Em & Gwil's Excellent Adventure

Where We Went

2011-06-30T22:50:00.000+10:00

31/3/06 - Saigon - Hanoi, Vietnam
1/5/06 - Helsinki, Finland
5/5/06 - Tallinn, Estonia
8/5/06 - Saaremaa, Estonia
12/5/06 - St Petersburg, Russia
17/5/06 - Vladamir, Russia
18/5/06 - Moscow, Russia
23/5/06 - Lviv, Ukraine
25/5/06 - Bucharest, Romania
28/5/06 - Transylvania (Brasov & Sinaia), Romania
2/6/06 - Budapest, Hungary
6/6/06 - Zagreb, Croatia
9/6/06 - Ljubljana, Slovenia
12/6/06 - Lake Balaton, Hungary
15/6/06 - London, England
20/6/06 - Nice, France
26/6/06 - Castellane, France
19/7/06 - Avignon, France
21/7/06 - Aix-en-Provence, France
28/7/06 - Lyon, France
31/7/06 - Dijon, France
6/8/06 - Paris, France
14/8/06 - London, England
19/8/06 - Oslo, Norway
26/8/06 - Stockholm, Sweden
29/8/06 - Gdansk, Poland
1/9/06 - Warsaw, Poland
5/9/06 - Krakow, Poland
12/9/06 - Split, Croatia
16/9/06 - Dalmatian Coast, Croatia
22/9/06 - Dubrovnik, Croatia
25/9/06 - Zagreb, Croatia
26/9/06 - London, England
3/10/06 - Seville, Spain
7/10/06 - Algeciras, Spain
8/10/06 - Tanger, Morocco
9/10/06 - Marrakech, Morocco
11/10/06 - Boumaine du Dades, Morocco
12/10/06 - Erg Chebbi, Morocco
13/10/06 - Essaouira, Morocco
16/10/06 - Casablanca, Morocco
17/10/06 - Fes, Morocco
20/10/06 - Chefchaouen, Morocco
23/10/06 - Algeciras, Spain
24/10/06 - Granada, Spain
27/10/06 - London, England
2/11/06 - Bournemouth, England
3/11/06 - Cardiff, Wales
5/11/06 - Seaford & Brighton, England
10/11/06 - Saigon, Vietnam
15/11/06 - Can Tho, Vietnam
16/11/06 - Chau Doc, Vietnam
17/11/06 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
22/11/06 - Siem Reap, Cambodia
26/11/06 - Saigon, Vietnam
27/11/06 - Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam

Summer in Sydney

2007-01-06T19:48:00.000+11:00

We both had a few days off over Christmas, and got to enjoy Sydney from the harbour on Boxing Day, watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race on Dave's boat.

A few days after Christmas, we moved temporarily into Phil's new apartment in Pyrmont, which is next door to her current one. We got to house-sit while she's waiting for tenants. It was great being next door to Philly - many nights of late night drinking, and only having to walk down the corridor to go home!

On NYE we watched the fireworks from Sal and Stormy's apartment in Potts Point. They had a murder mystery party in the afternoon, so everyone was in Hollywood costume. Em was a detective, and Gwil was a very dapper Fred Astaire.

Sal and Stormy had the most amazing view of the fireworks - looking straight at the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, and down the harbour.

NYD was pretty relaxed, with a BBQ in the sunshine at Michaella's place.

Home

2006-12-15T17:51:00.000+11:00

Flying home, sunrise over central Australia

We have now been back in Sydney for a week, and it has absolutely flown by.

While the weather hasn't quite been the summer sunshine that we were hoping for (today it's only 19 degrees!), we've had a great time relaxing at Turramurra, unpacking boxes of things we'd forgotten that we'd sent home along our trip, and playing with Gwil's two nephews - Jackson and Charlie (who was born while we were away).

Gwil even had the chance to dress up as Santa for Jackson's playgroup Christmas Party, and has now decided that he is leaving the landscaping industry to work as Santa for just the one month each year!

Em's returning to her old job at FBi on Monday, while Gwil's still on an island in Vietnam in his head!! One day he'll think about work again. Maybe.

We're looking forward to catching up with everyone in Sydney. We've set up our mobiles, with the same numbers that we had before we left. Hope to see you all soon!

Videos

2006-12-04T19:10:00.000+11:00

Here are some videos from the last couple of weeks...

Gwil gets a snake around his neck (and between his legs!) in the Mekong Delta.

Getting hassled by the kids outside Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia. "You buy from meeeeeee. Three for one dollaaaaaaah".
We now have far too many bracelets after buying some from each of them!

Daz talks Gwil through eating a scorpion

A beach we spent an afternoon at, on a tiny island south of Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam. It had crystal clear water, and sand that was so white and fine it looked like flour. You could only get here by boat, so there was hardly anyone on the beach.

ps. They're expecting Typhoon Durian to reach the coast of Vietnam tonight, but it's north of Ho Chi Minh City, so shouldn't affect us. We hope that it won't do any damage in the areas that it hits.

How Gwil spent his birthday

2006-11-29T21:35:00.000+11:00

Gwil turned 26 yesterday! Old man!! But more about that later...

When we got back to Saigon from Cambodia, we got to catch up with Daz for dinner. Gwil had been keen to try scorpion or some other crazy menu-item from Vietnam, and thought that Daz would be a great partner-in-crime (ie. "I'll do it if you do it!"). So we left the ordering to Daz, as he could do it in Vietnamese. We had amazing BBQ beef and very fresh prawns (they were still jumping when put on the hot BBQ). Then out comes a big plate, with an even bigger scorpion on it. SCORPION. Not Scorpions!! Daz had ordered only ONE, which was all Gwil's!! A nasty trick, but once it was in front of him, Gwil couldn't turn back.

We are now in Phu Quoc, in a pretty fancy resort, with a bungalow that opens onto the beach.

Celebrating Gwil's birthday here was a lot of fun, with a big focus on doing not much at all!

We got massages on the beach,

chilled out under palm trees,

watched the sun go down from our bungalow's balcony,

and ate the most amazing seafood buffet we've ever had, while barefoot on the sand, right at the ocean's edge.

No more countries to go...

2006-11-26T22:06:00.000+11:00

We have returned to Vietnam from Cambodia... and this is our last stop. We've made it through 19 countries since the end of March this year.

We have climbed the Eiffel Tower in France, a Saharan sand dune in Morocco, the Giralda Tower in Spain, Holmenkollen ski jump in Norway, and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Our feet are getting a tiny bit tired, and we can't wait for our final week and a bit of relaxing on Phu Quoc Island.

Our view of Cambodia by the end of our trip there was really positive. The country and people have the most amazing energy. We met so many interesting and friendly people in the short time we spent there, and the temples of Angkor are incredible.

On our first day of exploring temples from Siem Reap, we did it the lazy way - with an 8am start, a guide and a tuk-tuk. We elbowed our way through the crowds of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom (The Bayon), and felt a bit like we were in a giant outdoor museum.

So, the next day, we set our alarms for 4am, and headed straight for the temples before the crowds. We watched the sunrise at Angkor Wat, and then headed to Ta Prohm (famous for being the 'jungle temple' covered in trees, and the location of some of the shots in Tomb Raider). We had Ta Prohm all to ourselves, which was an amazing experience. We wandered around the narrow temple corridors, under massive tree roots, and over piles of stone, without another person in sight. It was almost Indiana Jones style exploring!

Countdown to Sydney

2006-11-22T16:49:00.000+11:00

We are now officially in the last two weeks of our adventure. We're spending the remainder of this week in Siem Reap, visiting the temples of Angkor, and then are spoiling ourselves with a week in a resort on Phu Quoc Island, just south of the border of Cambodia and Vietnam.

We found Phnom Penh a really interesting experience. Cambodia has been through so much conflict in the last hundred years, and many of the Khmers live in poverty. We were told by a woman who works at the Australian embassy that the government here can't support the Cambodian people, and they rely on donations from other countries and tourists. It particularly affects the children, with hundreds of street kids begging or selling books/jewellery/post cards, and others getting involved in the horrible sex trade. We had heard lots of things about kids here, but we never realised just how serious it is.

We made it a mini-mission while in Phnom Penh to eat at restaurants that trained street kids, to travel in tuk-tuks with drivers who are part of the "Child Safe" program (keeping street kids out of dodgy situations), and to buy souvenirs from shops that help charities or orphanages. Another part of this mini-mission was to find a REAL massage parlour (ie. not a brothel!), and get as many massages as possible. We had a great time supporting local business!

Food glorious food

2006-11-18T18:19:00.000+11:00

We've made it to Phnom Penh, after 5 days in Saigon (stuffing ourselves with amazing fruit and food) and a boat trip down the Mekong Delta across the border of Cambodia.

Just before leaving Saigon, we discovered a restaurant called Bo Tung Xeo, which boasts on it's menu an assortment of strange animals (and animal parts) such as Scorpion, Worm, Rat, Snake, and Goat Penis! We weren't feeling adventurous enough this time around, and settled for the BBQ beef which is their specialty. But we will be back in Saigon again before we fly home, so we might be able to let you know whether Rat or Scorpion taste "just like chicken".

Our trip down the Mekong was great, and we got to see a side of Vietnam that we hadn't experienced yet. Floating markets, a Cham minority village, a fish farm village, coconut candy factory, and a crocodile farm. The people in the Mekong area were all really kind, and we spent one night near Can Tho staying with a family who lived right on the river.

The boat trip to Cambodia took us through some remote villages dotted along the Mekong, with houses built high on stilts, and kids running to the shore to wave to the boat as we chugged past. They were all so cute and genuinely excited to see such strange pale skinned people! We're working on getting rid of the moon tan that seemed to attach itself to us as soon as we got back to London from Morocco!

We're now relaxing in Phnom Penh for a few days, before taking on the crowds at Angkor Wat later in the week. Cambodia is beautiful, and the food here (a constant focus of ours!) is also fantastic. It's a bit of a mix between Thai and Vietnamese, so there's lots of spice and colour.

Seaford to Saigon

2006-11-13T13:02:00.000+11:00

Our last trip in Europe was to Seaford (where Em's dad and grandparents are from), which is right next to Brighton, on the south coast of England.

Seaford is a beach town, and was a good few degrees warmer than the rest of England, although it was still pretty cold!

We were yet to try English fish and chips, so we then drove to Brighton to eat at Harry Ramsden's and to play old-school arcade games on the pier.

We got back to London for Guy Fawkes night, and to spend a few days there packing our things and catching up with Bill, Oli, Zara, Saph & Rod, and big Gee from FBi.

And are now in Saigon, Vietnam.

We've spent 4 days back here so far and are loving the craziness and energy again (the traffic is somewhat less crazy though this time around, and even seems to be following rules, unlike when we were last here in April. Cars now drive only on the right hand side of the road, and they stop at red lights!). The Vietnamese people have to be some of the friendliest that we've met in the entire world, and the food here really is amazing.

Search results... did we find another Gwilym?

2006-11-09T04:42:00.000+11:00

Our search to find another Gwilym in Wales led us through the south of England, travelling past some of the UK's major tourist attractions... but we didn't actually go in to see most of them.

We went to Windsor (where the castle was too expensive to enter, so we saw it from outside), Stonehenge (which had closed the gates 5 minutes before we got there, so we saw it from outside), and Bath (where the baths were too expensive, so again, we saw them from outside).

