Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

This

is The Reunion Part II! Since leaving you at a drool-soaked table at Egypt

airport, The Earthbound Astronauts have ventured through ancient Jordan, taken

a spontaneous detour into the religious epicentre of Israel and were

unexpectedly stranded in turbulent Egypt, the very place we were attempting to

avoid! We hate predictability, so what comes next will not disappoint!

To

listen to the Part II podcast click HERE!

October 22nd – October 29th

Casey

and I arrived into Amman completely exhausted after our restless night in the

Cairo airport, so we headed to our prearranged hostel. This particular hostel

had been so highly recommended by a multitude of people online, with all the

comments including how wonderful the proprietor ‘Andrew’ was. The hostel itself

was nothing special, quite rundown and minimalistic, but we did have the

opportunity to meet this infamous Andrew, completely validating all the

positive comments. We spent our first day in Amman recovering followed by

dinner at one of the best restaurants in Amman, the Hashem restaurant. The

Hashem restaurant purely served the mixed selection of falafel, pita, salad and

two dips, yet it was easy to understand how it had earned such an outstanding

reputation. We now have a new appreciation for falafel and hummus, and the

variety of ways to consume said food, but more about that later. We spent a day

exploring the Roman ruins and visiting the ruins of a citadel, which rest above

the remainder of the city. It was intriguing to see the remnants of ancient civilisations

that dated back over three thousand years, whilst tracing the progressive evolution

of these civilisations and observing the variations in culture and religious

belief over time. It was here that we started to realise how historically and

culturally significant this entire area really was.

We

decided we wanted to visit the famed Dead Sea, so Andrew organised ‘George’ to

take us on a day trip to the area. George initially took us to Madaba to see

the oldest known map of the promise land, which was an intricate partially

preserved mosaic on the floor of what is now a Catholic church. We then visited

Mount Nebo, where it is presumed 120-year-old Moses climbed so God could show

him the Promised Land before dying there. The view from the top was truly

impressive allowing us to appreciate all the elaborate rock formations and the

Dead Sea, which was our next destination. We paid an exuberant price to enter a

complex with pools and direct access to the beach of the fabled sea. Entering

the water was a surreal experience, as you expect your body to sink as in all

other water, but we defiantly stayed buoyant with no effort on our behalves. As

we left the water, we could feel the salt now layered on our bodies, which

slowly precipitated into large salt deposits. We observed a direct contrast

between effortlessly swimming in The Dead Sea and the exhausting swim in the

pure water of Crater Lake in Banlung, Cambodia. Returning to Amman, after

helping George out by utilising our duty free privileges, we decided it was

time to head to Jordan’s main attraction, one of the Seven Wonders of the

World, Petra. We caught the public bus to the town Wadi Mousa, which acts as

the tourist base for people visiting Petra. Andrew had suggest a hotel for us

to stay in while in the area, “The Valentine Inn”… Luckily, they had a twin

room available even though there were still hearts on our key...

Just

like Indiana Jones before us, we entered Petra through the ominous entrance, a

relatively small division between two formidable walls of rock. We were humbled

by this intimidating stone corridor before the channel opened onto the renowned

treasury, currently the most exquisitely intricate building in Petra. It was

unbelievable and almost implausible to conceive that people had built such an

amazing structure into a rock face. As we continued into Petra there were numerous

tombs and other buildings erratically scattered within the surrounding landscape,

linked by hidden staircases leading to what were once possibly prominent areas.

As we’d decided to spend two days at Petra, we used our first day to explore

the major attractions such as taking the long trek to see the astonishing

monastery (seen in Transformers 2), which rivals the treasury in its grandeur,

and used our second day to go off the beaten track and find a great location to

watch sunset. Whilst at Petra, we were completely at the mercy of the sun, so

we tried to track shade at any opportunity. Even when we left the main trail,

we were still coming across the remnants of life in the form of carvings,

stairs and buildings. We were, and continue to be, completely in awe of Petra

and the amazing artistry the founding civilization had masterfully utilised to create

this former epicentre of trade.

After

immensely enjoying Petra, we headed to Wadi Rum, an arid nature reserve

approximately two hours south of Wadi Mousa, where we’d organised a tour for

one day and a night. Jumping into the back of a ute, we were chauffeured around

the reserve to various impressive naturally occurring springs and rock

formations before we were taken to a Bedouin camp to enjoy the remarkable

desert sunset. Having decided to avoid Egypt due to the enduring civil unrest,

we had intended staying in Jordan for two weeks. However, whilst in Amman, the

seed had been planted to visit Israel and Palestine. Catching a taxi from Wadi

Rum to a town on the Jordanian-Israeli border, Aqaba, where we nervously

prepared to cross this precarious border.

Jerusalem – October 31st – November 3rd

We

anxiously crossed the border by foot, passing the armed guards on either side.

As we crossed into the Israeli immigration area we were welcomed by what seemed

like endless photos of Bill Clinton… We were heavily questioned by immigration

officials about where we’d been, how and for how long we’d known each other and

our intentions in Israel. After being allowed to enter the country, we walked

to the city, allowing us to observe the stark contrast between the small town

of Aqaba in Jordan and the heavily westernized city of Eilat, where we saw a

dramatic increase in infrastructure and overall wealth. From Eilat we organised

a bus to Jerusalem, but not before we went to an upmarket shopping centre where

Casey purchased an iPad to replace his water damaged iPhone.

Arriving

into Jerusalem was a surreal experience, a city that has consistently been at

the focal point of history and contributed to the evolution of countless religions.

The city was such a blend of culture, with an obvious division demonstrated

through something as simple as the architecture in differing districts. We had

organised to stay at a hostel within the walls of the historical old city, near

the Jaffa Gate. Joining a “Holy city” tour we were taken to the main

attractions that have importance to the differing faiths. Initially, we were

taken to the Temple Mount, which is now also the location of the building with

the iconic golden dome and adjacent to the Western or ‘Wailing’ Wall. The

Temple Mount is only open to tourists for a single hour everyday, and when we

arrived people had already been waiting for hours. Luckily, our tour group was

able to join the line with another tour group, which saw us clearing security

within the allocated time. We had been in the site no more then ten minutes

before they started aggressively ushering us out. We had been lucky to visit

this site, but we did feel a twang of guilt for pushing our way into the line

and robbing people of this rare opportunity. We later learnt (after

continuously interrogating our guide) that the Temple Mount was part of the

area controlled by Palestine and an ‘incident’ between Israel and Syria at the

precise time we had entered the area partially explained our rapid expulsion.

The presence of police and army members at various points through out the city

really does contribute to the already prominent tension we were feeling.

After

visiting the Temple Mount, we headed to a small portion of the Western Wall

where we were able to write a ‘wish’ and place it into the cracks of the wall, replicating

a Jewish practice. The remained of the tour predominately followed the assumed

stages of Jesus’ crucifixion. As we walked the small alleyways, we were shown

locations that coincided with events that were referenced within the Christian New

Testament before we reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This church,

which is owned by all the major denominations of Christianity, housed the

proposed location of Jesus’ crucifixion (Golgotha), the place of his anointment

and the place of his burial. The people that were there on spiritual

pilgrimages greatly contributed to the ambience and authenticity of the site.

We then headed to the proposed location of the Last Supper, which, like the

majority of sites in Jerusalem, had been in the possession of, and therefore

influence by, one of the three main religious groups at one time or another.

The tour was quite overwhelming in a way as were taken to sites that are

considered sacred to differing people for a multitude of differing reasons.

Walking through the four quarters (Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim) of

the old town was really an experience in itself, but it was fantastic to see

such diversity within the small area. The following day, Casey and I headed up

to the Mount of Olives; where in Judaism it is said the prophet will descend

and walk to the Temple Mount. Many cemeteries rest on this mountain for this

very reason with their feet facing the summit as we were told, “people don’t

want to miss the show”. Other prominent sites that rest on this mountain are

the Garden of Olives, where it is assumed Judas betrayed Jesus, and the tomb of

Mary, mother of Jesus. We also got an amazing view from the top over the city.

Jerusalem,

on a whole, was quite an expensive city, which made eating extravagantly

difficult. We found a tiny restaurant next to our hostel that made the most

amazing falafel sandwiches, so amazing (and cheap) that it became our staple

food whilst in Jerusalem, so much so that we were consuming two on each

occasion… We were originally so apprehensive when it came to visiting Israel

and Jerusalem, yet we were shocked by how Westernized the city was in parts and

how isolated, yet apparent, the ongoing battle for territory really is between

the conflicting sides. As we headed to the bus station to leave Jerusalem and

Israel, we were shocked by the presence of a metal detector at the bus

interchange, yet the large number of 18 to 20 year olds on their military

service arbitrarily walking around with assault rifles seemed to make this somewhat

redundant. We headed north to a border crossing we were assured would not be an

issue to cross and returned back to Amman where we were catching our flight to

Egypt and then Argentina the following day. 

We also had the pleasure of seeing Andrew again, who graciously sorted

us out with a private room at a discounted price because “we were friends”.

Egypt – Cairo – November 4th – November 6th

As

we were attempting to avoid entering Egypt, we had booked a flight to Cairo on

the day of our flight from Cairo to Argentina. To avoid paying for an Egyptian

visa to enter the country just to pick up our bags and check-in once more when

we arrived in Cairo, we arrange to have our bags directly placed on our next

flight. All smooth and seemingly easy... As we arrived into Cairo, we were

ferried off to a room or ‘holding area’ used for transit passengers, having our

passports confiscated. Feeling like were captives in this highly secured room,

we waited for three hours to be presented with our connecting boarding passes,

yet, we were ignored. Eventually, a man approached Casey and started asking

about our visa receipt number. As Casey had travelled to Argentina before,

where he had paid a reciprocity fee at the border, we were convinced that a

prearranged payment was unnecessary. This situation continued, as we thought this

seemingly less-then-official airport employee was taking us for a ride, before

the man escorted Casey to the Qatar Airways desk. Casey then returned to the

transit lounge, shockingly accompanied by our luggage. Unbeknown to us both, as

of July, this fee must be paid online before departure to Argentina. They had

refused to let us board the plane because we had not paid the fee, a fee that

can be paid within minutes. I was also erroneously denied using my EU passport

that doesn’t require a fee payment; we had been officially rejected from

boarding the flight.

We

were escorted back to the original terminal, Qatar Airways washing their hands

of us, after what was quite appalling handling of the situation on their

behalves. Unfortunately, the blame rests solely with us, yet I do not hesitate

to partially condemn the airline for their disorganization and lack of

knowledge and assistance in what should have been a recoverable situation. Being

told we could pay to return to Jordan or enter Egypt, we, still in shock from

our shattered reality, reluctantly decided to stay in Cairo. Our presumption of

being in South America within 48-hours had been crushed in the space of

minutes. We had arrived into Cairo on the day of the Morsi trial, so tanks and

other armoured vehicles littered the streets. We had found a hotel, which, like

many of the tourist-centric businesses, was feeling the effect of numerous governments

condemning travel to this politically unstable country. We had to determine our

next move.

As

we were in Egypt, we figured that we should at least try to see the sights we

could in the short time we were here. Fortunately, Casey had made a friend who

lived in Cairo whilst on his course in Germany, Naggar. Naggar came to meet us,

acting as our more then capable guide through Cairo, organising a cruise on the

infamous Nile River, taking us to an authentic Egyptian restaurant before taking

us to a hotel where we could look over the city by night. Telling Naggar we had

decided to visit the Pyramids of Giza seemed to fill him with slight concern

and he decided to escort us there the following day, which we were more then

grateful, yet perplexed by his concern.

We

fought through the incomprehensible Cairo traffic before we started approaching

the ancient pyramids. The final approach to the pyramids was one of the most

stressful situations we’d been involved in thus far. As we drove, people

started to approach the car trying to secure employment as a tour guide. We

initially experienced a man being denied by Naggar, yet he desperately

continued to run next to the car as traffic progressed before he collided with

a turning bus. We then came to an area where people were trying to jump in

front of the car to the shock of Naggar, who was evasively able to avoid them.

