1. Sorry sir, thats an Irish Credit card, it wont work here.
2. Taxi man - you want air con?
us - yes please
Taxi man - that costs an extra 120 rupees
3. Bloke outside restaurant - you want food?
Us - we're just looking thanks (as we look at menu)
Bloke - yes lady, we do not sell rat or dog. Only velly best in our restaurant. Yes lady.(we slowly edged our way away)
4. Bloke - Can I help you sir?
Mal - Do you sell bottles of water?
Bloke - yes sir, very good sir. We only sell putrified water here
(sue- ahhh bless)
5. Guy - where you from.
Us - (as we sigh) England!
Guy - lovely jubbly (in a hindi accent)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Namaste (Hello) from Northern India !
Greetings, greetings! Holy moly, what a week we have had.
We arrived in Delhi having spent a fantastic 5 days with Damien and Moira
in Siem Reip, Cambodia. Honestly, I loved that place.
Ankor Wat is amazing and the whole place is just so relaxed and
everyone is so happy, calm, chilled and cheerful.
Twas great to chill out with D and Moira, we had such a laugh
with them drinking 'Tombraider cocktails (nearest we'll ever be to Ange)
and catching up. Thanks for meeting up with us, was fab to see ye x
And so, off we went ready for our next adventure. ENTER INDIA
M.E.N.T.A.L is the word I would use to describe Northern India.
Bananas is another.
The hubbie and I joined a group of 15 people from all over the world on an
Intrepid Tour and took off to experience the Golden Triangle which consisted of
Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and back to Delhi - about 700km in total over 7 days.
The type of tour meant we caught local transport - buses, trains, tuk tuks.
Ok, how can I explain it? Delhi is like being on a different planet!! Honestly.
The hoards of crowds on the streets, its so so so filthy everywhere you look,
its just so poor (and so upsetting to see tiny kids with flip flops way to big for them
on their feet roam the mounds of filth with the pigs looking for food) not to mention
locals squatting on the side of the road (oh yes) to do their business.
And I'm not talking a number 1.
Add tens and tens and tens of anorexic looking bulls, cows, diseased ridden monkeys,
painted camels, pigs, elephants and millions of skanky looking emaciated dogs roaming
all over the streets along with music blaring from all over, street vendors shouting and
selling their stuff, hundreds of tuk tuks, lorrys, cars, rickety old bikes, richshaws, beeping
beeping BEEEEEEEPING every 2 seconds and you get the picture.
MADNESS..............Shhhh India be still for a minute, pretty please.
And so, a few SODster things that I observed on this trip .
1. The Movember tache seems to be an annual thing in this country. Lads, its not cool.
2. Blokes walk around arm in arm or hand in hand with no sexual implications at all.
Women don't really do it as much, wierd.
3. Indians love our white skin. So much so they think NOTHING of coming up to you and
whipping our their camera phone in our face (oh yes) and taking a VIDEO of you.
I've been feeling a bit famous this week but man, its so annoying when they pretend
they're not taking a picture and then they follow you and then pretend to take a picture
of a tree. Its got to the point now where I almost believe I'm a popstar and to get it over
with make eye contact with them so they come over and jump in a pic. (scarlet for me).
Literally, my week of fame.
4. No such thing as 'this is my personal space, this is yours' in India. Its taken us a while
to get used to this.
5. Same for queueing. Doesn't exist. Can you imagine the fun we have had trying to get
train tickets and the like. Fun!
6. We have been walking along the street when people have come up and thrown
themselves at our legs and touched our knees. I know! Initially, we were like 'get offfff
you lunatic!' but then we were told touching someones knees is a sign of humility and respect.
Jeeeeeesh. Go on then Singh, just one touch then!
7. Asking some something in particular tends to get lost in translation as we have found out
many a time. In fairness, we are in THEIR country and don't speak their language.
But, when we do speak slowly in English and ask them if whatever we're looking for can
be done, they tend to look at you blankly. In the end you hope for the best.
One example of this was ordering a taxi transfer to the airport. We had met a couple from
the UK on our trip who were also travelling on a flight similar time to ourselves so we said
grand we'll share a cab. We went to reception ; heres an idea of how it went ;
Susan - hi, could we order a taxi to the airport for tomorrow please
Guy - taxi? yes, yes. morning or evening.
Susan -morning please, at 7am
Guy - 7 in the evening mam?
Susan - no 7 in the morning, early please
Guy - ok evening
Susan - No morning. 7am very early.
Guy - very good mam
Susan - can you also order a big car as we have 4 people?
Guy - car?
Susan -yes, big car? We are very big people (steady now peeps!), we need big car for
taxi tomorrow morning
Guy - yes, yes
7am comes. I am not joking you. The car was a Fiat Cinquento!!! We all looked at
ourselves and the size of each of our backpacks and cracked up. What followed was
pure comedy.....
Yer man (who wasn't a taxi driver at all, he was a mate of yer man at reception)
decided to tie all our backpacks onto the roof of the cinquento. With eh, one rope!!
Off we tore down the road, yer man with one hand on the horn (apparently its normal
here giving us little heart attacks as he practically went up on two wheels to get through
many a gap on the road)Every few minutes, we would glance behind us hoping NOT to
see a lost bag on the road! Next thing, we get to the airport and we're about 1km away,
we're tearing along when suddenly the car cuts out. And wont start! We all start laughing
coz we're fierce giddy at this stage, and yer man turns to Mal and Darren and says, can
you push? No problem Gunter! So out the lads get and start pushing the car with us chicks
still in it, yer man the driver shouting yes yes velly good, yes After 30 seconds of pushing
and running, the engine starts to cough and splutter and jump, the lads jump in as
the car is tearing up the road and yer man shouting and laughing 'velly good'
Two minutes later we get to departures and we girls have tears streaming down our
faces from all the laughing....and this is now 7.25am!
So yeah its just been classic. I know I will look back and think 'we did the madness'
and regale the tales.
By the way, and I definitely have to mention the highlight of the Golden Triangle trip
was the visit to the Taj Mahal. Its awesome.
Taj means 'Crown' and Mahal means 'Palace'. Most cities in India have at least 3 or
4 palaces so I am a bit 'Mahal'-ed out of it at this stage.
The Taj though....WOW. Its HUGE and when you walk in and see it, you draw a
breath and think 'crikey,I'm here'. Awesome.
For now, we are off to Southern India where we hear and we HOPE the madness and
noise is no more and we can chill out for a few days before hitting Goa for Christmas.
Enjoy the lead up to Chrimbo at home, everyone- man, bit envious :(
Namaste (good bye!) from the North
Shilpa Bradley x
A Taste of India
 |
| Street kids, Jaipur |
 |
| Mal getting to know some Delhi passengers on a local bus |
 |
| Yes, that is an elephant coming towards us on the road. As you do.... |
 |
| Mal 'Singh' Bradley!! |
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cambodia
Isnt she just beautiful, bless her.
(you know me and south East Asia kiddies, more to follow)
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Planes, Trains and confusing airports - The country that is...... Thailand
Its official. Thailand is my favorite. Mals beginning to agree.
Easy to see why. Here's an idea of what we've been upto, good and bad and indifferent, Thai style. Kopkoooonkahh
The things I love about Thailand.
1. The People
Ah lads, they are just so friendly. All you hear morning to night is 'sawaaadeekaaaa' (hello) and Velcom! Cuteness. Sure, half of them are trying to sell you a thai massage, get you into their bar or get into a tuk tuk for a fare that will cost 80p but they're so smiley, happy and friendly, you cant help but love em.
2. The Food
So Mal and I are foodies as Im sure ye all know. Well, we were in our element when we arrived in Bangkok sampling all the local delicacies for the next few days.....Pad Thai, Green chicken curry, Noodles and shrimp, each for a quid made by some 80 year old on the side of the street. Authentic or wha....until.......yes, both of us.... for 4 days. We reckon it was a green curry but OMG the 4 days were WORTH IT. The curry was out of this world. Twas a local place called Pangea on Phi phi Island made by a local (funnily enough). Tasty is not just the word. Spicy. YUM. A few Immodium later and when things got bad (!) an antibiotic, and sure half a stone less (every cloud, girls) we were right as rain and ready to leave Phi Phi. We're a little more careful these days. Can't wait for 4 weeks in India (sweet lantern)
3. The Scuba Diving
We've become these two narly annoying people who look like they know what they're doing on a boat as we attach all our diving gear together as everyone else look on (I copy Mal ha). Australia was amazing for the diving (Cairns) but holy moly you cant beat Phi Phi for the diving. For starters, and Mal will agree with me on this wont you Mal ! Our diving instructor was called Chris from Stockholm and lets just say, could beat any local thai boxer in a heartbeat. He worked out twice a day & had all these mad tattoos over the bod. Mal was impressed with his muscles in a envious way that guys get about other guys in shape.
I was just impressed!
Chris was a cool bloke, very enthusiastic about us getting our Advanced Open Water Course which meant us doing 5 dives in 2 days. We saw huge turtles, all kinds of fish and to top it all off swam with 5 x black tip reef sharks who swam around us -they were about 6 ft in length....amazing. We surfaced and Mal noticed he had a nose bleed and we couldnt stop laughing. Sure tis grand, theres only 5 sharks 3 metres below us and theres blood in the water! Never got into the boat so fast (clambered over Mal, sorry hubbie)
4. Thai Massages
U wan massage, Velcom! Ah how can you resist......200 baht (5 quid) for an hour. Just be careful which one you ask for though -they vary, vastly! Oil massage they like to massage everywhere apparently. So an american just told me at our cookery course today. Nearly spilt my coke as I took a sip.....Im gonna have one later this evening for research purposes. I'll let you know how I get on.
5. Thai Cookery courses
We did ours today and it was a laugh. Cost us 900 baht (a tenner). We were picked up by 'Boom' (hello my name Boom, only once yes not boom boom) and we were brought to a local market. Learnt all about the veggies, diff kind of eggs (there are 3 kinds, did you know that?!). We had a few Germans in our group who thought they were hilarious vit zer jokes. Ve say zom joke. No, youre not funny mate. Snore. Mal and I need to work on our tolerance, I am aware of this.
Anyway, as all this tom foolery was going on, I looked around the market and saw lsomething live jumping up and down in a bucket going mental. I soon realised they were live frogs as the market dear who was about 90 came over and grabbed a few from the bucket. Hey, steady you're hurting the frog dude! The frogs went mental as they were manhandled and put into a plastic bag. I know, a plastic bag - let them breathe for Christs sake! They were trying to get out of the bag in a last chance saloon kinda way. Yer wan showed no mercy and then completely out of the blue let out this mighty roar of a burp. Charming! I jumped it was that loud.And then I started to laugh. Had to muffle the laugh -the one teaching the course glared at me as she was teaching us about Bok Choi. The poor Frogs.
The cookery course was excellent. Learnt a good few more dishes that I'll sample at home. Homemade dipping sauce for spring rolls, Spicy papya salad and my fav chicken coconut soup. Its delish....There were a few yanks in our group aged from 40 to 60 and they all loved Mals accent, twas kinda funny actually. It was like he was Ricky Martin or something. Everytime he opened his mouth, they were drooling!! Oh my, you sound so gorgeous. Sure he loved it. Sure he was nearly singing them a ballad by the end of the day. I shouldnt take my handsome hubbies accent for granted I know.
6. The kids.
I love Thai kids. They're so so cute, so well behaved, so chilled out. I feel a 2011 calendar coming on.
7. The markets.
Cheap cheap, Happy howahh, goo plice. Thats literally all you hear. T-Shirts do amuse me. Cheapo tees but gas stuff on them. Starbucks 'may the froth be with you' , game over picture with a stick man and women getting married (mal thought this was hilarious, eh hello!) and so on. I am in my element with all the fake gucci, prada, hermes. Bliss. So mean though, Ive no room in my bag! Booooo. Dont have a drink and go shopping though. I did that one night and felt so sorry for the chick selling the stuff, she was from Burma and got smuggled into Thailand to make a living and I just wanted to take her home and make her a ham sandwich. I bought a fake prada wallet for 600 baht. I know. robbed. But I felt sorry for her! Lesson to be learnt. Dont drink and shop -just say no!
8. Phi Phi Island
Ah Phi Phi. People, you HAVE to go. Its lush. Tiny little island 2 hours boat journey from Phuket that is beautiful. We visited Maya beach which is the beach in 'The Beach' movie. Stunning but packed with jabroney tourists who packed the beach out. Us too, i know, i know. We also went snorkling as well as the old diving and it was equally as good. Phi Phi was flattened by the Tsunami in 2004 and lots of buildings are still left as they were which is very sad to see. But on a positive note, they've rebuilt a lot and tourism is flourishing. Go visit.
Like everything, you have to take the good with the bad dont you? Here's a few NOs for me.
Things I Dont like about Thailand.
1. Thai men with long nails.
Honestly, its not clever and its not flattering. It doesnt make their fingers look any longer. Only means they tend to get dirty quite easily. One word-Scissors.
2. Krusty backpackers in Thailand.
We are backpacking. WE are clean, we always wear clean clothes and we look CLEAN. So why oh why oh whyyyyy are there these 'type' of travellers (mostly from Israel as we've found out) who think its cool to wear droopy trousers that are basically skirts, arm pits that scream Gilette and dreads that look like they need a SHAMPOO not to mention 55 braclets up their arm (from every country Ive visitied....dude). It just cant be hygenic. Does anyone know the answer to this?!!