Outside the walls of Windsor Castle

Sunset at Stonehenge (through the fence)

There were a few funny (and free) attractions that we did get to though. We made it to the smallest pub in England (in a town called Godmanstone), and also to see "The Rude Man" (AKA the Cerne Abbas Giant) - which is a man carved into a chalk hillside 2000 years ago, with a large appendage between his legs!

The Rude Man

The smallest pub in England

Making it to Wales late on Friday night to begin our search for another Gwilym, we pulled up in Cardiff to discover that there were almost no hotel rooms free... as we were there the night before the Wales v Australia game, and the people we met thought we were incredible unpatriotic to not know that it was happening!! We ended up finding a room after a long search, and got to experience the Welsh craziness that builds up before a rugby game.

Understanding Welsh

We spent the next morning shop-hopping, trying to find the name Gwilym on a keyring or a pen, but had no luck. So, we began our search to find another person called Gwilym... We unsuccessfully checked out the name badges of staff in bars and shops, and ended up in in Welsh shop to ask the girls behind the counter if they knew a Gwilym that we could meet. "No", they answered, "But you might find one in the mountains"!!! So it seems that Gwilym is just as unusual a name in Wales as in Australia!!

In search of another Gwilym

2006-11-02T15:45:00.000+11:00

We had a hilarious night out last night with Zara and Bill, and their lovely boys - Dan and Oli, at an all-you-can-eat sushi place in Soho. We absolutely stuffed ourselves with salmon sashimi! Yum!!

Today we're heading off on a road trip out of London. We really want to see Stonehenge and Windsor Castle before we leave the UK, and we found out that Starlight Express is playing tonight in Bournemouth... so we got ourselves tickets and we're going to see some rollerskating and singing!

After a night in Bournemouth we're then going to drive towards Wales, so that Gwilym can meet another person called Gwilym... and so that we can buy him stationary with his name on it!

FBi Radio is holding their Block Party this week. If you don't support them already, you should. Even if you don't live in Sydney, you can still listen on-line and there are loads of prizes to win by getting on board as a supporter (but if you win the flights to NYC you have to take us with you!). Check out www.fbiradio.com for all the info. But it's only happening for a few days, so get cracking.

London for the last time

2006-11-01T05:12:00.000+11:00

The European winter hit us in Granada. Our poor little Aussie bodies couldn't handle the cold in the south of Spain (it was snowing just outside of Granada, so it really was cold!). It was a good excuse though to go shopping for knee high boots and long coats to keep us toasty in London, and to soak up as much tapas and red wine as possible before heading back to the UK for the last time.

Guy Fawkes night is next week, so at the top of our list was to go shopping with Gwil's brother Tom for fireworks! As we can't buy them in Australia, this was really exciting. We had no idea what most of them did, so took the easy option and bought an enormous assorted box so that we'd have one of everything!

We let a few of them off that night in Tom & Emma's backyard. Some of them were pretty big!

We leave London for the last time next week, to fly back to Asia before making our way home. Looking forward to soaking up some more sun, and eating lots of dumplings, bowls of noodles, and seafood!

Kif in the Rif

2006-10-27T00:58:00.000+10:00

Our last stop in Morocco was Chefchaouen. A town in the Rif mountains, which is supposedly the largest acreage of cannabis cultivation in the world.

We had thought that it would be a really chilled and laid back place, but you get hassled EVERYWHERE to buy hash or kif (marijuana leaf)! Even the waiters will ask you if you want tea, coffee, desert, or hash. Em went on a walk into the mountains and was asked to buy hash off a goat herder! Crazy! We did behave ourselves though, partly because Gwil had a terrible flu and Em was dosed up on immodium for the entire time we were there. "No thanks, we don´t need any hash. We don´t smoke" became our mantra. Over, and over, and over, and over again.

Chefchaouen is a really beautiful place though. The walls, doors and floors of town are painted blue - creating a very interesting streetscape.

From here we took the bus back to Tanger, and the ferry to Spain. We had a great two and a half weeks in Morocco... but don´t think we´d do it again during Ramadan.

Fez hats aren´t from Fes??!

2006-10-27T00:46:00.000+10:00

We were pretty upset to find out that Fez hats aren´t even from Fes - they´re Turkish! We hadn´t realised that the names were spelt differently, and lots of people in Fes still wear them, so when a local told us that they weren´t Moroccan it was a bit of a disappointment... but we bought some anyway... tourists!

Everything else about Fes was great though. We love that you can bargain on everything in Morocco - even accomodation - meaning that we got to stay in a very nice guesthouse (riad), which was a lovely change from the budget pensions and hostels we´d been staying in.

Fes has a great medina, with lots of tiny spiralling passages that you can get lost in for hours. In these passages you´ll find stalls selling lamps, carpets, clothes, jewellery and even coca-cola - which is all delivered on the back of a donkey! The "coke donkeys" wander the streets of Fes, taking deliveries and collecting empty bottles.

Another big attraction of Fes are the tanneries. These have been around for hundreds of years, and leather is still tanned in the same way. Skins are delivered from the abbatoir, soaked in limestone vats, then in pigeon poo (really!), and are then dried or dyed or oiled. The tanneries stink, but are really interesting to see.

Play it, Sam

2006-10-26T21:56:00.000+10:00

Casablanca.

No signs of Bogart or Bergman, but there is a Rick´s Bar (although no one who goes looking for it seems to be able to find it!)

Casablanca is not the romantic city that it´s reputation would have you believe. It was probably the only city in Morocco where we didn´t feel entirely safe at night. It also isn´t a large tourist destination, but more of a business city. This meant that because of Ramadan it was really hard to find food here - during the day everything was closed, and at night everywhere was full with people breaking their fast. We ate digestive biscuits for lunch and Halal McDonalds for dinner!!

The highlight of Casa for us was the Hassan II Mosque. It is the biggest religious monument in the world after Mecca, and can accomodate 25,000 worshippers inside the building. We were told that during Ramadan the mosque fills up every day! It has an enormous roof which splits in the centre to open up to the sky, and underground it has steam rooms which are open to all - both muslims and non-muslims. This mosque was the only one we found in Morocco which allowed non-Mulsims to enter.

From the desert to the sea

2006-10-26T03:56:00.000+10:00

Leaving Marrakech, we headed out towards a fishing and beach town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco called Essaouira.

The town was really beautiful. Much cleaner and less touristy than Marrakech, and all the houses in the old town are painted white, with blue doors and shutters.

We stayed in a great little hotel right in the centre for less that 15 euro for the two of us! In the mornings we managed to sleep through the call to prayer (which goes off at about 4am), but were instead woken by donkeys at the much nicer time of 8 or 9am who clopped down our street each day.

We met a local guy, Suofian, here. Suofian works in one of the many leather shops in town, and wanted to practice his English on us. We chatted to him quite a bit, and he invited us to have local tagine with him one night. The tagines in Morocco have all been tasty, but have all had the same taste, so we were getting a bit bored of them. But the place that Suofian took us to didn´t have a menu - you had to bring your own ingredients and they cooked them for you! Suofian´s brother was a fisherman, so he had turned up to the restaurant with 2 fish. The restaurant cooked the fish with vegies and Moroccan spices to make one of the tastiest (and cheapest... 50 euro cents each!) tagines that we´ve eaten!

This is a tagine... but not the fish one we ate with Suofian

It has been interesting travelling through Morocco during Ramadan. In some of the places with less tourists, it is really hard to even find someone selling food during the day. We have also noticed some people getting cranky late in the afternoon (totally understandable after not eating for 14 hours!), and have seen a few fights break out over really small things. While we´ve tried to respect Ramadan as much as possible, and not eat in public if we have found food, we can´t do without water during the day. More than once we´ve had someone shake their head at us and say "That´s not allowed... it´s Ramadan" while we´ve been drinking from our water bottles.

Video from Djemma el Fna

2006-10-16T06:12:00.000+10:00

This is a video we took of Gwil and the berber buskers in the main square of Marrakech.

These buskers will happily perform for anyone who is willing to give them a few seconds... but beware if they manage to get one of their hats on you! Once you've worn a hat, they'll chase you around the square until you give them some dirham!

Sights and sounds in Marrakech

2006-10-14T08:58:00.000+10:00

In the centre of Marrakech is a huge marketplace called Djemma el-Fna, with the Souqs (covered market stalls) just behind the place. All day and night the area is full of some of the strangest stalls and entertainers that we've seen.

Snake charmers
Fresh OJ sellers
Bedouin (tribe) men posing in traditional costume for photos
Men selling human and animal teeth
Men who dance while playing castanets and spinning tassles on their hats
Fortune tellers
Story tellers
Musicians (some talented, some not so)
Monkeys
Some crazy people who will somersault then follow you for money (because they 'entertained' you)
Food stalls with all sorts of bizarre things
Live iguanas, camelons and turtles
Pairs of men with eggs, animal skins, feathers and porcupine quills

The energy and colours in the market place is just amazing. It's impossible to capture it in a photo, or with a video. But, we've tried!

An Irishman, a Canadian and an Italian went into the desert...

2006-10-14T08:32:00.000+10:00

On our first day in Marrakech, we met Cindy (from Canada), Phil (from Ireland, like), and Paolo (from Italy). We decided to head into the desert together, so we booked a trip and at 7am the next morning were sitting in a mini-bus along with Rob (from England), heading South-East towards the Sahara.

We started our adventure by crossing the Atlas mountains into Ait-Benhaddou - a tiny town with an ancient Kasbah, about 2 hours from Marrakech. The Kasbah here dates from the 6th century, and was used as the backdrop for scenes in Gladiator. The entire structure is made from mud and straw.

From there, we continued to Ouarzazate for lunch, and then to The Valley of Roses, through the Dades Gorge, and stopped in Boumain du Dades for the night. The hotel we stayed in was inside the gorge, on the edge of a river. There wasn't much else nearby, but the place was amazing.

The next day started with honey crepes (such a yummy breakfast!), and then a trip through the Oasis at Tinghir. The Oasis is used by locals from nearby villages to grow crops.

The afternoon of the second day took us towards the Sahara, through both a short rain shower (in the desert?!!!) and a genuine sandstorm! In Erg Chebbi, only 35kms from the border of Algeria, we met our Berber guides. They gave us our camels, and we rode for 2hrs into the Sahara desert to the campsite where we stayed the night, surrounded by nothing but sand dunes and stars.

It was an amazing trip, and a definite highlight of our whole adventure so far.

Breaking the fast during Ramadan

2006-10-09T22:02:00.000+10:00

We caught the ferry to Tanger yesterday from Algeciras, and after realising that we had 8 hours to kill before our train to Marrakesh left, we happened to bump into a local, Miloud, who thought we looked a little bit lost.

Em, being ever the sceptic, thought a massive scam was on it's way as Miloud offered to take us personally to the kasbah, and all through the medina... but it turned out that he just had time to kill (during Ramadan they can't eat from sunrise to sunset, and many get a bit cranky if they're not kept busy!). So we spent an amazing afternoon with him - checking out all the local areas, including bakeries and mosques hidden down winding paths inside the kasbah, and learning all about life in Tanger and Ramadan.

