10 things that travelling has taught me

I still feel in awe of the experiences I’ve been lucky enough to encounter this year and I guess I wanted to write about what I’ve gained from this incredible trip, if nothing else, as an excuse to reminisce. So here goes

1. The NHS really is the best health care provider in the world. For such an overstretched service, frankly they perform miracles and we should all remember how lucky we are to have state-funded healthcare because millions of people globally do not have this luxury. We encountered a man lying in his own faeces,  drunk and unconscious. He had a hernia and couldn’t afford hospital treatment, and for all intents and purposes was waiting to die. Far from being an underdeveloped country, this was Australia, though India, Nepal and Thailand gave rise to so some horrifying sights of illness and injury of their own.

2. The biggest challenge arriving in any country is getting from plane, train or coach to a specific destination without being scammed or ripped off.  My advice, seek accommodation with free transfers or use local buses, subway/ metro rail services. We saved a small fortune doing this, and also felt much safer than in some of the taxi journeys we took. We also took screen shots from google maps so we could track our transfer journeys.

3. Remember to live in the moment. Worrying about yesterday or next week will stop you enjoying the here and now.

4. Traveling in a couple is one of the best, and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. We have memories to share that will last a lifetime, and a store moments where we were ready to kill each other.

5. The Great Wall of China isn’t really visible from space but is nonetheless breathtaking.

6. I’m more of an extrovert then I’ve realised in the past, and I intend to nurture this side of my personality more rather than force myself to be something I’m just not.

7. I have some really wonderful friends who I love very much. I already knew this but every text message, email and comment is valuable when you’re away from home, and there were people who surprised me with how often they were in touch. I hope those who are my truest and dearest friends know just how much you mean to me,  and I hope you feel as valued by my as you deserve to feel.

8. New Zealand is the most beautiful country in the world, and the people are by far the friendliest I’ve ever met.

9. The list of places I dream of visiting has probably trebled rather than shrunk. I look forward to some very exciting holidays.

10. There really is no place like home.

 

Won’t forget Phuket

White clothes, endless stalls of vegan and vegetarian food and Possessed Mediums dancing on top of fireworks would probably be a good place to start trying to describe the annual Taoist Vegetarian festival currently underway in many areas of Thailand. 

We’re in Phuket for the occasion, and its fascinating. We’ve been lucky enough to see the start of the festival at the Island’s Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town, which hosted the islands largest lantern raising ceremony.

Raised lantern at Jui Tui Shrine

We’ve also had an exciting wake up call from a passing street procession earlier this morning.

Watching the mediums as they become posessed by the Taoist evil spirits is a sight to behold in itself,  with the mediums often screaming and shaking their heads from side to side whilst their eyes roll back. This is all whilst they are caught and almost forced into brightly coloured chinese patterned robes whilst still flailing their limbs around and screaming. More fascinating still is watching as hey give blessings to the participating crowds.

This is however only the start, as the next few days will see the mediums walk on hot coals, climb ladders made of razor blades, pierce their skin with scewers before adorning them with fruit and vegetables and bathing in hot oil. In doing so, this enables the evil spirits and demons to protect the festival goers and come a step closer to forgiveness. It’s fair to say we’re not entirely certain what the next few days will bring but, coupled with a lovely trip to the beach, some amazing food and the odd massage or 5, I can’t help but feel it’s a perfect ending to our trip.

Nai Harn beach, Phuket Island

Ready, steady, cook!

Dressed in outfits that wouldn’t look out of place in a Jackie Chan movie and armed with knives that could easily remove an appendage, our cookery class with Tom Yum Thai Cooking school in Chang Mai commences. Not before a trip to the local produce market where we enjoyed an array of scents, sounds and sights, some good, some horrendous. The fruit in particular was excellent and we tried a range of weird and wonderful things, including Rambutin with their weird dark red furry cases, and a pale white fleshy fruit beneath, as well as something we think is from the same family, which before it has been peeled looks like a potato.

We each got to make and even better eat 6 dishes in total, so you can imagine we were fit to burst by the end. Being the only two people attending for the evening we even had the teacher to ourselves who was really fun and had a slightly unhinged sense of humour, laughing to himself as he tried to convince us his secret ingredient in mango sticky rice is in fact cocaine. That said I’ve craved it ever since so maybe he wasnt really joking at all…

Jamie’s Pad See Ew and my Pad Thai

Shrimp Tom Yum soup (yum being the operative word)

Thai Green Curry a la Jamie

Thai red curry a la Mahlah

My hand made spring rolls (Jamie wouldn’t let me take a picture of his…)

Anyway, all in all we had a great evening and would highly recommend this particular class to others. The price is reasonable, and we really liked the range of dishes we had to choose from which we thought were better then many of the others. Our new found skills are certainly something we intend to practice more when we get home too so any volunteers welcome.