We arrived at the pyramids where Naggar secured our tickets and a guide, who

was employed purely to prevent unwanted advances. The pyramids and sphinx were

formidably standing before us, and it was more then obvious why the pyramids were

considered an ancient wonder and also an honoury member of the current Seven

Wonders of the World. Yet, it was hard to fully enjoy the experience, as we

were the only tourists present, we were continuously harassed by people wanting

money. Having Naggar with us to both drive and organise everything for us was

amazing. We now know why he hesitated when we told him about our plans to visit

the pyramids solo, and I think even he was shocked by the conditions we

encountered. We are incredibly grateful he was willing to accompany us during

our time in Egypt. The entire experience of visiting the pyramids really did

reiterate the pressure the entire country has been feeling during this

incredibly turbulent time, unfortunately it was evident that the country was

struggling.

The

main question we had to answer was, ‘What do we do next?’. Do we pay for a new

ticket to Argentina? Do we choose a new destination? And if so, where? This

debate continued as we frantically searched Skyscanner for the cheapest

destination that would partially coincide with our already booked flights. I’m

sad to say to all our diehard fans out that there that Casey and I chose

differing destinations. The Earthbound Astronauts are splitting once more! I

had found an incredibly cheap ticket to Toronto, Canada, so thought I would go

on a journey to find a polar bear. Casey, thought completely outside of the

box, and decided to head to Tanzania where he’d organised a work away! Planning

to meet up in the US in about a month, we said our goodbyes and farewelled each

other once more. We truly are unpredictably earthbound after all. Keep posted.

After three

contrasting months apart, The Earthbound Astronauts have finally reunited! We’ve

only been on the road for five weeks, yet we’ve had the pleasure of traversing

through eight distinctly different countries. It’s been an adventure-filled

reunion, so this is only Part I of our unpredictable voyage. Don’t blink or

you’ll miss it!

To listen to

the Part I podcast click HERE!

– October 1st

After being

apart for three months, we were both enthusiastic to start the next phase of

our journey. Meeting in Geneva was convenient for us both as Casey had been

travelling with his parents in Switzerland, and Geneva was only a short two-hour

train ride away from Lyon, where I had been stationed for the previous two

months. We jubilantly met at a prearranged hostel both invigorated by the

unknown of the coming months. Casey was excited to be no longer travelling

solo, whilst I was ecstatic to be on the move once more. Wanting to celebrate

our once again formidable duo, we ventured into Geneva to enjoy a meal. Having

been forewarned of the exuberant pricing in Switzerland still did not prepare us

for the blatant extortion encountered! Unfortunately for us, pricing was

relative to the heightened salaries received in Switzerland, those with heavy

financial restraints, such as ourselves, were reduced to the common European

travellers meal: a baguette, cheese, salami and a lukewarm beer.

Meeting

Casey’s parents at The European Organisation for Nuclear Research or ‘CERN’ was

a very exciting occasion. We were able to join them both for a tour of CERN and

find out about the enormous subterranean particle accelerator and the recently

confirmed Higgs Boson, a concept that is still outside my scientific grasp. It

was a great event to share with Casey’s dad, David, as he has a great passion

for physics, and this facility is at the forefront of research in this area. As

we sadly farwelled both Aleysha and David, it marked the true beginning of our journey.

A combination

of rejuvenating motivation along with Casey’s resent success hitchhiking,

spurred us on an adventure to hitchhike from Geneva, Switzerland to Barcelona,

Spain. Catching public transport to the Swiss-French border, garnished with our

packs, we climbed a small fence leading to the highway, casually strolled

across the border checkpoint, placed our packs down for but a second, barely

having time to lift the iconic hitchhiker thumb and a car pulled up. Knowing

the broad direction we wanted to head in, AKA west, the driver asked us where

we’d like to go, we said Lyon (a large city in the general direction of

Barcelona), when he said he wasn’t going in that direction we naively insisted

that any ride was a good ride, even one that smelt so strongly of cheese… We

had a great time chatting to our new Hungarian friend about his new life in France;

however, it soon became apparent that we were not heading in the direction we’d

initially intended. We ended up in Chamonix, a small town in the shadow of

Europe’s tallest mountain, Mont Blanc. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks,

luscious forests and typical French buildings, this charming town is what

dreams are made of. Contemplating our new situation, we separately had the same

idea of travelling into Italy. Astonished at our already distorted plan (a

habit we cannot seem to break), we changed our tact and now waited on a highway,

not so far away from the Italian border, waiting for our next willing lift.

October 2nd – October 5th

We were eventually

picked up by a really nice Italian-speaking Albanian, who was kind enough to

drive us past his own small town to Aosta, a town with a main train station. We

drove through an incredible part of Italy, with valleys dotted with various

castles and villages, which seemed to be untouched by the progressive

modernization witnessed in larger cities. Unfortunately, our new friend was

unable to speak English, but this gave Casey an opportunity to put his freshly

practiced Italian to use. He was incredibly hospitable; he even bought us a

beer and refused to let us pay for it! From the train station we headed to

Genoa, a port town, where we would enquire about a ferry to Spain.

We arrived

into Genoa at night with no organised accommodation. Not believing this to be a

problem, we were turned away from numerous hotels and hostels either due to

unavailability or extravagant prices. We swallowed our pride and stayed at the

cheapest we could find, even though it was considerably more then we were

expecting to pay. When enquiring as to why there was such a shortage of

accommodation, we found out it was due to the famed Genoa annual boat show.

What would a trip to Genoa be without going to the fabled boat show! It was

amazing to see the yachts that were on show. Casey and I definitely didn’t

quite fit the part when it came to prospective cliental, yet we boarded some of

the more modest yachts and were still able to dream about potential future

travel opportunities.

Determining

that we had a few days before we were going to board the ferry to Barcelona, we

headed to Cinque Terre, a portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre

consists of five distinctively unique villages, all vibrantly coloured. Each

village sits in a small cove, with the buildings carefully teetering on the

sharp slope of the surrounding tumultuous terrain. It was beautiful to see

these still lively villages in an incredibly well preserved and prosperous

state. Returning to Genoa after a fleeting visit, we boarded the 20-hour ferry

across the Mediterranean to Barcelona.

Granada – October 6th – 12th

As we arrived

into Barcelona it was obvious that the city was going to live up to it’s

impressive reputation as a culturally rich and vivacious city. Every street or

small alley was bustling with life, a combination of luminescent light,

erratically scattered boutiques and restaurants, and people eager to enjoy the temperate

ambience. Having discovered that a friend from home, Sam, was going to be in

Barcelona at the same time, we decided to meet. As Sammy had been in Barcelona

for about a week before we arrived, he acted as our pseudo-tour guide,

attempting to enlighten us about Gaudi, a famous architect whose eccentric and

imaginative buildings have become icons of Barcelona. Shamefully, Casey and I were

unaware of Gaudi before our arrival and were naively curious about this ‘Gaudi’

character people continually referred to as if it was common knowledge. As a

trio, we trekked up to Montjuïc Castle, where we are able to see the

incredible immensity of Barcelona and it’s surrounding satellite towns.

Even though

Barcelona is well known for pickpockets and petty crime, we had no issues. The

only act of theft that we experienced was due to a lapse in our concentration, forgetting

to ask the price of mediocre paninis in what seemed like a legitimate panini business,

which resulted in blatant daylight robbery! This was a sore moment for us both,

especially when we sent Sam into the same shop a day later to enquire about the

price, to find out there had been a significant price reduction… Having enjoyed

our time with Sammy thus far, we invited him to join us through the remained of

Spain and into Morocco. Even though there had been a slight ‘salting of game’

whilst we partook in the infamous Catalan nightlife, Sam whimsically decided to

joined us.

We headed to the

historical beach town, Tarragona, to see Margherita, a friend of Casey’s from

his exchange to Italy eight years earlier. Tarragona is primarily a student

town and Margherita, who was there on the Erasmus study exchange program, was

kind enough to accommodate us for the night and expose us to the energetic

nightlife of an Erasmus student on exchange. This was but a brief visit to

Tarragona as we were eager to arrive in Morocco. Finding it difficult to plan a

direct route to a port town where we could board a ferry headed for Tangiers,

we organised an overnight train to Granada through Valencia, where we had the pleasure

of waiting until the early hours of the morning for our connecting train.

Arriving in

Granada with no idea about the city, we walked around attempting to find

accommodation, which, again, was quite an ordeal. Eventually, we found a nice

pension run by a very friendly elderly non-English-speaking lady we fondly

nicknamed ‘Nonna’. The room was barely big enough for one person, let alone

three, and this was before Sammy decided to covert the room into a Chinese

laundry. Granada was quite an old town, and we had arrived (unbeknown to us) on

National Day. This explained the lack of accommodation and the continuous

parades consisting of marching bands and officials garnished with lavish medals

and medallions. Granada was the point where we started to notice influences

from North Africa. The main area of Granada was full of exotic stalls selling

spices, clothes and various other memorabilia. Again, we were only in Granada

for a night as we were attempting to arrive in a port town the following day

and make our way to Morocco. We awoke the following morning marginally later

then anticipated, which raised the anxiety levels slightly. Whose fault this

was is an ongoing argument… However, we were able to board a train to Algeciras

where we boarded a late, and somewhat delayed, ferry headed to Tangiers,

Morocco. After about three and a half months we fondly said goodbye to Europe

and were excited for the next stage of our journey, North Africa and the Middle

East.

& Casablanca – October 13th – October 21st

The

ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar was a swift yet symbolic passage from one

continent to the next. As we left the Tangiers port terminal we were asked if

we wanted buses or taxis into the city. However, we had done some research

earlier and determined that a reasonable hostel was within walking distance and

refused all offers. We started walking down a highway parallel to the port for

what seemed like an immense distance before we started to question our

whereabouts. It turned out that we had arrived into the second port of Tangiers,

approximately 50 kilometres from the actual city. We swallowed our pride and

returned to the port to enquire about catching a bus to the amusement of a

collection of drivers that had offered us lifts earlier. It was nearing

midnight as we arrived in Tangiers so we decided to stay in a quite reasonably

priced four-star spa resort hotel. This luxury was quite a change from the

accommodation we were accustomed. We had not intended on spending much time in

Tangiers as we’d heard it was predominately a port town where Moroccans head to

indulge themselves in taboo or illegal activities, so we decided to head to

Fes.

Boarding

the train to Fes was an experience in itself. We boarded an already crowded

train with our large bags, the only remaining space was located next to the

rancid bathroom at the end of the carriage, and this was filling fast. As we

gathered in this confined space, we realised that standing for six hours in the

sweltering heat was going to present us with another ‘unique’ experience.

Obviously realising that the train was at capacity, they decided to add some

additional carriages, and we were luckily able to secure a compartment before

it too become obscenely crowded. Fes turned out to be what we imagined an

incredibly authentic Moroccan city would be like. We had booked a hostel within

the medina, the old town enclosed within a medieval fortification.

Within

the medina, buildings were all constructed using the same yellowish clay into

simple rectangular structures arbitrarily mounted upon one another. The small

streets and alleyways were almost impossible to navigate as they unpredictably

wound around and through buildings with smaller capillary streets branching of

into small squares or to other indistinguishable locations. It turned out the

train had been so crowded because people were returning home for an Islamic

holiday, which became evident by the heightened activity within the medina. We were

witness to donkeys hauling peculiar products into the labyrinth of the medina,

sheep being delivered to a multitude of butchers and continuously directed to

illusive tanneries. Seeing a sheep being delivered on the back of a donkey is

an unusual sight at the best of times. Fes was also an interesting location as

Sam and I were unlucky enough to encounter bed bugs, our first and incredibly

unpleasant encounter with these brutal parasites. Casey was smugly impressed he

avoided these macroscopic terrors, yet a few days later, to Sam and my

enjoyment, a few bites did appear.

After

we’d visited Fes, we headed to Marrakech, much more of a tourist-centric city,

which did partially subtract from the appeal; however, the city was still an

amazing spectacle. The highlight of Marrakech is a large market place that has

numerous performances, snake charmers, orange juice stalls and restaurants. At

night, the market was flooded by lights and truly came to life as people

bustled between all the interesting performances, most of which seemed to

involve men dressed as women… I, unfortunately, was slightly unwell during our

time in Marrakech and didn’t have the pleasure of visiting some ancient tombs

and a castle, but Casey and Sam visited the sights and raved about the

intricacies and the impressive atmosphere of the structures.

