they were kind.

We took another tuktuk into town for a dinner at Khmer Kitchen of fantastic fresh spring rolls, Khmer fish curry and pork lab salad (minced pork with mint and chilli). Yum!

Dave noticed Siem Reap had changed a lot since he visited in 2006 but the food at Khmer Kitchen is still oh so good!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Lazy Beach

2009-11-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a tip off from Dave's friend Collins, we took a boat out to Koh Rong Saloem to reach Lazy Beach resort, an idyllic and relaxed spot with just 12 timber bungalows with straw roofs, sitting on a pristine beach of soft sand, crystal water and long sunsets! Bliss!

We came for three nights but ended up staying five! Chris, Jay and Carrie were suitably laidback hosts in this supremely laidback piece of paradise, with afternoons and evenings spent sipping beers and chewing the fat with them at the bar. Or watching huge geckos catch cicadas for their dinner. Or Boysy and Spoon (Chris' dogs) nick barstools whenever anyone stood up.

We did manage to get in some snorkelling on two occasions, seeing some decent fish and some live coral. We also grappled with the wildlife on our doorstep - literally so sometimes! - with cicadas howling like boiling kettles at sunrise and sunset, mongoose and monkeys rustling the trees in the jungle behind our bungalow, geckos scampering around at night chasing a feed and what turned out to be a hornbilled stork that woke Libs up with a fright when it called out loudly from the roof directly above our bed at four in the morning! It was also nice to see hermit crabs out at night for mating season as well as the phosphorus looking like stardust in the dark water!

There were lots of long days spent doing very little at all, a morning swim, late breakfast and a good read over coffee and juice, some sun, another swim, maybe a snorkel or digging some clams out of the beach sand for dinner, then some lunch, more sun and swimming in the late afternoon as we watched the sun slowly disappear and leave crimson and pink streaks across the striking blue sky. Then a shower before the bugs struck and another highlight, the fantastic dinners that were cooked up by the local cooks, we've never tasted such amazingly fresh food! And to top it off, a few lazy drinks over boardgames, cards and chats at the bar.

Paradise lost? Now found @ Lazy Beach, Cambodia.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Holiday in Cambodia, Holiday in Cambodia!

2009-11-26T22:10:00.000-08:00

With this Dead Kennedys ditty ringing in Dave's ears (Libby had no idea what he was on about!), we made a pretty seamless transfer from Vietnam to Cambodia, taking a bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh after having flown from Hanoi to Saigon the night before. The only hitch was having to squeeze into a minivan when we got close to Phnom Penh as the Water Festival was in full swing and the non-stop police checkpoints meant our bus couldn't proceed.

The Water Festival was awash with colours with dragon boat racing taking place on the Tonle River and street stalls selling deep fried shrimp patties as well as less than inviting bugs and crickets! It also lived up to its name when the heavens opened in the afternoon and an almighty downpour hit, leaving tourists like us to run for cover in cafes while the locals simply walked through the deluge as though it was nothing to worry about! It had cleared by dinner time when we walked back to the riverfront (where huge lightboats were moored along the shore) for some excellent Khmer food, watched on by the biggest gecko we had ever seen!

The next day we hired a tuktuk for a tour of the city, starting with the confronting Killing Fields. It was difficult to comprehend the pure evil that was perpetrated there but the excellent stupa memorial paid due tribute to the almost 9000 victims' skulls and bones that had been recovered.

We then visited the S21 Tuol Sleng prison, another place full of tortured ghosts past. There was an excellent photography exhibition from Cambodians who had lost their loved ones during the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror and again, it was hard to fathom the random hate and murder they brought upon their own people. Cambodia still carries those scars as many of the main members of the Khmer Rouge either died before prosecution, including Pol Pot, or are yet to be brought before the specially commissioned court.

The Russian Market was not much to see but the Royal Palace was suitably grand, especially the Silver Pagoda with silver tiles lining the floor and diamond encrusted buddhas on pedestals. It was however a lot of grandeur in what is still a very poor country.

The next day we took a bus to Sihanoukville, down on the south coast. There were Cambodian karaoke videos and badly dubbed kung fu movies blaring from the tv as free, but ultimately unwanted entertainment. It was lovely to be on the coast again and we spent the afternoon having drinks by the water, watching boys net fishing for tiny fish that just didn't seen like the effort! In the evening, we had a fantastic one hour massage for less than 6 quid each!

Holiday in Cambodia!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Heaven on two wheels!

2009-11-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

Back in 2006, Dave made his first visit to Vietnam and found some of the best travelling he'd ever done was on motorbike, with a local guide from Voyage Vietnam in Hanoi, heading northwest to Thac Ba Reservoir and to see white Thai villagers in Mai Chau.

So Dave was over the moon when Libby agreed to ride pillion passenger on a 9 day tour through the far north and northeast of Vietnam this time round (what a super wife!).

We had hoped to do the ride alone with a guide but that just didn't work out so we joined a tour that was leaving at around the same time, with 12 riders flying in from Melbourne for the experience. We were a little apprehensive about touring around with such a large group of riders we hadn't met before, but as you'll read below, it turned out to be another magical experience that we will always remember.

The general route was to visit Ba Be lake and Thac Ba Reservoir on the first two days before heading right up against the northern border with China and working our way east through the highlands there before returning to Hanoi, hopefully, in one piece! It would be some of the most difficult riding Dave had ever done but the scenery we saw and people we met were more than enough reward for our effort.

DAY 1: Hanoi - Red River - Vinh Yen - Son Duong - Dang Nga - Cho Chu - Bang Lung - Ba Be Lake, Pac Ngoi Village and Nom Ou Community
The first morning at the office in Hanoi was complete mayhem! We seemed to be short on bikes and top heavy on luggage! Due to delayed delivery of a number of 250cc bikes, Voyage Vietnam had to hire bikes to get us going. Also, as some of the guys from Melbourne were big fellas (120kg+!), the bigger bikes went to them and we ended up with a Yamaha YPF125cc. Not the most exciting bike to ride but it ended up being very reliable and generally comfortable.

As our motley crew of bikes (including a few Russian Minsks whose two stroke 125cc engines can be seen spewing blue smoke all across Vietnam) made the hot and sweaty exit from Hanoi, we first hugged the Red River and then cut across town past the airport to escape the crazy city drivers and riders. The traffic slowly thinned out as the sprawling industrial towns started to give way to rural communities.

After lunch we worked the bikes up through green countryside, greeted at almost every turn by children running out to scream "Hello!" as we rode by, a beautiful phenomenon that would greet us on almost every day of our ride. We were also greeted by what seemed like all of god's creatures who hung out either by or sometimes on the roadside - dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, geese, buffalos - all sharing the road with us and making for some hairy moments as the sun started to fade as we finally reached our homestay on Ba Be Lake after a very long day's riding.

DAY 2: Ba Be Lake - Bung Lung - Yen Thinh - Vinh Loc - Tuyen Quang - Thac Ba Bridge - Vu Linh Community and Ngoi Tu Village for homestay with Dao tribe family
After waking up to the cacophony of cocks crowing across the valley and joining our group on the patio for banana fritters for breakfast, we rode out past the spectacular Ba Be Lake where locals were up early and fishing with nets from longboats, heading onto Bang Lung. What better way to spend a morning than an early ride through wonderful scenery?!?!

From Bang Lung we took a small dirt road which started out as a single sandy lane and soon turned into a track only wide enough for a single wheel which hugged an outcrop beside a river below. This was used by French colonial troops during their occupation of Indochina and often the track passed through small tunnels in the mountainside before reaching a 'bridge' made of three planks of timber which we gingerly crossed.

On the other side of the river, the track was very wet and slippery which one of our group, Graham, found to his detriment when he managed to plunge his bike (luckily, without him going also) over the edge and into the river! Now, remember those big 120kg+ boys? Well Michael and Greg came in handy here as they basically climbed down, lifted the bike back up to the track and got it going again! The single wheel track continued along the river, then became a dirt road again before spitting us out across a suspension bridge to reach the sealed road again, some welcome respite of easy riding after a long morning of offroad.

After lunch it was an easy section onto our homestay by Thac Ba Reservoir, but not for the poor calf we saw hog tied and hanging off the back of a Honda Cub 110cc!

There are a few things guaranteed at a homestay - warm hospitality, good local food and lots of 'happy water' aka homemade rice whisky! Our hosts at Ngoi Tu village made sure that we learned how to say '1-2-3-go!' in Vietnamese as we downed shot glass after shot glass of the warming booze - 'mut-hai-ba-jo!'

DAY 3: Vu Linh -Thac Ba - Yen The, Luc District - Pho Rang - Bac Ha - Long Phinh market - Xin Man
Well today turned out to have absolutely everything from a riding point of view! We started with a very quick but very bumpy run alongside Thac Ba Reservoir (we had a few bucking bronco moments where we were both ejected out of our seats as we dipped through huge potholes!), stopping at Yen The before taking a fast downhill run on a good paved road to reach Pho Rang for lunch where the very drunk locals at the table next to us provided free entertainment.

After lunch, it was a lovely run up through verdant hillsides, we could have been anywhere in western Europe! We stopped in at Bac Ha for a drink where Mike was accosted by some local flower H'mong ladies who were more than happy to hawk their wares to him.

But the last run of the day, between Long Phinh and Xin Man, was some of the toughest and best riding Dave had ever done. You couldn't really describe it as a road, more of a goat track that will one day become a road as works are currently underway. However, with steady rainfall in the days before we arrived, the track had become a muddy mess! But it was not just mud that tried to halt our progress (though there was more than enough of that!), but it was also very slippery clay and loose rocks, deep holes filled with groundwater, huge pine tree branches that the local villagers had cut down and were dragging home along the track and giant loose gravel stones that were yet to be secured as roadbase for when the road finally appears!

As the sun set behind us, we pushed on through all of this to reach the steep, but thankfully, sealed road to Xin Man. It was an incredibly difficult ride through that area but one we are very happy to have done and somehow, managed to stay upright all the way through!

In Xin Man, we had two little surprises we wished we hadn't met. Firstly, there was a grasshopper the size of a kitten waiting on our bed when we checked into our hotel and secondly, the circus was in town which included a few sad shows were a monkey was paraded on a bike and tightrope while his 'trainer' kept the whip at the ready should he make a mistake. It was a sorry end to a great day out.

DAY 4: Xin Man - Vinh Quang - Tan Quang - Ha Giang - Tay Village and Lan Phuong Community
Unfortunately, rain greeted us this morning as we left Xin Man after scooping down some beef pho for breakfast. It was a long and difficult ride through spitting rain and thick mist as we wound along on twisting roads that hugged the valley sides but the scenery was again spectacular and on balance, probably made all the more so by the weather. The steep valleys were full of terraced rice fields, poking through the mist that tried to hide the river below. We made a great stop at a high point to meet and interact with a group of Red Zao tribespeople, especially their beautiful children with their traditional head dress.

We eventually pulled out onto the highway and pushed on to reach Ha Giang city, a large hub with a direct road to the Chinese border. We stayed in a homestay at Tay Village, some 5km out of town and walked around the village to see their stilt homes with ponds full of fish, cucumber crops and as always, women working in the fields.

DAY 5: Tay Village - Tam Son - Yen Minh - Can Ty market - Dong Van - Meo Vac
It was a quick morning ride through Ha Giang and then out of town where we hit more bloody roadworks! By this stage, the tour had started to feel like we were delibrately visiting every section of roadworks in northern Vietnam! But we pushed through before making another long and beautiful climb through lush green mountainside, reaching 'Heaven's Gate' where we had a stunning 360 degree view across the far northern highlands, stopping at Tam Son for a coffee where Libby saw a dentist working on a patient out on the front patio and facing the main street!
On the way out of town, we stopped into a local market near Cay Ty which was full of blue H'mong and Zao tribespeople, mostly in traditional dress. Dave took a quick dip in the river while we waited for a few lost guys from the group to catch up again and then we moved onto Yen Minh for lunch before riding up, up and up again where the green fields slowly gave way to tall pines and volcanic looking rocky outcrops which gave the impression that we had stepped into a prehistoric land! We met some local kids at one high point and gave them some pens and notepads and balloons. One boy lost his balloon over the precipice and promptly run around the barrier and climbed down the rocks to catch it!

DAY 6: Meo Vac - Ban Tong - Na Phong - Bao Lac - Tinh Tuc - Nguyen Binh - Cao Bang
It was chicken pho for breakfast this morning in Meo Vac before a magnificent morning ride out of the valley, passing the Jurassic scenery of black rock formations with tight cropped green between them broken up by huge mushroom shaped piles of corn stalks. Simply stunning! It was another quick dash along the valley floor, lots of twists and bumps, then across the river where we came across another local market, this one near Na Phong, with lots of curious locals gawked at our bikes.

In the afternoon, we had some close calls with some roaming cows and saw a toddler running by the roadside with a baby sibling on his back, one of so many images that will stay with us long after this trip is over! We also passed the 1000km mark for the tour and got a photo of the 'Minsk Club' of Mike, Colin and Dicky who had managed to get their Russian machines to that important milestone in one piece!

DAY 7: Cao Bung - An Lei - Quang Uyen - Trung Khan - Nguom Ngao cave - Ban Gioc waterfall - Quay Son River - Bang Ca - Ha Lang - Quang Uyen
Just another day of fantastic riding, again!

We started out with some good smooth tarmac with lots of fast bends, then passed a cement plant that had blown dust across the nearby fields, giving them a dusting of 'snow'. It was then on through small villages on some more fast and bumpy stuff to reach Nguom Ngao cave, some 900m in length, full of limestone formations and used to be called Tiger Cave when a tiger lived there in the 1920s.

It was a quick run round the corner to reach Ban Gioc waterfall, made up of very pretty cascades but 'NO SWIMMING!' as enforced by the little man with his whistle - with China on the other side of the Quay Son river that the falls form part of, you could understand his apprehension! Not that it stopped us riding a little further down the river for a quick refreshing dip with Mike and Dicky before a Party member came along and told us to get out!

The afternoon ride back from the border to reach our homestay in Quang Uyen was fabulous, beautiful countryside, happy children all out waving and shouting, all against a stunning sunset!

DAY 8: Quang Uyen - Phuc Hoa - Dang Khe - That Khe - Van Mich - Binh Gia - Bac Son - Thai Nguyen
There was more fast twisting sealed road to start the day as we rode out of Quang Uyen to Phuc Hoa but that soon changed as pushed through some more difficult roadworks, again full of tough terrain, giving Michael a flat front tyre and for Brian, unfortunately, a busted knee. He had to take a bus back to Hanoi to get it stitched up so we would catch him again tomorrow when we got back.

We were very happy to see some more sealed road to That Khe for lunch but it was bumps again after that and then a small winding road down the hillside to reach Binh Gia and onto Bac Son where we were supposed to spend the night. But the hotel had no water so we pushed on to Thai Nguyen through polluted industrial towns. It was here we had our last dinner together and had the opportunity to thank our trusty and patient local guide, Tam and our ingenious mechanic, Cong.

DAY 9: Thai Nguyen - Hanoi
It was a quick but absolutely crazy run for the last 76km back to Hanoi. Ridiculous traffic, stupid drivers and riders, we saw the aftermath of at least 4 bike accidents (including one that looked fatal) after having seen no accidents at all in 4 weeks in Vietnam!

At one point, we were forced onto the gravel verge as a car overtook the bus coming towards us, and a minibus overtook the car overtaking the bus so they were three abreast the roadway!

Needless to say, we were overjoyed to make it back to Hanoi in one piece, never having dropped the bike as we covered more than 1600 km in 9 days across all sorts of terrain and through all sorts of hazards!

But more than that, we were thankful to have seen a side of Vietnam that so few tourists get to see and to meet the real tribespeople that inhabit the northern highlands of this beautiful country!

Truly amazing.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Sapa

2009-10-23T23:17:00.000-07:00

Sapa is a town in the highlands of the northwest of Vietnam, a stone's throw away from the highest peak in Indochina, Mount Fransipan. We reached it by yet another overnight train, this time from Hanoi to Lao Cai which is right by the Chinese border, pulling in to warm darkness at 5.30am and then driven the 40 odd km to Sapa, a short but very steep trip through misty valleys.

The town of Sapa and the surrounding region is home to many indigenous tribes, most of home fled persecution in China a few hundred years ago. As we arrived into town, curious women of the black H'mong tribe, all less than 5ft tall and all dressed in their traditional outfits made of handwoven hemp and dyed with a dark blue colour made from a local flower, gawked at us through the van windows. After breakfast, they proved a lot more open and savvy, asking question upon question and politely trying to sell their wares to us as they remained glued to our sides through the day.

