Trains and Boats then Planes
In and around World
After 10 years working in London it seemed we were in real danger of finally growing up. We decided to put that off just a little longer by taking a little trip to see some of the places we'd always wanted to see, plus some places we just liked the sound of. So we'll be travelling across Russia, Mongolia and China on the famous TransSiberian Express, touring round Japan and then heading off in the general direction of India, via parts of SouthEast Asia. After all that, we're planning on going to Southern Africa (where Cathal was born). If we're still keen for more punishment, South America beckons. If you'd like to look over our shoulder from time to time and see what we're up to, we'd love that. We don't really know what our trip will be like, but it'll probably be interesting one way or another, if only to chuckle at a pair of vegetarians struggling to say 'No meat, please' in 57 different languages. Mind you, we will lose lots of weight!
Well that was the plan. Here's what's actually happened so far: We flew to Estonia, went skiing. Then took the bus to St Petersburg, train to Moscow and hopped on the TransSiberian to Lake Baikal, Siberia. We went dogsledding and drove on the frozen lake. Off then to Mongolia, which we loved and down by train again to China. Train to Vietnam, boat to Cambodia, car to Laos and boat across to Thailand, minibus into Malaysia, flew to Borneo, after 8 months overland (and water) back again to Penisular Malaysia, into the jungle and train to Sinapore. Then we hopped on a plane again via Sydney to Wellington New Zealand.
We've bought a Round the World ticket which will take us to Africa, back home temporarily to get new passports and then to South America and Easter Island. Back down under again and who knows what next.
Oh and we've not starved yet, but have lost a lot of weight.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Niamh and Cathal
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1
Leaving party - London
We had a great leaving do and loads of our friends turned up despite the pub being hard to find! Even we got lost and we booked it – doesn’t bode w... Continue reading »
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2
Farewell to Ireland
We arrived in Dublin and immediately headed north to visit Niamh's aunt and godmother, Maureen. We had never visited them before, despite having p... Continue reading »
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3
Slippin' and slidin' in Tallinn
So we whizzed around Ireland visiting friends and family - Dublin, Co. Cork, Co. Tipperary and Co. Down in 5 days. This after a panic packing -... Continue reading »
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4
Piste again
So we checked out of our hostel in Tallinn with the intention of going skiing in a resort we'd found on the internet. Made our way to the m... Continue reading »
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5
Tartu - City of Good Thoughts
Tartu is called the City of Good Thoughts. It's a bit unclear to us as to why, but we think it must be because it's a University City. It's lovely... Continue reading »
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6
From Russia with Love
We checked out of our hostel on the 13th of February and spent the day wandering around Tallinn. Our bus didn't leave until 11.40pm and we we... Continue reading »
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7
Seven days in Moscow
Moscow = GMT +3hours and not too cold anywhere from minus 4C to 1C (above freezing - t-shirt weather)
Our sojourn in St Petersburg was... Continue reading »
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8
The Trans Siberian and beyond...
It was time to leave Moscow and embark on our much awaiting Trans Siberian Rail journey. Cathal had been looking forward to this bit and had... Continue reading »
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9
Going to the dogs
Fresh off the train, having deposited our stuff at Jack's hostel, we headed off for the small village on the shore of Lake Baikal - Listvyanka. <... Continue reading »
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10
The Largest Freshwater Lake in the world
Before we planned this trip I'd never heard of Lake Baikal. But once we learnt more about it, we were amazed. It is the largest freshwater lake i... Continue reading »
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11
Paris of Siberia
Back from Olkhon island, we had three days in Irkutsk before we needed to catch our onward train to Ulan Bataar.
Irkutsk was once... Continue reading »
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12
The TransMongolian to Ulaan Bataar
Departing Russia
Finally, it was time to leave Russia. We'd spent the best part of a month there, between St Petersburg, Moscow and f... Continue reading »
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13
Flaming Cliffs and Flaming Flat Tyres
I have long been fascinated with the Gobi desert, it's just so remote and it's also where they made some amazing dinosaur discoveries near the flam... Continue reading »
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14
Back to Ulan Bataar
Please see the TransMongolian entry for what we did in UB. This is here to make the map work!