Cambodian reflections

Another evening seems to have arrived, along with the nightly call from our lizard friend who appears to sleep at night within the vents of our air conditioning unit. Our current “home” is a lovely hotel room in Siem Reap. With a balcony, massive beds, huge room and bathroom, I remain amazed at the tiny price tag to accompany it. We even have an onsite meditation pool with those tiny fish that nibble away your dead skin which is free for guests. Being curious we had to give it a try, and whilst I was marginally braver then Jamie (who reached high notes I didnt realise were achievable by human beings) we both giggled, fussed and generally reacted as though our feet were in a pond full of hungry pyrannas. Needless to say its probably not something we will repeat but we do now have very smooth feet, albeit with a toe or two missing.

It’s been several days now since our heart wrenching visit to both the Killing Fields, and Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh. Without wanting to regergitate our experiences of this again, I have to admit that I am still haunted by the image of the splashes of blood on the prison walls and floors telling tales of the torture that had occured in this terrible place. Similarly, we saw wrags of cotton and fragments of bone poking their way from the soil of the Killing fields some 40 years later, again reminders of the crimes against humanity that occured on the very ground we walked on, in this living crime scene.  Within Tuol Sleng are also photographs of many who have been imprisoned there, including some pictures where victims of torture have been forced to smile whilst in various states of injury. All this before being cuffed in the back of a van with countless other people and driven to he Killing Fields to encounter a slow and painful death whilst the sound of a generaror and propaganda music blasted from speakers in the trees drown the sounds of screaming. Chemicals are poured over them to finish of those still alive whilst masking the smell of rotting flesh.

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend a visit here for the faint hearted, (nor did I feel entirely comfortable observing others taking photographs of this place, as though it were am opportunity to boast, but that’s a whole different story) I feel I wouldnt have the perspective I do on both Cambodia and the dynamics of why it is how it is.  Furthermore, I think it’s important that people do visit places like this. What happened cannot be undone, but at least if people can learn from the horrific mistakes of others then this can only be a good thing?

No Koalas here…

24 hours in South East Asia and already I’m reminded why I wanted to travel and why I wanted to share this experience with the person I love. There’s something about this part of the world that makes me feel excited and relaxed all at once.

Arriving at 03:30 we did think yesterday would end up being a write off as our hostel room wouldn’t be ready til 1pm and so we were expecting lots of hanging around feeling terrible and then collapsing as soon as we entered ts threshold. However when we arrived at 05:30, they welcomed us and gave us another room to grab a sleep in until check in. Baring in mind we haven’t slept in an actual bed for a month as we’ve been in the campervan, you can imagine our relief (or indeed near elation on my part) and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

So a few hours later we’re back up and ready to go, and it was fantastic! Our hostel is in the heart of China Town at the bottom of the famous Petaling street so everytime we step outside we’re surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the brightly coloured markets. I thought the Chinese night markets were amazing but they’ve got nothing on this Aladins cave. The architecture is beautiful.

The buildings are colonial in style but with very definate Muslim influence in style and we enjoyed a few hours taking this all in whilst getting lost amongst another bazaar selling Eastern clothing, and various food treats which we of course sampled. This included these bright green cake roll type things that are steam vooked inside short tubes of bamboo and then rolled in dessicated coconut.

The people are very friendly and welcoming which is lovely and as well as various pleasant exchanges as we walked around, I found myself watching Hong Kong singers on Youtube with a lady in a shop whilst Jamie was having passport photos taken ready for his visa for Cambodia.

The food here is pretty wonderful too and after 3 months in Australasia, incredibly cheap. We enjoyed eye watering hot curried foods for lunch, which for two plates of various things and a drink cost about £5 for us both and then beef noodles from a famous noodle bar for dinner which was even cheaper and cost about £3 for both of us.

What more is there to say other then we love KL.

Surf and turf

Its hard to believe that yet again we’re nearly about to fly to a different country. The road trip has been one hell of an adventure, and whilst I’m looking forward to being able to stand up in the space in which I’m living as oppose to constantly slouching, and banging my head at frequent intervals I’ll be sad to leave the van behind.

Some highlights since we last posted are the Koala statues at Port Maquarie. Not quite Larkins toads in Hull, but a good substitute. The whole town was really arty and along the edge of the beach were rocks all painted with murrals by the locals. Some in tribute to lost loved ones, whilst others depicted family trees and others declared love for another or a hobby.

