Travel Diary 2005

2005-11-14T21:54:00.000+11:00

I made the wedding, sort of. 2 hours late, but not bad given I only arrived in the country 1 hour before the start of the wedding. I was the worst dressed at the wedding, but at least I had an excuse this time. I was wearing my cleanest clothes, which were not that clean. Graham and Jo were both very happy that I was able to make it at all.
I have been back home now for 7 weeks and the travel cravings are finally at a managable level. I am hoping to go on another round of travels next year. Still deciding between one of Vietnam, Cambodia or Loas and somewhere in western South America (northern Chilli, Bolivia, Equador). I hope to get at least 6 weeks off, but my boss is not that keen on the idea. There looks like there will be heaps of work until into 2007. I will just have keep working of finding the time.
Highlight of the trip: Pampa Hemosa definitely. Machu Picchu was great to see, but it was unfortunate that it was so foggy and that I missed doing the walk.
Writing about the trip, is bringing on the travel cravings yet again.
So long to the world tour 2005

Missed flight fun

2005-09-23T00:02:00.000+10:00

Well here I am in Chilli. I arrived at the airport to try and get on the flight to Sydney that leaves tomorrow morning, problem. The flight only has one business class seat left. So when is a flight that I can use my ticket to fly to Sydney. Checking. Sometime after the 13 Oct (I did not
have the first one found). So decisions, more time traveling would be a great deal of fun I would have over 3 weeks in Chilli, but I need to get back home as well, things to do. Bit the bullet and paid a lot for the business class seat. So I will now be arriving in Sydney at 17:50 on Saturday, just 40 minutes before the start of the wedding, sorry guys, but I will be late, and badly dressed. I may try and see if I can get a seat in ecomony on the flight and get a refund on the business class seat, then again the money is now spent.

Santiago looks a lot different to Lima, but I have seen very little of Santiago. It is funny to be traveling by myself again after 3 weeks with the tour. I miss the company and they were a great bunch of travel companions.
Time to go and see some of Santiago.

Out of the jungle into a strike

2005-09-21T03:57:00.000+10:00

I have been out of contact with most of the world in the central Peruvian jungle. I am in San Ramon at the moment (7 hour bus ride due east of Lima) having last night returned from 5 days in the jungle. What did we find on our return but a national transport strike. So I will be missing my flight to Sydney. I should only be 1 day late into Sydney.

A speed catch up on what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks. During the home stay in Vicos we hiked up to Lagoon Lejacocha which is at over 5000m. Damn I was hammered in the walk. I was fine for the first 3 or so hours, but the last hour or so I struggled. I reached the point where I would take 10 steps then have a break. In the end the best way forward was take lots of deep breaths look where my next step was to go and move. Then I could go a lot more, but I did finally make it. Some great views from the top, including being able to see Peru´s highest mountain. Next it was off to Puerto Maldonado for time in the low jungle. Puerto Maldonado is near the border of Brazil in the south of Peru. Puerto Maldonado is humid, but not too hot and Tammy (the guide) said it was normally much worse. Caught a long narrow boat for an hour along the Rio Tambopata to the Posada Amazonas lodge. This is a lodge that is a collaboration between the local community and a private company. The private company has been setting up and training the locals how to run the lodge for a percentage of the profits and after 20 years the locals will wholely own the lodge. We had two local guides for the 3 days we spent there Jesus and Rodolfo. Our mini tours included a visit to a local farm which was nothing like you would expect. No rows of cultivated fields, just clumps of fruit trees bearing avocado, cocca (chocolate, not cocaine), pineapple, bananas, star fruit, a fruit with lattex in the skin and a lovely tasting flesh and other fruits. Eating the lattex fruit (I can not remember the name of the fruit) left me with sticky lips. Another of the mini tours was a visit to a medicinal garden and sharman healer. Spent half a day on a lake watching birds and other wild life. A few did a little fishing and 2 piranha were caught (and released). Also saw a family of gaint river otters (they get up to 2 meters in length).

After Puerto Maldonado it was off to Cusco for some horse riding and sight seeing. Saqsaywaman (often called sexy woman) was a large ruin just at the edge of Cusco. The remaining walls include some stones that were 7 meters tall, how they moved them into place, and the fit of the stones, wow. There is also a famous stone wall in Cusco with a 12 sided stone. To look at the condition of these 500 plus year old walls, it just shows you how advanced we have been long ago. On the way to Machu Picchu we stopped in Chinchero to visit a group of weavers and we were taught how to weave, although you could not compare the quality of their work to our own. I have the piece I worked on so sometime after I get home I am going to have to keep practicing. It was amazing to see how the took the raw wool (sheep or alpaca, they used both), spun it, dyed it with either natural or synthetic dyes, and then wove it into rugs, bags, belts, and other such products. One of the natural dyes they used was from a bug found in a cactus plant, this one gave a purple dye. As part of the visit they fed us lunch. Which was guinea pig. It tasted ok, several of the group were very relucant to try the meat. Guinea pig is a popular celebration meal in Peru.

The next day it was the train to Machupicchu peublo and one of the disappointments of the trip. Because of the very strict controls on walking the Inca trail I could not do the 6 hour walk the others did. Tammy could not even trade places with me as they check passports against tickets. Still went into the town and had a bit of a wander around and clocked up another new meat, alpaca. My piece was a little chewy, but the flavour was similar to beef. I have been having lots of new foods on this trip, particularly lots of different potatoes, lots and lots of potatoes, I need a break from potatoes and yucca. Yucca tastes like cardboard and has the texture of wet cardboard, if I never have yucca again I will be happy. One of the potatoes I had was eaten uncooked, was juicy and tasted a bit like a nashi pear. Machu Picchu was incredible, unfortunately we did not get great overviews of the place as fog and cloud and rain obscured the view. So despite not getting to do the 4 day walk to MP I did get to see it, it was definitely worth it.

Back to Cusco and the next day a delayed flight, then off to San Ramon. Sorry it is such a rushed run through, but such is life.

Peru - the tour starts

2005-09-11T08:37:00.000+10:00

31 August 2005
Lima

Off to the point hotel in Baranco a suburb of Lima. This is a lot nicer area of Lima than central. Well my fellow tourists are 2 other guys Ty and Brett, 10 women Meadow, Heather, Bec, Bree Sarah, Nicole, Alex, Jamie, Danielle and Chrissy and the guide Tammy. I did not get to meet Brett as he had missed his plane as he bought an expired passport to the airport. We will catch up with him in Hauraz (pronounced Wah-rez). As this tour is mainly for tourism students we had a talk from the head of the North American department of Prom Peru which is the government tourism department. Visited the San Francisco monastery again, and the catacombs were as much fun the second time around. Had dinner at an appointment only seafood restaurant with very nice found. Tried a Pisco Sour, like a tiny bit touched my mouth, it is juck. Pisco Sour is a popular drink in Peru. Also had a non-alcholic grape based drink that was lovely. Night bus to Hauraz.