The afternoon finished with him inviting us to have "breakfast" with him, the 6pm meal to break-the-fast of Ramadan. His wife cooked us a special Ramadan soup, made with pigeon (!!), and we ate with him as the sun set over the ocean, sitting by the walls of the kasbah!

Sunny Seville

2006-10-06T02:26:00.000+10:00

Where oranges grow on the side of the street.

Where tapas bars are full all day and all night.

Where sangria comes by the litre and is soooo tasty.

Where the sun is shining, and it´s hot even in autumn.

Where all the shops close between 2 and 5 for lunch and siesta.

We could stay here for weeks if we didn´t have to come home eventually. Siestas are SUCH a great idea, and are suiting us just fine!

Next stop, Algeciras. We get the ferry from there to Morocco. We´ve just discovered that we´re arriving in the middle of Ramadan.....

Crazy for Swayze

2006-10-03T09:14:00.000+10:00

We are very excited to tell you all that we got to see Patrick Swayze live on stage!

He is currently in the West End production of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit, and he even pulled off a few Dirty Dancing moves at the end of the show! While he is looking a bit older than in his Dirty Dancing days, he was still as suave as ever. It was great!!!

Next show on our list: Chicago, currently starring Ashlee Simpson!

Pussy cat pussy cat, where have you been?

2006-10-02T02:00:00.000+10:00

We came to London to visit the queen... but she's closed her palace as summer is now over. While we couldn't get close enough to see if we could make the guards larf, we watched them marching around from outside the gates.

Guard at Buckingham Palace

Simon and Marie (who Em used to work with) were passing through London on a "work trip", and we had a fantastic night out with them at a great London pub in Notting Hill, before kicking on with their friend Rupert who owns Aura, a night club in West End (he is also the designer behind Buddhist Punk). The scene at Aura was like nothing we've ever experienced before. When you order one of their expensive bottles of champagne, a waitress attaches little sparkling flares to the neck of it, and carries it high above her head to your table... just so that everyone knows that YOU were the cashed up one!

Em and Gwil at Aura

Sun, swimming and seafood platters

2006-10-01T06:30:00.000+10:00

Sun, swimming and seafood platters... These three are pretty high up on our list of things that we love, and we were so lucky to find them all in Dubrovnik.

A bar by the beach, Ploce

Jumping from the rocks, Dubrovnik Old Town

Huge seafood platter, Dubrovnik

Along with the beautiful old town and Croatian culture.

Dubrovnik Old Town Walls

Sailing on the Valerina

2006-09-28T23:39:00.000+10:00

Our week on the yacht started off with a few small bumps - 50 knot winds, all the girls had food poisoning, and torrential rain. But after 2 days of pretty crappy weather, the sun came out and we had a few amazing days of sailing and sunshine.

Our boat - Valerina

We stayed in the Split marina for our first night on the boat, waiting for the winds and rain to ease. The next morning we sailed to St Klements, a small island near Hvar, with the girls staying downstairs trying not to be sick, while the guys sat on deck drinking beer!

St Klements Island

Next stop was Hvar Town on Hvar Island. Philippa had forgotten that it was her birthday... yes, really... but it meant that we got to have a great unplanned dinner on the island to celebrate!

After Hvar, we had a long day of sailing with a very hung over skipper (a local Croatian guy, Mario) to get to Korcula. There was lots of sun, and we got to appreciate having our own yacht by lazing on the deck reading books, and stopping for swims in small bays. Korcula has a great old town, and REALLY beautiful ladies working in the local markets.

Our final island stop was Mljet, where we stayed for 2 nights. We hired scooters and explored the whole island...

We found a little place called Sobra that had the clearest water we've seen and an amazing seafood restaurant by the water.

We found hot hot sun!

2006-09-14T23:52:00.000+10:00

Poland was getting cold, and we were worried that we'd arrive in Croatia and it would be a bit chilly for our week on the boat...

But we've now been in Split for 3 days, and it is HOT!!! Yay!

We get on the yacht with Philippa, Dave, Jamie and Keira (friends from Sydney) on Saturday. Keep all your fingers and toes crossed for good weather for us! (The boat above isn't our boat...)

Krakow wins

2006-09-12T04:38:00.000+10:00

We fly out of Krakow tomorrow for our much awaited cruise on the Adriatic!! We can't wait for 7 days of laziness and sunshine (fingers crossed). As much fun as we're having travelling around the world, the thought of being really lazy for a few days is very very very exciting!

Krakow wins. It has been our favourite city in Poland. The city itself wasn't damaged in WWII, so it still has amazing buildings and artworks. It is definitely the most touristy city in Poland though - we've heard loads of Aussie accents here!

We visited Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau last week. They're about 90 mins from Krakow. While the Nazis tried to destroy most of the evidence of torture when they retreated, a lot of it still remains. It gave us shivers. (There are a few photos on Flickr if you want to see them)

On Philippa's recommendation we also went to visit the Salt Mines. The idea of a salt mine sounds really boring... but this one is over 1000 years old, 330 metres deep, and more than 300 kms long, and over the years miners have carved into the salt to create decorations and statues, including a huge chapel. Even the chandeliers are made of salt crystals! OK... maybe it still sounds boring... but you have to see it to understand how amazing it is!

The Last Supper carved in salt rock!!

Big meals and big beers

2006-09-05T19:59:00.000+10:00

We discovered a restaurant in Warsaw called Podwale.

It's the "Ribs and Rumps" of Poland. Big meals, big beers, and lots and lots of meat!

Before...

During...

After...

Miss World takes over Warsaw

2006-09-04T23:36:00.000+10:00

The Miss World pageant is being held in Warsaw on September 30, but the contestants arrived a couple of days ago, and the entire city has Miss World fever!

We saw the South American contestants on their guided tour of Warsaw's Old Town. Surrounded by cameramen, paparazzi, and young boys taking photos with their mobile phones (not that we were any better... we elbowed our way into the crowd to check out the girls too!). They were stumbling over cobbled walkways in their stilettos, and flashing cheesy Miss World smiles to anyone who called out their names.. "Brazil, over here!", "I love you Columbia!".

Warsaw is much more beautiful than we expected. Something like 90% of the city was destroyed in WWII, but they have rebuilt the entire old town exactly as it was before the war, as well as many other important buildings.

We also explored the area that used to be the Warsaw ghetto. Part of the old ghetto wall is still standing today. The history of Warsaw is really upsetting, but the people here seem genuinely pleased that tourists are coming to their city to learn about it.

We've been to Hel and back

2006-09-01T18:54:00.000+10:00

No, we haven't spelt it wrong... it's a town in far northern Poland!

It's actually a pretty unexciting place. With a beach, an old church (a sign inside reads - "spreading the word of God in Hel"!!!), a seal aquarium, and a pier... but it does have some pretty hellish elements - like this barbed wire covered waterslide!!

We leave Gdansk today for Warsaw. Gdansk was the starting place for WWII, and most of it was destroyed in the war, but a lot has been rebuilt exactly as it was originally.

Gdansk is also famous for Goldwasser - a liquer with flakes of 22 karat gold floating in it. The story goes that Neptune (the photo below) decided to reward the people in the town who were always throwing gold coins into his fountain, by turning the fountain water into alcohol, and the coins ended up in flakes... thus "Goldwasser" (Gold Water). We're hoping to bring some home, as long as we don't drink it on the way!

Stockholm

2006-08-29T07:04:00.000+10:00

It's our last night in Stockholm...

We've spent the last few days staying with Rupert, and it's been great. We've become pretty lazy tourists while here. We searched for a Roxette or Abba museum, but as we couldn't find one we've spent our time in Stockholm with a limited amount of touristy activities.

Rup works in an amazing outdoor terrace bar in the centre of Stockholm called F12. The music is pretty cheesy, but the crowd is VERY attractive... as is most of Stockholm.

We've also gotten to meet Rup's Swedish girlfriend Janna, who is lovely and gorgeous! She took us to the Vasa museum to see a ship that had sunk in the waters off Stockholm in 1628, and was perfectly preserved under a layer of silt, and only rediscovered 50 years ago. Amazing.

Tomorrow we fly to Poland to spend some time in Gdansk. We're then going to travel south, before sailing the Croatian coast for a week!!!! Can't wait!

Norweigan adventures

2006-08-26T17:07:00.000+10:00

We're at the train station in Oslo right now, having just said goodbye to Philippa, Cornelia and Jon, and ready to go to Stockholm to see Rupert.

The last week in Norway has been so much fun! Em first met Cornelia when she came to Barker as an exchange student 9 years ago, and she's still just as crazy!! She and Jon made sure our week was packed full of as much as we could see - we went to Bygdøy to see Viking ships,

we went sailing on the Oslo Fjords,

we spent a night in the mountains and did a 17km hike at Besseggen,

we climbed to the top of Hollmenkollen (the ski jump from the 1952 Olympics),

and even got to visit a Vinmonopolet (which translates as "wine monopoly" and is a government run bottle-shop, and the only place where you can buy spirits and wine in Norway... meaning the prices are always kept sky high!).

Norway has definitely been an expensive place to travel in. We've eaten a 20 dollar ham sandwich, and a 30 dollar bowl of pasta. But we were introduced to the cheapest place to get a good meal by Corny and Jon, and ate dinner there twice... IKEA!!! The Ikea in Oslo is enormous, and even has a garden centre and a restaurant! Highly recommended for cheap eats!

Thank you!!

2006-08-22T19:23:00.000+10:00

Thank you all for the lovely comments and emails.

We had a great few days in London catching up with Tom, Em & Abi, and also some friends from home. We went out for a great Brick Lane curry night with Bill, Zars, Brad and Kerry.

Now in Oslo staying with Cornelia and Jon. Having a great time! Will add stories and photos soon.

x

We have news............

2006-08-18T01:27:00.000+10:00

Click on the picture and see if you can guess what it is!

J'adore Paris

2006-08-10T04:17:00.000+10:00

We must be the most spoilt travellers in the world. We are now in Paris, staying in an apartment within walking distance of Montmartre (Frederique's mum Gaby usually lives here, but she is visiting the country), and we can see the Eiffel Tower from our bedroom window! Thank you Fred and Gaby for letting us stay!

Paris is fun, beautiful, elegant, and there is so much to do and see here (but it can also be stinky during peak hour on the metro with all those arms up in the air! phwoarh... deoderant??!)

We had an awesome day catching up with Glenn and Chris on Sunday. A quick tour of the sights (Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Pompidou Centre and Notre Dame) before we relaxed on the edge of the Seine, drinking beers in the sun.

After an amazing French dinner that night (including the best strawberry creme brulee we've ever tasted), we headed to the Eiffel Tower to watch the light show.

The next day, we followed Fred's advice, and hit Galleries Lafayette. We've been called "flashpackers" rather than "backpackers", but Christian Lacroix, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Chanel are still a little out of our budget. We did lots of window shopping though, and the lovely ladies at Christian Lacroix gave Em the latest catalogue, which is a hard-cover book full of photography that comes in an embossed Lacroix bag... so it looked like we'd been shopping, even though we hadn't!

We also checked out Moulin Rouge, but only from the outside. Gaby has recommended a cabaret show called Crazy Horse which we'll try to check out later this week.

We've put photos of our Parisienne adventures on Flickr. There are photos from Sacre Coeur, Montmatre, The Catacombs, Dali museum, the fruit store from Amelie, Pigalle (sex district), Moulin Rouge, Galleries Lafayette, Eiffel Tower and the Seine. Have a look.