Preparing

to leave Morocco, we headed to Casablanca where Casey and I were going to catch

our flight to Jordan and Sam was going to fly to Paris. Casablanca seemed like

a very plain city, so we were glad we had not afforded it too much of our limited

time. We headed to the Casablanca airport, said our goodbyes to Sam who we’d

greatly enjoyed travelling with for just over two weeks, and boarded our plan

to Amman, Jordan. We did get to enjoy a stopover night in Cairo airport that

resulted in us both passing out at a table just outside of our boarding gate

while we waited for a flight to Tunisia to board. An interesting image: Two

westerners sleeping quite ungracefully at a table as a large group of Tunisians

board their flight, many of them impressively carrying their possessions on

their head…

And

that is the end of The Reunion Part I! It is difficult to believe that this all

happened within the space of three weeks. I’ll leave you with a quote by Ernest

Hemingway that has helped me keep things in perspective, “Never mistake motion for action”. As we continue to travel I reflect

upon everything we have done and everything we hope to do both while travelling

and beyond. The Reunion Part II is only a few days away, so keep your eyes open

and as always, keep posted.

The Earthbound Astronauts parted for a few months, but here is a quick

rundown of what we got up to! Make sure you keep posted in the coming

weeks because we'll have another blog and podcast coming your way!

To listen to the long awaited podcast click HERE!

Our

final days in Asia have finally arrived after an incredibly short, experience-rich,

five months! We flew through Kazakhstan, jet through Georgia and rocketed through

the wonders of Turkey. The Earthbound Astronauts are preparing to briefly part

but not before completing their time in Asia with style. The adventure

continues!

To

listen to the podcast click here!

Almaty,

Kazakhstan - June 1st – June 6th

We

arrived in Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan really unsure of what to expect.

Unfortunately the movie ‘Borat’ had tainted our ideas about this formidably

mysterious country. When we arrived in Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan,

we were incredibly surprised. Almaty was originally the capital of Kazakhstan,

and for some unknown reason, the government decided that a city in the middle

of nowhere, Astana, would be the capital. Coming from the concrete jungles that

were Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, we were amazed to see that Almaty was one of the most

revitalizing cities we’ve visited yet. A city that was beautifully positioned

beneath snow-capped mountains, a sight that was becoming increasingly familiar

throughout our travels in Central Asia.

We

used our time in Almaty to recharge our depleting motivation. Originally we had

big plans to venture away from the city into the surrounding wilderness,

however these were ‘dampened’ by a torrential downpour, flooding both the city

streets and our ambition. Seeing this as a sign, we decided to spend our

remaining days exploring the city. This involved visiting the museum to

discover that Tuesday was the only day it was closed, determining Kazak kebabs

were a godsend and realising vodka was the most prominent and possibly cheapest

beverage available. Finally feeling rejuvenated; we were ready to progress onto

the newly founded capital.

Astana,

Kazakhstan - June 7th – June 10th

Arriving

in Astana by train, we were completely disorientated by our lack of city

knowledge and the resulting sterility produced by a patchwork of contrasting

architectural styles. After catching a public bus and arriving in the vicinity of

the only hostel we knew about, we spent the better part of an hour deciphering

the hostel address, a highly elusive residential apartment. Exploring the city

with a maniacally peculiar Ukrainian character, we gawked at the conflicting

architectural anomalies that are precariously placed around the capital. A very

peculiar aspect of the city was the lack of street based restaurants replaced

by a large number of malls and their subsequent food courts. We were lucky

enough to make a Kazak friend in our hostel, a relationship that was purely

based on our mutual use of Google translate, a very interesting and

surprisingly lucrative medium for building a friendship. A few days in Astana

were more then enough for us to comfortably farewell Kazakhstan. We boarded a

plane to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, which afforded us the melancholy

experience of staying a night in an airport during a layover in Almaty.

Tbilisi,

Georgia - June 11th & 12th June

Casey

and I fearfully observed Tbilisi reveal itself through the plane window,

another potential concrete abyss. Wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into, we

nervously caught the bus into the city centre towards our hostel. Probably due

to our partial prejudice, we mistook the grand ‘Freedom Square’ for a random

roundabout that had a very similar symmetry to the actually phenomenal

attraction. After searching for our hostel for two hours we eventually realised

we were on the wrong side of the river, obviously our navigational abilities

hadn’t improved. When we found our hostel, it was positioned in a surprisingly beautiful

cobblestoned area of the city. It turned out that Tbilisi was a very westernised

city with a very good mixture of both modern and historical buildings, our

first true introduction to Europe. The city didn’t have too much to see from a

tourist’s perspective, the two main sights revolved around an old fortress,

which acted as a city viewing point, and Freedom Square, which we used as a

place to observe everyday people. Whilst in Tbilisi, we also met Paul who is

travelling the world… on a bicycle, which completely puts our journey to shame.

It was at this point we started to notice tourist numbers were on the increase,

especially annoying ones…

Sighnaghi,

Georgia - June 13th – June 15th

Hearing

that Georgia was known for its wineries, we felt obliged to travel to the wine

region to see for ourselves. We arrived in Sighnaghi, a town that was contained

within the walls of a well-preserved fortress. Our guesthouse had a spectacular

view of surrounding vineyards, acting as a placebo to improve the taste of the

local wine, which was stored in a recycled plastic coke bottle. We organised a

winery tour the following day, which turned out to be more of a monastery tour,

lacking the copious amounts of wine we were hoping for.

Batumi,

Georgia - June 16th – June 18th

Preparing

to cross from Georgia into Turkey, we headed to the town of Batumi, next to the

Black Sea. Batumi acts as the port of Georgia from Eastern Europe acting as a

funnel of tourists from Europe into Asia. As we attempted to orchestrate our

arrival into Turkey we explored Batumi, which did not seem to have that much to

offer on a sightseeing basis. Georgia was definitely a small preview of Europe.

Cappadocia,

Turkey - June 19th – June 21st

We

arrived into the Cappadocia area in central turkey ready to start our fast

paced Turkish adventure. Cappadocia is a very famous tourist destination due to

ancient houses that were hollowed out of volcanic stone, setting a fantastic

ambience. After trying to stay at the Flintstone Cave hotel, which inevitably

was the name of numerous establishments in the area, we settled in a hotel that

had a fantastic rooftop view of our surrounding landscape. After seeing the

price of tourist tours, we decided to see the main sites ourselves. Whilst

walking around a deserted area of caves, we decided to rest in a blissfully

shady cave that was actually a centuries old church, which just helps describes

the immense majesty of the area. We slowly started to see an increase of

Australians, which was highlighted by the number of Australian themed hotels

and restaurants.

Selçuk,

Turkey - June 22nd – June 24th

We headed to

Turkey’s west to see the largest Greek ruins in the Mediterranean, Ephesus.

Ephesus was fantastic! We walked along a marble pathway that was once the

thoroughfare of an incredibly vibrant and ever-changing city. Ephesus was a

true architectural spectacle, complete with an enormous amphitheatre and surprisingly

well preserved sculptures. The weather we enjoyed whilst in Turkey on a whole

was perfect, even though we did get a taste of what the sweltering heat of the

Mediterranean was like. As we continued speeding through Turkey we readied

ourselves for the Australian pilgrimage to Gallipoli. 

Eceabat,

Turkey - June 25th & 26th June

We arrived in

Eceabat, the town where we’d access Gallipoli. Unbeknown to us both, whilst on

the bus, we actually crossed from the Asian continent to Europe an exciting

milestone to reach after our four and a half month adventure. As soon as we’d

arrived at our Australian themed hostel, we booked our Gallipoli tour for that

day. The tour took us to all the important sites starting with ANZAC cove. It

was difficult to imagine that this beautifully tranquil piece of coastline was

the setting for such violent bloodshed only a century ago. It was great to see

the amount of respect that was obviously poured into maintaining the memorials

and the sites. The Gallipoli area is also an important site to the Turks. This

is understandable because, to them, this campaign was a success, even though

they lost approximately ten times the number of soldiers as the ANZACS.

Istanbul,

Turkey - June 27th – June 30th

We’d finally

arrived at our final destination together, the Turkish capital, Istanbul. This vibrant

metropolis was incomparable to any other, so historically rich yet refreshingly

modern. It was easy to see how this city had acted as a centralized point of

trade throughout suceeding civilisations. We visited Taksim Square hoping to

observe some of the tensions, yet the heightened police presence seemed to have

dispelled the majority of the drama. Even though we wanted to visit the Hagia

Sophia and Topkapi Palace, the exorbitant entrance fees convinced us to enjoy

them both externally. A sight that couldn’t be missed was the Blue Mosque. The

mosque was colossal yet equally as exquisite. The majesty of the Blue Mosque

was rivaled by the Basilica Cistern, the site of water storage for the ancient

city. It was amazing to see the multitude of pillars that had been taken from

various sources through out the ages.

The fabled

Grand Bazaar was a sore disappointment for us both as we expected a much more

raw experience and were ultimately confronted with a glorified shopping mall.

However, the Spice Market, next to the Bosphorus, exceeded expectations. The

Spice Market is just what it sounds like, exotic spices, dried friends, tea and

every type of Turkish delight imaginable. I was not a fan of Turkish delight

before this experience, but my opinion has completely changed! Istanbul was a

fantastic place, but you can feel a bit lost in such an active city.

Casey and I

said our goodbyes in Istanbul, both heading into Bulgaria, but I’ll leave that

for the next blog. As we part, to continue our journeys separately, our

appreciation of the places we’ve been, the places we’ve yet to visit and the

inevitable impact that this opportunity has had on us both, as one of ongoing

self-discovery, continues to grow.

Keep posted.

Yet again, a blog and

podcast is more then overdue! We have navigated our way through the deserts of

Mongolia, circumvented the world’s second largest saline lake in Kyrgyzstan and

arrived in the home country of Borat, Kazakhstan. The Earthbound Astronauts have

truly landed in Central Asia, pleasantly overwhelmed by antics!

 

To listen to the podcast click Here!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

- May 12th – May 14th

We both had heard

differing opinions of Mongolia, yet all negatively portrayed the capital, Ulaanbaatar,

ironically coined “The city of nomads”. We, however, were determined to arrive

in Ulaanbaatar with an open mind unhindered by prejudices formed by others or

by our interesting experience in the border town. As we arrived, it became

evident as to how hard that would be; presented with a city that was a jungle

of concrete and dirt, completely void of any positive emotion. It was our first

encounter of a former soviet state and, unfortunately, the soviet influence had

definitely left its mark. Not only was there an aesthetic unfamiliarity but as

the predominate second language was Russian, communication became just as

foreign.

We decided to stay in

Ulaanbaatar just long enough to apply for Kazakh visas. As it was the weekend,

we had a few days to explore. Surprisingly, on Sunday, Ulaanbaatar was

completely lifeless. For those that listen to the podcast, you would know that

we had our first run in with an opportunistic thief trying to ’liberate’ my

wallet from my pocket, not helping improve our already fragile opinion of Ulaanbaatar.

Heading straight to the Kazak embassy the following morning, we somehow had our

incomplete applications accepted even though the embassy employee was shocked

as to why we even wanted to visit Kazakhstan especially without an invitation.

Elated to have the opportunity to escape the capital, we began to devise a plan

to leave. To our pleasant surprise, we serendipitously teamed up with the aforementioned

Dutch couple, Frans and Sien, and a Finnish/Swiss stallion, Nik, deciding to

head to Dalanzadgad, the capital of a southern province and the gateway to the

largest of the 32 Gobis or deserts. A day before leaving, Casey, Nik and myself

ventured out to a nearby town to visit a small monastery. This is where Casey

and I had our first taste of hitchhiking as we jumped into the back of a truck

to get to the monastery. We were then offered a lift returning us to the

capital, which was our first true glimpse of Mongolian hospitality. Sadly,

after being in Tibet so recently, we had been partially desensitized to

monasteries, and this one certainly lacked intrigue.

Leaving Ulaanbaatar

was a true saga as if we were stuck in a malicious gravitational field. After

first going to a bus station that did not have buses to

Dalanzadgad,

we were mislead by ‘taxi’ drivers that kept our friend’s packs hostage until we

paid multiples of what was initially agreed for a ride to the correct station.

After finding the robust soviet van heading to our destination and being told

we had five hours to wait, even after we offered to pay for the remaining seats

to leave then, we waited next to the “Black Market” for almost four hours

before being told our negotiated price was now acceptable, even though the van

was now full of people. Miraculously, we finally departed for Dalanzadgad

arriving the following morning, but not before enduring two flat tires and a

five-hour breakdown.