It seems that since good roadways were built around 2001, the tribeswomen have been coming to Sapa to walk with tourists who were trekking through this region and through their villages, a safe and interesting way for them to learn english and create income by selling along the way. There is no doubt they are persistent, asking over and over 'Buy from me' but they are simple people with an interest in foreigners and are happy to help with the hard bits of the trek. They also have very beautiful faces, full of expression, character and almost always, laughter!

Our excellent local guide, Name, led us out on the first morning for a four hour round trip down to Cat Cat village to see a waterfall and an old French built power station now used as a hall to show tribal dancing. After the long overnight train trip, we needed a long snooze in the afternoon to ready ourselves for the two day trek we were about to embark on!

As we departed on the second morning, a group of 5 H'mong women left with us for the long walk to their village of Giang Ta Chai. The questions started again but this time we got to ask a few in reply. It seems most of them marry at 16, start having children at 17 and often birth their children at home without medicine and with only the help of their mother. As it turned out, we found out later that one of the women who walked with us that day, covering the 14 km of hot, steep and often slippery terrain, was 8 months pregnant and another, had lost a child to fever just 10 days ago! Talk about resilience!

It was an easy flat decline on the road out of Sapa but after a kilometre or so, we plunged into the valley to reach the first village of Y Linh Hao, helped every step of the way by our tribeswomen friends. Libby often had a woman on each arm, holding her weight and make her footing sure! Dave managed on his own in a very manly way but after switching off his concentration for a moment, managed to put both feet in ankle deep mud when he wasn't watching where he was stepping!

The landscape is quintessentially spectacular. Thousands of hillsides in the valley are terraced with recently harvested rice paddies, all carved by hand scythe, creating a live topography map. It's easy to see why they say that the wet rice paddies are full of sweat as the terraces are often too steep and narrow for buffalo, meaning all the planting, watering and harvesting has to be done by hand!

After lunch by the river at Lao Chai, we visited a primary school in Ta Van village, built and maintained by the government but supported by Unicef who provide books, pens and bags for the children. It was nice to see the real life end product of the support that we and many other people give to this huge organisation. Leaving the school, our happy H'mong ladies helped us up the valley face and through a bamboo forest, coming out the other side next to a waterfall situtated above the Giang Ta Chai village where we would spend the night with a local family. It was here we bid goodbye to our H'mong friends, but not before some stern bargaining to purchase some handmade pillowcases, bracelets and bookmarks in order to thank them for their help to reach our destination.

Our homestay family belonged to the Dzay tribe, who do not wear distinctive tribal clothing but live side by side with the black H'mong and Red Zao tribes. The parents had two small sons, one at the local school which is also supported by Unicef, and they were extremely welcoming and friendly - especially the father who brought out his 'Happy Water' moonshine during our dinner feast which we helped prepare! Needless to say, we slept like logs after the long walk, especially with the knowledge that tomorrow's walk was 'shorter, but more vertical'. Sheesh!

It was a very steep hike up and out of the valley, passing an even smaller primary school where children share classrooms in years 1 and 2, 3 and 4 etc, with one set of students facing a blackboard at the front and they others facing the blackboard at the back of the room, while the teacher oscillates between the two. Also, the teacher visits the homes of the children each morning before class to get them to come to school in order to encourage attendance! Amazing.

We stopped in at a house of a Red Zao family, whose tribe wear distinctive red head dresses and once married, shave their eyebrows to signify cleanliness! They also proudly refuse to eat dog (dog is eaten in Vietnam but only at the end of the month) as legend says that their ancestors survived only on the milk of a canine in a time of ancient famine!

Leaving the home, we dove down through more thick bamboo forest, passing huge and beautiful butterflies and locusts as we crossed the river at the bottom of the valley again, pushing hard back up the steep slope and past more terraced rice paddies to the road to Sapa. We were overjoyed to have made it to lunch on a little terrace in the breeze after such a hard slog that day, but the effort was well worth it! On the road back to Sapa we were amazed to see how much of the valley we had covered in our two day walk and equally amazed by the state of the road, broken in many places by landslides not yet repaired.

Sapa is now a busy tourist town with many travellers coming for the rewarding trekking in the valleys that lie below. But we were lucky enough to have walked with a guide who took us on the tracks less travelled (and more steep) and it was that, along with the friendly and entertaining tribespeople we interacted with along the way, that made this trip some of the best travelling we've done!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Hanoi locals

2009-10-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

By the end of our time here in Vietnam, we'll have spent almost a full week in the northern capital. During that time, we've felt very much at home and part of the local community. It's got to the point now where our coffee lady sees us coming and has our order on the way even before we sit down, friends we've made at cafes and restaurants spend longer each time chatting and practicing their english. It's a very friendly city, particularly in the Old Quarter and we'd recommend it to anyone looking to truly experience the romantic images and emotions of old Indochina.

The city is full of wily old characters like the man who runs the photo shop down the street from where we are staying who, while making a copy of our photos, engaged in a long chat about changes over the last thirty years for 'The Party', corruption, population growth, as well as memories of the War like 12 continuous days of bombing of the city by US B-52 bombers. We asked if he hid in basements or left the city but he replied that it was no use, if the bombs hit your home, you were dead in the basement or wherever so he preferred to watch from the roof.

The night markets on Hang Ngang Street are always buzzing. Women pushing past each other to reach bargain scarves and shoes, children in pyjamas playing on the footpath or walking with their parents, lads on scooters beeping and slowly weaving their scooters through the crowd with their girlfriends sitting side saddle.

Hanoi is much quieter, slower and easier to manage on a Sunday. The kids are out of school and piled into the internet gaming cafes. Women pushing bicycles overflowing with flowers or carrying baskets teeming with bananas for sale wander through the streets and the markets themselves are full but not rushed. The older generation walk around or sit by Hoam Kem Lake, pondering what life has given them and what is left to come. An old man opens the window of his upper floor apartment to hang washing on the hundreds of electrical wires above the street.

Before leaving for Sapa, we both endured a hilarious three hour 'foot spa', which turned out to consist of a bowl of warm water too small for both of Dave's feet, then a stern scraping of our feet to remove the dead skin, a foot massage, a dipping in paraffin wax and covering with cling film to keep the skin moist and warm, removal of the wax and rubbing with lavender oil, more foot massage and even a complimentary neck and shoulder massage; all for the bargain price of 8 quid each! We also stopped in at the hilariously named but actually quite good ice creamery - 'Fanny'. A very funny day indeed.

We've certainly visited the sights as well. Hoa Lo prison was quite bare and bleak, the Temple of Literature was an oasis of quiet in the hustle of the city, the City Flag Tower is yet another reminder of the colonial powers who have been and gone. We also stopped by KOTO for a lovely lunch prepared and hosted by young trainees. KOTO is a charity, set up by an Australian Vietnamese man Jimmy Phan, to give opportunities to children and young people in poverty, homelessness, and from disadvantaged backgrounds in Hanoi. Each year KOTO takes on around 50 trainees who are given a home and the opportunity to learn hospitality and catering skills as well as English over a 24 month period and whom are supported into a work placement when they have graduated. KOTO is much like what Jamie Oliver has done with Fifteen. Dave visted KOTO in 2006 when he was in Hanoi and was pleased to see the sandwich sized cafe grown into such a large buzzing successful restaurant.

The lasting memories for us will be the people themselves, their stories, their smiles, their interest and friendship. They have welcomed us into their city and made us feel less like foreigners. Thank you Hanoi.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Hanoi and Halong Bay

2009-10-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

Arriving late into Hanoi, we walked over towards the night market for some late dinner, only to find some of the most hilarious entries on our food stall's menu such as 'Intestine Hot Pot', 'Fried Noodle and Noodle', 'Poached Pigeon or Frog', 'Chicken Heart and Tiny Intestine' and best of all, 'Rarely Fighting Cock'! Needless to say, we opted for safe options like beef and potatoes and chips cooked in butter.

It was wet and windy the next morning so of course we decided to spend the day walking in the rain, doing a circuit of Hoam Kem Lake and stopping in at a few galleries. We then hiked it right across town to find the Bicycle Cafe, full of old velocettes and bikes and bric-a-brac. It was amazing to see locals using the street as an extension of their kitchen, even in the pouring rain. With no such thing as frozen storage, everything has to be bought fresh and cooked fresh. The whole city is a walking farmers market!

We had a lovely dinner at H Silk Cafe, a small but smart space above a silk shop. In the evening we indulged in some local 'kulcha' at the Water Puppet Theatre, a show of fire breathing dragons and spawning pheonix all set to traditional singing and music - Andy loved it! We stopped in at Half Man Half Noodle for a nightcap where Caroline, true to form, managed to order the strongest cocktail ever.

It was wet again the following morning when we left Hanoi for Halong Bay. It was a super slow drive out to the bay and a long wait for our boat but a lovely afternoon cruising between the limestone karsts, looking ominous in the grey mist. We kayaked through a small tunnel to reach a bay where a family of monkeys were clinging to the cliff face with their youngsters scaling the walls. We moored in a small cove for the night next to a 'party boat' where one reveller managed to dance on and then fall through a chair. Nice one. Andy and Dave rounded out the night by sampling the local Hanoi Vodka, rice fermented for a (not so) smooth taste!

Next morning Dave got up early for some photos at dawn with the boat later swinging out towards Cat Ba Island. The weather was perfect for sunning on the top deck and plenty of clear views of the more than 2000 limestone islands sitting in the emerald waters. Back on land, it was a quick lunch then slow ride back to Hanoi for our last night with Caroline and Andy. They were lovely enough to treat us to an amazing dinner that night at Green Tangerine, a fantastic French Vietnamese fusion restaurant set in a 1920's colonial house in the Old Quarter. A fitting end to a perfect two weeks with them. It was so lovely to have them along for the ride in Vietnam and we can't wait to hear their stories from Thailand and swap ours from the rest of our trip. Miss you guys already!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Danang and Hoi An

2009-10-17T23:48:00.000-07:00

We pulled into Danang the following morning and took a taxi for the 30km out to Hoi An, passing huge developments being built on the coastline including a Sheraton resort and Montgomery Golf course - Danang will be a very different city in 3 years time.

Hoi An is one of the most beautiful places in Vietnam, the whole city is UNESCO world heritage listed with houses and temples sporting a heavy Chinese influence, buildings washed in French colonial yellow, cobbled streets and super friendly people. They love to tout for every business you could possibly need in Hoi An but for the most part, it's friendly rather than pushy banter.

Andy and Dave kicked off the day with their own photography tour while Libby and Caroline got measured up for their tailor made dresses and jackets. The tailor was especially fond of Caroline who got a firm slap on the bum each time she finished a measurement!

We found a little strip of outdoor food stalls by the market on Le Loi and Nguyen Than Hoc streets, where cheap but scrummy local food is prepared quickly, noisily and always with a smile. The energy was always friendly when we ate there during our stay and Libby and Caroline even managed to meet some lads from their parents' hometown of Sprowston, Norfolk!

Next day we sharpened our culinary skills at the fabulous cooking course run by Red Bridge Restaurant and School. The day started with a visit to a local organic farm to see how their herbs are all grown, watered and picked by hand, even using a particular type of fish to purify the water they use on the plants rather than any sort of chemical! Dave even volunteered to help out with the watering. We then visited a local market to purchase our spices and vegetables for the dishes we were to make that afternoon and to see how fresh meat, chicken and fish is sold to the masses.

Our cooking class was held at a beautiful river villa and it was here we learnt the art of turning super fresh ingredients into fantastic tasting food. There's no magic to it, just a respect for the best and freshest ingredients possible and using them to compliment and highlight their tastes. We somehow managed to turn out a beef pho noodle soup (including rice noodles made from scratch!), grilled chicken salad, marinated prawns cooked in banana leaf and tumeric fish cooked in a clay pot....the best food we had tasted so far on the trip and some of the best food we had ever cooked ourselves! Caroline and Andy were especially adept so we are now expecting they will keep up the practice when they get home next week so that we can have a Vietnamese feast served up on our return in December!

Next day we hired a couple of scooters to ride out to Cua Dia beach for a spot of sun and a laugh at the men jackhammering on a roof top in their flipflops (no such thing as health and safety over here!) before riding out on back roads to see daily life at 30kph - women sifting rice by the side of the road, water buffalo working and lazing in fields, men throwing fishing nets out from their riverboats. Vietnam is certainly relishing their current peaceful life after generations of struggle against external invaders.

Dinner that night was back at our friendly spot on Le Loi where Caroline spotted an offer on the menu that sounded just too good to be true - "Buy one, get one!" Bargain!

We took the bikes out again on our last day in Hoi An, braving the heat and the dust on the road towards Danang to reach the Marble Mountains. Here, at the top of a lot of stairs, are pagodas and Buddhas and temples in caves carved out of the marble mineral that makes up these rocky outcrops. Long views of Danang's beaches are to be had from the top and as much as we would have liked to take a 'Happy Buddha only one dollar' home with us, it was too much weight to risk given our planned spending spree for our last days in Bangkok. So we legged it back to Hoi An before getting our flight (cancelled by Jetstar again! Thanks fellas!) to Hanoi.

Hoi An is definately a place to spend a few days in Vietnam. The old town is beautiful, the people kind and friendly and as Libby and Caroline will attest to, the tailored clothes and shoes a must!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Na na nana na na Nha Trang!

2009-10-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

After the (unnecessary) 5am wake up call from Libs and Caroline, we took an early breakfast and a little power snooze before heading out to Long Son Temple where a huge reclining marble Buddha rests in his side along with an imposing bright white sitting Buddha on the hill top. Our 'guide' convinced us that the monks were sleeping and we should therefore tip toe around the pagoda but given the searing heat, there was no way we were stomping around in any event.

After Long Son temple we stopped in at a small gallery of black and white photography by local artist, Long Thahn, with some fantastic portraits of daily life in this region. The afternoon was spent cooling down on the beach and (more) beers at sunset before a brilliant dinner in the evening at Lac Cahn restaurant, where we grilled little marinated strips of chicken, beef and pork on a little charcoal grill they bring to your table. Kind of like a mini BBQ, Vietnamese stylee!

During dinner, a waitress stopped at our table and asked if she could chat with us and practice her english, a friendly phenomenon that happens quite regularly in Vietnam. With this generation of Vietnamese people being the first to live their whole lives without an external oppressor, they are genuinely curious about the world and how we live. Her english was very good and she had a million questions about life in the UK including the retirement age, the number of children couples tend to have and even maternity leave entitlements! Our exchange of facts and figures passed the time while we waited for the torrential storm to pass outside, heading over to Guava Bar for late drinks with the backpacker crew.

The following day we took a cab down to the pier to grab a super fast speed boat across the bay to Hon Tre Island where we visited Vinpearl Land, a huge entertainment world complete with a waterpark and amusement centre, that hosted the Miss World pageant a few years back. It was waterpark first up and Caroline somehow managed to bust her nose on the very first slide of the day! But showing some true Ashley-Booth spirit, she sucked it up and jumped back on as we rode 'The Tsunami' halfpipe and the 'Family Raft Ride'. Andy and Dave braved 'The Space Hole' that painfully spat you down a long decent and into a large bowl where you spun round and round and round before being unceremoniously dumped into a pool. Fun fun fun!

In the afternoon we played free video games and rode the bumper cars and carousel before taking that speedy speed boat back across the bay for dinner and late night shopping, where Andy got shown every table runner in the shop!

We started our final day in Nha Trang with a lazy morning at the beach and had to run for cover when the rain pulled in but no matter as we took refuge at the Louisanne Brewhouse, a microbrewery and restaurant right on the beach front. They do a very good Czech pilsner, a refreshing passionfruit ale and very decent sushi.

Leaving the Brewhouse we flagged what turned out to be the most grateful and pleasant taxi driver in the world as he thanked us a million times while driving us to the Thap Ba mud baths and mineral pools. The four of us sunk into our little private tub of mud, working the warm muck into our skin before getting under a high pressure shower to wash the mud out and then sinking into a big bath of warm mineral water, finishing up with a swim in pools varying between 20 and 38 degrees and a warm waterfall to wash the tension away. Who needs Clinique and Estee Lauder!?!? After 3 hours of relax-a-vous, we were amazed to see our happy taxi man still waiting out the front for us and he was over the moon to see us too as he thanked each of us personally over and over for giving him a return fare! Bless him.

It was a long overnight train that night for Danang and Hoi An, with Libby meeting a few bug friends on the way!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Hot and sticky in Ho Chi Minh

2009-10-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

Despite the unplanned delay in Darwin, we were over the moon to find Caroline and Andy waiting in the Hotel Metropole for us in Saigon, in the bar of course! They were here to spend two weeks travelling through Vietnam with us, gaining an insight into the travel bum lifestyle we've perfected since April.