3. Loving the food but then wishing you didnt love it so much. Nuff said. We're fine again! And lost the few lbs we totally put on in Australia, hurray.
4. Airports in Bangkok.
Let me explain.
Mal and I spent a few days in Bangkok chilling out and then we flew to Phuket to get the boat out to Phi Phi. We arranged to get a minibus to the airport in Bangkok from our hotel on the Khao san road. Of course Mal comes out with the 'Ger' joke i.e our flight is at 11.45am. Sue are we getting the bus at 7am?! cheeky....we get the bus at 9am. It takes an hour. We're chatting to our fellow passengers on the bus about travels. Its all nice and chilled. I even sip a diet coke to refresh myself. Nice.
We get to the airport and load our bags onto the trolley and head indoors. We look at the flight screen. Where's our flight? Thats wierd, its not there. I ask someone and they look at me like Ive said howya whats the craic. They're thai and havent a rashers. We go to the flight desk. Yer one looks at our travel documents and comes out with the ultimate cracker.......'ohhhhhh zis is not aiport. you neeeee other airport. hurray you have ze no time' WTF we are in the WRONG airport!!!! We look at each other and then our watches. Its 10am. Our flight is at 11.45am and closes at 11am. How long does it take to the other airport - 1 OWAH......we crack up laughing and leg it out of the airport doing wheelies with our trolley as we leg it to the taxi rank shouting at the same time 'quick quick, go to airport please the other one' to some taxi dude whos looking at us.
In fairness to him, we jumped into the taxi and say 'step on it jackson' and he did. About 140 KPH. Legend. He kept shaking his head saying 'u crazy people, why wrong airport, I charge 900 baht yes!' ah jayssussssss. ok ok ok, just get us there for 11am and we pay 900 baht (so its only 22 quid but in relatively speaking in thailand, that is ridiculas, robbed! ). Gunter as I nicknamed him did us proud. I mean, we could hardly look with the beeping and swerving in and out of cars on Bangkoks version of the M50. Nice way to see the city! Every 10 mins or so, I'd ask Gunter 'so we get there on time yes?' and he's like 'oooooh, ze many traffic, I go fast but i dont know, I try, u krazy people'. Ah all we could do was fasten our seatbelts and laugh. You know what? We sped up to the other airport at 10.59am, I legged it in ran up to the desk and got us through. YESSS.
(footnote - Dont you think the minibus company should have ASKED everyone on board the name of the airport? Crazy. Our airport was the main one. Yeah, yeah, we should also have asked but we were going to Charles De Gaulle not the small teenchy Beavais. A classic thai moment - 'ah feck it we dont need to check anything really!')
5. Toilets on trekking.
We did a 2 night 3 day Trek in the jungle up in northern Thailand. Gillian McKeith I was not! It was an experience, ours was pretty average this time but having done one years ago (mals head is melted), it was brillo. Anyway Ill just make one point and say having one toilet is a man made hut for one village is not good. For anyone.
6. Germans and the locals.
Hairy Grandads in yellow budgie smugglers by the pool canoodling with skinny 16 year old local Thai girls is not cool. They are not your 'girlfriend' you have paid for that priviledge for a week. Its ming. Its horrible. Its pervy. Its gross. The budgie smugglers are bad enough but jaysis, the two together is just WRONG! Get your own girlfriend back in Frankfurt thats your own age and also free on the bus. Money, love does not buy, PAL. (I feel so bad for these gorgeous girls, dont do it, Run Forest Run!!)
So thats it for now peeps. We love it here. Its bliss. Very chilled out, easy peasy travelling the past few weeks and nice and relaxed.
Off to Cambodia for 5 days to catch up with Damien and Moira. Oh and see a few Temples...
Over and out for now. Kopkoonkah, Sawaadeykah Sue (and of course Mr. B) xx
Easy to see why. Here's an idea of what we've been upto, good and bad and indifferent, Thai style. Kopkoooonkahh
The things I love about Thailand.
1. The People
Ah lads, they are just so friendly. All you hear morning to night is 'sawaaadeekaaaa' (hello) and Velcom! Cuteness. Sure, half of them are trying to sell you a thai massage, get you into their bar or get into a tuk tuk for a fare that will cost 80p but they're so smiley, happy and friendly, you cant help but love em.
2. The Food
So Mal and I are foodies as Im sure ye all know. Well, we were in our element when we arrived in Bangkok sampling all the local delicacies for the next few days.....Pad Thai, Green chicken curry, Noodles and shrimp, each for a quid made by some 80 year old on the side of the street. Authentic or wha....until.......yes, both of us.... for 4 days. We reckon it was a green curry but OMG the 4 days were WORTH IT. The curry was out of this world. Twas a local place called Pangea on Phi phi Island made by a local (funnily enough). Tasty is not just the word. Spicy. YUM. A few Immodium later and when things got bad (!) an antibiotic, and sure half a stone less (every cloud, girls) we were right as rain and ready to leave Phi Phi. We're a little more careful these days. Can't wait for 4 weeks in India (sweet lantern)
3. The Scuba Diving
We've become these two narly annoying people who look like they know what they're doing on a boat as we attach all our diving gear together as everyone else look on (I copy Mal ha). Australia was amazing for the diving (Cairns) but holy moly you cant beat Phi Phi for the diving. For starters, and Mal will agree with me on this wont you Mal ! Our diving instructor was called Chris from Stockholm and lets just say, could beat any local thai boxer in a heartbeat. He worked out twice a day & had all these mad tattoos over the bod. Mal was impressed with his muscles in a envious way that guys get about other guys in shape.
I was just impressed!
Chris was a cool bloke, very enthusiastic about us getting our Advanced Open Water Course which meant us doing 5 dives in 2 days. We saw huge turtles, all kinds of fish and to top it all off swam with 5 x black tip reef sharks who swam around us -they were about 6 ft in length....amazing. We surfaced and Mal noticed he had a nose bleed and we couldnt stop laughing. Sure tis grand, theres only 5 sharks 3 metres below us and theres blood in the water! Never got into the boat so fast (clambered over Mal, sorry hubbie)
4. Thai Massages
U wan massage, Velcom! Ah how can you resist......200 baht (5 quid) for an hour. Just be careful which one you ask for though -they vary, vastly! Oil massage they like to massage everywhere apparently. So an american just told me at our cookery course today. Nearly spilt my coke as I took a sip.....Im gonna have one later this evening for research purposes. I'll let you know how I get on.
5. Thai Cookery courses
We did ours today and it was a laugh. Cost us 900 baht (a tenner). We were picked up by 'Boom' (hello my name Boom, only once yes not boom boom) and we were brought to a local market. Learnt all about the veggies, diff kind of eggs (there are 3 kinds, did you know that?!). We had a few Germans in our group who thought they were hilarious vit zer jokes. Ve say zom joke. No, youre not funny mate. Snore. Mal and I need to work on our tolerance, I am aware of this.
Anyway, as all this tom foolery was going on, I looked around the market and saw lsomething live jumping up and down in a bucket going mental. I soon realised they were live frogs as the market dear who was about 90 came over and grabbed a few from the bucket. Hey, steady you're hurting the frog dude! The frogs went mental as they were manhandled and put into a plastic bag. I know, a plastic bag - let them breathe for Christs sake! They were trying to get out of the bag in a last chance saloon kinda way. Yer wan showed no mercy and then completely out of the blue let out this mighty roar of a burp. Charming! I jumped it was that loud.And then I started to laugh. Had to muffle the laugh -the one teaching the course glared at me as she was teaching us about Bok Choi. The poor Frogs.
The cookery course was excellent. Learnt a good few more dishes that I'll sample at home. Homemade dipping sauce for spring rolls, Spicy papya salad and my fav chicken coconut soup. Its delish....There were a few yanks in our group aged from 40 to 60 and they all loved Mals accent, twas kinda funny actually. It was like he was Ricky Martin or something. Everytime he opened his mouth, they were drooling!! Oh my, you sound so gorgeous. Sure he loved it. Sure he was nearly singing them a ballad by the end of the day. I shouldnt take my handsome hubbies accent for granted I know.
6. The kids.
I love Thai kids. They're so so cute, so well behaved, so chilled out. I feel a 2011 calendar coming on.
7. The markets.
Cheap cheap, Happy howahh, goo plice. Thats literally all you hear. T-Shirts do amuse me. Cheapo tees but gas stuff on them. Starbucks 'may the froth be with you' , game over picture with a stick man and women getting married (mal thought this was hilarious, eh hello!) and so on. I am in my element with all the fake gucci, prada, hermes. Bliss. So mean though, Ive no room in my bag! Booooo. Dont have a drink and go shopping though. I did that one night and felt so sorry for the chick selling the stuff, she was from Burma and got smuggled into Thailand to make a living and I just wanted to take her home and make her a ham sandwich. I bought a fake prada wallet for 600 baht. I know. robbed. But I felt sorry for her! Lesson to be learnt. Dont drink and shop -just say no!
8. Phi Phi Island
Ah Phi Phi. People, you HAVE to go. Its lush. Tiny little island 2 hours boat journey from Phuket that is beautiful. We visited Maya beach which is the beach in 'The Beach' movie. Stunning but packed with jabroney tourists who packed the beach out. Us too, i know, i know. We also went snorkling as well as the old diving and it was equally as good. Phi Phi was flattened by the Tsunami in 2004 and lots of buildings are still left as they were which is very sad to see. But on a positive note, they've rebuilt a lot and tourism is flourishing. Go visit.
Like everything, you have to take the good with the bad dont you? Here's a few NOs for me.
Things I Dont like about Thailand.
1. Thai men with long nails.
Honestly, its not clever and its not flattering. It doesnt make their fingers look any longer. Only means they tend to get dirty quite easily. One word-Scissors.
2. Krusty backpackers in Thailand.
We are backpacking. WE are clean, we always wear clean clothes and we look CLEAN. So why oh why oh whyyyyy are there these 'type' of travellers (mostly from Israel as we've found out) who think its cool to wear droopy trousers that are basically skirts, arm pits that scream Gilette and dreads that look like they need a SHAMPOO not to mention 55 braclets up their arm (from every country Ive visitied....dude). It just cant be hygenic. Does anyone know the answer to this?!!
3. Loving the food but then wishing you didnt love it so much. Nuff said. We're fine again! And lost the few lbs we totally put on in Australia, hurray.
4. Airports in Bangkok.
Let me explain.
Mal and I spent a few days in Bangkok chilling out and then we flew to Phuket to get the boat out to Phi Phi. We arranged to get a minibus to the airport in Bangkok from our hotel on the Khao san road. Of course Mal comes out with the 'Ger' joke i.e our flight is at 11.45am. Sue are we getting the bus at 7am?! cheeky....we get the bus at 9am. It takes an hour. We're chatting to our fellow passengers on the bus about travels. Its all nice and chilled. I even sip a diet coke to refresh myself. Nice.
We get to the airport and load our bags onto the trolley and head indoors. We look at the flight screen. Where's our flight? Thats wierd, its not there. I ask someone and they look at me like Ive said howya whats the craic. They're thai and havent a rashers. We go to the flight desk. Yer one looks at our travel documents and comes out with the ultimate cracker.......'ohhhhhh zis is not aiport. you neeeee other airport. hurray you have ze no time' WTF we are in the WRONG airport!!!! We look at each other and then our watches. Its 10am. Our flight is at 11.45am and closes at 11am. How long does it take to the other airport - 1 OWAH......we crack up laughing and leg it out of the airport doing wheelies with our trolley as we leg it to the taxi rank shouting at the same time 'quick quick, go to airport please the other one' to some taxi dude whos looking at us.
In fairness to him, we jumped into the taxi and say 'step on it jackson' and he did. About 140 KPH. Legend. He kept shaking his head saying 'u crazy people, why wrong airport, I charge 900 baht yes!' ah jayssussssss. ok ok ok, just get us there for 11am and we pay 900 baht (so its only 22 quid but in relatively speaking in thailand, that is ridiculas, robbed! ). Gunter as I nicknamed him did us proud. I mean, we could hardly look with the beeping and swerving in and out of cars on Bangkoks version of the M50. Nice way to see the city! Every 10 mins or so, I'd ask Gunter 'so we get there on time yes?' and he's like 'oooooh, ze many traffic, I go fast but i dont know, I try, u krazy people'. Ah all we could do was fasten our seatbelts and laugh. You know what? We sped up to the other airport at 10.59am, I legged it in ran up to the desk and got us through. YESSS.
(footnote - Dont you think the minibus company should have ASKED everyone on board the name of the airport? Crazy. Our airport was the main one. Yeah, yeah, we should also have asked but we were going to Charles De Gaulle not the small teenchy Beavais. A classic thai moment - 'ah feck it we dont need to check anything really!')
5. Toilets on trekking.
We did a 2 night 3 day Trek in the jungle up in northern Thailand. Gillian McKeith I was not! It was an experience, ours was pretty average this time but having done one years ago (mals head is melted), it was brillo. Anyway Ill just make one point and say having one toilet is a man made hut for one village is not good. For anyone.
6. Germans and the locals.
Hairy Grandads in yellow budgie smugglers by the pool canoodling with skinny 16 year old local Thai girls is not cool. They are not your 'girlfriend' you have paid for that priviledge for a week. Its ming. Its horrible. Its pervy. Its gross. The budgie smugglers are bad enough but jaysis, the two together is just WRONG! Get your own girlfriend back in Frankfurt thats your own age and also free on the bus. Money, love does not buy, PAL. (I feel so bad for these gorgeous girls, dont do it, Run Forest Run!!)