Dalanzadgad &

tour - May 15th – May 19th

Dalanzadgad was a

small town situated amidst incredibly arid terrain. Finding a hotel for the

night and having a tour organised twenty minutes after arrival marked the

beginning of our amazing adventure in the Gobi. Amusingly, as we just arrived

in our hotel room our van driver’s friend followed us into the room used our

toilet, took a piece of our salami, smiled at us and then left to the

bewilderment of us all. This town did however contain a few hazards that Casey

and I both seemed to encounter. I stepped on and partially entered a poorly

secured manhole and Casey, whilst venturing back from attempting photography of

the stars, plummeted into an unmarked pit, protecting his camera, but losing

the key to our hotel room…

We were collected the

following morning by our driver in a Russian van identical to the multitude of

others we’d seen. We drove through some incredibly diverse terrain, roads and

signage a non-existent luxury, relying on the instincts and experience of the

driver to navigate through this extremely foreign environment. Arriving at our

first ger (tent or “yurt” in Russian) camp situated next to an immense sand

dune, we all decided to climb the sand wall to inspect the other side and

visualise the landscape we had just traversed. We struggled up the deceptively

sheer dune where at the top we marveled at the sand dunes on one side and the

incomprehensible greenery on the other. Racing down the dune proved to be the

easiest part of the trek, and the most enjoyable, especially as I witnessed

Casey trip and hit his face in the sand. The day was then completed by an

anticlimactic camel ride that involved our uncontrollable camels relishing the

opportunity to eat, prompting the guide to make us grab the reigns of the camel

behind, forming a caravan of camel riding shame. Returning to the ger camp

surrounded by goats we spent our first night in a Mongolian ger.

After another day

driving in the Mongolian wilderness and viewing a canyon where a copious number

of dinosaur bones had been found, we arrived at our second ger camp, which was

home to a large Mongolian family. Staying in what we believe to be the ‘living

room’ ger, we were introduced to various games using sheep knuckles. Feeding us

like they thought we’d never been fed before, we stomached traditional Mongolian

pasta and rice filled with fat and sand and drank traditional camel milk tea,

of which I am not the biggest fan. Enthused by the kindness of the family,

Casey and Nik were ushered over to help catch baby goats and place them into a

small pen, a highlight for them both. The following day we visited a national

park that contained an ice river where we had the opportunity to walk along the

ice and marvel at the amazing ice formations. This marked the end of our short

tour in the Gobi as we returned to Dalanzadgad in preparation to return to Ulaanbaatar

the following day.

Ulaanbaatar - May 20th

& May 21st

Catching a public bus

rather then an unpredictable Russian van turned out to be a very successful

experience. We did not need to stop for mechanical reasons and the trip, which

had taken us sixteen hours a few days before, only took eight hours to return

us to the capital. It was by this point that the capital was a welcome sight as

we all looked forward to a meal that had either a little more flavour or less

density then food we’d been eating over the previous days. We celebrated

collecting our passports from the Kazak embassy, complete with a visa, a

triumph for us both. This afforded us another three days before we had to be in

the capital to catch our flight to Bishkek, another great opportunity to see

another part of Mongolia.

Torelj - May 22nd

– May 24th

Casey found the

Torelj national park, approximately seventy kilometres from Ulaanbaatar, which

contained numerous tourist ger camps and, the major attraction, a golf course.

Feeling enthusiastically confident about the direction we needed to travel we

started walking with the intention of adopting the common Mongolian practice of

hitching a ride. We walked over ten kilometres before we decided it was time to

raise the arm indicating the desire for a life. Less then thirty seconds passed

before our first car stopped to offer us a ride. The first car travelled about

a kilometre before stopping at a group of houses. Our spirits partially

dampened, Casey sort out a luxury car parked on the side of the road who

quickly offered us a lift to our destination. Dropping us off at the entrance

to the national park, we thanked the driver for his hospitality and continued

following a dirt road adjacent to a beautiful river. After walking for about

twenty minutes we caught our third and final ride. This driver attempted to

communicate with us and even made a call to his English speaking wife asking

her to translate that we would pick her up on the way and that she would

recommend a good location. After picking up our driver’s lovely wife, they dropped

us at Turtle Rock (a rock shaped like a turtle) leaving us with both advice and

her business card incase we needed anything translated.

Walking past Turtle

Rock, heading down a dirt road towards a monastery, we saw a small group of

gers. We approached the camp and were welcomed by an incredibly jolly man who

welcomed us with open arms. We spent the afternoon relaxing looking forward to

the impending golf game the following day. Waking early and walking the five

kilometres to the Chinggis Khan Country Club to play golf, we were severely

disappointed when we discovered a game of golf would cost us $80AUD each, a

price we refused to pay. In defeat, we decided to climb an incredibly steep

hill before travelling overland to return to our ger camp. This saw us

accidently encounter a marsh, which I, unfortunately, was a victim. We left the

following day, catching a ride with a British woman we’d met at the camp, but

not before the man embraced us both, completing our amazing experience in the

national park and solidifying our opinion of the nomadic Mongolian people.

As we returned to the

concrete capital, it was hard not to reminisce about our time in Mongolia and

the pleasant unfamiliarity of a country and people whom are trying to create

their own identity after so recently being part of such a uniform regime. The

following day we headed to the airport preparing to enter our first ‘Stan’, farewelling

a society, which had sincerely proven that superficial appearances can be

deceiving.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan -

May 25th & May 26th

We hesitantly arrived

in Bishkek with an unfortunate stereotype of the ‘Stans’ affixed in our minds.

After leaving the airport and catching a van through an incredibly green city to

a large apartment complex, which turned out to contain our poorly marked hotel,

we were slightly shocked to realise that the private room we had paid $20AUD

each for was in fact a vacated family bedroom/lounge room. This was also topped

off by the fact there was no door on the room and the family was sleeping in

the kitchen. As we walked down the streets of Bishkek, premiering our money

belts, it was obvious that people could see we were tourists and stared at us

with the cold, interrogating stare we’d first met in Ulaanbaatar. Spending an

extra day in Bishkek before we were going to depart for the countryside, we

decided to see a movie, Star Trek 2. After enjoying the incredibly cheap price

to see the movie and the fact that we could bring a beer into the cinema, we

were slightly taken aback when the movie was in Russian… A first for

everything. One positive thing that can be said about Kyrgyzstan though is that

the pastries and breads are amazing! We were told by our incredibly hospitable

‘hotel’ manager that Bishkek was incredibly safe, which filled us with a mild

sense of confidence to venture out and see the city square at night. This was a

great experience as we saw fountains in the square luminesced by surrounding

lights and people roller-skating. Yet again, our predetermined prejudice and

hesitation seemed unfounded.

Lake Issyk-Kul,

Kyrgyzstan - May 27th – May 31th

Leaving the

uneventful capital, we headed to the tourist town, Choplan-Ata, on the northern

side of Lake Issyk-Kul, the world’s second largest saline lake. Amusingly, a

taxi driver asked Casey where he was from. After Casey answered, the taxi

driver exclaimed “What are you doing here?! You crazy!”, a statement that

amused us to no endh. As we arrived at this completely desolate town, we

luckily found a pink hotel down a side street at a reasonable price. Wanting to

explore this beach we had heard so much praise for in Bishkek, we headed to the

edge of the lake. Walking along a dirt road past a plethora of abandoned shipping

containers that had once contained shops foreshadowed what we were about to

encounter. As we found the beach, it was obvious that this potentially once

vibrant and prominent site was now a product of neglect, completely tarnished

by a human presence.

Staying only a night

in Choplan-Ata, we progressed onto Karakol, a town to the far east of the

saline lake. Finding a hostel that was highly recommended by Lonely Planet, we

decided to spend three nights in this sullen town. After spending a day

recuperating we decided to visit the Karokol Valley. We walked about ten

kilometres out of town before we reached the ticketing booth of the national

park. Being prewarned to ensure we received a receipt, we had a very amusing

conversation with a park ranger who attempted to barter a price to enter the

national park without a ticket, no doubt a potential source of his side income.

The valley was extremely beautiful as we walked past rolling hills covered in

greenery and a bubbling brook all incorporated by a backdrop of snow capped

peaks. It was hard to avoid thinking that the beauty of the landscape was

tainted by humanity. In an ironic response to our criticism, we were offered a

lift back into town by a very hospitable family. The following day we caught

the bus back to Bishkek, where in just a few days we had lost the hesitation

and gained the confidence to walk down the street with conviction without

pondering our safety or the safety of our belongings. A true story of growth.

We have just arrived

in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. That brings us to

now. Entering these two very different yet comparable countries has taught us

both some vital lessons. As we continue to travel the world we see differing

cultures and the hardships they have and continue to overcome on a daily basis.

We are starting to gain an appreciation of why certain cultures seem

superficially cold, abrasive and intimidating unreceptive. Whether it is due to

past necessity or the effects of rapid change, it is obvious that these cultures

we have experienced are true products of both their history and environments. With

this in mind, I cannot avoid personally reflecting upon our own culture, pondering

the differing perceptions people form of us through their varied experiences of

our country and it’s people.

Keep posted.

Wow! It’s been a long

time since the last post, but we have been going strong and there is a lot to

catch up on! Casey and I have enjoyed our time in both China and Tibet and have

ventured forth into the unknown of Mongolia! I have a lot of information to

cover, so I’m taking a slightly different tack and writing about location

rather then day-by-day. Welcome back and enjoy!

To listen to our more

then overdue podcast click here!

Vientiane & Luang

Prabang, Laos - Mar 28th to Apr 3rd

After enduring

Vientiane in all is ‘grandeur’ (or incredible lack there of!), we decided to

continue on to Luang Prabang, the popular pinnacle of Lao tourism. Luang

Prabang was a truly beautiful town, isolated from the majority of

westernizations. The town was very laidback, making it easy to lose track of

days. With the sites of the town consisting of a mighty 32 wats, the Pak Ou Buddha

caves on the Mekong and the magnificently formed Kuang Si waterfall, it was

easy to see why Luang Prabang was a highlight for anyone venturing into Laos.

We joined a tour to see both the Buddha caves, which were naturally occurring

caves consisting of Buddhas of all shapes and denominations, and the waterfall.

The waterfall and associated pools were a truly majestic sight. Deposits of

calcium had created a tiered waterway while simultaneously making the water an

intricately deep turquoise. Casey enthusiastically photographed the landscape

before we both relished the opportunity to swim in the beautifully temperate

water. 

Feeling that we were

finally ready to farewell South East Asia, we organised a bus to Kunming in the

Yunnan province, China, but not before I had the displeasure of joining Casey

in the age bracket of the mid-twenties.

Kunming, China - Apr

4th to Apr 9th

After successfully

entering China with near to no issues we reached our first point of call,

Kunming. Kunming was our first real reintroduction to the western world in two

months! Tempted by Maccas, KFC and a Chinese fast food chain, Dickos, we needed

to employ self-control to avoid blowing our budget and maintaining our semi-authentic

cultural experience. This was also where we fruitlessly tried to satisfy our

hunger for fried dumplings, which in hindsight aren’t as common in china as

Australian Chinese restaurants depict. An hour and a half from Kunming is a

popular local tourist attraction that Casey was desperate to see, The Stone

Forest. As the name suggests, the attraction was in fact an impressive forest

of stone. Unfortunately, the forest was partially ruined by the sheer number of

tourists and the attempt to convert the natural beauty of the site into an

artificial amusement park, a more then common occurrence around China. The

amount the Chinese government was involved in controlling the population was

slowly becoming evident as we discovered we were blocked from accessing

Facebook and our blog, and the number of police had multiplied since our time

in parts of South East Asia where we didn’t even know what a policeman looked

like. We then continued on to Guilin, only a torturous 24-hour seated train

ride away.

Guilin, China - Apr

10th & Apr 11th

Guilin was a quaint

town that we were using as a gateway to the awe-inspiring town, Yangshuo. We

still enjoyed Guilin; where you can find a plethora of differing and exotic

Chinese foods including self-selected skewers fried in a chilli sauce that

really stimulates the taste buds!

Yangshou, China - Apr

12th to Apr 16th

Yangshou is the town

that inspired the floating mountains in the blockbuster movie Avatar. It was

incredible to see landmasses rising from the flat surrounding terrain in such

close proximity to buildings as if the locals were oblivious to this formidable

backdrop. The main tourist street, West St, was saturated by Chinese tourists

(that included all nightclubs), which was refreshing, having recently escaped

the tourist demographic of South East Asia. After seeing bike rental businesses

all around town, Casey and I decided that would be the best way to see the

incredible landscape. We, of course, needed to do this in style so we hired a

tandem bicycle. We inevitably were a spectacle, as people did not see two large

bearded westerners riding a tandem bike regularly. Yangshou was a truly magical

location and it was easy to see why this was such an iconic site.

