The Greater World - The BLOG

The End of the Road

2011-12-20T23:48:00.000+11:00

There is a karaoke bar in Tokyo called Fiesta's which I visited back in April. I remember the night well - lots of songs, a strange lady declaring I would be back in Japan someday soon.... How right she was! I would return in August in the same year, and when I left the second time I would be engaged! I also remember from this fateful night in April the most popular song was 'The End of the Road', by one of those boy bands whose name escapes me now. Well... it is the end of the road for the 2011 travelling experience from this traveler.

Tbilisi lit up with Christmas approaching

Thankyou kind reader for following me on my 2011 journeys. Perhaps I'll do a review in the next few weeks. Who knows. I say goodbye to my travelling and to Georgia. This country is special in its own way. The students are certainly full of life. The President is a huge celebrity and is rarely off the TV screen, the roads are variable, the transport unpredictable, there is poverty and wealth. I wasn't here for the tourism though, I was here for my amazing teaching experience.

I must make mention of the Georgian teachers at my school, doing a brilliant job for terribly low pay. Less than a hundred dollars a month is no wage to pay dedicated caring teachers, or indeed any teachers. It is an insult to one of the world's most vital professions. Charged with the duty of preparing children to enter adulthood ready and knowledgeable, competent and confident in themselves. I salute teachers all over the world. If only the work done by teachers was properly acknowledged universally.

Any suggestion that teachers are babysitters with a whole bunch of holidays is so ignorant to the truth it makes me rather mad... and this time I am talking about my own country.

Students at the concert at my village last week.

So I will sign off, the next time I post I will be, probably and all things being equal, in my own country of Australia. I would do myself a disservice though if I didn't point you all, once again, to the book I have digitally published. If you are interested in it and DON'T have a Kindle, Kindle for the PC is downloadable for free from Amazon. It represents a lot of work on my part, so please if it interests you do not hesitate - buy it now. It's the size of a novel and only just over five dollars.

The link to the book -
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MJ0RKM

Thankyou and goodnight, for now..............

Teaching and Learning

2011-12-19T20:08:00.000+11:00

Today is December the 19th. I sit in my hotel room in Tbilisi typing out another blog entry. Life is strange. Tomorrow I fly out of Georgia, with a couple of hops across China, to find myself once again in my country of Australia. The teaching experience is over for the year, the travelling experience, begun on the 3rd of March, also comes to a close when I touch down in Melbourne, all things going well, Thursday morning.

The school in Jikhanjuri

So what can be taken from this teaching experience? So much. I've learnt about myself. I've learnt about the amazing people of Georgia. Yes it may have been a teaching role I fulfilled but I did even more learning than teaching.
Last Thursday the school held a concert and a party just for me. It was very humbling. There was singing and a lot of Georgian dancing and then food and wine. Wine is number one here, ahead of Georgian take on Vodka called Tcha tcha which is rather harder to drink. I kept well clear of the later. Seems I have made a lot of good friends here in Georgia. Lots of students were upset I was leaving, lots of hugs and an inordinate amount of photos.

Me with one of my classes on the last day.

Coming to school the next day with five lessons was rather surreal. Still managed to do some teaching, saying a lot of goodbyes. It's great to have made so many connections, to gain invaluable experience and to see what amazing people live in Georgia. The classes were mixed. Some were attentive, others less so. Students seemed to struggle the longer the day went - classes in the morning were always better behaved. Students are so keen to answer questions putting there hands up, standing up and shouting out the the teacher. Both a good and a bad thing. Seems even the students I had pegged as not the best were even sad to see me go. Some students would never do homework. So frustrating as a teacher. Some were always exceptional.

Georgian dancing at the concert

And so after the concert we ate and people said so many good things about me and wished me only good things for the future. Wow. I was blown away and most of the things said naturally I believed were untrue or gross exaggerations. I went to Batumi and took a night train back here to Tbilisi. Time to prepare for tomorrow's flight and reflect on the past three amazing months.

I will write more tomorrow.

Time ticks away in Georgia

2011-11-26T22:25:00.001+11:00

Hello everyone

Things continue here in Georgia, most days being filled with the English teaching and school matters. The weather here is diabolical - There was a day a couple of weeks ago when the weather in Batumi closed over something fierce and well, there was sleet and hail a plenty. And then some snow. The mountains surrounding Jikhanjuri (my village) are covered in snow. It's rather pretty.

This week I took a chance to visit the second biggest city in Georgia, Kutaisi. It's a pretty nice place all told, much nicer than Batumi or Kobuleti, with museums and statues. Unfortunately I visited on St George's day - a major holiday here as you can imagine. The main church was in use and the museums were closed. The weather was awesome on Tuesday when I left, but on Wednesday the weather was again freezing, sleet and snow.

Inside the church at Motsameta

Not far from Kutaisi is the church of Motsameta, set in a beautiful valley even with the bad weather it was clear that this was a special place.

Valley at Motsameta.

Just a small church perched above a raging river and below snow capped hills. It was a 20 minute walk from the main road, which would be awesome - in sunshine. But the low clouds in the valley still made it quite a beautiful place to visit.

Interesting wall in central Kutaisi.

Back in Kutaisi I enjoyed wifi at McDonald's before it disappeared. Ahh Georgia... reliable electricity? What was that again? The weather remained miserable and it took me two hours to dry out. I did enjoy my hot hotel room though and something a little different from the beans and borscht I get at home. No problems though - the food is great and plentiful with my host family, no cause to complain, I have had awesome hospitality here.

Houses struggle to stay up on the banks of the river in Kutaisi.

It's hard to believe my time is running out. I realise that I have become pretty close with my host family. Now that winter is upon us the downstairs with the fire is much warmer than my room with its little heater. But I am surviving most nights warm enough, however Monday night the power was down (as is often the fashion) and things weren't so warm.

Time is almost up not just for Georgia but for the whole Trip 2011. A couple of weeks back I went to a wedding too so been able to enjoy some of the culture here.

Batumi covered in hail and snow,

Wedding celebrations Georgian style.

Trip to Tbilisi

2011-11-02T02:52:00.000+11:00

Dear avid followers and those who just happened to visitthis page by chance.

I visited Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, a couple ofweeks ago. Strange to take a break from the daily routine of teaching here inGeorgia which challenges and is rewarding too. But I have a series of photosneeding explanations here for you!

A bride in Tbilisi.

Tbilisi is really quite an attractive city. Thepopulation of Georgia is around 4.7 million people, so the capital was nevergoing to be a huge metropolis or even Almaty-sized, but with around a millionpeople (so I am told) it is definitely the capital, where much is possible thatisn’t in other places around the country.

Metro station - the escalators.

I must confess that staying in a hotel with a proper warmshower with actually water pressure was one of the highlights, as was the wifi.Tbilisi is not a flat place at all. The city follows the river Mtkvari as itwinds its way through the Georgian hills. It stretches up to the top of thehills where castles, churches, a TV tower and theme park watch over the city’slife.

Freedom Square is one of the main centres of town, wherecelebrations the week before had been going on with the French PresidentNicholas Sarkozy making a special visit. Georgia sees itself as part of Europe,which according the map.. isn’t quite where it sits. It seems to have desiresto join the EU at some point.

Freedom Square

The castles on the hills are typical of Georgia. Ivisited the Narikala Fortress, mostly in ruins but when I was there the churchinside was hosting a bit of wedding. Or they were just there for photographs, Iwasn’t quite sure.

Bride of Peace

The stylish glass bridge, which lights up at night, iscalled the Bridge of Peace. It’s certainly one for the camera. On the otherside of the bridge is a park and there was much activity going on. I alsovisited an amazing synagogue and a couple of churches in the old town. The nextday, after getting some important business out of the way, I visited theamazing Sameba cathedral. A modern construction conforming to older orthodoxdesigns. A very peaceful place to spend a bit of time – I was there for an houror so, mostly due to the pelting hail and rain that I encountered.

Sameba Cathedral.

The journey back home to my village was a serious one.Nearly six hours in a marshrutka – a minibus like the ones in the ‘Stans,through the mountains winding around. Passing on blind turns – well of coursethey do. Since then I’ve had just over a week more of teaching. The classes aresometimes a challenge. But the kids are great! More soon!

Teaching it up in Georgia

2011-10-14T19:09:00.000+11:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting folks, but yes I am still alive and have now been an English teacher for three weeks.I am teaching in the small Georgian village of Jikhanjali, up in the hills of the Western Adjara Region. Looking one way from my house you can see snow-topped mountains, the other side reveals the Black Sea.

Students from Monday English Club.

I am living with a wonderful host family who feed me regularly. The house is a thirty minute walk from the Public School where I am working which is good on a sunny day and less good when it is pouring down rain. The region gets a lot of rain too. It is hilly and very fertile and green. I co-teach Grades one through to six. The children are fantastic - they love to learn! They are keen even though this is the first time that English has been taught at this school.

Main Street, Jikhanjali

Hence it is all very basic stuff, we are about half-way through the alphabet and so far lessons are mostly vocab based. It's funny to see the kids struggle with the concept of hello/goodbye. We often get 'Goodbye!' as we enter the class room and 'Hello' as we leave.
In addition to classes I have taken it upon myself to take an 'English Club'. It has been divided into three groups, one for years 7-10, and two for 3-6 where I am building on the stuff in class and mostly doing songs and games. Classes are mostly repetition based, so it's good for the children to have a less strict environment. Two weeks ago I had 36 children in one English Club. Although the whole school wanted to be part I had to limit the numbers which was very hard. I found one class of 36 just to be too many, so that was divided into two which have swelled to 20-22 now. But instead of an incredible amount of noise, with a little shuffling of the students they were quiet and extremely attentive and keen.

View of the hill opposite where I am living.

The years 7-10 are a different proposition because they have no English class at all, so I plan to build their base knowledge for a few weeks before starting a couple of projects. The school is basic yet has a computer room, internet and a projector. On the other hand the printer has been out of ink now for a couple of weeks and their are no musical instruments to aid the music teacher. The teachers themselves are all keen to learn English and seem a committed tight team.
I am off today to Tbilisi to get a look at the sights over the weekend. Back to school on Tuesday, which I am enjoying immensely. Stay tuned for a report on my visit to Tbilisi early to mid next week!

Putting it out there Almost in Print!

2011-09-24T22:47:00.000+10:00

Dear followers of 'The Greater World',
As I mentioned a few or many posts ago, I was venturing into the world of e-publishing. Finally, I have managed to get a book up on Amazon for Kindle, and I thought I'd you something about it.

Hustle and Bustle of Delhi

Before I started to blog, back in 2004, I set off with a mission to make it from Dhaka in Bangladesh to Dakar in Senegal - 'Dhaka to Dakar'. I am publishing in 3 stages the story of my incredible journey from Malaysia to the start line in Dhaka, across Asia, through Europe and then West Africa.

Kids in Darjeeling, India

Each segment is pretty weighty on its own. The first book - 'Dhaka to Dakar - Journey Across Asia' is now available for Kindle (and devices which take Kindle, Kindle for PC).
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MJ0RKM

Enchanting Esfahan, Iran

For those not up with Kindle, it's a device sold by Amazon allowing people to purchase books and read them from the Kindle itself. You can change the font size to help with reading, and books are downloaded straight to the Kindle after purchase and it can be used most places on Earth as long as there's some sort of mobile phone signal available.

My team on the Kyhber Pass, Pakistan

So why not start with my ebook? 'Journey Across Asia' sees me venture to Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. I take in some amazing sights such as the Ganges in Varanasi, Uch Shariff in Pakistan, Persepolis in Iran and the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. Photos are included.
Will I die of Delhi belly in... Delhi? End up married in Iran? Will I survive long bus rides across the Balochistan desert from Pakistan to Iran? Who will I meet?
Dear readers of 'The Greater World', I thank you for your support.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MJ0RKM

Normal service will resume from Georgia in the next few days!

The next part of the Adventure - Georgia

2011-09-22T05:32:00.000+10:00

Howdy folks, I am writing again from Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia. I may have mentioned its location before but for those who missed it, it is to the east of the Black Sea, above Turkey and below Russia in the Caucasus region of the world.

I am here to teach English - I guess I should learn how to speak and write it sometime soon! On Friday the organisation - TLG (Teach & Learn Georgia) who organised this exciting opportunity will be sending me out to an area called Kobuleti, to the village of Jikhanjuri. As far as I can see, it has a famous chapel and that's all the information I could glean from the internet.

One of the many castles in Tbilisi

I arrived a week ago now and we have had a week of orientation since that arrival. Tbilisi is a very pleasant capital, and I am reminded a bit of my time in Central Asian capitals with a little bit of Luxembourg thrown in - lots of rocky hills and castles here to boot! However I have not got down to any exploration of this city as yet, save that for a long weekend later in my time here.

Road on the way to Batumi

We are a group of 53 English Teachers - some, like myself, will be teaching for the first time. The majority are from the States, and in this group I am the only Australian. The orientation has been long and tiring. We have been given Georgian lessons and to be honest, not much has stuck for me. It's not easy and it's all so compressed. The days start at 9am and continue until 730pm or later, and when you are sitting and listening for most of that time, the back gets sore and the eyes start to droop somewhat. Who knows what I will find on Friday when I travel to Jikhanjuri? Outdoor toilets are a real possibility and the connection to the internet... well who knows how it will be.

Opera House, Batumi

We did have a treat though, we were taken (plus many other volunteers already teaching here) to Batumi in the west of Georgia to see a modern opera - 'Keto & Kobe', the story of two lovers who overcame the odds. The colourful and dramatic show was housed in the seemingly new (well seemingly unfinished, what with wires hanging out everywhere) Batumi Opera House.
If that wasn't exciting enough, the Prince of Monaco and the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, were also in attendance! No they didn't have their own box, in fact they sat in the fourth row with some volunteers only a seat or two away! The bus ride showcased how beautiful this mountainous country is as well, although at 7-8 hours each way and only one night in Batumi it was rather exhausting to say the least!

So this new adventure lies ahead for me. What will it bring? A lot of challenges that's for sure. I will be teaching primary kids in a small village, and there's not much more that I know for sure at this stage. Stay posted!

Na na na na Nagoya

2011-09-20T05:21:00.000+10:00

So here I am writing from Tbilisi, Georgia. What? Georgia? How did I get here? I have no idea life is strange and crazy and involves far too many flights.

I am way behind in my blogging, around two weeks. I traveled by bus from Yokohama. On the way I managed to get this below shot of Mount Fuji. It's the best shot I have and no, it's not great, especially after visiting Japan twice this year,

Mt Fuji from the bus.

The thing is nearly 4000 metres high and yet I've only seen it as a silohette. In my defence there were a lot of clouds this time around in Japan. I visited Nagoya also whilst in Japan this time.

Town Hall, Nagoya.

It's a pleasant sort of place with the usual temples and one grand castle that is not to be missed. The castle is mostly a reconstruction of the one on the site that was destroyed in the Second World War, although parts of the walls and smaller turrets still stand from longer ago. They are presently reconstructing the original entrance and the work can be seen where you visit the castle. Apparently it is still seven years away from completing, the woodwork on the rooves is intricate and quite amazing.

Restoration work at Nagoya Castle.

Inside the castle are many levels. From the top you get a great view over Nagoya, the other floors have an interesting museum spread out over them with traditional rooms set up for the tourist to view. One staircase is just for going up, the other for going down. As the photo shows, it's a stunning building on the outside. The curvy rooves are a feature, as are two gold dolphins on top.

Nagoya Castle.

Also in Nagoya was the simply brilliant temple 'Kannon Osu', somehow the surrounding buildings have been built to connect in a way to it. It's grand with a serious staircase leading up to its quieter shrine for prayer. It's also right next to a long covered shopping strip, which is the place in town to get all manner of Japanese sweets and cakes.

Kannon Osu, Nagoya.

Back in Yokohama I took one half to see the moving walkway, which extends from one of the metro stations to the Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Yokohama. I visited the Port Museum, where I learnt a lot about the history of Yokohama from the time when Japan started to open to world for trade to the present day. A few centuries back now, Japan was a completely closed country. Thanks to the arrival of a fleet of American ships to Yokohama in 1858 under the leadership of Commodore Matthew Perry, a treaty was signed and the port started to grow. It was devastated by an earthquake in the early 1900s, but bounced back. After World War Two a lot of Americans lived in Yokohama. Nowadays it still a bustling centre of imports/exports and has plenty of industry too.

The Nippon-Maru.

The Nippon-Maru, a retired navel training ship, is attached to the museum. It's a perfect museum piece which allows you to see how the ship functioned, where people slept, how they slept, ate, cooked and lived. A worthwhile museum to visit.

But NOW I am in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, a former USSR state located between Turkey and Russia. Why I am here and what I've been doing... that will be the next blog in a day or two! Stay TUNED!