1 Sept 2005
Hauraz

Staying at a new hostel that is part of the Mountain Institute´s work at developing tourism for the local Peruvians. The Mountain Institute is an NGO. Despite a poor nights sleep on the bus sat up chatting with Ty. Just trying to get rid of 9 days build up of needing to have a conversation. Had a workshop in the afternoon to do some working out of how to set up the information room in the hostel. It was run with some of the locals who are involved in the home stays. When I say locals they live in a town about an hour´s drive away, called Vicos. This is where we will be staying for a few nights starting tomorrow. We all went hunting for Coca leaves, these are the leaves from the plant used to make cocaine. Coca leaves are very popular in Peru particularly in the mountain regions where the locals chew the leaves with lime powder (calcium carbonate), to activate the drug in the leaf. The leaf helps with the effects of the high altitude and has been chewed in Peru for centuries if not millenia. The leaf can also be used in a tea without the need for the powder. My mouth felt a little numb around the area I held the leaf mash, this could have been as much a result of the calcium carbonate, but hey when in Peru. Brett has joined the group.

2 Sept 2005
Hauraz to Vicos

The group was split up into 3 groups and a translator has joined the group, Herman, each group is staying in a different home stay house. My house is with Hoolio and his family. The house is basic with no power the family sleeping in one of 2 rooms, a dining area and another 2 rooms for the home stayers. it is a 2 storey house with 2 rooms stacked on each other on each side of the dining room. Oh yes the is a little kitchen just outside the front door. The dining room is the largest room and is about 3 metres by 3 metres, but it is also used as a storage room. The dining room and kitchen floors are dirt, but I think all the bedrooms have wooden floors, I am not sure as I only saw two of the bedrooms. There is also a composting toilet, which has been added for the benefit of the home stays. I am not sure that the family uses the toilet. The family is Hoolio, his wife, young daughter (about 8 to 10) and a son who is 19. I did not get to meet the son as I slept in the afternoon when the others meet him and helped with the potato harvest. I am sorry but my memory for names is horrid and I can not remember the rest of the families names, it took me over 3 days to remember all the names of those I am touring with. Hoolio´s farm is not all that large, nor are those of his neighbours, a few acres only. Once again the language barrier is very noticable, but I did have a sort of conversation with Pedro the local sharman. It was fun trying to explain who my great uncle was, ended up drawing a family tree. Lunch and dinner were a potato and vege soup with roasted corn and bread. Dinners bread we had made late in the afternoon in a wood fired oven. Crashed out fairly early, with only candles to see by there is less to do at night.

Peru - Cajamarca to Chiclayo

2005-09-10T09:15:00.000+10:00

27 August 2005
Cajamarca to Chiclayo

Time to depart Cajamarca I have really enjoyed the slow and quiet time I have had here, even though I had too much time to think. I bought bread rolls from the same lady I have for the last 3 days and she asked me a question that I had no idea what it was. In hind sight it was probably where was I from, but I so often miss the donde (where in Spanish) that I miss the jist of the question. My spanish is improving, but it is a long long long long way from being conversational level. An uneventful daytime bus ride for 6 hours to Chiclayo. The bus stopped for lunch is a desolate place next to a lovely lake. Chiclayo is on the coast and is very much a working town, I saw no other gringos or gringas. It is the cleanest looking place I have visited so far. Staying at the Hostal Real, an ordinary cheap hotel. Had a wander around town, including a sprawling market area. Peruvians love there central markets, which are inveriably sprawling rabbit warrens. The paths between the stands are little more than one person wide and the smells in the meat sections are very strong. The rest of the market generally smells slightly stale, but the choatic displays distract you from that.

28 August 2005
Chiclayo

Visited 2 brillant museums the Bruning Museum and the Royal Sipan museum in Lambayeque. Lambayeque is about a 15 minute collectivos ride from Chiclayo. I really enjoy catching the collectivos. They are often just vans with a driver, conductor and lots of people. Walking to the back of the van when the only free seat is here can be a painful experience. I usual bang my head at least once on the way back. Well you are walking back in a moving vechile with arms and legs in the way with a roof the is only a little above your waist. The conductor spends a lot of time hanging out the open door touting for business. Constantly calling out the list of places the collectivos goes. Anyway back to the museums. The Bruning museum has a great pottery collection, including moulds used in the making of some of the pieces. I guessed some of what was written on each of the pieces. The Royal Sipan museum is a nearly brand new museum (only 3 years old) and is a fantastic display of the dig and pieces found in Sipan. about a dozen grave sites where found, include a king, and leaders of the religious caste and military. The pieces are gourgous, the skill it must have taken to make them. I booked another night in Chiclayo, but should have headed to Trujiuli (spelling) a town 4 hours south.

29 August 2005
Chiclayo

Chilled out today. Finally gave in to one of the shoe shiners who swarm all over the Plaza de Armas (every town in Peru seems to have one). Told me 1 soles before he did my shoes, then afterwards it jumped to 10 soles. I should of just paid him 1, but ended up paying 3 and a bit (foolish, but ...) The bus seat for the ride to Lima is like a business class seat, comfy. So the 12 hour ride was not too bad managed to get a bit of sleep.

30 August 2005
Lima

Time to join the tour, but I booked into the wrong hostel, I had forgotten the location had changed and did not realise until I had booked in, my laundry hanging on the line, a shower and generally settled in. I decided to stay as most of the rest of the tour were not arriving until 11pm. It was a holiday in Lima today and I joined the crowds in Central Lima. Very crowded. I will see my tour buddies in the morning.

Peru - Cajamarca

2005-09-06T07:59:00.000+10:00

Cajamarca
25 August 2005

Caught a collectivos to Banos del Inca a hot spring and enjoyed a nice hot spring fed bath (no bubbles unfortunately). I thought about a massage, but needed to return for a tour in the afternoon. The afternoon tour of Otuzco was really good, although the guide was a bit irritating. The tour was all in Spanish so I just enjoyed looking. Otuzco is an old grave site where people were interred in niches carved into a granite cliff. A stop and a milk farm included a drink of some local brew (I forget the name) made from sugar cane and maize, it is supposed to be alcoholic, but it did not taste it. It was very tasty. Also bought some dinner from a stand on the way back, roasted corn, steamed maize and some pork.