Shanghai, China - Apr

17th to Apr 21st

After another

grueling 24-hour seated train ride we arrived in westernized Shanghai. Now,

Shanghai is an amazing city and is definitely one of my favourite cities we’ve

visited thus far. Casey having visited China twice before was able to act as my

tour guide around some of the ‘cultural’ sites such as the main shopping street,

East-Nanjing rd, and a local electronics market where sales people were

ruthless for a sale. Not only were we targets for people trying to lure us to

teahouses, but Casey is convinced he was offered ‘services’ by a guy in the

male toilets. It was also in Shanghai we decided to obtain visas for Mongolia,

which ended up being incredibly easy and falsely foreshadowed what we would

expect from our next country, but more about that later. The highlight of

Shanghai for us, and inevitably the people that have to look at us, was the

shaving of our beards. I bravely opted for full facial hair removal where as

Casey decided to only trim his facial monstrosity. As we farewelled our

homeless look and welcomed back a small amount of class, we prepared for the

jewel of our Chinese adventure, a tour in Tibet.

Lhasa, Tibet - Apr

22nd to May 2nd

Our visit to Tibet

had been an impromptu decision whilst we were in Luang Prabang, and even though

we had to join an intensively organised tour to see this mysteriously isolated

area, the organisation of permits and payments still added complication to our

very fragile plan. Whilst in Shanghai everything had finally come together (except

monetary issues with the company that continued into our first few days in

Lhasa, involving calls from our travel agent ‘Debbie’ whilst we were inside sacred

Buddhist monasteries...). We had organised to catch two 48 hour trains to both

arrive in and depart from Lhasa after our eight day tour of Lhasa and the Mount

Everest Base Camp (EBC).

We boarded the train

in Shanghai and both got comfortable in our hard sleepers on the highest level

in our cabin of six beds. This was an interesting train ride for numerous

reasons, not only did the train reach an elevation of 5000m while we ogled the

beauty of the Tibetan Plateau, but we also had to adjust to having about 50cm

between our beds and the ceiling of the cabin. Elated to have arrived in Lhasa,

we were welcomed by the sight of extremely heightened security. We were

collected by a guide holding a sheet of paper garnishing our names and taken to

our three star hotel, which was possibly the nicest we had stayed in thus far.

Lhasa was exquisite! As we drove through the streets for the first time, we

were met by a strange mixture of present day domineering China fused with the repressed,

yet courageously prevalent, Tibetan culture, all on a formidable backdrop of

snow capped peaks. Every Tibetan person we met was so merry and friendly,

solidifying our opinion of the Tibetan people as the kindest and warmest we

have encountered thus far.

The following morning

(whilst I was battling with a slight level of altitude sickness) our freshly

formed tour group visited the oldest Buddhist temple in Lhasa, the Jokhang

temple, and the surrounding Barkhor st, a remnant of old Lhasa. This was

followed by a visit to the Potala Palace, the rightful residence of the exiled

14th Dalai Llama. The Potala Palace was magnificent, a structure

that commanded respect by its sheer position above the town and the deep religious

significance the palace held to each and every Tibetan. The intricacies of the

palace were a marvel in themselves as we caught a glimpse of the spiritual

ideologies that form the cornerstone of Tibetan culture. Throughout the

following days we saw a multitude of monasteries such as the Drepung monastery,

the Sera Monastery and the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. All the monasteries we

visited were unique in so many ways, differentiated primarily by the founding

denomination of Tibetan Buddhism or the particular focus of worship.

Unfortunately, due to the number of monasteries we visited, it became

increasingly difficult to distinguish them from each other, however, this did

not subtract from their individual majesty. 

We did have the privilege of seeing monks debating in a courtyard, which

they use as a method of revising their teachings. This was a very impressive

sight as we were able to see monks in their natural environment.

Travelling from Lhasa

to EBC was incredibly impressive as we skirted the beautifully vibrant Yamtso

Tso Lake and scaled vastly steep mountain ranges whilst enduring frequent

police checkpoints and permit checks. After staying a night in the very

authentic Tibetan Rongpuk Monastery, which is the first EBC, we were taken to

the second and third Tibetan EBC. Mount Everest was a spectacular sight! Casey

and I were truly mesmerized by the beauty of the peak and the highest point on

Earth, a sight that makes you ponder the magnificence of nature. We had reached

the pinnacle of our tour, so we then began the decent back to Lhasa and

inevitably our return to reality outside of Tibet. We boarded another 48-hour

train, this time to Beijing, continuing to gestate the experiences we had

gained and the memories we will forever cherish. I cannot mention our time in

Tibet without mentioning our German friends Thomas and Hanna. It was more then

a pleasure to meet them both and a definite highlight of the tour and our

travels thus far.

Beijing, China - May 3rd

to May 8th

Arriving into Beijing

demonstrated that our time in China was drawing to an end before we departed to

Mongolia. We were determined to be proactive and visit the Kazakhstani embassy

to obtain visas for our distant arrival; we, unfortunately, were met by about

fifty well-prepared Chinese nationals, which ruined even the slightest chance

of obtaining even the forms required. Determined to make sure this day of

enthusiasm was not in vain, we continued to the train station to buy tickets to

the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. We were again met with disappointment as

we were told that they could not sell international train tickets at the train

station and we would have to visit the “International Hotel”. After visiting

said hotel and refusing to pay the $200AUD for a ticket, we determined that we

could reach the border town by train and, at the insistence of our hostel manager,

would still be able to leave the country before our visa expired, which is

profoundly frowned upon by Chinese customs officials.

We booked a tour to

see the Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. As amazing

as the Great Wall really is, the highlight of the day was getting to toboggan

down after walking the steep incline of the wall. The construction of the Great

Wall is truly impressive and it’s hard to believe that it stretched as far as

6000km. As Casey had already seen the Forbidden City, I ventured to the

well-known sight solo before meeting Casey at the Chinese national museum. The

Forbidden City was amazing and is definitely a testament to the Chinese

dynasties of the past. However, I must admit that the number of security personnel

and cameras around the Forbidden City and Tiananman Square was a true spectacle

in itself and took away from the whole experience. Casey and I were able to use

our time in Beijing to not only decide on our plans for the next few months, but

also book some flights to ensure our continued world journey.

We were both ready to

say our goodbyes to China and boarded the train to the tiny border town,

Erlian, the only point where tourists can cross from China to Mongolia.

Zamin Uud, Mongolia -

May 9th to May 11th

Waking up in Erlian

still in possession of all our belongings was a good start to the day that,

unbeknown to us both, was only going to get longer. We fortunately met a nice

Dutch couple that we decided to accompany across the border. Now, the border

between China and Mongolia can only be crossed by car, and only certain cars

are allowed to cross. So after an hours walk to the first border checkpoint we

had to pay for a jeep. After paying a guy and getting into his vehicle we

waited by the side of the road waiting for him to drive before another vehicle

pulled up that we were ushered into. This new vehicle crossed the first

checkpoint, but the driver was then abused by a solider and made to turn back.

We, again, waited at the first checkpoint until we saw our first driver exiting

from the second checkpoint guard station. We then successfully managed to cross

the second checkpoint and were dropped at Chinese immigration and the vehicle

entered the line so we would be met on the opposing side to continue our

journey. We crossed immigration, relieved to know our visas were still current

(with only four hours remaining), and continued to wait for our driver. After

waiting 45 minutes we came to the upsetting conclusion that we had been left at

the first immigration stop and would need to find another ride to continue.

This was quite an issue as most cars had people hanging out the sides at any

rate and luggage on the roofs and bonnets. Luckily, a jeep was just about to

leave the third checkpoint and saw an opportunity to make some money and

welcomed us in, there were now nine people crammed into the jeep. With Casey

sitting on my lap and both our packs unsecured on the bonnet, we arrived at

Mongolian immigration before repeating the process and arriving in our first

Mongolian town, Zamin Uud.

When arriving in the

barren wasteland that was Zamin Uud, we headed straight to the train station to

secure train tickets to Ulaanbaatar that night. We discovered that there is no

order in the train station, after waiting two and a half hours in one line,

Casey had moved, yet it was possibly a metre in the wrong direction whilst

being sandwiched between two Mongolian women. I, joined by my Dutch friend, was

lucky enough to reach the front of the line where after waiting for two hours

was told that the tickets were sold out and that we were unable to buy tickets

for the following day until morning. Leaving the train station incredibly

frustrated we eventually found an incredibly overpriced hotel that had a shower

but no water. We then ventured to a restaurant and managed to consume a very

oily meal that was supposed to resemble a steak.

The following morning

we again went to the train station to try and secure tickets for that night.

There were four police officers present that had managed to form three almost

orderly lines in front of the three ticketing booths and were stopping people

from joining at any point. Casey and I, each with one of our Dutch friends,

joined two separate lines. The police presence was great until they decided to

leave when I was still ten people away from the window. This caused an abrupt

amount of both pushing and general chaos. Luckily, the police returned and we

were able to buy four tickets to the capital. Whilst on the topic of chaos, I

have almost been hit by cars twice since our arrival in Mongolia. My theory is

that no one needs to drive properly because the police are busy maintaining

order in the train station… We easily jumped on the train and arrived in Ulaanbaatar the following day, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. Our opinion of

Mongolia so far is not great, but we are hoping that the border town is not a true

reflection on the remaining country. We have found this to generally be the

case in other countries and still have high hopes for the remainder of

Mongolia.

That brings us to

now. There was a lot of time to cover and I’ve skimmed over some truly amazing

experiences and locations, but it’s a pretty good overview of what we’ve been

up to. Our time in China and Tibet was amazing, the people and the landscapes

are truly incredible, and I feel lucky to have been able to see so much of it

in such a small amount of time.

To keep you all in

the loop, Casey and I have booked a few flights for the next few months for:

Astana, Kazakhstan to Tbilisi, Georgia; Casablanca, Morocco to Amman, Jordan

and Cairo, Egypt to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also, Casey has enrolled to do a

two week course in intercultural experience in Germany and I have enrolled in a

two month long intensive French course in Lyon, France. So we definitely have

some pretty exciting things to look forward to in the coming months. As always

our love goes to our friends and families and we hope everyone is well and

enjoying their own adventures. We are now back on the radar and have

unrestricted access to Facebook and the blog, so we’ll make sure we don’t leave

it too long.

Keep posted.

We have a lot to

catch up on! We have regrettably finished our journey through the intriguingly

beautiful Vietnam and have arrived in Laos to continue northward on our voyage

to the red giant, China.

To listen to the

podcast click Here!

Due to the sheer

number of days since the previous blog, I have combined days spent in the same

location. Enjoy.

Mar 8th

We had previously

organised to reunite with two girls we had met whilst on Koh Samet, Sofie and

Mari, and join them slowly staggering north to the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

Having jointly decided with the girls to leave Ho Chi Minh City the following

day, this left us all with a full day to see as much as we possibly could of

this Vietnamese metropolis. We used the morning to visit the war remnants museum,

which had been cringingly described to us as an emotionally evoking experience similar

to that faced at the S-21 museum in Phnom Penh. After walking in the heat and

humidity that accompanies all large Asian cities, we arrived at a museum

surrounded by varying types of grounded aircraft and decommissioned armored

vehicles, all marked with the badge of US possession. As we entered the museum,

we yet again were reminded of the atrocities of war and the continued struggle

consecutive generations face due the effects of Agent Orange. Unbeknown to use

both, the museum closed at 12 and would not reopen for an hour and a half, we

felt we had satisfied the required visit and left the museum slightly relieved.

However, the lack of complete objectivity in this museum did play on my mind,

as there was clear bias towards the North Vietnamese. This contrasted heavily

with my favourite museum, the Berlin history museum, which chronologically

explores the checkered history of Germany in a purely objective manor.

Regardless, the war remnants museum was a good introduction to the brutal war a

mere 40 to 50 years earlier.

We had organised to

travel with the girls to Nha Trang, primarily a beach town that was about 10

hours away by bus. It is at this point that I’ll mention that Sofie wasn’t

feeling quite well at this point of our journey, which was a reoccurring theme

over the next few days.