Journey (back) to Japan

2011-09-13T13:47:00.000+10:00

Now I know my journey is just getting confusing now, and has not been helped by lack of recent blogs, but right now I am in Japan, tomorrow I leave for Georgia and my last post was about France.

Yokohama.

So let's go back three weeks. If your time machine is not working, best just to read I guess. From Lyon I went south to a place called Carcassonne for two nights where it was 39 degrees and I did very little. To Paris the next day, flight the day after. Five hours in Kuala Lumpur, a night in Singapore, flight via Hong Kong to Tokyo. Yes, that was not the easiest and most logical of routes, enough said.

I have spent most of my time in Yokohama. The weather has been hot and sticky every day, but hey, I've survived. Yokohama seems a pleasant enough city with a fair ground and large Ferris wheel and plenty of shopping. I have also managed a trip to Nagoya (more on that in the next post), into Tokyo, which is only a short distance away and to Enoshima and Kamakura.

Enoshima is a little island on the east coast with a tower on top, escalators that take you to the top and you have to pay for (!!!) and also some interesting caves containing many religious statues and the like. Well worth a little visit. Kamakura is an old capital with amazing old temple I visited.

Through the cave mouth, Enoshiba.

In Tokyo I visited the Senso-ji Temple, and clearly was not the only person. It lives in Akasaka, an area of Tokyo, and people from everywhere come to visit it. The streets around the temple have more touristy shops that I could imagine in one area, but the temple itself was rather awesome, with some of the best giant red lanterns you could want to see.

Red Lantern hanging in front of the Senso-ji.

Finally in Tokyo, with the Sony Building shut on the day I wanted to visited, I went to the Shinjuku NS Building. It has an amazing atrium and I took the lift up to the 29th floor to see some amazing views across Tokyo. As it was free, I highly recommend it! More on Nagoya soon!

View from the Shinjuku NS building.

Guignol & Lyon

2011-08-29T19:35:00.000+10:00

Hello faithful readers I hope you are all well. I apologise for my slackness in writing, it has been a long time I know but in the last week I have been on the move like crazy. Since I last blogged I have visited Lyon, Carcasonne, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and now you find me in Yokohama.

Three faces of Guignol, Puppet Museum (attached to the Gadagne Museum)

I will surely see some sights here, but for the while the blog will be slowing right down. After a few weeks in Japan most of the rest of the year will be spent in the republic of Georgia, of ex-USSR fame. I will be diving into English teaching there, so there won't be so many travelling adventures to tell. I will be attempting some e-publishing for Kindles and supported devices through Amazon, and that in itself will be a bit of an adventure - more on that as it happens. For now I will relate the story of Lyon.

I met a strange person in Lyon, his name is Guignol, 203 years old and lived in Lyon all his life. He is a puppet! And above you can see three of him at the Lyon Marionette Museum. The local hero of the working class, Guignol has appeared in an incredible number of plays and is a symbol of the city of Lyon. I saw the interesting 'Guignol and Pimfombasse's Creditors', one of the original 41 plays written around 200 years ago. basically it is a short play and Guignol, a servant, ends up hitting everyone with a big stick! It has its roots in Italian Comedia Dell'Arte, from the famous character Punchinella. It's amazing to think a puppet character could have such a life of his own, but I felt Guignol was in all the amazing alleyways and connecting passageways of the medieval city of Lyon.

Along the Rhone River, swimming pool can just be seen.

If only it had been a little cooler. The hostel room was quite a disaster, so hot, so much noise = very little sleep indeed. Along the banks of the Rhone here you can just make out a swimming pool complex where you're required to have stock standard bather, or buy some for 10 Euro from the machine. My simple black board shorts were not standard issue. But it was so hot I decided to pay the money and swim anyway.

Roman Amphitheatre on Fourviere.

Lyon has its roots back in the Roman days when it was one of the largest Roman cities in all of Gaul. At the top of a hill you get a magnificent view of Lyon, but on the hill (Fourviere) are some of the city's top attractions, including two Roman Amphitheatres and the Gallo-Roman museum, chock-full of Roman pieces from the century before Christ onwards.

Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourviere

Also atop the hill is the Notre Dame cathedral, not medieval in style, rather noveau instead inside, dating only back to the 19th Century. However, very different with lots of jade-type colours used on the inside and what appears to an entire second church below. Down below nearly at river level is the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. More traditional and medieval, the building is more like 800 years old or more. An astronomical clock inside look very interesting but was alas, not working.

The city itself is well, a big city but one full of historical buildings, museums and more. In fact, the Lumiere brothers lived and worked in Lyon, where they also created the first cinema projector. Their old house is now a museum to the origins of film. The Gadagne Museum, where I also found the Marionette/Puppet Museum, tells the history of the city in great detail. Visit Lyon and you won't be bored!

Relaxing a La France!!

2011-08-18T21:28:00.000+10:00

My sojourn over in Bavaria, where I visited a food festival in a small village, watched some beach volleyball and ate cake, I had an interesting journey to France.

I took the train to Augsburg where I picked up a rideshare. People put a message online about where they are going and when, and if it suits you you pay to join them. Far cheaper than a train, this ride took me to Geneva in about six hours and I let some interesting people on the way. From there it was a 30 minute journey with my friends to a small town called Publier on Lac Léman, in the Savoie Region of France. It was four countries in one day, and quite the trek.

Lac Léman at sunset.

I had a wonderful days and enjoyed some unexpected hospitality. Tried the local cheese, the local fish, the local mini-golf course with little luck. One day I was taken up to the nearby mountains where it was trés beau, and there were lots of goats and people with bmxes. The chairlifts had an attachment and they would take them up the moutain and ride them down.

Mountain village around 30 minutes from the lake.

We also visited a quaint lakeside village full of flowers called Yvoire. A very beautiful little town indeed. The whole region is beautiful. I didn't get up to much else and yesterday moved on to Lyon. It's hot here, the European summer has finally arrived. But the trip is about to enter a new phase. More of that after Lyon....

Lac Léman, at a town called Yvoire

Colognee - the Dom, the art, the past.

2011-08-11T20:24:00.000+10:00

Wilkommen to Germany! It's been a little while since I blogged and I apologise. I am on sabaitcal this week in the Bavarian countryside you see, but I did visit Cologne last week and recognise that I have an obligation to blog!

On a more serious note, it appears I left the UK just before all hell broke loose. As an outside it is hard to comprehend how this just broke out. I know the government isn't so popular and has been making a lot of spending cuts, but from my understand the employment situation, at the moment, wasn't too bad. So now it seems a state of lawlessness has arrived and well, I have a lot of friends in the UK. I can only hope they stay safe.

Cologne is an interesting place. It is without doubt a big city, and along with that comes all the things that big cities contain. I was especially taken aback by the homelessness I saw there. Europe is struggling at the moment, but Germany is supposedly doing the best. So it was a little surprising and confronting because it was very clear and visable in Cologne.

Typical square in Colgne.

On the other side of the coin, it's a city with a lot to see and do. Many churches, inlcuding the 'Dom', one of the tallest churches on the planet if I'm not mistaken. Then there are lots of little squares and places for a meal out in the sun (ok, not so much when I was there, out in the rain?). Many people walk the street with a beer in their hand, this seems almost the norm in Cologne, even at 930am. There is no law against it.
So plenty of tourists in Cologne, there is also a series of Galleries and Museums as well to keep anyone interested for days.

The face of Colgne, the exterior to the Dom.

And here we have the grandest of all churches and attractions in Cologne, the 'Dom'. The present building dates back to around the 12th century and has a lot of medieval and gothis influences. And it is really really tall! Inside are some beautiful stained glass windows, altars, small chapels dotting the far end, an organ that perches precariously some eight to ten metres in the air above the pews. I did a self guided tour and that took me over an hour. There were throngs and throngs of tourists yes, but wow, what a building!

Amazing windows in the Dom.

Other churches were interesting too, including and espcially that of St Gerome, a Catholic church. There also is a grand bridge over the Rhine River. This was totally destroyed during World War II. The bombings devasted Cologne, however they dilberately kept the Dom untouched.

Bridge over the Rhine.

I also visited a museum for ecclesiastical artifacts including windows and statues. Very interesting, as was a gallery/museum to KatheKollwitz. Her art is a collection of sculpture, charcoal and etchings, with a very sad, sombre nature to them. Much of the work was done between the two world wars, and is very bleak. The lack of colour does not help, but at the same time her expression of pain and loss is very very moving. I was very glad to see this exhibition, I felt a connection not experienced with much of the modern art I have viewed on this trip. The time between wars was esepcially bleak for Germany, and this is certainly shown in Kollwitz's moving works.

El de Haus - basement/prison area in the Museum to Documet National Socialism.

Finally I visited something even darker, the Museum to Document National Socialism, or to the time of the Nazi Party. It is housed in a former gestapo building and prison, and the cells are as they were in the late 1930s through to the end of the Second World War. The prisoners' writings are still on the walls and translations are on display, it's very well done, creepy, moving, and add your own superlative here.
Upstairs is almost exclusively in German and documents the rise of the Nazi party and life in Germany under them. So with out the translation a fair bit is lost, the provided pamphlet was only basic. Confronting but worth a visit. Full credit to Germany, they don't ignore their past and pretend it didn't happen.

So now only a short time in Europe is left, on Sunday I travel to France. Just over a week there and then I will be returning to Japan, so stay tuned!

Lovely, Lush Luxembourg

2011-08-05T01:04:00.000+10:00

Hello folks.
I am writing from Cologne, Germany... Yes I do get around. But here I am to tell you about my time in Luxembourg, where I have just spent the last three days.

Aqueducts used to bring water, now trains to Luxembourg.

I arrived in Luxembourg on the first of August after my Eurostar journey from early morning London. I was lucky enough to be the only person boarding the train to get my bags fully searched, and nearly missed the thing because of it. Still, soon I was on the 300kmph Eurostar hurtling towards the continent. I remember we entered the chunnel but there was no exciting fanfare as I imagined or an announcement that we were entering it, it just started. Then I woke up five minutes before Brussels!
After that it was three hours to Luxembourg I think. The capital was built on top of a giant rock in 963 AD and since then thez have burrowed into the rock to create tunnels which I visited called casemates. A small section is open and there are a lot of tunnels.
There's a few nice churches as well to visit and a plethora of museums and galleries. I took a Luxembourg Card and for 10 Euros could enter as many as I had time for in one day. The History of the City of Luxembourg Museum is one, that like some of its counterparts is built in a modernised building, that also goes into the rock. It showcases the city, as well it might with that title. The view across Luxembourg, across the valley is breathtaking. The rail bridges are very long and have a Roman-aqueduct design to them so they really suit the city.

Castle at Vianden.

On the second day I ventured out with some friends I made in Vietnam (and then again bumped into them by pure coincidence in China) to other towns in Luxembourg. At Vianden is a stunning castle on a hill which was chok-full of people revelling in a medieval festival. The countryside is also gorgeous and perfect for a picnic. Then in a place called Remich it was time for mini-golf!

View of casemates, Luxembourg city.

As for the copius hours I spent looing at modern art... well I'm not sure I gained anything but an increased dislike for it! soooo pretentious! Someone puts a postcard over an old photo of Humphrey Bougart and that is apaprently art? Pish and Tosh I say. And galleries pay for that sort of thing! Then there was a 15 minute video entitled '15 minutes in Busan' as one guy is filmed, poorly, being put into various statue positions by two othes.

They are taking the piss right??

BUT Luxembourg is a little gem. That's all I can say. If medieval villages and cities is your thing, and you are running out of European countries you haven't yet been too, it might be for you. I think it's often over looked, and don't think it should be.

London - The Royals, Westminster and one last but of Geeking Out!

2011-08-01T03:04:00.000+10:00

Well folks, I have around 12 hours left in Great Britain. It's funny, I have had 24 days here (not including the two before I went to Cameroon) yet I write from you so tired and this endless feeling of moving dragging me down. What to make of this place? It feels somehow different to the previous three visits. Maybe it's because I am tried and my shoulder hurts, I don't know. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and after catching up with an old friend I did some sight-seeing today.

Doctor Who Experience.

I am styaing at a pretty grotty hostel all said, and sleep last night and I had about 3 hours sleep in total. However I am more concerned about tonight as I have to rise at 4.45am, around an hour after I finally fell asleep last night. Hopefully the others in my dorm will be quieter and less... weird tonight.
It was only one person really.

Ok the Doctor Who Experience. Told to go and see it by a few people I did. And as a fan of the original series more than the new one I felt let down. There is a sort of interactive mini-theme park section where Matt Smith has recorded video and you go from TARDIS console room to Dalek Motehrship and other places. I guess that's what the 18-20 pound entrance is for. Yes that's right. This had something to do with my dissatisfaction.
However for kids I imagine it's a complete hoot, and there is a couple of things from the first 26 years of the programme, but it's mostly based on the 2010 series with Matt Smith. What can I say? I'm a hard man to please! Madame Tussaud's is almost 30 pounds! The UK really fleeces people for any sort of tourist attraction.

Buckingham Palace.

I walked around in London for a bit and saw Westminster Abbey, very impressive and gothic indeed, but not open on a Sunday. Then a walk around St James Park - 24 degrees today so everyone out in the best weather I have had all the time I have been here. Nearby was Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, again brilliant buildings steeped in English History. Then to Buckingham Palace, lots of tourists everywhere. Oh the Throngs! It seems the biggest groups here are Spanish and Italian. Oxford street as busy as I remember it - more so. Whew time to get my tired carcus back here to my grotty hostel.

Westminster Abbey.

Tomorrow, 620am, the Eurostar. I hit the continent! I am making my way to Brussels and then to Luxembourg tomorrow... back on trains, which I am very happy ab out. So, until my next blog...

Gorgeous York

2011-07-28T22:40:00.000+10:00

Welcome to York readers. A lovely little town that should be on everyone's 'not to be missed' list when visiting the UK. So surprising that it is the fourth time I have been to the UK and the first time I have been to York.

York dates back to 71AD when it was a Roman fortress, the remains of which are still visible in modern day York. Then it was a Norman city, and then a Medieval city from around the 13th Century, which is what is principally on display for the throngs today.

Stain glass windows in York Minster.

The York Minster (St Peter's Cathedral) is the biggest site in York. I took a tour and it went for two and a half hours. the guides in York are truly knowledgeable and full of interesting stories like the Bishop whose statue in the Minster has two right feet, so he wouldn't be thought of as Catholic - who use their left foot to genuflect. There are 128 stain glass windows, the largest of which has been years getting restored and lead removed, and will be another seven years until completion. It is replaced with a giant photo.
It's the largest minster in the UK I believe, and was built on the site of the original, smaller, Norman Cathedral, which was built on the site of a Roman fort.
I have seen many stabs at the date of its building, but lets say between 12th and 14th centuries. It's not to be missed!

Typical Tudor redesign of a Medival building. Note the 'overhang'

The streets themselves can be walked for hours, amazing medieval buildings which have had a Tudor redressing over the years (like the one above). Medieval can date back to the 12-13th centuries, whereas the Tudor period relates to the reign of King Henry the 8th, in the 17th century. These buildings typically have quite a bit of overhang on the first floor, because they were taxed according to floor space and this overhang space apparently didn't count! Aslo, the medieval city walls surround much of York and can be walked along. They don't quite connect - there are gaps, but in total it's around 4.5km walk to circle the town. It really is a placed steeped in history.

The Minster from a distance, taken from the city walls.

And for those of us who are train buffs, the awesome National Rail Museum (well priced at free!) is a must too. So many old, powerful steam locomotives. One that had be opened to show the workings was just brilliant. I finally understand how steam is used to move giant pistons. Highlights included a Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train), Royal Carriages, a history of British Rail and the Mallard (2500), built to go fast from London to Edingburgh. This blue beast could reach speeds of over 110 MILES per hour, so around 170kph. I know, why did they bother switching to diesel? In fact I asked, apparently three people could drive a diesel train, they needed ten for a steam train.

Not the Mallard, but a similar train that could touch 11mph.

So that's beautiful York. It is even sunny today, that makes two days out of twenty. Mid-summer. I am told I have been lucky.....

On Holidays.... Scrap Metal, Cars and..... Beer???

2011-07-26T23:26:00.000+10:00

When one is travelling one needs a bit of a break sometimes. To settle down for a week with friends and not be a tourist for a short while. If that is possible. That's what I have been up to of late. Now, I am in York, back being a tourist in this awesome little town I can't believe it's taken me so long to visit.

So I have been in a place called Northampton where I helped a good mate remove some scrap metal from his house. I tried and failed at Salsa dancing. I had a few beers and was told quite adamently that we don't drink beer in Australia, it's only drunk here in England. Okay, I call what the Brits drink 'Ale' to differentiate it from the cooler, easier to drink lagers and bitters we principally drink in Australia. Essentially though... I disagree and would kill for a Pure Blonde or Cascade Premium.... Fosters is the main Australian beer available here. Enough said.