26 August 2005
Cajamarca

Used a different tour company for the tour of Cumbe Mayo (altitude 3,500 metres) pre-Inca water channels carved out of granite. They used stone chisels to do the carving. This was a great tour and the site was amazing. Felt a little breathless walking around, I still had not adjusted to the altitude.

2005-09-06T03:16:00.000+10:00

Hike to a Glacier lake, near Vicos.

An hour into a 5 hour hike up to a glacier feed lake that is at 15,500 feet (approx 4650 metres) above sea level. This is Pablo and the white mountain in the background is the highest mountain in Peru (approx 6100 metre). I barely made it to the top, the last 90 minutes I was reduced to stopping every 30 seconds or so. The altitude really takes your breath away.

Some traffic on the hike up. One of the donkeys had a sheep strapped to its back.

2005-09-06T03:07:00.000+10:00

Ty, Nicole, Bree, Sarah, Chrissy and me in the main square in Lima. The first day of the tour.

2005-09-06T02:58:00.000+10:00

This is the top of a 10 metre deep well of bones. The archeologists had a bit of fun with the arrangement at the top. This was in the catacombs in the San Francisco Monastery in Lima I do love wandering around tunnels.

Some ramblings about travel

2005-08-30T08:39:00.000+10:00

This email is as much a result of too much time to spend thinking, as anything else. 6 days with no real converstion and I am already getting twitchy. So bewarned this is as much the ramblings of a mad man as anything. I wonder if you will make it to the end, I will not be offended if you do not, yes I have spyware attached that reports back to me how much of my emails you read.

What is travel about, why do it, what does it mean for you? Is it to see "must see" places, like Machu Picchu? Is it to experience a different way of life? Is it to challenge you physically, like a climb of Mt Everest? Is it to be a change from the daily grind? Is it to challenge you mentally, like trying to communicate without a common language? Why travel? Yes this question is because I have not been charging around seeing lots of sights and "significant" things/places. I was thinking about further travel in South America and that next time I should travel without a guide book, and maybe longr, maybe not, just town hop and see what passes my way. This would require learning Spanish. This got me thinking about the question of what is travel and what am I after from it. It is particularly funny that I should be thinking about traveling this way when I have taken more tours this trip than in all my other travel combined. A big part of the reason for that has been the money versus time issue (more money, less time). Anyway back to the question, aimless wandering around a town, unable to talk to anybody is not really travel, then again is charging around seeing sites not talking to anybody really travel. No I would say travel is about meeting new people and communicating with them. If the people come from a very different culture all the better.

This is not to say I am not enjoying myself, watching the ebb and flow of life in a far away town is quite interesting, I am just having too much thinking time.

So I would say travel is about meeting new people more than all the other reasons.Well if you have made it this far I would like to know what your opinion of travel is, I look forward to reading the responses. I may summarise the responses in another email at a later date.

Peru - Cajamarca and the streets

2005-08-30T05:51:00.000+10:00

24 Aug 2005
Cajamarca

Not too bad a bus ride, I even had the option of a fully reclining seat (at extra cost), but took a seat that still reclined nicely, better than cattle class airline seats. For a $28 12 hour bus ride it was a very comfortable journey that included dinner and breakfast. As Cajamarca is at 2750 metres I really should have taken into consideration the change in air pressure. Near the end of the bus ride I opened up the valve on my water bottle and squirt, it would not stop. I almost managed to drink all the water before I unscrewed the lid to equalise the pressure, but not quite. Good thing water on clothes dries quickly. I decided to lash out and get a more expensive room, a whopping 50 soles ($20) per night, but I should not have got the one next to reception (too noisy). The bed was comfortable, it had a warm shower, toilet, mini-fridge and cable TV. Although I had arrived in Cajamarca in the morning, with the altitude change I decided to take it easy for the day and just wandered around town and napped. Despite it being winter and at 2750 metres there was no snow around and the weather was very pleasant, warm really. The hill sides are rather bare. As the sun rose on the way up the mountain the valleys were well irrigated with a lot of stepped rice (I think it was) paddies. Some of the paddies were dry while others were lush with vegetation. A few animals pecked around in the dry fields. Cajamarca like Lima has rough uneven narrow footpaths with buildings right to the edge of the path. The majority of buildings are 1 or 2 storeys high, there is a griminess about the place, but the bustling population brings a buoyant life to the streets.

The cars are mainly taxis either small daewoo cars or motorised tricycles. The number of private cars seems very small. Horns toot regularly mostly to say here I am, less often in anger, or irritation. Few intersections are controlled and cars general approach them with care, toot, then move through. Crossing the street is a matter of making a gap, and how much courage you have. There does not seem to be such a thing as jay walking as I have watched people cross in front of police against a red light. Lanes are a fluid thing, especially as many of the streets are one-way. So overall the streets are choatic. As nobody is traveling very fast I have yet to see an accident, despite watching many cars just push out, from a side street, into a stream of traffic regularly.

Peru - Lima and onwards

2005-08-29T11:21:00.000+10:00

23 Aug 2005
Lima (Pachacamac) and a bus out of town

Went to Pachacamac with Diana a Dutch woman who was staying in my dorm room. It was an interesting walk through town to catch the collectivos to Pachacamac. The place is chaotic and there are not a lot of tourists, well none that we saw, either on the way to, at the, or coming back from the site. The road where we were to pick up the collectivos was a major road and it was completely closed down for road works. Fortunately Diana knew a lot more Spanish than I did, and it was not too far to get to the new spot. The collectivos was expensive, 0.50 Soles (20cents), each way and the journey was about 20 minutes. Pachacamac is a big site and as we did not take a guide it was free. There were 3 spots where archaeologists were digging. The sun temple with its views of the ocean, and the restored palace of the chosen women (a place for pregnant women, not sacrifices) were the highlights. Passed a huge sand dune on the way down to the site over 100 metres high and over 5 km long. Once back in Lima it was a bit of a rush back to the hostel as I had a 7pm bus to catch. Shared a taxi to the bus station. Wrong bus station. Only 30 minutes to get what turned out to be a 20 minute taxi ride to the correct one. Just made it, I must stop cutting it so close when catching transport. Nice big comfy bus.

Peru - Lima

2005-08-29T05:38:00.000+10:00

22 Aug 2005
Lima

My first full day in Peru and it was a slow start to the day, did buy myself a ticket to Cajamarca for tomorrow night (it is a 12 hour bus ride north of Lima). Had a walk around the Museo del Tribunal de la Spanish Inquisition which is the building the Spanish Inquisition used from 1569 to 1820. Used for what, torture, don´t you just love people in power. Whether it is organised religion, governments, or dictators, they seem to hold themselves as sole arbitrators of "justice" and "right". Enough soap box. Otherwise it was a quiet wander around the choas of Lima. I would not want to drive here.