It was a baptism of fire on the first day as we took them on the public bus to the Chinatown area of Cholon to visit the Binh Tay market. No english speaking drivers or guides on the bus, only Dave's eagle eye and fading memory to make sure we got off at the right stop. We got there and found Binh Tay, a maze of every product you could ever want and some you definitely wouldn't, like the pungent dried shrimp and cuttlefish stores. We wandered out of there and searched for some temple pagodas that Dave had visited last time but it seems London living has taken it's toll as we just walked around in circles in the searing heat before giving up and getting a cab across town to the War Remnants Museum. It is a truly moving experience to visit this museum and no visit to Saigon is complete without it. The photography displays lay out the useless and random brutality of war as well as the resilience of the Vietnam people to survive despite horrendous ploys like the 'tiger cages' used for prisoners on Phu Quoc Island.

We walked around the Reunification Palace and Ben Thanh market for beers where a street vendor tried to sell Dave a razor to sort out his travel beard! Clever woman. Passing through Le Loi Park we stumbled across 60 or so ladies all doing aerobics in the dark! The Vietmanese are very health conscious, despite their super fast paced lifestyle. The next day we walked across to the Notre Dame Cathedral and Central Post Office where Uncle Ho's portrait hangs in the main hall and then had a fab lunch at Quan An Ngon, set out in a lovely french colonial house with open air kitchens. We grabbed some cakes from a german bakery on D Pasteur and then past the People's Committee Hall and Opera House to reach the Caravelle Hotel for drinks on the 10th floor bar named Saigon Saigon (so good, they named it twice!).

Took a slow walk back through Pham Ngu Lao for drinks before heading to the station for our overnight train to Nha Trang. Poor Caroline got a bout of the Saigon Belly before we even left the platform but pulled it together for beers and cards as we trundled along the coast. Overnight trains in Vietnam are generally clean, comfortable and safe, despite the fact that the movement of the train during the night makes you feel like you are trying to sleep on a longhaul flight with turbulance the whole way!

In the end, Libs and Caroline made some local friends when they cleverly woke Dave and Andy (and the rest of the carriage!) up at 5am when they thought the train had arrived at it's final destination, only 2 and a half hours early!

Out of the stifling heat of Saigon, into the hot frying pan of Nha Trang!

Mr and Mrs T xx

The Darwin Theory

2009-10-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of strange people in Darwin. Really strange. And our theory is that it's the heat and humidity that brings a little climate change in the minds of these poor souls, raising the ocean levels in their brains. But for or because of that, it's a place to be seen to be believed, just stay out of the midday sun if you don't want to end up a fried, sweaty, crazy version of your former self.

We spent the first day lazing by the pool at our hotel and ended up celebrating the engagement of Cam and Claire with an extra bottle of vino. Nice one guys! We also stopped in at the BAT House to check out a very good photo exhibition that traced the history of a local family dynasty with ties to the indigenous Aboriginal communities as well as the Scottish and Phillipino immigrant groups.

Day two we took the bus up to Fannie Bay, walking along Vesteys Beach to the Darwin Ski Club (water, not snow skiing obviously) for another session of beers at sunset - we've lost count of how many of those we've had so far on this trip!

The following day we were up and out at 7am for our day out at Litchfield National Park. Our bus headed south out of Darwin, passing the jail where Lindy Chamberlain was once held ("A dingo took my baybee!") and John Murdoch, the man convicted of Peter Falconio's murder, now spends his days. We also passed Humpty Doo, unsurprisingly the only town in the world with that name and also home to some of the most frequent lightning strikes in the world as there are lots of iron deposits below ground.

We then took a morning cruise on the Adelaide River where 4 to 5 metre crocodiles use their tail to push their bodies vertically up and out of the water to get the pork chop dangled to them over the side of the boat. Awesome! We also saw a huge white breasted sea eagle swoop in to get his feed and black and white whistler kites that swarmed and squawked like a scene out of Harry Potter!

After lunch, we stopped at Wangi Falls and took a dip in the water hole below, watched on by 100's of huge bats taking refuge in the shade of the trees. We then stopped by the beautiful Florence Falls before another swim at 'nature's 5 star baths' at Buley Rockhole, a succession of cascading plunge pools. On the way back we stopped by huge 4 to 5 metre magnetic (built to face north to south) and cathedral (built with lots of individual towers) termite mounds on the floodplains. All in all, a fabulous day out in the Outback!

On the thursday we took a bus to the magnificent Mindl Beach markets, full of stalls selling great handcrafts and fantastic food, all against a beautiful beach sunset backdrop. Dave even tried his hand on the mechanical bull, shirking his city boy status by staying on for 53 seconds! Yeehar!

We savoured a little slice of luxury thanks to Mel and Ben after that, staying at the new Vibe Hotel in the Wharf Precinct. We lazed by the pool and played in the huge wave lagoon nearby with Libby getting some serious air on the blow up rings!

Our stay in Darwin was actually a day longer than expected after Jetstar kindly moved our flight back a day without telling us, meaning we couldn't meet up with Caroline and Andy in Saigon as planned, but that rant is best saved for another day. It was still a great week in the far north of Oz, the weather readying us for our landing in the hotbed of Saigon!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Red Centre

2009-09-28T22:04:00.001-07:00

The hot air slaps you as you leave the plane and walk down onto the sticky tarmac at Alice Springs airport. Actually not as hot as we'd expected but the desert air was definitely dry. Staying at the Heavitree Gap Outback Lodge, we fed the black footed wallabies that hop down the surrounding MacDonnell Ranges for feeding at sunset, some with joeys in their pouches. Libby made friends with one little fella who was determined to hang onto her hand as she fed him, clawing into her fingers! Ouch. It was John Williamson night at the tavern and Dave wooed Libby with his rendition of 'True Blue'.
We hired a car the next day to drive the 460 odd km to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, taking the Stuart Highway south then the Lassiter Highway west to reach Yulara. Along the way we saw plenty of kangaroo roadkill being picked at by huge and strong wedge-tailed eagles, some the size of large dogs! We made a quick stop to get some pictures of Mt Conner, with the red dirt covering our feet in a kind of 'cheezel dust'.

Uluru is truly awe inspiring, much larger than either of us imagined. As drove around it in the afternoon heat, the deep red rock radiated history and carried its scars as carved into its contours by the eons of time. We were lucky enough to be taking advantage of another wonderful wedding present here, this time from Dave's cousin Julie. For this treat, we were picked up for the 'Sounds of Silence' dinner experience which comprised of late afternoon drinks in the middle of the desert as we watched the sunset behind Kata Tjuta and change the colours of light thrown on Uluru, before sitting down to a lovely three course dinner in the middle of nowhere where the darkness throws a deep black backdrop to the magnificent stars as the constellations are pointed out to you and their stories told. A truly magical evening, even if Dave nearly died of hypothermia out there as he didn't pack a jumper! It's cold in the desert at night people!

We rose at 5am for the cold and dark ride out to see the sunrise at Uluru. It was amazing to see the colours change through dark blues and purples to crimson reds and pink hues. It was bloody cold though and we needed an extra snooze before the long drive back to Alice, catching a few more eagles feasting by the roadside. Alice was a ghost town that evening as everyone was in watching the AFL Grand Final and the next day we just lazed by the pool before flying north again for tropical Darwin.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Radelaide and The Barossa Valley

2009-09-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

Leaving the south coast behind, we turned north into Adelaide, 'city of churches', capital of 'the festival state', and other names we'll list some other time. Waiting for us there was Dave's sister Daniella and his brother-in-law/partner-in-crime, Michael, who had flown over from Sydney to meet us and sample the traveller's lifestyle.

We also met up with Michael's cousins, Joe and Maria, Michael, Joe, Jess and Sara, who were so kind to us during our visit. They treated us to a huge breakfast at ETC, shopped with Libby and Daniella on Rundle St (while Dave and Michael took on a mini pub crawl on Hindley St), a massive dinner feast at Cafe Mykonos with all the family and a warm bed for the night. Thanks again guys!

On the Sunday we drove up to the Barossa Valley, starting off the wine fun with a chuckle at Villa Tinto where the winemaker is Albert, a rotund, bearded Argentinian with a wicked sense of humour and enough stories to keep you there tasting his wines for hours! After checking into the lovely Novotel Resort (thanks to Daniella and Michael), we got a little lost finding the Murray Street Vineyards but their Sophia Shiraz was worth the wait, though unfortunately for Dave, it's not available in the UK - dammit! We stopped in at the lovely grounds of the Grant Burge Estate on the way back to our hotel before taking advantage of the free Wolf Blass tasting at the Novotel where their fantastic Grey Label range was on show, with the Shiraz Viognier the pick of the bunch.

We focused on the 'big guns' on the Monday, starting with the massive Penfolds headquarters and tasting some fantastic Coonawarra reds with their distinctive earthy, brick flavour and well as the best of the Barossa shiraz in their reserve range. We then swung over to Wolf Blass where their Gold Label and President's ranges were delicious, though Dave bought a Black Label Cabernet Savignon Shiraz for Daniella and Michael to hold for us (we hope!). As we tasted wine after wine, a huge storm swept across the valley, bringing crazy lighting and thunder and even a small hail shower, so we hid in Tununda Pub for lunch and beers. While taking a long drive in the afternoon, we met a very strange fellow at a small fuel stop/garage in Mt Pleasant, real serial killer material, the kind of guy that when the tv crew turn up and interview the neighbours they all remark 'He seemed a nice enough bloke....always kept to himself.' Strange, strange man.

That night we tracked down 'Australia's best pizza' as seen on tv that night. It was at the Roaring 40s Cafe in Angaston and their smoky meat pizza was the best pizza we'd tasted in South Australia, that's as high we we'd put it. Dave made friends with a very drunk set of footballer in the local pub that night, all drowning their sorrows after losing their final the day before, while Libby got hooked on the Aussie style pokie machines, losing the grand sum of 3 dollars! On the way out of the valley the next morning, we found time to stop at Charles Cimicki whose Trumps Shiraz was super tasty, but better than that was our visit to the World's Biggest Rocking Horse which we climbed and even have a certificate to prove it!

After stopping back in Adelaide to see Michael's Zia (where more food was continually thrust upon us) and visiting pretty (but wet) Semaphore, we took the 'one way expressway' south to Aldinga Beach. It was a cold and windy morning as we walked the beach the next day but we were rewarded for the effort with a magnificent lunch at the famous Star of Greece Cafe, a kitschy beach hut sitting atop the point, taking in fabulous views and offering amazing food - smoked ocean trout with fennel and capers for Dave, pan roasted barramundi with bug tails and courgettes for Libs, banana macadamia pudding with caramel sauce and chocolate sorbet for both of us! Devine!

We then drove through McLaren Vale and over the Adelaide Hills to Hahndorf, a town settled by Germans but now unfortunately a tourist rather than traditional spectacle, so we continued on to Mt Lofty for long but grey views across the city to Bay St Vincent. It was time to leave the coast all together and fly to Australia's red, hot and dusty heart - Alice Springs.

Mr and Mrs T xx

The Great Ocean Road is actually pretty great!

2009-09-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

We started out on The Great Ocean on a warm but windy day, taking in Anglesea and Aires Inlet before stopping for a late lunch in Lorne where we were joined by wattle birds and ducks all looking for an easy feed. Libby spotted her first echidna by the road near Cape Patton, thankfully this little fella was waddling along the verge instead of being splattered on the roadside like so many of Australia's fauna. We pulled into Apollo Bay and walked the beach in the late afternoon light (this is starting to sound like a romance novel!) and took a sunset drive along the Barham River Road, blessed with spectacular scenery and full of tiny hidden homesteads on gorgeous bubbling river crossings - a real slice of rural heaven.

It was a rainy start the next day as we left Apollo Bay and drove through the tall gums out to Cape Otway. We skipped the overpriced lighthouse tour but were lucky enough to see a few koalas up close on the way out, including two mothers with their babies! Heading back inland we crossed Laves Hill to the Otway Fly but again skipped the expense and chose the free pleasure of the spectacular limestone formations and azure surf along that stretch of coastline - the famous Twelve Apostles, the Bay of Martyrs and Bay of Islands, London Bridge and Loch Ard Gorge....all gorgeous and a reminder of the slow workings of time as the wind and surf wore away the soft rock to create these formations and is slowly reclaiming them to the sea.

After staying the night in Warrnambool, it was another rainy start as we headed over to Logans Beach where we saw 7 Southern Right Whales less than 100m from shore, again some mothers with calves! Amazing. As we continued west along the coast, we pulled into Port Fairy, where gourmet bistros, cafes and very respected restaurants fill this postcard sized coastal township. We had a great lunch at Rebecca's Cafe, Libs' pumpkin cous cous burger with cumin beetroot dip was the pick of the day! With full bellies, west again we went through Portland and Nelson, hugging the coastline and passing huge wind farms and planted pine forests where we managed to spot a family of emus hanging near the roadside but they ran off when they saw Dave coming with the camera!

After crossing the border into South Australia (and dumping out 'unsafe' Victorian fruit!), we moved through Mt Gambier before returning to the coast again and stopping in another pretty inlet town called Robe. There is an obelisk there that sits on a precipice of soft sandstone above the raging Southern Ocean, once built as a navigational tool for ships, it too will one day go the way of the Twelve Apostles and fall into the sea. On leaving Robe we also stopped for the tourist picturesque moment to take a snapshot of the giant lobster. From there the road continues through Coorong National Park full of flat wetlands boarded by the coast and sand dunes, punctuated with small lagoons of amazing deep purple and red, much like the lagoons we saw in Bolivia. We saw a few very shy emus and a lot of fat lizards.

We stopped in at Port Eliot, a gorgeous colonial town stuck in a time long forgotten but surrounded by perfect coast and beaches, before pulling into Victor Harbour and staying at the Anchorage Hotel on the beach for our last night on the southern coast. It was a trip of about 1200km, with each turn revealing a secret or surprise.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Mel Born

2009-09-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

It was windy as hell when we landed into Melbourne, making for an 'interesting' landing. Meeting up with Lou and Gus and getting straight into pre-dinner drinks helped ease the nerves, settling our stomachs for an absolutely amazing degustation meal at Cumulus Inc, a 10 course feast of divine food and wine - oysters, scallops, Iberian ham and smallgoods, freshly baked breads, bulger wheat salad and just when we couldn't eat another morsel, they slap down three racks of lamb all slow cooked for 12 hours so that the succulent meat simply slides off the bone.....YUM!!! After four hours of continuous eating and drinking, we rolled out of there and managed only a small post dinner drink on Bourke Street!

It was a very slow start the next day as we woke with full bellies and heavy heads but that didn't stop us getting into the fry up Lou prepared for us for breakfast! Is there no end to this honeymoon eatfest?!? It was unseasonably hot and windy as we wandered through Richmond food market to get the tram up Chapel Street to Pharan, working our way through the bazaar (telling Lou to stop picking up all the vintage orange glassware!) and great vintage shops like Fat Helen. Quick sushi snack on Acland Street in St Kilda then beers by the bay at Stoke House to catch the sunset and catch up with Oli and Chris who've been travelling longer than us! We then sampled a famous in Melbourne Grill'd burger (not as amazing as a Fergburger in NZ) and back to Pharan for drinks at the Windsor Castle before popping home.

Lou and Gussy took us into town for the 20c tour. We grabbed a few strong coffees on Degraves St, yet another vintage clothing store visit (this time to the massive Retro Star) and walk through the galleries at Federation Square to see some fabulous Aboriginal art and Sidney Nolan classics. Onto a mini pub crawl starting at Rooftop Bar to see the sun go down and some Northern fellas falling down, then across to the superb day glo interior of the Carlton Club for more rooftop beers - as much as it pains me to say it, Melbourne really does have it over Sydney for interesting and entertaining pubs and bars! We then rounded out the night with a visit to Lygon Street for more gelato and mooching before catching Tarantino's scarily funny Inglorious Basterds!

On our last day in Victoria's capital, we took the tram up Victoria Rd to Brunswick St where we wandered along between little boutiques, stopping into Zeta Florence to pick up some antique maps, Hunter Gatherer for more vintage clothing and Atomica Cafe for this best coffee and BLATs (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) in town! We met up with Lou at her lovely warehouse workspace and walked across to Smith Street for even more vintage shopping...furniture, records, clothes...brilliant! Gussy joined up with us for arvo beers at the Beresford Hotel and awesome japanese dinner at a restaurant with a very weird toilet sporting pictures of kittens dressed in police uniforms and smoking!?! Delicious!

Another brilliant visit to a brilliant city, made all the more fun and personal by Lou and Gussy - thanks so much guys. Come visit us ASAP!

Mr and Mrs T xxoo

Sid-en-neeeeeeee!!!!!