Mar 9th,

10th, 11th, 12 & 13th

We said goodbye to Ho

Chi Minh City as we boarded the coast-bound bus, happy to be leisurely heading

north along what we later found to be the tourist trail. The bus to Nha Trang

took us passed some amazing scenic coastline and picturesque landscapes created

by mountains that, without warning, disturbed the uniformly level terrain. As

we stopped for lunch in another beach town called Mui Ne, we were introduced to

our first taste of Russian tourist domination as English was superseded by Russian

in all restaurants and shops. As we arrived in Nah Trang, we luckily arrived

directly in front of a hotel that suited us perfectly for the duration of our

stay. My only criticism is the fact that Casey and I were asked to change rooms

twice starting with an amazing room that was for six people and finishing with

a closet built for potentially one and a half. This was because a single girl

wanted a balcony… The mind boggles.

As we arose the next

morning, Mari told us that Sofie yet again was feverish and was an odd green

colour, which strongly suggested a trip to the doctor. Waiting for both Sofie

and Mari to return left Casey and I to endeavor to the beach where we were

shocked to see rather large speedo wearing Russian men precariously scattered

along the beach. As the girls returned we were again shocked to learn that

Sofie had a mild case of Dengue fever and required three consecutive days of

treatment each with a four-five hour session of intravenous fluid

administration. Fortunately, this did not tarnish our time as Sofie started to

feel fine after the first treatment, and could choose the time of sequential

treatments over the following days. We then spent a few uneventful yet relaxing

days visiting the beach and trying a plethora of restaurants in the area. We

all also went to a massage parlor and enjoyed hour-long massages, something

that was quite foreign to both Casey and myself. One night that stands out amongst

the rest was the night we decided to visit a mall that had both a bowling alley

and karaoke. After about an hour of karaoke in a private room that Casey

informed us was not soundproof, I feel the staff were probably happy to

farewell the Backstreet Boy singing Westerners.

We had decided to

catch a night bus to the historic town of Hoi An. The night bus was an adventure

in it’s self as we were given the seats at the back that, unlike all the other individualized

seats, were five adjoining seats. This did not cause problems for our group of

four, yet the lone Austrian girl that had been instructed to join us may have

had a somewhat different experience.

Mar 14th,

15th, 16th & 17th

We arrived in Hoi An

at an outrageously early eight o’clock before we, as was extremely common at

the end of every bus journey, were hounded by people to stay at there hotel or

employ their transport. We walked from the bus past rows of buildings and shops

all coloured a rustic mustard, a reminder of the earlier French influence. We

reached a hotel, which we later determined to be run by quite a shady group of

people, who insisted we sign a handwritten agreement that if anything went

missing from our room it was our responsibility. Unfortunately, Mari was stung

by this policy as 500,000 dong (A$25) went ‘missing’ from her bag. After

mentioning this missing money, our possessions luckily are still all accounted

for. Hoi An was a beautiful town that had a spectacular old town that boasts a

tantalizing mixture of Japanese, Chinese, French and Vietnamese influences. The

sheer number of tailors made Hoi An the ideal place to go for specifically

tailored items, a service we did not employ even though we were tempted by

matching felt suits…

We spent a day with

hired motorcycles and traveled to the UNESCO world cultural heritage site, the

ancient Cham city of My Son. Unfortunately, the heritage site did not quite

live up to the expectations of a UNESCO heritage site, but the highlight of the

day was enjoying the formidable Vietnamese roads once more, with a passenger no

less. Getting use to a slightly slower pace whilst traveling in a group suited

us all and gave us a good opportunity to relax and reflect on our adventure

thus far. It was very different traveling with another pair, but an extremely

welcome and refreshing change. The next destination was chosen to be Hué and

after being told by a hotel staff member that there were three types of seats

on the bus and that the cheapest seat type was unavailable, we bought the

tickets that were not near the bus toilet at a dearer price. When boarding the

bus for the 4 hour journey we evidently had been conned by the hotel again as

this approximately 20 seat bus did not have a toilet or seating allocation.

This finalized our time in Hoi An, a place where the buildings are incredibly

beautiful, yet tourism had obviously impacted this town, at least partially,

for the worst.

The next town of Hué

was equally as beautiful and our opinion of the people was in a much more

positive light. Once again, when we got of the bus, we were dropped at a hotel,

the Google Hotel, which was the nicest we have stayed in thus far. We had free Wi-Fi,

free coffee all day, free beer after five o’clock, breakfast for US$1 and large

rooms with proper showers that had been lacking from each and every room we had

previously stayed.

Mar 18th,

19th & 20th

Mari had innovatively

suggested we all compete in a self-created scavenger hunt, which saw each

member of the group contribute specific tasks to complete with the intention of

being issued a corresponding number of points, the team successfully gaining

the most points would be named victorious. Some of the more exciting tasks

included: swimming in the river, fitting three choco-pies in your mouth, dancing

in the street, wearing team uniforms, wearing a rice hat in all photos and

finding a German. Every task was required to be completed with corresponding

photographic evidence so each team could successfully claim the points

associated with the task. Though it was an extremely close battle, I am happy

to say that Sofie and I took out the title of Scavenger hunt 2013 victors,

earning ourselves a dinner purchased by the opposing team. The scavenger hunt

proved to be a great way to see the city, but traveling’s not all fun and

games, our hotel staff made us drink a few beers while playing pool and were

upset when we decided to stop drinking free beer… Stressful life.

With our Vietnamese

visas ending on the 27th, we were keen to head to Hanoi and travel

on to the fabled Ha Long Bay. We boarded another night bus where, like all

transport in Asia, we battled with seats obviously made for people of a smaller

stature. We arrived in to Hanoi, again at an outrageously early time, at a bus

stop on the outskirts of town. After finding a taxi to take us to the Old

Quarter to find accommodation, we spent the day discussing potential ways to go

to Ha Long Bay, enjoying the sites around Hoan Keim Lake, which Casey and Mari

decided to run around. It is here that we also enjoyed crab spring rolls,

potentially the best spring rolls I have ever tasted. We settled on a planned

cruise of Ha Long Bay, which was three days and two nights aboard a junk

(boat). This inevitably turned out to be a fantastic option.

Mar 21st,

22nd & 23rd

We were picked up

from our hotel by a bus that took four hours to reach Ha Long City where we

boarded a small boat that took us to our awaiting junk. It was a slightly

weathered three-story boat that consisted of cabins on the lower level, a

dining room, kitchen and wheelhouse on the middle level and a deck with shelter

on the upper level. The cabins were extremely nice, and included a very nice

bathroom with a proper shower. A short while after settling in our rooms, a

very indulgent lunch was served before we were to board the smaller boat to

travel to the ‘surprising’ caves, which contained three caverns of increasing

size which had been formed through the weathering of the stone over countless millennia.

We then had the opportunity to jump in two-person kayaks and go around a few of

the smaller islands that make up the much larger complex of infamous Ha Long

Bay islands. We were ferried back to the junk, enjoyed another sumptuous meal

before being left to our own devices. This included sitting on the deck and

admiring the incredible number of other ships that were anchored in the same

area as their lights dance on the surrounding, almost undisturbed, water.

The following day, a

smaller two-story boat picked us up and took us for a very scenic journey to a

cove where we had the opportunity to swim, kayak or relax. Casey and I took the

opportunity to unobtrusively float around the cove wearing provided life

jackets. They cooked lunch for us as they had done the previous day, to the

extremely high standard, and then returned us to the junk where we had gained

another group of passengers as some people chose to only spend one night on board. The most recent additions decided they’d take up the offer to do

karaoke until just after 11, which was amusing at best. We then woke and

enjoyed breakfast and lunch aboard the junk while it leisurely sailed back to

the original port at Ha Long City. It was amazing, and equality upsetting, how

fast the two nights had gone. We again boarded the bus in the opposing

direction towards Hanoi, returning to our hotel as if our expedition to Ha Long

Bay was just a distant memory or a reminiscent dream.

Mar 24th

& 25th

Deciding we would

leave Vietnam and the girls on the night of the 25th, pushing our

visa departure date to the utmost limit, we had a full day to farewell two

people that we had become exceptionally close to over the passing weeks whilst still

being able to enjoy what we were yet to see in Hanoi. In pairs, we ventured out

into the city with the intention of seeing all we could. We were lucky enough

to see the presidential palace, the outside of Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum (we

couldn’t go in because it was only open from 8.30-10.30 every day except Monday

and Friday) and enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner at one of the many highly

recommended Gecko restaurants around Hanoi’s tourist area. Our final day in

Vietnam was spent making sure we had everything we needed to leave and spending

the fleeting time with our friends before they too left Hanoi that night. As we

waited for our bus to collected us from the hotel we said a very somber goodbye

knowing our paths would cross in the not too distant future.

Our hotel pick up was

a man on a motorbike that drove in front of us as we followed him through the

streets of Hanoi gradually gathering people. We boarded a small minibus that

brought us to a hectic bus terminal. We then boarded the bus that was intended

for our journey. I am fearful that Casey and I were accomplices to some kind of

underground Oreo trade from Vietnam into Laos as a multitude of boxes filled

the seats on the lower levels and under the bus. After being asked to sit in

the two seats at the far back of the bus, the remainder of people’s luggage was

sandwiched next to us. The bus was truly at capacity.

Mar 26th

& 27th

No one knew how long

the bus was suppose to take to get to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We were

told 20 hours, yet judging by the copious number of unnecessary stops along the

way, it could have taken us days. We woke on the morning of the 26th

parked at the front of the growing queue by the border awaiting the time it

would open. We had a relatively smooth walk across the border where we walked

about a kilometre on international soil before painlessly being issued our visa

for entry into Laos. The bus ended up taking 25 hours to reach our destination;

this was primarily due to the fact we stopped for a two-hour stop for an

unknown reason and secondly, due a required tire change. We stepped off the bus

relieved to have finally arrived and followed the people on the bus, all whom

had bonded over the possibility of spending another night on the road, to a

hostel. The hostel was quite nice, but lacked the privacy we were hoping to

write the blog and podcast. The following day, we found a guesthouse to settle

down in for the day providing an opportunity to write the more then overdue blog

post. And that brings us to now!

I loved Vietnam; it

was a beautiful country with an amazing culture and people. It has definitely

been the highlight of the trip for me thus far. Our visa for China is valid for

entry until the 8th of April, leaving us just over a week before we

want to cross the border. We really aren’t paying Laos the respect it deserves

time wise, but we wont rush through the places we do chose to stay. We are hoping

everyone is well back home. We are still loving traveling and going strong.

Keep posted.

Yet again, it has

been a while since we have posted a blog, a podcast or any photos, and for good

reason. We’ve left Cambodia and have been “occupying” ourselves in Vietnam, but

more about that later.

To listen to the

podcast click here!

Feb 26th

Unfortunately, the

appeal of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, was purely due to the remnants of

the Khmer Rouge regime and the reminder of Cambodian genocide a minute forty

years before. The emotion of this day definitely outweighs any other on our

trip thus far. The anxiety we both felt as we walked towards the Tuol Sleng

Genocide museum, which in the height of Khmer Rouge reign was known as Security

prison 21 (S-21), was extremely burdening to say the least. S-21, was originally

Tuol Svay Prey high school, a fact that is still more then evident at the

museum. As we apprehensively visited each room of the three story buildings of

the four that formed the complex, we caught glimpses of the horrific brutalities

that occurred in each, contributing to a systematic regime of torture,

interrogation and inhumane slaughter. The S-21 staff were meticulous with the

information collected on each prisoner, this fact will haunt us both as we

passed the photos of scared and confused men, women and children whom had

succumbed to the mindless hate of their own people. After leaving S-21 in shock

as we contemplated what man was truly capable, we still had one destination,

the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. After much deliberation on whether we could

emotionally handle another gruesome reminder of Khmer Rouge reign, we decided

we should see this iconic resting place of nearly 17,000 innocent Cambodians.

As horrible as the

Killing Fields really were, it was presently very tactfully and was a place of

memory and tribute to the potential three million people killed during the

three year and eight month Khmer Rouge reign. We were guided around the site by

an audiotape stopping at gravesites, which had been adorned with mourners’

wristbands. The voice of the man that guided us on this journey will be a hard

one to forget as was his wise words about genocide having occurred before and,

hauntingly, the inevitability of it happening again in the future unknown, a

chilling thought after witnessing the travesties that are so deeply engrained

into the culture of each and every Cambodian. We then had a very solemn tuk tuk

ride back to our hotel, lost in reflection trying to digest the emotional day

piece by piece.