Dijon. It also has wine.

2006-08-04T07:25:00.000+10:00

This is part of the Hotel de Ville in Dijon. When we first started travelling around France, we found a Hotel de Ville in almost every town we visited, so we thought it must have been the main hotel in each place. But it's not. It's the name for the town hall! (Luckily, we never tried to ask for a room in one!)

The cellars of the Chateau de Marsannay, in Burgundy, where we did wine tasting. The tastings are held 9 metres underground, and the walls of the cellars are lined with barrells and bottles.

You have to pay to taste wine at the caves (cellars) in Burgundy, and the wine production is controlled by all sorts of rules:
* it's forbidden to list the type of grape on the label of a Burgundy wine - instead you list the region (ie. Burgundy) and if your wine is good enough, you can list the town you are from (such as Marsannay). The consumer is meant to know what type of grape comes from which region.
* a wine tasting committee will tell you whether your wine is good enough to have the town listed on the label before it goes to sale (Would love to know how we get onto this committee!!!)
* Burgundy vines are not allowed to be irrigated when it's dry, or covered when it rains... you must take whatever nature gives you!

We paid, we drank, and we had a great time!

There are more photos on flickr

ps. still searching for "mon cul"!

Dijon... like the mustard

2006-08-02T08:52:00.000+10:00

We left Castellane, with teary eyes, and terrible hangovers, last Friday.

Our last night was spent at the Discoteque, at their 'Fluro' night (a room full of people decorated in glowing jewellery!).

We jumped on a bus the next morning and followed the windy alpine roads to Grenoble, from where we grabbed a train to Lyon.

Lyon was beautful. Full of history, amazing architecture, palatial maisons, hidden 'traboules' (covered walkways that link blocks of apartments), and is also famous for puppets and silk weavers.

From there, it was on to the home of 'moutarde', Dijon. The head chef in Castellane has told us that mustard is no longer made right in Dijon, but in a small town nearby called 'Moncul' (which translates as 'my arse'). Perhaps he is pulling our leg, but maybe he was being serious. Does mustard really come from 'my arse'?

We're yet to find Moncul on a map, and neither of us is game to ask a local if they can show us where 'my arse' is!

Em's running away to become a mime...

2006-07-24T07:27:00.000+10:00

We've just returned to Castellane after a road trip around Provence in Twingo (Olivier's little Renault).

The main reason we wanted to get away was to check out the Avignon Festival, which was amazing! Not only is Avignon one of the most beautiful cities we've seen, but the festival meant that the streets were full of performances, and the theatres and clubs had incredible shows on.

We could only stay in Avignon for 2 nights, but we got to check out Archaos on the first night, and Julien Cottereau, the mime from Cirque du Soleil, on the second. We thought a mime show would be easy to understand because of the lack of dialogue, and Julien was incredible... and he decided to bring Em into the show (between playing a catwalk model and a damsel in distress it was a little embarrassing!).

The other highlights of Avignon were the Popes Palace,

and the Pont d'Avignon ("sur le pont d'avignon, l'on y danse, l'on y danse..."). And yes, we dansed on 'le pont'!!

We drove through lots of small towns on the trip, but our favourites were:

Puimoisson - famous for it's lavender fields

(This was taken on the way to Puimoisson... the entire field of lavender was being harvested by hand!)

Allemagne-en-Provence - has a huge castle that is now used as a hotel

Greoux-les-Bains - in summer, Greoux uses it's old citadel (which is partly in ruins and has views over the whole town) for concerts. The old town here is huge and very intact

Manosque - the home of L'Occitane

Forcalquier - one of our very favourite stops. Amazing old town, great food, lovely people

Mane - we got snap happy in Mane. Fields of sunflowers sit infront of enormous chateaus.

Pont du Gard - a 2000 year old Roman Aqueduct that was built to carry water to Nimes. It is huge and incredible to think that they had the skills and power to build such an amazing structure

Nimes - The Ampitheater in Nimes was also built by the Romans when the area was under Roman rule. It used to house gladiator fights, but is still used today for bull fights, and also for huge concerts. We were one night too late for Goldfrapp and Depeche Mode!

Arles - the home of Van Gogh. We went to the cafe where Van Gogh painted his "Le Cafe, le Soir" in 1888.

We also saw the building which used to be the hospital that Van Gogh was a patient in after he cut off his ear. The garden in the centre of the building was painted by Van Gogh in 1889, and they've kept it looking the same today.

Aix-en-Provence - the home of Cezanne, and another big festival town. The Cezanne festival (2006 is the year of Cezanne), the Aix-en-Provence music festival, the Retro Car Rally and the Lyrical Music Festival were all on while we were in town. We went to see Cezanne's studio, the 'Secret Gardens' of Cezanne, the house where he died in Aix, and 'Jas de Bouffan' which was Cezanne's father's house. There was also a huge Cezanne exhibition on, but you needed to have a reservation to be able to buy tickets... and the reservations line was 200 people deep at 8.45am!

(Gwil re-enacting Cezanne's pose outside his studio)

St Raphael - we had planned to visit St Tropez... but had been warned that on weekends you can sit in traffic for 2 hours to get into St Tropez if it's a nice day. The sun was out, and we couldn't wait to get in the water, so headed straight to St Raphael. The water was amazingly clear, as it is along the entire Cote d'Azur, but the beach was packed! We drove from St Raphael towards Cannes, stopping at a few small bays along the way, where you can climb down steep steps to reach strips of sand and pebbles that aren't too crowded.

Mandelieu La Napoule - Right near Cannes. There is an enormous castle next to the sand, so while you swim you look back at turrets and stone walls.

Cannes - glitzy night clubs, long strips of sand, and one big tourist town!

Bastille Day

2006-07-16T05:19:00.000+10:00

The fireworks last night in Castellane would put most NYE displays to shame. They were huge, and went for about 20 mins in front of 'Le Roc' that towers over the town... so that each time a firework lit the sky, the old church on top of the rock would be illuminated.

After the fireworks, a chanson style band hit the stage, complete with accordions. Meanwhile, in the square, young kids collected snails and raced them... I kid you not!

Today, we went on another 'explore' out of town, but took a wrong turn.

The road led us to a dead end in a tiny town. The town seemed empty, except for a sign that read "Ce ville n'est pas abandonée. " (This village is not abandoned). There wasn't much to do there... we turned around to drive back only to discover the "Holy City" of a cult! We went in to explore, and found two people inside wearing red headbands with the 'ohm' symbol on them. They invited us to come back next week for a guided tour!

Finally, in our attempt to get to the lake, we drove down an unsealed road and straight into a nudist colony! The sign at the top of the road was marked 'Centre Naturisme', and we thought it sounded like where we wanted to be. It wasn't until we saw lots of old dangly bits that we realised we were in the wrong place... Sorry, we didn't take any photos here!

Haute-Provence

2006-07-13T21:34:00.000+10:00

After an amazing headbutt by Zidane, France's World Cup dreams were shattered by Italy... and the whole of Castellane still feels a little bit depressed, even a few days later!

(Watching the final on the big screen in the town square)

But not only did France lose at soccer, Australia lost at boules. We played in an 'official' tourament on the weekend. While we managed to beat a pair of 10 year olds (hooray!),

we lost our other 2 games - one to a very serious team of Frenchmen. It was good fun though, and we learnt that while combining Pastis and boules sounds like a great idea, it CAN hinder your game!

We've also been exploring the Haute-Provence area quite a bit. After our trip to Moustiers, we did another drive to check out the "Barrage du Castillon" (hydro-dam),

as well as some small nearby towns such as:
St-André-les-Alpes - we waited out a storm here, while we ate the best baguette we've found yet
Ubraye - right off the beaten track. encountered some hostile locals who gave us very wrong directions to get out of town!
Senez - only one very narrow bridge into town, and a cathedral with an interesting entrance policy

Moriez - tiny town with no visible inhabitants!

St-Julien-du-Verdon - town right on the dam

Entreveaux - very intact medieval town with drawbridges and a mountain top citadel

Colmars-les-Alpes - in the ski region of Provence. Entire town is inside a wall, and you drive over the alps to get there (over 2000m high!). Only 385 people live here

Annot - this town has our favourtie 'Grand Rue' of any town

Guillaumes - Gwil's very own French town, and the town even had lots of beautiful gardens!

Allez les bleus!!

2006-07-06T21:11:00.001+10:00

We are a little bit tired today...

France beat Portugal last night in the World Cup, and the celebrations kicked on until really early this morning! Cars drove in circles beeping their horns, kids ran down the main street with flares and flags, fireworks were let off from the town's one round-a-bout, and everyone sang and cheered.

And once you thought the noise had stopped, some lone drunk Frenchman would wander the street outside our bedroom window, singing "Allez les bleus, allez les bleus..." loudly and off key!

During the match, the entire town of Castellane could be found in front of a TV. Even bartenders got cranky when you asked them to pour you a beer, as they'd have to take their eyes off the game! It was great to be here to help celebrate - we are now honorary French supporters! (Allez les bleus!)

The highlight of this week in Castellane, is a boules tournament that's happening on Friday night. We've bought a boules set, and have been practicing in the town square! But I don't know how we'll go competing against some of the older men here in town... they're all REALLY good! Marie-Therese's father has offered us coaching, so we'll let you know how we go.

(this is who we're up against! hahaha!)

Nous aimons les vacances

2006-07-06T04:13:00.000+10:00

We checked out Castellane's only nightclub (la discothèque) on the weekend. It's called 'Moulin' and is a short drive out of town.... meaning that either someone has to stay sober... or that you take the backroads coming home!

The music in the club was lots of Bob Sinclair and cheesy French house. But while the music may have been average, the atmosphere made up for it. But when drinking in Castellane, you have to remember that everyone knows everyone else - so you can never do something embarrassing anonymously! (not that we would, of course!)

Marie-Therese is still wonderful. She has lent us her car so that we can explore Provence. Yesterday we drove to see the lake at Verdon (Ste-Croix), and a small town called Moustiers.

We are fitting right into to the pace of small town Provence. Shops close every day for lunch, usually from midday until 3pm. Everyone says bonjour as they pass in the street. And once the shops re-open at 3pm, it's time for a pain au chocolat from the boulangerie across the road!

In the hotel, we've been trying to help out as much as possible. Gwil's done some gardening, and Em's done some translating, but there isn't a huge amount of work right now. Not that we're complaining...

Provence

2006-07-05T21:14:00.000+10:00

This is the area that we live in at the moment...

Bonjour from Castellane

2006-06-29T22:55:00.000+10:00

We left Nice after a week (with a day trip to Monaco - the photos are on Flickr).

We're now in Castellane, our home for the next month. We are staying in the Grand Hotel du Levant, which is owned by Gwil's family friend, Marie-Therese. She is completely spoiling us - giving us a great hotel room, as well as feeding us chef-prepared meals every day that we eat with the hotel staff... which are always full of cream and cheese and taste delicious!!

The Hotel du Levant

Marie-Therese, Laura, Tibor with Em & Gwil

Castellane is a very small town. It has no traffic lights, one round-about, and everything closes each day between 1-3pm so that people can have lunch and a siesta. There are fantastic markets here twice a week - every Wednesday and Saturday morning - which bring amazing cheeses, breads and fruits to the town square (which in the afternoons doubles as a boules court for the older men of Castellane!)