Jamie’s been making the most of the surf and thus far hasnt had anything eaten or bitten off by a shark whilst I have been lucky enough to see a whale breach in the sea at Coffs Harbour.  No photos sadly as it came as a complete surprise but not something I’ll forget. We’ve also seen lots of dolphins, including the one disguised as a shark that scared Jamie. We also found an amazing chocolate factory just outside Coffs Harbour. Yum!!

The sunshine coast provided a beautiful place to chill and more surf for Jamie at Coolum beach. I even had another go at body boarding. Unlike surfing,  I can cope with this particular activity , which I think is largely due to being able to lay down.

A trip to Springbrook national park in Queensland was breathtaking. As part of the ancient Gondwana rain forest I’m sure you can imagine the variety of plant and tree life. It was a bit of an overcast day but his seemed to make the scenery more beautiful and at times we were able to see clouds beneath us. There were also spectacular waterfalls and water cascades.

Similar to here was a trip to Dorrigo national park (there is far from a shortage of national parks in Australia) with a stunning sky walk, plants, trees more waterfalls and wildlife a plenty. Dangar falls were also beautiful and right next to our campsite.

Another fantastic day was spent at the very bohemian Eumundi markets. Lots of local artisans, food sellers, live music and beautiful things to simply enjoy looking at.

We even fit in a night at the gold coast at Miami, though didnt go to any of the theme parks and instead chilled out at the campsite and enjoyed heir free pool and waterslide.

We’re heading south towards Sydney now so not too sure where we’ll be staying tonight as we have to be back by 10th so still have a few more adventures to enjoy.

Does my bum look big in this??

Body image seems to be a massive thing in Australia. As someone who has a really poor self image, initially I felt incredibly inadequate. Especially on the beaches where everyone female is tiny. However, now it’s really annoyed me. The magazines here are even less discrete with their blatant screams “You need to be thinner” with pages and pages dedicated to telling what you need to do to make sure you don’t get fat in winter. Every day there are endless tv programs akin to Gillian McKeith talking about what foods we should and more importantly shouldn’t eat.  And of course the advert for one of those pre sold diet meal kits where the woman in the advert actually says that being thinner makes her a better mum?!! And another advert features a slightly curvy lady who is nude – the message being she has found freedom by playing on the concept she has “let herself go” and she is an object of comedy.

Byron Bay seems to reflect this notion of carrying the “right” image. The guys all seem to be rocking the “unique” uniform of baggy vest/ no top, hareem trousers and ideally dreadlocks, or straggly hair. The girls similarly all wear their overpriced beach type clothes from the likes of Billabong etc. The people we encountered, like Byron Bay itself seemed plastic, and I can completely see where the inspiration for the Inbetweeners movie came from. The beaches are beautiful, however the sand is covered in plastic people, and touts trying to sell terrible sunglasses. The town is full of overpriced bars, restaurants and cafes capitilising on selling whole foods at ridiculous prices, and basically helping to keep the ridiculous plastic image going by reinforcing the fake boho vibe. Needless to say we were very dissapointed as Byron was one of the places we’d been looking forward to seeing.

Fortunately, we’ve been staying in the closeby Broken Head nature reserve. The beach here is beautiful, practically empty, with dolphins regularly leaping from the waves.  The campsite literally backs onto this beach on one side and is surrounded by a subtropical rainforest  nature reserve on the other with lovely walks, birds and wildlife aplenty. We have a tribe of wild turkeys who provide entertainment in their mischievousness right outside the van,  and can hear the waves crashing against the beach. Bliss.

Hop, “Skip” and a jump

Onwards from the national park after a sleep and we continue in our lovely van north and arrive at Nelson’s bay in Port Stephens. Not before being woken by the sound of a bird pecking incessantly on one of the wing mirrors in pursuit of its own reflection. I then hop out the van for a dash to the bathroom to be greeted by a peacock just outside the door. Amazing!

Port Stephens is quite a pretty area of Australia with beautiful sun sets and nice beaches but sadly its been built up too much in my opinion in order to cater for tourists.  We however enjoyed walking along Shoal Beach which was at the back of our campsite taking you out of town and towards Tomaree national park where we then climbed the Tomaree head, a small (but nevertheless steep!!) Mountain. We also saw about 20 pelicans gathered around some fisherman hoping for the unwanted bits of fish guts. So far it seems Australia is perfect for getting to be amongst nature and wildlife which is pretty fabulous.