2005-08-29T04:36:00.000+10:00

Hovel sweet hovel. My huge hotel room at Hostel Real in Chiclayo.

2005-08-29T04:29:00.000+10:00

The low allergenic dog. This was a one of a couple of similar dogs hanging around Pachacamac. I have since seen a drawing of a similar dog in a museum.

2005-08-29T04:16:00.000+10:00

Partying puma. This recreation of an old carving was on the stairs going up to Corpus Christos (I think that was what the church was called). The stairs are not part of the church.

Maybe the puma had been using this stone tray and straw from 1600-100 BC. It was used for snorting tobacca or hallucingens. This was in a museum in Lambayeque (south east of Chiclayo in northern Peru)

2005-08-29T04:07:00.000+10:00

Cumbe Mayo near Cajamarca in northern Peru. Cumbe Mayo is a series of water channels carved into the granite. The carving was done with pieces of stone. This site is at 3500 metres and even though I had been up at 2750 metres for several days, I definitely had a shortness of breath walking around. The channels are down the hill behind me.

Peru - Food

2005-08-28T11:46:00.000+10:00

Ah food in a foreign land, what a source of joy, mystism and fear. Joy would you eat something new that is wonderful, different or unexpected. Mystism (well probably the wrong word) when you look at the menu and there are only 3 words you recognise. Fear when you are not sure if water that will make you ill has been left on the food, or if what you just ordered is dolphin, monkey brains, or spleen. I have not been as adventurous so far with my choices ( too much fear and mystism), but I have also not been sick from food yet (so far).

Different places, different ways. Salad, what a mine field. In Peru I have twice come across this salad: letuce, cucumber (centre removed), tomato, avocado and lots of salt. Way too much salt. The chips (fritos) on the other hand come unsalted.

An example of a meal.
From the set cheap set menu. Dishes Causa de Pollo and Arroz de la Cubana cost 5 soles(about $2) and a coke 3 soles. Causa de Pollo was corn, onion and chicken served in a square about 1/2 inch thick and a bit bigger than my palm. A small dollop of mayonaze was placed in 2 corners, a black olive in one cornr and a sliver of a very mild pepper in the last corner, the top of a hard boiled egg lay in the centre. A wilted letuce leaf was flattened by the slab.

Arroz de la Cubana was a bit of salad with letuce, radish, tomato, beetroot and beans (I think), rice with a fried egg on top, a long slice of fried banana and some cold chips, well tepid chips. Dessert was a warm fruit jelly. The jelly was liquid, but thick and had several pieces of fruit in it. This was an interesting way to have jelly, I liked it.

I have been getting more adventurous and been going to the markets. One big problem there is my lack of Spanish, that and some vendors who hike their prices for the gringo, I must get better at bartering or saying no. Don´t go looking for non-white bread in Peru, I have yet to find it. Meat is the another thing that you can buy at the market (well der), but do not expect refidgeration, boy does it make you wonder about the food you buy in restuarants, particularly when many of them do not seem to refridgerate the meat either.

The other place to find food is from street vendors who are everywhere and range in age from 3 to 300. More about the street vendors another time.

LA to Lima

2005-08-26T11:16:00.000+10:00

20 - 21 August 2005
Los Angeles to Lima

Got to the airport in LA in plenty of time for the flight, while having a final drink with dad and Holly we looked out and saw my plane. It was an Aeroflot plane, aaargh, wasn't´t I supposed to be flying LAN and don´t Aeroflot planes have a habit of falling out of the sky, oh well too late now. What was a Russian plane doing on a flight between the USA and Peru, well as the crew was from Peru, it must be a rental plane, at least it looked new from the outside. The flight was crap, once again I had a bad sinus headache and I stupidly had packed my headache tablets. It was also my first flight in years that had empty seats, lots of them, I had 3 seats in the middle all to myself, so I did get to lay down and get a few hours sleep. No problems at customs and immigration. Did get suckered by the taxi driver at the airport, but I was too tired to fight the change in fare. The hostel Espana is a ramshackle place and cheap S12 (Soles are the currency in Peru, S1 = $AUS2.50ish) for a dorm bed. The decore is unusual, for example there are 3 human skulls (2 still have hair) in a cabinet by the reception. If they are fake they are very good fakes. Got some sleep after I arrived, had to work out which bed was mine in the dark as there were several people sleeping in the room.

Monasterio de San Francisco was an interesting tour. The place is just down the street from where I am staying and for S3 I had a 45 minute tour with a guide who spoke both English and Spanish. The best part was the catacombs containing 70,000 bodies. Must be something about dead people and me in Lima. The archaeologists who opened up the catacombs in 1947 had fun (?) arranging the bones in patterns. Lots of ducking while walking around in the catacombs, one day I must visit the catacombs in Rome. Lima at the moment seems to be about dead people. This monastery had me comparing it with Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, Jeronimos was definitely the better, but the tour in San Francisco helped me understand a couple of things. Mainly the reason/purpose of the carved heads under the seats in the upper part of the church. These are the beautifully carved rows of seats the nuns/monks used. The seat is hinged so the person could either stand or sit. When the seat is positioned for standing the carved head is revealed. The head has a flat spot on the top, this allows the person to perch as they stood for long ceremonies, obvious once you know. Rest of the day was spent wandering aimlessly. No other Australians at the hostel, the foreigners are all from Europe.

Still here, not on the Peruvian plane :)

2005-08-25T03:58:00.000+10:00

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LA and Seattle

2005-08-23T08:25:00.000+10:00

11 - 20 Aug 2005
Los Angeles and Seattle

It was great to see dad and Holly again and as usual they made the visit really good (they made me say that, help me I am trapped in a basement dungeon). Had fun driving dad´s cars and the trips down to see the people showing off their cars in Laguna was eye opening. To see a row of 10 ferraris, or a Maclaren F1, next to an Enzo Ferrari, or a lovely old
Bentley, each time we went down there, there would have been $10´s of millions of dollars worth of cars. The breakfast after with a group of dad´s car nut friends was interesting, although much of the detailed talk about cars was above my head. One of the guys in the group has a workshop that Mat P would love even though it had Porsches not custom cars in it.

As the photo on the blog shows there was a group c Porsche race car in the shop which I got to sit in. It would be fun, scary and expensive to actually have a drive of it, but if give the pportunity I would. Maybe my adrenalin junkie ways would get me killed if I did, ah but what a way to go.