What's NOT to love about possibly the best tourist site in England? A scrapyard in Northampton.

Well, then I journied to ChesHam to catch up with another old friend, one I hadn't seen since January 2001. Chesam is a wonderfully English village/town with a great little old town not so far from London. Another couple of lazy days going on picnics, confounding people with requests for Aussie-style burgers and the discovery of a computer game I somehow had missed called 'Angry Birds'. Then there was the car - a Westfield. This was worth taking a hair-raising ride in! An inch from the ground, nothing to keep the English Wniter... What? Sorry person next to me just informed me that it is Summer here. That doesn't seem right. Still, no roof to keep the weather out, an engine that sets off car alarms.... Woooohoooooooo!

The Westfield. Vroom!

Chesham.

Now I am in York, visited an amazing 'Minster' (Cathedral) here today. But - that's for the next entry!

Colleges: from All Soul's to Hogwarts!

2011-07-19T03:57:00.000+10:00

Bridge of Sighs.

A few more days in Oxford and I have seen much of this amazing town. The buildings are magnificent, the colleges that form Oxford University are amazing, and the weather is.... terribly English. It is the middle of Summer, or so I am led to believe, however the weather is probably better in Melbourne right now, where it is the middle of Winter. Rain, wind and tempertures around the mid-teens!

Luckily Oxford has enough sites to keep one's mind, slightly at least, off the weather. There are some impressive structures to walk past, such as the Radcliffe Camera, a large circular building that doesn't appear to take photos, and the Bridge of Sighs (pictured above), which reminds me of the bridge in Mostar, Bosnia.

Mr T. Rex, the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Then there are the museums and libraries, of which there are many. The T-Rex above can be found at the wonderfully Victorian Pitt Rivers Museum of Natural History along with many other skeletons. There's information on the Dodo, other displays on Evolution and then in a second room, dimly lit, are hundreds of glass cases filled with objects from all over the world from Papua New Guinea to the Americas. There was also the biggest Totem Pole I have ever seen! It was wonderfully English and dim and dusty, with far to many objects to be displayed properly, they just crammed as many things into the cases as they could, and then as many cases into the room as they could.

Then there was the Ashmolean Museum, another wonderful museum following in the British tradition of invasion, pilferring followed by display. Both museums were in amazing buildings too.

All Soul's College.

But the cream of Oxford is its university, and the colleges. Why, today alone I visited four colleges, and a couple yesterday. Above is All Soul's College, typically Anglican in name (Church of England) with a remarkable Chapel, and as with all the colleges here, immaculate lawns and fantastic quadrangles. I have also visited Merton, Whadham & Exeter College (this last one had a fantastic chapel as well).

Outside Christ Church College on Sunday, the queue is unbelievable!

But the cream of the cream is Christ Church College. Yes, it does get the most visitors because of one singular reason - it is known as the Harry Potter College. This is the building used as Hogwarts, or part of Hogwarts. But it is also a magnificent college, the largest I saw with more wonderful lawns and quadrangles. Unfortunately the chapel was closed for the Georgian Boys Choir, but just walking around the buildings was breathaking enough.

The 'Harry Potter Hall', Christ Church College.

And then there was the most popular room in the house - what the lady at the entrance called 'The Harry Potter Room'. Well, this grand hall had people in and out all the time, and I am pretty sure it was the dining hall in the Harry Potter films. I visted Christ Church College today, although I went yesterday but saw queues like you wouldn't believe. I estimated there was between a one and two hour wait, so I passed yesterday, but today was Monday and I could basically walk straight in.
Of further note is a building called the Bodleian Library, a grand building yes, but inside was one of the more interesting displays on the making of the King James Bible, one of the first fully-translated English-language bibles (after two others I think) first published in 1611. It was translated and put together by many literary men here in Oxford over many years leading to its publication. The display showed different translations, the history, even a note about the 'Wicked' version of the bible printed many a century ago now. Why was it wicked? Instead of the Seventh Commandment reading: 'Thou shalt not commit adultery', the printers omitted the 'not'. Needless to say, scandel ensued!

Interior courtyard view of the Bodleian Library.

And so, that is that for Oxford. This place goes back nearly 1000 years as a learning centre, and some of the colleges are almost that old. It's been a brilliant place to stop for five nights. Next on the agenda is a bit of rest for me, but I will be back in just over a week blogging about the northern English town of York!

This is Oxford!

2011-07-16T04:58:00.000+10:00

Seems my liking for interesting titles has all but disappeared! Here I am in Oxford, greeted by (relatively) good weather, I had a bit of an explore today, also visited the Church of St Mary the Virgin and climbed the tower.

Ye Grande Olde Building, Typical of ye Oxford!

The journey was slow on National Express, the buses that cover the UK. Long wait in Birmingham reminded me of my trip in 2000-01 where I had many long waits in Birmingham for connections. But I arrived last night in Oxford to find it bustling with many people indeed. Yes, many students are staying on and many tourists are here visiting.

Organ in Chruch of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford.

And why not? Oxford is a beautiful town full of more universities than you could poke a stick at! Los of wonderful buildings too everywhere you go. It's a lovely place to be and no mistake. I am staying at unversity residences which has turned out to be a good move, I have a nice room withy plenty of spce, with five nights here I am able to unpack and spread out.

St Mary the Virgin.

So now I can kick back and relax and check out a few places I will never study! Don't lose your bookmark!

View from Chruch Tower of Oxford.

Cardiff

2011-07-14T03:36:00.000+10:00

Cardiff Castle.

Folks you find me, unsurprisingly thanks to the title, in the capital of Wales, Cardiff. I have had three days here and it's a nice enough place, although I am taken aback somewhat by the number of alcoholics on the street who have frequent loud 'conversations', and parents who yell at their kids too. It's been strange, not something I have experienced on this journey anywhere else.

Attraction-wise, Cardiff isn't packed with stuff to see. Most buildings have 'Millennium' in front of them, like the Millennium Centre', a big fancy building with giant Welsh words cut out of a bronze facade. Inside are a couple of shops, a theatre or two, a BBC centre being built which will house a Doctor Who Exhibit (now you're excited). The building itself features heavily in Torchwood and once or twice in Doctor Who. The lady at the shop even had a list of many Doctor Who filming locations around Cardiff. No... I didn't then spend the rest of my time hunting them down. I promise. But Doctor Who is a big part of Cardiff today. Really!

The Millennium Centre.

The National Museum is full of the history, particularly ancient and palentological (yes I made that word up) of Wales. It's free, which I enjoyed. Interesting art too. Then the Cardiff Castle is the showpiece of the city. It is 11 pounds which is quite exorbitant in my view. But it has some interesting history going back 2000 and is a must see. In one section there is a house built into the walls, inside it is done up as restored Victoriana - quite brilliant! Lovely clock tower as well.

Cardiff Bay.

That done, I went for an afternoon trip to a small village called St Fagan's, about 20 minutes by bus from Cardiff. There is a wonderful open air museum there with houses and a castle also decked out inside. It's really worth a look in the Wales countryside. Beautiful grounds as well! Wales is an interesting place. The accent is amazing - and hard to replicate - and everything is signed in both Welsh (usually first) and English. They are a proud people!

St Fagan's Castle.

Tomorrow - I head to Oxford!

Getting my Geek on!

2011-07-12T01:27:00.001+10:00

Sylvester McCoy (The 7th Doctor) & Myself, London Film & ComicCon.

Well folks, a brief sort of soourn from the travelling. After a night I'd rather not remember flying from Yoaunde to London, losing my bag and struggling for a measly hour's sleep on the plane, I touched down in sunny England with two days of serious nerdom ahead!

London Film & Comic Con 2011.

The above two pictures are from London Film and ComicCon, apparently a title sneakily stolen from the original ComicCon oft held in the States. Well, for me, a Doctor Who fan, it was great. I got to meet actors from the series I have never met before. If the naes Sylvester McCoy, Sarah Sutton, Sophie Aldred, Louise Jameson, Richard Franklin and John Leeson mean anything to you, you might have been excited too.

Then again, there were many people frpm different series and movies there. The Highlander guy for one, and Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future, Taxi and Star Trek fame. Did I say Star Trek, then how about Brent Spliner who played Data? There was Kenny Baker - R2DC from Star Wars and many more, but THE most sought signature was that of Karen Gillan, the present Doctor Who companion and pin-up girl. I only saw her from afar.

Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Colin Baker (The 6th Doctor) at the Doctor Who Day, Beer.

But wait, there's more. On Sunday I made my way to Beer from my base in Exeter to a 'Doctor Who Day' at a little place called Pecorama. Beer is a really pretty town on the English South Coast. Sarah Sutton also appeared there, and I got to meet the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. And play mini-golf, and see a Doctor Who exhibition.

On my side with a Dalek! How do you turn the thing around?

Masks etc at the Exhibition, Pecorama, Beer.

But now I am in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The sojourn is over, and I am a back-packing tourist once more! Cardiff has many tourist attractions.. the Torchwood Hub, a Doctor Who Exhibition.... yes my geeky sidetrip is done with...

Beer, Devon, England.

Yaounde et Au Revouir Cameroun, El pais Beau!!

2011-07-08T00:46:00.000+10:00

Here I stand (well sit) in Yaounde with a few hours until I leave Africa and Cameroon. Again, expectations have been defied. I highly recommend Cameroon for a taste of West Africa. The only negative I can think of is the cos of accommodation.

I came here in the rainy season, but didn`t lose a day to rain, so I have been lucky. The weather has, in general been good and cool. My only regret is not being well enough to climb Mount Cameroon.

I left Bamenda yesterday. The day before I travelled northwards along the ring road in a packed minivan to see the Metchum falls, on the Metchum River.

The Pastor preches to the bus before we leave Bamenda for Yaounde.

Metchum falls proved to be big and impressive in an amazing part of the country. The ring road is in the north-west and has been a highlight of Comeroon. The transport also was. The mini-vans or bush taxis have all been packed to the hilt, leaving us wondering often whether we would make it. If that isn’t amazing enough, we hitched from the falls to a northern town called Wum to get transport back to Bamenda.

Streets of Yaounde.

After three days trips in as many days , yesterday I took a bus to the nation’s capital, Yaounde. It’s not got a lot of sights , and the National Museum is closed for renovations at the moment. So many closed museums on this trip.

Still, leafy and wide streets, it’s not too bad here.

The bus journey was eventful. I had a six yearold fall asleep on me for the whole jounrey nearly – over six hours. We had a wmon come on the bus trying to sell some sort of tonic, then a pastor who said he would cure our illnesses. I still have a cough !! The bus was very packed an chaotic and took two and a half hours to leave, but before nine pm I was here in Yaounde.

Metchum Falls.

And soon I am gone, like the wind, with six weeks in Europe and then to Japan again, followed by my first teachng English gig in Georgia. Yes... the future awaits. You know I have been to some brilliant places, yet I remain excited.....

The Fon of Bali, artwork and amazing views.

2011-07-05T04:18:00.000+10:00

So since Limbe I moved on to Bamenda, a bustling busy town in the English speaking north of the country. It's been the base for a couple of day excurisions, and should be for one more tomorrow.

Yesterday I took a squishy bush taxi, two plus driver in the front, four in the back, to the little village of Bali.

This is where the Fon of Bali recieves honoured guests.

Bali is an amazing little village 20km from Bamenda which has a great community spirit. Singing can be heard across the hills, and the place is looked after by His Majesty Dr Ganyonga III, the Fon of Bali. For the unitiated in Cameroonian governmental systems, much of this area in the north is divided into Fondoms, or small Kingdoms. The Lonely Planet informed my travelling partner and I that we could get a palace tour! So we found the palace and waited for the receptionist. A man passed us and said as it was Sunday everyone was at prayers. He suggested we come back tomorrow. As I gathered myself to leave, the receptionist appeared and we got our tour. Little did we know, the gentlman who we first spoke to was the Fon! So now I have officially met a King! He solves disputes, entertains and recieves many guests from government representatives to even foreign diginitaries. They all work together for the people of Cameroon.

Masks at the Prescraft Centre.

Today we headed to a place called Bamessing where we visited an arts and crafts centre where traditional African crafts are made such as masks and bowls. The people work here and we saw them working with the clay. It's another community project and was a great place to visit and buy things too, good prices. It is called 'The Prescraft Centre'.

View from Sabga Hill.

On the way back we climbed to the top of this amazing hill and saw some of the surrounding hilly area. Breath-taking views from Sabga Hill near the village of Sabga. This area is known as the 'Ring Road'. It's a windy road that circles the area. Tomorrow we plan to go a different direction!

Photos from Limbe & Primates Prospering!

2011-07-05T04:00:00.000+10:00

And now some photos from Limbe. Since I last posted properly I visited the amazing Limbe Sanctuary for Primates - sorry can't remember the exact title, but it was just brilliant. I got to see Gorillas, Drills, Mandrills and Baboons (as well as one big python!) all rescued, confisctaed or donated to this amazing place that gives them large cages (I mean large, plenty of space and really an enclosure) for them to live safely in without fear of the poachers and hunters here, of which there are many. Often I worry about zoos and the like in the third world, no issue here though!

Oil rig off the coast from Limbe.

Amazing Tree in the Limbe Botanical Gardens.

Drills at the Wildlife Centre.

Pictures from Kribi

2011-07-05T03:49:00.000+10:00

Hi Folks.

Finally able to upload some photos, so firstly here are some I took around Kribi, around a week ago now. Enjoy!

Sunset - Hotel View in Kribi

The amazing Lobe River.

Local Tribe I visited near the Lobe River.

Pirogues in front of the Lobe Waterfalls.

Cameroonian Beauty....

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

Alas.... Photos are not going to happen here I fear. After discovering a mass of viruses on my SD I was able to clean them off but my photo files remain hidden. Perhaps there is something I can do later for my next post in Cameroon. Land of infurating internet!

But let me tell you of the last few days at least. Sadly, this is one place where the photos would have spoken volumes. I took a bus ride to Kribi, in the south and on the coast after two short nights in Douala. Kribi is a nice little town with perhaps only one decent restaurant and some nice beaches. The bus ride was predictable for Africa, full of colour and life, talking, excitment, through some amazingly thick forest - make that true African jungle! So exciting! The only draw back was really the fact that no-one was keen for windows to be open much, and so a fair bit of sweating ensued.
Kribi is in the French speaking part of the country - which in fairness is most of it. The room opened out on the Atlantic ocean, and so the location made up for the plainess of the room and the mosquitoes (I am reliably informed there is little malaria at this time of years by locals. Well, it will prove reliable if I don't get it again!), but not for the price. I am finding accommodation in particular much more expensive here than in other parts of West Africa I have visited. Half the daily budget just disappears to it!
Anyways. I am travelling with a friend now which makes it easier and well, affordable. My budget would be shot if I was on my own! We journied around 8km south of Kribi one day to see the Lobe waterfalls, very pretty and on the beach. Lots of fishing boats around as well, lots of interesting lizards and remarkably large bats also!
Then we took a pirogue ride to what we were told is a pygmy village along the Lobe river. The trees were up to 30 metres high at a guess, and the sounds of the jungle provided an amazing soundtrack to our boat journey. However, the village was small and everyone was out on a hunt! I must an ignoramus, but I thought Pygmies were short of stature. Not at this village...

Yesterday we took a bus back to Douala, shared with chickens and some boxes of fish in the hold that leaked water and now our bags have a wonderful fishy aroma... it's not too bad, definitely faded considerably over night.
We braved the slow moving Douala traffic and now we are in Limbe, near the largest mountain in this region - Mount Cameroon. It pelted rain last night but no mosquito bites = good night. We can see oil rigs not far at all from shore, the hills are amazing but the clouds are low and we can't see far. It is very humid here too. But beautiful.
Also, not so far from the Nigerian border, we are in the Anglophone part of the country - yes, English is the main language. This morning a visit to the Botanical Gardens. Not so amazing really, a few cool trees and interesting plants, but also far too many mosquitoes!
So from here we should see Mount Cameroon tomorrow, and then we are moving about every day or two trying to cram as much into my final week as I can!
hopefully I can update soon! Au Revoir for now!

From Uzbekistan to Cameroon. You read right!

2011-06-26T22:57:00.000+10:00

The joys of African computers an internet have already struck – I lost the whole post.

Annoying when you consider I have to traverse the Fench keyboard too! Still, somehow I have gone Asia - Europe - Africa in a blink of an eye!

Here I am in Kribi, Cameroon, a few days and a lot of miles from where I last blogged, Uzbekistan. So anyways, since I last blogged from Tashkent, I went to the airport where the security guards searched for extra Euros they were sure I was carrying, hopped on a plane to Riga, Latvia. The flight was fine, five hours over night. Cold have done with more sleep though!