The rest of the staff in the hotel here speak very little English, which makes for interesting meal times. Em thought that it would be good to practice her French... but they all speak so fast here that it's difficult to keep up in conversation! But we're getting on with them, and we both make them laugh with our attempts at French!

We were here for the France v Spain World Cup match (where France won - sorry Sal!), and the atmosphere was crazy! We're looking forward to Saturday night, when France plays in the quarter-finals. There are a few bars in town, but we're going to watch the match in the hotel with the staff, and then head to the town's only Discoteque!! Allez les bleus!

Today's questions...

2006-06-26T07:48:00.000+10:00

These are the things we've been questioning today....

- Why is it good luck for a bird to poo on you? Gwil didn't think it was very lucky today!

- Why is Tina Arena headlining a music festival in Monaco, that lists Nelly Furtado waaaaaay down the line-up? Was there a Tina Arena revival that we missed while in Eastern Europe?

- And, WHO is downloading Paris Hilton's new song in iTunes (it's now #6!)?

Any answers?

Small dresses and small dogs

2006-06-25T07:35:00.000+10:00

Ohhh Nice.

We love it here.

It's nice to be back by the beach, as apart from Estonia (where it was far too cold to swim) we haven't seen one since Vietnam. But the price differences between Vietnam and France are amazing - there can't be that many places in the world where you can get away with charging around $45 AUD just for a beach chair and an umbrella, compared to the $1 we were paying in Vietnam!

Nice is packed full of tourists, but many of them are French - so we still get to listen to French accents which we love hearing!

The fashionable accessories here seem to be:
- a tan
- a small dress (not necessarily just for women... cross-dressing is also very popular here)
- and, an even smaller dog (women walk them on leads, men carry them like babies in their arms)

We arrived without any of the above, but have been working hard on the tan, and Gwil bought a small dress... which was for Em, not for himself!

Today we went rollerblading to check out the full length of the beach. At the very south end of Nice we found some elderly guys playing Patonque - which was a great French cliché that we'd been looking out for!

Tomorrow, we're going to get the train to Monaco before heading to Castellane on Monday... the Monte Carlo casino has a very strict dress code though, and without heels, suit jackets and ties in our backpacks, we don't think we'll be allowed in!

Nice is nice

2006-06-23T08:04:00.001+10:00

Vive l'Australie! (who would have thought we'd get so into soccer??!)

What a great World Cup game it was tonight! It was so exciting to watch Australia move through to the next round, surrounded by cheering Aussies in a bar in Nice. And wierdly enough - Em again randomly bumped into a girl she went to uni with in Sydney, who was at the same bar!

It's really hot here tonight - it's after midnight and still 24 degrees. We spent today on the beach in Nice, soaking up the sun, and eating baguettes filled with jambon and fromage (ham and cheese)! We've had a baguette every day since we arrived here!

Yesterday we were lucky enough to be in Nice for the Fete de la Musique - a huge free music festival that happens on June 21 each year all over France, including the streets of Nice, and the beach promenade. We saw some great DJs, some of the best were hidden in tiny alleys in Vieux Nice, which is the old part of town - imagine laneways lined with shuttered windows... it's beautiful!

There was also an incredible stage set up on the harbour in Nice - which had a backdrop of some of the biggest boats we'd ever seen!

Hungary, England, France in a week...

2006-06-21T20:49:00.000+10:00

What a crazy week we've had.

After Slovenia, we caught the train back to Hungary. We stayed in Lake Balaton, which is a resort area in Western Hungary. Our hotel was right on the lake.

We spent our last full day in Hungary in a small town called Heviz, which is famous for it's outdoor thermal lake. The water in the lake is 31 degrees, and is apparently slightly radioactive (!!!) which is meant to be really good for your joints. We swam in it for a while, but the smell of the sulphur got the better of us eventually!

After Hungary, we flew to London for our stop-off before France. We stayed with Gwil's brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Emma, and their gorgeous little girl Abi. We only had the chance to catch up with a couple of friends from home though (including an amazing night out with Bill and Oli seeing the new De La Guarda performance
Fuerzabruta at the Camden Roundhouse. If you ever get the chance to see this show, do it!)

Right now, we're sitting in a cafe, on Promenade des Anglais, drinking espresso, looking out over the beach at Nice. It's a bit cloudy, but very warm. Em's getting to practice her French a little, but everyone seems to speak English - so we're looking forward to getting to Castellane next week which is a much smaller town where we'll stay for a month, and Em will get to parle Français.... we're not sure if anyone will speak English there!

Em had another random run-in with an old friend in the airport at Toulon. Collecting our bags, we bumped into Sarita Kwok, who Em went to primary school with! She's over here performing at the Aix-en-Provence music festival.

More soon.

Art in Ljubljana

2006-06-16T23:53:00.000+10:00

From Metelkova and the streets of Ljubljana...

and this one by Gwil...

This is how you say cheers in Slovenian...

2006-06-13T20:02:00.000+10:00

Ljubljana has one of the world's few illegal artist communities.

It began years ago, when the army barracks were deserted, and squatters moved in. The majority of them were artists, and they began decorating the barracks and the old jail with incredible grafitti and sculptures. The area is called Metelkova, and most of the people who live there today are still doing so illegaly, but the government overlooks it. We spent a day out in Metelkova yesterday, and have some amazing photos of the artworks out there... but we can't upload them yet. Once we get to London we'll put them up!

We stopped to watch some grafitti artists the other night who were working on a wall across from a small bar playing Balkan music. We met some locals - a guy named Ali who is a chef, and an 'artist' who was nameless and very very very eccentric! We had some beers with them while they taught us the art of Balkan dancing, and a few things about Ljubljana and it's culture:

- you can trust everyone in Ljubljana. People don't lock up their bikes, they just leave them on the side of the street. "You shouldn't take bikes - but if you do need to use one, make sure you return it to the same spot with some beers in the basket"!

- never believe a Slovenian when they tell you how to say 'cheers' in their language. If they've been drinking, they'll think it is hilarious to teach you all sorts of rude phrases for you to shout out at each other while you chink glasses!!

- Ljubljana is the best located city in Europe. It's only 100kms to the snow lined alps, to the coastal beaches, and a short train trip to Italy, Croatia, Hungary or Austria.

Surprise...!

2006-06-11T06:43:00.000+10:00

We're in Slovenia.

It's a spontaneous and unplanned stop, but we're so glad that we've come here. We decided to jump on a train from Zagreb to Ljubljana... and in the short time that we've been here, it has already made it right to the top of our favourite cities list.

There are only a few days left now until we fly to London, before heading to France, so if you're going to be in the UK next weekend, we'd love to catch up.

Tom, Em & Abi - we can't wait to see you, and we hope you have a great b'day Tom on the 13th.

Bill & Oli - looking forward to some cocktails in Wimbledon

Rod & Saph - if not next weekend, then on the Greek islands!

x

Busking in Zagreb

2006-06-11T06:21:00.000+10:00

Not us... but lots of others were giving out performances on the streets over the past few days.

We arrived in Zagreb during a week-long street performance festival, so the pavements were buzzing with buskers and performance artists. Once the performances died down at night, the World Cup fever kicked in, and bars and clubs were packed with soccer fans.

Zagreb has an amazing fruit and vegetable market called Dolac, with local produce on display and available to taste.

We bought a fresh creamy goats cheese that had been just poured into a mould, as well as amazing tomatoes and herbs... and sat in the sun for a great picnic. Complete with Croatian beers.

We're getting more and more sunshine here now, and will definitely be back to Croatia later in the year to check out the islands and beaches along the Dalmatian Coast.

Shorts are getting shorter...

2006-06-08T16:38:00.000+10:00

We only spent 5 days in Budapest... but we'll be going back to Hungary next week before we fly to London on June 15.

We met up with a few people in Budapest that we'd stayed with in Romania (Matt and Ben from USA, and Lisa from Canada), and checked out a few Hungarian clubs and bars - including one called Szoda which was wierdly very similar to Funktrust!

We also went to the House of Hungarian Wines in Buda with Matt, Ben, Meghan and Kirk . $15 for 50 open bottles of wine in a big wine cellar, all you can drink in 2 hours... it all got a bit silly, but we had such a fun night.

After Budapest, we caught a train across to Zagreb, which is where we are now. We're staying in a room here with Fed (Em's work friend from Sydney) and Lisa. We weren't expecting much from Zagreb as everyone seems to use this city as a stop off to head to the Dalmatian coast, but there's lots to do at night here - great clubs, bars, and restaurants, and the pre-World Cup soccer games are on, so anywhere with a tv is packed when a game is on!

It's starting to get a bit warmer, shorts are getting shorter, and posters for the summer music festivals are appearing! We'll definitely make the most of it now, incase we need to start looking for work in 2/3 months time!

Snaps from Budapest

2006-06-04T18:37:00.000+10:00

What are the chances of running into someone you worked with back in Sydney, in a hostel in Budapest?!! We're staying at the Aboriginal Hostel (we didn't pick it for the name!) in Pest, and on our first night here, in walks Fed, who Em worked with at PeopleSoft!

We went to Castle Hill, which is on the Buda side of Budapest yesterday. It's covered in amazing old buildings, churches, Buda Castle, and even has a labyrinth underneath the town! The labyrinth was originally naturally formed caves, but was extened to be used as a hiding place during the war, and also as a wine cellar for the castle.

Budapest is really beautiful, and has great restaurants, bars, clubs, shopping... It's probably a good thing that Em's credit card was eaten by an ATM machine a few weeks ago!!

We've put some shots from yesterday onto Flickr. Here are a couple for you now.

Dracula

2006-06-01T22:29:00.000+10:00

We have spent 5 days in the land of Dracula - Traaaaansylvaaaaania, Romania!

It is the most amazing place... beautiful scenery (the mountains still have snow on them), clean towns full of gypsies and friendly Romanians, and Dracula's castle was hilarious! Gwil and I got fake vampire teeth and walked around the castle taking photos... here's a few of them.

Dracula's Castle is actually called Bran Castle. Dracula was a guy called Vlad 'The Impaler' Tepes, who was well known for impaling his prisoners through the spine so that they would die a slow death... he didn't suck their blood. Vlad also never lived in Bran Castle, but the castle does look quite spooky!

We stayed in a great hostel, and have been living cheap... buying fruit and vegies from the gypsy ladies at the markets, and big bottles of Romanian wine which are really cheap. We are yet to try 'crap' though! (apparantly it's a fish spread?!)

Next post will be from Budapest, Hungary!

Bucharest

2006-05-27T23:26:00.000+10:00

Even though we weren't big fans of Ukraine, it prepared us for Bucharest.

We'd heard some awful things about this city. It was dirty, scary, and there were dogs everywhere.

All this is true, but at the same time Bucharest is exciting, and it feels untouched by tourism. You can walk the streets here and discover alleys full of clubs, bars and cafes. There is music blaring from every car stopped at a red light, and through every open apartment window. The people are friendly and many can speak English (but they are still huge fans of adidas tracksuits, mullets, and 'double denim' outfits - which were all very popular in Russia and Ukraine!)

I think the dirtiness isn't bothering us anymore after travelling in Moscow and Lviv. Any grime in Bucharest is overshadowed by a constant feeling of youthful excitement and culture. Bucharest feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison to our previous stops.