So thats it for now peeps. We love it here. Its bliss. Very chilled out, easy peasy travelling the past few weeks and nice and relaxed.
Off to Cambodia for 5 days to catch up with Damien and Moira. Oh and see a few Temples...
Over and out for now. Kopkoonkah, Sawaadeykah Sue (and of course Mr. B) xx
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The land Down Under.....
So we've come to the end of our 3 weeks in the land Down Under.
All together now, 'I come from the land down underrrrr'.....
Oz has been my favorite place in the world since I was lucky to backpack here in 199/2000 and then come back again very briefly in 2003 before NZ and the Lions Tour.
I felt pretty lucky to be able to come back and sample ALL the things I did back in the day albeit a little bit older (ahem) and a bit more cash (yay). It was the hubbies first time in Oz and once I stopped wrecking his head by comparing virtually everything to the 'last time I was in Oz' (yep thats v interesting sue to hear about the convenience store that isnt there anymore) , he realised that it was a pretty deadly place! Of course there are changes to the place, there'd be something wrong if everything was still ticking along in the 2003 pace (somehow I doubt that right now) so having thought about it as I lay in the sun and worked on the tan the past few weeks (weather has been lush), here are a few comments about Ozzie life.
Backpackers
What has happened to the real backpackers? Its all gone tecno obsesive. They are WAY more sophisticated then when we did the backpacking thing. For starters, they all have laptops. I kid you not. Mal and I were like the ancient pikies heading to the internet cafe emailing mates on our hotmail. Oh its all facebook these days people. Eh, eh, eh! Many a time as we stolled past Maccers and as I fought the urge for a Big Mac, we saw up to 10, 12 people all looking into their laptops (free wifi at maccers) and not a peep out of them. It was a bit eerie actually. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned craic, the banter, the cracking up laughing in the internet cafes as friends read emails from pals at home?? Nope, just the silence and tap tap tap on the keyboard. Yeah, fun.
There also arent half as many backpackers traveling around Oz which surprised us. I guess a lot of it has to do with the dollar (brutal compared to years ago!) and the overall cost of living over here. I remember back in my day (see what poor Mal has had to live with), we could buy a 4 litre casket of wine (called Goon) for 8 bucks. Now its about 16......rip off!(but very necessary). We invested in the good stuff for 20 bucks. Classy!
Customer Service.
Suffice to say Australia has a fabulas mix of people adding fun, diversity and culture to the place. I also have a few aussie pals whom I would deem very intelligent so needless to say they are not included in this small percentage of aussies.
Right, that aside, I have let rip on some thoughts. I thought several times Jeremy Beadle was gonna pop his small hand out and wave a little flag at us -some of the situations we found ourselves in with these 'customer service agents' were unreal. Its a small bunch of people who work in customer service. Cousin Paul summed it up perfectly last night. He said its a mixture of them a) not knowing and b) not caring. In a nutshell, they dont give a shite! Need some examples? ok.....
Example no.1 - Tour Desk, Magnums Hostel, Magnetic Island, Queensland
susan - hi, can I ask you about scooters and how much they are to hire?
girl - awwww yeah. Silence.
susan - great, so do you know how much they are?
girl - danno mate. Im only new but hey I drove a scooter with my mum and sister in new zealand, it was awesome.My sister and I took one scooter and hey it was rad.
susan -amazing. So, can you find out for me how much they are on this island?
how about I pop back in 15 mins?
girl - eh? silence.
susan - fabulas, I'll be back in 15 thanks so much!
25 minutes later....
susan - hi, its me!
girl - God that was fast, I havent done anything about it yet.
susan - (thinking) oh sweet lantern you thicko. (says) ok, will I come back in 10 mins? Just the scooter prices thats all I need.
girl - Ill do my best dahl.
25 mins later.....I go back to the desk and I get the prices. Amen.
Example 2- Reception, Goldsborough apartments in Sydney where we stayed
Susan- ring, ring, hi is that recpetion? Yes hi, we're in room 506 and we've just checked in.
I notice that the sheet on the bed doesnt fit. The matress is showing and its not very nice - its got quite a few hairs on the matress and we cant sleep on this. Can you send someone up to change the sheet for me?>
Reception (chinese accent) - what u wan? ohhhh sleet? ok. You like sleet.
Susan -Yes, a new sheet please.
Reception - you room pease
Susan - Room506. Can this be done before we head to sleep tonight, that would be great. Thanks a lot.
4 hours later we come back.There is a new sheet on the bed but the very same size as the last one. It still doesnt fit. We throw the bed spread quilt over it and sleep on that.
God Ive loads more but I will spare ye. You catch my drift though. They are thick!
Ayers Rock
Its a rock! In the desert.
They make you join bus groups for sunrise and sunset (both freezing, bring layers) which cost $500 each over 3 days. Crikey....Mal and I were like 'meh' when we saw it. You cant climb it either. They say its for weather reasons but its to do with the Aboringines not wanting folk to climb it. Fair enough I suppose.
In between sunrise and sunset there was feck all to do so I sat by the pool and read.My advice? Only if you wanna.....only if you really wanna!
Sydney Bridge Climb
I adore Sydney. Its one of my favorite cities in the world. Mal and I decided to do the bridge climb in Sydney and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day as we went into the office in the Rocks at Circular Quay to do the paperwork before getting breathalized (i kid you not) and told to put on these smashing looking grey 1 pieces.
So we're sitting down in the office, concentration face filling out the form, about 24,000 miles from home and Mal turns to me and says 'ahhhh JAYSUS'. I turn around and Ronan 'the schmile on your face' Keating plus family are standing in the queue. With sunglasses on. Inside. Yes peeps, Ronan, all 5 ft 1 of him, 'im a celebrity for being a muppet' was doing the bridge climb. The same day as us. In his sunglasses. I felt such a yearning to run over & pull down his trackie bottoms! I know....agressive or what?! I decided not to but bloody hell though, Ro and gang got the VIP treatment and ushered in before us. I was NOT impressed.
Firslty no-one puts baby in the corner (sorry, wrong movie). I dont believe in queues (i know it sounds a bit poncy but I dont) and I dont believe in paying in after queing (to pubs and the like)
But I appreciate that everyone who HAS TO QUEUE should queue. Capiche?
Rant over, we got ourselves sorted and told to wait for our instructor called Kylie. Chirpy Kylie arrived with a Hey u guyyys, how are you going? in the strrrrongest aussie accesnt ever. We passed the breathalizer test (so mature) and off we went. As Ro has recently been a very bold boy (did the dirt with a lap dancer on the boyzone tour and his mrs left him before taking him back) I had hoped I might see wee Ro dangling by a few threads on the harbour bridge with Yvonne laughing evily, pair of scissors in her hand. No such luck!
The climb itself was awesome. Bit scary at times but very safe. You're harnessed in all the way and no chance of anything happening. The views of Circular Quay, Opera House, Manly, and all surrounding areas were just amazing. I did ask Kylie if she had had any suicide jumpers (I know, the gerbil in my brain) but I had the cop on to ask when we got back on dry land....just in case she thought I was a wierdo. So peeps, We'd deffo reccomend the climb if you venture to Sydney. Its quite pricey but once in a lifetime and well worth it.
Our Hotel in Sydney.
We were staying 2 more nights in Sydney before we headed off to Asia. We booked online a hotel and yes alarm bells should have begun right there and then when we read the name 'Posh Hotel'.
As we drove from the airport, we both had visions of a crusty warehouse with a big sign with 'suckers' written on the front! So when we got there and sure enough 'Posh Hostel' was there, we thought right happy days, bring on the 2 days in Sydney. Slightly scarlet about the name tho.
We were greeted by a grand asian guy who simply said NO when I asked him if we could be upgraded as we were on honeymoon (if you dont ask and all that!). We were given our key and got to the room. Gorgeous. Clean. Spacious and very modern. We had been so wrong about the hotel. High fived Mal and said right, quick head to the loo to freshen up .....eh, where the F is the bathroom??? There was none. Everyone had to share a bathroom on the floor. What?? Posh me arse.
Whatsmore, the loo, ah here. When you actually need to use the loo, there was a small gap in the door so everyone walking by could see you! Scarlet. I went down to reception to change room. No can do. Fully booked. Few tears from Sue (upset that my fav city and we had booked this pretend Hotel). I wasnt happy about it but I got over it. Word of warning, any slightest hunch that the Hotel you booked is not what it seems, DONT BOOK IT!
Overall though, Oz was fantastic. Going back visiting Harris St where I lived in Sydney, Seeing my cousin Paul and Kim, walking round Darling Harbour, seeing the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, getting the Manly Ferry, seeing an orange (snore) rock in the desert, diving in Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef, bombing around Magnetic Island in a topless tropical moke we named 'Terry'. It was ace.
Oz has become pricey for sure, but its a fab country, so much to see and do. Very friendly people and gorgeous sumemr weather in November! The fact that we could also fully communicate with people (after 2 months in South America) was also a dream. Love being able to chat...(tis true)
Thats all for now peeps, we are heading to Thailand in the morning. Back to us not having a rashers what the locals are saying and us likely ordering dog from the menu. We head to Bangkok and then to Phi Phi to dive, chill, visit 'that' beach (from The Beach) and work on the tan. It is a tough one, I know I know. ah we're making the most of it and getting along famously. Arent we hubbie?! We then fly to Chang Mai and then onto Camobdia into Ankor Wat where we're gonna hook up with D & Moira for a few days (hey guys, chat on facebook with details x)
More about the Thai thing as it happens.
love Sue & Brick 'squire' Bradley x
All together now, 'I come from the land down underrrrr'.....
Oz has been my favorite place in the world since I was lucky to backpack here in 199/2000 and then come back again very briefly in 2003 before NZ and the Lions Tour.
I felt pretty lucky to be able to come back and sample ALL the things I did back in the day albeit a little bit older (ahem) and a bit more cash (yay). It was the hubbies first time in Oz and once I stopped wrecking his head by comparing virtually everything to the 'last time I was in Oz' (yep thats v interesting sue to hear about the convenience store that isnt there anymore) , he realised that it was a pretty deadly place! Of course there are changes to the place, there'd be something wrong if everything was still ticking along in the 2003 pace (somehow I doubt that right now) so having thought about it as I lay in the sun and worked on the tan the past few weeks (weather has been lush), here are a few comments about Ozzie life.
Backpackers
What has happened to the real backpackers? Its all gone tecno obsesive. They are WAY more sophisticated then when we did the backpacking thing. For starters, they all have laptops. I kid you not. Mal and I were like the ancient pikies heading to the internet cafe emailing mates on our hotmail. Oh its all facebook these days people. Eh, eh, eh! Many a time as we stolled past Maccers and as I fought the urge for a Big Mac, we saw up to 10, 12 people all looking into their laptops (free wifi at maccers) and not a peep out of them. It was a bit eerie actually. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned craic, the banter, the cracking up laughing in the internet cafes as friends read emails from pals at home?? Nope, just the silence and tap tap tap on the keyboard. Yeah, fun.
There also arent half as many backpackers traveling around Oz which surprised us. I guess a lot of it has to do with the dollar (brutal compared to years ago!) and the overall cost of living over here. I remember back in my day (see what poor Mal has had to live with), we could buy a 4 litre casket of wine (called Goon) for 8 bucks. Now its about 16......rip off!(but very necessary). We invested in the good stuff for 20 bucks. Classy!
Customer Service.
Suffice to say Australia has a fabulas mix of people adding fun, diversity and culture to the place. I also have a few aussie pals whom I would deem very intelligent so needless to say they are not included in this small percentage of aussies.
Right, that aside, I have let rip on some thoughts. I thought several times Jeremy Beadle was gonna pop his small hand out and wave a little flag at us -some of the situations we found ourselves in with these 'customer service agents' were unreal. Its a small bunch of people who work in customer service. Cousin Paul summed it up perfectly last night. He said its a mixture of them a) not knowing and b) not caring. In a nutshell, they dont give a shite! Need some examples? ok.....
Example no.1 - Tour Desk, Magnums Hostel, Magnetic Island, Queensland
susan - hi, can I ask you about scooters and how much they are to hire?
girl - awwww yeah. Silence.
susan - great, so do you know how much they are?
girl - danno mate. Im only new but hey I drove a scooter with my mum and sister in new zealand, it was awesome.My sister and I took one scooter and hey it was rad.
susan -amazing. So, can you find out for me how much they are on this island?
how about I pop back in 15 mins?
girl - eh? silence.
susan - fabulas, I'll be back in 15 thanks so much!
25 minutes later....
susan - hi, its me!
girl - God that was fast, I havent done anything about it yet.
susan - (thinking) oh sweet lantern you thicko. (says) ok, will I come back in 10 mins? Just the scooter prices thats all I need.
girl - Ill do my best dahl.
25 mins later.....I go back to the desk and I get the prices. Amen.
Example 2- Reception, Goldsborough apartments in Sydney where we stayed
Susan- ring, ring, hi is that recpetion? Yes hi, we're in room 506 and we've just checked in.
I notice that the sheet on the bed doesnt fit. The matress is showing and its not very nice - its got quite a few hairs on the matress and we cant sleep on this. Can you send someone up to change the sheet for me?>
Reception (chinese accent) - what u wan? ohhhh sleet? ok. You like sleet.