Then at Riga airport everyone was searched thoroughly after getting off the plane. Riga airport was confusing, having to be bussed a very short distance to the next terminal. No explanation about how and where to get the bus from though! So five hours in Riga airport…. Not a lot to do let me tell you.

I had two nights in London, and then three days ago now up at five am to catch a flight via Zurich to Douala, Cameroon. A packed fight with lots of children. Still, we touched down safely in Douala. It has a bad rep for being crazy and even a little dangerous, but I found it quite chilled and laid back. Not a bad place, especially compared to say, Accra.

In fact, that’s Cameroon. Not a lot to see or do, but relax and ejoy the vive. There was a band outside the airport playing West African vibes, so awesome and chilled. Weather? Mid twenties, humid, but sea breeze helps.

Yesterday I took an African bus-ride here to the chilled and pretty town of Kribi. The bus had people standing in the aisle, animated discussion, it was brilliant! The scenery is almost jungle, dense green forest. Rivers, good roads, friendly people. And nw I am in a beachside hotel where I can hear the Atlantic Ocean pound the shore all night long.

Who could ask for more?

The Rue De Libertè, Douala

View from my hotel, Kribi.

Last days of Central Asia - Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

2011-06-20T21:30:00.000+10:00

So folks, thanks for taking this Central Asia ride with me. In a few hours I head to Tashkent airport where I will board an Air Baltic flight via Riga to London. I will be in a different part of the world, a new section to my journey in 2011 will begin.

After two short days in London I will be heading for two weeks in Cameroon, West Africa. It's strange how despite my first expereinces of sub-saharan Africa, I still head back there every trip.

Kulkedash Medressa.

For now though, I need to reflect on Tashkent. It's quite a city to be honest. At around three million people it is the biggest city (population-wise) that I have visited in Central Asia. It has wide streets and fast cars and my guesthouse had one of the most beautiful simple rooms I have had all journey.

This dome is just part of the giant Chorsu Bazaar.

Tashkent seems to follow a grand vision that the President, Islam Karimov, has for the country. Big and impressive. This is rather similar to his Kazakh counter-part, Nazabaev, although I believe they don't get on! But Tashkent is not just big and wide, it's also pretty clean, and from the outside at least, it looks rather modern. The obsession with blue (and near-blue) domes continues, there's a museum devoted to Timur himself. Inside there's a quote from Karimov. I won't try and repeat it, because I can't remember it word for word, but it says that anyone wondering about the might and power of the Uzbek people, should look to Timur to understand why they are so. (yes I paraphrase rather poorly)

Timur Museum, not the jade-coloured dome!

The Central Museum is rather interesting, at least on the top floor. If you are like me, you are more interested in the last 100 years than the 60 million that preceded them. Perhaps this is because it is more relatable to the country I see today. Then again, if you are an archeologist like someone I met here at the guesthouse, you may indeed enjoy you prehistoric pots! Lots of information on Soviet times, not so much in English though. And looking to the future, thanks to oil oil oil!
A few choice Karimov quotes too. Can't miss out on those. A big TV tower was built in Tashkent in 1928, sending signals out 100km today. That seems really early for television, 1928. Then again, it only came to my country, Australia, in 1956. Rather slow really... It seems that television signals were first experimented by a Russian scientist in 1907. You learn something new every day!

Fountains and Tashkent Life.

Many monuments and statues around town, including a weeping mother which apparently features in many Uzbek cities. She is weeping, I believe, of ones lost in war. Fountains also play a huge role in Uzbek lives here. As in many places I have seen in Central Asia, they double as swimming pools. It is pretty hot here!

Assumption Cathedral.

Other highlights include the bustling Chorsu Bazaar where you can get most anything. Except for a connector USB cable for my camera it seems! There is a beautiful Orthodox Church, Assumption Cathedral, in the midst of renovations. And then the Kukedash Medressa, a quiet little function Islamic school but very pretty near Chorsu Bazaar. Have I left anything out? I'm sure I have, but that is Tashkent and Central Asia.
Amazing, different places yet, but fascinating.

Before I go, I want to talk briefly about the police here in Central Asia. I was warned by people and especially the guidebook before I go that they would be the biggest problem in Central Asia. They would take my passport and not give it back until I bribed them, they treat foreigners poorly. Some horror stories. Well, touch wood & inshallah, I have less than half a day left and the worst thing I can say is they were curious about my passport, its stamps, Australia and me. They were also friendly. I had no issues whatsoever. Yes I was very careful to make sure all my documents were correct and registered where needed, BUT I have nothing but thanks and respect for the police doing there job in this part of the world. Tashkent went through a series of terrorist attacks back in the late 90s and early 00s but has been very safe since then.
Police of Central Asia - I salute you!

A Brief Essay on Uzbekistan

2011-06-19T16:36:00.000+10:00

Statue of Timur the Great, Samarkand.

Central Asia has some enigmatic states. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan (which I am not visiting. This trip at least) and even Uzbekistan. A country who reveres an historical figure, the all-conquering Amir Timur, more than anyone or thing else. Nevermind that he lived over six hundred years ago, the guy went on a rampage conquering Iran, Iraq, parts of Turkey and India and the Cacaucus as well. For a reasonably small state as Uzbekistan, that's not a bad effort.
Then he set about building one of the most beautiful cities on the Silk Road in Samarkand. I'm starting to revere him a bit myself. He was lame in one leg and 1.7 metres tall - shorter than me. Maybe I too can conquer a few places. But, I don't believe I exagerate, he has acheived deity-like status in Uzbekistan.
It is a country hounded by Mongols and Genghis Khan, Russians and Soviets too. Timur represents the tim they were top of the heap.
Today his spirit is everywhere. A great man casts his shadow over a country that has some reasonably bureaucratic visa laws, and a President, Karimov, who would like to be as enigmatic and great as Timur is.
A wealth of resources and the added bonuses gained by letting the US on your soil (and then kicking them out) gives the impression that Uzbekistan is reasonably prosperous, espeically in the region. There are lots of new buildings everywhere I went. Tashkent gleams, and parts of Samarkand shine, although other older parts hide behind much more recent walls.
The Russian language and alphabet are slowly on the way out. The Uzbek identity is rising strongly. The money is insane. The biggest note one can get is 1000 som. This is roughly 40 US cents. So when one changes 100 dollars you have so much cash finding enough places to hide it is a major challenge! The black market is used by everyone. One gets 2400 per dollar on the black market the official rate is around 1700. Every night you spend has to be registered on a slip and possibly shown as you exit the country, depending on the whims of the border guards.
The climate is insane. In Bukhara I encountered 40 deree maximums, it gets in excess of fifty late July and August! But in the winter I was told there is a metre of snow in the streets! Minus 20 is not uncommon! How do they cope?
I haven't seen a cavalcade of pictures of Karimov, but I hear he is not disimmilar to Nazabaev of Kazakhstan fame. Opposition parties are generally not allowed and usually he wins impossibly high proportions of the vote when elections are held. But Uzbekistan is doing ok right now, so people are reasonably happy!
Central Asia is a fascinating area of the world. I have less than two days here before I must depart. The trip now turns to a couple of days in London, then Cameroon. Then to Europe.
Every place is special and unique in its own right. To imagine what it's like to live here though, that is still beyond me!

Please enjoy pictures of the Registan in Samarkand below. Tomorrow I shall blog about Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. Thanks for reading.

Land of the Blue Domes and much much more - Samarkand.

2011-06-18T23:05:00.000+10:00

The Uzbek summer rolls on! The weather doesn't get much cooler, and the trains are a nightmare. But the sights are amazing and worth seeing. Note to self: if I ever go back to Uzbekistan, don't go in Summer!

Samarkand lies around three hours back in the direction of Tashkent, relative to Bukhara. Here they have what they claim to be 'fast trains', however, they tend to get to their destination around an hour late with surprising regularity. The big issue, however, is the temperature. There we are, stuck in the carriage, whilst the TV blares some Uzbek movie, and no proper windows to open, no working air conditioning. Not just me, the entire train are suffering. Today I returned by train (why did I do that?) to Tashkent. There were grown men with no shirts on. If I wasn't so modest I would have joined them.

But to Samarkand. This ancient capital is the city of Timur the Great, a lame short man who conquered half the Eastern World in the late 14th century. Impressed? They certainly are here. Much of the architecture dates back to this time, and the three or four centuries that followed. The Registan is one of the principal attractions in Samarkand. Three large medressas that face in to each other. I will put the photos up on the next post as they are on a different flashcard to those appearing in this post. Large, serene, featuring blue domes. There really is a feeling of Iran here.
Blue domes are a popular theme with all the medressas and Mosques of ancient Uzbekistan. The Bibi-Kanum Mosque is an example of that, one of the oldest and at one stage (if my guidebook is to be believed) the largest in the Islamic world (we are talking a few centuries back now).

Shah-i-Zinda is something rather special. It's a series of tombs along an avenue. You can go inside a few of them, with simple markers for the grave but incredible delicate decorcations on the upper walls and inner domes. A very revered sight for Uzbek Muslims, it is set on a hill surrounded by a much more recent cemetry. Possibly the highlight of a town strewn with amazing Islamic architecture.

Finally I visited the above Mausoleum of Timur himself, buried with his two sons and his successor, Ulugbek, a ruler and an astronomer. The Lonely Planet describes the tomb as understated. Hmmmm, well, I can't agree. Inside the decorcation in gold, blue and black was incredible. Inside the tomb many people pray, hands open palm up, to Timur. Not to God, to Timur. He is a seriously revered figure.

One story I have read and heard. When a Soviet archologist in 1941 open Timur's tomb and found his remains he found an inscription. "Whom so ever opens this tomb will be defeated by an enemy far greater than me'. The next day Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.

Well, it's an interesting tale, isn't it?
Next time I hope to write a little about Uzbekistan as a place, an entity.
No flipping!

Not Quite Bustling Bukhara

2011-06-14T22:50:00.001+10:00

So, there are tourists in Central Asia! Yes, I found them here in Bukhara. The old town and tourist part is very Middle Eastern, reminding me of Iran, although the other parts are more Russian. It's an interesting place for a day or two. There is a nice central square where a restaurant served me a feast for around seven dollars. Much more pleasant and alive at night though, I met some people from a German tour group, also there are a few French ones about the place as well. I saw maybe three tourists in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan I met a few backpackers from different places. But here is of more interest to the typical tourist. I will also add that I haven't met an Australian since I have been in Central Asia - that's a month now.

The old town is filled with mosques, minarets and medressas (Islamic schools), some still working, some not. The blue mosaics of Iran are in prominence here, there is a Sufi influence such as can be seen at Uch Shariff in Pakistan. It's fair to say that after being in the other two 'Stan's, Bukhara is a different world. Except you can still find Shaslyck wherever you go! (and however you spell it too)

A Bukaran Medressa.

The Kalon Mosque and Minaret are possibly the most stunning features here, the pictures tell the tale far better than I did. All I can say is that I walked around the city in the forty degree heat and after four hours I was well and truly cooked. However, the Kalon Mosque was peaceful and quiet and a nice place to sit and reflect for a while.

A view from afar of the Kalon Mosque and Minaret.

Ancient Bukhara was a city on the Silk road which saw goods travel from Asia to Europe. In these days the citadel (known as the 'Ark') was the seat of power. However, it was mostly destroyed by the Soviets in around 1920. Now partially restored, it houses several little museums including, which showcase old coins, photos, pottery and the like. Most interesting is the collection of large Samovars. Each little museum has one on display, and each one seemed just that little bigger than the previous! Not very middle eastern and belonging to the period of the Soviet Union, but I find these things amusing!


The walls of 'The Ark'.

One of the many grand Samovars!

So that's Bukhara. Also there are many little mini-bazaars, now seemingly only stocking souvenirs. If you are souvenir hunting, this is your place! They are usually under domes, some are quite interesting. Tomorrow, to Samarkand!

Domes, under which lies a small Bazaar.

Photos from the four day journey

2011-06-14T22:02:00.000+10:00

Yes I said it was three days yesterday, but if you add the 15km I walked from Altyn Arashan... It's four days of travel!

The trail down from Altyn Arashan, via Ak Suu, to Karakol.

Through the window of the taxi, Taraz to Skymkent

From Shymkent to Tashkent and Uzbekistan border.

And, after the train journey yesterday I can stop for a day - Bukhara, Uzbekistan!

Three countries, one day, the journey continues!

2011-06-14T00:11:00.001+10:00

Dear highly devoted reader,

You find your intreped traveller (ie me) in Bukhara, Uzbeksitan. Since I last blogged I have travelled, by land, over 1500km. So yes, that's some travelling!
I left Karakol on Saturday morning, the 11th of June 2011. Twas a warm morning to make the trek along Lake Issyk Kol back to Bishkek. The mini van sped along the road I had previously taken in the other direction until arriving in Bishkek late afternoon.
Journey One, done!
Sleeping in Bishkek proved a challenge and a half. For starters, there was a bit of a party going on. Secondly, the room was too hot to sleep in unless I left the window open. Thirdly, dogs were a-barking like it was a full moon or something. It wasn't. The window open meant lots of noise, closed and I was sweating like crazy!

That said, I managed 5-6 hours, and in the morn headed to the mini-bus station where I found me a steed to go forth to a place called Taraz in Kazakhstan. To get to Uzbekistan, the easiest way was through Kazakhstan, although no direct options exist at present. Luckily I had a double-entry Kazakh visa - I planned ahead!
The little mini-van was hot, and is custom in these parts windows are just not opened, so it means hot and stuffy all the way. The border crossing was simple and efficient thankfully. We sped on and arrived in Taraz at 3 pm or so.
I was swiftly shifted from one taxi to another. We were off through the steppe again towards Shymkent. A rural area of Kazakhstan, full of animals who seem to know no fear of vehicles, wondering out onto the road whenever they like.

The occasional radar and speed camera also in Kazakhstan as we skirted the southern border. I met a great guy in this shared taxi ride, his name is Sergey and he would help me across the border. We were both going in the same direction - to Tashkent!
So in Shymkent we were able to share a taxi to the border of Uzbekistan. I had heard that Uzbek border officials can be pushy, ask for bribes or hold you up for hours. I can't say I had an issue, although the customs form was only in Russian and Uzbek, and without Sergey it would have taken me a long time!

We sped into Tashkent, Uzbekistan was the third country of the day. It was around 8pm, although Uzbekistan is an hour behind Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan, so it had taken around 12 hours all up. I then had a free place and great hospitality for the night, Sergey invited me to stay the night there. I have NEVER depended on the kindness of strangers, but it's a great thing.

And today I took the fast train another 550km or so to Bukhara. I am now in a cross between the Middle East, Pakistan and Russia. I took the train - 7 hours or so, and stiflingly hot in there here. It was around 40 degrees today.
So that's a lot of travelling, a lot of kilometres. Tomorrow I get to see some sights!

Finally, a quick apology - not able to load pics here, I will try a different internet cafe next time, hopefully with more luck!

Karakol Capers, Altyn Arashan and some serious Mountains

2011-06-11T00:51:00.000+10:00

I have spent the last few days in the east of northern Kyrgystan and it's certainly an amazing part of the region. Karakol is a bit of a mountain-frontier town at the eastern end of the Lake Issyk Kol. This large lake in itself is amazing - 170km long and up to 70km wide, the second largest alpine lake in the world.

It was a six hour bus ride here past the northern edge of the lake. The town isn't amazing, but is full of houses from a different era, and has a bit of a rural France feel about it. This wooden church (above) was something special. Lots of friendly and helpful people about the place.

On Wednesday I headed out to a place called Jeti Ogutz, where some red-coloured rocks adorn the scenery. Somewhat out of place here, they stand out. They are more like something from central Australia. Generally the scenery here reminds me of Europe, something like Romania. Most people are Kyrg. in descent, but like Kazakhstan there is a real Russian influence especially in architecture. The above rock formation is called the 'broken heart'. Easy to see why.

Yesterday I took a jeep up to a place called Altyn Arashan, a valley with a few houses/buildings there. Stunning scenery too, real Kyrg. rural life on display. Hot springs as well prove popular with the locals. I stay in a ramshackle house with some real character. I group of Kyrg. tourists arrived last night and well, there was eating and drinking as one can imagine. I escaped lightly only having three vodkas and three glasses of surprisingly good Moldovon Sauvingnon Blanc. The only issue I had with the place was the outdoor pit toilets, but theres no water pumps and no electricty, so what could I expect?

I hiked around 15km back towards Karakol nearly to the sealed road where I got a taxi back to my guesthouse. Tomorrow I head to Bishkek again, Sunday to Tashkent in Uzbekistan. It has been brilliant in Kyrgystan and I realise why it was orginally the number one place I wanted to visit in Central Asia. All I can say now is, I hope to return someday!