2009-09-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

It was hard to believe it had already been over 13 months since we last landed in Sydney. So much had happened in that time - we'd go hitched, we'd made it halfway around the world but it was still as good as ever to catch up with all the beautiful people in the beautiful city down under.

We kicked off the visit with a few welcome drinks at The Dolphin in Surry Hills, unfortunately coinciding with another loss by the Wallabies to the All Blacks (on the back of the Ashes loss, this was becoming almost too much to take!). But it was all sunshine and good times on the Sunday when Dave's folks hosted a birthday bbq for both of us, attended by the small legion of Dave's extended family. Dave's dad was super impressed by Libs' new found fondness for all things meat!

On Daveo's birthday, we packed a picnic and hired a tandem bike in Centennial Park (Dave steered upfront while Libs did all the backseat driving!) and then went bowling at Fox Studios with Belinda. To top off a brill birthday, we were treated to Churrasco on William Street - for the uninitiated, churrasco is a Brazilian style bbq where they bring long skewers of all forms of delicious meat products to your table, where you weakly protest that you've already eaten enough before you give in and let them slap another sirloin/lamb cutlet/chicken heart onto your plate, leaving you to roll out of the restaurant with serious heartburn and a smile three hours later! Heaven.

Being home and catching up with the Toscanos means food, food, food. Some of the delights we were treated to included fish and chips, ice cream at Watson's Bay with Daniella, plate after plate of homemade salami with Dave's dad Ralph (along with samples of salamis made by Michael's family, AJ's family and Rick's family by way of comparison and contrast), Maria's famous meatballs (followed by a nudie streak from Georgia and Mikey), more fish and chips at South Cronulla beach with Dave's parents, Lebanese with the whole Toscano crew....the list could go on and on....needless to say our waistlines were coming under more and more pressure!

And even when we tried to avoid food by going to the pub instead, Dave won a meat tray in the raffle! We just could not escape! Thankfully we were not alone in this crusade. This time round we were lucky enough to have Libs' parents, Mike and Chris, fly out from the UK to meet us in Sydney and spend time with us which was just wonderful. Of course we took them straight out for lunch, at the Sydney Rowing Club in Abbotsford on a perfect afternoon beside the crystal clear Parramatta River. That evening Dave saw his mighty Eels demolish the Penriff Panfers, guaranteeing their spot in the finals. But even more rewarding was watching Chris and Mike fall in love with the fabulous gelato created by Ciccio and Sal at Gelatomassi in Newtown. Sal nearly fell over when he heard this was their first gelato experience!

Next up was the Blue Mountains. We drove up to Wentworth Falls (stopping in at Penrith on the way to congratulate Dave's cousin Nicholas on winning his football final!) where we dropped into the famous strudel shop for pies and scones (and strudels). Chris was more excited by the Christmas Shop there and it goes without saying there will be a few more Australian touches to the tree in Seaford this year. The weather wasn't great but we got a peak at the Three Sisters (kind of like the Seven Sisters in East Sussex only better) and a late lunch in Leura overlooking the valley.

Sunday was the day to celebrate little Georgia's 5th birthday with a pirates and fairies party, complete with face painting and a rather weird jester/garden gnome character! But it was brilliant to see Georgia, Mikey, Charlie Rose, Oscar, Bobbi and Charlize all in their element. One of the funniest moments was when we found Mikey holding a fairy prisoner with his swashbuckling skills, leaving her cowering on the couch! Such a charmer! After the party favours were handed out, Dave took us on a little tourist drive through the city, taking in the Anzac and Harbour Bridges, Kirribilli, Woolloomooloo and Elizabeth Bay before meeting up with Phillipe for beers in Paddington and pizza on Crown St.

Chris and Mike were thrilled to take the Rivercat from Parramatta into Circular Quay, enjoying the leisurely pace as we sauntered up the river and into Sydney Harbour. From there we hopped on a ferry across the harbour to Taronga Zoo, enjoying glorious sunshine as we took in the amazing freeflight bird show and saw their new baby elephant. We wound down the day by watching the sunset while sipping cocktails at the Blue Horizon Bar in the ShangriLa Hotel, then (another!) huge dinner with the Toscanos, this time at Crinitis in Parramatta.

Part of the reason for Mike and Chris coming out to see us in Sydney was to attend our little 2nd wedding dinner on 5 September, which happened to coincide with their 39th wedding anniversary. It was an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends from Sydney who couldn't make it to Rye in April, including meeting new babies Caterina Petracca and Lucas Mappis. It was also an opportunity for us to wear our wedding outfits and truth be told, Libby got into her dress a lot easier than Dave got into his suit! Seems the good life has been treating Davey Two Meals a little too well! But it was a fabulous night full of lots of good food, wine and chat with the people we love. Thanks to everyone for coming and special thanks to Belinda and Daniella for helping us plan it by remote control while we've been on our travels . And finally thanks to Sarge for putting us up in the fabulous Sir Stamford Circular Quay Hotel - very swish!

As you've seen in this blog, we've done more than a few wine tastings in Argentina and NZ. Well there are more to come and the next region on the list was the Hunter Valley in NSW. We took Mike and Chris with us to keep us on the straight and narrow but we still managed to squeeze in tastings at Hungerford Hill, Tempus Two, Piggs Peake, Tintilla Estate and Bimbadgen Estate, as well as a visit to the Smelly Cheese Shop and gelato in the afternoon. Chris even managed to find yet another Christmas shop for those end of year essentials!

We tried taking in the famous Bondi to Bronte walk but the weather was not on our side so we made only halfway to Tamarama but did manage to spot a few dolphins in the waters below. That night we celebrated Maria's birthday at the Fisherman's Wharf Chinese Restaurant at the Sydney Fish Markets where the lazy susan was under strain all night! But the best moment belonged to Georgia and Mikey who stood with mouths gaping when they gatecrashed a chinese kareoke birthday party but came back to life when they were offered a plate of prawn crackers!

We were so thankful to get to spend a few hours with Rita and Charlize and new baby Caterina - truly beautiful girls, all loving and affectionate and happy and cheeky! Afterwards we met Phil and Priya and Jackie and Julie for pizza dinner at Bar Reggio and drinks at the Lord Nelson (also good to see Phil so happy with Priya, nice one bro!)

The next day, Chris got a little more than she bargained for when she went to get some passport photos at a photo shop. The little chinese man asked Chris 'Please sit on the chair, don't smile and look down' and when she did as asked, found the little man had left his flies undone and had his manhood on show! Needless to say Chris' eyes were slightly and understandably bulging in the photos! To ease the shock, we took Chris and Mike for a picnic in Western Sydney Park, where kookaburras, galahs, cockatoos, rosellas and ravens all squawked as they flew by.

Chris and Mike flew out the next day, the same day as we flew to Melbourne. Before we left we were very happy to have them meet Dave's grandparents, Nonna and Pop, and Dave was super proud when Mike turned on his best Italian accent to say 'Buongiorno' when introduced! Pop returned the favour by cracking open a new bottle of scotch whisky, even though it was only 10am!

As always when visiting Sydney, we crammed in as much as we could but were still left with lots of people we wish we could have spent more time catching up with. That's the difficulty of being so far away but we know we had the best time we could with the little time we had, with the people we love the most. Until next time...

Mr and Mrs T xx

Westport, Nelson, Marlborough wine region (more vino!) and whale watching at Kaikoura

2009-09-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Heading north along the west coastline towards Hokitika, we passed through Pukekura - population: 2 – then stopped at the National Kiwi Centre to finally witness the funny long beaked birds in their dark surroundings, and strangely we ended up feeding giant 200 year old eels! We headed on to Arthurs Pass, driving up through Otira Gorge and across the Bealey Valley for views of the Southern Alps. We also stopped to view Pancake Rocks along the Tasman Sea coastline stopping in Westport for the night. The following day started with a visit to the nearby seal colony at Tauranga Bay, where some of them must be used to visitors as they posed for our cameras.

We pressed on from Westport straight to Nelson via Murchison and Richmond. Not much to write home about in Nelson except for a fantastic falafel cafe and a very good hostel. It was a beautiful crisp morning when we left Nelson to make the pretty drive along the Tasman Bay to the Marlborough Sounds wine region. It was such a fantastic drive we did it twice! Although we didn’t really have a choice given Daveo left his phone at the hostel in Nelson. Despite the double drive, we did get to sample some lovely wines at Seresin Estate and enjoy a tasty lunch at one of the other nearby wineries.

It was a glorious drive from Blenheim to Kaikoura, hugging the Pacific coastline on our left with the Southern Alp ranges on our right. It was an absolutely perfect day for whale watching, so lucky for the Toscano’s we got the last two tickets for the boat trip! We saw 4 giant sperm whales up close (only 50m away) which was truly awe inspiring – their huge bodies, giant tails, and their spray of water on a perfect blue day, all framed with snow capped alps in the background. We also saw another seal colony and an albatross or two. It was a fantastic day out and truly made up for our very grey day at Milford Sound.

On heading back to Christchurch for our next flight to Sydney we stopped at Hamner Springs to enjoy relaxing in more thermal pools. For our last night in Christchurch we enjoyed a lovely Parisian meal and drinks at a very cool retro bar where the dj spun some great kitsch tunes, topped off by a very drunk kiwi who emerged from the men’s room and insisted on telling us he had just enjoyed a great “pish”.

Sweet as En Zed...G’day Straya.

The Glaciers

2009-09-20T07:53:00.001-07:00

From Queenstown we drove through Wanaka and along Lake Hawea, through Haast Pass and onto the desolate West Coast. From there we drove to see Lake Matheson but the thick grey cloud meant our hopes of seeing the gorgeous lake with the surrounding mountains mirrored on its surface were shattered. Instead we drove to isolated Gillespies Beach, all black sand and huge driftwood and on misty days like the one we were there, its eerie persona made it an interesting place to photograph.

The heavy rainfall the night before meant we couldn’t walk all the way up to Fox Glacier so instead we had to stand and look from afar at this huge ice formation, however we had more luck when we continued onto Franz Josef Glacier which we were able to walk right up to, stepping across the riverbed to see the massive ice face. Later that day we enjoyed relaxing at the nearby glacier hot pools. Bliss.

Mrs and Mrs T xx

Milford Sound for Mrs T’s birthday

2009-09-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

On the eve of Mrs T’s birthday we drove the stunning road along Lake Wikatipu to Te Anau in prep for our tour of Milford Sound. The drive along Milford Road was spectacular, taking in the views of Mirror Lakes, Lake Gunn (where interestingly your body would freeze rather than decompose if you drowned – hmmm a bit too much information from the tour guide methinks!), through avalanche country, the eery dark tunnel and the aftermaths of tree avalanches where the intricate root system holding the trees to the hard mountain rock has failed, sending huge trees down the steep inclines.

Milford Sound itself was spectacular despite the super wet, grey, thick cloudy weather, although we did see hundreds of waterfalls from steep cliffs, some seals, and a silly tourist on our cruise get stuck outside as we passed a waterfall and getting completely soaked by it! We returned to Queenstown that evening to celebrate Mrs T’s 28th birthday.

Before leaving Queenstown again we drove from QT to Glenorchy along the northern bank of Lake Wakatipu which was simply stunning, boarded on both sides by snow peaked ranges mirrored in the lake. In Glenorchy we discovered the biggest breakfast EVER, the perfect start to a long day of driving ahead.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Queenstown snowboarding...sweet as choice bro!

2009-09-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

For our first night in Queenstown we enjoyed a few beers whilst watching the Ashes and in the competitive nature of both The Toscano’s (and everyone knows just how competitive we can get) there was much Pom v Aussie banter knocking around. Libby didn’t even like the cricket until she started watching the Ashes and her competitive nature came forth.

It was perfect conditions for our first day snowboarding at Coronet Peak. Not so perfect on the snowboarding skills front especially as Libby hadn’t boarded since she broke her wrist last year but we had a few more days of snowboarding ahead to get back into it and pick up some choice moves bro.

We spent the second, third, and fourth day boarding at The Remarkables which Libby preferred for the wide easy runs and Dave preferred for the sweet jumps in the terrain park. This peak also has the most amazing views and looks unreal when you’re sitting above the cloud cover and enjoying perfect sunshine when the town below is all grey – weirdly difficult to tell what’s snow and what’s cloud! But to reach that heavenly peak, you have to negotiate an unsealed road full of switchbacks and blind corners, often in less than favourable conditions – make sure your will is in order before driving up that road folks!

By the end of our 4 days snowboarding Libby had got her confidence back and even made it onto the intermediate runs and Dave caught some massive air while trying to land switchies. Sweet as.

Our time in Queenstown couldn’t have passed by without trying a famous Fergburger which was recommended to us by absolutely every person we know who has been to Queenstown and it certainly lived up to its name. They are definitely the best burgers EVER! Needless to say we made two return trips to Fergburger before we left, Libs even demanded a burger for her birthday supper!

But it wasn’t all burgers and beer. We were also able to enjoy a fantastic meal in Queenstown at Captain’s restaurant thanks to Han, Jess, Rach and Nick – amazing seafood platter and excellent NZ wine. Big thanks to you all.

During our tour of the bars and pubs in QT we also saw the world’s most drunk Scottish girl trying to speak Spanish to two poor chicos from Barcelona. Classy.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Christchurch

2009-09-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

We landed into a very chilly Christchurch on the first evening of our arrival on the South Island, but awoke to glorious sunshine the following day. Christchurch is a little slice of Ye Olde England – plenty of churches and pretty greens, particularly along the Avon River that winds its way through the city. Libby wasted no time tracking down some great boutique and vintage shops, but Daveo was equally chuffed with the best ever cafe for breakfast ever – C1 Cafe on Main Street- and a fantastic bar/restaurant decked out in great vintage furniture serving awesome “fush and chups”.

On leaving Christchurch for our trip to Queenstown we stopped in on Caroline and Andy’s friends Simon and Ali and their lovely sons Jackson and Tyler. Simon also used to be Libby’s teacher at school so most of you from Seaford will remember them as Mr Lees and Miss Wells. We enjoyed catching up on over 10 years since I had seen them and it was nice for us to drop in on behalf of Caroline and Andy.

The drive to Queenstown was absolutely spectacular, particularly passing Mount Cook and the stunning Lake Tekapo. Magnificent!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Surf Highway 45 and the 'Naki'

2009-08-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

Leaving Ruapehu to the low clouds, we drove south to Wanganui to hit Surf Highway 45, a road which runs around the outside of Mount Taranaki, a dormant volcano capped with snow in winter and even used a substitute for Mount Fuji in Tom Cruise's Japanese-Top Gun flick "Last of the Samurai". Unfortunately the cloud was blocking our view of the Naki that day too but we did manage to stop in for some phenomenal food at the Sugar Juice Cafe in Opunake!

Dave climbed to the top of Paritutu rock where the view across New Plymouth and the Sugar Loaves was stunning, but he should have left it for the morning after as the cloud had finally pulled away from Taranaki, showing its beauty in all its splendor. Choice as eh bro!

Our last day in Cam was a sad one but the bright note was stopping in at Waitomo Caves on the way back to Auckland where we got to see thousands of glowworms. The caves themselves are just as gorgeous and when they say that if a water drop hits you while you're there it is good luck, it's true - Libby got hit at least ten times and won $3 on a scratchy at the airport!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Wet 'n Windy Ohakune

2009-08-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

The famous Welly weather turned up just in time for us to leave as we drove north along the Kapiti Coast towards Tongariro National Park. We got a good look at the sloping giant that is Mount Ruapehu as we approached and the plan was to get a closer look with some trekking through the scrub.

But it wasn't to be as the cloud was so low when we arrived in Ohakune (NZ's carrot capital!) that we couldn't see anything so had to settle for a walk along the Old Coach Road to the Hapuawhenua Viaduct. It was built in 1908 and is one of only two curved viaducts in southern hemisphere - sweet as eh bro! The walk itself had recently been restored by community support. We sat in for a warm cup of mulled wine after that but before we did, we couldn't help but get our pic in front of the Big Carrot!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Martinborough, Welly and Cam's Mum

2009-08-07T00:19:00.002-07:00

Somehow, the rain and thunderous wind of last night disappeared this morning as we woke to brilliant sunshine - perfect weather for more wine tasting! We stopped in at the very good Te Kairanga winery, whose Pinot Noirs were superb, so good that we picked up a bottle of their Runholder 2007 for Cam's mum (the real Cam, not the van) who we were meeting in Wellington that night.

One curious sight was to see a motley crew of locals, men and women, sprinting across the town square when the volunteer fire service siren wailed! One poor bloke was just ordering a second latte in the cafe we were in and nearly lost his muffins as he turned to run back out the door!