Susan -Yes, a new sheet please.
Reception - you room pease
Susan - Room506. Can this be done before we head to sleep tonight, that would be great. Thanks a lot.
4 hours later we come back.There is a new sheet on the bed but the very same size as the last one. It still doesnt fit. We throw the bed spread quilt over it and sleep on that.
God Ive loads more but I will spare ye. You catch my drift though. They are thick!
Ayers Rock
Its a rock! In the desert.
They make you join bus groups for sunrise and sunset (both freezing, bring layers) which cost $500 each over 3 days. Crikey....Mal and I were like 'meh' when we saw it. You cant climb it either. They say its for weather reasons but its to do with the Aboringines not wanting folk to climb it. Fair enough I suppose.
In between sunrise and sunset there was feck all to do so I sat by the pool and read.My advice? Only if you wanna.....only if you really wanna!
Sydney Bridge Climb
I adore Sydney. Its one of my favorite cities in the world. Mal and I decided to do the bridge climb in Sydney and we were blessed with a gorgeous sunny day as we went into the office in the Rocks at Circular Quay to do the paperwork before getting breathalized (i kid you not) and told to put on these smashing looking grey 1 pieces.
So we're sitting down in the office, concentration face filling out the form, about 24,000 miles from home and Mal turns to me and says 'ahhhh JAYSUS'. I turn around and Ronan 'the schmile on your face' Keating plus family are standing in the queue. With sunglasses on. Inside. Yes peeps, Ronan, all 5 ft 1 of him, 'im a celebrity for being a muppet' was doing the bridge climb. The same day as us. In his sunglasses. I felt such a yearning to run over & pull down his trackie bottoms! I know....agressive or what?! I decided not to but bloody hell though, Ro and gang got the VIP treatment and ushered in before us. I was NOT impressed.
Firslty no-one puts baby in the corner (sorry, wrong movie). I dont believe in queues (i know it sounds a bit poncy but I dont) and I dont believe in paying in after queing (to pubs and the like)
But I appreciate that everyone who HAS TO QUEUE should queue. Capiche?
Rant over, we got ourselves sorted and told to wait for our instructor called Kylie. Chirpy Kylie arrived with a Hey u guyyys, how are you going? in the strrrrongest aussie accesnt ever. We passed the breathalizer test (so mature) and off we went. As Ro has recently been a very bold boy (did the dirt with a lap dancer on the boyzone tour and his mrs left him before taking him back) I had hoped I might see wee Ro dangling by a few threads on the harbour bridge with Yvonne laughing evily, pair of scissors in her hand. No such luck!
The climb itself was awesome. Bit scary at times but very safe. You're harnessed in all the way and no chance of anything happening. The views of Circular Quay, Opera House, Manly, and all surrounding areas were just amazing. I did ask Kylie if she had had any suicide jumpers (I know, the gerbil in my brain) but I had the cop on to ask when we got back on dry land....just in case she thought I was a wierdo. So peeps, We'd deffo reccomend the climb if you venture to Sydney. Its quite pricey but once in a lifetime and well worth it.
Our Hotel in Sydney.
We were staying 2 more nights in Sydney before we headed off to Asia. We booked online a hotel and yes alarm bells should have begun right there and then when we read the name 'Posh Hotel'.
As we drove from the airport, we both had visions of a crusty warehouse with a big sign with 'suckers' written on the front! So when we got there and sure enough 'Posh Hostel' was there, we thought right happy days, bring on the 2 days in Sydney. Slightly scarlet about the name tho.
We were greeted by a grand asian guy who simply said NO when I asked him if we could be upgraded as we were on honeymoon (if you dont ask and all that!). We were given our key and got to the room. Gorgeous. Clean. Spacious and very modern. We had been so wrong about the hotel. High fived Mal and said right, quick head to the loo to freshen up .....eh, where the F is the bathroom??? There was none. Everyone had to share a bathroom on the floor. What?? Posh me arse.
Whatsmore, the loo, ah here. When you actually need to use the loo, there was a small gap in the door so everyone walking by could see you! Scarlet. I went down to reception to change room. No can do. Fully booked. Few tears from Sue (upset that my fav city and we had booked this pretend Hotel). I wasnt happy about it but I got over it. Word of warning, any slightest hunch that the Hotel you booked is not what it seems, DONT BOOK IT!
Overall though, Oz was fantastic. Going back visiting Harris St where I lived in Sydney, Seeing my cousin Paul and Kim, walking round Darling Harbour, seeing the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, getting the Manly Ferry, seeing an orange (snore) rock in the desert, diving in Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef, bombing around Magnetic Island in a topless tropical moke we named 'Terry'. It was ace.
Oz has become pricey for sure, but its a fab country, so much to see and do. Very friendly people and gorgeous sumemr weather in November! The fact that we could also fully communicate with people (after 2 months in South America) was also a dream. Love being able to chat...(tis true)
Thats all for now peeps, we are heading to Thailand in the morning. Back to us not having a rashers what the locals are saying and us likely ordering dog from the menu. We head to Bangkok and then to Phi Phi to dive, chill, visit 'that' beach (from The Beach) and work on the tan. It is a tough one, I know I know. ah we're making the most of it and getting along famously. Arent we hubbie?! We then fly to Chang Mai and then onto Camobdia into Ankor Wat where we're gonna hook up with D & Moira for a few days (hey guys, chat on facebook with details x)
More about the Thai thing as it happens.
love Sue & Brick 'squire' Bradley x
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Cousin Paul & Sue on the Ferry to Manly - Aw yeah, no worries!
Met up with Paul & Kim when we got to Sydney. It was fab seeing them, their stunning home and just chillin out in true Aussie Style. Paul even threw a few snags (ok they were sausages) on the bahbie for brekkie. Love it. Had a ball with them and took in all the sights. Opera House (did a mad jet boat thing where we all got drenches, great craic!), Harbour Bridge, George St, Manly to name a few things....
Paul loves it in Sydney and you can see why. Kim and him are unreal workers but God its paid off, their house is fab and a real home. The aussie accent is coming along nicely for Paul and fair dinkim mate, being here 9 years is gonna do that to ya.....check out the vid!
(Meeting them for a belated birthday dinner on our last night in Syd next week after our Whitsundays trip) byeeeeee
Paul loves it in Sydney and you can see why. Kim and him are unreal workers but God its paid off, their house is fab and a real home. The aussie accent is coming along nicely for Paul and fair dinkim mate, being here 9 years is gonna do that to ya.....check out the vid!
(Meeting them for a belated birthday dinner on our last night in Syd next week after our Whitsundays trip) byeeeeee
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Steak, dog walkers and diego Tango dancers in Buenos Aires
So we have come to the end of the South America adventure. Its been very interesting, a few eye openers, a few GEL places and all in all great to have done it. Buenos Aires was our last city in South America and twas certainly different!
We had huge expectations of Buenos Aires as a city and expected to be bowled over but we just werent. I guess our first impressions didnt help seeing a gazillion bags of rotting smelly rubbish on the roads. Sexy time. Apparently there was a bin strike for the few days before we arrived and a few days after so the whole of the city kinda nasty - you can just imagine the smells. Gross. At least we were back to speaking spanish!
We stayed in a place called The Art Hostel and it twas actually a fab place to chill out. Staff were local artistes (mostly overtly gay and your very best friend, I loved them) and brillo for the fab local knowledge. I'd deffo recommend this place. Met some cool people had the craic, banter and few beers in the bar each night.
The great thing about Argentina is it is so so so cheap. Mal and I being the foodies that we are (My Dad has already asked me have I got fat. Cheers pops) we asked Carlos at reception for a recommendation of great food, not too expensive (bless our naivety) and good craic. He looked at us when we said '"craic" so we replaced that word with 'good atmosphere'. He got it. Much better.
Fair play to Carlos, talk about getting us spot on. The restaurant was called "Siga La Vacha".which in its literal translation is Follow the Cow. I didnt take it personally! The place had a queue out the door, it was that popular.Get this right, you pay 79 pesos which is 15 QUID and you get all the salad, ALL the type of meat - chicken, sausage, and then there was the STEAKS.......rump, striploin, sirlion, fillet....you name it, you could have it. Mal couldnt believe his eyes, I reckon he literally was the happiest man in BA that night. Whatsmore, along with the food they threw in home fries, desert, a bottle of house wine and any soft drinks.I swear to God, I fell out of the place like a roundy. I was like an oompah loompah except taller and no dodgy orange skin. The next night, we had another AMAZING Meal. 2 fillet steaks with all the trimmings, huge fresh salad, house bottle of red and some water. 20 QUID. WTF! I truly recommend people to experience the food, it has to be done.
Tour-wise, we did the open air bus which was fine for most except I got a gammy pair of earphones so that was kinda shite! We were driving past all these buildings thinking "oh that looks nice wonder what it is!!".
If you meet me when I get back, dont ask me about BA and where to go. Got on and off at various stops which was cool.
Interesting random fact - BA are big on dog walking!
(I have realised on the trip that I just love dogs. I really do)
The dog walking in BA is coz most people live in apartments so they hire people to walk their dogs when they are at work. Talk about a cushy job except the dog walkers are such skivers! They are always in the park chatting to their mates drinking coffee whilst brutus and God knows what other names go mental on the leash all tied up. The poor little mites.
We went to this park one morning, Mal was doing what every normal tourist does - taking pictures of buildings. I spot the dogs and I was off. Good luck with the buildings Mal, I'll be back in 20 mins...Next thing, I spotted 3 lazy dog walkers by a bench and their 36 dogs all tied up! No joke, doing the aul maths, I reckoned each dog walker had about 12 in tow. So the owners were sitting down drinking coffee, laughing and gossiping ignorning the fact that there were a million dogs going MENTAL around the mini park. I was in my element! Then I noticed a few dogs that werent let run free and were tied up. They were probably the ones who would leg it off. One poor fella was so excited to see his mate running around the park and clearly wanted to join in the fun. Despite being tied to the fence, he made a feeble attempt to jump it, free himself and off to his mate. Not so. As he was jumping his goolies got stuck in the leash. I felt his pain (even though I dont have goolies). It was one of those moments where I tried to shout but nothing came out! His dog walker was oblivious, too busy chatting to her mate. So mean. There I was looking at this grimmacing dog caught up in his leash by his argentinian goolies. How on earth was I gonna try to explain the poor fellas trauma in spanish to the dog walker? Imagine if I had gone up and pointed at the dogs swollen crown jewels! I'd have been locked up. So I did what every other Irish person did. Nothing! Well, No I ran over to Mal and told him the story, he broke his shite laughing which made it worse. And then we walked off. God I am terrible.
What else about BA. Oh yes, we went to an area called La Boca. Apparently home of a very famous football team and also a really poor area. Met this funniest impersonator of Diego Maradonna. Mal got the pic taken, must put it up on line. Will do, I promise! They are obsessed with Diego, the amount of tatoos I saw with the number 10. Hadnt a rashers until the penny dropped...ahaaa!
Also did a Tango lesson and went to a show. Yep feel free to slag the hubbie, ha ....Twas all part of the 'show'' and fair play, he got the steps right! Dont think we'll be on 'Dancing with the Stars' soon though. Jees, its harder than it looks, no wonder the celebs loose stones, the stress of it all. The show itself was authentic. Lots of Diegos jmping in the air with tight trousers (steady) , doing splits and very fast stamping on the ground. The chicks were amazing. Gorge tango dresses and shoes to match. I was in heaven. We went to see the Eva Peron museum. Quite interesting to learn all about her. She died at 32 which was mad wasnt it? Very young. Her clothes & shoe collection were all behind glass to see, pretty stunning and very modern for the age. Maybe we're going back to that age though.... Took some pics to give to a pal back home who designs shoes. I couldnt believe my ears when I heard some gobshite canadian behind me ask someone 'who is eva peron''. No words necessary.
So yeah all in all, we came, we saw and we ate! BA is a good place to visit for sure but I would deffo add another dimension to Argentina with your visit, such as Patagonia etc.
Feel really lucky to have visited quite a few countries of South America but definately would say we only touched on the surface of the few that we visited - Peru, Brazil and Argentina. They are so massive, you need way more time. Will we come back? Dunno....lots more in the world to see.
And onwards to Aussie, aw yeah mate. The longest flight in the world apparently. Buenos Aires to Sydney, just the 15 hours. Holy hit. Not nervous at all.(yeah rat). I'm told we fly over the south pole and cross 14 different time zones. God knows what state I'll be in when we land down under.
I come from the land down under, c'mon everyone!!
We had huge expectations of Buenos Aires as a city and expected to be bowled over but we just werent. I guess our first impressions didnt help seeing a gazillion bags of rotting smelly rubbish on the roads. Sexy time. Apparently there was a bin strike for the few days before we arrived and a few days after so the whole of the city kinda nasty - you can just imagine the smells. Gross. At least we were back to speaking spanish!
We stayed in a place called The Art Hostel and it twas actually a fab place to chill out. Staff were local artistes (mostly overtly gay and your very best friend, I loved them) and brillo for the fab local knowledge. I'd deffo recommend this place. Met some cool people had the craic, banter and few beers in the bar each night.