Bishkek

2011-06-06T21:28:00.000+10:00

Another day, another Central Asian Republic you may or may not have heard of. Actually, Kyrgystan is the main country I orginally wanted to visit in Cetral Asia. It had some polictical and ethnic strife last year but things are pretty quiet today and I have enjoyed two days of superb weather, which is great.

Monument, Victory Square, Bishkek.

So I left Almaty three days ago, found a mini-bus to Bishek at the bus station and within half n hour was on my way to the next country on my itinerary. Kyrgystan is a smaller country with a lot of mountains and really nice capital city - Bishkek.

The journey here was through the steppe (plains) that I saw all over Kazakhstan. Yes, Kazakhstan has some amazing places. Also, a lot of nothing! Not that that's bad thing.

Border crossings are always fun.

This statement is true if you change 'always' to 'almost never'. I would say never outright, but I am hopeful one day one country will throw a party in honour of my arrival. So far though...

So I was shunted through the Kazakhstan exit and then into and through the Kyrgystan entrance where I went to a special office to get my stamp and I got some evil looks like I was cutting the queue but well, I did wait in line as long as anyone else.

Theatre for Opera, Bishkek

Anyways I found myself in a guesthouse with other travellers. This might be expected but I can honestly say in 18 days in Kazakhstan I only saw three other travellers like myself! Here there are at least 12 others at my guesthouse alone. Kyrgystan is a bit cheaper than Kazakhstan too which is nice, Astana in particular has no backpacker scene and thus is expensive.
So Bishkek.... nicest city so far in Central Asia for sure. Lots of beautiful parks. Yesterday walking around I saw wedding parties and even had a hit of table tennis in the park. The buildings are Soviet, and the mueseum has a whole floor devoted to Lenin, nevertheless it's very pleasant here.

Weddings, parties, parks in Bishkek

I have had a culture fix yesterday too. A Russian Children's play in the morning and then in evening I went to see an original Kyrgystan Opera! The army even came to see it! The stories created much conjecture as we tried to work out what was happening!
So tomorrow I am on to Karakol and the mountains tomorrow for around 3 days of easy hiking. Stay tuned!

Inside the Central museum, Lenin is well represented in bronze Soviet statues.

So long Kazakhstan...

2011-06-03T22:09:00.000+10:00

My final proper day in this enigma that is Kazakhstan. From the Soviet stylings of Alma-Ata (Almaty) I took a short bus ride into the mountains to a place called Medeu. It was a pleasant morning out and about, I certainly enjoyed the scenery. There is even an ice rink, not in use at the moment, not with ice at least. Some sort of makeshift basketball court instead.

The mountains from Medeu

So tomorrow is the big push to Kyrgystan. One week there, then that is followed by a week and a half in Uzbeksitan and that will conclude Asia. For the time being at least!

Almaty from the 12th floor.

As the sun sets on Kazakhstan, I must admit I enjoyed my time here. Great weather, interesting place that few people know a lot about. The culture is certainly unique and interesting, the Russification of the land, cities and people provides a place totall;y different to China.Okay, so the next two countries are also former USSR, but I think they will have their own qualities too. No cities like Astana, but nature, history, desert... oh and I expect some really hot weather in Uzbekistan!

The Ice Rink, Medeu

The Soul of Kazakhstan

2011-06-01T21:35:00.000+10:00

To continue on with my thoughts on Kazakhstan and Astana, I am now writing from Almaty. These cities are so different. Astana is a big flashy showpiece of modern architecture with giant ice creams cones and huge gold tea pots, Almaty is a Soviet style city with buildings that lack imagination. Then again, it has wonderful character and some brillant parks. Catching shade in the middle of the day is an impossibility in Astana.


Two large kettles adorn the Millenium Avenue, Astana.

On my last day in Astana I visited the simply amazing Palace of Peace and accord. Designed by a Brit, Norman Foster, responsible for many of the Astana creations. The Palace of Peace and Accord may have a name that doesn't demonstrate a perfect knowledge of the English language (ie. it sounds to me like someone just liked the sound of a Peace Accord) but it shines on the inside.

A pyramid on the outside, the interior is simply stunning. Designed in such a way that if you flew over the pyramid you would see the Kazakh flag, there is a concert hall inside, displays, a large atrium and lifts that take you almost to the top where you can climb steps to the very top. The lifts are in themselves a marvel rising on a diagonal rather than vertically.

President Nazabaev seems to regard himself as a beacon to the world as far as peace and religions are concerned. This building opened in 2006 and held a conference of world religions. There is a conference table at the very top of the pyramid. It sits around an open circle that looks directly down into the bowels of the pyramid. What more can I say?

The top of the Pyramid from inside. The yellow is from the sun on the Kazakh flag.

The Palace of Peace and Accord, exterior.

Then I took the 'Talgo' to Almaty, the fastest train in Kazakhstan. Still over 12 hours for around 1000 km journey, but better than 20!
The glitz of Central Asia'a anwer to Dubai seems a distant memory. Astana, the capital of the steppe, is missing only two things - vegetation and people. Really, every time I went to a museum or attraction I was left wondering if the thing was open, such was the string of tourists entering and leaving the buildings (ie there were none).
Almaty on the other hand is for living. The parks are great, even artists set up their easels to paint, families wander, children play... I visited the main mosque here today, it is very much like a church inside, and I wonder if it is a converted church. The streets are busy, the traffic crazy, people bustle here and there. Astana is the capital, it is Nazabaev's vision. There are many things to see, many photographs to take. However, Kazakhstan's soul lies a Talgo ride south. Almaty.

Almaty, artist at work in one of many parks.

Astana... just the beginning!

2011-05-29T23:49:00.000+10:00

Well here I am in the Kazakhstan capital, Astana. The slogan is 'much more to come'. Which means this is going to be one hell of a city one day. If it isn't already!

So I arrived here yesterday. One of the blessings (arguably) of Kazakhstan is it's size. However, it makes the train and bus journies seriously long. It was another overnight train from Semey to Astana, and with one back to Almaty I decided to split the journey. I took a bus to Pavlodar, in the north of Kazakhstan. It was one hell of a bad and bumpy road. Pot holes galore, through what they call the steppe here - basically, miles and miles of mostly flat land and short grass. Ie - nothing!

Palace of Peace and Accord.

Then a rather warm train journey to Astana. There seems to be a custom to heat the trains up to around the high 20s, and when I opened the window the conductor came along and promptly shut it for me!

Arriving in Astana I took a bus and then a long walk to a hotel. Hotels are a bit expensive here, the room is nice, good shower, but noise is a big issue. I travelled to the main sight area last night where I visit a sparkling and peaceful mosque, then a mall and finally the Byaterek. This is a giant ball 97 metres in the air (to signify 1997 when Atsana became the capital). I took a lift up to the top for views of Astana, where building is going along at quite a pace. Yes everywhere it is non-stop progress here.

Painting of Nazabaev with Heads of state, in the Palace of Independence.

President Nazabaev has molded the country in his own vision. And Astana is the centre piece. Perhaps it is ego, I don't know, but all the money coming in from the incredible mineral and oil wealth this country has, has been pumped into Astana. Clearly parts of the country are missing out. Today I visited the President's museum, full of gifts he has recieved and many recreated rooms such as his office and important conference rooms.

Lights in one Astana's many many fountains.

Then there is the President's Cultural Centre, everything revolves around this man. The centre is interesting with history of Kazakhstan, traditional dress, history of Kazkahstan since independence in 1991.

Mosque.

Finally today I visited the Palace of Independence. Not really a palace, but a huge conference hall with paintings and ethnographic displays closed to public at the moment. Here I saw the plan for Astana, a model of the final vision to be completed around 2030. The grandiose nature of present Astana is something to behold. The buildings are huge, they sparkle, it is nothing like the reast of the country. It is Dubai in central Asia. However, when it is finished.....

The Bayterek.

So the question is - is this a good thing? I don't honestly know. It gives the people pride in their city, a lot have demonstrated this to me. But this resource wealth... will it go somewhere that will sustain Kazakhstan once the resources are done? This is the question on my lips....
And of Nazabaev... more next time!

Staying in Semey

2011-05-27T00:37:00.000+10:00

During Soviet times, the town of Semeypalatinsk was close to a place called the Polygon, where the USSR tested some 460 nuclear bombs. Today as I write to you from the town now known as Semey, nuclear weapons are banned from Kazakhstan. The town is an interesting little place. I am staying in a Soviet style hotel, cheap but nice. I have BBC World which is always a good thing, although I don't really care so much that Barack Obama met the Queen and Miss Kate, which they talked about for two days.

Semey-ites are proud of the above bridge, calling it their answer to the golden gate bridge. I am noticing a very annoying smudge on my lens now that started in Vietnam but appears to be getting worse. Maybe it's a crack. Not too happy about that! Semey is full of parks, and is a pretty quiet place all told.

Kazakh in chain mail, Abay Museum.

Today I visited the Museum of Fine Arts. My guidebook does not do it justice! It is a large museum with 21 rooms of paintings from Russia, Kazakhstan, Semey and elsewhere. It also proudly displays a Rembrandt etching. It costs a dollar to get in, and a couple more for a tour in English. Bravo!

Then there was the Abay museum - Abay is Kazakhstan's greatest poet, and pretty much their number one cultural hero. The museum was interesting but lacked any information in English, and I followed the tour in Russian but understood little. There were some sections on life in 19th century and other people such as Abay's biographers, and in one room they set up a tradition Kazakh tent - a yurt.

Park in Central Semey.

Yesterday I visited a home where one of my favourite writers, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, lived for a two and a half years 1857-1859. It was small, but interesting. Another guide was really helpful - I made some new friends here who have really helped me by translating at times and showing me round a bit!

Statues of Lenin in another Semey Park.

Also behind my hotel is a park full of Soviet statues - Stalin, Marx, but mostly Lenin. Maybe ten Lenins in total. Something about Eastern Europe dictates that grass is rarely cut, and with the long grass and the old apartment buildings it made for an eerie scene, especially as some of Lenin's statues were minuses their noses! The wind today was seriously fierce! It's Spring with a vengeance at the moment, dust and spores are floating around everywhere.

Tomorrow a brief stop in Pavlodar to break my journey to the Kazakh capital, Astana. Watch this space!

Almaty Times.

2011-05-22T22:30:00.000+10:00

Hello to all! Here I am in the former capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty. I have had a bit of a rest this week which has been well needed (and well earned I must point out). I suddenly realise that moving on every few days for eleven weeks in a row can take it out of you. In Kyoto I had seven days in one place, here in Almaty I will be here six days, these are the longest stretches in one place I have had since leaving Australia. And there aren't more this long on the horizon.

But I want to write about where I am. For starters, When I told people I was going to Kazakhstan people were often confused, wondering where it was or if it was even a real place - wasn't it fictional created by Sacha Baron Cohen? No, it's a real place, the ninth largest country in the world, in a part of the world that people in Australia generally are not very familiar with.

Central Asia lies between China and Europe, below Russia and above India. There are five countries which used to be members of the Sovet Union, the others are Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan (both to be visited soon) Tajikistan and the rather mysterious Turkmenistan.

Kazakhstan is in the middle of a mining boon, not unlike my home of Australia. So things are moving along here. The President has been in power ever since Kazakhstan gained its independence from the Soviet Union. So I am in an interesting and often overlooked part of the world. Almaty has a stunning setting with a backdrop of some serious mountains. There are monuments aplenty. Last night I visited the Abay Theatre (named after Kazakhstan's most popular poet) and saw some ballet/modern dance fusion in a stunning theatre.

I have really liked Almarty. I also journied to Kok Tobe, a mountain overlooking the city by cable car. I had adventures at the Kyrgystan Consulate where I was led to believe (before going) that it would be a week long wait for my visa. It was processed in an hour, so I confess this sort of started things off on a positive note. The Zenkov Cathedral was nice, and I visited the Museum of Traditional Musical Instruments yesterday which was ok, but highlighted by a performance on the dombra - a traditional Kazakh guitar - and other instruments for peanuts in an amazing auditorium inside the museum. Great weather last three days too.

Tomorrow evening I head north to Semey, then Pavlodar and the capital Astana. So far so good, although I have been warned on my personal safety. We will see, I will sleep with one eye open!

The mountains provide a supurb backdrop to the city of Almaty.

Musical Performance - lady strums the dombra!

Dancers at the Abay Theatre.

Independence Monument.

Photos from Yangshuo & Shanghai

2011-05-18T20:10:00.000+10:00

As promised I have a collection of photos from areas in China where I was unable to blog or upload photos. I have now landed in Kazakhstan where the old blogger and facebook are once again permitted! Enjoy... more from Kazakhstan in a few days!\

A couple get their wedding photos taken on the Li River, near Yangshuo.

The area around amazing Yangshuo.

People stand for photos in front of the same spot on the 20 Yuan note - Li River, near Yangshuo.

Colonial Era building, Shanghai.

Tourist frenzy - sounvenir area, Shanghai

East Nanjing rd - the chief shopping area, Shanghai.

Chinglish Signs

2011-05-16T22:07:00.000+10:00

China is full of very interesting signs which didn't get translated quite right. Some are just more bizarre. Here are three I snapped - just today!

Xi'an & The Warriors - Photos

2011-05-16T22:04:00.000+10:00

Here they area, please enjoy - it was not easy to put them up!

A mere small portion of the Terra Cotta Army awaits commands!

Encased in glass - was this how he saw his future?

Dance/Perfomance at Qin's tomb.

Xi'an City Walls

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

Xian, Warriors, Horses and a big Goose

2011-05-16T19:56:00.001+10:00

Howdy all! Sorry, but photo uploading doesnt't seem to be working right now, looks like I will have to wait until I am out of China. Which should, touch wood, be tomorrow. I have a flight to Urumqi, a six hour wait in that airport (guaranteed to be the highlight of the whole trip!) and then off to Almaty, Kazakhstan.

But that is still the future, I am here to fill avid readers such as myself and a couple of my relatives in on the events since I arrived, battered, bruised but not broken, in Xi'an.
Saturday saw me ride the bus out to the Army of the Terra Cotta Warriors, and horses (some signs actually add 'and horses'). Saturday, by the way, is not the best day to see busy tourists sites in many countries - China is no exception. The throngs were out en masse which was a bit overwhelming. But hey, for every tourist there were probably two soldiers.
There are three pits full of soldiers all there to protect Emporer Qin in his sleep, 1.5km away. I think the total number unearthed is around 10,000 but I am not sure. Pit One has 6,000, Pit Three has 85 and they didn't give a number on Pit Two as they are still excavating, but the pit is nearly the size of Pit One (I am guessing) although there aren't a lot of soldiers there (or indeed horses) but they could be off being cleaned, repaired or touring the world.
Yes it's very impressive, and indeed amazing. The crowds, as is the tradition in China, give you very little room to breath and getting through the gate I felt distinctly like one cow in a herd of cattle. But this is with out a doubt a don't miss for anyone's trip to China.
A shuttle bus runs you to Emporer Qin's tomb, however there is not much to see there except for a very nice garden and a dance performance that was rather good. It's extensive grounds, pleasant to stroll around in.

Xi'an itself has many cites worth the visitor's time. The Great Mosque is a tranquil little spot in the city's intriguing Muslim Quarter, and I took a bike ride along the restored city walls, probably around 12-15km in total. Very impressive stuff, although I think if ine chose to walk it you'd be bored rather quickly, and the whole circuit takes around four hours to walk, according to the book.
Today I arrived at the Shaanxi Museum to find it shut on a Monday - a trap I have fallen into at a few museums this trip. But I did visit the towering Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The grounds are large and very interesting, with plenty to keep one interested for an hour or two. The weather has really warmed up over the last couple of days too, well into the 30s today.

So it's a pity there are no photos for you to look at, but this just about does my time in China. I do want to post briefly about some 'Chinglish' signs I took photos of though! Need the photos for that. Tomorrow a completely new region of the world for me - Central Asia. Stay tuned!

Shanghai & Spring Airlines

2011-05-14T23:10:00.000+10:00

China is quite the enigma. I am only writing today because I was able to get past the government's firewall (some call it the Great Firewall of China. A little obvious? Yes.) through fooling them into thinking I was accessing this website from the UK.
But where there's a wall there's a way under, over or around it I guess. Apparently anyone who's tech savy can do it. Since my last blog, proxied to you the reader from Yangshuo to Melbourne to your screens I have taken a long train journey to Shanghai, seen the sights and then taken Spring Airlines to Xi'an here, where today I saw the amazing Terra Cotta Warriors.
Really, if I could have worked this out sooner I probably would have been blogging every day. China is a world of its own, it throws things at your senses non-stop and I am well aware of where I am all the time. It's hard to forget.
Unlike India, China has a lot more structure and many more places to put it's 1.4 billion people. They just don't build 1-2 storey buildings here, it would serve no practical purpose. Even here in Xi'an there are more apartment buildings than in all of Australia. Well, we like 1-2 storeys. The younger people, say under 40, are living and riding this economic change and I am not sure they were quite prepared for it. It's a mad consumer market, the streets are not easy to walk. Everyone is out most times of every day with their shopping bags spending their hard earnt Yuan on stuff! Navigating through the throngs is not easy. Cities are big and getting bigger. I think there are like 12-15 MEGA cities in China - cities over 10 million people. It comes as no surprise.

