Mathew & Ruth's round the world adventure
In and around World
We're off for a year!
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Mat & Ruth
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1
Heathrow Airport
Well what can we say? After an emotional 24 hours we left the house at 7:17am this morning and its now 3.38pm. 1 flight down and some free... Continue reading »
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Delhi, India
We landed 30 minutes ahead of schedule at 5:45am local time (we’re 4 and a half hours in front of the UK now) and it was already 27 degrees outs... Continue reading »
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Delhi, India 2
Day 5 – 12th September 2008
We’re now finally getting used to Delhi. We’ve seen some of the wonderful sights such as the... Continue reading »
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The Intrepid Tour - 13th – 14th Delhi
it was an eventful start to our tour... we arrived in an area of Delhi called Continue reading »
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The Intrepid Tour - 15th Sept Agra
the following day we were up early to get the 7.15am train to Agra. This was a very nice train, air conditioned and comfortable. During the day... Continue reading »
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The Intrepid Tour 16th – 17th Sept Chanderi
– Chanderi is completely off the tourist trail. They only have intrepid tourists there. Our guide was Kalle Bhai who is a historian/a... Continue reading » -
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The Intrepid Tour 18th – 19th Sept Orchha
In Orchha we stayed in tents...but they weren’t your average tents. They had lights, air conditioning, tv, fridge and plumbed in toilet and show... Continue reading »
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The Intrepid Tour 20th Sept Khajuraho
On arrival in Khajuraho we went for lunch at a painter’s house (only Mathew went as Ruth had a bad stomach ache!). In the afternoon we went to a te... Continue reading » -
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The Intrepid Tour 21st Sept Panna
We stayed on the outskirts of the Panna National Park. We were in fantastic lodges with 2 bedrooms attached to a large lounge area. In the after... Continue reading »
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The Intrepid Tour 22nd Sept Chitrakoot
We didn’t do much in Chitrakoot, it being more of a stop off to break up the journey and we didn’t arrive at the hotel until nearly 5pm and we left... Continue reading » -
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The Intrepid Tour 23rd Sept Allahabad
It was a very long and very bumpy ride to Allahabad. We saw the house where Nehru, the 1st PM of independent India grew up. After that w... Continue reading » -
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The Intrepid Tour 24th - 26th Sept
We said goodbye to our nice private jeep we’d had since Orchha and caught the bus to Varanasi. Luckily it was only about 3 hours. Lucky because... Continue reading »
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Jaipur, India
The same day we arrived back in Delhi after the tour we got a train in the afternoon to Jaipur. In the station waiting for the train Mat saw a litt... Continue reading »
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Abu Dhabi, UAE 3rd October 2008
After an uncomfortable flight (just because we were so tired) we were greeted in Dubai by our friend Krystyna. It wa... Continue reading »
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Beijing China, 7th October 2008
We didn’t get to the hotel till late and we were shattered so all we did that evening and the next morning/early aft... Continue reading »
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Xi'an, China- 13th October 2008
The train got into Xi’an at 6.20am. It was difficult to get up after a bad night’s sleep. The beds on Chinese trains... Continue reading »
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Shanghai, China - 16th October 2008
We only had 1 ½ days in Shanghai. We walked along the Bund and admired the amazingly huge skyscrapers and our guide... Continue reading »
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Yangshuo, China - 19th October 2008
After a 20 hour train journey and a 3 hour bus ride we finally arrived at Yangshuo. The scenery here is phenomena... Continue reading »
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Longji Rice Terraces, China - 21st October 2008
We had a 4 hour bus ride to the Longji rice terraces and walked 40 mins from where the bus dropped us off up to our... Continue reading »
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Hong Kong SAR, China - 26th October 2008
We got a bus back to Guilin and then the train to Shenzhen in China on the border with Hong Kong. We walked over the... Continue reading »
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Macau and the BIG JUMP!!! 30th Oct 2008
We only went to Macau for me to do the bungee Jump but Ruth was happy to go when she realised that we would get 4 more stamps in our passports :... Continue reading »
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Guangzhou, China - 31st October 2008
We left Hong Kong in the morning by getting the metro to Lu Wo and walking through the border to Shenzhen. We then got an express train to Guangzho... Continue reading » -
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Hanoi, Vietnam - 2nd November 2008
Hanoi is quite a strange city, it doesn’t look like a capital city for a start. We were staying in the Old Quarter, which is full of narrow streets... Continue reading » -
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Halong Bay, Vietnam - 5th November 2008
We went on an organised tour to Halong bay north east of Hanoi. We had lunch on a boat and sailed through the hundreds of tiny islands that make up... Continue reading » -
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Hue, Vietnam - 7th November 2008
In Hue we visited the Imperial City, which was pretty. We also liked the fact that although a few of the first buildings had been renovated, you co... Continue reading » -
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Dong Ha and the DMZ - 7th November 2008
After a very, very bad night’s sleep on the sleeper bus (they are extremely uncomfortable as the seat/beds don’t lay all the way flat) we stopped a... Continue reading » -
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Hoi An, Vietnam - 11th November 2008