The great thing about Argentina is it is so so so cheap. Mal and I being the foodies that we are (My Dad has already asked me have I got fat. Cheers pops) we asked Carlos at reception for a recommendation of great food, not too expensive (bless our naivety) and good craic. He looked at us when we said '"craic" so we replaced that word with 'good atmosphere'. He got it. Much better.
Fair play to Carlos, talk about getting us spot on. The restaurant was called "Siga La Vacha".which in its literal translation is Follow the Cow. I didnt take it personally! The place had a queue out the door, it was that popular.Get this right, you pay 79 pesos which is 15 QUID and you get all the salad, ALL the type of meat - chicken, sausage, and then there was the STEAKS.......rump, striploin, sirlion, fillet....you name it, you could have it. Mal couldnt believe his eyes, I reckon he literally was the happiest man in BA that night. Whatsmore, along with the food they threw in home fries, desert, a bottle of house wine and any soft drinks.I swear to God, I fell out of the place like a roundy. I was like an oompah loompah except taller and no dodgy orange skin. The next night, we had another AMAZING Meal. 2 fillet steaks with all the trimmings, huge fresh salad, house bottle of red and some water. 20 QUID. WTF! I truly recommend people to experience the food, it has to be done.
Tour-wise, we did the open air bus which was fine for most except I got a gammy pair of earphones so that was kinda shite! We were driving past all these buildings thinking "oh that looks nice wonder what it is!!".
If you meet me when I get back, dont ask me about BA and where to go. Got on and off at various stops which was cool.
Interesting random fact - BA are big on dog walking!
(I have realised on the trip that I just love dogs. I really do)
The dog walking in BA is coz most people live in apartments so they hire people to walk their dogs when they are at work. Talk about a cushy job except the dog walkers are such skivers! They are always in the park chatting to their mates drinking coffee whilst brutus and God knows what other names go mental on the leash all tied up. The poor little mites.
We went to this park one morning, Mal was doing what every normal tourist does - taking pictures of buildings. I spot the dogs and I was off. Good luck with the buildings Mal, I'll be back in 20 mins...Next thing, I spotted 3 lazy dog walkers by a bench and their 36 dogs all tied up! No joke, doing the aul maths, I reckoned each dog walker had about 12 in tow. So the owners were sitting down drinking coffee, laughing and gossiping ignorning the fact that there were a million dogs going MENTAL around the mini park. I was in my element! Then I noticed a few dogs that werent let run free and were tied up. They were probably the ones who would leg it off. One poor fella was so excited to see his mate running around the park and clearly wanted to join in the fun. Despite being tied to the fence, he made a feeble attempt to jump it, free himself and off to his mate. Not so. As he was jumping his goolies got stuck in the leash. I felt his pain (even though I dont have goolies). It was one of those moments where I tried to shout but nothing came out! His dog walker was oblivious, too busy chatting to her mate. So mean. There I was looking at this grimmacing dog caught up in his leash by his argentinian goolies. How on earth was I gonna try to explain the poor fellas trauma in spanish to the dog walker? Imagine if I had gone up and pointed at the dogs swollen crown jewels! I'd have been locked up. So I did what every other Irish person did. Nothing! Well, No I ran over to Mal and told him the story, he broke his shite laughing which made it worse. And then we walked off. God I am terrible.
What else about BA. Oh yes, we went to an area called La Boca. Apparently home of a very famous football team and also a really poor area. Met this funniest impersonator of Diego Maradonna. Mal got the pic taken, must put it up on line. Will do, I promise! They are obsessed with Diego, the amount of tatoos I saw with the number 10. Hadnt a rashers until the penny dropped...ahaaa!
Also did a Tango lesson and went to a show. Yep feel free to slag the hubbie, ha ....Twas all part of the 'show'' and fair play, he got the steps right! Dont think we'll be on 'Dancing with the Stars' soon though. Jees, its harder than it looks, no wonder the celebs loose stones, the stress of it all. The show itself was authentic. Lots of Diegos jmping in the air with tight trousers (steady) , doing splits and very fast stamping on the ground. The chicks were amazing. Gorge tango dresses and shoes to match. I was in heaven. We went to see the Eva Peron museum. Quite interesting to learn all about her. She died at 32 which was mad wasnt it? Very young. Her clothes & shoe collection were all behind glass to see, pretty stunning and very modern for the age. Maybe we're going back to that age though.... Took some pics to give to a pal back home who designs shoes. I couldnt believe my ears when I heard some gobshite canadian behind me ask someone 'who is eva peron''. No words necessary.
So yeah all in all, we came, we saw and we ate! BA is a good place to visit for sure but I would deffo add another dimension to Argentina with your visit, such as Patagonia etc.
Feel really lucky to have visited quite a few countries of South America but definately would say we only touched on the surface of the few that we visited - Peru, Brazil and Argentina. They are so massive, you need way more time. Will we come back? Dunno....lots more in the world to see.
And onwards to Aussie, aw yeah mate. The longest flight in the world apparently. Buenos Aires to Sydney, just the 15 hours. Holy hit. Not nervous at all.(yeah rat). I'm told we fly over the south pole and cross 14 different time zones. God knows what state I'll be in when we land down under.
I come from the land down under, c'mon everyone!!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sue handgliding in Rio....as you do!
Was slightly bricking it but was a lot of fun! Fab views and landed on a beach.
Brazil and its gorgeousness
Some facts Ive learnt about Brazil so far.
1. The Language
ok so hands up who thought Brazilians spoke Spanish?! ME!
Nope people, just when I was starting to grasp the espanol anguage in South America, I arrive in the biggest city in south america Sao Paolo with my little Éspanol handbook to hand and fresh off the flight from Peru, Im straight in with ´hombre, donde esta el hotelo, por favor´. Yer one in the airport looks at me with the whole hmmm hmmm ricky lake shaking the finger ´u takin to me´ .
Mal then turns to me and says eh love, its portugese here. WTF?
Since last week, Ive learnt as follows:
Muite Obrigada (thanks a lot), Oi (Hello), Cerveza (beer) and Rodovario (Train station).
Everything else I just smile or in desperate situations just laugh and then leg it. They kinda understand you if you speak spanish to them but they´re so not about speaking anything else other than their own language. yeah yeah Portugese Colonialism blah blah and all that. Sure its only 1500 years of history. That doesnt hep my cause when I need the el toileto. And Fast-o.
2. Brazlian Beauty or should I say booootay.
Supermodel Gisele Bunchen comes from Brazil and I braced myself that I would unblessed amongst women...... I literally was expecting everyone to look like her. I spotted a couple of complete and absolute stunners just walking by (model scouts, where are you?) but for the majority, they´re normal. Now one thing I did realise is why the Brazilians are so sexy and gorgeous and its cause there are so many races in this country and feck all racism with what I´ve seen. Stunning skin colour as a result making Sue OD fairly paschty beside them...... Now interestingly enough and listen up here chicks, Brazilian chicks are normal to ever so slightly on the LARGE size. BOOTay. Go ricky, go ricky......Whatsmore, they love showing their rotond bellies in tops that are about 2 sizes too small. Having said that, chicks here ooze confidence and the sexiness shines through. They really dont care less which is liberating. Ill have that big mac so.
Blokes on the other hand....ah here, where so I start? Two words - budgy smugglers.
The couple of times Mal and I got to the beach, lets just say Mal loved the views. Me on the other hand, ah I was digusted. Sure I couldnt keep a straight face. Blokes wore the schmallest, teenchiest, bright colored briefs. Nothing was left to the imagination in an oh so untastful manner. The mingers.
3. Rio
Ahhhhhh Rio. We loved it. You need at least 4 days here, there is just so much to do and see. We did everything we possibly could. We stayed at Copacabana Beach (her name was Lola) in a Hostel (boooo) and did as much as we could. So what kinda stuff?
Christ the Redeemer Statue.
You know the image that we´ve seen loads of times before of Christ on the top of the mountain overlooking the city. Well we decided that we would deffo go and see it seeing as were there. So we did and ´caught a local bus (check us out!) and then the tram up to the statue. We were lucky that it happend to be a gorgeous day so the views were savage. There was a little cute church on the top of the mountain so I popped in to say thanks.
Local Footie game.
Local Rio team Vasgo de Gama vs Sao Paolos~Corinthians
(Roberto Carlos plays for this side, so Mal told me)
Right, so I´m no massive football game (although I do get the offside rule) but was actually really really cool to go. Jesus the place went nuts. Brazilians and their footie. The crowds zoned in on one player and when he went off early, he turned to our side of the crowd and gave us the bird. Brilliant! They place went bonkers. Bought a Vasgo hat as a souvenir which ill give Paul D my cousin when I see him in Sydney next week. Lucky Paul, I know.
Handgliding.
Apparently handgliding is the thing to do in Rio so Mal and I decided to fork out a good few bob to run like mentlers off a roof about 800 feet up above Rio. I got kitted up in the gear and my training consisted of running as fast as I could with my hand on some dudes shoulder for about 5 metres on the ground. He said `velly good suzan, you are ready now to fly´. Erm thanks carlos me amigo.
Carlos was a bit of a hippy head wrecker saying stuff like`ah susan, let us have the best flight ever with good energy. And, you are not from dublino, you are from earth like me`....I didnt really care what tripe he was coming out with so long as he got me on that beach in one piece. Anyway, true to our `training´, we crept up onto the roof (see video!!) and without saying a word, we legged it. I pictured myself in the Community Games in Santry stadium, except this time I wasnt coming last (ah bless). 5 seconds later as we took off (!), I got that funny fluttering feeling of weightlessness and was pretty amazing to be honest. Carlos was busy pulling a few strings (literally) so I took in the views. Again the cheeseball was like Hey Suzan, you know Avatar 3D? Yes......ok lets do 4 D. Ah cringe......Still, once yer man shut up, I loved it and the journey lasted about 20 mins. Landed on 2 feet on a nearby beach and was a great thing to do (once!)
Favela Tour.....now guys, THAT was an experience.
For those who dont know, a`Favela` is a shanty town and believe it or not Rio was amongst the first places in the world to develop these shanty towns. Mal and I have been to Soweto in South Africa which was pretty grim but we just couldnt believe it when we got to a place called Rochinho, one of the biggest Favelas in Rio.
Firstly its got the biggest cocaine problem in the world. The drug dealers make 1 million Brazilian Reals (USD 600,00) a week. Yep, a week. How can you spot a drug dealer? Well according to our tour guide who turned around and said as a matter of factly ´Oh they are the guys with the machine guns, so no pictures please when you see them´. Gotcha, Thanks!
Next thing, ah twas was gas. There were about 14 of us, johnny foreigners from all over the world on the Tour and we get to the entrance of the Favela reading to check it out. Next thing, Tour Guide dude says `right everyone, so we get to the top of the favela in style´. We´re all looking around thinking grand yeah. Next thing 20 local favela knackers appear on the dodgiest looking decrepid motorbikes you´ve ever seen and yer man hands them 2 reals each (50 cent) and tells us to Hop on! We thought he was taking the mick. Nope.
There are about 14 dudes, oh such choice! So off Susie goes, picks some random dude who doesnt look too young (like its gonna make a difference) and throws her pasty white irish leg over some banjoed motorbike. I heard later on Mal being the real gent he is let all the other tourists get on their bikes first and he was left stuck with this big fat dude ha ha.... sorry, I shouldnt laugh.
So off we SPED. Me and some random bloke. And, I mean sped, weeving in and out of traffic up this really steep hill to the top of the favela. Along the way a bike passes us out with a guy on the back with the dodgiest bleached red barnet that make me smirk until I saw he was holding a girnormous machine gun. There we were travelling paralell for about 100 metres. I mean its not like I can say ´whats the craic´ to him now is it?? The crazy journey took 10 mins-think a Nigerian shanty town and their traffic madness of people walking in front of cars, bikes,animals on the road and of course the craic addicts. Nuts. I caught a glimpse of Mal on the back of his motorbike behind me and managed a brave but meek ´hellloooooo´ and we were off again. I reckon yer man went faster so I grabbed his waist. Ah gross! We got there in one piece and laughed so hard at how crazy it was but relieved to be in one piece. and we hadnt even started the tour yet.
Anyway, we dusted ourselves down and started walking through the shanty town. My God, it was unreal. So poor. So filty but gorgeous people young and old all smiling. (except for the coke dealers, grrrr). I took loads of pics and will put a few up this week to show you what I mean. They are cute hoors though, Ill give them that. They tap into Rio´s electricity and water board amd dont pay a cent for it. They´ve also discovered free internet too! Theres no police force in the Favelas. Dont blame the Rio cops for staying away. Go and do a Favela Tour if you are in Rio. Its gift. PS. Bring a spare pair of undies!
Will write some more soon x
1. The Language
ok so hands up who thought Brazilians spoke Spanish?! ME!
Nope people, just when I was starting to grasp the espanol anguage in South America, I arrive in the biggest city in south america Sao Paolo with my little Éspanol handbook to hand and fresh off the flight from Peru, Im straight in with ´hombre, donde esta el hotelo, por favor´. Yer one in the airport looks at me with the whole hmmm hmmm ricky lake shaking the finger ´u takin to me´ .
Mal then turns to me and says eh love, its portugese here. WTF?
Since last week, Ive learnt as follows:
Muite Obrigada (thanks a lot), Oi (Hello), Cerveza (beer) and Rodovario (Train station).
Everything else I just smile or in desperate situations just laugh and then leg it. They kinda understand you if you speak spanish to them but they´re so not about speaking anything else other than their own language. yeah yeah Portugese Colonialism blah blah and all that. Sure its only 1500 years of history. That doesnt hep my cause when I need the el toileto. And Fast-o.