Shanghai has a colonial past, and many of the buildings along the 'Bund' (a one mile stretch along the river) are from those times. There is a 'tourist tunnel' under the river which is more... Chinese in taste. A bizarre light show as you ride a 5 minute cable car to the other side both under and overwhelmed me. Flashing lights, loud music, commentary...

The museum is great, lots to see including some of the oldest coins in existence. China's history puts it ahead of the game in many achievements, including the first country to use money, mint coins, create paper money. Caligraphy, paitings in incredible condition for their age, jade creations 4000 years old. China has had quite the history.

Then there was the Poster Propaganda Art Exhibition, located in the basement of an apartment building. Well. Let's say it was a little Anti-American, visually inteteresting and showed quite the history of China since the cultural revolution. Better seen than spoken about, one of the quirkier yet interesting sites in China.
Oh and there were some temples and the main pedestrian shopping strip in Shanghai too. I quite liked Shanghai to be honest.

Then I flew here too Xi'an. Today I saw the Terracotta warriors - more about that in my next blog. I had one of the more harrowing plane flights of my life to get here.
Spring Airlines is one of the budget carriers here (yet not that cheap) so when I checked in and told I had to pay for baggage over 15kgs in total weight (carry on AND checked in) I shouldn't have been surprised. We we bussed to the plane on time, and ready to go... and then informed there was a delay because we weren't cleared by air traffic control.
Nearly 2 hours, in a small cramped plane as we wait, there is not a free seat on the plane. The attendants have their work cut out for them - people are getting angry. People are yelling at the poor attendants, one got down on his knees to apologise. There is a lot of noise, it builds and builds. People chattering and people complaining. No, it is not helping the situation.
Finally we leave nearly 2 hours late. Not a big deal, just would have been better to be outside. The flight is bumpy to say the least. Plenty of turbulence. At one point the plane drops quite a few metres vertical with a 'thud'! We are fine but people start screaming and stressing. It all calms down. And then the attendant gives a 30 minute duty free speech and sells a lot of stuff. Touching down in Xi'an Airport was quite a relief...

So there we go. A little about China and what's been happening, more to come in a couple of days!

Yangshuo: Rain, mountains and more!

2011-05-09T11:52:00.002+10:00

Hi folks, readers and avid followers.

No doubt you have all been waiting for my next blog, and here it ism via proxy and Australia. Why?

You may well know that Facebook is blocked in China. Well, that ain't all! Yes, apparently some blogging sites are as well. Including blogger/blogspot. So no pictures, This is a cut and paste job done through family.

So I left Hong Kong on Wednesday. I think... seems longer ago. Yes, the metro line takes you to China proper. You don't need a visa for Hong Kong, but you sure need one for mainland China. At the end of the metro line - Lo Wu - there are all the border formalities one would expect. And then into China proper. More formalities, you can even rate the performance of the immigration officers!

Then x-ray the x-ray the bags - everyone just goes for the machine, no waiting in line. In Japan people lined up on the platform to get on the train. In China people don't seem to care about others getting out, it's the 'every man, woman and child for themselves' policy!

Then there was a 14 hour train journey over night to Guilin. I booked into soft sleeper, so i was pretty comfortable.From Guilin there was a bus to here -Yanshuo.

Without photos it's hard to describe this amazing place. I have a great Guesthouse here with 3 meals a day. The countryside is punctuated with countless sharp mountains rising rather vertically from the ground. The roads and rivers wind around them, its a very rural setting here, stunning scenery. The first day here... well I slept. And today has been a total wash out! BUT - I rode a bike for around 25km on Friday, that was great. I visited the 'Assembly Dragon Cave' which you boat and walk through. Lots of colours, all the other tourists were locals/Chinese were very keen to be photographed there. Lots of rocks for sale as well. In the middle oft he walk all of a sudden - souvenirs!

Yesterday I did a combination of rafting (no not like it sounds, slow rafts made from pvc pipes) and hiking. I took the raft someway down the Li River, then hiked for around 8km or maybe a little more, then another raft down to the village of XingPing - famous in China because the view from a certain spot is the art on the 20 Yuan note. This spot is extremely popular!

So tomorrow I start another long train journey, this time to Shanghai, after that, Xian. I will try and update the same way again in a few days time.

Until then......

No that's just how I'm leaving it!

Lights, cameras, Hong Kong!

2011-05-03T17:33:00.000+10:00

I thought Tokyo was big. I thought Tokyo was hard to get around, but now I am in Hong Kong. It's hard to imagine all the Skycrapers, lights, people. Okay, I arrived at the start of Golden Week which seems to run throughout north Asia, but wow. I am staying on the twelth floor of Mirador Mansions. It's quite warm and very humid. I took the Peak Tram - this goes almost vertically uphill - to see Hong Kong from Victoria Peak. Naturally it was covered in cloud and I saw nothing. The process of getting on board the tram took an hour and there was lots of pushing and shoving. Then many including myself had to stand inside the tram, at an almost vertical angle, that is seriously hard! Sardine life is not far removed from the life of the average Hong Konger it would seem!

Then I went back to Kowloon where I am staying to see the light show. Across the harbour dozens of buildings light up in time with some music pumped over the loud speakers. It's rather... boring after one minute.

The neon lights are bright on Broadway. but Hong Kong gives it a run for its money. Electricity must be cheap here, I mean businesses keep their doors open and left the air conditioning pump into the outside atmosphere. Who can afford to do that?

Tokyo, after the earthquake and Nuclear disaster, was rationing the power, and conserving it. Hong Kong wouldn't know how! Hmmm I think if you shut down Hong Kong, global warming would not be an issue anymore....

Medicine shop in Hong Kong, lights show the way.

So the trip rolls on, and soon (tomorrow) I will be in China proper. I take the train from Shenzen, just outside Hong Kong. The train takes me to Guilin, from there a bus to Yanshuo. Stay tuned!

Peak tram gets its victims squashed as is the custom.

Tokyo reflections.

2011-04-30T20:44:00.000+10:00

It seems such a short time ago that I got off the plane at Kansai International Airport and made my way into Kyoto (It was 17 days) and now here I am in Tokyo blogging for the last time in Japan, a country that poses more questions than answers. A culture that is unique, a land stricken recently by disaster. But to be honest, the places I have been don't show that. Life goes on here even in Tokyo.

The national holiday week 'Golden Week' has started here, and many people are out of Tokyo at this time, preferring to go further south. So Tokyo is a bit strange. I visited Ginza today - a main shopping district. This city has so many districts, big buildings, it never seems to end. I then walked through one of the main parks of Tokyo past the Imperial Palace and its gardens.

A building at the Imrperial Palace Gardens

A street in Ginza

Yesterday I visited a couple of museums, including the Tokyo National Museum. I usually find excessive pottery works boring, but this wasn't too bad. Some of the information was really interesting.

At the Meiji Shrine

My first day in Tokyo was spent visiting the Meiji Shrine and Gardens surrounding said shrine. A nice peaceful place in the heart of Tokyo, it wasn't as interesting as some of the shrines in other parts of the country, but still worth visiting. The parks here are huge, and some of the wooden gates are certainly grand. The buildings in Tokyo are also fairly darned big! It's a modern city which still has roots in the past and in nature. But then, it is not your average capital city...

Wall advertisements, Akihabara

If you are into gaming, if you are into Manga or the Otaru culture, then head to Akihabara. This district is a fascinating walk into another world. Here you can find 'Maid Cafes', where young girls dress and act as servants and treat the customers as 'Masters'. What can I make of this? I'm not sure. I fully intended to visit one of the cafes but when I saw the girls in the streets giving out flyers I changed my mind. They seemed very young and there seemed something not quite right about the whole thing. There are some places that have performances, and others where the maids deliberately abuse the customers. Elsewhere in Tokyo there are 'butler' cafes I believe too, so presumably they do the biddings of the 'Mistresses'

Cool Old Dude? Akihabara

SO tomorrow I leave to head to Hong Kong. I leave Japan every bit as bemused as when I arrived in Kyoto on the 14th. Tokyo is very different from the rest of Japan, perhaps not as friendly, but that is a big city mentality that can be found over the world.

I've met some great people here and wish I could have spent more time with them. An ENIGMA- I think this is a good word for Japan. It seems like I stopped for Japan and now resume my trip in Hong Kong.

What will China bring???

Miyajima & Osaka Fish

2011-04-28T11:45:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone! Since my last blog I visited the beautiful island of Miyajima, an easy day trip from Hiroshima where there is a beautiful Shrine with this amazing gate out in the water, paths criss-crossing the hills, and deer aplenty again! Then yesterday, on my way to Tokyo I stopped in Osaka to visit one of the worlds best aquariums, which did not disappoint! Please enjoy the photos!

Gate at the Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima.

Five Storied Pagoda, Miyajima.

View from the hills, Miyajima.

Dolphins & Friend, Osaka Aquarium.

Could You?

2011-04-25T23:48:00.000+10:00

The A-Bomb Dome

So today is the 25th of April, 2011. It is my birthday, and in Australia it is Anzac Day, a day when we remember those Australians and New Zealanders (in particular) who fell fighting in War. For those unfamiliar with the day, it commemorates the same date in 1915, when Allied troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, and well, found themselves trapped in a fierce battle for months in which thousands and thousands of people died.

So today, spare also a thought for the people of 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because in the months that followed the 6th of August 1945 140,000 people died as the result of single bomb. The first Atomic Bomb ever dropped on people, on a city, on a population. Think of them, and pray that it was the second last. The one dropped on Nagasaki was bigger by the way.

Hiroshima, after 'Little Boy'

Hiroshima is a remarkable and indeed beautiful city. It was rebuilt from total devastation after that fateful August morning in 1945. 66 years later it stands as a monument to peace, to no nuclear weapons. Every mayor of Hiroshima writes a letter of protest before every nuclear test. Who is listening? 140,000 people was only the beginning. People suffered and died for years and years after the bomb was dropped. Cancer, Leukemia. Ask yourself if you could do this. Could you? Could you imagine the destruction that was let loose? I couldn't. And I won't accept ANY 'Ends Justifies the Means' argument. So ask if you could? Then ask - How could anyone?


At the memorial to those who were killed, these are some of their faces.

There is a museum here. There is the A-dome - a building directly under where 'little boy' exploded, some 600 metres above - which was a prefectural office at the time. Because of the position it somehow, in part, survived. I sat in silence and just looked at it. People walk past every day for work. It's part of the city. The Peace Garden, so beautiful. But then, what lessons have been taken? How do we as the Human Race look each other in the face? So we have not seen a nuclear bomb fall in war since 1945. 66 years. But humans kill humans all the same.

Hiroshima as it stands today, a beautiful, modern city.

I have been through three countries so far on this trip. Vietnam I saw the effects of war there,　and the effects of Agent Orange. Birth defects, burns, destruction. In Laos un-exploded bombs, 1.7 tonnes of explosives dropped on a nation of (at the time) 2.4 million farmers. And now here, two atomic bombs. Most of those killed women, children and POWs.
I am not anti-American. Please understand that. Please understand that I have American friends and I know there is a lot of good in the USA. A LOT of good. It has given the world so much. So much music, great movies, technology, the internet.

But I look at what it did in these three countries and despair. The most powerful country in the world for over 100 years now.
So maybe it has changed somewhat. I think it has a long way to go though, because War seems to be its business,　and I don't know if it conducts itself in war in a good way.
Think to yourself. Imagine you are the decision maker. Would YOU make the decision to bomb Laos once every seven minutes for seven years? Would YOU use agent Orange? And finally would you use a bomb that could kill so many? People died instantly. People died slowly over the next few days from burns and radiation. People died over the next few decades from Cancers.

And think on this, 'Little Boy' was the merest fraction of the weapons created since.

The Mighty Carp

2011-04-25T13:08:00.001+10:00

Finally, a little bit of sun! I am likely to blog again later today but I felt that this blog does not belong with the blog I am likely to write after visiting the A-bomb dome and peace memorial. For you see I am now in Hiroshima, which experienced the first ever atomic bomb back in 1945.

However, it is also home to the Mighty Carp! The local baseball team sits somewhere at the top of the Central League, and yesterday played host to the Yakult Swallows from Tokyo.　Sadly, the result did not go their way in the form of a 8-3 loss, but it was an enjoyable day none-the-less. Lots of chants and songs, some raucous noise and clapping, and at the bottom of the seventh innings they released thousands of pink balloons in the air for good luck! Didn't have the desired effect though...

Sight seeing in Takayama!

2011-04-22T20:47:00.000+10:00

Okay, just had another long day of sight seeing that ended in me being lost in the rain, again! I started at the above Hida Kokubunji Temple, which was closed but the grounds were open. Another multi-storied pagoda inside which is always interesting.

This photo is from the Takayama 'Showa Hall' - A small museum which has a collection of artifacts and kitsch from the 50s to the 80s. It was quaint and funny, yet cool also.

Twice a year Takayama holds a festival where floats such as the ones above are paraded through the streets. There is a centre here which displays some of the floats as you can see. The ticket also got me into a nearby museum with models of temples from the Nikko region. The lighting would slowly dim and brighten to simulate dawn to dusk. I then visited the Hida Folk Archaeological Museum, full of things that don't really interest me, ie bits of rock from 2000 years ago. However the house was really interesting, it used to be a Samurai's house.

I walked to the far side of Takayama, past the station to find this temple - 'Sukyo Mahikari Main World Shrine'. It was a long uphill walk in the rain, and I found the place closed. Then I got completely lost.....
But these things happen when you wander off the boundaries of your map! Takayama is a nice little place, worth a day or two, probably no more. Tomorrow I head to Hiroshima...

Nara, Bamboo and the Amazing Atomu!

2011-04-21T22:07:00.000+10:00

As usual folks a lot has happened since my last blog! For starters I have done two road (well, rail trips, met a gazillion people and am now in Takayama where I finally have a few moments to myself　to blog and get my diary up to date! So a few days ago now I journied to a place called Takarazuka. The purpose of this trip was to visit the Osamu Tezuka museum.
Tezuka was a Manga artist who created some amazing work over his too-short lifetime, including Astroboy (pictured) known as Atomu in Japan. The museum was small but I managed to spend several hours there reading Manga and learning about this gentle man. If you're a fan of Astroboy and in Japan, this is not to be missed!

The next day saw me travel to Nara. A beautiful little city that, like Kyoto, is surrounded by mountains. In those mountains are many many deer, who have no fear of the human being and walk right up to inspect bags for food. Okay, they are not the main attraction. There are several gardens, countless temples and beautiful hills and forest to roam. The centre piece is the Todaji Temple, which is the biggest temple I have seen in Japan thus far (and used to be much bigger. It houses one magnificent Buddha (pictured) as well as several other large statues. Nara, like Kyoto, was once the capital of Japan.

Other temples seen on this day include the Five-Storey Pagoda (above) and the Kasuga Taisha. There are more and impressive Halls as well. I did not give myself enough time in Nara unfortunately, it would be easy to spend the whole day walking around this area, however I only had a few hours. And then the rain came, which made it less fun, and then I was lost... but it's all part of the experience.

Arashiyama is a district on the edge of Kyoto I visited for a couple of hours yesterday. A beautiful area not sure of souvineer shops, I managed to snap two girls dressed as Maikos on the street which was great (above). A beautiful river, yes - more temples too! And a bamboo forest that was quite enchanting (below)! I wandered the paths and found a couple of graveyards in amongst the bamboo, and a train line. It's amazing how these things appeared from nowhere in this high dense grove.

As you can see, there are even rickshaws through the grove if it takes your fancy!
So Kyoto is past already. I was there a week, the first time I have just stopped somewhere for so long in this trip. It is an amazing place. Now I find myself in Takayama after a breathtaking train journey through the mountains. After a week in Kyoto it feels weird that I will be back to moving on more frequently. A week seemed like I was there for ages, and at the same time I feel like I just touched down in Japan. One thing's for certain,　in Kyoto, I only scratched the surface...

Kyoto　- Geikos, Temples, Toilets & Manga

2011-04-17T13:52:00.000+10:00

What　can you say when you just fall　in love with a place on arrival? Kyoto is simply a beautiful city, so cultured, so clean, so friendly and so polite. My only issue is thiｓ keyboard which has a tiny space bar and the button next changes the text to Katakana or some Japanese text.

This temple is in the Geiko (Geisha) district, and is devoted to the Shinto God of Money. However, I am not finding Japan a windfall for the budget. It is every bit as expensive as one might think. However, people smile and are the most polite I have ever met.　