Hoi An was lovely and relaxing. Although it’s quite touristy there isn’t all that much to see which suited us as we were a bit “cultured out”. Hoi... Continue reading » -
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Saigon, Vietnam - 15th November 2008
Saigon is unfortunately your typical city. Busy, loud and polluted we didn’t like it all that much. We stayed only long enough to get our Cambodian... Continue reading » -
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The Mekong Delta, Vietnam - 18th November 2008
The trip we did to the Mekong Delta was the highlight for us in Vietnam. As soon as we got there we did a boat trip to visit a place that made r... Continue reading »
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia - 20th November 2008
We stayed near the lake in Phnom Penh as it’s the main backpacker area. We realised just how much we’d been spoilt with hotels in Vietnam as the... Continue reading »
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Siem Reap, Cambodia - 23rd November 2008
After a 6 hour on a bus journey, where the driver insisted on playing Cambodia karaoke videos at a ridiculously high volume, we arrived at Siem... Continue reading »
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Bangkok, Thailand - 26th November 2008
The journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok was an interesting one. Considering that Siem Reap is 138KM away from Poipet (the Thai/Cambodia boarder) it w... Continue reading »
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Vientiane, Laos - 28th November 2008
We bordered the train 7:30PM yesterday and it was due to leave at 8... 8:35PM we were still sat in the station.... we’ve... Continue reading »
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Vang Vieng, Laos - 29th November 208
Our bus dropped us off at a guesthouse where you can stay in little bungalows along the river, each with its own balcon... Continue reading »
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Louang Prabang, Laos - 3rd December 2008
It was a very, very bumpy journey to LP. We were in a mini bus and although the distance is only 220km it took 6 hours... Continue reading »
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The Slow Boat, Laos - 7th-8th December 2008
Rather than taking the 14 hour night bus to Thailand we decided to take the scenic route and catch the 2 day slow boat up the Mekong. We booked... Continue reading »
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Chiang Mai, Thailand - 9th December 2008
In the morning, after much confusion trying to get a boat across the river at the wrong place, we were taken by tuk-tuk to the Laos border contr... Continue reading »
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Pai, Thailand - 12th December 2008
Pai (pronounced Pie) is right at the North of Thailand not far from the Burmese border. It was very busy when we got there as it’s been a popula... Continue reading »
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Bangkok, Thailand - 18th December 2008
Bangkok is a busy city, although not as busy as some we’ve visited – though I suppose that the recent difficulties with the closure of the airport... Continue reading » -
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Phuket, Thailand - 23rd December 2008
We got to Phuket town about 5 hours later than we were told we would be due to having to wait ages in Suratthani (maybe it was a portent for wha... Continue reading »
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Koh Tao, Thailand - 29th December 2008
Although Koh Tao is only about a 4 hour mini-van, followed by a 7 hour ferry trip away from Phuket we couldn’t make the journey in 1 day, we had... Continue reading »
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Koh Tao 2 - Diving
Whilst in Koh Tao we decided we wanted to learn to dive. I tried it in Turkey a few years ago and Mat had wanted to try it so we booked o... Continue reading »
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 15th January 2009
After we docked from Koh Tao we headed for the night train to Butterworth in Malaysia. At the border... Continue reading »
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Melaka, Malaysia - 19th January 2009
Melaka is a world heritage city. It’s very pretty and fairly quiet. We visited the zoo here which was very cheap (£1.40 each)... Continue reading »
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Singapore - 22nd January 2009
We were at the bus stop in Melaka by 6.50am to get the first bus to the interchange. We were nearly deafened at the stop because there was a hu... Continue reading »
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Darwin, Australia - 25th January 2009
We arrived in Darwin at silly o’clock in the morning and then had to wait ages to declare some... Continue reading »
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Alice Springs & Uluru, Australia - 31st January 2009
We were hoping to join Tim and Jennie on the same trip to Ayers Rock (Uluru) the next day but the tour company couldn’t hold the places w... Continue reading »
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Cairns & The Great Barrier Reef, Australia - 7th February 2009
We were worried about what we’d find when arriving in Cairns due to the reports we’d gotten in Alice about a tropical storm t... Continue reading »
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Paronella Park, Australia - 17th February 2009
Paronella Park was the original Centre Parks. It was built by a Spanish Immigrant called Jose Parone... Continue reading »
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Mission Beach, Australia - 18th February 2009
There was a really cheap campsite in Mission Beach owned by the council. The caretaker was really friendly and told us lots about the loc... Continue reading »
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Magnetic Island & Townsville, Australia - 19th February 2009
We got to Townsville as all the shops were shutting and ended up staying just outside town in a camp... Continue reading »
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Airlie Beach & The Whitsundays, Australia - 21st February 2009
Airlie Beach is a lovely little town. There was a market on when we got there so we had a little wander round and Kat & I bought a br... Continue reading »
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Paihia, The Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga
We began our “Kiwi Experience” tour today which booked before leaving the UK. It’s a hop on hop off bus that takes you on a s... Continue reading »
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