It was interesting to see how much Seattle has changed in the last 14 years, just behind the water front has been completely redeveloped, gone are the old warehouses, in are 8ish storey apartment blocks. What is still there are the fish throws in Pikes Place Market. I was rather nervous about meeting Vickie again (well it has been over 10 years), but it all went well. The conversation was a little stilted at the beginning, but that disappated after a while. It was nice to see her house and all her pets. My favourite was the cat who lived on top of the washing machine and hot water service, he was bullied by the other cats.

While in Seattle I found out about an eco-tour of Peru that was occurring during my time in South America. As the tour included a homestay I rang up to see if they had a place at late notice (it starts in less than 2 weeks), and they did. Not a cheap tour at $US2615, but the homestay is something I would not be able to get by myself and the tour includes Machu Picchu, but not the 4 day hike. Also I will no longer be able to spend any time in Chilli. On the other hand the others on the tour are American uni students studying tourism and the tour includes lots relevant to them, which is something different also.

It was a nice relaxing time in the States. It seems Rockford files are still on reruns along with Magnum PI and Matlock. Anyway thanks dad and Holly for putting me up again.

2005-08-21T07:47:00.000+10:00

The Snoqualmie falls in Washington State. For those that remember Twin Peaks the hotel at the top of the falls (on the left side of the photo) was used in the series. I visited here with Vickie.

2005-08-21T07:37:00.000+10:00

Playing with the big boys toys

Me just taking the Porsche 962 group c race car out for a spin. I wish, I only got to sit in the car, it was a snug fit and my legs would need to be a little longer to properly use the pedals. A friend of dad's had this in his workshop.

2005-08-21T07:29:00.000+10:00

The cloisters at Jeronimos Monastery

Portugal Part 2

2005-08-21T07:26:00.000+10:00

6 - 9 Aug 2005
Portugal

Dinner in a restuarant in Lisbon has a cautionary tale to be told. When you arrive at a restaurant and are seated, the waiter brings you an appetizer. This appetizer was different at each restaurant we ate at. It always had bread and cheese, but at the last place we had dinner at the appetizer was proscuto, several different cheeses, olives and bread. Here is the caution, you do pay for this. Now in all but the last restaurant the starter was only 2 - 4 euros, at the last one, it was 15 euros. Suckered big time. Why do I say that, well my main meal and dessert cost a total of 12 euros.

The absolute highlight of the visit was the Jeronimos Monastery in Belem, it is superb. The cloisters, which have been recently cleaned, almost had my jaw dropping. See the blog site for photos. The last full day in Portugal we went to Cascais. Here for the beach for a day of sun, well half a day, we did not want to rush anywhere. A lovely day at the beach, but the water was cold, bloody cold. Cascais had a village feel to the place, although a very touristy one, and was only about 40 minutes by train from Lisbon. A day at the beach was the perfect way to finish our time in Portugal. No muck ups, or problems for the return to London, thank goodness.

2005-08-16T11:05:00.000+10:00

I seek the holy grail, the track may be long and arduous, but I will not be detered.

Up, and up and up go the stairs,

What is it in the distance? I struggle to see, the light blinds me.

Yes it is a colourful castle (Pena Palace actually)

Oh well better luck next time.

Portugal

2005-08-16T10:49:00.000+10:00

5 August 2005
Portugal

A hot largely sleepless night for be. The noise during the night kept me awake, well kept waking me. Did day 1 of the quick 2 day tour of Lisbon, from the local tourist guide we picked up at the airport. Lots of walking up and down streets paved with cobblestones, most of the roads are as well, at least where we were wandering. The cobblestones are quite smooth, my shoes were fine, but Bec's shoes were a little slippery, fortunately neither of us fell. I imagine when they are wet great caution would be needed (or suction cups). The general look of the historical centre is nice with the mix of narrow and wide streets, trams, buses and cars, cafes spilling out onto the pavement and sporadic squares. It is also fun to observe the various patterns put into the cobblestones. St George's castle andthe various churchs we looked at were a bit disappointing. The Chiado museum, a contempory art museum (gallery) was good. Dinner was so-so.

6 July 2005
Portugal (Sintra)

Lonely planet had suggested a visit to Sintra and it was an excellent suggestion. The sights and sites were vastly better than the ones from yesterday. The only disappointment wsa the interior of the Pena Palace, which was full of small rooms overstuffed with items. One room with lots of items to show how the rooms were is ok, but not all of them. As most of the rooms were small generally you could not enter the room, but looked in from the doorway. This meant several rooms had queues to view them. Combined with the large number of items in each room, made it hard to see all the items. The Sintra National Palace on the other hand had large rooms sparsely filled so you could walk through the rooms and there were no blockage points. While the Pena Palace interior was disappointing the exterior was much better than the plain exterior of the Sintra National Palace (see earlier post with photos). I did like the huge kitchen chimneys at SNP. The Moorish castle was a lot of walking, but was great. I do like walking along castle walls. Bumped into a couple of backpackers who we met on the day we arrived in Lisbon at the train station in Sintra, it is a small world on the Europe backpacker circuit. Transport is so
cheap here, the train ride was about 45 minutes long and cost less than 2 euros each way. The buses and trains ones have been very good. I must admit that after London everywhere would seem cheap. Public transport seems to run all night and generally it has not been very quiet at night, hence the interupted nights, but it may not have been a tram as I did not get up to check. My feet are a little sore from 3 days walking in sandles. I have not used any sunscreen while here and I am hardly burnt, but I will have to be careful from now on. The difference between the sun here and at home is immence, I would have been crisped on the first day in Melbourne. It has been quite hot so far, with the first day being 37 degrees, but it has been cooler each day since, still sweating heaps (too bad if you find that to much detail). I probably should go back over this rant and fix it up, but.

London times

2005-08-16T08:54:00.000+10:00

London
1 Aug - 3 Aug, 9 Aug - 11 Aug

Ok so I am going back in time a bit, but I have some catching up to do. I saw Mousetrap's 21,950th performance. It has been a while since I have seen a play and it was nice to do the theatre was lovely, but they did not allow photographs within (well I did sneak one in after the performance, but it was very blurry) the theatre. I did recognise one actor in the play, who's name escapes me, but he was/is a regular offsider to Dectective Frost. As for who dunnit, you will have to see the play to find out (na na nana). If you do go and see the play I would recommend that you do not look at the cartoons on the wall of the bar, as one of them gives a clue as to the killers identify. Otherwise my time in England was fairly easy going, I enjoyed my visit to my great uncle and aunt (mentioned already on the blog site along with photos of them and Portugal). I misbehaved a little on my return from Portugal, but otherwise it was a great time I had in London and it was very good of Bec to put me up while I was there, thank you Bec. So that is it for London for this visit, maybe I will be back there sometime in the next few years.