On my second day here I saw a Geiko & Maiko performance (Maikos are the apprentice Geikos). Above a Maiko collects for victims　of the Tsunami outside a theatre. There is a whole district in Kyoto where the Geikos and Maikos live. The lanes are interesting to walk around, there are also many temples　in the area as well,　it makes for a fascinating tour. The hostel here put on a walking tour, lots of information!

Yesterday I visited the above - the Golden Pavillion, perhaps Kyoto's most well known site. The Gardens are also very impressive - generally gardens　here are pretty special. Everything is manicured and　looked after so　well. And if　you need the toilet - Japan is one place where the visitor need have no trepidation when going to the public loo! There are impeccable! In fact, most toilets are quite automated here. There is a bidet function, warm seats, and some have a button to make a flushinｇ sound. Why would you need such a button? I have no idea, maybe it helps people feel the need to pee???

I also visited the Manga Museum yesterday, where I learnt a little bit　about Japanese comic strips - Manga as they call it. An interesting place with　a HUGE library of Manga books. The locals come to sit and read, and some come　to 'Cosplay' - as pictured above. The museum has a range of Manga costumes and some, girls in　particular, pay 1000\ to put on the costumes and pose for costumes out in a courtyard.

So Kyoto, I have had a mere three days here, it feels　like a lot longer! I have another four nights, 　I will be doing a couple　of day trips Monday and probably Tuesday to Nara and Takarazuka to visit a museum to the creator of my favourite Anime/Manga character (really, the only one I know) - Astroboy, known here as 'Mighty Atom'!

Arrival in Japan!

2011-04-14T19:46:00.001+10:00

Hey folks
A quick update. Just spent a night in Kuala Lumpur then a sleepness night on the plane from KL to Kansai/Osaka Airport. Now I am in Kyoto... it's already amazing me and I am barely awake. Will follow soon with more! Need to find my land legs I feel like I am still on the plane!

Vang Vieng & Vientiane

2011-04-11T18:40:00.000+10:00

So now my time in Laos is gradually coming to an end. Tomorrow I have a flight to Kuala Lumpur, a night there and then a flight to Osaka! So I should write a little intitally about Vang Vieng.

It's a place for the young backpacker, there's no denying it although there a plenty of expats living there and there is some beautiful scenery. Then again, there is beautiful scenery in all of Laos, it's really a stunning place. The Nam Khan river runs through Vang Vieng (pictured) from its starting point in Luang Prabang. It is on this river, some four kilometres upstream from Vang Vieng, that the action is found. Vang Vieng is famous for tubing. I have no idea how this actually started, but at some point maybe 10 or more years ago someone came up with the idea that you hop on a tube (tyre interior) and float down the river to Vang Vieng. However, today it is much more than that, and quite possibly less.

The idea of floating down the river appealed to me. I won't deny that, but I came to Vang Vieng to see the phenomenon that was the tubing culture, for down the river are more bars than you can poke a stick at. People tube from one to the next, get off, drink buckets (literally) of alcohol, and then onto the next. The result is generally people stay at the bars in the first 100 metres of the course and party. The music beats out, and the back packers are generally shirtless, drunk and high. I guess it pumps some money into the Lao economy. So THAT'S not a bad thing. However, if you are local who lived in the area all their life....

It gets dangerous too. At the moment the water levels are so low that the tubes take forever to get back to town, but the water must be a good two plus metres in the wet season, and I hear it moves like lightning. There are slides and zip lines across the river.... land in the wrong spot where it's shallow and you are in big trouble. People die every year. Enough said. I went down the river and stopped briefly at two bars but didn't drink. I wanted to make it back to Vang Vieng before 6pm when the deposit disappears for the tube, and I did. It was relaxing but a bit boring all told. Vang Vieng is a place for backpackers. There's an Aussie Bar there too, I watched football.

This is a view of the main road through Vientiane, the capital. I arrived yesterday and booked into the most grim room I've had for a long time. I'm out of there now. It's a pleasant and attractive place with a bit of a bad wrap from travellers. Okay, it's not the MOST interesting place on Earth, but there's a couple of things to see at least. The museum could be a lot better, somethings are labelled in English and some are not. I like to know about the more recent history of a place, and this was told mostly in photos. I would have really liked a timeline of events.

Today I did some mega site-seeing. I started with Patuxai - a sort of Arc De Triumph rip off which provided me with the above picture (taken from it). Inside were a lot of souvenir sellers.

Above is the That Luang Stupa. This is the most important national monument in the country apparently, and gets on post cards a fair bit.

This is Haw Pha Kaew, another temple I saw. Very impressive stuff, inside are a lot of Buddhas. The column art is quite intricate too.
So Laos... What an amazing country. I leave tomorrow, and it's been a fleeting visit. And a hot one too, I am very thankful I have air conditioning tonight. Japan awaits in two days time, and I am excited about that. I am now keeping well clear of Tokyo and the north, as it seems prudent after what has happened there, but it will be interesting to visit and see how people's lives are even in the South.
Anyone who's thinking of going to Laos... don't hesitate. But maybe go January February when it's a bit cooler... Then again, I am a whimp when it comes to heat!

Loads of Jars, no jam in sight

2011-04-07T19:16:00.000+10:00

This blog post sees me in the Lao city of Phonsovan. My last day in Luang Prabang was amazing, I visited the Kuang Si Waterfall, pictured below, and had a wonderful cool swim. Not far away 'Save the Bears' had a sanctuary for a few Asian Black Bears which was also very interesting.

After the heat and fun of Luang Prabang, (yesterday) I took a long bus ride to Phonsovan on one of the world's windiest roads. Through the mountains there was just never a straight stretch anywhere! And what makes a long bus ride longer? When you break down of course! Half way through the journey the bus was making some unhealthy sounds, so we pulled over and the driver made a phone call. A two and a half hour wait ensued before another minivan arrived and whisked us to Phonsovan in just under three and a half hours. But sometimes these things are okay. We had a little bamboo shelter, a dam near us, farmland and mountains, it was cool... and quite a nice little spot for a relaxing break.

Phonsovan is not an amazing place. Spread out, but not packed full of goodies really. The hotel is fine, the main road has a bit of traffic but there is that 'ghost town' feel. Nevertheless, the countryside around Phonsovan is incredibly beautiful and green, as is much if not all of Laos. Really full of farmland and jungle, it's quite the picturesque country. And Phonsovan has one of the more curious tourist attractions in all of South East Asia - The Plain of Jars.

Really, there are multiple plains of Jars, I was on a tour that saw three of them today, filled with these stone jars, some are only three or so feet high, others are massive, one measured up to 2.7 metres in height and was also suitably rotound. What is the secret? What aer they for? Som many jars - site one has some 300 plus. Well, to me and other in my group they seem like they were once tombs, that people weren't buried, but encased, as they once had lids. The age of these jars is said to be 2500-3000 years. A tradition that now appears a mystery. This is also the place to avoid the tourists, the jars only see 3000 a year. However, this area has a more recent and violent history that affects it to this day...

The area surrounding Phonsovan and incorporating the plain of jars was heavily bombed by the US from 1964 to 1973. There was more than 1.3 million tonnes of ordnance dropped on this region. This means land mines, bombs and cluster bombs, the size of a tennis ball which explode outwards spreading shrapnel everywhere. They estimate over 30% did not explode. So now they litter the countryside and could explode when enough downward pressure is used (ie people walk on them). It affects farming, destroys families. Why the US cared so much about LAOS going communist is a bigger mystery than Vietnam. A country that only recently reached 6 million in population whose majority are farmers. Poor, subsistence living by people who are warm hearted and Buddhist. So any answers???
A group called MAG works tirelessly clearing landmins and bombs from this area. They do amazing work.
http://www.maginternational.org/laopdr
This is a link, please follow it. This country is amazing. I love it. Highly recommend Lao to anyone.... Until next time!

Lazy Little Luang Prabang

2011-04-04T17:46:00.000+10:00

Time goes by... apparently. Where it went, I'm not sure. But here I am in a new country - Laos. Whereas Vietnam is teeming with people - around 85 million, Laos sits next door, a little smaller, with a mere 6 million. Yes, this means it is quieter! And in my old age I am appreciating the quieter moments in life these days.

I hobbled into town flying Lao Airlines - formerly Lao Aviation with a pretty, ummm, poor safety reputation. But the little AT7 touched down in a cute little airport not far from Luang Prabang where visas are issued and paid for, passports are stamped and that's, well, about all.

The town itself is sleepy and possibly has more (white) tourists than locals. Things tend to close rather early - banks at three, museum at 4pm (although wouldn't let me in at 3.45pm). The temples here, as seen in one of the photos, are known as Wats. I have visited a few, including one atop a hill that overlooks Luang Prabang and I nearly died climbing. It's 100 metres high you know! The weather here has been 35 in the day and humid, which has been knocking me about and the exact opposite of my last week or so in Vietnam.

The Mekong river (see first and last photos) flows through Luang Prabang, joining with the Nam Khan river here in town. The town is sleepy day and even night, although there is a bit of a party section where you can have a few beers and be offered opium and any other drug you'd like to name. Good luck to you if you do and it turns out they are bad. I sometimes think I am getting old. So many young partiers out on the backpacking 'circuit' now. On my last night in Hanoi I discovered 'Hanoi Backpackers' with mostly Backpacking staff, lots of beers, people a lot younger than I and the game 'Beer Pong'. You have to throw a ping pong ball into cups of beer. It's apparently harder than it sounds, I didn't see one ball land in the beer. If it does land in the beer, I suppose you drink. Or the opposition does. Can't say I cared.

The above photo is inside the Pak Ou caves. I took a trip along the Mekong today in a boat - not the one pictured below. We passed that. More stair climbing was in order, and as you can see the caves are and have been used for worship since the 19th century I think it said. They don't hold your hand here like in Vietnam - off the boat, go see it, get back in 30 minutes. In case ye reader is interested, one of the bars had an 'Ethnik Fashion' Show on two nights back where clothes from different Lao tribes were shown to the audience. It was pretty interesting all said.

So tomorrow I aim to beat the heat and head out to a waterfall where much swimming can be had! Now, I think adopting the siesta approach to life makes a lot of sense...

Halong Bay

2011-04-01T16:19:00.000+11:00

Howdy folks. Back in Hanoi for a day after visiting the beautiful Halong Bay. Well, the trip was okay, not everything I had hoped for but nothing ever is, right? RIGHT?

This here is the Imperial Cruise, the boat that would take me and others around the large area known as Halong Bay, in the north of Vietnam. Giant rocks protude from the water. It's eerie and beautiful at the same time. Perfect place to hide a boat if you planned to attack, and over the years many people have, French and Americans included. Unfortunately the weather was still cold, and with a wind chill factor over the ocean... well, I was one of a few to wake up on day two with a nasty cold.

The islands, rocks, waters are full of some interesting sites. Above are some caves we visited. Breathtaking really, beautifully lit for the tourists, giant caverns. A special place where the French and Americans hid at different times. The downside in the area are the tourists. So many of them everywhere, all pretty much following the same itinerary - which on reflection is an issue all through Vietnam. You arrive on a boat - all rather similar. The Imperial Cruise was a great boat, great staff, very comfortable cabins, the best bathroom I have had in Vietnam. Food was good and way too much to finish too!

So anyways, you have lunch, you see the caves, you go kayaking, have dinner... Day Two! The point is it's all standardised and leaves you wandering if there's a tour company out there doing anything different.

As you can see this cove and many similar boats. Day two was an issue. Bike riding on a special part of Cat Ba Island, the biggest island in the region, took us to a village called Viet Hai where Oreos and Coke were for sale. Naturally! :) But in fairness the villagers have such a limited choice in how to make money.

This is a view from behind the village. Actually, most of Vietnam is a lot cleaner than this. It was when we arrived at the hotel in Cat Ba Town that things sort of fell apart. 1st of April is the opening of the tourist season. So all week long there is a festival in Cat Ba town. Tents adorning Ho Ch Minh - was he also the founder of tourism in Vietnam? And LOUD LOUD music all night. Well, in fairness, it stopped at 1.30am and didn't resume until 5.45 am, just over four hours later! So no sleep for me. I was on Open Tours Vietnam, a fairly reputable company, but anyone coming to Halong Bay should definitely ask as many questions of their tour operator as possible because a bad night's sleep, compunded with a bad cold, does not make Andrew a happy boy. Especially as there were bungalows available in a secluded part of the island which would have been mega blissful. I thought in choosing the hotel I had made the better choice, but you need to be armed with all the facts!

A beautiful place though, Halong Bay. Cloud cover for the whole time was very disapointing though. In a few hours though, I say good bye to Vietnam, and hello to... Laos!

Hanging in Hanoi

2011-03-27T21:26:00.000+11:00

Yes, sorry about the continuous silly titles, but I try to spice it up somehow. I am in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, as you may well have guessed, at the moment. Whilst a few days I was sweating like crazy, today I am not. It is damned cold here - well around 15 degree maximums.

What can I tell you about Hanoi? It's got more bikes that Ho Chi Minh City for a start - and that's a LOT! The pollution is really noticeable here. My hotel in centred in the 'historic' old town. Lots of narrow alleys and motorbikes blocking your way.

Lovely lake (pipctured below) known as the 'Returned Sword Lake'. It's am Athurian style legend that Heaven gave the Emperor many centuries ago a sword that that helped him defeat the attacking Chinese. A giant turtle or tortoise took it back at some point. The lake has walking paths all around it and where lovers talk and tourists snap. Interesting little temple on the island too.

But Hanoi isn't all lakes and swords. No sir. I was up in time to get to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum yesterday. A long line of people queue up and slowly shuffle into the mausoleum where Ho Chi Minh's preserved body lies for all to see. A very... different sort of tourist attraction. He doesn't look the best to be honest, then again he died in 1969. However, his beard is very well preserved.
Below pictured is his museum where you can learn about the man at the head of Vietnamese independence. Again a rather skewed look at history, but interesting none the less. The Hoa Lo Prison Museum also shows a pro-Vietnamese version of events. The French kept political prisoners here in horrible squaller, whilst when the Vietnamese used it to hold POWs they were the most humane of captors you can imagine. Yes well, you'd have to ask the American pilots kept there.

Below is a street from the Old Town

So just a few more days left in Vietnam, including a trip to the much heralded Halong Bay. Unfortunately the weather won't be as warm as I would like, but still, it should prove rather spectacular... more when I return!

Hoi An and the throngs....

2011-03-23T18:25:00.000+11:00

So. You know when you say you are going to Vietnam, people think kinda that's a bit off the track? Well, they are so totally wrong. I am here in Hoi An, the touristy touristy town that it is. This place is swamped. Okay, it's kinda on an inlet, but the tourists are everywhere! Okay, to my shame I am a tourist. I take photos and see the sights. And in fairness, it's a nice little plce with cute streets.

Vietnam is a curious entity for sure. There are a lot of tourists here, there are a lot of hotels, restaurants and bars. Far too many still for the tourists. They are competing big time with each other for a few thousand dong (the local currency). Okay, the hotel numbers aren't so bad, many are booked out here and there, but the restaurants - I don't know how they survive.

Walking around the old town of Hoi An - wait no, I rented a ricketey old bike which was great - so riding around the old town I had to screech to a halt regularly to avoid ploughing into groups of French tourists numbering 25-30 who were taking up the entire road from left to right. What can I say? There are a limited number of sights here from historical homes to 'Assembly Halls' (looking curiously like temples/pagodas) so it's hard to escape.

This morning I went to My Son, a Unesco listed site dating back to the Eighth Century. Full of tourists (including me I am not hiding). Well, it is Angkor's poor poor cousin. Who was really poor, and then got bombed by Americans. The best of it is the third picture I have included today. Still, something to see hey. And MUCH cheaper than Angkor.

Tomorrow I start my fifteen hour journey by bus to Hanoi. I have around a week left in Vietnam and then will be mosying on over to Laos. So for now....

River at Hoi An, opposite side featuring fishing boats

Dragon at the Cantonese Assembly Hall, Hoi An.

The best presevered temple at My Son, 25km from Hoi An. And some throngs.

Hue... to go!

2011-03-21T22:27:00.000+11:00

Hey folks, just arrived in Hoi An from Hue. It's a bit of a back track but the hotels here were full so I pushed on to Hue and then went south to Hoi An.

Looks like my blog is being difficult too! Well Hue is really a nice little place. I liked it a lot. I arrived over quite a daring train journey from Nha Trang. The line is elevated along cliffs and the coast and you look straight down out of the window to see the raging sea crashing on the rocks. It was really cold the day I arrived too, this weather is very unusual. I was rugged up in my thermals, and used my sleeping bag and two blankets the first night.

The next day I visited the citadel, pictured above. It is huge, this is just the first section. It goes on and on and on! Some of it restored, some of it still in ruins, and if you go back far enough into the complex you hit something very unexpected - a tennis court!