Continue reading » -
15
Hiking and dust storms
We headed off to Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, which is about 80kms east of Ulan Bataar. This is a protected area, with great opportunities for hi... Continue reading »
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16
Kharkhorin and Kids
Just back from our trip to Terelj we packed our stuff and headed off on a five day trip west of Ulan Bataar to visit the old capital, Kharkhorin... Continue reading »
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17
Beijing Bound
Up early at five am and we gathered our stuff and headed down to the train station to try to secure a ticket to Beijing. The only tickets available... Continue reading »
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18
Being in Beijing
It took us about an hour to figure out where the subway was and get to our Hutong. A Hutong is an old style of building in Beijing, houses are buil... Continue reading »
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19
Up the wall
Today we took a tour to a section of the Great Wall called 'Mutianyu', about 70km NorthEast of Beijing. It took a good two hours to get there in... Continue reading » -
20
The Cloud Ridge Caves & The Hanging Monastery
So late that night we boarded our train for Datong, being stared at every step of the way as we made our way through the crowds at the station.&nbs... Continue reading »
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21
Pootling around Pingyao
After a very cold train journey from Datong, no heating in the carriage, we headed for our hostel. We had some banana pancakes, hit the hay and sle... Continue reading »
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22
Templemental
Here are pictures of the Shauglin Temple and Confucian Temple in Pingyao for the text on Pingyao see previous entry. Continue reading » -
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Xciting Xi'an
We arrived early in Xi'an on the overnight train from Pingyao. We haggled a bit with the touts at the station and blagged a double ensuite roo... Continue reading »
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24
Pandamonium in Chengdu
We arrived in Chengdu at 5.30 in the morning and after a shower we headed out to see the pandas. The reason for the early start is that essentially... Continue reading »
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25
Kicking back in Kangding
We left Chengdu around 9.15 in the morning and travelled by bus West on the Sichuan-Tibet highway to a town called Kangding. Once in the town, it's... Continue reading »
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26
Yaktown
We left Kangding at 7am and boarded a crowded minibus (we were pretty much sitting on our backpacks) west for Litang, on the Sichuan-Tibet highway.... Continue reading »
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27
Stopover in Xiangcheng
We were to spend just one night in Xiancheng. We got off the bus and there was an old lady holding up a framed sign. Written in English was s... Continue reading »
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28
Golden week in Shangri-La
We arrived on May day in Zhongdian which the Chinese Government have renamed Shangri-La to encourage tourism. It's certainly worked because we bagg... Continue reading »
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29
Tiger Leaping Gorge
We arrived at Qiatou around midday after a journey in a bus with the tiniest seats ever. We proceeded to a well-known cafe for info abou... Continue reading »
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30
Kunming to Kaili
From Kunming we took the overnight train to Kaili in Guizhou province. I was a bit worried about the train as we could only get the very top bunks... Continue reading »
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31
Minority Villages of South Eastern Guizhou
Having left Kaili, our first stop was Xijing. The journey was amazing, through mountainous hills. The village itself is comprised entirely of woode... Continue reading »
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32
Visiting villages
Following on from our visit to Basha we took yet another bus to Luoxiang. The bus driver indicated that Zhaoxing was along the road. We were told i... Continue reading »
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33
Relaxing in Yangshuo
After three bus rides, 11 sweaty hours in total, we arrived in Yangshuo at 10pm. The next day we hired bikes and decided to cycle out to Moon Hill... Continue reading »
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34
Going Gung Ho in Guangzhou
We arrived by sleeper bus in Guangzhou. The sleeper bus was actually air conditioned but poor Cathal was still too hot. I slept fairly well apart f... Continue reading »
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35
When I was in 'Nam, dude...