Next day we visit a farm with Kangaroos roaming freely as well as sleeping Koalas and some wallabies as well as an array of other animals. What was really exciting was seeing baby kangaroos in their mummy’s pouches. These  jumpy guys are amazingly cute, and for a while have me planning how to take one with us in the van. Sadly for me we leave empty handed but we do get to feed the animals and are probably the most excitable people there, despite the many children visiting for the day too.  I still haven’t stopped singing “Skippy the bush Kangaroo” at ramdom intervals…

Last and by no means least we enjoy a brief stop off in Buladelah for more mountain walking, this time up Alum mountain, the only alunite  mountain in the world. The “best scones in the southern hemisphere” went down a treat too. Life is grand.

Napier and Hawkes Bay, where the (wine) glass is always half full

A change in direction and travel plans takes us back in a Northern direction to visit the quaint art deco sea side town of Napier. After endless adventures we decided a bit more of a leisurely pace was what the doctor ordered and so opted for a few days of hedonism and rest (hard life). We also decided after much deliberation that the south island will have to wait for another time, as already we’re nearly three quarters through our time here in what feels like little more than a few blinks of the eye.

Napier is full of quirky charm, and you cant help but feel like you’ve stepped back in time in this frequently described as “cute” town. Known not only for the art deco architecture, Hawkes Bay region is also famous for its wine. Naturally we decide when in Rome (Napier) it’d be rude not to sample the local grape talent and quickly find ourself booked onto a wine tasting tour. I’ll be honest and say now that I have retained very little information from this learning experience, though this is due to the unfortunate effects of the involved indulgences as oppose to our lovely tour guide Gareth’s expertise, from Odyssey New Zealand ltd.  “What do you know about wine” we are asked at the start. Inwardly I think “I know it’s  wet” and outwardly blag a response that I’m not really a wine drinker so am here to find something I like.

Fortunately Jamie is less of a pleb and manages to make us seem less inept (if a tad more pretentious) at least untill we’re both blind drunk.

Ignoring the advice that if we don’t like any of the wines we can spit them out, and 5 wineries later we’ve sampled roughly 6 wines in each place. I remember university bar crawls where I faired better than this, and certainly the hangover that followed was not a sight for the delicate natured. The tour finishes with an amazing food platter, and a blind wine tasting quiz which we’re both fairly terrible at but are fairly indifferent by this late stage in the day as by now everything in life is wonderful, especially the drinks. I’d be hard pushed to pick a favourite however Church Road winery for their deliciously fruity tastes, and Moana Park boutique winery both stand out. Moana park in particular stood out for their organic and unconventional wine making methods that produce low allergen wine, said to be so organic, you don’t suffer a hangover afterwards. Sadly we drank too many other wines to be able to test this claim, but would certainly be keen to experiment further. All in all we have an excellent day out and would highly recommend this particular wine tour to others. It costs a little more than the others available but in our view it is more then worth it, as we were especially merry and the food platter really ended our day of indulgences on a high.

The next evenings antics come in the form of a Burlesque show which was nothing other then fabulous. The performers were stunning, the costumes vibrant and its not hard to understand why the star of the show Ms Cherry Boomb was crowned New Zealands Ms burlesque 2015 competition with her choreographed performance to Bjorks “Quiet” which she ends the show with. I’m still dazzled by all the sequins!

Happy birthday Wellington

The last few days have been full of surprises. The first being that the hostel we booked in Wellington is managed by someone from my small home town in the UK whom I went to school with. I had no idea about this until we recieved our booking confirmation email. I wont pretend I wasn’t anxious, given this particular person was responsible for several miserable years of childhood and me spending that time feeling fat, ugly and unlikable from the mere age of 10,  and thats when I wasn’t being locked in the toilet or having my clothes hidden during PE. Gulp!! Forunately 13 years later and we’re both quite different. She was friendly enough and as Im writing this Ive just recieved an unexpected lovely email from her and I’m pleasantly reminded that I’m not a frightened child anymore. Infact, despite my various insecurities I’m much more confident and perhaps I wouldn’t be where I am today without my earlier experiences.

Anyway, this is a travel blog so enough of that. We couldnt have actually timed our trip here better as its been a weekend of celebration for the city as the 150th anniversary of Wellington becoming the capital. We’ve been entertained by theatrical performances of the debates prior to women being granted the vote – New Zealand being the first country to do so, consequently paving the way for the rest of us (thank you!!).

We also had a tour of parliament, taken a trip on the famous cable car, enjoyed dressing up in a local theatre,  as well as soaking up the general vibe of the city.

Saturday evening also gave way to wonderful live music and probably the most impressive light show of all time projected onto parliamemts building. I have a video amd will endeavour to try and post this, though sadly my smart phone doesnt do it justice.

With the exception of the cable car which was heavily discounted to $2 each, everything was also free! To finish the weekend off, we then enjoy a roast dinner in our hostel, coordinated by a fellow guest. Yum!