Mum always said...

2006-05-27T23:21:00.000+10:00

...'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all'.

So,

We went to Ukraine.

We don't have anything else to say.

Money Talks

2006-05-24T20:15:00.000+10:00

We know this is a long entry... but it's a good story. What would you do if you were stuck at the Ukrainian border with a visa that may not be valid???

Not long before we were to leave Russia to go to Ukraine on a 24 hour train ride, we found out that our train was leaving 7 hours earlier than first thought.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem.

Except that Gwil's visa didn't start until midnight on May 22, and we were now a little concerned that we'd get to the border before then. (thanks Flight Centre!)

Em was also leaving Russia as an Australian, and entering Ukraine as a British citizen, so needed to change passports without the border police seeing.

Needless to say, we didn't sleep very well on our approach to the border!

We shared a 4 berth cabin with one Ukrainian man, Alexander, who despite being lovely (he made our beds for us, and offered us food every time he ate!), didn't speak any English. This made the trip interesting with lots of sign language and miming!

We got the the Russian border control at 11.30pm, and I think speaking no Russian helped the process go faster. They came into our cabin, turned on all the lights and started asking us questions in Russian, to which we kept relying "Nyet Ruski... Anglyski?". They pretty quickly got tired of us, and left us alone.

By the time we had finished at the Russian border and travelled the short distance to the Ukrainian border control, it was 12.45am, so we were very relieved that Gwil's visa was now valid... we thought.

We soon found out that when you get into Ukraine, you turn your clocks back by 1 hour. So it was now 11.45 on May 22!

Ukrainian border control came on the train looking very serious. Gwil's passport was taken and they said "Visa. Problemo." and pointed to the date on the visa and to a watch. There was a few minutes of miming and pointing to watches before the official took Gwil's passport and mimed 'follow me'.

Gwil was taken to a small room on the train where he was yelled at in Ukrainian... the word "Problemo" kept being repeated, with much shaking of heads. It was now only 10 minutes until his visa was valid, so Gwil did the only thing he thought would get him across the border, and made a money gesture with his hand.

This seemed to move the situation forward. 100 hryvnia was handed over (only about $25 AUD), and it went straight into the official's pocket. Gwil's passport was stamped, and he was allowed back into the cabin. The time was now midnight. (bastard!)

Last days in Russia

2006-05-24T19:45:00.000+10:00

We had an eventful last few days in Moscow...

Saw the Kremlin, which is essentially a big walled city with lots of cathedrals in it, and the houses of parliament. I think Em was expecting a few more KGB spies and excitement. But, we got our excitement on leaving the Kremlin, when we saw (from a distance) Moscow riot police! Not just one or two... but dozens of them - all with batons and helmets. We decided to keep our distance from whatever they were trying to control, but on walking away from Red Square we saw a group of people running towards us (and away from where the riot police had been). Behind us someone yelled "RUN RUN RUN! It's very bad!"... so we ran!

We now have bags full of babooshkas (they call them Matrushka dolls here) and mini Faberge eggs. Moscow was a daggy tourist souvenir shoppers heaven!

We've finally had some time to upload photos to Flickr... (from Tallinn, Sareemaa and St Petersburg)

Here are some of our favourites from St Petersburg:

Church on Spilled Blood
(Built on the site where Alexander II was assasinated in 1881. Looks a little bit like St Basil's in Moscow)

Palace Square
(The square outside the Winter Palace and the Hermitage)

Inside the Hermitage
(The Hermitage is made up of 5 buildings, one of which is the Tsar's Winter Palace)

Two outta three aint bad

2006-05-20T23:40:00.000+10:00

We have to start with.... go Russia! Eurovision is on tonight, and Russia has made it into the final. It's very exciting to be here, we'll be at a Eurovision party!

Soviet experts have embalmed 3 'great' leaders - Ho Chi Minh, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and we've now seen two of them. (We didn't head overseas to do this intentionally, that would be a little bit creepy, but they're pretty big tourist attractions)

Lenin's mausoleum was just as strange as Ho Chi Minh's. But not nearly as busy. We were told that many Russians don't like to visit his body, as his wish was to be buried alongside his mother, and they think that many of the bad things that have happened to Russia since Lenin's death are because he is not buried.

Just like Uncle Ho, Lenin was looking pretty waxy, and maybe a little bit fake.

(the photo above wasn't taken by us... you're not allowed cameras in there. but we promise that we'll get some of our photos from the last month online asap)

MOSKVA

2006-05-19T22:03:00.000+10:00

"So, what do you do for work?"

"I'm a fireman"

"Oh ok... so you put out fires."

"No. I'm a fire-man. BANG BANG! Passport control!"

So went the conversation on our overnight train from St Petersburg to Vladamir. We were in a 4 berth cabin with 2 other Russians, so we thought the best thing to do would be to get into the vodka. One of the Russians we met on our train was a 22 year old from the army who was a 'fire-man' (he works as border control with a big gun!), and another was in something to do with computers and was a huge fan of Interpol and Bloc Party!

It was a hilarious night, and Gwil discovered that even Russian vodka can leave you with a hangover!

We went to a Russian banya in Vladamir. It's like a sauna, but not as relaxing. You get into a hot room (110 degrees c!) and are beaten with birch twigs. It's meant to help the circulation. Once you're hot and beaten, you jump in a freezing cold plunge pool. Then you do it all again.

The next day, the bus took us to Moscow, where we are now. Red Square is incredible. You can stand in the centre and spin around to see the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum, and St Basils. It's a bit scarier here than in St Petersburg. You must carry your passport with you at all times, as police can carry out random passport checks.

We've just come back today from Star City, which has just recently been opened up to the public. It's a secret city where the cosmonauts still train! They have a replica of the MIR space station in there which was used for training, and we went inside there to check out the space toilet... I'd never really thought about how you use the toilet in space before. It's quite interesting! Star City is also where 'space tourists' come to train. They offered us a flight to the space station for 10 days for $20 million USD (just like Lance Bass from N*Sync). Or you can go around the moon for $100 million USD!

After seeing the space toilets, I think we'll give it a miss.

Late nights and early mornings

2006-05-16T18:30:00.000+10:00

It stays light here until about 11pm... which makes 3am feel like it's still early, and that it's not a bad idea at all to grab another $4 bottle of vodka. The best part of which is - Russian vodka doesn't seem to give you a hangover! (which may be why they seem to drink it ALL day)

We leave St Petersburg today for Vladamir, which is just outside of Moscow. This place has so much to see though that we don't feel like we've covered even just the start of it. We've been through only a few rooms of the Hermitage (if you walked the entirety of it, and looked at each piece of artwork for a few seconds, it would take you more than 11 years to get to the end), we've seen the Church on Spilled Blood (Em's new favourite building. It's like a fairy-tale castle, and looks a little like St Basils in Moscow), and we've eaten Beef Stroganoff in Stroganoff Palace (where it was invented. It was pretty tasty!)

At night we've checked out a Cossack show (Gwil got pulled up on stage!) and the St Petersburg Ballet's version of Don Quixote - Amazing!

Off now to follow the last few minutes of Rasputin's life. And they have Pavlov's dog in a museum here. Yes. The original Pavlov's dog, which has been stuffed!

Hope everyone at home is well and keeping warm. It has plummeted back down to 8 degrees here today. Fingers crossed for warmer weather near Moscow.

мы находимся в России

2006-05-13T22:29:00.000+10:00

We are in Russia! (мы находимся в России)

We got the bus from Tallinn, and couldn't work out why it takes 9 hours to get to St Petersburg, when it is so close to Estonia. We now know it's because of the border control... it's crazy! It took us more than 2 hours to get across the border.

It was less than 12 hours into our stay in St Petersburg before we were in trouble with the police...!

It is illegal to take photos of train stations... who woulda thunk it? Nobody had told us, and there aren't any signs, and so when we stopped to take a photo of one of the amazingly long escalators inside the main city metro station, we were pulled aside by a cop who spoke no English, but was NOT looking happy with us. The only English word he said was "photos", and we assumed by his angry face that this meant "you are in trouble for taking photos"!! So we pretended to be puzzled for a little while to see if we could get away with keeping our happy snaps... but he wasn't giving in (and the police here are scary!). We ended up taking out our camera, and deleting the series of metro shots we'd taken in front of him. So you're just going to have to trust us when we say the escalators are huge!

We've spent our first full day in St Petersburg exploring the city. It's full of amazing churches, museums, gardens, palaces, and really beautiful people. We'll take some photos for you (if we're allowed!)

Kuressaare

2006-05-08T18:55:00.000+10:00

Finland was so much fun... but after being in Vietnam it was a little out of our price bracket! We spent 4 days in Helsinki, spent lots of time in Design Museums, and checking out some of the amazing design stores (Em bought some Finnish Aalto inspired stuff), before jumping on the ferry and heading to Tallinn in Estonia.

Tallinn is called the 'Medieval Capital of Europe'. But it's kind of like an adult disneyland... packed full of tourists, pretty cobbled streets, and people in medieval costumes.

It is amazing to see, but after 3 days there we didn't feel like we were actually seeing any of Estonia, so we are now on Saaremaa, a tiny island in western Estonia.

We were approached at the Kuressaare bus station (main town of Saaremaa) by an elderly woman who wanted us to stay in her apartment. Em had heard lots of dodgy travel stories which began just like this... so we were a bit apprehensive. But we checked it out anyway, and both the woman (Kristina) and the apartment are gorgeous. The apartment was built in 1867, and feels like a little farmhouse cottage.

We're right near the main town square, and can walk to Kuressaare's most famous attraction, Kuressaare Fortress - built in mid-1300s.

We've got a few more days here, and then we go to Russia!

There are lots of photos, but we haven't been able to upload them yet. Sit tight.

Vappu

2006-05-03T21:26:00.000+10:00

We're now in Helsinki. It's been around 8-12 degrees... but it's nice to not step outside and be in an instant sweat!

Our first day here was Vappu Day Eve, which is a traditional student celebration. At 6pm they give Helsinki's most famous statue, Havis Amanda, a foam bath, and then put a student graduation hat on her...

then the serious drinking begins!
(along with a free concert on the steps of the Helsinki Cathedral)

Goodbye Vietnam

2006-04-29T14:15:00.000+10:00

Today is our last day in Vietnam. Tonight we'll be in the sky on our way to Helsinki!

The best parts of Vietnam:
* The people - everyone is so friendly, especially in the south of Vietnam (although sometimes this is because they're trying to sell you something!)
* The prices - beers for under $1, taxis anywhere in the city for $1.50, a huge bowl of noodles for 50 cents, and a tailored suit for $80!
* The beaches - the water is hot, and so is the sun
* The food - the most amazing fresh fruit and seafood we've had anywhere, and that's a big call when we have the Sydney Fish Markets!
* The craziness - traffic goes where it wants, rubbish goes where it wants (usually just in the gutter), it's noisy, people beep at every chance, and you are hassled on every corner. This part of Vietnam took a while for Em to get used to... but you learn to love it!

One of the many groups of people who hassle you are fruit sellers. They carry huge baskets of fruit balanced at each end of a bamboo pole, and the cries of "You buuuuyyyyyyy? Very cheeeeeeeap!" are heard everywhere.