We took the overnight train from Guangzhou to Nanning, arriving at the cheerful hour of 4am. This being China, there were loads of people bus... Continue reading »
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36
Our Junket
Well the journal is called "Trains, Boats then Planes" so it was time for us to take a boat given that we'd missed out on the ferry to Kobe from Sh... Continue reading »
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37
Ninh Binh and National Park
We had come to Ninh Binh mainly to visit Cuc Phuong National Park which is the first National Park opened in Vietnam and also has an endangered pri... Continue reading »
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38
Hopping around Hue
We took the night train from Ninh Binh to Hue which was an experience in itself. The family we shared a compartment with, had so much luggage we we... Continue reading »
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39
Hot in Hoi An
From Hue we took the tourist bus to Hoi An. It was the first time since our initial London - Tallinn flight we were surrounded by westerners. What... Continue reading »
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40
Coffee fiend in BMT.
We left Hoi An at an unbelievably early 3.40am. Even at that early hour our Vietnamese co-passengers were very chipper and the dodgy music was goin... Continue reading »
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41
Mekong Delta - Mytho and Cantho
We took a bus from Ho Chi Minh city to the largish town of Mytho - gateway to the Mekong Delta apparently. It's fairly clear this town doesn't get... Continue reading »
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42
Chau Doc to Cambodia
We arrived in Chau Doc on the minibus from Cantho, to be met by the usual Cyclo ambush. "20,000 Dong, one person", said the grinning cyclo boy. "No... Continue reading »
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43
I fought the law and I won!
So we arrived across the border to Cambodia, took a tuk tuk and my bag got nicked. I had my arm through it at the time, but it was either let it go... Continue reading »
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44
Kramped in Kampot
We got to the bus station well early (ie. before 7am) to go to Kampot. This was a former French colonial hill station town and retains a little of... Continue reading »
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45
Bumming around Battambang
We very nearly didn't arrive in Battambang at all, so this entry could have been from Bangkok! When we got to the bus station at 6.15am we as... Continue reading »
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46
Touristy Siem Reap
Siem Reap is the fastest growing town in Cambodia. It was originally a collection of small villages but then the world woke up to the amazing Templ... Continue reading »
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47
Tempting Temples
Up before the crack of dawn we sleepily got in our tuk tuk with Luong our driver -far too chirpy for that unearthly hour. We drove to Srah Srang wh... Continue reading »
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48
Border town - Laos bound
From Siem Reap we went back to Phnom Penh. We met our friendly tuk tuk driver, Jack and he took us on a tour of the city. The pictures will be in the... Continue reading » -
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Thousand Island Resting
We set off for Don Khon island which is the southernmost island of the Si Phan Don (thousand islands) on the Mekong in Laos. From Stung Treng in... Continue reading »
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50
Chilling in Champasak
From Don Khon we took a boat to Nakasang and from there we took a bus to the next town across the river from Champasak. We had intended to get the... Continue reading »
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51
Bolevan Plateau and Pakse
We arrived in Pakse without incident from Champasak using a boat/bus combination.
It's a largish town with a pleasant ex-colonial feel. We fo... Continue reading »
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52
Genteel Vientiane
We arrived in Vientiane at 5.30am, got a tuk tuk or jumbo as the super tuk tuks are known to the city centre and searched for accommodation. O... Continue reading »
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53
Lovely Luang Prabang
After a nine hour bus journey (not too bad since they told us it would be 11 hours) we arrived in the very picturesque town of Luang Prabang. It's... Continue reading »
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54
A few jars in Phonsavan
After a very winding nine hour bus journey (during which I threw up) we arrived in the little town of Phonsavan. The town is famous really for a nu... Continue reading »
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55
Caves and Children
Another long but spectacular bus journey brought us to Sam Neua. Eventually. Not before we'd managed to drive through some telegraph wires and brea... Continue reading »
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56
Back to Luang Prabang
After our eventful few days spent mainly on buses we were pleased to be back in lovely Luang Prabang. We mainly relaxed, uploaded hundreds of... Continue reading »
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57
Quick stop in Luang Nam Tha
We took the local bus from Luang Prabang to Luang Nam Tha. We met a lovely 19 year old guy, who was returning to his village having spent 2 months... Continue reading »
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58
Mud, mud and some more mud!