Feb 27th

Deciding to stay an

extra day in Phnom Penh, determined to finish our time in Cambodia on a high,

we decided to walk to Psar Tuol Tom Pong or the “Russian Market” to conduct a

bit of retail therapy and acquire me some new thongs as their predecessors were

held together by a can ring pull found on the bridge at Angkor Wat. This proved

to be quite an enjoyable endeavor as we left with items we had no intention of

buying prior to our Russian Market experience. We had a nice dinner where Casey

ambitiously ordered frog from the menu, which was actually quite nice, and

prepared to leave Cambodia the next day. Our time in Cambodia has been a life

experience that will never be forgotten by either of us, yet we were ready to leave

and progress into the next leg of our trip, Vietnam.

Feb 28th

We boarded the bus in

Phnom Penh, said our goodbyes to Cambodia, and excitedly watched the evolution

of the bus’ external surroundings as we crossed from Cambodia into Vietnam,

where our visa had been valid from the previous day. I must note, that whilst

on the bus, the choco pie incident was rectified by the parties involved.

Intending to stay just under a month in Vietnam before we moved on, we were

ecstatic to be starting what appeared in our minds to be a new adventure within

itself. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, shocked by the lack of tuk tuks and

decided to walk to our hotel positioned in the tourist district. Vietnam is a

communist country, the first I believe I have ventured into, my expectations

were pleasantly surpassed as we were had entered an obviously prosperous

country with a strong history and culture. Our one issue lay with the lack of

Facebook access, which, unbeknown to us, was restricted in Vietnam. After

quickly rectifying this issue, finding a relatively easy solution, we were able

to calmly plan our next step. We enjoyed dinner and inspected the nightlife of

Ho Chi Minh City, finding the shear number of near-to-empty bars full of

Vietnamese women quite peculiar…

Mar 1st

Sorry about the

earlier ambiguity about our activities in Vietnam, however to reduce the worry

and stress of our family and friends we refrained from earlier sharing the

details of our adventure South of Ho Chi Minh City. This is primarily due to

the fact that we hired a motorbike each and ventured onto the perilous roads

that form Vietnam’s traffic system. We decided to venture south of Ho Chi Minh

City to My Thó, a city on the Mekong. Our tenacious initiation to the roads of

Ho Chi Minh City were both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As we

got use to riding on the right-hand side of the road and the laws of the

Vietnamese roads (a reconstruction is listed below) our confidence began to

skyrocket as we both had to reign in the adrenaline junky within. As we arrived

in My Thó, we ran into difficulty, as each hotel wanted two passports, yet

Casey’s passport was being held as collateral for the motorbikes. After

painstakingly finding an Internet café and printing of a copy of Casey’s

passport, we were able to find a hotel that would house us for the night. We

were also desperate to find accommodation due to our stupidity of wearing

singlets and short shorts, we were inevitably burnt on our faces, arms,

shoulders, thighs, hands, ears and feet. We enjoyed a cold shower and a nap

before feeling like we had to explore the town. It was that night that we

determined that it’s not a Vietnamese dish unless it has three types of meat in

it, as we enjoyed an omelet/pancake hybrid with chicken, prawns and pork.

Mar 2nd

From My Thó we ventured about 110km south to Can Thó, which the

Lonely Planet labels “the epicentre of the Mekong Delta”. Other then the

persistence of locals trying to secure our business on “boat trips” the

following day, Can Thó didn’t seem to be as vibrant as we hoped and it was

definitely a short lived stay. The multitude of tourists here was also another

reason that we disliked this town. We enjoyed some of the local Vietnamese

beer, Saigon Green, the VB of Vietnam, and called it a night planning to travel

to a city on the east coast of Vietnam the following day, hoping we could visit

a beach.

Mar 3rd

The town that was in proximity to the beach was Bạc Liêu. Now, this town was more like what we had in mind when we wanted a

town that was untouched by tourists. We stayed at a establishment that on one

side was a hotel and on the other was a karaoke bar “Karaoke 168”. We utilised

the Lonely Planet to determine the Vietnamese word for hotel and found this

relatively new business in an area that seemed to be densely populated by other

karaoke businesses. We walked to a local karaoke bar, after a misunderstanding

with the karaoke staff in our hotel thinking we wanted to “order” two girls to

sing karaoke with us, and watched people sing memorised songs. Interestingly,

everyone stopped to look at us and found our attempts to thank them in Vietnamese

an opportunity to playfully mock us. It was obvious that they didn’t have much

experience with tourists, especially western tourists. We continued to walk

around the town, intrigued by the number of lights that draped the city. We came across a

number of men that were sitting in front of a convenience store drinking beers

and ushered us over to them. We then enjoyed a very animated conversation with

these very generous and friendly people that offered us food and drinks, whilst

taking photos of us with each member of the group. It was great to be included

and really did feel like we were at the heart of Vietnam and were fortunate

enough to have enjoyed this opportunity with some very gracious people. We

decided we liked Bạc Liêu and decided to stay an extra night affording

ourselves the opportunity to go to the beach the following day and try to

recover from our reoccuring sunburn.

Mar 4th

Enthused by the

opportunity to visit the beach, we rose and headed in the direction of the

beach. We were sorely disappointed. What we had imagined to be a pristine,

untouched beach, turned out to be a polluted wasteland that was used as a

fishing port. We returned to our hotel feeling very disillusioned and after a

visit to a “Mart” that sold clothes and had a supermarket upstairs, we

retreated to the hotel with a box of choco pies in hand. We then enjoyed a day

of recuperation and dinner in a night market, where, like most establishments,

people argued over who would have the difficulty of serving people that

couldn’t speak Vietnamese. This marked the point where we decided we would

start making our way back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Mar 5th –

A month down

Determined to travel

to a town on the other side of Vietnam, Rạch Giá, without retracing any of our previous steps

we travelled south. We travelled down some of the quaintest roads that were

barely big enough for a single vehicle, this didn’t stop trucks from playing

Tetris with our lives! They were truly beautiful riverside roads though, that

deserve mention. We continued on until we reached the town that we knew would

lead us north to Rạch Giá. Due to a lack of signage, or highly ambiguous

signage, we had no real idea if we were going in the correct direction. Poorly

calmed by the insistence of locals that we were in fact heading to Rạch Giá, we

continued onwards. That said, we were very confused when we arrived at a point

that required we board a ferry. Having no idea where the ferry was heading and

seeing no mention of Rạch Giá, we adventurously decided to board. We competed

to get to the ticket booth to buy our ferry pass and then waited in a caged

section that was used to limit the number of motorbikes on each ferry. We were

released from the cage and progressed onto a ferry to the delight of the other

ferry passengers, whom found it very interesting to see Westerners using this

mode of transport. After getting off the ferry we continued onwards until we

finally saw a sign indicating a town that we knew was right next to Rạch Giá.

We continued on and by some miracle, we stumbled into our desired town. We

shook hands and marveled at our day’s accomplishment.

Not only was this a

pretty interesting day worthy of report, but this day also marked our first

month milestone. We enjoyed a beer to celebrate the day and to celebrate the month.

With some reflection, it is amazing how much we have seen and experienced in

such a small space of time. It makes me wonder about what is install for the

Earthbound Astronauts in the coming months… However, I digress.

Mar 6th

We continued on our

pilgrimage back to Ho Chi Minh City, and intended to stay in the town we stayed

in on the first night, My Thó. This day was inevitably one of the largest

riding days we had, at roughly 240km, which on Vietnamese roads can take a

while. We were traveling as planned and hadn’t run into any directional issues

as of yet. We’d been riding for a while, and we were both starting to feel it

and were ready to call it a day, yet we hadn’t seen any signs for My Thó for

some time. We progressed towards signs indicating towards Ho Chi Minh City,

knowing that My Thó was just outside the city. Casey, spotting a “sign”

suggested we turn right. We continued down a small road that eventually lead to

another ferry. Casey then confessed that the sign was an “unofficial sign”. We

backtrack to a hotel on the road right next to the main highway. We neglected

the plan to make it to My Thó, willingly as we had already visited the town,

and call it a night. Yet, not before enjoying chicken with soup containing

chunks of liver.

Mar 7th

Finally the day had

come when we got to return to Ho Chi Minh City and return the motorbikes. We

had an amazing time with them, yet our bodies were starting to feel the strain

of travelling every day. The roads were extremely busy today, it was mayhem! After

a few near misses we were definitely ready to get back and return the bikes

from whence they came. Casey was spotted by a policeman travelling in the heavy

vehicles lane, and ushered to the side of the road. He was asked for his

motorbike papers and license, which of course, he could not procure. The

officer then told us that he would have to take the bike, which we could

collect and pay a fine. He then went on to say that we could also pay the fine

now and drive away. It seemed very much like a bribe, which was definitely

confirmed when he offered Casey “50% off”. We paid him one million dong ($50),

but gained an experience, our first bribe! We continued into the city, where

the Laws of Vietnamese roads (Constructed in a list below) truly came into

play. Our experience driving in the city can really be summed up by one

statement “these people have no desire to live!”.

We said goodbye to

the motorbikes, celebrating that they didn’t claim our lives and reacquainted

ourselves with a bakery that had been at the pinnacle of Vietnamese bakeries so

far. And that brings us to know. Our bodies are incredibly sore and are in need

of numerous days of recovery, but we have gained an amazing experience that

money truly can’t pay for. Unless you’re Casey in the heavy vehicle lane...

LAWS OF A VIETNAMESE

ROAD*

1. Small gives way to

big (Most of the time)

2. If you want to do

something illegal, beep. The more you beep the higher the illegality of your

actions eg. Going in the opposite direction to traffic requires constant horn

work.

3. Stay to the right,

unless of course, you don’t want to!

4. Wear a helmet,

anything on your head will do…

5. You need to

surpass the speed limit if you want to survive.

*Note: Any of these

rules are subject to change without notice and may indeed be false.

The Vietnamese roads

are not for the faint-hearted or those that value their lives.

Next we are going

north.

Keep posted.

We are officially

templed-out after exploring the temples of Angkor Wat and Vietnam is lingering

in our sights.

To listen to the

podcast click HERE!

15th, 16th

& 17th Feb

We apologise for the

time between posts, but it is purely due to the few days after our last post

not warranting any real report. Unfortunately, we had our first run in with

suspected food poisoning. We were too fearful to leave the room in Siem Reap and

were living off a bare trickle of food, including tiny croissants, cheese

biscuits and wagon wheel like biscuits called “choco pies”. This resulted in

the Choco pie incident of 2013…… Even so, we were still in pretty high spirits

and did enjoy the time relaxing (if you can call it that) even though the guilt

of being so close yet so far to the temples was occasionally evident. In a way,

we were lucky that we were both impeded by this illness at the same time.

Sharing such a small room with a bathroom that seemed to amplify everything,

has definitely cemented our friendship pretty solidly, unlike our bowel

movements. Needing a reason to test our health, we felt it was necessary to

visit “Pub Street” for a few drinks.

18th Feb

After feeling up to

the challenge, Casey decided to ride west of Siem Reap to visit some small

temples that are older then the temples at Angkor, yet due to their size, don’t

receive the same level of relevance of the larger, newer temples. Unfortunately

for Casey, the tickets to the temples were not sold in this general direction,

so the ride towards the temples was partially in vain even though he did get to

enjoy an introduction to the Cambodian countryside. I, however, still not

feeling up to the task of endeavouring too far from the safety of the

room/bathroom, stayed behind.

19th Feb

We both seemed to

have recovered and decided to venture out towards the north-eastern temples,

and following the suggestions of the Lonely Planet guide, would see the older,

smaller temples first and leave the awe inspiring Angkor temples for the final

day. After jumping on bikes and enthusiastically stopping off at every temple

around the circuit and enjoying the individuality of each, the temples slowly

started to morph into one, signaling an end to the day. After agreeing to meet

a friend that we had made in Battambang on “Pub Street” that night, we again

ventured out in to Siem Reap for a well-deserved Angkor beer.

20th Feb

The day had finally

arrived! We were going to visit the Lonely Planet acclaimed eight wonder of the

world! Angkor Wat definitely deserved this title. The sheer size of the moat

that surrounded the temple of Angkor Wat was mesmerizing, as was the land

bridge that was in place allowing tourists to cross the threshold. Obviously

weathered through age, it was incredible to think about what these temples had

been through on both a cultural and political level, and you couldn’t help

wondering what the marvelous structures would say about the folly of man.