2005-08-14T09:06:00.000+10:00

Portugal. This is a view of the Sintra National Palace from the Moorish castle ruins. While the outside of the castle is unremarkable except for the 2 large conical chimneys, inside was a very well set up tour of the rooms. The conical chimneys are above the kitchen and are about 20 feet across at the base. This palace was an excellent tour with the large rooms providing easy access and the amount shown in the rooms just right for taking in. The only building tour I enjoyed more in Portugal was the tour of the St Jeronomos Monastery in Belem, but more on that with the photos of the monastery.

2005-08-14T08:53:00.000+10:00

Portugal. This is an example of the many painted tile designs we found around Lisbon and the other places we visited in Portugal. These were found downhill of St Georges Castle in Lisbon.

2005-08-14T07:39:00.000+10:00

Time for some more photos. Portugal

This is the view from the Pensao room that we stayed in while in Lisbon. It was a hot room and the window stayed open the entire time we were there. The street never seemed to be quiet and as I am used to a quiet room, I had trouble sleeping. It seemed like the trams ran all night, and the sounds of people working filtered up into the room during the night also.

2005-08-13T10:03:00.000+10:00

A visit to the rellies.
UK 3 August 2005

My great aunt Eve (sorry the photo is a bit average) and Me and my great uncle Allan at their place in the UK. Had a great visit to go and see them. Every time I go to visit I think it will be the last time, but my traveling seems to keep me coming back. Had a lovely lunch at a restuarant by the beach, although there was not many people sitting on the pebbles (don't you just love English beaches). They sent a taxi to pick me up at the train station and drop me off. The same taxi driver is going to be taking Allan off to visit his parents grave site in a week or so. I went and visited the grave site on my last full day in London, I had not realised that my great grandmother had died just over 7 months before I was born. While the train is very expensive (like most things) in the UK it is great that you can basically get everywhere by train. I continued my addiction to the Sudoku puzzle on the journey to and from Allan and Eve's place. I bought a book of 100 of the puzzles a little while back and have been busily working my way through them. I am yet to complete any of the puzzles rated as fiendish.

London to Lisbon

2005-08-08T19:36:00.000+10:00

Well I will catch up with the rest of London on my return.

4 Aug 2005
London - Lisbon

What a journey to Lisbon. The flight was at 10:20 and Bec and I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 4 a bit before 9:00. 15 minutes or so in the queue, hand over passports and tickets, ah you have come to the wrong terminal, you should be at terminal 1. Aaaaargh!!!! Dash for the inter'terminal train, slow people, tick tick tick. Next train is at 9:25, 10 minute wait, tick tick tick. We should make it, we should make it. Here it is, tick tick. We're moving, come on. Arrival, where it the exit to terminal 1? Found it, "Dave, it is the other way", "Thanks Bec". Thank goodness my pack is light, tick tick tick. Ah there is the lift, up, open bloody hell it is choas, where do we need to go. This way, ah slow people, sidestep, off we go again. Excuse me where is the check in for the Lisbon flight, just over there. Thanks. 4 people in the queue, what a relief. 9:40 Tickets please. "Ma'am you will have to take your bag to the large bag screening, we have
been having problems with straps catching and clogging up the system. Turn left past the blue sign that way." (There are several blue signs.) "Which sign" "The blue sign down there" "Which sign" "The blue sign down there" "Ah I see it" 9:45 Bec: "I need a cigarette". Crap food on the flight, warm ham and plastic (cheese alledgidly) baguette, flavourless youghet like substance and a nice little (!!!) fruit salad. End up with a sinus headache for the last third of the flight. Things are starting well.

Arrival Bec gets off the plane quickly (we were seated separately), I am one of the last off. Which queue... that one looks ok, bad choice, could this line move any slower? Bec has raced through with her Euporean passport. Another plane arrives, mostly Europeans who race through, still waiting. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes 40 minutes at last I am at the head of the queue. The woman in front is getting asked lots of questions, over to the left 5 people in the queue next to me go through immigration. Bec pokes her head around the corner and gives me a querying look, I shrug. At last here is immigration. 90 seconds and 1 am through (why can't everyone be that quick). Lets hope the rest of my stay is not like getting here. Another wait for the bus which was only 1.20 Euro (~$1.90). Lisbon is a lot cheaper than London (it cost £6 $15 to get to Heathrow on the tube). A couple of locals on the bus turned out to have lived in Australia for many years and told us when to get off the bus. Found a lovely little pensao to stay in the for 5 nights. Went for a wnader and to find some food. Ended up at a cafe in the main square where we joined an Australian, Canadian and American for some food and a long chat. It is a lot hotter here than in London and I am sweating lots, small price to pay for some sunny weather.

London

2005-08-02T22:38:00.000+10:00

Well London is living up to its reputation of being overcast most of the time, even in summer. The weather has been worse here then it was in winter in South Africa and Mauritius, but it still has not been too bad.

Friday night after I arrived it was party time at Dirty Funky Sexy a club night in Vauxhall. Great night/morning, Bec and I finally managed to get home around 1 Saturday afternoon. The music was great, it was a smallish club with 3 dance floors and did not get too crowded during the night. Just danced and chatted until we left and went visiting to join in various
recovery sessions.

On Sunday paid a fortune to go and see 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' at the Odeon in Leicester Square. £11.50 for the ticket, which is about $28, and I am not talking gold class. Oh well it is a lovely cinema and the seat was nice and comfortable, the film was ok. Then it was £30 ($75) of really nice sushi to eat. The soho pride festival was on and Bec, Josh (a friend of Bec's) and I had a bit of a wander around.

I will shortly be going to see 'The Mousetrap' the world's longest running play. This will be performance number 21,950, in the 53rd year of running. I have been meaning to see this play every time I come to London, but have only just got around to it.
Otherwise it has mostly been a time to relax, recover and wander around. Off to Portugal on Thursday.