So we got to the bus station early at 7.30 at Luang Nam Tha, bought our tickets for Huay Xai for the 9am bus. Put our stuff on the "bus" (songthaew... Continue reading »
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59
Hello, Land of Smiles!
We took the boat crossing the Nam Tha and as we got off the boat, Niamh managed to avoid the gangplank and step up to her knees in mudd... Continue reading »
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60
Squeezing in Sukhothai
We arrived in Sukhothai after a comfortable bus journey from Chiang Mai. We booked ourselves into a lovely bungalow and chilled out. Just as well -... Continue reading »
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61
Bustling Bangkok
Cathal's cousin Killian and his lovely girlfriend Sabrina live in Bangkok and they kindly offered for us to stay with them. So we arrived sweaty an... Continue reading »
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62
Ko Tao - Dive, dive, dive!
From the train station at Chumphon, we bought a ticket for a bus/boat combo to get us to Ko Tao. You can get either a fast or slow boat. We chose t... Continue reading »
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63
By George, we're in Malaysia!
We left Ko Tao by nightboat. The only other time we were on a boat overnight was a cruise several years ago and this was a world away. The upperdec... Continue reading »
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64
Kuala Lumpur
We took the very comfortable overnight train to KL (no need to go first class, second class is very nice). Pity about the whingeing baby, otherwise... Continue reading »
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65
Cat city, Borneo
Very hungover from our antics the night before we prepared to get our first flight in eight months!! Yes we were taking our second budget airways f... Continue reading »
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66
Jungle train from Kota Bharu
Kota Bharu is one of the most heavily Islamic towns we've been to in Malaysia. Although Muslims are the majority, in most places we've been to... Continue reading »
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67
Kuala Lipis - to Taman Negara
We had no real reason for stopping in Kuala Lipis, other than Cathal reckoned it would be interesting. So we got off the train and found out how to ge... Continue reading » -
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Singapore shopping spree
We took the train (at 3am!) from Jerangut to Singapore. The border crossing was very painless indeed. So we arrived in Singapore without incident.... Continue reading » -
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Friends in Welly
Originally we weren't going to go to New Zealand on this trip and then one of our friends from England got a job in Wellington and he and his lovely w... Continue reading » -
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Picturesque Picton
We took the ferry over from Wellington and it docks in the small town of Picton. Unusually for us, we'd booked a hostel and they came to pick us up fr... Continue reading » -
71
A Whale of a Time!
The Tranzcoastal journey to Kaikoura is very scenic. On the train, which is used primarily by tourists, there's an observation carriage which is open... Continue reading » -
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Christchurch
We arrived in Christchurch in the evening, found our hostel and ordered pizza washed down with a rather tasty red wine. The next day we had a lie i... Continue reading » -
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Along the West Coast
We made some progress down the East Coast. The scenery was really lovely, lots of snowcapped mountains. We got to the very picturesque village of Omar... Continue reading » -
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Te Anau and around
We set off from Dunedin to cross over towards the West Coast. Our first stop was Te Anau. Needing showers at this point, we parked up at a caravan par... Continue reading » -
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Majestic Milford Sound to Arrowtown
We spent the night in at a beautiful camp site on the shore of a lake. After dinner we snuggled up in our rather comfortable car/camper and drifted of... Continue reading » -
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Fantastic Fox
So we parked up about 10kms from Fox village the night before and in the morning we were up bright and early, as we'd booked a day walk on the glacier... Continue reading » -
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Pancake rocks and mountain passes
After Fox Glacier we headed out to see the nearby Lake Mathieson. Apparently on a good day you can see Mount Cook reflected in it. This was not a good... Continue reading » -
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Back to Welly
We flew back to Wellington from Christchurch. Mark and Helen very kindly picked us up from the airport. We chilled out for a few days, spending some q... Continue reading » -
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Art Deco Napier
So we hired a car in Wellington and headed up North towards Napier. It was very misty so we couldn't say what the scenery was like en route.