Unfortunately, restorations were occurring at the entrance to Angkor Wat, which

played a very spoiling role in the majority of the photos that were taken.

However, we continued to traverse the highly preserved temples admiring the

intricacies of even the smallest detail. We, unknowingly, had worn singlets and

shorts that did not cover our shoulders or knees. This almost obvious point

now, was the reason we were not allowed into the main temple. This prompted us

to leave Angkor Wat at this point vowing that we would return to complete this

pilgrimage we had charged upon ourselves. With a slight loss of spirit we

continued onto the Bayon temple complex, which was a wonder in it’s own right. After

watching sunset from this temple, we rode our bikes back to our hotel past the

monkey-laden grounds and ruins that speckled the heavy foliage along our route.

Looking forward to a dish I had seen in a menu the night before, a Khmer curry,

Casey and I decided to spend a little more on dinner ($3.50 each) and try this

dish that proved to be the most enjoyable we’d had in Cambodia thus far.

Finding out that the bus to Kampong Cham City (Our next destination, designated

the “Gateway to the North” by Lonely Planet) left at 7.15am the next morning, we

decided to spend an additional night (taking us to the morning of the 22nd) so

we could go back to Angkor Wat at sunrise and finish what we’d started.

21st Feb

After hearing Casey’s

alarm go off at both 5am and 5.30am and observing Casey consider getting up

both times and then returning to the fetal position, I was provoked to wake him

up knowing I wouldn’t hear the end of his disappointment if we had missed his

big opportunity for a photo shoot. We again hired bikes and raced to Angkor

Wat, where we both got briefly separated as I took a slightly different turn,

however, we both got there and got to enjoy a rather overcast sunrise. Of

course we now had our shoulders and knees covered, determined to enter the

temple that we had been denied entry the day before. The temple didn’t open

until 7.40am so we decided to source ourselves some breakfast. Seeing a man selling

bread, we decided to buy two incredibly fresh bread rolls and two coconut buns.

Not such an interesting fact, but the comments we got from two locals must have

been one of the highlights of our trip thus far. The first man said, “Hello

sir, you want water, another bread?” (It was yet to occur to us that this man

did not sell bread) and then a woman that shouted, “Hello Mr big bread!” before

entering into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. This made our day and

definitely gave us something to raise our spirits even though we were both

exhausted from the early wake up. We finally had an opportunity to see the

temple, which definitely reinforced the beauty of this almost mythical site.

One thing had crossed

my mind over the last few days was where was the tree that Angelina Jolie was

in front of in Tomb Raider. Unbeknown to us both, we had missed one temple! Ta

Prohm was the temple that we had been imagining this whole time, a temple that

had almost been lost in forest. This temple was beautiful and it was obvious

why it was so iconic. Obviously this fact was known by about half of the

tourist in Siem Reap, who were there in droves. Otherwise this place was truly

magical, it was incredible to see the roots of trees intertwined with the

temple structure, which had been so physically altered that each seemed

symbiotic of the other. Feeling like we had finally seen every temple in the

Siem Reap area, we called it a day and triumphantly returned to the hotel where

we recuperated from our early morning and prepared for the journey we would

undertake the following day. It would be sad to leave the hotel we had grown so

accustom to, yet it was time to leave the room that hadn’t been cleaned since

our arrival and was harbouring our filth. We’d also left a lasting impression with

the hotel staff……

22nd Feb

Again, sleeping past

the alarm, we were late to leave our hotel and reached the bus with a comment

from the bus driver saying, “Come on, the party’s over!” Feeling a little

guilty, we said our goodbyes to Siem Reap and prepared for our arrival in

Kampong Cham City. After about a 7 hour journey we arrived in a town that was

our first destination by the Mekong. It was completely empty and without much

attraction, which was reflected by the single paragraph dedicated to the town

in the Lonely Planet. We decided to go north the next day, which we were told

left at noon.

23rd Feb

Waking up leisurely

at 9.30am and leaving the hotel room at 10.20am, we decided to go and book our

bus trip and then have a quiet breakfast before we boarded the bus for 8 hours.

When we arrived at the bus company we were quite shocked to realize that the

bus arrived at 10.30, which was, at the time, two minutes away. Running back to

the hotel, paying and then running fully loaded with our packs and other items,

which we lacked time to pack, we arrived at the bus stop and waited for a bus

that was luckily 10 minutes late. The bus was very nice, enjoying the Cambodian

countryside as we headed northeast to Ban Lung. Exiting the bus at a very

bizarre bus stop a few kilometres from town, we, with some friends we had made,

continued to walk down the main street until we eventually approached the

centre where we found accommodation in a nice guesthouse.

24th Feb

Finding out there

really wasn’t much to do in Ban Lung either, except to see a large volcanic

crater lake called Boeng Yeak Laom. We set out to this lake with the two

friends we had made the night before by foot (it was about 6km). It felt quite

rewarding when we reached the lake and were able to enter the beautifully clean

and refreshing water whilst marveling at the incredible formation of this

crater. Casey decided to run back to the hotel from the lake as I returned with

our evidently unfit friends, who really struggled with the elevated slopes

returning us to the main road that returned us to town. We then organised a 6am

bus to Phnom Penh, which is going to be our final destination of Cambodia

before we progress into Vietnam.

25th Feb

The bus to Phnom Penh

must have been the most enduring so far. Not only was the bus not properly

air-conditioned, but we both felt that they were employing some form of torture

in the form of a Cambodian comical singing duo or Cambodian soap operas that

involve someone either getting run over every few minutes or love triangles. We

have, however, arrived in Phnom Penh in high spirits. It is completely

different to any other Cambodian town we have visited and definitely has a high

degree of western influence. We were elated to know that the room we booked

actually included an air conditioner, a luxury usually declined due to the high

price mark up of the room. And that brings us up to now. We officially feel we

have seen enough temples to do us for a while and we are ready to leave

Cambodia and experience a slightly different country. In saying that, we still

have found the Cambodian people incredibly friendly and have definitely enjoyed

our time here. We will spend the next day exploring Phnom Penh and seeing what

it has to offer in contrast with the other Cambodian towns.

We’ll be in touch

soon. Our love goes out to our family and friends, please let us know how new

jobs and moves are going via Facebook, you’re all never far from our thoughts.

Keep posted.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have finally left the beach and are in our second country,

Cambodia.

To listen to the podcast click here!

9th Feb

After waking up relatively late due to a long night of celebrations

for Casey’s birthday, we had decided to stay in Koh Samet for two more nights.

We found out that our current room has been previously booked, so we had to

find some new accommodation. We walked around for about an hour in the rain

trying to find a hotel, until we eventually found one just around the corner.

Fortunately for us, the hotel was much nicer then the first and at the same

price of 500 baht, or approximately A$16 for us both, was a steal. We

inevitably spent the day relaxing by the beach reading, before Casey enjoyed a

run on the beach. The day was then finished off by having dinner with some

friends we’d made the day before, by the beach of course.

10th Feb

As our final day on Koh Samet, we decided to make it count with some

serious beach work. I, unfortunately for me, was roomridden due to a very mild

bout of the runs, the first victim of what I’m sure will inevitably reoccur

during our trip. Luckily that passed within a few hours and I was able to join

Casey on the beach where he had accrued additional sunburn whilst reading his

book and taking photos as you have probably seen in the tabs above (if not,

check them out!). We enjoyed a bit of a workout session on the beach before a

light run and enjoyed our final night by having another dinner on the beach at

a place we’d frequented every night bar one.

11th Feb

We were keen to go to Cambodia, and utilising the liberated Lonely

Planet guide we had an extremely rough idea about how we intended to get there.

We got off the island much later the expected and luckily were ushered to a

minivan company, which did visa runs to Cambodia. They suggested we headed to

the city Pailin, just across the border and then make our way to Battambang. We

had no idea where Pailin was as it was not listed in the lonely planet, so we

spent the next few hours on a bus that dropped us in a Thai city just near the

border that we still have no real idea about. After waiting at an outdoor

restaurant for an hour, we were both forced to learn our first real words in

Thai, the words for “public toilet”. This was mainly due to Casey’s failed

attempt of a hand rubbing gesture, which made a lady gesture towards a tap…..

We caught another minivan to the Cambodian-Thai border, which was typical of a

Thai town, happy people, colourful, graveled roads and buildings that I still

would have considered pretty rudimentary, until we crossed the border and saw

the ultimate contrast.

The border crossing was relatively painless, but as we crossed, we

were hounded by men pulling up on motorbikes for lifts and taxi rides on the

now dirt road. We ended up acquiring the help of an English speaking tourist

advisor (who obviously would get commission out of any sale he assisted in) we

reluctantly paid for a taxi to Battambang as the suggested alternative was to

stay in a hotel that looked like it would be robbed the second we fell asleep.

The roads we travelled down were mostly ungraded as we avoided potholes after

pothole as we passed houses that were now made of wood and straw in the most

part, we could visually see the difference between Thailand and Cambodia, and

the harsh history of the country really did start to become highly evident. The

taxi driver was in fact one of the men that had been stalking us down the

street earlier, yet through his limited English, we could tell that he was

actually a really nice guy as he stopped off at picturesque locations so we

could take photos. After working out the debacle of paying the driver in Thai

Baht and American dollars, which we have now learnt is interchangeable with

Cambodian currency, the Riel (1 to approx. 4000), we found a nice hotel.

Battambang was obviously quite a touristy town, but it was a nice place to

start in Cambodia.

12th Feb

The night before we had organised a Tuk Tuk with three other people

to go around and see the local sights of Battambang for the day. We first

ventured to the Bamboo train, which is just a rectangle formed by pieces of

bamboo to utilise abandoned French train tracks. This was great to get a few

pictures of the Cambodian countryside. We then went to a very old yet beautiful

temple that was reached via a rather steep set of stairs at Phnom Banan. We

then went to the only winery in Cambodia and had a wine tasting.  There is a reason there is only a single

winery in Cambodia. I have a feeling we were drinking gasoline infused with

grape juice…. Our final and most confronting destination so far was to a set of

temples; bat infested caves and “The Killing Caves” at Phnom Sampeau. Visiting

the latter definitely put things into perspective for us, as we learnt about

the bloody atrocities committed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge during their relatively

recent reign. This did not completely hinder the enjoyment of seeing the

temples in the area, visiting a monastery where monks were living and

accidently disturbing numerous classes of students in a school as they all

wanted to wave and say hello as we passed. We then watched a consistent stream

of bats leave their cave for roughly 20 minutes. It was truly incredible to see

them uniformly weave into the distance and even more interesting to watch from

a platform next to the head of a 30 metre Buddha being carved into a cliff

face. We then went back to town and enjoyed a traditional Cambodian dinner with

our friends from the Tuk Tuk.

13th Feb

We decided to set out towards Siem Reap, which is the town that is within

reach of Ankor Wat. We boarded a relatively small boat that uncomfortably took

roughly 9 hours to reach Siem Reap port, passing by floating villages and the

friendliest people, always waving and smiling. We then caught a Tuk Tuk into

town finding out that most accommodation was full at this point, spending an

hour with our packs trying to find a place to stay. We had to break the

accommodation budget for the first night, yet we had a pretty nice air

conditioned room. We ventured out into Siem Reap to discover how expectedly

touristy it really was. There’s a street called “Pub street”, enough said. We

visited the night markets, which is really just stall after stall of relatively

similar merchandise such as the Khmer scarf.

14th Feb – Valentine’s Day!

That brings us to today, a day we have decided to relax and try to

recover from the sunburn and peeling that has been inflicted on us whilst on

Koh Samet and the boat ride from Battambang yesterday. We had a nice scrambled

egg breakfast with the most amazing bread either of us was expecting in Asia

(probably due to the French influence on Cambodia). We are preparing our next

few nights here and our trip to Ankor Wat and the surrounding temples, which is

one of the main reasons we really decided to come to South East Asia, hopefully

it’ll live up to the hype. Unfortunately for the day, we are each other’s

Valentines....

We are loving the people we are meeting and the unexpected and

different experiences we are already having. We can’t believe it’s only been 9

days. Hopefully it keeps up and you’ll keep reading about our adventures. Hope

all is well back home, we both send our love.

Make sure you check out the photos on the Cambodia page and

add your e-mail address to the subscription box on the left to keep updated.

Keep posted.