2. Brazlian Beauty or should I say booootay.
Supermodel Gisele Bunchen comes from Brazil and I braced myself that I would unblessed amongst women...... I literally was expecting everyone to look like her. I spotted a couple of complete and absolute stunners just walking by (model scouts, where are you?) but for the majority, they´re normal. Now one thing I did realise is why the Brazilians are so sexy and gorgeous and its cause there are so many races in this country and feck all racism with what I´ve seen. Stunning skin colour as a result making Sue OD fairly paschty beside them...... Now interestingly enough and listen up here chicks, Brazilian chicks are normal to ever so slightly on the LARGE size. BOOTay. Go ricky, go ricky......Whatsmore, they love showing their rotond bellies in tops that are about 2 sizes too small. Having said that, chicks here ooze confidence and the sexiness shines through. They really dont care less which is liberating. Ill have that big mac so.
Blokes on the other hand....ah here, where so I start? Two words - budgy smugglers.
The couple of times Mal and I got to the beach, lets just say Mal loved the views. Me on the other hand, ah I was digusted. Sure I couldnt keep a straight face. Blokes wore the schmallest, teenchiest, bright colored briefs. Nothing was left to the imagination in an oh so untastful manner. The mingers.
3. Rio
Ahhhhhh Rio. We loved it. You need at least 4 days here, there is just so much to do and see. We did everything we possibly could. We stayed at Copacabana Beach (her name was Lola) in a Hostel (boooo) and did as much as we could. So what kinda stuff?
Christ the Redeemer Statue.
You know the image that we´ve seen loads of times before of Christ on the top of the mountain overlooking the city. Well we decided that we would deffo go and see it seeing as were there. So we did and ´caught a local bus (check us out!) and then the tram up to the statue. We were lucky that it happend to be a gorgeous day so the views were savage. There was a little cute church on the top of the mountain so I popped in to say thanks.
Local Footie game.
Local Rio team Vasgo de Gama vs Sao Paolos~Corinthians
(Roberto Carlos plays for this side, so Mal told me)
Right, so I´m no massive football game (although I do get the offside rule) but was actually really really cool to go. Jesus the place went nuts. Brazilians and their footie. The crowds zoned in on one player and when he went off early, he turned to our side of the crowd and gave us the bird. Brilliant! They place went bonkers. Bought a Vasgo hat as a souvenir which ill give Paul D my cousin when I see him in Sydney next week. Lucky Paul, I know.
Handgliding.
Apparently handgliding is the thing to do in Rio so Mal and I decided to fork out a good few bob to run like mentlers off a roof about 800 feet up above Rio. I got kitted up in the gear and my training consisted of running as fast as I could with my hand on some dudes shoulder for about 5 metres on the ground. He said `velly good suzan, you are ready now to fly´. Erm thanks carlos me amigo.
Carlos was a bit of a hippy head wrecker saying stuff like`ah susan, let us have the best flight ever with good energy. And, you are not from dublino, you are from earth like me`....I didnt really care what tripe he was coming out with so long as he got me on that beach in one piece. Anyway, true to our `training´, we crept up onto the roof (see video!!) and without saying a word, we legged it. I pictured myself in the Community Games in Santry stadium, except this time I wasnt coming last (ah bless). 5 seconds later as we took off (!), I got that funny fluttering feeling of weightlessness and was pretty amazing to be honest. Carlos was busy pulling a few strings (literally) so I took in the views. Again the cheeseball was like Hey Suzan, you know Avatar 3D? Yes......ok lets do 4 D. Ah cringe......Still, once yer man shut up, I loved it and the journey lasted about 20 mins. Landed on 2 feet on a nearby beach and was a great thing to do (once!)
Favela Tour.....now guys, THAT was an experience.
For those who dont know, a`Favela` is a shanty town and believe it or not Rio was amongst the first places in the world to develop these shanty towns. Mal and I have been to Soweto in South Africa which was pretty grim but we just couldnt believe it when we got to a place called Rochinho, one of the biggest Favelas in Rio.
Firstly its got the biggest cocaine problem in the world. The drug dealers make 1 million Brazilian Reals (USD 600,00) a week. Yep, a week. How can you spot a drug dealer? Well according to our tour guide who turned around and said as a matter of factly ´Oh they are the guys with the machine guns, so no pictures please when you see them´. Gotcha, Thanks!
Next thing, ah twas was gas. There were about 14 of us, johnny foreigners from all over the world on the Tour and we get to the entrance of the Favela reading to check it out. Next thing, Tour Guide dude says `right everyone, so we get to the top of the favela in style´. We´re all looking around thinking grand yeah. Next thing 20 local favela knackers appear on the dodgiest looking decrepid motorbikes you´ve ever seen and yer man hands them 2 reals each (50 cent) and tells us to Hop on! We thought he was taking the mick. Nope.
There are about 14 dudes, oh such choice! So off Susie goes, picks some random dude who doesnt look too young (like its gonna make a difference) and throws her pasty white irish leg over some banjoed motorbike. I heard later on Mal being the real gent he is let all the other tourists get on their bikes first and he was left stuck with this big fat dude ha ha.... sorry, I shouldnt laugh.
So off we SPED. Me and some random bloke. And, I mean sped, weeving in and out of traffic up this really steep hill to the top of the favela. Along the way a bike passes us out with a guy on the back with the dodgiest bleached red barnet that make me smirk until I saw he was holding a girnormous machine gun. There we were travelling paralell for about 100 metres. I mean its not like I can say ´whats the craic´ to him now is it?? The crazy journey took 10 mins-think a Nigerian shanty town and their traffic madness of people walking in front of cars, bikes,animals on the road and of course the craic addicts. Nuts. I caught a glimpse of Mal on the back of his motorbike behind me and managed a brave but meek ´hellloooooo´ and we were off again. I reckon yer man went faster so I grabbed his waist. Ah gross! We got there in one piece and laughed so hard at how crazy it was but relieved to be in one piece. and we hadnt even started the tour yet.
Anyway, we dusted ourselves down and started walking through the shanty town. My God, it was unreal. So poor. So filty but gorgeous people young and old all smiling. (except for the coke dealers, grrrr). I took loads of pics and will put a few up this week to show you what I mean. They are cute hoors though, Ill give them that. They tap into Rio´s electricity and water board amd dont pay a cent for it. They´ve also discovered free internet too! Theres no police force in the Favelas. Dont blame the Rio cops for staying away. Go and do a Favela Tour if you are in Rio. Its gift. PS. Bring a spare pair of undies!
Will write some more soon x
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Machu Picchu
Mal and I flew from Lima to a place called Cusco - an hours flight over the Andes Mountain range which had pretty spectacular views. We had all been warned about the altitude difference and to that it would take a few days to aclimatize. Cusco is a big city with 1 million people living up 3000 feet in the Andes Mountains. As soon as we landed you could feel it straight away. Its like your lungs arent getting as much oxygen as you want and you try and breathe faster to compensate. Best advise is to try and relax, it takes everyone at least 2 days to acclimatise, no matter how fit you are.
Taxi into town took 15 minutes. For me this was the real Peru that you read about and see in the tourist books. Women with long plaited hair walking down the streets wearing typical peruvian clothing -peruvian hat, colorful alpaca (llama) jumpers and the most gorgeous babies wrapped up in colorful blankets on their backs.
We met our group in the Hotel and went for dinner that night. As we sat in the local restaurant with a few locals playing peruvian pan pipes (like the ones on Grafton St!), the waiter approached us and advised Mal that we should try a local delicacy...........Guinea Pig. I broke my side laughing when he said it, I thought he was joking. He wasnt.
Mal convinced me to get it. Dont ask me WHY or HOW he did but 1 roasted Guinea Pig was ordered and 20 mins later....... ah lads, it was desperate. Poor old ronnie the guinea pig came out with half a tomato on his head as a hat. I didnt know whether to laugh or cry, retch or stroke the poor creatur. Again, I have pics. Where or how the hell do you start digging into something like that when he's looking up at you saying 'you roasted me you feker'. The skin was very tough and ewwww, I had one bite which was enough for me. Too gamey. I dont even like brown chicken meat. Mal loved it and tucked in. I had the veggies on the side.
After that delish dinner, we went back to the hotel and that same evening went to the Trek meeting. Met our guide, Gonzalo (!) who came in and shouted 'ola champions, how are we all doing'. Given none of us knew each other there was that typical veggie moment of 'good thanks' from everyone trying not to smile at this dude and trying to blend in. Ah sure 6 days later we were all the best of mates!
Our trekking group consisted of 13 in total - there was Brett the New Yorker, 24 years of age, 6 ft 4 told me he had lost half his body weight last year within a few minutes of meeting me and just one of these deadly blokes who was bloody hilarious but didnt know it. Who else.....5 different UK crew including some chicks who had just finished college, Helga and Bjorn from Norway (im not making it up!), cool steve from NZ but living in London very nice guy, Dan from the prairies in Canada who was about 6 stone and very very very quiet but still a nice guy, Cam the 'aw yeah struth, thats not a knife, thats a knife', kinda crocodile dundee type from Western Australia - and Mal and I.
Great stuff.
So to sum up The Inka Trail Trek in a few lines, here goes.....
INKA means King and its a trek that brings you through endless mountains, some small, some large, some steep, some not so steep all the time along the way being taught by Gonzalo about all these amazing Inka sites that were built back in the 15th Century by the Inka generation. It was amazing to see how these people were able to make cities out of nothing. Machu Picchu, the largest and most awesome of the inka trails is the piece de resistance at the end of the trek and the one everyone comes to look at.
The trek took 4 days in total. Each day, our group set off at about 7am and walked about 6 hours in the morning before lunch and then about 3 to 4 hours in the afternoon before we literally crawled into the camp for dinner. It sounds tough and it deffo was but the craic on the mountain is just brilliant. You get to chat to all your group about anything and everything and my God on day 4 when you start to go stir crazy, it usually is about food and what you're gonna eat when you get off the mountain!
Looking back on the trek, I really did enjoy it but every single day, I did find myself the odd time thinking 'holy shit Sue, what have I let myself in for...... keep going! It's tough and the old legs have to be ready to climb steep hills. Take day 2 for example, we climbed up to 12,000 feet to the highest range of the trek called 'Dead woman´s pass' - encouraging name, eh!
I was thanking Mal everyday that he forced me into getting walking boots for the trek. Even though they looked pretty horrendous, they were a life saver. You also HAVE to use a walking stick too to help get up the steeper hills and really steep steps down (On day 3, there are 2000 steep steps down through streams!) A few had some small falls but nothing too bad thankfully. Was very controlled with 1 guide at the back and one at the front.
As we got into camp on day 2, I wasnt feeling great and lo and behold I knew about it a few hours later. I got a 12 hour bug like a lot of people get due to the altitude which was NOT amazing. Imagine the last time you were sick and not able to get out of bed or able to hold down water. For 12 hours.
That was me in a 2 man tent with squat toilets that had queues of 10 women from other groups. Sexy chick on her honeymoon! My lush hubbie was brill and looked after me the entire time not getting any much needed kip as I was sick throughout the night. I got up on day 3 and admitedly was absolutely bricking the day ahead. I had nothing in my tum and feck all energy. I hoped some dude in black would helipcopter in with some milk tray and bring me to the top of the mountain. Instead, I was given some loo roll and a cup of piping hot celery tea! I was lucky though, the bug lasted 12 hours and I made it up and down the mountains even managing dinner on evening 3. And of course chicks, every cloud and all that, the clothes are a little loser now.
Back to the Trek. Everynight, we would have dinner in our main tent in our camp which was put up by our group of 'Porters'. We had 16 porters in total including a head chef, a waiter and loads of helpers. These are Cusco natives and are AMAZING. They are all men ranging from 16 years of age to 50 and come with a group for the 4 days to make everything nice and simple for us. I swear to God, they put us to shame.
We were each allowed 5kg of clothes for the 4 days and were given a duffel bag each to put them in. The porters took these duffel bags along with food, tents, chairs(!), you name it, and brought it....carrying it on their backs up the mountain. Each man carried 25kg of gear and ran ahead so they could set up camp, our tents, make dinner and be all nice when we arrived. The GUILTS we all felt.
I'll put up pics when I can and you'll see what I mean. Such lovely blokes, I was gutted I couldnt chat more freely to them, my spanish is pretty shocking.
Oh yeah, there are no showers for the 4 days! Yeah, I know. We all looked like we had been dragged through the bush backwards (actually, thats not far off) and the hair was looking nace. You know what, none of us could care less in the end and naturally the conversations were all about how minging the toilets were, the bruises we got along the way, food, if we got any sleep the night before, and what Brett the american dude's favorite films were. Brett was gas. Think LOUD New York accent out of literally nowhere......... ' hey Susan, do you think Im obnoxious?!' Erm no Brett, I think you're very funny. ' Oh ok, you know what, I just HATE Shia Le Bouef the actor. Oh and cats too'.
These kind of lines came out of nowhere.
We were all cracking up ALL the time and having a ball. Brett loved the attention and before long we were having such laughs playing the 'ok Brett, if you had to share your tent with 10 cats or talk to Shia le Bouef about his films, which would it be'. His serious logical replies and then something mental like ' Mal, I just love you man, can I come sit by you' would have us all in tears. Legend.