... Continue reading » -
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Lake Taupo back to Wellington
So we finally left Napier and decided to come back to Wellington via Lake Taupo. It was a truly glorious day when we set off and there wasn't too m... Continue reading »
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82
Johannesburg
It was to be my first and Cathal's third time in Africa and we were very excited. So we crept out of Mark and Helen's house at 3.45am, so as not to... Continue reading »
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83
Blooming giraffes!
We took the bus from Johannesburg and arrived in the Orange Free State on a scorching afternoon. We called a hostel and the owner, Terry came to pi... Continue reading »
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84
The Mountain Kingdom
We'd never heard of Lesotho before we spotted this tiny country in the middle of our map of South Africa. So we decided to head over there once we'... Continue reading »
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85
Pretty Clarens
After a yummy breakfast, we piled into Drew and Lindsay's rented Fiat and set off to Maseru. At Maseru we got some lunch which we ate on the roadsi... Continue reading »
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86
Dropping by Durban
Derek found us wandering with our bags back to the town centre and we piled in his car. He was a very interesting guy and it was lovely to chat to... Continue reading »
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87
Quick stop - Port St Johns
Port St Johns had been recommended to us by Derek and Kelly in Durban, so we followed the bumpy road to the coast to find the small but busy town.&... Continue reading »
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88
Another Port
We continued along the Wild Coast towards Port Elizabeth. The landscape was much the same as we had seen the previous day, undeveloped save f... Continue reading »
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89
Tip of Africa, route 62 and whales
After we'd finished looking at the elephants and their friends we headed off west towards Mossel Bay, along the famous Garden Route. The scene... Continue reading »
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90
Top Table
We arrived in Cape Town in the afternoon and made Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens our first stop. They are very pleasant gardens, feauturing mainly So... Continue reading »
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91
One of Niamh's dreams come true
Derek and Kelly had mentioned that there was a Cheetah Rehabiliation Centre at the huge Spiers winery in Stellenbosch. It just so happens tha... Continue reading »
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92
Big Hole
From Stellenbosch, we decided to aim for Kimberley. I decided to take a slightly more scenic route - famous last words - "It doesn't look much... Continue reading »
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93
Whistlestop Johannesburg
We arrived in Johannesburg at 4pm having driven all the way from Kimberley. There was just time to spend an hour at the brilliant Apartheid Museum.... Continue reading »
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94
We're in Windhoek
We. along with our friend Emma, flew from Johannesburg to Windhoek. The flight was non-eventful.
I was looking out the window as w... Continue reading »
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95
Sandy Sossusvlei
We were in high spirits setting off for our trip to Sossusvlei. Our group totalled seven, as well as us and Emma, there were four girls... Continue reading »
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96
Salty flamingoes
On the way to Swakopmund from Sossusvlei, we stopped at Walvis Bay for lunch. After showing us the local salt processing plant, Michael and comp... Continue reading » -
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Sunny Swakopmund
After Walvis Bay, we drove up the coast to Swakopmund. It's a much more pleasant town than Windhoek, partly because it's quite easy to walk a... Continue reading »
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98
Back to Windhoek
We set off from the Dunedin Star in the morning, and drove to Windhoek, back to the Chameleon Backpackers. Niamh and I had a much nicer room... Continue reading »
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99
Game driving in Etosha
We met our new group in the morning. As well as our friend Emma, there was David and Ina, from LA who were on their honey... Continue reading »
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100
Dancing Bushmen!