2005-08-01T23:29:00.000+10:00

Me and Alvin at Black River Gorge Mauritius

2005-08-01T23:26:00.001+10:00

Don't you dare take that photo, Mauritius

2005-08-01T23:26:00.000+10:00

A spot of fishing in Mauritius

2005-08-01T23:25:00.001+10:00

Me in Mauritius, the weather was terrible

2005-08-01T23:25:00.000+10:00

Here kitty kitty, 2 female lions drinking up after a feed

2005-08-01T23:24:00.002+10:00

Some vultures

2005-08-01T23:24:00.001+10:00

A living Girrafe

2005-08-01T23:24:00.000+10:00

Girrafe skeleton, Klaserie Game Reserve South Africa

2005-08-01T23:23:00.000+10:00

The Backpackers Ritz in Jo'burg

2005-08-01T23:22:00.000+10:00

Me and Bec at Waxy O'Connors pub in London 31 July

Day 8 to 12 Mauritius

2005-07-30T02:41:00.000+10:00

A little bit of a jump for this email, just need to catch up.

23 July to 27 July 2004
Mauritius

A tropical island not in the tropics. Beaches with coral just off shore. A reef break 200 metres off shore provides lovely clear calm waters ranging in co lour from a pale blue, through aquamarine to dark blue. With high mountains this island does not hide its volcanic origins, particularly as Many of the old buildings are made from local volcanic rock similar to blue stone. It is winter are the coldest day was about 21 degrees while I was there. That is the upside of the tropical weather, the downsides are the humidity and buildings looking run down because of mold growing on them. When waling or driving around apart from the vehicles, you need to watch out for dogs and the occasional chicken or cat wandering around on the road. The dogs are not a threat when walking. Most of the roads are narrow and old buses crawl, race, stop and start all over them. The buses were the main way I traveled, not that the taxi drivers were not regularly trying to get me in their cabs. The taxi drivers and the pushy jewelery salesman were the main irritation. Not wanting to buy did save me once from being ripped off. The first guys who tried to sell to me offered a red coral necklace for Rs4,000 (~$200), the next guy offered me a similar
one at Rs850 (and I probably could have got it for Rs300). As always it is buyer beware. Language is a funny thing in Mauritius English is the official language, but it is Creole (which sounds like French) that is the main spoken language. Most of the signs are in French/Creole, but many are in English. The 3 TV stations I got in my room had mainly shows in French on 2 channels (the rest of the shows were in English) and one channel just with Indian shows which were generally subtitled in English. Language inconsistency is a feature of the island. The population is mainly of Indian heritage. The highlights for me were a crater lake with several
Hindu temples around the edge, a lovely quiet and calm place. Another was the Black River Gorge National Park. A drive along the west coast where at one place the ocean was literally on the road (not much). This road was in part amazing for the minimal to non-existent barriers between you and the water, and with such incredible scenery to distract you I am pleased Alvin was driving. All these highlights I saw with Alvin who was very generous to give up half a days work to show me around, all because I know his brother, Ankit, back in Melbourne. I hope his work is not too pissed off with him. Monday is market day, it seems all over the island, well in
Mahebourg, Curepipe and Port Louis (the capital) which I visited during the day. In one section of the Port Louis market there were 3 signs up on one side was beef and pork, on the other side was goat. The lack of animal noises suggested it was meat sales. Despite Mahebourg being a small town the markets were sprawling, but I must admit to not being tempted by the wares. I have too far to travel to be buying souvenirs just yet. That's it for a brief rundown of the Mauritius I found, most enjoyable. To those who would like short emails, sorry. I am still having problems getting my photos off the camera, bloody PCs oh to find a Mac.

Love you all, have fun

Day 6 Kruger

2005-07-26T22:27:00.000+10:00

21-22 July 2005
Kruger - Jo'burg

Feeling a lot better, but still jet lagged. There was a lion growling in the area during the night. Getting up to go to the loo in the night required a second thought. As I was about the leave the loo, the lion growled even closer. I paused and listened, very very carefully, before poking my nose out of the toilet. I could not see him (thank goodness it was nearly the full moon), not that I necessarily would see him until he pounced. With a brisk walk the relative safety of the tent was reached and the zip done up. Funny how I felt safer in the tent, although I doubt the lion would have too much problem getting through it if he wanted to.

Brett made an early wake up call telling everyone to be at the vehicle in 2 minutes, we were going lion hunting, for shooting it with cameras. Score 1 adult male lion. We made further big finds in the afternoon with 2 or 3 rhinos spotted. We tried to sneak up on them, but they either could smell or see us and kept moving on. So as not to disturb them too much we backed off after 2 attempts. It is funny to think of an animal weighing more than a tonne with a great big spike on its nose being spooked us little old us. Yes the guides did have riffles, but they were unlikely to stop a charging rhino.

The terrain in this game reserve is quite different to the last one. The Klaserie is fairly sparsely treed, or even shrubbed. While Timblevatee seems like an abandoned orchard. Lots of the same type of tree cover much of the area, but the cover is still fairly light.

In the end we managed to see all of the big 5, with the leopard appearing just as we were about the leave the game reserve on the way back to Jo'burg. Lots of animals seen including a jackal the size of a chihuahua, some how I doubt it would make a good lap dog. Over 20 species of bird,
the highlight for me was seeing a couple of vultures. Another cramped drive back to Jo'burg.

Day 5 Kruger

2005-07-25T19:07:00.000+10:00

20 July 2005
Klaserie - Timbalvatee (spelling?)

Just for something different it was a lovely sunny day and a cold night, thinking of all you enjoying winter in Melbourne, oh for some temperature not in the low to mid 20's, or some cold rain :).
The baboons were active during the night. With the occassional spat between them. Lying in bed listening to the repeated sound of something crashing through the foliage, then hitting the ground, had me at first wondering what was happening. Did not take too long to guess (and the evidence was there to be seen in the morning) that baboons do not get out of the tree to take a dump. I would not be surprised if the disagreements during the night were the result of badly aimed (or perhaps well aimed) dung.

The morning walk took us through the reedy river bed by the camp. Keeps you on your toes a bit looking into the reeds for predators (not the ones with camoflage suits and energy weapons). Spent much of the walk sniffing, it would not look good being eaten by a lion with snot running out of your nose. It was an uneventful walk, but it is still good to be out and finding out about the plants in the bush.

Moved to the second camp in the Timbalvatee Private game reserve after lunch.

The afternoon had me in bed while the others went out and saw 3 rhinos and a couple of warthogs. I needed the rest, the cold had flared up, just what the doctor ordered as I was able to go out on all the other trips. It is funny how even though it was my choice to stay and miss the chance to see whatever they happened to find, Brett seemed relucant to tell me what I had missed. The rhino is one of the 'big 5'. I had not realised that apparently many people come to see the 'big 5', that is elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard. Me it is just a pleasure to see the animals in their native habit and to be walking where I thought it would be too dangerous for a traveler such as myself.