The weather in Wellington is meant to be wet and windy but it was nothing but wonderful for our day there. We took the cable car up to the excellent Botanic Gardens and walked back down via Parliament House and the 'Beehive', then strolled in the sun along the quay, stopping in for a beer before taking in the F1 exhibition at the Te Papa museum. Great cafes and boutiques along Cuba St but the real highlight was getting to meet up with Cam's mum again who very kindly took us out for dinner and gave us a bed for the night. Thanks so much Sherryn!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Hawkes Bay

2009-08-07T00:19:00.001-07:00

Napier itself is an art deco haven, rebuilt after a massive earthquake in the 1930's, leaving the town and the surrounding area with beautiful facades and leadlights.

The Hawkes Bay Farmers market is brilliant. Great local produce and people, at very good prices. We bought some scrummy cupcakes and pesto bread and cumberland sausages for bangers and mash in Cam later that night. We took Cam for a long but lovely drive through gorgeous countryside beside and then over the Tuki Tuki River and then up to Te Mata Peak for an unrestricted view of the bay, Napier, Hastings and across to the snowcapped peaks on the horizon. Stunning.

Tasted some very good wine at Matariki winery in the Gimblett Gravels and took home a very good 2005 Syrah. The drive south was long but once again stunning as we drove beside the Ruahine Ranges to reach a very wet and windy Martinborough.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Rotorua and Lake Taupo

2009-08-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

The drive from the Mandel through south Waikato was generally flat, though we did hit some serious pea soup fog about 100km from Rotorua that cut Cam's visibility down to about 50m!

Now Libby has quite a good nose i.e. she can smell an odour, good or bad, at least 5 seconds before Dave can. That can be a good or bad trait and in Rotorua, home of the sulphurous geothermal baths and lakes, it was a curse!

We did get ourselves a little private pool at the Polynesian Spa that made Libs feel better for an hour or so but after that, we headed south to Lake Taupo for some less smelly activities. On the way in we stopped at Huka Falls which was the complete opposite of Iguazu - the water only falls 10m and it is a brilliant indigo blue colour rather than the brown behemoth at the Brazilian and Argentinian borders but it was gorgeous in it's own way. So was the thermal pools at our holiday park meaning we could swim until 9pm!

Next morning we started the day with a swim in some more thermal pools (see a pattern forming?) before heading up the road to see the stunning 'lost valley' of Orakei Korako, a geothermal park with silica terraces and natural geysers spitting sulphur through mud and out into opal pools, a real moon-like landscape. It was too wet for a cruise on Lake Taupo so we made a beeline east to Napier on the Hawkes Bay coast, stopping in at Esk Valley Estate for yet another wine tasting!

Mr and Mrs T xx

The Mandel

2009-08-07T00:17:00.002-07:00

In a word, the Coromandel Peninsula is paradise. It has a little bit of everything and everything it does have, it has it in high definition. Again the weather was a everchanging spectrum of good-bad-ok-great-holy crap is that rain or a flood-good but even through the bad bits, the 'Mandel' shone through.

The drive north along the western coast of the peninsula is stunning as you hug the shoreline with crystal water on your left and steep ridge to your right. Coromandel Town is not much in itself but the fish and chips we had and the smoked mussels Dave had were choice as bro! And unfortunately our visit to Hot Water Beach didn't coincide with the low tide fun where you can dig in the sand make your own little thermal pool. But the highlights were the hidden Otama Beach and Opito Bay where, thankfully, the heavens sent sunshine down to us just as we arrived.

As we wound our way through the Puketui Valley to reach our next stop at Wahai Beach, we knew this was a place we would love to one day come back to see again. To top it off, the drive out through Karangahake Gorge to Paeroa (home of L&P soda) was simply stunning, a picture postcard at every turn.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Northland and Cape Reinga

2009-08-07T00:17:00.001-07:00

We started the morning in Keri Keri, a beautiful little town, before making tracks for the northern most point on NZ, we stopped in at the 'world famous' Monganui Fish Shop. Unfortunately it was time for morning tea, not fish and chips so Dave couldn't gorge himself on deep fried oysters. As a place though, Monganui is lovely with some of the most crystal clear water in the bay we had ever seen! Dave did get to sample a can of L&P soda drink, reportedly "world famous in New Zealand". Hmmm....

As we drove north along the east coast of the peninsula, the weather changed every 30 mins. The only constant was the wind, that kept gusting and giving Cam a hard time on the road. When we arrived at the south end of 90 Mile Beach, the weather was foul and Libs only made it out of the van for about 2 mins. So we pushed on to Cape Reinga and braved the strong winds to reach the lighthouse to see where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Oceans meet. The sign at the point noted it was only 18000 odd km to London - talk about being a world away from home!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Cam the Campervan

2009-08-07T00:15:00.000-07:00

After two days in Auckland bro, it was time to pick up our 2 berth campervan which was to be our transport and home for the next 10 days on the North Island. We christened him Cam, as all good men of the NZ are named. First stop was the supermarket for a massive shop to fill Cam with lots of good food and snacks so we could somehow start to reverse the relentless food binge we had been on in South America!

Then we hit State Highway 1 and headed due north to see Waitangi and the Bay of Islands. More like Bay of Rain and Cloud and Mist when we finally got there! - which was a shame as we could just make out the multitude of islands sitting silently in the clear waters. We stopped in that night at Kerikeri, citrus capital of NZ (they have a capital for everything here!)

Mr and Mrs T xx

Auckland bro!

2009-08-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

Leaving South America was hard to do. We had such a fantastic time, seen so much in three short months and our spanish was starting to take root. But The Land of the Long White Cloud beckoned and we said 'adios' to Chile and 'choice bro' to Auckland!

Landing at 3.40am into Auckland airport is a very special feeling. So special in fact, that we do not recommend it to anyone else on this planet. But if you do get stuck there for a few hours like we did, we suggest you fill your time counting the number of people in the terminal wearing All Black jerseys and/or ugg boots. Hours of fun!

Auckland feels a lot like Sydney, only smaller and colder. They have Sky Tower, Sydney has Centrepoint Tower. Sydney has King Street in Newtown, Auckland has the K Road in Newton. The Kiwi upper crust commute on a ferry from Devonport, in Sydney it's Manly. We stayed in a lovely old timber house less than 10 mins walk from the CBD, right by the vintage boutiques on Ponsonby Road - Libs' fashion famine was over!

Watching the sunset from Sky Tower over a glass of "sev" (that's kiwi speak for Savignon Blanc!) and a Steinlager was a pretty good way to finish a day that started at 3.40am!

Took a nice walk through town to see the University Clock and Old Government House before jumping the ferry across the bay to Devonport, an idyllic bayside suburb only 12 mins from the CBD. With the sun shining, we took a walk up to North Head for an amazing view back across the skyline. Only made it out for a quick drink and pizza that night as it was bloody freezing!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Santiago de Chile

2009-08-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Finally arriving in Santiago we settled into our lovely hotel in Bella Vista, a really lovely area, and then made our way out for dinner at a gorgeous seafood restaurant accompanied with some more wine - solely to help ease the pain of our very long trek to Chile.

Now with only one day in Santiago before our flight to New Zealand we tried to pack in as much as possible. It was a perfect day with blue skies and we began by having our breakfast at our hotel which had a terrace with views of the Andes in the background - beautiful. We then took a trip up Cerro San Cristobel in the cable car for views over the city (including the layer of smog) and across at the snow covered ranges. We then took a trip around town on the tourist bus which gave us a good impression of the city. Lunch consisted of the most massive milanesa we have ever seen! We then meandered around the Belle Artes gallery before wandering through Bella Vista and stopping for an ice cream. We ended our one day in Chile and our final day in South America with cocktails in Bella Vista patio.

Ciao Ciao Sud America...hello New Zealand.

xx

Mendoza and all the wine

2009-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

So our trip to Mendoza was mainly full of visiting wineries, tasting wine, drinking wine and eating food - brilliant!

Our first day we had a long lunch at a lovely restaurant called Anna where we started with our first glasses of vino. After a wander through Mendoza and a siesta we found Azafran a lovely wine bar/restaurant where our sommelier Pablo treated us to 4 great wines with our cheese plate and smoked deer for Dave!

Saturday we took the bus to Maipu for more wine tasting. We hired bikes and cycled around to some of the bodegas starting at the La Rural Museo run by the Rutini family. We then cycled up to Trapiche - their winery is in a lovely restored building and some of their wines were pretty great. We then cycled to Casa del Campo for a hearty lunch and yes washed down with some Malbec! We attempted to cycle of some of the food and ended up at the chocolate factory. A good day for the Toscano's.

Sunday we took a long walk through the Parque San Martin and up to the zoo which we wished we hadn't gone into when we'd seen the small sizes of the cages for the animals and birds - terrible. Ice cream on the way home and steaks for dinner at La Florencia.

Monday can be summed up as 16 fantastic wines and a lovely 5 course meal polished off. We picked up a hire car and drove to some more bodegas starting with Carlos Pulenta, former owner of the Trapiche bodega. We tried the Torrentes, Malbec, and Pinot Noir, but the Petit Verdor and "C" blend were the best. We then drove onto Archaval Ferrer another small bodega making amazing single vineyard Malbecs at three different altitudes, a fine blend "Quimera" and a very nice Dolce Malbec which we brought (how could we say no when its only available at the winery?!). We then made it to Ruca Malen for our five course lunch with matched wines. Some of their wines were pretty good, and the food was amazing! Thanks to Aine for her recommendations on these bodegas. Another great day for the Toscano's.

So for our last day in Argentina and after too much wine we took a drive through the desert to Villavicencio, then through the National Park on Ruta 52 which climbed through the sierras - amazing views. We then saw a condor swoop overhead as we drove the winding roads - it flew so close to us, it was absolutely amazing - they really are massive! Driving further over the sierras we were struck by the beautiful setting of the Andes in the background which we tried to take photographs of but became rather impossible in the gale force winds! We carried on our drive towards the Andes before getting turned back because of the snow. A stunning day driving.

Our final morning in Mendoza we awoke to snow and therefore a high chance of not crossing the Andes to Chile given there was likely to be a lot of snow in the mountains. Our 8am bus finally left around noon and about 2 and a half hours into our journey we were stopped and told to wait, the 3 hour wait then turned into being told we were going back to Mendoza. Brilliant - a fun day sitting on the bus! So the next day it was back on the bus and with our fingers crossed we finally made it to Santiago de Chile - about 30 hours later than planned. The drive through the Andes was beautiful passing Acongagura, the highest peak. It was also a bit scary as you wind down the snowy slopes and there was plenty of time to take in the scenery with our 4 hour wait to get our turn at customs.

However it was all well worth the wait when we arrived at our lovely hotel in Santiago (thank you to Dave's work colleagues).

Mr and Mrs T x

Hi - tops!

2009-07-20T16:59:00.001-07:00

We had just one evening and a full day back in Buenos Aires which we spent catching up with Kirsty and her friends, and mostly SHOPPING!

It was decided in advance of our fleeting visit back to BA that Dave would cook for us, Kirsty and Kirsty's lovely friends Peggy and Rose. Dave cooked up a feast of eggplant with roast tomatoes and basil, stuffed peppers with risotto, and his famous meatballs and flatbread - it was delicious! And Rose was the perfect host in her gorgeous apartment. It was good to be back in BA and for Dave it was good to be back in the kitchen.

The following day we started slightly on the hungover side so we went back to our fav place in Palermo for breakfast and a lush coffee (coffee is very hit and miss in Argentina!) and then we started a rather crazy shopping spree which left us with extremely full backpacks - however the winter coats where much needed for heading to Chile and onto NZ. We also both brought some awesome hi-top trainers - check them out! We also brought 3 boxes of Havanna alfajores for us to enjoy with family and friends in Sydney - believe us they're worthing dragging around Argentina, Chile and NZ.

That night we caught the overnight bus to Mendoza and seeing as we're on our honeymoon it was only right that we booked the Royal Suite and enjoyed full beds with our own TV screens, wine and champers!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Iguazu falls...truly amazing!

2009-07-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

We started our Iguazu falls trip on the brazilian side. We arrived into Foz do Iguazu at 8am and made our way to the Parque Iguazu for our first look at the falls. The view from the brazilian side is completely panoramic so you get a feel for the length and breadth of the falls, which are truly amazing.

You don`t need to spend much time at the parque there just a couple of hours so we decided we`d also go and visit the Itaipu dam before we crossed over to Argentina. Itaipu dam is the largest hydro electric plant in the world - 65 storeys high and 8km long, and enough water held for 4,000 litres per person on the earth! It produces 95% of electricity for Paraguay and 20% of electricity for Brazil. Its huge!

Later on that afternoon we crossed over into Argentina where we were full of excitement for seeing the falls again, as well as being back in Argentina for more good steaks, wine, and alfajores!!

We had a beautiful day to visit the falls from the Argentine side, which were really spectacular. From this side you are more, what can we say "in it" - you are literally right there on the edge of the falls, in particular seeing ´Devil´s Throat´was amazing, the power and volume of water is unbelievable! From the Agrentine side you get to do a number of different walks completely experiencing a number of the individual falls, either walking over them or in some cases very near under them - at least close enough to be covered in spray anyways! The size, power, and noise of the falls are magnificent, as was the bright rainbow shining through against the spray from the bottom of the gorge.

The falls are a truly amazing magnificent sight that if anybody gets the chance to visit really should go. Definitely one of our highlights.

Mr and Mrs T xx

More rain...this time in Florianopolis

2009-07-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

So after a long day travelling from Ilha do Mel to Florianopolis we finally arrived around 7pm to...you guessed it...pouring rain! The next day we awoke to some lovely sunshine (which soon after vanished) so we spent our first day in Florianopolis roaming around the old market and square, walking along the bay and mooching in and out of the shops.

We had big plans the following day to hit one of the beaches but this was sorely shattered by the grey and rainy day. Our day turned into a marathon of blog writing and ended with a gigantic pizza and wine.

So again we had big hopes for the beaches as this time we awoke to blue skies, however by the time we figured out how to get the buses to the beach and made it to Barra do Lagoa the blue sky had been completely covered by thick grey clouds. Our trip to the beach lasted all of 5 minutes as we quickly headed back into town to get away from the cold beaches. Barroa do Lagoa was a very long beach which looked like it would be a completely different place in the summer and with the sunshine. Dammit! To make our grey day better we headed for a late lunch at 11 Fiornaio which was truly amazing.

Yet another day was lost to bad weather - grey and wet so by this point cabin fever was starting to set in as we`d practically been living in our hotel room for the last 4 days. So with one day left we only hoped for some good weather and right on cue, the next morning, the day we left, we awoke to beautiful blue skies. So for our final day we made our way to Mole beach to watch the finals of a surf competition, good job there was a surf competition to watch because it was bloody freezing! We watched two aussies get knocked out in the semi finals and watched two brazilians compete for the title, which a 15 year old won. I don`t think the guy who came second, who was clearly twice his age, was too happy about that!

And so that was that for Florianopolis as we took an overnight bus to Foz do Iguacu, followed by our final day in Brazil.

Mr and Mrs T x

Ilha do Mel

2009-07-09T13:59:00.001-07:00

We woke to a very wet morning on Ilha do Mel, but as the day went on it began to clear up gradually, although most of the day it was very grey. We walked a bit of the island to see its a simple place with sandy tracks leading to little pousadas and to the other beaches. We saw the grotto and Dave risked the beautiful women putting a curse on him by entering it (as quoted on the signpost infront of the grotto). The curse obviously took effect as Dave lost all but one game of shithead that day and also lost pool to the champ Libby. As you can tell the grey day was mainly spent playing shithead and pool.

The day eventually cleared up just in time for sunset, so we managed to sit and watch a lovely sunset together - we were literally the only people on the island except for the people living there. Typically the weather cleared up just in time for our depature the following morning.

Sure enough clear blue skies arrived just in time for us to get the morning boat backto Paranagua. Also waiting for us was a super low tide so they had to drive the boat through the sand!

We had a long day travelling, a boat from Ilha do Mel, a bus to Curitiba, and then a bus to Florianopolis, to arrive into - you guessed it - pouring rain!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Curitiba and the train to Paranagua

2009-07-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

So with fantastic hangovers we made our way on the bus to Curitiba. Curitiba itself is not much to speak of, the only highlight was the truly retro Hotel Cervantes we stayed at, complete with original 70s fittings. The best thing about it, is that it wasn´t trying to be retro it just had exactly the same furniture from when it was first built, obviously sometime in the 70s. After a long bus ride eating snacks and still with big hangovers we fancied a hearty dinner however we couldn´t find a single restaurant open in Curitiba, just these little Adegas selling the usual cheese and meat pastry things, fried stuff, and kibe etc which we didn´t want so after walking around for over an hour we opted for going to a shop and buying cheese and crackers!