We continued out of Etosha National Park, heading South East towards the town of Tsumeb, where we stocked up on supplies and bought all the water t... Continue reading »
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101
Okavango and Makoros
From bushmanland we headed into Botswana. At the border they stamped my passport "departed' even though we'd just arrived! We headed over towards t... Continue reading »
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102
Captivating Caprivi
We were looking forward to the Caprivi strip, because Martin promised us we'd see hippos! So we were up early (a real feature of this trip) and he... Continue reading » -
103
Water, water everywhere!
We were very much looking forward to our sojourn in Zambia. Mainly because Cathal was born here and it was 26 years since he’d set foot in the coun... Continue reading »
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104
Off-road to Mongu
We left Livingstone on the 27th, in our shiny new rented Landcruiser. The road was perfectly fine for the first couple of hours, u... Continue reading »
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105
Back in the land of the Livingstone
We were back in Livingstone at last. So we settled back into the hotel and generally lazed about. We went to the falls a few more times, seeing i... Continue reading »
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106
Luckless in Lusaka
We checked out early from our hotel in Livingstone on the 5th and took the bus up to Lusaka with Dee. (Ray had gone a few days earlier with the ca... Continue reading »
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107
Volunteering at Tikondane
Way back sometime last May, somewhere in Cambodia I was surfing the Lonely Planet Thorntree message board a came across mention of a place called... Continue reading »
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For one night only... stopover in Blighty
So, our flights were Lusaka - London and Addis the following day. The flight was late taking off as the Zambian president was on it and obviously t... Continue reading »
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110
Addis at last
Our flight to Addis was interesting. Mostly because there was a lady being deported on it and she screamed and wailed for a good portion of the fli... Continue reading »
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111
Overnight in Debre Markos
The first of many Ethiopian bus journeys was upon us. As would become tradtional, we rose painfully early and scooted off to the bus station... Continue reading »
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112
Lake Tana monasteries
Bahir Dar is on the shore of Lake Tana, it's quite a large town. There are a number of ancient monasteries on the lakeshore and on the sma... Continue reading »
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113
Castles and churches in Gonder
A minibus took us the short drive from Bahir Dar to Gonder. We arrived in the late morning but it took quite a long time to find somewhere to... Continue reading »
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114
Through the mountains to Shire
We were at the bus station at 6:15am, pushing our way through the shouting crowd clustered around the gate. A station official (or 'green gro... Continue reading »
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115
The Stelae of Axum
Up early, we sauntered off to the bus station. The gates were still locked, despite the crowd gathered outside, so we went for some bread a... Continue reading »
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116
The Rock-Hewn churches of Lalibela
After the last few bus journeys we'd decided to skip the next one, since it was likely to take three days to get to Lalibela from Axum. Inste... Continue reading »
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117
Back to Addis
As usual, we were at the bus station before sunrise. We had bought tickets for Dessie, about half-way to Addis Ababa, because the direct bus... Continue reading »
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118
East to Harar
We took the bus from Addis Ababa to Harar, an ancient walled city in the East of Ethiopia. Harar is described as the fourth holiest city in I... Continue reading »
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119
One last time in Addis Ababa
The journey back to Addis took much longer than expected. It was also extremely cramped, even by Ethiopian standards. So it was quite l... Continue reading »
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120
Good old London
We spent a few relaxing days at Karine's beautiful house in Ealing, not doing a whole lot. There was time to meet up with some of our old friend... Continue reading » -
121
A family visit
We flew over to Cork and picked up the hire car our mothers had so kindly arranged for us. 'You'll be the two that are travelling the world', said th... Continue reading » -
122
Quick stop in the city where we met!
We actually went to a good few places in Ireland but I'm putting them under Dublin and Cork. We went to Castlewellan again to see my Aunt Maureen a... Continue reading »
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123
Work? I think I remember!
So we'd managed to change our flights around in Ireland and we flew to London later than planned. When we got to London we realised we really miss... Continue reading » -
124
We're really in Rio!!!