Day 4 - Kruger (Klaserie)

2005-07-24T18:12:00.000+10:00

19 July 2005
Klaserie game reserve

Another lovely sunny day and cold night. Another crap nights sleep. It is, actually it has, caught up with me 4 nights with 4 hours or less sleep, changed weather, crammed into a plane for 15 hours. I am now starting to feel crook. Of course I did not bring any headache or sinus medicine (who says you need to be clever to travel), lucky Margaret (the lady in the couple on the tour) gave me some neurophin. It helped with the headache. The tour works this way:

Just before dawn (easy as I am already awake), a cold breakfast then about a 3 hour walk/drive. Back to camp for a hot breakfast, a shower, a few hours rest, then lunch, a walk/drive for about 3 or 4 hours with drinks watching the sunset and back to camp for dinner (yeap the 4th meal for the day).

The morning walk took us past the skeleton of a male giraffe. This is the first skeleton I have seen on the tour. As it turns out it is the only and that one will be gone within 6 months. With the jackals eating the bones only footprints and dung mark the presence of animals.

The afternoon walk had a change when some buffalo tracks were seen. One of the Brett's headed back for the vehicle, while the rest of us continued on. It was a good call as with the vehicle we found a herd of about 200-300 buffalo. Also spotted about 4 hippos, a croc and some eagles at a water hole. Only saw the top of the hippos as they all remained submerged in the water.

On return to the camp we found some guests had moved in for the night, a troop of about 30 baboons had taken up residence in the trees. Early night to try and get rid of the cold that was starting.

Day 3 Jo'burg - Kruger

2005-07-24T17:36:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the delay in the update, but no power, let alone Internet computers out in the bush.

18 July 2005 Jo'burg - Kruger
Warm sunny day and a cold night, who would have thought it was winter.

Once again jet lag woke me up at a very early hour, something like 2:30 am, so another night of only about 4 hours sleep. Oh well at least I did not need the 5 am wake up call. Off to Kruger National Park today, well to be accurate a private game reserve on the edge of Kruger. There are a large number of fenced and unfenced private game reserves on the edge of Kruger National Park and the tour is at 2 of the unfenced reserves.

Apparently all the reserves were fenced 15 years ago, which made it easier to see the animals, but was causing problems with genetic diversity in the animals. There are about 50,000 hectares of game reserves around Kruger, with each reserve averaging about 1,000 hectares. The second reserve we will be staying in is about 3,500 hectares.

Crap ride to Kruger, the driver was very punctual, and rude, fortunately he did not talk much. Also with only 7 seats for the 8 passengers and a 4 hour drive, it was a cramped journey. The group on this tour was 6 singles and a couple, with the guys out numbers the women 6 to 2. A remarkably well traveled bunch of people. With the youngest 28.

The first reserve we will be staying in is in the Klaserie game reserve, named after the Klaserie river that runs through the game reserve. About an hour before we arrived in the camp we transferred to an open safari vehicle (I hope to be able to load up some photos some time soon). Most of the camps we pass on the way to ours are behind electric fences (the electric fence seems to be the most popular in South Africa, I suppose they get a buzz out of it). Our camp is unfenced at the edge of a dry river bed covered in reeds at least 3 metres high, tall enough to hide an elephant in as we later discover. On arrival at the edge of the camp are 5 giraffe, unfortunately they are not in camera range. Our 2 guides for the trip are Brett and Brett (keeps it simple). The afternoon spotting exercise is a drive then a walk. While on the drive we can hear elephants in the reed, but are unable to see them until we drive up a ridge to overlook the river bed. The camera is working pretty well, it is still going to take me a while to get used to it. I am going to have to spend time cropping a lot of the animal shots as I do not have the zoom lens needed to get the animals full frame. After watching the elephants (there were 6 or 7 of them, no big males, unfortunately) for a while the group (of people) headed out for a walk along the edge of the river bed. We did not head into the paths cutting through the reeds as it is too dangerous.

The rules of the walk are stay quiet (so the guides can listen for signs of the animals), single file (so we make less noise and are not as visible), and the lead walker should drop back to the end of the line every 10 minutes or so (so every one gets a chance to get the best viewing position). The 2 guides are armed with riffles and walk at the head of the group. We spot a few impala (antelope like with the head reaching about chest height, only the male has horns) and an animal whose name I have forgotten, but was something like rock hopper, also an antelope like animal about waist high. Saw at least 12 different birds as well.

Days 1 and 2

2005-07-18T00:08:00.000+10:00

16 July 2005

The new journey begins. As usual no particularly strong emotion in the lead up to the flight, but now it is the day of travel am a bit nervous about the flight. I have occasionally in the past sat on planes and worried a little about the plane crashing, now it is about some madman or
woman blowing the place up. Oh well it did not happen. Big difference with the assuptions people make when you travel now . Several people have looked surprised that I am not takin a mobile phone with me. It seems the ability to instantly communicate is now assumed, me I will just have to contine my Ludite ways.
Forgot my alarm clock, damn first big trip without it. Still my anorak is making the journey once again. Yeap I am still a dag.
Talking to the other travellers here at the Backpackers Ritz (more backpackers than Ritz) has got my feet very itchy for traveling.

17 July 2005

First real look around. The backpackers is an old mansion that has been converted. This area of Jo'burg is a very wealthy area, lots of flashy cars. The drive yesterday from the airport went past a lot of run down areas, even saw a couple of guys around a fire by the side of the road.
After coming from Australia with its increasing paranoia about food handling this place is much more relaxed. The bakery I went to for breakfast had most of the food for sale as self service, very odd, but the food was good. Made my first and hopefully only expensive purchase was of
sun screen (which i also forgot to bring) Rd145 (~$30). Just did not think about the amount until I left the shop then it was ooops.
The little I have seen of Jo'burg is a place that is a little scuffed up. Everything seems a little dirty, damaged or broken. Quite a few street vendors, even bumped into a guy selling The Big Issue. Not much worth photographing yet. Will add photos to the blog when I get the chance.

The journey begins

2005-07-17T23:36:00.000+10:00

It is a lovely bright sunny day in Jo'burg, so why I am sitting at a computer writing an update to my blog? Bye

Shot 3 and counting

2005-07-06T09:17:00.000+10:00

Had the start of my travel shots yesterday, don't you just love needles. They are never as bad as you think they will be (a very difficult thing to be that bad). So once again I am covered for yellow fever and others I can not remember. Going back next week for the next round. So many things to still do before I go. Most particularly book accommodation in Mauritius !!! and buy a trvel pack. But hey if I turn up in Mauritius without booked accommodation, what are they going to do turn me away, well yes so must get moving on that one. More once the trip starts :)