We were up early for the 8.15am Serra Verde Express train to Paranagua (we had to time this trip right as the train only leaves on a Sunday to Parangua). The train ride winds through the forest high over gulleys and around cliffs, stunning scenery - there was something like 13 tunnels and 42 bridges and viaducts, if our terrible understanding of portugese serves us correctly! It took 9,000 workers to build the railway many of whom died from accidents and diseases whilst building it.

Unfortuately for us the day was quite cloudy so the views weren´t as good as we´ve seen in the pictures, but it was a great train ride all the same. The train stopped at Morrentes where most people got off to go and enjoy an afternoon lunch. We actually got off the train thinking we were at Paranagua, but luckily made it back on to the train just in time for it to continue to our stop.

We wondered around Paranagua for a couple of hours before boarding our boat to a small island called Ilha do Mel. Libby was very excited to have found mulled wine from a little street seller in Paranagua. It was very similar to the mulled wine back home except for the 8 spoonfuls of sugar they must put in each cup - quite typical of the Brazilians, like the Argentines, and Bolivians to sweeten things up. Late afternoon we eventually arrived on Ilha do Mel, arriving on yet another island where again it was raining.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Sao Paulo

2009-07-09T12:18:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Sao Paulo early evening and got some recommendations on hostels from the tourist info place at the bus terminal, however the recommended hostel was all booked up after we´d walked around Vila Madalena with our big bloody backpacks on for sometime to find it, luckily the hostel we tried called around the other hostels for us and found one four blocks away which was a blessing in disguise as this hostel was fab, as was the ubiquius Tulio - the owner, whom we decided was the Brazilian version of ¨Franz¨from Father of the Bride! We both loved this hostel as it was full of really awesome retro funiture we so wish we had.

In our usual excitement of arriving in a new place we decided to head out to a recommended bar by Tulio - Filial bar - for some drinks and a light dinner. As usual our light dinner turned into copious amounts of brazilian food washed down with a number of chopp´s. At the bar we watched the Corinthians win the Copa do Brasil sparking fireworks in the streets, as usual we wanted to party but our full bellies wanted us to sleep, alas we turned in for the night. Hopeless again!

We woke to a surprisingly wet morning, putting a dampner on our plans to see lots of the city. Instead we went to see the excellent Vik Muniz exhibition at the MASP (Museo de Arte de Sao Paulo), which was really fantastic. We spent the rest of the afternoon in an indoor shopping mall to escape the rain and then took the metro back to our hostel, on the way back we stopped and window shopped at these amazing vintage furniture shops. The evening was spent eating sushi and drinking in Cristoral bar.

Another grey day but we decided to go into the centre anyway to visit the Edificio Altino Arantes, once owned by the Banco do Estado de Sao Paulo, now owned by the Santander Bank - the 35th floor observatory gave us views of the city, slightly spoiled by the grey day! In the afternoon we headed to El Dorado shopping mall for some more window shopping and then we managed to refrain from eating out and we actually made ourselves a salad for dinner, a first for this trip! That night we went out late with some people from our hostel and ended up in a warehouse style club with a live funk samba band who were brilliant - quite like the Quantic Soul Orchestra. We actually partied until 5am, amazing for how hopeless we´ve been so far, especially given our 7am start to make our way to Curitiba.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Paraty

2009-07-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

We made our way to Paraty from Ilha Grande, taking the ferry back to Angra dos Reis and then the local bus, with the mental bus driver, to Paraty.

Paraty is a beautiful colonial town with white washed buildings and very cobbled streets. We only had one day in Paraty, which was lucky timing as the following day the famous book festival - FLIP - was starting and every hostel was more than likely to be booked out for it. We walked through the old town wondering in and out of the little boutique shops and seeing everything getting set up for the festival.

That evening we decided to splash out and eat in the best restaurant in town, as recommended by our guide book, called Merlin o Mago. It was a really amazing dinner, perfect for our one night in Paraty.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Ilha Grande

2009-07-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

We took the bus from Rio to Angra dos Reis where we took the ferry to Ilha Grande, along the way we met a lovely couple Thomas and Cecile from Toulouse, he had recently started working at a pousada called Pousada Naturalia on Ilha Grande, this was a stroke of luck for us as Thomas led us to his pousada of paradise, which we were particularly thankful for as it was tipping down with rain when we arrived on the island and we would of had no clue where to head. The pousada was gorgeous, with stunning views, lovely rooms, and amazing breakfast!

We awoke the first morning to grey cloudy weather following the night of torrential rain and decided to take one of the walks through the forest to the other beaches. At the start of our walk we were met by a dog who decided to be our guide for the walk, she walked with us through the evergreen rainforest terrain and up a very slippery slope to the waterfall and back down to the beach, she was even great at pointing out the monkeys for us in the trees by frantically barking at them. I think all up it was about a 3 hour trek so when we arrived at one of the other beaches we opted to take a boat back to Abraao where we were staying. That evening we went out for dinner and a few drinks and met up with Thomas and Cecile at a local barn dance in celebrationof Saint Pedro´s Day. The kids were all dressed up - the boys were wearing straw hats, checked shirts and had painted on moustaches and the girls in floral dresses and plaits in their hair and they all danced together in perfect barn dance routine. Brilliant - we love a good barn dance! We stayed there before dashing back to the pousada as a thunderstorm had broken out, which was good as it washed the clouds away.

The next day we walked to Abraaozinho beach where we befriended a crab for the day. In the afternoon we went back to the village to watch Brazil beat the U.S. 3-2 in the Confederation Cup final whilst drinking passionfruit caipirihna´s. Later that evening we had more caipirihna´s back at the Poussada with Laurent (the owner), Thomas, Cecile, and another honeymooning couple Sarah and Phil from Toronto.

On our final day on Ilha Grande we decided to take the 3 hour trek on foot to Lopez Mendes beach, which was spectacular, definitely worth the trek through the rainforest to get there. It was a long beach with snow soft sand, crystalline water, and pounding waves. After some sunbathing we opted to take the boat back. Overall a blissful island everyone should visit if they get the opportunity.

Mr and Mrs T x

Her name was Rio...

2009-07-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

Our week in Rio began with a cloudless sunny day so from our hostel at Copacabana beach we walked down the street and headed straight onto the beach. Copacabana beach was cleaner and much less cheesy than we had expected - we really enjoyed laying on the beach soaking up the sunshine (it was the first time Dave and I had made it to the beach together since Malta in August 2007!).

Our day of sunshine was followed by a debaucherous night with Andy Allen (he wouldn´t have it any other way, especially when we´d told him we hadn´t really been that drunk since being away on our trip, thus Andy proceeded to get us the drunkiest to date!). So we started off with a civil dinner in Copacabana beach and then Andy took us to the favela where he used to live and where he lives close to now, there we met up with his wife Liliana and carried on drinking. One tequila turned into 3, 3 tequilas turned into 5, then we drank some other spirit neat that we´d never heard of, then another tequila and then next thing we know it we´re in the local club trying to samba. Andy and Liliana were very impressive samba dancers, us on the other hand, with god knows how many tequilas inside us, were more like dancing elephants on tranquilizers. Poor Andy and Liliana were both trying to teach us to samba, luckily I was wearing flip flops otherwise I think I may have broken every toe on Andy´s foot!

It was a very hungover start to the following day so what better way to recover than lying in the sun on Copacabana beach. Later that afternoon we went back to the hostel to wait for our pick up to Maracana´Stadium to see Flamengo play Internacional from Porto Allegre. Flamengo smashed Internacional 4 - 0 so it was a very exciting game to watch, especially with Adriano scoring a hatrick. Good fun even with a half empty stadium - not suprising though, the stadiums massive!

So Monday we took a break from Copacabana beach and took a bus to the next beach, Impanema - this was quieter and less built up than Copacabana beach. Impanema had some lovely resaturants and cafes just off from the beach where we managed to eat probably the most calorific dessert to date - chocolate brownie, with cream, ice cream, and literally drenched in hot chocolate sauce. Later that evening we drank beer and ate tapas in one of the local Adegas. Our routine carried on the next day as we headed straight for Copacabana beach for another day of nothing but sun and reading.

On Wednesday after having done nothing but laying on the beach we decided to take the afternoon off from our usual spot and head into town to catch the yellow tram to Santa Teresa, the short tram ride was full of beautiful baroque style villas, artesenal homes and lovely views of the city. We spent the rest of the late afternoon and early evening trying out a few local bars/Adegas and gorging ourselves on northern Brazilian food at Bar do Arnauldo - steak do sol, queijo coehlo, farofa and feijho - we were so full we could hardly make it home!

Our last day in Rio was unfortunately met with clouds and rain so our plans to see Rio from Corcovado were washed out. So we bumbled around Copacabana for the day before heading into Lapa in the evening for drinks, where we mourned the passing of the King of Pop (R.I.P MJ). We downed Caipirihna´s and Brahma chopps before heading to a club with live samba music, this time we were actually able to stand up straight and dance!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Cochabamba Cochabamba Cochabamba

2009-07-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

We took the overnight bus from La Paz to Cochabamba arriving at a chilly 5.30am where we decided to camp out at the bus terminal until the sun came up. Once the sun was up we jumped in a cab and booked into a hotel and waited for a decent hour to head out for breakfast, we ate a yummy breakfast at Casablanca and walked around for a while, in a sleepy daze, before getting an amazing ice cream we then headed back for a siesta which actually turned into a 15 hour sleep to Tuesday morning, oop´s!

So Tuesday it is...we walked around in the sunshine before heading up to Palecio del Portales, a fine stately home built by Simon Patino; a tin baron whose family unfortunately never got to live in it due to altitude sickness impacting on his blood pressure when he was originally a miner, thus he spent much of his life living in Argentina and Europe. The home was beautiful and surrounded by lovely gardens. On the way home we decided to go to the movies and watch Angels and Demons...yes it was in English, our spanish isn´t that good!

Wednesday we visited the local markets, where you can even by puppies and rabbits (hopefully not to eat!). As usual we where taken back by the amazing cakes and had to get one for the way home. Cochabamba was a bit like Sucre for its good food, compared to the rest of Bolivia, so we spent a lot of time eating here, in particular filling our bellies with great ice cream.

We had an early start on Thursday morning for our 11 hour bus ride to Santa Cruz. In typical Bolivian style things left at ¨Bolivian time¨ (e.g. there is a bus advertised at 8.30am, so we ask to book on this bus, they tell us this bus doesn´t run anymore its now at 7.30am, so we booked on the 7.30am bus and we´re told to arrive at 7am to leave at 7.30am, we get there at 7am and the bus leaves at 8.45am - brilliant!). Sitting and waiting on the bus, as usual, we were bombarded with a rolling parade of Bolivians getting on and off the bus shouting and trying to sell us, and everyone else, chocolate, tea, empanadas, chewing gum, god knows what else. We finally get going and we sit back in the bliss of silence to be rudely interrupted by a man in a suit who gets up and plugs in his mic and talks for 45 minutes (YES 45 MINUTES!!) about the benefits of brushing teeth, I particularly liked the pictures of diseased gums, and all this just to sell toothbrushes and toothpaste - only in Bolivia!

We finally arrived in Santa Cruz at 7pm, where we didn´t spend much time as we had a 2.30am start for our flight to Sao Paulo. Brazil here we come!

Mr and Mrs T xx

Brazil

2009-07-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

It was an early start for our cross over to Brazil, with our flight leaving Santa Cruz at 5am, so up at 2.30am to catch a cab to the airport, hardly worth going to sleep, but we did! So we got on our flight to Sao Paulo, via a stop in Campo Grande, and landed around 10am. We made our way to the bus terminal so we could catch a bus straight to Rio, and eventually arrived in Rio around 6pm. We then took a local bus to Copacabana to find our hostel. So all up about 2 days travelling to get from Cochabamba to Copacabana.

With all good intentions it was a Friday night and we had plans to party in Rio, so we dropped the bags off and grabbed some dinner. We then went back to the hostel to have a quick snooze before heading out, but similarly to Cochabamba a snooze turned into waking up in the wee hours of the morning, oop´s! Entirely Dave´s fault for setting his alarm clock for 10am instead of 10pm. Hopeless! At least we were feeling refreshed for our long day ahead of us on the beach.

Mr and Mrs T xx

Top tips for Bolivia

2009-06-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

DO be prepared for the winter cold (especially on bus trips!). Minus 15 on the salt flats or in the desert is bloody freezing! But at the same time, DO remember to go out in that cold and look up at the stars. Simply amazing!

DON'T expect anything great for breakfast (except at Tonito Hotel in Uyuni). It's usually bread with butter and jam and Nescafe to wash it down.

DO use coca leaves or coca tea to help with altitude sickness. We've never experienced headaches like that. But DON'T believe it when they say the altitude diminishes your appetite - Davey Two Meals disproved that urban myth!

DO spend some time in Sucre to sample the great food, fruit juices, bakeries, bars and chocolate. Yum yum!

DO be ready for people to sell you every type of empanada or bread or drink in a plastic bag (who needs cups!) when you are at the bus station or even on the bus. We never bought that 'turkey turkey' stuff to find out what it was so if it's sold to you, please tell us!

DO go see the amazing wildlife in La Pampas. Toucans, alligators, caymans, sloths, anacondas, pink dolphins...the list goes on and on. And DO take the 19 seater plane flight, it beats the hell out of a 24 hour bus trip.

DON'T book your Death Road ride with Gravity Tours unless you are 100% sure you are going. They don't do refunds - bummer.

DO be prepared to pay a different price for the same thing on different days. But DON'T worry, it's 10 BOBS to the Pound so it's all cool.

DO try llama steaks. Tastes like good veal and has more vitamins than beef to boot!

DON'T just order the 'special' meat dish from the menu (as Dave did), unless you like tripe.

DO get up early to see the sunrise over Mount Illampu and Lake Titacaca. Magnificent.

Mr and Mrs T x

Jungle fever in La Pampas

2009-06-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

After two relaxing days on Isla del Sol, we faced a very cold start in La Paz to get our 6.15am flight to Rurrenabaque in the Beni region of Bolivia for our tour of La Pampas, the Amazonian wetlands.

The pain of leaving the warmth of our beds at 4am was only made worse when we arrived at the airport (only just, as our taxi stalled at least 10 times on the way and we were sure we were going to have to get out and walk!) to find the 6.15am flight had been taken off that day's schedule, replaced with one at 7.15am. Muchas gracias Amazonas Airlines! But it didn't end there, not only was the flight at 7.15, it was also not going to Rurrenabaque as the grass airstrip there was flooded so we'd been re-routed to Reyes where would have to catch a bus back into to Rurrenabaque. Not a great start.

But, the view from the 19 seater plane (Dave's idea of great fun, not Libs') was spectactular. The airport in La Paz is actually in El Alto, on a broad plain some 400m above the valley city so when we took off, you could see how the area drops off the precipice into the city below. We also had a great view of the long line of Andean mountains running along the east of the city, with the plane flying so close to Illampu that you felt you could reach out and touch the peak. And with the flight taking off at 4400m and rising to around 6000m to pass the ranges, it was an easy glide down to Reyes at a meagre 250m above sea level where the landscape was flat, wet and very green.

To our dismay, the weather was not hot. It was warm but winter had arrived in the Amazonian basin of Bolivia so it was not t-shirts and flip flops. But no matter, we joined our tour group and literally crammed into a 4x4 for a 3hr ride to Santa Rosa. The nearer we got, the more amazing animals we saw - a Toucan, a huge Jabirú stork, eagles, vultures....then we boarded canoes with our guide Jamie for the ride up the Yacuma River to our lodge, again seeing more and more animals as we went....alligators, pink river dolphins (yes, they really are pink), piranas, howler and squirrel monkeys, Capibarra (world's largest rodent, kind of like a guinea pig on steroids) and too many birds to mention. And all this just on the ride in!

And the animals were hardly afraid of us and our lodgings. Both mornings we woke to a toucan in the trees outside our room, to squirrel monkeys in the trees behind, one morning, a large woodpecker pecked his way around the trees looking for insects to eat and every morning, we awoke to the noisy Hoatzin, a kind of punk looking pheasant with an electric blue face and bright orange mohawk plume! And there was the ever present one eyed alligator waiting beside our canoe boats, we were told waiting for scraps, not tourists' limbs!

Thankfully, day two was a little warmer so we donned our wellies and went out looking for Anacondas. Again, not exactly Libs' idea of fun but we did find a small one - about 1.2m long - early doors so we asked Jamie if we could jump back in the canoe and go looking for a sloth as he'd mentioned them the day before. Somehow, Jamie spotted one in the top of a tree a little later on, he was all stretched out in the branches, trying to catch some sun through the clouds. We didn't see a puma though, but neither of us were too worried about that.