So fresh off the plane (well off the plane anyway, nobody's fresh after a 14 hour flight), we headed for our hostel, had breakfast and decided to g... Continue reading »
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125
What a lotta water
The bus journey from Rio was comfortable but very, very long - 23 hours in all. There were very few people on the bus and the staff were very frien... Continue reading »
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126
Bussed it to BA
We got to BA after about 18 hours on a comfy bus upon which we met a nice young Glaswegian boy called Ryan.
We found our hostel which was lo... Continue reading »
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127
Right Place, Right Time for Southern Right Whales
The bus down from Foz de Iguazu was probably the most comfortable bus ever; mind you, if you've read some of our other entries, you'll know that mi... Continue reading »
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128
The Ice Age is coming!!!
So another comfortable 14 hour bus journey where we headed south to Rio Gallegos and changed to go inland to El Calafate.
El Calafate is... Continue reading »
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129
Nigh the end of the world...
We managed to cross the borders between Chile and Argentina twice to get to Ushuaia, officially the most southernmost city in the world. The... Continue reading »
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130
What do we do now?
After a very convoluted bus journey, we arrived in Puerto Natales around 9.30pm. We booked into our hostel, Erratic Rock and fell asleep.
We... Continue reading »
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131
A sleepy stopover in Santiago
We arrived in Santiago at 8.40pm and then we went to the Lan Chile desk to see if we could bring forward our Santiago La Paz flight to the next d... Continue reading »
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132
Blockaded in La Paz
We arrived in La Paz without incident. The flight landed somewhere in Northern Chile after flying over the Andes. This just made me think of the fi... Continue reading »
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133
Pottering around Potosi
We arrived in Potosi at 7.30am. We bravely decided to do the half hour walk uphill to our hostel. It´s 4,070metres above sea level in Potosi, so we... Continue reading »
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134
Salt flats, lagoons and pizza
We arrived in Uyuni around 8pm and the town was alive with people and parades. It was a fiesta as the four policeman behind us on the bus pointed o... Continue reading »
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135
Partying in La Paz
So once off the most polluting bus so far, we said goodbye to Claire, Tess and Tim and headed off to Arthy´s Guesthouse again.
We showe... Continue reading »
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136
On the shores of Lake Titicaca!
So we had an uneventful but very scenic journey to Lake Titicaca. The lake was very blue, almost dark blue and surrounded by mountains. It´s 3,827... Continue reading »
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137
Couldn´t resist Cusco again
We´d been to Cusco on our honeymoon trip, so it was nice to be back 4 years later and lots of things looked familar.
We decided to go for th... Continue reading »
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138
Choquequirao, 'The Cradle of Gold'
Our trek to Choquequiro began very early in the morning when Milton, our guide, arrived at the hostel to collect us at 4am. We hadn't slept a... Continue reading »
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139
Happy Birthday, Niamhie!
It was Niamh's birthday on the 30th, however she fell ill (most uncharacteristic) and spent almost the whole day in bed. She did manage to ve... Continue reading »
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140
La Libertad
We flew to Trujillo via Lima, which entailed rather a long time in Lima airport. About 8 hours. Naturally I used the time productively, having fini... Continue reading »
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141
Otavalo Markets
After a few days in Quito, we felt it was time to take a break, so we headed for the famous market town of Otavalo, a couple of hours north.
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The centre of the world! Nearly.
The day after we returned from Otavalo, we decided it was time to visit Quito's main tourist attraction, Mitad del Mundo, or the Centre of the World.... Continue reading » -
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Navel of the Earth
We had to fly from Quito to Santiago late at night and from there to Easter Island, but the second flight was delayed by about 3 hours.
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Shopping in Sydney
Ok, so we eventually arrived in Sydney after the aforementioned mammoth flight. We were actually pretty chipper when we got here, that is, until we... Continue reading »
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Wanderers return to Welly
Wellington is where we bought our round the world ticket and therefore is where it ends. Our ticket doesn't end until November but some friends are... Continue reading »
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Should we stay or should we go?
So after the long flight from Wellington via Melbourne and Hong Kong we landed at Heathrow on Thursday the 13th of September. Once through immigrat... Continue reading »
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