We ate dinner everynight in the tent at a long table and the food was very good. Soup, chicken, fish and sometimes a nice desert like jelly. They even made a cake for Mal and I for our honeymoon, the last night, BLESS THEM.
Day 4 we got up at 3.30am and made our way to Machu Picchu which I have to say was just awesome. Its the typical thing though, looking back on it, it was the 4 days along the way that was the best part of it all. The banter along the mountains, the craic at dinner, Brett and just moaning about all our aches and pains.
Back at base and one long, lush shower and fresh clothes later, I can safely say its been the highlght of the trip so far for both Mal and I. We would deffo recommend it. Its not gonna be open for long apparently so if you're down that way, make sure you book yourself on a tour and get your walking stick....
In the airport now heading to Brazil. Time for some samba and sun.
Taxi into town took 15 minutes. For me this was the real Peru that you read about and see in the tourist books. Women with long plaited hair walking down the streets wearing typical peruvian clothing -peruvian hat, colorful alpaca (llama) jumpers and the most gorgeous babies wrapped up in colorful blankets on their backs.
We met our group in the Hotel and went for dinner that night. As we sat in the local restaurant with a few locals playing peruvian pan pipes (like the ones on Grafton St!), the waiter approached us and advised Mal that we should try a local delicacy...........Guinea Pig. I broke my side laughing when he said it, I thought he was joking. He wasnt.
Mal convinced me to get it. Dont ask me WHY or HOW he did but 1 roasted Guinea Pig was ordered and 20 mins later....... ah lads, it was desperate. Poor old ronnie the guinea pig came out with half a tomato on his head as a hat. I didnt know whether to laugh or cry, retch or stroke the poor creatur. Again, I have pics. Where or how the hell do you start digging into something like that when he's looking up at you saying 'you roasted me you feker'. The skin was very tough and ewwww, I had one bite which was enough for me. Too gamey. I dont even like brown chicken meat. Mal loved it and tucked in. I had the veggies on the side.
After that delish dinner, we went back to the hotel and that same evening went to the Trek meeting. Met our guide, Gonzalo (!) who came in and shouted 'ola champions, how are we all doing'. Given none of us knew each other there was that typical veggie moment of 'good thanks' from everyone trying not to smile at this dude and trying to blend in. Ah sure 6 days later we were all the best of mates!
Our trekking group consisted of 13 in total - there was Brett the New Yorker, 24 years of age, 6 ft 4 told me he had lost half his body weight last year within a few minutes of meeting me and just one of these deadly blokes who was bloody hilarious but didnt know it. Who else.....5 different UK crew including some chicks who had just finished college, Helga and Bjorn from Norway (im not making it up!), cool steve from NZ but living in London very nice guy, Dan from the prairies in Canada who was about 6 stone and very very very quiet but still a nice guy, Cam the 'aw yeah struth, thats not a knife, thats a knife', kinda crocodile dundee type from Western Australia - and Mal and I.
Great stuff.
So to sum up The Inka Trail Trek in a few lines, here goes.....
INKA means King and its a trek that brings you through endless mountains, some small, some large, some steep, some not so steep all the time along the way being taught by Gonzalo about all these amazing Inka sites that were built back in the 15th Century by the Inka generation. It was amazing to see how these people were able to make cities out of nothing. Machu Picchu, the largest and most awesome of the inka trails is the piece de resistance at the end of the trek and the one everyone comes to look at.
The trek took 4 days in total. Each day, our group set off at about 7am and walked about 6 hours in the morning before lunch and then about 3 to 4 hours in the afternoon before we literally crawled into the camp for dinner. It sounds tough and it deffo was but the craic on the mountain is just brilliant. You get to chat to all your group about anything and everything and my God on day 4 when you start to go stir crazy, it usually is about food and what you're gonna eat when you get off the mountain!
Looking back on the trek, I really did enjoy it but every single day, I did find myself the odd time thinking 'holy shit Sue, what have I let myself in for...... keep going! It's tough and the old legs have to be ready to climb steep hills. Take day 2 for example, we climbed up to 12,000 feet to the highest range of the trek called 'Dead woman´s pass' - encouraging name, eh!
I was thanking Mal everyday that he forced me into getting walking boots for the trek. Even though they looked pretty horrendous, they were a life saver. You also HAVE to use a walking stick too to help get up the steeper hills and really steep steps down (On day 3, there are 2000 steep steps down through streams!) A few had some small falls but nothing too bad thankfully. Was very controlled with 1 guide at the back and one at the front.
As we got into camp on day 2, I wasnt feeling great and lo and behold I knew about it a few hours later. I got a 12 hour bug like a lot of people get due to the altitude which was NOT amazing. Imagine the last time you were sick and not able to get out of bed or able to hold down water. For 12 hours.
That was me in a 2 man tent with squat toilets that had queues of 10 women from other groups. Sexy chick on her honeymoon! My lush hubbie was brill and looked after me the entire time not getting any much needed kip as I was sick throughout the night. I got up on day 3 and admitedly was absolutely bricking the day ahead. I had nothing in my tum and feck all energy. I hoped some dude in black would helipcopter in with some milk tray and bring me to the top of the mountain. Instead, I was given some loo roll and a cup of piping hot celery tea! I was lucky though, the bug lasted 12 hours and I made it up and down the mountains even managing dinner on evening 3. And of course chicks, every cloud and all that, the clothes are a little loser now.
Back to the Trek. Everynight, we would have dinner in our main tent in our camp which was put up by our group of 'Porters'. We had 16 porters in total including a head chef, a waiter and loads of helpers. These are Cusco natives and are AMAZING. They are all men ranging from 16 years of age to 50 and come with a group for the 4 days to make everything nice and simple for us. I swear to God, they put us to shame.
We were each allowed 5kg of clothes for the 4 days and were given a duffel bag each to put them in. The porters took these duffel bags along with food, tents, chairs(!), you name it, and brought it....carrying it on their backs up the mountain. Each man carried 25kg of gear and ran ahead so they could set up camp, our tents, make dinner and be all nice when we arrived. The GUILTS we all felt.
I'll put up pics when I can and you'll see what I mean. Such lovely blokes, I was gutted I couldnt chat more freely to them, my spanish is pretty shocking.
Oh yeah, there are no showers for the 4 days! Yeah, I know. We all looked like we had been dragged through the bush backwards (actually, thats not far off) and the hair was looking nace. You know what, none of us could care less in the end and naturally the conversations were all about how minging the toilets were, the bruises we got along the way, food, if we got any sleep the night before, and what Brett the american dude's favorite films were. Brett was gas. Think LOUD New York accent out of literally nowhere......... ' hey Susan, do you think Im obnoxious?!' Erm no Brett, I think you're very funny. ' Oh ok, you know what, I just HATE Shia Le Bouef the actor. Oh and cats too'.
These kind of lines came out of nowhere.
We were all cracking up ALL the time and having a ball. Brett loved the attention and before long we were having such laughs playing the 'ok Brett, if you had to share your tent with 10 cats or talk to Shia le Bouef about his films, which would it be'. His serious logical replies and then something mental like ' Mal, I just love you man, can I come sit by you' would have us all in tears. Legend.
We ate dinner everynight in the tent at a long table and the food was very good. Soup, chicken, fish and sometimes a nice desert like jelly. They even made a cake for Mal and I for our honeymoon, the last night, BLESS THEM.
Day 4 we got up at 3.30am and made our way to Machu Picchu which I have to say was just awesome. Its the typical thing though, looking back on it, it was the 4 days along the way that was the best part of it all. The banter along the mountains, the craic at dinner, Brett and just moaning about all our aches and pains.
Back at base and one long, lush shower and fresh clothes later, I can safely say its been the highlght of the trip so far for both Mal and I. We would deffo recommend it. Its not gonna be open for long apparently so if you're down that way, make sure you book yourself on a tour and get your walking stick....
In the airport now heading to Brazil. Time for some samba and sun.
Peru!
Hello me amigos!
We are back from our Trek and are alive and kicking. Just about.
So where did I leave it the last time, yes we were still in Mexico.Ok well to finish off on Mexico, we spent the last few days on 'Paddy and Billy'. Our rented scooters. Gift. The best way to see a small island.
Mine was a lush green hence his name was Paddy. Mals was Blue so I named it Billy. Paddy and Billy were best mates although Paddy was a bit special needs. He was soooo slow, only went about 20 mph and the key kept falling out onto my feet but the engine kept going. One time, I had to go back on the route to find the key that had fallen out on the road. I kept telling myself 'dont cut out!' I would have been fecked if I did minus the key. I didnt -hurray and found the key ten mins later by the side of the road - double hurray! Pressure.....In fairness Billy was a bit of a rocket and Mal kept having to slow down and look back and the green hairdryer trying to catch up behind him. Ah bless.
Still, we thought we were deadly scooting all over the island that was Cozumel, finding some amazing beaches (I wanted to put up some pics but this internet cafe doesnt have the programme to upload pics-ill do it another time me amigos), doing some cool diving along a really great reef. We even went to 80 feet on a dive although my ear was jabronied for a week after. All in all we had a deadly time, chilling, eating and diving in the Carribean. Weather was very moody but sure how bad, I have discovered Stieg Larsson.AMAZING. I am loving all his books, on number 2 as I type. (dodgy space gaps on this pc, kinda annoying!)
We left Mexico and arrived in Lima, capital of Peru. First thing we noticed - FREEZING! We had become 'those' people who arrived in places wearing shorts and tees. Eh, we soon got out the jeans. We spent 3 days in Lima waiting for our Trek, so what can I say about Lima......emmmmm, am thinking.........yeah cant really think of a huge amount. Its not that great. Actually, its a bit cat.
Mal and I did a recommended Gap Adventures 'City Tour of Lima' which was interesting. It was at 9am one morning and we were in the Hotel when this dude in torn jeans who looked about 18 years old, walked through reception and says to yer man behind the desk 'suzzzzan millllikky' I figured that was us and off we went. We walked outside and I was waiting for a Gap Adventure Offiicial Bus. Nope. I deffo reckon it was the guys Dad who was the 'driver'. Bless him, he was wearing his best suit and a Lacoste (fake) white shirt. SO CUTE! Nearly had a tear in my eye that he dressed up for us. Mal and I looked at each other and then cracked up when we saw the Datsun Sunny. Off we went!
We went round the city in the Datsun whilst torn jeans dude spoke spanish to his Da in the front who hadnt a rashers where the feck to go. Seriously, learn to drive and learn the street names!!! Lima drivers dont like to pay attention to red lights so after a few minutes of our hands over our eyes and quickly putting on the back seat belt, we tried to chill out. Yeah, not really a lot to the city. We walked around, Jeans dude spoke broken English to us about this and that. He brought us to his statue called 'The Kiss'. Yer man was the spit of Charlie Haughey going in for the kill. I'll post a pic when I can and you'll see what I mean. We went to an impressive Cathedral which was cool but then ruined it by bringing us into the Catacombs of the Cathedral. It was deep in the ground, made up of really tight dark alley ways with low ceilings - next thing I see a gazillion bones and skulls all winking up at us (minus the eyes). It was gross. Mal freakishly didnt mind it as much. I was grossed out and wanted to get the heck outta there. Wasnt my thing, as Im sure you can imagine! The tour was over, the Datsun headed off and we were 60 US dollars less off. We laughed and were like 'that was shit!'. Ah well. We have done Lima.
Gorgeous views from the cliffs down by the one of the seasides but they dont have beaches as such. They all drive on the beaches (a bit like Dollymount I guess, ha). There is a massive Shopping centre called Larcomar in the posh area called MiraFlores which is grand, but then get this. It is one of the 'Big attractions of Lima' in official Tourist Brochures. Ah come on Lima, its only shopping!
In the end we looked at our watches and caught a movie 'Wall Street' in english, killed a few hours and went for dinner to celebrate our 1 month being married! The evening turned into a fun night, we went into this Irish Bar (was beside our Hotel and we were curious!) and after a few beers, we ended up chatting to these local Lima chicks who were very cool and funny. One had been to Dublin and was giving it welly with the whole 'ah Irish boys, we love them'. Mal was in his element, kinda. Even though he was on his honeymoon. Ok, that sounds wierd!
Lima is grand for a day. You really come to Lima for Macchu Pichu. Try and minimize the time here tying in with the official trek. Sometimes, you dont really have the choice like us but just a bit of advice.
So a few days over, we said goodbye to Lima and got ready for our Trek to Macchu Pichu, yahoooooooo.
We are back from our Trek and are alive and kicking. Just about.
So where did I leave it the last time, yes we were still in Mexico.Ok well to finish off on Mexico, we spent the last few days on 'Paddy and Billy'. Our rented scooters. Gift. The best way to see a small island.
Mine was a lush green hence his name was Paddy. Mals was Blue so I named it Billy. Paddy and Billy were best mates although Paddy was a bit special needs. He was soooo slow, only went about 20 mph and the key kept falling out onto my feet but the engine kept going. One time, I had to go back on the route to find the key that had fallen out on the road. I kept telling myself 'dont cut out!' I would have been fecked if I did minus the key. I didnt -hurray and found the key ten mins later by the side of the road - double hurray! Pressure.....In fairness Billy was a bit of a rocket and Mal kept having to slow down and look back and the green hairdryer trying to catch up behind him. Ah bless.