After a huge lunch and little siesta (we are getting used to all this food and sleep!), we went down river to go swimming with the pink dolphins. They are meant to be very inquisitive and are even known to nibble your toes while you swim. Libs was having none of that so it was only Dave and the others from the group who braved the murky brown water to see if the dolphins would engage. No dice. We think it has something to do with the layers of DEET bug spray we were re-applying all day long! We guess that stuff just isn't tested on dolphins. We finished the day with a few beers and watching the sunset while some over energetic travellers (not us) played football and volleyball.

Our last day in La Pampas kicked off with us fishing for piranas but on the way, Jamie managed to spot a young two toed sloth chillin in a tree. What a cute little fellow he was!. Fishing was good fun, if a little worrying when you brought those little suckers into the boat. Dave got one just as we were running out of bait and Libs got a kind of large sardine looking thing, an act of true charity from a former vegetarian! Then we tried to attract the dolphins again by jumping in the river and swimming towards them but they kept swimming off. Dammit! Maybe it had something to do with the alligators on the river bank that Jamie pointed out only AFTER Dave had got back into the boat. Sheesh!

On the ride back to the shore and our 4x4, we spotted so many families of turtles as well as alligators and caimans all sunning themselves in the sun. Dave made a list of some of the animals we saw with Jamie (we all know how Dave loves making lists) and came up with: Capibarra, Cormoran, Gallileta (water fowl), Jabirú stork as well as many other varieties, blue kingfisher, toucans, two and three toed sloth, pink dolphins, Anaconda, black caiman, yellow spotted turtles, macaws, woodpecker, Hoatzin (also known as the Stinkbird!), herons, raptors, vultures, eagles....and so many more we didn't know the name of. In short, La Pampas is a wildlife haven so for many types of animals and it was truly stunning to see them all so healthy and happy in their natural habitat. We were both really glad we did this tour as it was one of the best things we'd ever seen.

Mr & Mrs T xxx

Lago Titicaca and Isla del Sol

2009-06-16T09:49:00.002-07:00

A four hour bus ride out of La Paz takes you to Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca and near the border with Peru. It's a stunning ride north as the crystal blue lake starts to appear in the west, flanked by the snowcapped Andes ranges and mountains of Illampu and Illamani in the east.

Copacabana itself was not much to speak of so we jumped a boat straight out to the Isla del Sol, reputed birthplace of the Incan empire. Arriving at Yumani in the south, we were met at the pier by a 14 year old boy named David who offered to carry Libby's backpack up the steep stone steps and to our lodgings. Silly boy. It was a sheer rock face that rose from the shore up more than 200 steps and given the lake is still at over 4000m, the altitude made the pack all the more difficult to carry. But carry it he did and we found a lovely little cabin with a view across the lake to Illampu for our stay.

There is little to see on the island itself and the Incan history is poorly promoted but the scenery you can take in, especially during the long walk over the island from Yumani in the south to Roca Sagrada in the north, is simply stunning and worth the effort. You pay a small fee to the local community to use the well maintained path and we took a packed lunch and sat with our sandwiches overlooking a crystal blue bay before trekking back to our cabin. It was interesting to see the same old men guarding the checkpoint in the sun - do they sit there all day, every day, collecting the fees and marking their little book!? Not a bad gig.

Dave got up early the next day to watch the sunrise over Illampu, Libs stayed in bed with the stomach cramps she'd been carrying for a few days. Then it was a boat back to Copacabana after breakfast and the bus back into La Paz that afternoon, from where we'd fly to Rurrenabaque to stay in the Amazon jungle!

Mr & Mrs T xxx

La Paz

2009-06-16T09:49:00.001-07:00

We arrived in La Paz on early Friday morning (5th June), what an amazing sight to see the huge city laid out in the valley with snowcapped mountains in the background. Who the hell thought a sheer valley more at than 4000m was a great place for a city?!?! Crazy spaniards!

We checked into our hostel (all you can eat pancakes for breakfast - Daveo was happy!) and booked everything we wanted to fit into Bolivia before our flight to Sao Paulo. Our itinerary looked something like this:

Sat 6th - Tiwanaku
Sun 7th - Bike tour of Death Road
Mon 8th - Bus to Copacabana and boat to Isla del Sol (Lake Titicaca)
Wed 9th - Boat to back to Copacabana and bus back to La Paz
Thurs 10th - 6.15am flight to Rurrenabaque and 9.00am start for La Pampas tour in the Amazon
Sat 13th - 5.00pm back from La Pampas tour
Sun 14th - 9.40am flight back from Rurrenabaque to La Paz and 11pm bus from La Paz to Cochabamba

And breathe!!

So as you can see our schedule for the rest of our time in Bolivia was tight, but all worth it!

The archeological site at Tiwanaku was pretty good, although we thought that perhaps more had been discovered, it is still mostly being excavated and therefore a trip back in say 2 years would probably be more worthwhile. The history was interesting but not all that awe creating. The 7ft 90 tonnes monolith was pretty impressive - but the fact it stood alone in a half built museum was slightly disappointing.

When we got back to La Paz from Tiwanaku the Gran Poder festival was in full swing and we got fantastic views of it from the roof terrace bar at our hostel. The colours and costumes where amazing. Traditional dresses dolled up to the nines, and then there were the sombreros and frills - we've never seen anything like it! There were so many different bands playing and dances going on and when we went to bed that night it was all still going. The Bolivians sure know how to party!

Unfortunately for us, the Death Road never happened on the Sunday as Libby got sick (the usual stomach upset you get when you're travelling!). We were so gutted we never got to do this, as so many people raved about it. A quick word of warning for any travellers heading to bike Death Road, we booked our tour with Gravity who are highly recommended and supposed to be the best and most safe, hence why they are more expensive than the others (600 bolivianos each), but they wouldn't give us any kind of refund for not being able to go or offer us a reschuled time, despite the fact they always seem to have 2 van loads of people going everyday on this trip. Dave got up at 7am and walked down to the meeting point on the Sunday morning to tell them we couldn't make it because I was ill, and all they would offer us is 25% off booking it again, brilliant!!!! So we lost out on our 1200 bobs and we weren't about to pay another 900 bobs to book it again. So a little word of warning, either book with someone else, who is equally as good and safe and has a better policy if you can't make it or just make sure you don't get ill!

Late that day Libby managed to drag herself out of bed to get some "fresh air" and we walked around La Paz a bit and then went to Restaurant Alaya so Dave could try some traditional Bolivian lunch - he ordered a dish for two, but as I wasn't eating in true Davey Two Meals style he eagerly chomped his way through it, apart from the tripe and the freeze dried potatoes!

Later on Dave went out and ran into some very drunk revellers still going from the festival the night before - only 1 out of 5 tuba players in one band could manage to squeeze out a note.

Mr & Mrs T xxx

Sucre....yum!

2009-06-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

If you ever come to Bolivia, make sure you visit Sucre. It is a haven of good food and warmer weather, something you will appreciate given the cuisine is often lacking in other parts of this wonderful country.

We ended up spending five days here before heading on to La Paz, working our way through dinners and 2-4-1 cocktails at Florin cafe, breakfasts with freshly baked bread and great vegetarian lunches at El Germen, a surprisingly cheap but very swish dinner at Restaurant Munaypata overlooking the city (including llama steak - tastes like very good veal), lazing in the sun and enjoying the fresh salads and milkshakes at Cafe Mirador, super cheese rolls from a little bakery we found on the way back from our B&B....the list could go on and on.

Two more things we must mention are the chocolates and fruit juices/salads . When in Sucre, you must visit the Para Ti chocolate shop and have yourself a hot chocolate, made fresh with melted chocolate and hot milk, as well as pick yourself up a box of truffles. Awesome. Equally good and somewhat better for you are the fresh fruit juices you can pick up in the local central market. The ladies have the fruit all laid out in front of them, you pick what you want and they blend your juice for you or chop your salad up while you wait. 30p for two large glasses of fresh juice is pretty good value (even if the price seemed to change each day even though Dave ordered the same banana, paw paw and passionfruit juice from the same woman three days in a row!) as was the 40p fruit salad Libs got, complete with sweetened fresh cream.

It was a sanctuary few days to relax in our nice B&B and enjoy the sun and good food in town(although we do have to admit to an evening of chicken and chips in our bedroom while we watched Desperate Housewives on cable tv!) and we did do other stuff - we visited an indigenous market in a town named Tarabuco nearby, where locals in traditional dress come to sell their artensal wares and pick up their grain, meat, sheep, fruit and veg, all carried home on their backs or on their sturdy donkeys! On the way back we were lucky to pass a rally car race that was taking place in the region and got right up close in the dust to see the cars hammer through the hills.

Sucre was a great place to recharge and relax before heading north to the capital, La Paz.

Mr & Mrs T xxx

Potosi

2009-06-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

The bus from Uyuni to Potosi started with a little confusion on board. Seems even though there are numbered seats and tickets, some of the local peeps enjoy riding in the aisles to their destinations. That's cool. Mysteriously, a woman kept coming on the bus selling some form of meat and rice dish by calling out over and over 'turkay turkay!'. Libs wouldn't let Daveo buy one to find out if it was really turkey but given we haven't seen a single turkey in Bolivia, that was probably a good decision.

Across the aisle from us were another couple on their honeymoon in South America, although they were, for some unknown and very crazy reason, cycling most of the way! They had started in Ushuaia in the very south (i.e. near Antarctica!) cycled up through windy Patagonia and even through the Atacoma Desert in Chile and across the Salar! "Of course you have some sort of wizzbang GPS kit on your bike, right?" Dave asked. "Oh no," says the Geordie bloke, "just maps and a compass we don't really use. That's why we got lost in the desert for a few days." What is it with Geordies?!?!

We were going to Potosi to do a tour of the mines in Cerro Ricco and that is what we did the next day. We knew that this wasn't a nice tourist tour where you stand behind glass in an air conditioned room, but rather a physically and mentally challenging first hand look at the trecherous conditions in which Bolivian miners work for very little reward. Libs was very nervous given her claustrophobia and while Dave acted tough, he was packing it on the inside!

First stop was to get kitted out in our safety equipment, boots, overalls, helmet with lamp. Then we stopped at the 'miners market' to buy some gifts for the workers as they essentially are all self employed and need to purchase their own gear, coca leaves to handle the high altitude conditions and even their own dynamite to blow holes in the rock! Crazy. Before we arrived at the mine we visited a 'processing plant' which could only be described as victorian given the way the rudimentary machines splashed around dangerous chemicals like arsenic while the raw materials where crushed, washed and separated in the search for silver, zinc and tin. It was a reminder of Bolivia's lack of development relative to it's neighbours given they are able to extract the raw materials but do not have the technology for smeltering so their profits are meager in comparison to the risks they take.

Arriving at the mine itself, we first met with some miners who were kicking back with some coca leaves (actually, quite a lot of coca leaves!) and some Ceibo, a 96% alcoholic 'drink' they sip or mix with soft drink to help cleanse their bodies of the dangerous minerals that build up over years in the mines. Not sure which is worse but given Bolivian miners only have a life expectancy of around 55, they prefer to drink than to not drink.

We then entered the mine. Libs turned back after about 30m but there's no dishonour in that as the tunnel got steep, dark and narrow very quickly, making it difficult to feel your way. With andrenaline and fear pumping, not to mention the noxtious fumes, Dave's breathing was difficult all the way through but he made it through the four levels, over 80m down and more than 1.2km into the mine. The conditions are simply medieval - some miners still work with hammers and chisels, carrying the rock out in bags on their back; most miners are very young, 16 or under; Dave saw four boys push a cart of rocks weighing 2 tonnes to a team of two adult miners who shovelled that rock into wicker baskets that were then lifted to the surface with a hydraulic winch, the only modern technology he saw at work.

It really was a difficult and uncomfortable thing to do but we both emerged with a strong sense of respect for these workers who struggle with terrible conditions to provide for their families. Given the basic wage for a miner is GBP65 a month and any increase is subject to the fluctuating silver, zinc and tin prices, you wonder why they bother. The short answer is, they know nothing else.

Before leaving Potosi the next day, we visited the Santa Teresa Convent which was a cloistered order of some 500 years of history. The convent was amazing and the story our tour guide explained was very interesting but unfortunately we were interrupted by a group of 40 disrespectful brats from La Paz who were added to our small group, making the tour impossible. We tried to get the guide to split them from our group but they refused so we left. If you go to Potosi, visit the convent but make sure there aren't any school groups due to arrive and spoilt the serenity!

Next up, food and more food in Sucre!

Mr & Mrs T xxx

Salar de Uyuni

2009-06-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

As cliched as it sounds, the Salar is truly one of those places on earth like no other, where words fail to convey the stark otherness of the landscape to anything else you've seen. Hopefully our photos help fill in the bits our words miss.

Our 3 day-2 night tour Salar and the surrounding desert and lagoons began on 25 May where we met our 4x4, our driver Ariel, our traditional Bolivian cook Caterina, and the two French couples who were also on our tour.

Now, so that we can get the bad stuff out of the way, we just want to point out that while we did not maim or kill the Frenchies during our tour, we did seriously consider abandoning them without food or water in the desert. You know how the French have that innate ability to annoy the life out of you without really trying? Well these people had it down pat. We won't bore you with details, suffice to say we would have killed to have had Hannah there on the tour to throw in a loud 'mange tout, mange tout, may wee may wee' everytime they opened their mouths.

Moving on, we started by visiting a train cemetery just outside Uyuni where huge hulks are left there to rust in the sun, remnants of a time past where the Germans, Americans and British helped give the Bolivians a railway network. Shortly after entering the bleak salar, we visited Colchani, a salt processing town where 5 foot pyramids of salt are also left in the sun, this time to dry before being baked in ovens and shipped out nationally and for export.

Driving on to the Salar proper, the vast whiteness of it all surrounds you and you start to wonder how many people must have lost their way over the centuries and perished in the sun while trying to find their way out of a place with no points of reference other than the mountains in the far distance?! Thankfully, there is now an obvious black track that the 4x4s (and some mental cyclists we saw!) use to find their way to Isla Incuasi, where we stopped for lunch, to walk the hilly island covered in cacti and, as most travellers do, to have fun playing perspective with our camera. Check the dinosaur shots!

On the way off the Salar, we visited the 'Crystal Caves' where salty stalacti sparkle in the dim light. The cave is also close to a pre-Incan graveyard though the tombs were robbed by the Spanish in colonial times.

Our first night was spent in Colchaki, a small village just off the edge of the Salar. We lodged with a local family which gave us a real insight into their way of life. We complained about the cold but they live with it year in, year out! Amazing! Equally amazing was the multitude of stars and satellites we could see that night, out in the supreme blackness of the Salar and desert. A little less amazing was the village band who were practicing across the road - don't give up your day job muchachos!

Day 2 was less salar, more desert, volcanos and lagoons. We started early to see the active Volcano Ollagre which borders with Chile, then a long drive through the desert to lunch with flamingos beside a lagoon (joined later by a desert fox named Antonio who apparently regularly turns up to collect some scraps). In the afternoon we saw the Arbol de Piedra (the rock tree) and then onto Laguna Colorado where flocks of pink flamingos and other birds live and play in the shadow of snowcapped mountains. Truly stunning! That night we tried to stand out and see the stars again but only managed about 2 mins as it must have been minus 157! (that may be a slight exagerration, but only slight).

Super early start of 4.30am for day 3 so we could see the thermal geysers at their most active. That much was true, the first we saw was shooting sulphuric steam out of the ground like a burst mainline pipe but there was no way in hell we were getting out of the 4x4 in that cold! We could see very well from our seats thank you very much. So we left the geysers to themselves and headed south to Laguna Verde which, as the name suggests, was emerald green, owing to the ascenic that naturally occurs in its waters. No flamingos playing there! The early start was made worth our while when we stopped for a pre-breakfast dip in a thermal spa bath! Ahhhhh! So good! Topped off with pancakes for breakfast, awesome. On the long drive back to Uyuni we stopped to see the Dali rocks (art imitating life or vice versa?), the Valle de Rocas, lunch in Villa Mar and afternoon break in San Cristobal.

All in all, it was a long 3 days with a lot of driving time but the landscape makes up for any annoyance at the cramped quarters. The Salar is something you must see to feel its bleak and vast power, the desert that surrounds it gives a different and often contrasting image at each turn and the lagoons show life does, literally, spring eternal.

It was one of the best things we've ever done.

Mr & Mrs T xxx

The start of new adventures in Bolivia

2009-06-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

So... we took the smelly cockroach ridden overnight bus from Salta to the border town La Quiaca on 23 May, arriving to sub zero temperatures just before sunrise. No mi gusta! But we did meet Javier and Angela, a really lovely couple from Columbia who were on a 3 week tour of Bolivia and Peru. We crossed the border with them from La Quiaca to Villazon in Bolivia at 7am, where we had plenty of time to kill before the one train to Uyuni which left at 3.30pm, so we spent ours walking around the markets stocking up on thermals, ready for the minus 15 degrees we were about to meet in Salar de Uyuni!