As we mentioned in an earlier post, one of their tactics is to spark conversation by asking where you are from. They are all really familiar with Australia, and always have something to chat to you about, which usually leads to a sale. So we are now officially from Uruguay! They don't know anything about that country, so we are left alone - it really works!

One sales tactic is to offer you a photo opportunity... like this fruit seller did to us with her baskets of bananas!

It worked... and we bought some bananas from her, as well as a bag of pineapple, at an over-inflated price (which was still only $2, but we were later told that a bag of bananas should only cost you 15 cents).

Ho Chi Minh and Colonel Sanders....

2006-04-29T13:52:00.000+10:00

After having now spent almost four weeks travelling through Vietnam, and eating vietnamese food most of the way, we started to crave some good old fashion crappy western food! One of our first stops on return to Saigon was KFC! This is the only western food chain we've seen throughout the whole of Vietnam, we couldn't understand why? Then we came to a conclusion...... Colonel Sanders looks like Ho Chi Minh! Vietnam has few national heroes, Ho Chi Minh is it, he is a god here.

Have a look at these two images and decide for yourself.....

Two days of craziness - Day two

2006-04-26T15:26:00.000+10:00

Our second day of craziness began at 4am...

We got ourselves out of bed early to get to the ANZAC day dawn service that was held at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi. The Australian, NZ and Turkish Ambassadors were there, as well as an elderly SAS soldier in full dress uniform and covered in medals! The ceremony was followed by a BBQ breakfast. We had been hoping for some vegemite, but we were more than happy with sausages, bacon, tomatoes and eggs. It was great to be surrounded by Aussies and to be a part of ANZAC day, even all the way from Vietnam. (We couldn't find any 2-up yesterday though! Probably saved ourselves a lot of money! hahaha!)

After the service, we walked to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum (or Uncle Ho, as he's affectionately referred to!). Hi Chi Minh was the president of Vietnam, and when he died he wished to be cremated. However, the Vietnamese people decided instead to embalm him, and put his body on display. He is sent to Russia for 2 months every year for touch ups!

The Mausoleum opens at 7.30am, but even when we got there at 6.45 there were crowds of people. It's a very organised and official process. There are guards everywhere in white uniforms, who usher you quickly and quietly (Gwil got shushed!) down a line, past Uncle Ho's body in a glass case, and back out again. There is absolutely no dawdling! They'll grab you by the arm and lead you on if you look like you're about to stop!

After the Mausoleum, we visited the Army Museum. Another example of censored war history! They never show any Vietnamese army or people weakness - there are no Vietnamese victims, and no mention of how awful Napalm was on the country. There are however, loads of mentions of 'enemy' victims - including how many US & French planes they shot down. (The photo below is a sculpture in the Museum made up of parts from downed US/French planes. Mainly B52s.)

And after being excited for more than 3 weeks at seeing the Water Puppets, Em was VERY excited to get front row tickets to that night's performance! The puppets were amazing - much better than we expected. Water Puppets are a traditional Vietnamese art form. It began over a thousand years ago, when rice paddies were flooded, and the farmers began putting on 'underwater' shows, where just the puppets would be visible above the water.

Here is a video from one of the acts of the performance. Press play, then hit pause to let the video load. Once it's fully loaded, press play again.

Two days of craziness - Day one

2006-04-26T14:48:00.000+10:00

We have packed us much as possible into the last 2 days so that we could spend today doing nothing! We'll split it into 2 posts, so that it's not too long.

On Monday we checked out Hoa Lo Prison (AKA 'Hanoi Hilton'), which was built by the French in 1896 to house anti-Colonial Vietnamese revolutionaries. It was then used during the Vietnam War for US soldiers. During all our visits to any museums to do with the Vietnam War (which they call the American War), it's interesting to read the propoganda and information that they display.

From a sign inside the prison:
"From August 5, 1964 to January 24, 1973, US Govenment carried out two destruction wars... against North Vietnam. The Northern Army and people brought down thousands of aircrafts, captured hundreds of American pilots... Though having commited untold crimes on our people, the American pilots suffered no revenge... Instead they were well treated."

I'm not sure that the US soldiers would necessarily agree...

Near the prison we were mobbed by school kids on an exursion, who were very excited to be able to practice their limited English on us. We walked past lines and lines of them, all yelling out "Hello! What's your name?".

That afternoon, we stumbled across an out-of-the-way market. We've found lots of amazing surprises in Vietnamese markets - incredible fruits, clothing and jewellery. But the first thing we found when we stepped into this one was a table covered in dead dogs! We'd heard they eat dog in northern Vietnam, but really had to see it to believe it. This was the most disgusting thing we've seen in Vietnam so far. Needless to say, we didn't explore this market any further!

We also had the most hilarious cab ride on this day. The traffic here moves very slowly, as it's so congested, so accidents are usually not very bad. Our cab driver hit one motorbike and a pedestrian in the few blocks we travelled. He later revealed that it was only his 3rd day of driving! When you have accidents here, no one swaps details... I'm not sure if they have car insurance.

The only thing we really dislike about Vietnamese food is the amount of MSG they use. It's been giving us both really crazy dreams, and headaches! The only problem is... we don't know how to say MSG in Vietnamese, so we can't request they don't use it! This was one attempt...

Gwil: "Do you have MSG?"
Waiter: "What??"
Gwil: "M....S....G" (drawing the letters on his hand)
Waiter: "Um..." (looks at a sign above our heads, which is advertising free Wireless internet) "No. We only have Wireless."
Gwil and I both looked at each other and laughed!

Hanoi and Halong Bay

2006-04-24T23:00:00.001+10:00

We got to Hanoi on April 20, but only spent 1 full day there before heading out to Halong Bay.

The night before we left for Halong Bay, we ate at what is supposedly Vietnam's Oldest Restaurant - Cha Ca La Vong. They serve only one dish, called Cha Ca, which is described as 'snake fish'. The snake fish is really nice, you get a charcoal brazier on your table, which has a pan on it with cubes of fish. You add herbs (dill, mint, schallots and corriander) and cook it yourself.

We finished dinner with icecream by the lake. Em played it safe with coconut, but Gwil tried Taro icecream, which was bright purple!

The lake in Hanoi is really pretty at night, but it turns into a complete couples area! All the benches are covered in couples, both young and old, staring out over the water.

Halong Bay was also great. It is thousands of little islands, only a few hours from Hanoi.

We went on a 3 day/2 night cruise on a boat that was just like a floating hotel! We had a room with a private bathroom, air con, a double bed, and food was incredible - crab, prawns and fish for lunch and dinner every day! We kayaked around the bay, and went on a private boat to visit Cat Ba Island so that we could go for a trek, in the hope of seeing monkeys... Unfortunately, I think Gwil's pace was too much for our guide, and he was ready to go home about one hour into it! So we didn't see any monkeys, but we got a great work out!

We are now back in Hanoi again, and will stay here for a few more days before flying back to Saigon and then on to Finland.

Barbers, Tailors and Bottle-opener makers

2006-04-23T20:39:00.000+10:00

I know we had plans to head to Laos and Cambodia... but we've loved Vietnam so much that we're going to spend the rest of our time in Asia here before we fly to Helsinki in just over a week.

We haven't posted for a while, but finally have access to our blog again! We're in a little hotel in Hanoi, whose internet doesn't have all the restrictions that we've found everywhere else.

We spent much longer than planned in Hoi An (just like we've done in almost every stop so far!). The place was beautiful, and all the clothes we had made in Hoi An were amazing - so Em went back and had more each day we were there. We had to post home 16kg of clothing! (there are a few shots of the clothes on Flickr, but the rest will have to wait until we come back home... we've both lost weight in Vietnam, so we're hoping that we don't put on too much weight in Europe, and that all the clothes still fit when we get back!)

Em wasn't going to get a suit made, but she might need one eventually... and the prices were so cheap.

There are a couple more street shots of Hoi An below. Our tailor is right in the Ancient town, and she was telling us that it's much better there now that Hoi An is World Heritage listed, than it used to be. Her family has lived in the same house for 8 generations, but they used to own 8 houses in Hoi An. The communist government confiscated 7 of the houses after the war, leaving her with just the one she's in now. The heritage listing means that it's less likely her last house will be taken by the government as well.

Jade, who works at B Lan's (our tailor), took us CD shopping in Hoi An, as I was determined to find some good Vietnamese music to send back to FBi. Before I left Sydney, Stuart (who not only runs the station, but also presents the world music show - Fat Planet), told me that good Vietnamese tracks were really hard to find - so I set off on a mission. But Stuart was right... I listened to lots of CDs, but couldn't find anything. Finally I bought 3 CDs without listening to them on Jade's recommendation (they were 40c each).

I don't know where you go in Vietnam to buy 'real' CDs (non-pirated). Even in the CD stores everything is copied - DVDs, CDs, VCDs - and really cheap. But because it's pirated, you're not allowed to post them out of the country, so we have a small pile of DVDs and CDs to carry to Finland with us now!

After leaving Hoi An, we caught a bus to Hue and spent a day there. We did some sightseeing in the walled Hue Citadel, inside which is a walled Imperial Palace, inside which used to be the walled Forbidden City. The emperor allowed only his concubines and eunuchs in the Forbidden City, and the eunuchs were not a threat to him. The entire Palace area was bombed in 1947, and most of it is now in ruins.

Gwil got brave just before we left Hue, and got a haircut from a barber whose store was in a courtyard behind some chicken wire. It was pretty dirty, and Gwil looked pretty scared more than once!

The barber wore a face mask through the whole haircut!

Also in Hue, we met Lac, who is deaf and mute. He is one of 3 deaf mutes who runs a Vietnamese restaurant on a street just outside the Hue Citadel! You order using sign language (which was SO much easier than ordering in Vietnamese). The food was amazing, and at the end of the meal he made us a bottle opener to take travelling with us. In his restaurant he has 3 photo albums, and a photo wall, which are full of photos of his customers, with their bottle openers, in front of tourist attractions around the world. We're going to try to get a photo of us with it in Russia and send it to him - as that was a country he was missing from his collection.

After one day in Hue, we got the plane to Hanoi, and have just today gotten back from 3 days on a boat in Halong Bay... we're both still rocking as it's strange to be on still land. I'll put up some info on the boat trip later on.

Hope all is great at home. Nerys is having a baby soon, we're very excited and we hope that everything goes well. We know it will be another very cute kid!

Hoi An

2006-04-15T18:07:00.000+10:00

Hoi An was recommended to us by a few people, and it's even better than we thought it would be.

Our hotel is right near the Hoi An Ancient Town - which is like an old preserved city, but is full of tailors and jewellery sellers and shoe makers. Yesterday we went to see a tailor who was recommended to us by our friend Daz. We went a bit nuts, and are getting 3 dresses, 2 tops, a suit, a coat, a shirt, some shorts, plus 2 pairs of shoes, and I think there are a couple more things... we pick them up in a few hours, so fingers crossed that they end up looking how we imagined them.

We went out last night for drinks with two girls from Melbourne who we've met over here - Emily and Hayley. There are so many Aussies in Vietnam, and having your home country in common seems to make you instantly click with them all. After drinks we stumbled across the filming of a live outdoor broadcast for VTV - Vietnam's TV channel. They were shooting a game show, that also had traditional singing and dancing in it. Of course, we got ourselves on camera - so we've now been on Vietnamese TV!