Still, we thought we were deadly scooting all over the island that was Cozumel, finding some amazing beaches (I wanted to put up some pics but this internet cafe doesnt have the programme to upload pics-ill do it another time me amigos), doing some cool diving along a really great reef. We even went to 80 feet on a dive although my ear was jabronied for a week after. All in all we had a deadly time, chilling, eating and diving in the Carribean. Weather was very moody but sure how bad, I have discovered Stieg Larsson.AMAZING. I am loving all his books, on number 2 as I type. (dodgy space gaps on this pc, kinda annoying!)
We left Mexico and arrived in Lima, capital of Peru. First thing we noticed - FREEZING! We had become 'those' people who arrived in places wearing shorts and tees. Eh, we soon got out the jeans. We spent 3 days in Lima waiting for our Trek, so what can I say about Lima......emmmmm, am thinking.........yeah cant really think of a huge amount. Its not that great. Actually, its a bit cat.
Mal and I did a recommended Gap Adventures 'City Tour of Lima' which was interesting. It was at 9am one morning and we were in the Hotel when this dude in torn jeans who looked about 18 years old, walked through reception and says to yer man behind the desk 'suzzzzan millllikky' I figured that was us and off we went. We walked outside and I was waiting for a Gap Adventure Offiicial Bus. Nope. I deffo reckon it was the guys Dad who was the 'driver'. Bless him, he was wearing his best suit and a Lacoste (fake) white shirt. SO CUTE! Nearly had a tear in my eye that he dressed up for us. Mal and I looked at each other and then cracked up when we saw the Datsun Sunny. Off we went!
We went round the city in the Datsun whilst torn jeans dude spoke spanish to his Da in the front who hadnt a rashers where the feck to go. Seriously, learn to drive and learn the street names!!! Lima drivers dont like to pay attention to red lights so after a few minutes of our hands over our eyes and quickly putting on the back seat belt, we tried to chill out. Yeah, not really a lot to the city. We walked around, Jeans dude spoke broken English to us about this and that. He brought us to his statue called 'The Kiss'. Yer man was the spit of Charlie Haughey going in for the kill. I'll post a pic when I can and you'll see what I mean. We went to an impressive Cathedral which was cool but then ruined it by bringing us into the Catacombs of the Cathedral. It was deep in the ground, made up of really tight dark alley ways with low ceilings - next thing I see a gazillion bones and skulls all winking up at us (minus the eyes). It was gross. Mal freakishly didnt mind it as much. I was grossed out and wanted to get the heck outta there. Wasnt my thing, as Im sure you can imagine! The tour was over, the Datsun headed off and we were 60 US dollars less off. We laughed and were like 'that was shit!'. Ah well. We have done Lima.
Gorgeous views from the cliffs down by the one of the seasides but they dont have beaches as such. They all drive on the beaches (a bit like Dollymount I guess, ha). There is a massive Shopping centre called Larcomar in the posh area called MiraFlores which is grand, but then get this. It is one of the 'Big attractions of Lima' in official Tourist Brochures. Ah come on Lima, its only shopping!
In the end we looked at our watches and caught a movie 'Wall Street' in english, killed a few hours and went for dinner to celebrate our 1 month being married! The evening turned into a fun night, we went into this Irish Bar (was beside our Hotel and we were curious!) and after a few beers, we ended up chatting to these local Lima chicks who were very cool and funny. One had been to Dublin and was giving it welly with the whole 'ah Irish boys, we love them'. Mal was in his element, kinda. Even though he was on his honeymoon. Ok, that sounds wierd!
Lima is grand for a day. You really come to Lima for Macchu Pichu. Try and minimize the time here tying in with the official trek. Sometimes, you dont really have the choice like us but just a bit of advice.
So a few days over, we said goodbye to Lima and got ready for our Trek to Macchu Pichu, yahoooooooo.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Random facts about Mexico and Mexicans
So here are some random facts about what Ive seen and learnt about the Mexicans and its gorgeous country.
1. Most mexicans are fat! (especially the women, young and old)
Not surprising really, they really do eat Tacos, Nachos/cheese, quesilldillas etc with EVERYTHING, inc breakfast.
I´ll stick to my cornflakes, ta.
Randomly, I found myself thinking 'nice one, im slim here´'. I do appreciate this bubble will burst when I get to Brazil..
2. Everyone calls you ´hey amigo´.
Kinda cute at the start. But does tend to wear off when theyre saying ´hey amigo, wanna buy some mexican junk´. about 100 times a day. Seriously. The nice bit is the waft of cold Air con that blows out at you when you pass the shops. Fab.
2. Mexicans are obsessed with road speed bumps. I know, random fact.
So we're travelling along in a bus/taxi whatever at say about 30 km ph and we approach a speed bump. Im not joking, you would swear it was the size of the sugarloaf the way they approach it. It nearly takes them 10 seconds to get over one. Totally stop. The front wheels,over ssssllllowwwwwwwwwwwly.
Then the back wheels.
Are we over? Yep I think so, lets just pause for a second to check.
Pause.
Yawn.
'hey mal what do you fancy for lunch'
Yep, and we're off.
Maybe we're too careless about speed bumps, or maybe I am.
3. Speaking of buses, they like to travel with the curtains all closed.
Im the annoying paddy who opens my curtains at the seat. Come on, I like to see where I am going!
4. Mexicans see the yanks as literally $$$ especially when the cruise ships land for a few hours.
They dont really differentiate us paddys with the americans. Ahem. Its all ´hey amigo, u wanna taco or some cheap mexican food´. No thanks Ive OD'd on it - but it is delicious! The yanks do buy awful crap though. We all know the type of t-shirts i´m talking about - 1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila, floor. such shite.
5. Resorts over here are mostly all inclusive. Whats with the obsession with food and drink people??
Depending on what ´tarif´you are on, you have to wear a colour coded wrist band for the entire duration of your stay. I mean, come on, people!!
Mal and I purposely went on the B&B rate - trying not to eat our way through mexico - and were given a different colour wrist band than the all inclusive. Much to our amusement, talk about being judged by the staff everyday thinking we were gonna nick a nacho at lunch time! Everyday at breakfast and I mean for 7 days. 'You got a ticket' Yes here is the voucher and no, I am not a random thief on holidays looking to have an extra slice of bread on the sly. There are aout 30 guests in the Hotel right now.
6. They panic at last minute changes.
Called Hotel reception today to ask can they remove our fridge from our room as we leave tomorrow.
No senorita not possible.
why not senor.
You do not tell us in time.
well, do not leave until tomorro. does this call now this morning give you some time.
let me see amigo....
pause.
(Reluctantly) - I ask someone to get it amigo.
Thanks!
The customer is never right in Mexico!
7. How many mexicans does it take to change a lightbulb.
About 10.
8. They genuinely are lovely people, they smile a lot and are very welcoming.
Oh and they are very patient with you as you try and speak terrible spanish. Ive learnt more spanish here than I have when I have visitied espana. Mexicans talk a lot slower funnily enough, everything is on a go slow.
9. They have some of the most amazing white sandy beaches, crystal green water and stunning coral reefs I've ever seen.
10. We have only seen a teeny part of this huge country. The eastern coast called Quintana Roo. Deffo come and see it if you have the time.
Wont be on for about 2 weeks as we head to Lima and Cusco up in the mountains.
Laters........x
1. Most mexicans are fat! (especially the women, young and old)
Not surprising really, they really do eat Tacos, Nachos/cheese, quesilldillas etc with EVERYTHING, inc breakfast.
I´ll stick to my cornflakes, ta.
Randomly, I found myself thinking 'nice one, im slim here´'. I do appreciate this bubble will burst when I get to Brazil..
2. Everyone calls you ´hey amigo´.
Kinda cute at the start. But does tend to wear off when theyre saying ´hey amigo, wanna buy some mexican junk´. about 100 times a day. Seriously. The nice bit is the waft of cold Air con that blows out at you when you pass the shops. Fab.
2. Mexicans are obsessed with road speed bumps. I know, random fact.
So we're travelling along in a bus/taxi whatever at say about 30 km ph and we approach a speed bump. Im not joking, you would swear it was the size of the sugarloaf the way they approach it. It nearly takes them 10 seconds to get over one. Totally stop. The front wheels,over ssssllllowwwwwwwwwwwly.
Then the back wheels.
Are we over? Yep I think so, lets just pause for a second to check.
Pause.
Yawn.
'hey mal what do you fancy for lunch'
Yep, and we're off.
Maybe we're too careless about speed bumps, or maybe I am.
3. Speaking of buses, they like to travel with the curtains all closed.
Im the annoying paddy who opens my curtains at the seat. Come on, I like to see where I am going!
4. Mexicans see the yanks as literally $$$ especially when the cruise ships land for a few hours.
They dont really differentiate us paddys with the americans. Ahem. Its all ´hey amigo, u wanna taco or some cheap mexican food´. No thanks Ive OD'd on it - but it is delicious! The yanks do buy awful crap though. We all know the type of t-shirts i´m talking about - 1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila, floor. such shite.
5. Resorts over here are mostly all inclusive. Whats with the obsession with food and drink people??
Depending on what ´tarif´you are on, you have to wear a colour coded wrist band for the entire duration of your stay. I mean, come on, people!!
Mal and I purposely went on the B&B rate - trying not to eat our way through mexico - and were given a different colour wrist band than the all inclusive. Much to our amusement, talk about being judged by the staff everyday thinking we were gonna nick a nacho at lunch time! Everyday at breakfast and I mean for 7 days. 'You got a ticket' Yes here is the voucher and no, I am not a random thief on holidays looking to have an extra slice of bread on the sly. There are aout 30 guests in the Hotel right now.
6. They panic at last minute changes.
Called Hotel reception today to ask can they remove our fridge from our room as we leave tomorrow.
No senorita not possible.
why not senor.
You do not tell us in time.
well, do not leave until tomorro. does this call now this morning give you some time.
let me see amigo....
pause.
(Reluctantly) - I ask someone to get it amigo.
Thanks!
The customer is never right in Mexico!
7. How many mexicans does it take to change a lightbulb.
About 10.
8. They genuinely are lovely people, they smile a lot and are very welcoming.
Oh and they are very patient with you as you try and speak terrible spanish. Ive learnt more spanish here than I have when I have visitied espana. Mexicans talk a lot slower funnily enough, everything is on a go slow.
9. They have some of the most amazing white sandy beaches, crystal green water and stunning coral reefs I've ever seen.
10. We have only seen a teeny part of this huge country. The eastern coast called Quintana Roo. Deffo come and see it if you have the time.
Wont be on for about 2 weeks as we head to Lima and Cusco up in the mountains.
Laters........x
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
freckle city in mexico
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Cozumel , where we are right now....
We are back in Cozumel till Sunday. We loved it so much last time, about 2 weeks ago, we got the ferry back out to the island (its about an hours and a half south of Cancun and an hours boat journey out to the island)
Weather has been very mixed the last 4 days, rain one minute in the heat, then el scorchio the next. No complaints though! The place we're staying is grand. Nothing amazing but room lovely and clean and spacious. I've been introduced to 'Texans on Holiday'......
Im not joking, Ive NEVER in my life seen or heard anything like it.
So picture the scene.
Nice hotel, lovely pool area, stunning carribean sea and just an all round nice vibe.
Enter 8 Middle aged Texans wearing their cowboy hats and togs screaming at the top of the lungs across the pool at Ernie ´hey Ernie, get me another rum and coke dude'. Classy! They're on an all inclusive which means they can eat and drink whatever they like and whenever they like. Usually starts about 10am with a rum and coke and oooh, gets louder as the day goes on...the cackling and roaring is just unreal.
Mal and I analysing them to beat the band (you know me staring at them up and down ha!) and reckon they are all deffo on their fourth marriage. So I'm lying there nice and calm at the pool and next thing one of the women whos about 55 years old and about 15 stone runs and dive bombs into the pool drowing me out of it as well as the others around her followed by a HOWL of cackling by the other locked women.
SCARLET, You're 50! Knackers.
Meanwhile mr and mrs maturity here (he he) are just chillin, sleepin and eatin.
Heading out on a scuba dive this afternoon with my newly certfied husband diver. Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooo
Weather has been very mixed the last 4 days, rain one minute in the heat, then el scorchio the next. No complaints though! The place we're staying is grand. Nothing amazing but room lovely and clean and spacious. I've been introduced to 'Texans on Holiday'......
Im not joking, Ive NEVER in my life seen or heard anything like it.
So picture the scene.
Nice hotel, lovely pool area, stunning carribean sea and just an all round nice vibe.
Enter 8 Middle aged Texans wearing their cowboy hats and togs screaming at the top of the lungs across the pool at Ernie ´hey Ernie, get me another rum and coke dude'. Classy! They're on an all inclusive which means they can eat and drink whatever they like and whenever they like. Usually starts about 10am with a rum and coke and oooh, gets louder as the day goes on...the cackling and roaring is just unreal.
Mal and I analysing them to beat the band (you know me staring at them up and down ha!) and reckon they are all deffo on their fourth marriage. So I'm lying there nice and calm at the pool and next thing one of the women whos about 55 years old and about 15 stone runs and dive bombs into the pool drowing me out of it as well as the others around her followed by a HOWL of cackling by the other locked women.
SCARLET, You're 50! Knackers.
Meanwhile mr and mrs maturity here (he he) are just chillin, sleepin and eatin.
Heading out on a scuba dive this afternoon with my newly certfied husband diver. Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooo
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