There's not much to see in Villazon, except for the boxing ring next to the toilets at the bus station (we guess if you have time to kill, why not box out some of that pent up frustration?) and the Bolvian women in their traditional dress, hat and apron.

The train to Uyuni was actually very clean and comfortable and we spent some more time with Javier and Angela, where Dave was doing very well at practicing his spanish! Again Libby was good at practising her spanish listening rather than speaking.

Arriving in Uyuni at midnight, we were well prepared for the cold which actually wasn't as bad as we'd expected (helped by wearing all the clothes we'd just brought in villazon). That was a lot of travelling in one go to make it to Uyuni but definitely worth it for the Salur Uyuni tour which was truly amazing. We'll save that for the next post.

Miss you all. Lots of love,

Mr and Mrs T xxx

Dos and Don'ts in Argentina

2009-06-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Before we continue the blog with our Bolivian adventures, here are a few of what we think are essential top tips for those of you who may be planning a trip to Argentina in the future:

1. Don't eat three full Argentine meals a day unless you are in sumo training. 2 is enough (even for Daveo!) - we'd suggest skipping breakfast, unless it's the devine breakfasts at Oui Oui cafe in Palermo.

2. Don't order the "Cuban rice" dish at El Preferido in Palermo at dinner time (aka. 11pm) - its a heart attack waiting to happen as you can see from the pic.

3. Don't EVER give up your change. Coins are literally like gold dust, fight to the bitter end to hold on to your change. You'll need these coins for the bus, your bottle of water, your Alfajore snack, everything really. And nobody ever wants to give you change back.

4. Speaking of buses in Buenos Aires, do make sure you get on the bus heading in the right direction else you'll end up at the aeroporto instead of the museo. We can tell you the walk back to town isn't scenic.

5. Do try dulce de leche - its actually quite hard to escape it because the Argentines put it in and on everything - especially at breakfast. But one little word of warning, steer clear of the 4 inches of dulce de leche in between two thin shortbread biscuits (a typical torta) at Oui Oui - its extreme overkill.

6. Do try the alfajores, tamales, humitas, empanades and locros. All extremely great Argentine cuisine, especially in Salta and Cafayate.

7. Do drive the Ruta 40 from Cafayate to Cachi, but perhaps not in a Fiat Uno!

8. Don't take the Flecha bus from Cordoba to Salta or you'll be met by the rudest bus staff in the history of rude bus staff. And don't take the Balut bus from Salta to La Quiaca (the border town) or you'll have to share your seat with a cockroach/cocaracha!

9. Do try as many Torrontes white wines as you can. Amazing!! It is now our favourite grape.

10. Do definitely climb Cerro Uritorio, after all its just a "hill".

11. And do leave plenty of room in your bag and money in your bank to buy shoes in Buenos Aires (a little extra tip for the girlies!).

Mr & Mrs T xxx

Colome´ and Cachi

2009-05-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

The drive from Cafayate to Cachi is via Route 40, a 180km winding track of dirt and sand and dust and rocks. This was no place for a rented Fiat Uno but our little amigo Oscar refused to bow to logic and ploughed through with typical Italian gusto! Dave was very proud (though very tired by the end). But the reward for our effort was a visit to one of the highest altitude and secluded wineries in the world - the Colome´winery, about 50km from Cachi and another 20 odd km away from the nearest road and town.

At the end of that track is a hidden paradise, where vines more than 150 years old grow in blissful isolation from pollution, parasites and prying eyes. At our 'closed door' dinner at Casa Felix in Buenos Aires, we were lucky enough to try Colome's magnificent Torrontes and silky smooth Amalaya red blend of malbec, cabernet, syrah, bonarda and tannat. We tried those again at our onsite degustation, together with their 'Vino Mysterioso' (a torrontes-sav blanc blend you can only get at cellar door or in their restaurant) and their Malbec Reserva. Dave still dreams about that Amalaya and Libby has big plans to import Colome´ Torrontes direct to East Sussex!

Cachi itself is a small town, nestled high in the Valles Calchaquies. The views from the hilltop cemetery are great but the real delights lie in the drive back to Salta via Routes 40 and 33. The drive starts with a winding road to Payogasta but we soon hit the 14km straight that is Recta Tin Tin, running through Cardones National Park full of huge candelabra cacti. Oscar then pulled uphill to Piedra de Molino before plunging down the valley via a steep and tight dirt road through the Quebrada de Escope.

This really was one of the great drives of Argentina and Dave has grand plans to return with the boys on dirt bikes one day - a warm thought to keep in mind before heading back into Salta to prepare for our midnight bus to the border and the prospect of subzero temperatures when we tried to cross into Bolivia!

Mr and Mrs T x

Cafayate

2009-05-24T09:00:00.001-07:00

We hired a car in Salta to do a 650km round trip to Cafayate and Cachi, hitting as many wine bodegas we could in between, on what turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip so far and some of best travelling we have ever done.

Oscar, our Fiat Uno 'Fire' arrived on Tuesday morning and we headed out of Salta on Route 68 towards Cafayate. About an hour out of town we hit the beginnings of the Quebrada de las Conchas, a very prehistoric Land of the Giants style valley, punctuated by ever changing landscapes and rock formations including huge ampitheatres worn away from the rock by 1000's of years of erosion and wind. Oscar dealt with the sinuous but sealed roads well, giving us the ability to stop for endless photo opportunities, something you don't get on a bus tour.

Cafayate is a very pretty mountain town, surrounded on all sides by cactus filled ranges and sandy plains. Its high position in the ranges means they have a very protected microclimate, turning in around 340 sunny days a year and very steady seasons. As a result, Cafayate and the surrounding Calchaquies region turn out some of the best wine in South America and in our very humble (but now a little more knowledgeable opinions), the world.

We started our wine tasting tour at El Esteco, one of the largest and high end bodegas in the region, producing a magnificent range with a large proportion exported under their founder's name 'Michel Torino'. They were lovely enough to put out a little welcome sign for us, even if it said 'Welcome Lilly & David'. Our tour guide, Cesar, recommended we visit his colleague's wine bar in town that night, which we duly did. Chato's Wine Bar is surprisingly the only one of it's kind in Cafayate but we weren't complaining as we worked our way through a very yummy picada (platter of cold meats and cheese), accompanied by three wonderful local Torrentes wines chosen by Chato for us - a Vasija Secreta Lacrado (Libs' fave), a Finca Humanao and to finish, a very refreshing Torrentes Consecha Tardia (late harvest wine so a little sweeter on the palate) from Bodega Etchart. All in all, a day to remember.

The next day was just as good. We started out with breakfast in the mirador at our Hostel de Valles, a third story sitting room with 360 degree views over Cafayate and across the ranges. With our bellies full and hearts strong, we hired mountain bikes and rode the 5km uphill dirt track to the Jose Luis Mounier bodega at Finca Las Nubes (homestead in the clouds). This bodega sat at the opposite end of the spectrum to the high tech set up at El Esteco, with Las Nubes employing only 5 people all year and their production line consisting of two tables at the end of a small bottling machine! They only produce 8000 bottles a year, all numbered, and what wine it is! The Finca Las Nubes Reserva red blend of malbec, cabernet savignon and tannat was Dave's fave. And the views from their little homestead on the hills were breathtaking.

The ride downhill was thankfully easier on another one of Cafayate's sunny days, so we stopped in at Bodega Nanni where we got to try 5 wines for 5 pesos (their Torrentes Tardia was their best). Not bad for less than a pound! We still had time to drop in to the Domingo Hermanos bodega where we came across our favourite red of the day, a 2004 Domingo Molino Cabernet Savignon. So good in fact, that we bought a bottle to take home for siesta together with a block of the local goat cheese we tasted with.

After a few glasses of that Domingo Molino red and a little shut eye, we emerged for late dinner at El Rancho restaurant, where our very smiley waiter was impressed by Daveo's effort in polishing off a freshly roasted kid goat!

Cafayate really is a magical place, the kind of place you could just stop and happily not move on from. But move on we did, as Cachi via Colome´beckoned.

Salta

2009-05-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Heading out of Capilla del Monte back to Cordoba, we passed the most amazing sunset over Carlos Paz and its lake, stunning amber and pink hues drifting as a backdrop to the sierras in shadow. Unfortunately, getting a shot of it through the bus window proved impossible so you'll have to rely on good old imagination for that one. Sorry kids.

Bus trips in Argentina have been a little hit and miss so far. After the more than first class service and seat room we had from BA to Cordoba, it was a bit of shock to encounter a very rude Basil-esque attendant on our ride from Cordoba to Salta. No sooner than we'd sat down and the bus pulled out of the terminal, Señor Doushbag (we have changed his name to protect his identity) strutted down the aisle, dropping food trays in our laps, then dashing back downstairs to get the hot food portions that were equally flicked around with abandon, and then, before anyone could actually eat the 'food' on offer, El Doush came around with a black trashbag demanding the trays be handed back! There was a little confusion from all passengers as to what the bloody rush was given this was an overnight bus ride, but it soon became apparent that he had his eye on a garbage bin beside the tollbooth we were just passing through and El Doush was obviously under the impression that this was the only bin between Cordoba and Salta. Maybe he was right. To top it off, when we couldn't manage to drink the 'wine' (aka paint thinners vintage 2008) he'd served, he refused to take the full cup back. Thanks Señor Doushbag!

Thankfully, Salta was refreshingly pretty and glowed under a perfect blue sky that day. We tried the regional delicacies of humita, tamales and locro (Davey Two Meals continues to live up to his moniker! - the best ones are served at La Criollina in case you're ever in Salta) and visited the mummies of Llullailuco, three indigenous children who were left in a tomb atop a volcano mountain northwest of Salta some 500 years ago and unearthed in 1999. The mummies are incredibly well preserved and it actually a little spooky to stand face to face with these children who died so long ago but remain so lifelike!

Our trip to Cordoba

2009-05-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

We left BA on Sunday 10 May and took an overnight bus to Cordoba (1st class baby!). We spent a couple of days in Cordoba (basically chilling out doing some shopping and more eating, and watching some movies in the hotel, english movies with spanish subtitles is good for learning - that's what we tell ourselves anyway!).

From here we took a day excursion to Las Traslasierras - where we took a trip across the sierras to see some beautiful sites, unfortunately for us that day it was thick low cloud and we saw absolutely nothing! Brilliant! The guide kept saying "you´ll just have to imagine that you can see beautiful rivers and the sierras for miles just here" and all we could see was grey clouds, grey, grey, grey and more grey. We actually just had to laugh in the end because it was either that or cry! The guide also told us they have weather like this about 3 days a year - the perfect comment to end a great grey day!

The highlight of that terrible grey day was a visit to this very random museum in a town called Nono (which is indian for boobs as there are two little hills there that look like breasts), basically some french dude was a bit of a hoarder and so he decided to build a museum for all the random things he has collected (like weird dolls, radios, mummies, massive moths and even irons!) - quite amusing really when you think about it! I'm asuming his thought process went something like this: do you know what? I don't know what to do with all this junk lying around and I can't bring myself to throw it away, so I know what I'll build a museum for it and then people can come and pay to see all my random things. Genius!

On Thursday we took a bus 3 hours outside of Cordoba to a place called Capilla del Monte (as recommended by our Spanish teacher and friend Juan). It was a lovely little hippy town, and it was nice to escape the sounds of the cities (i.e. old loud cars and dogs!) for some beautiful mountainous scenery and wilderness (we still didn't manage to escape the sound of dogs though!). The beautiful mountain surroundings of this lovely town really were stunning.

We climbed a "hill" on the Friday (i.e. anything under 4,000 metres is a hill not a mountain here!) called "Cerro Uritorco" - it was about a 4-5 hour round trip climb, on some pretty hard core terrain - well worth it though as the views were amazing, the weather was perfect, bright blue skies and you could see for hundreds of miles!

On Saturday we took the bus back to Cordoba and then took the overnight bus to Salta...we'll leave Salta for the next update...

Big love,

Mr and Mrs T x

Hola de Buenos Aires amigos!

2009-05-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying the first days of our honeymoon (that's ´luna de miel´) in Buenos Aires, exploring the sites by foot, bicycle, Subte (the tube), and the crazy buses. We have been lucky enough to have the lovely Kirsty show us around (http://www.baboutiquetours.com.ar/) and to help sort us out on the local transport. We very much enjoyed our photography and shopping tour with Kirsty around La Boca, San Telmo, Recoleta and other wonderful spots.

You can´t go wrong with the food and wine here - Argentina really lives up to its name! We have eaten in some lovely places, in particular Casa Felix (a closed door restaurant) serving a set 6 course meal of local Argentine produce and local vino from Mendoza and Salta which was simply amazing, as was the surroundings of the chef's house. The chef (Diego) and his wife (Sandra)showed the guests (about 12 of us) around their herb garden and lovely house as we sipped on brazilian rum blended with plums and lemon juice whilst awaiting their fantastic meal. As they delivered the food to our table, they eloquently described every course and the complementing wine which makes it even more special. We would recommend any one to go should they be in BA (we never thought we would get to try Patagonian toothfish - in fact we never knew that even existed! which by the way was fantastic). We have eaten in some other wonderful local places, mainly those recommended by Kirsty, all of which have been wonderful. Dave said the steaks here are probably the best he has ever eaten. I agree, although I have nothing to compare to as you can see above, here in BA is the first steak I have ever eaten! In Argentina they seriously love their steaks, wine and dulce de leche (they just can´t get enough of this stuff, you even get it for breakfast!) As you can probably tell Argentina is definitely the place where diets go out of the window!

On the weekend we went on a bicycle tour of the south part of the city through the reserva, La Boca, and San Telmo which was lovely. The markets in San Telmo are fantastic. On Monday we went to the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba) which was lovely, and Tuesday we went wine tasting at Terroir which was wonderful (Argentine wine is amazing and so cheap! We can´t wait to visit the wineries in Mendoza and Salta!). Yesterday we went on a bike tour to Tigre and did some kayaking in the delta waters, it was lovely to see the beautiful scenery by bike and kayak.

The spanish is coming along, we have had a few lessons with Juan now, who is a great teacher and we went to a Spanglish evening on Monday, we have another one tonight (there´s nothing like throwing yourself in the deep end with these things!).

We have been staying in a lovely part of BA in Palermo, the first five nights in a lovely hotel with a roof top terrace and jacuzzi which we very much enjoyed and we are now staying in a lovely boutique hostel 5 minutes from the old place. Palermo has some wonderful shops (Libby is too tempted by the shoes and handbags and is wishing she had packed less and had a bigger rucksack!)

Tonight we are planning to go for dinner at La Cabrera, which many friends who have been to BA have recommended (whilst you wait in line to get in, they give you champagne!). We are just about getting used to going out to eat at 10pm - things in BA really don´t get going until then! Tomorrow we have a beer tour in San Telmo which we are looking forward too (whay Brits abroad!!!).

We leave BA on Sunday night and are taking the overnight bus to Cordoba for the next part of the adventure so we´ll write again soon.

We hope everyone is well and thank you again to those of you who gave us the gifts we have been able to experience in BA (truly amazing!).

Lots of love

Mr and Mrs Toscano xx

And so it begins....

2009-04-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

It will sound cliched but we really did enjoy a perfect day for our wedding.

Yes the weather was spot on and everything ran like clockwork and even Rex the Town Crier found a few extra decibels to announce our union but best of all, we enjoyed our day with the very best family and friends in the world and that brought a special energy that we will never forget. Thank you, thank you!

And so that we can keep feeding off that special energy, we've started this little blog for our big honeymoon to let you know where we are and what we're up to round the world. By now you are probably sick of hearing about our trip but just so you have a little outline from the start, we are planning to hit:

28 April to 24 July - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile

24 July to 22 August - New Zealand

22 August to 3 October - Australia

3 October to 17 December - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand

If you or your friends are in any of these countries during the same bits of 2009 we are there, drop us a line and hopefully we can meet up for a small beer and good chat.

But first up, it's a fortnight or so in Buenos Aires for the 'proper' honeymoon bit, where Dave gets to carry Libby over the threshold again and we get treated to lovely bits like a wine tasting night, dinner in a 'closed door' restaurant, a vintage shopping and photography tour and Spanish lessons (all thanks to our lovely friends - you know who you are!)

So stay tuned for updates, photos and plenty of silly stories as we saunter our way around the world on Mr and Mrs T's Most Excellent Adventure!

Mr and Mrs T x