This morning we did a Vietnamese cooking class which was great. They taught us how to make rice paper from scratch, and then to make fresh spring rolls using the rice paper. We made about 5 dishes and then sat down and ate them all. (I learnt that Gwil makes a mean garnish - he can turn a tomato into a rose like a pro! Expect them to be turning out at every dinner party from now on!) Luckily everyone in our group was a good cook, so the food ended up being fantastic.

We still can't access our blog. Keep leaving comments though - we'll check them when we get access again.

Nha Trang

2006-04-10T22:39:00.000+10:00

We finally packed up our beach towels, and hopped on a bus to leave Mui Ne.

The plan was to finish our beach holiday, and start exploring Vietnam again. But then we found Nha Trang.

It's only 4 hours north of Mui Ne, but it's a much bigger city, right on the beach. It's a little bit Gold Coast, and a little bit Saigon. Massive resorts with roof top pools line the main strip, in front of which an old lady sells cobs of corn off the back of her bicycle. From the beach, you look our onto a dozen or so islands, which we are yet to explore.

We really really really love it here. If we hadn't booked an onward flight, we could easily spend the next 6 months in Nha Trang - lying in the sun, drinking Ca Phe Da (iced black coffee with sugar syrup), and listening to the constant honking of the Vietnamese traffic.

There are a few funny things we've noticed as tourists in Vietnam. The first is that people are fascinated with Gwil. They think he's a muscle man! The boys laugh at the size of his shoes, and point at his nipple ring. The little girls run at him and tug his shirt. The number of stares we get though are declining as we become more tanned - we were so white when we first turned up at the beach!

The reaction you get when you mention that you are from Australia is also funny. In the really tourist areas, lots of people respond with "G'day mate, how're ya going". Others mention as many Aussie symbols as they can... "Kangaroo! Koala! Sydney Opera House!". While most of the young guys here relate everything back to football.. "Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell!"

There are some more photos up on Flickr now. I'm hoping that this blog post works. We can't seem to access any blog sites anymore. We've been told it's because the further north you go in Vietnam, the more the Communist government controls the internet - and apparently they've blocked all blog sites.

If anyone didn't get the email Em sent out to all last week "Good Morning Vietnam", can you please email her... we're missing lots of email addresses of our friends.

Em and Gwil x

Mui Ne

2006-04-05T18:25:00.000+10:00

18 kms of beautiful beach, our own private bungalow right near the sand, massages being offered by beach hawkers, 35 degree heat, and fresh fruit plates brought to our room each afternoon.

It's pretty nice here!

We caught a bus to Mui Ne from Saigon yesterday morning. The ride takes about 3 hours normally, but ours took about 5. Our bus broke a few minutes after leaving, and the driver got out his spanner and his spare timing belts, and set about fixing the problem himself. We made it here fine, so I guess he did a good job!

Em's first taste of Vietnam-belly set in yesterday afternoon, but she's much better today. And if there's anywhere in Vietnam to be sick, this is the place, as there's not much else to do except laze around in the sun. We've done lots of lying in padded chairs on the beach, drinking mango juice, and we've been swimming in the South China Sea (but the water is HOT!)

We're going to see the sand dunes tomorrow (you can toboggan down them), and we're going to try to check out a restaurant down the road where you can buy your seafood live from the tank and they cook it right there (I know you can do this in Sydney too... but it's all so cheap here!)

Some Saigon photos....

2006-04-03T21:57:00.000+10:00

Gwil made a friend outside one of the bars we went to with Darren. This little kid had been trained by his mum to drop packets of gum down the back of our chairs. He'd then refuse to take them back, making you feel like you had to give him some money! So cheeky! The kid took a liking to Gwil and ended up wrapping himself around his arm.

Em's birthday dinner at Xu in Saigon. The food was amazing (and the bill was almost 3,000,000 dong!)

We shot AK47's at the Cu Chi Tunnels! No training or ear protection were necessary -according to the guy who loaded our ammo.

The AK47 isn't a ladies gun... apparently the M16 is much more Em's style (but I stuck with the AK47 still)

In the tunnels. They are only just over a metre high, and the Vietcong lived in them for years during the war. They used them for hiding, fighting and living. There are 250kms of tunnels in total. We didn't last long in them - they're very dark, and you get a little bit claustrophobic.

There are heaps more on Flickr, but these are some of our favourites.

Crazy Town

2006-04-02T20:24:00.000+10:00

We're in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Safe and well.
And, it's my birthday!

Before leaving Sydney, we had to do a Kath & Kim style duty free shop. Check out our Coogis! (we didn't actually buy them - don't worry!)

Our first night here was a massive culture shock! We got off the plane, and were blasted by the Vietnamese heat and humidity.. haggled with a cab driver to get us to our hotel.. settled in, and decided to go for a walk before meeting our friend Darren...

We posted a video a little while ago about the traffic in Saigon. Watch that video and then imagine it being night-time, with some drunk moto drivers, and two terrified Aussie tourists! There are traffic lights, but no one pays attention to them. There are pedestrian crossings, but again - no one pays attention to them! We were left standing on the edge of the footpath of a major intersection before practicing crossing on a smaller road, and finally giving up!

Darren had to come and meet us at the hotel the next morning, to teach us how to cross roads. We checked out Ben Tham markets (which are amazing! They sell everything you could possibly want, for next to nothing), and then went on a Xe Om (motorbike) tour of Saigon. You don't wear helmets in Vietnam when you're on a moto, unless you're riding on a national highway... and it's pretty scary to be on the back of one of these things, zipping and dodging in and out of traffic. The only road rules seem to be:
- you give way to something that's bigger than you (motorbikes give way to cars, which give way to buses)
- when you get to an intersection, don't stop, just beep your horn to let people know that they have to get out of your way

My birthday today has been fantastic. We were taken out for breakfast by Darren to a French cafe "Au Parc". Gwil and I then walked around Saigon being tourists for a little while, before having Pho Bo from Pho Pasteur for lunch (raw beef in a hot soup with rice noodles), and then booking our onward travel and doing some more shopping (authentic Prada sunglasses - only $10)!

We have seen both the amazing poverty and opulence that Saigon has to offer. Tomorrow we are going to check out the Cu Chi Tunnels, and then on Tuesday we leave Saigon to get a bus to Mui Ne.

We'll post photos soon.

Bye bye FBi

2006-03-30T17:30:00.000+11:00

It's hard to leave somewhere when you don't really want to go.

But I know that we will have an amazing time overseas, and that we'll see you all when we get back!
The plane flies out tomorrow morning at 11am. Look in the sky for us.

x

Family farewell

2006-03-26T21:45:00.000+11:00

Today we had the farewell party for our family. Tom, Emma and Abi (Griffiths) arrived in the morning from Hong Kong and we finally got to meet Abigal Rose!! It was great to see everyone before we go, thank you all for coming.

ONLY FOUR MORE DAYS LEFT IN SYDNEY!!

so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye...

2006-03-25T20:14:00.000+11:00

Thank you to everyone who came to our farewell last night!

We had such a fabulous time. We're really really really going to miss you all.

Here are some photos from the night. More on Flickr.

Beforehand at the Archibald opening with Claire

Chris and Dylan at the Lounge

Will will miss Emily heaps! (or will Emily miss Will heaps?)

Dyl, Bek, Sarah and Gwil at the Lounge

The loverly Miss Loada

Check out Flickr for the rest.

xx

Another (more up to date) countdown....

2006-03-21T07:40:00.000+11:00

It's official... next Friday we fly.

So now there's only 9 days to go!

Hope to see you all at the lounge this Friday night.

Art After Hours

2006-03-17T22:41:00.000+11:00

Unfired clay from western NSW... in the Art Gallery of NSW

What we're going to miss about Sydney...

2006-03-11T23:12:00.000+11:00

Just for starters....

the Fish Markets, Balmoral Beach, our family and friends, St Honore Bakery sourdough, FBi, the sunshine, Phuong, the sake cocktails at Uchi Lounge, picnics at Milsons Point...

to be continued.

Countdown

2006-03-02T08:43:00.000+11:00

Only 29 days left until we fly out of Sydney!

And here's something to listen to today... check out this stream Diplo - Live at the Guggenheim

Zagreb is a happening city...

2006-02-26T20:05:00.000+11:00

...Or so our Lonely Planet guide tells us.

We're trying to decide whether to include Zagreb in our trip at the moment. We're going to be in Lake Balaton (Hungary) in June, and Zagreb is only a 2 hour train ride from there.

It's so hard to cut your trip down to only a few cities, when you're crossing half the world to just get to Eastern Europe from Australia, and once you're there, it seems so easy to just skip across a border and go to see a whole new country.

Random piece on Croatian radio:
"RADIO TTT is Radio Turn The Tape. This name was chosen because we know that it's not easy to transmit 24 hours a day. So we stimulate people to tape our program and distribute it in any way. Radio TTT is a local, independent, virTTTual, completely illegal, untraceable, insignificant and pirate radio station in Zagreb, Croatia, Europe which has virtually 200.000 listeners younger than 30. If you want to talk about identity: it's hard core transnational sounds, based on the sound of the Zagreb underground clubs...

The programme is produced by several people in Zagreb, Croatia, either illegaly in studios of established radio stations or at home studios put together out of private equipment. We are careful, mobile and low cost. No disaster if the equipment gets caught. For example: one of the operation modes is just a walkman with a prepared program (tape), connected to the transmitter. Next we will link the transmitter with the public adress (PA) of one of the clubs, and alternate this soundspace with experimental soundbytes. When people get caught, we will have news. We are prepared to make good use of that. We are about ten people involved in this thing, with few international connections (Europe and America).

RADIO TTT is broadcasting from different hidden and illegal (non-traceable, we hope!) places on several frequencies, but the main one is 105.0 FM, stereo in anticolor, cinemascope and monstero dolby technique. "

Source: Media Filter

Saigon Traffic

2006-02-15T08:41:00.000+11:00

Our friend Daz in Vietnam has sent us a few emails about the traffic there... but it's hard to imagine without seeing it.
Check out this video of a Saigon intersection.

Happy Valentines Day!

2006-02-14T22:17:00.000+11:00

Look who got spoiled today....
5 dozen red roses!!!

The Russian Revolution

2006-02-06T21:47:00.000+11:00

We booked and paid for our Russian trip on the weekend.

Even though we were determined to do our trip independently, they make it hard in Russia!
So, we have swallowed our pride and booked a tour.

It's called 'Russian Revolution'. Starts in St Petersburg, then goes to Vladamir, Suzdal (where we'll be trying out a Russian banya), then finishes in Moscow.

Russian Revolution Tour

Gwil and I went to a screening of 'Date Movie' tonight. Check out the trailer here. It looked like it might be funny. It has Alyson Hannigan in it. We'd had our faith renewed in bad comedy after watching Legally Blonde on Sunday night. But we were totally disappointed. Except that Jennifer Coolidge played a great Mrs. Fockyerdoder (sending up Barbara Streisand from Meet The Fockers).

"We had a wee wee at the moo moo"

2006-01-11T12:00:00.000+11:00

Picture taken outside the toilets at the Moo Moo Cafe in Moobal on the NSW north coast!
Moobal's a crazy town where they've painted all the telegraph poles (and a few buildings and cars) with black and white cow print.