By yesterday it had warmed up and was over 30 degrees again. I took a long day tour on boat and bus to see some places of interest. This was not our boat, this one carried, well, dirt. I caught a martial arts display which was very impressive (I entered with cycnicism too!). When a guy can crush mutliple ceramic tiles with his forehead, you have to be impressed right? Okay, so our tour guide spoke too fast and departed too much information to take in, but it was a good day.

This photo is of the first tomb we saw - that of Minh Mang. Similar to the citadel, it was still very impressive. More so as it rested on it's side.

It was tombs tombs tombs in the afternoon as my energy level fell. I was hacked! But at least I got to see the beautiful tomb of Tu Doc, its expansive gardens and grounds. Before I knew it it was today and I was on the bus to Hoi An. The journies continue! Vietnam is continuing to prove and amazing place to travel. Easy travel, beautiful, wonderful warm people. On the first of April I will be heading to Laos. So just ten days left in this amazing country.....

Photos of Dalat and Nha Trang

2011-03-21T22:10:00.001+11:00

The Valley of Love, near Dalat.

Small train at Dalat station that took us up the hill and back.

Hills and greenhouses around Dalat.

Beach at Nha Trang.

Beach at Nha Trang - the weather is stormy now!

Na na na Nha Trang!

2011-03-20T20:57:00.000+11:00

Yes folks it's time for another blog update.
I am now in Hue and I couldn't connect to blogger for some reason the other day but now I have!
I didn't do a lot in Nha Trang. I took it easy. It's the sort of place for doing that. Unfortunately the weather didn't want to help! Rain and cold for two of the four days. It's a pity because the beach is actually nice. There was some decent food there and a few nice bars and some really friendly people who kindly showed me around on the standard back of motorbikes. It's pretty touristy but I guess these days most of Vietnam is.
Next time I will try and fill my dear devoted readership in on Hue and provide some photos. Until then....

.... Different (?) Dalat

2011-03-14T16:22:00.000+11:00

Getting away from the smoke and heat of HCMC was good. Dalat is up in the hills and is a fair bit cooler than HCMC, and with a comfortable room there there was little to complain about as I took in the footage of ravaged Japan and contemplated whether I will still be heading there. - answer, undecided.

Dalat has a lovely little narrow guage railway up to a pagoda which I enjoyed riding, and yesterday I did a city tour that took me on a cable car to yet another pagoda. Yes, there are a lot of pagodas here in Vietnam! After that there were other things of interest. A small 'roller coaster' went down a hill driven by gravity to the foot of a pretty little waterfall. Then it took me back up! Meeting some really friendly people, Vietnam is easy to travel around in and very friendly so I am giving it the thumbs up thus far, touch wood!

Then the tour took me to a palce called the 'Valley of Love'. Hard to explain... full of animal statues, swings, a lake, a chance to dress in traditional costume for photos.. quite a bizarre little place indeed. Still, the locals love it, it provides a cavalcade of photo opportunities.

I saw a few other things, but they were the more memorable ones. I have just arrived in Nha Trang, a beachside town where it's mid to high twenties and I plan to read and relax and write a bit even whilst I am here, and probably little else. See all you faithful readers in a few days!

Life, in Ho Chi Minh City

2011-03-12T14:28:00.005+11:00

Tanks outside the Remnants of War Museum.
Bikes whizz pass as people play draughts in the street.

A form of hacky-sack played with shuttle cocks, played every evening in the parks.

Telecommunication madness.

Life in HCMC.

Ho Chi Minh City is a special sort of place really. Wide boulevards with trees and parks, life always on the go. More motorbikes than you can poke a stick at (which would be needlessly dangerous anyways), tourist hotels that bend over backwards for you... I heard some say they were bored by HCMC, others hated it. Not I, I found a certain affinity with the place in my four days there.

Now I am in Dalat, seven and a half hours by bus to the north-east, where last night I was greeted by horrible sights from Japan where I am due to visit next month. Will have to keep an eye on that situation. But for now let's talk HCMC.

As the photos testify it is quite a place. Craziness mixed in with a sort of calm, and a very chique and well air conditioned mall that I stumbled upon the other day! The wiring leaves a bit to be desired, that's he telecomunications that you can see in the picture. The power seems to be much safer, and indeed no black outs whilst I was in HCMC.

I braved the buses, the backs of motorbikes. I saw temples/pagodas, the reunification palace and the Church of Notre Dame. I spoke to a lot of locals, and partook in karaoke. The Daddy of them all though was the War Remnants Museum.

A somewhat biased account of the war that ravaged Vietnam from the early fifties through to 1975, it just goes to show the victors write the history. Some very confronting things in this museum too, a whole exhibit on the victims of agent Orange. Not for those with a weak stomach, there a photos of those affected both at the time and those born later. Why such a thing would be used (primarily to clear jungle) defies understanding. Anyone who says 'they didn't know the affects'.... that's a poor excuse for an excuse.

A moving exhibit as well to photographers/journalists who covered the conflict but didn't survive it. Whilst I was there a dignitary from Paraguay was also being shown the exhibits. Wonder what he made of it all. Outside the building stood planes and tanks, all American. Inside were the occasional bomb shells, all American. Interesting that all the remnants were American. It suggested the North Vietnamese didn't drop a bomb or do anything wrong...

But still. There you have it. I walked around HCMC and even did a Cu Chi tour without really thinking about the fact that 36 years ago this place was ending a horrible war that is burned into the memories of anyone involved and many more on that.

Yesterday I took a bus up to the highlands here - a place called Dalat. I have an extremely comfortable room and was last night transfixed to BBC World watching a disaster I can still on guess at the scale of. What a world we live in.

Venturing to Vietnam!

2011-03-09T16:09:00.002+11:00

So here I am in Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City, sometimes still known as Saigon.

I should start a couple of days back. On Sunday, still in Singapore, I ventured to the Changi Museum, remembering the second world war as it was in Singapore, and the prison that was used by the Japanese to intern anyone they thought might cause them trouble. In short, a nice little museum, small, but effective. I was expecting to see a few more grizzly sights, but thankfully it was more contained. Interesting but I felt I wanted to learn more about the occupation which seemed to occur extremely swiftly on the back of people not believing the Japanese would actually come to Singapore.

Onwards and upwards. I found myself on a Tiger Airways flight after very little sleep from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City (hereafter referred to as HCMC) early Monday morning. Before I knew it it were we down in HCMC, an airport built right next to houses. I am looking down seeing the residential area thinking we are awfully close to them, a fence and we are down on the tarmac.

HCMC is quite a place. Unique in its own special way, it is certainly set up for backpackers. I have a lovely room on the sixth floor of this hotel, and the only thing missing is a lift! Aircon, double bed, fridge, TV... all I need. All the tours, buses and trains can be booked through here too, not to mention Visas for onward travel if needed. Outside it is backpacker central. Is that a good thing? Possibly... restaurants are overpriced for sure. But then I spent 8 dollars on burger chips and two drinks and thats not outrageous is it?

It's an area where people walk down the street and ply their wares. Sunglasses, photocopied Lonely Planets for very cheap prices and massages in the evening in your chair.

Yesterday I journied out on a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels and a strange temple in Tay Ninh. The 'Great Cao Dai Holy See' is dedicated to the mostly unknown religion 'Cao Dai' formed over 100 years ago recogizing an alliance between Victor Hugo, a Vietnamese poet and a Chinese revolutionary. It is a Christian sect. As a service took place the tourists, including a shameful me, piled in and watched and took photos. Many climbed up to the balconies to get a better view of the chanting and bowing. I tried to stand back at the back and justify this intrusion. How would one feel in a church in Australia if people came in and took photos? Hmmm.....

The Cu Chi tunnels are a group of tunnels stretching up to 200km, based around the area of Cu Chi, a little way out of HCMC. They were used in the.... "American War" as it's known here. I mean, the Vietnamese can hardly call it the Vietnam war can they?

Well, there are a range of things to see in the complex. I walked along the tunnel for about 15 metres but it's very cramped. Only about 1.2 metres high so very hunched over. They are at least twice the size now that they were in the 60s, as the VietCong used them to escape the opposition, or to pop out and suprise them. We also were shown a series of deadly traps used involving spikes. Amazing how many ways spikes can be used in a hidden hole in the ground. We also saw what life was like underground. Bomb shells from the Americans, and if you were keen, which I wasn't, you could fire off a few rounds from various guns. Shoulders optional, afterwards that is...

So more to follow. About to venture out into HCMC and see a few places today. So far I have only good things to say about Vietnam. Friendly, easy to get about, fairly clean streets too which I admit to not expecting! Very different from Singapore.... Photos when I get a chance, doesn't appear to be an attachment on this computer.

Singapore & the Future

2011-03-06T13:46:00.002+11:00

So I am now into my fourth big day of the big trip.

It has already gone too fast for my liking!

Singapore has always been a strange entity to me. I never felt I understood it and I still don't. Where as Dubai and cities like it are built up from the influx of oil money, Singapore, a thriving metropolis with efficient public transport and many many more malls than Dubai, has always been a centre of commerce, built up over less than 200 years.

It's business that has made the city grow over time, and location has helped too. Riding the public transport here, the MRT, I saw first hand that technology is king. Everyone has some sort of device - or two - on their person, and they are incredibly absorbed in it. Getting a smile from someone on the MRT is like getting lemon juice from a nuclear reactor. Hmmm, I am king of the pointless analogies!

Still, I've been trying to spread the love and smiles with little success here. Apparently the mobile phone saturation is 140% in Singapore. That's more than 1 per person, and when you take into account the very young and the very old don't have one... yes well. Then there are the DVD and video file players, and little things to play games on... if technology went down tomorrow, so would everyone in Singapore.

Nevertheless, despite my constant musings on life in Singapore I have done a few little things since I have been here. There is some sort of resort island here called Sentosa. I took a ridiculously high cable car ride to get there. It passed over a giant cruise ship with well over 100 metres to spare. The island has many things of interest. A giant lion, Universal Studios things like that espeically built for the tourist.

I've seen many a mall, Clarke Quay, the hip entertainment district, found an old karaoke bar I visited in 2006 only to find it now full of hookers much to my chagrin. Marina Bay is nice, I decided to lie down there for a quick relax and was told by security that was strictly vorboden. Orchard road and its many underpasses left me giddy because of the number of people. All in their little digital worlds.

Please understand, Singaporeans are not rude or unfriendly. They just seem locked into their own little worlds.

Perhaps this is the future. And me travelling without a mobile...

This is all very familiar!

2011-03-04T14:08:00.002+11:00

Hello folks hello folks!
The next big trip has begun! I am down safely in Singapore!
I have been having those pangs of worry (not mention an absoultely crazy lead-up week that I wasn't sure I would survive) about whether, at 35 I could still do this. Perhaps now I was the sort of traveller who could only stay in comfortable air conditioned digs with cable tv and room service. Hmmmm that sounds good right now...
but I digress!

Here I am in Ali's Nest, basically a homestay in a home.... ok that was obvious.... behind a sign that denotes some sort of trading company. Yes, no actual sign pointing out that this is the place. I have a cupboard with a fan and a padlock to keep the door closed. But this is just about the cheapest single room in all of Singapore, the boss is a nice guy and really friendly, and really it's all you need! The only thing that irks me is that I have to unplug the fan to charge my batteries!

So this is the first stop, we are under way! Vietnam beckons on Monday, there's some Laos, Japan, China... a lot of Asia as you can see!
so
to let you in on the preview - such as it is, around five and a half months of travel ahead, then to the Republic of Georgia, all going well, fingers crossed and touch wood, to teach English for three months.
Suppose I should learn to speak and write English first.......

My arm, the pin cushion

2011-02-09T21:28:00.002+11:00

Yes today the immunisations started. My left arm is very sore indeed. Ahhh this is the sign that departure is not far away.

Preparations are in full swing. Eight days ago I didn't have my passport, today I have three visas - Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Cameroon. So that give you, dear reader, a hint as to some of the places I am visiting in this 2011 adventure. Three weeks to go now...

The Frustrations of getting one single Visa

2011-01-28T11:06:00.002+11:00

So here I am, late January 2011. Yes, in just over a month - on the 3rd of March - I am heading off again for more fun and highjinx. Seems like all of a sudden I have 100,000 things to do and no time to do them in. I will be starting in Singapore, venturing to Vietnam, Laos and beyond...

So the blogs start up again. But I am blogging today in utter frustration about the time it has taken to get my visa for Kazakhstan!

Now I need to preface this by saying that the Kazakh Consulate has been fantastic and this is in no way their fault. It has been postal and courier services that have done my head in.

No Kazakh consulate in Australia (that processes visas I should add) so I needed to send my passport to Singapore where there is a consulate.

This I did on the 24th of December. It is the 28th of January today. I still have not got my passport back!

So needless to say.... Not happy Jan. I need four visas before I leave Australia - Kazakhstan, Cameroon, Vietnam and China. I gave myself over two months to get them. I still haven't got one and I have one month to go!

I followed up my passport arrival with the consulate. By the 9th of January they still hadn't received it. So I went to Australia Post who confirmed it left the country on the 28th of December. 11 days in Singapore and it hadn't been delivered to the consulate? So I had to call Singapore Post. Well, I tried tracking by their website first and that drew a blank. Then I called them and they said they tried to deliver it on the 3rd of January, no-one was there so they left a note and took it back to the PO.

Except that they left the note in a big building with various companies etc and the note was never received. The passport remained in Singpost without them trying to redeliver or contact anyone for a week and a half.

Mid-January now and they finally redeliver after I had called them and they had found it. Around a week to process, which is decent time, and my friend picks it up and mails it to me on the 24th January express post. They use TNT to deliver on their express post items, a courier company.

Yesterday at 1.10pm no-one is home when they try to deliver it. It is the middle of a working day. So I get the note and they take the passport back to their depot at Melbourne Airport. I call today. They are on strike today. There is a picket line outside their depot and anyways Melbourne Airport is 90 minutes drive minimum away and I have work soon. There will be a backlog due to the strike. It seems unlikely I will get my passport back before Tuesday 1st February.

I call this a nightmare. There's no doubt that this is the longest I have ever had to wait to get a visa. All I can do is wait. I have everything ready for the Cameroon visa the day I get my passport back. Fingers crossed....

Not the ideal way to start the trip. Of course, it hasn't officially started.

And no, I don't have time to get the visa whilst I am in Singapore! (there for four days, 2 of them weekend)

Photos from the Simien Mountains

2009-12-01T17:43:00.002+11:00

Finally I have put up some photos from the breathtaking Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. Hope you all enjoy!

We trek, cattle graze

The trekking path to the left, road to the right.

Scouts are mandatory in the Simiens. They come with you as you trek. Nice guy. Keeps us safe from any animals.

First day of the trek. Packs, cooking gear and food loaded onto one of our trusty mules, dubbed "francis the talking mule".

Photos from Gondar

2009-11-18T12:44:00.002+11:00

Here is the second installment of 'Photos I would have uploaded at the time if it were possible'. Yes, bit of a mouthful.

These tell the story of my visit to the town of Gondar - a bit of a hassley place by Ethiopian standards (read compared to Egypt quiet and serene) but an interesting place. Guess you'll have to scroll back a few posts to find out all about it!

Street in Gondar. There were a lot of 'ramshackle shacks' that were being lived in.

View of Gondar from a nearby hill.

King Fasil's baths - every epiphany they are filled (the bottom section) and people are baptised in their hundreds, if not more.

Castle inside the Gondar citadel, pretty much in central Gondar.

Next I have to upload photos from the Simien Mountains trek. That will be a challenge - so many photos and I have to choose five or six!

Photos from Lalibela

2009-11-15T21:27:00.002+11:00

Cactus along the main road, Lalibela

Well safely home in sunny warm Melbourne now, I have the chance to finally add photos from Ethiopia - in stages mind you. I present six photos I took from Lalibela in this installment - more to come from the trip soon!

Church at Lalibelia (St Mercurius?)

Bet Griyorius (Church of St George)

Roads to the churches

Bet Maryam (Church of St Mary)

Priest inside Bet Medhane Alem

Bahir Dar back to Addis Ababa

2009-11-10T06:37:00.005+11:00

Hey there folks
Well I'm in Addis Ababa again, and in less than 24 hours I will be on a flight home to sunny Melbourne!
In the last few days I travelled from Gondar to Bahir Dar, a warmish town on the shores of the rather large lake Tana. I visited the Blue Nile Falls from there, which were gushing at quite a rate. Sometimes they are pretty weak thanks to a hydro plant there, but for us they were certainly magnificant. Unfortunately no photos as yet.
The next day I took a boat on Lake Tana to the Zege Peninsula which is heavily forested - a bit of a jungle. We saw some monkies swinging in the trees and also visited a monastary after passing more souvineer stands than one could poke a stick at.
Yesterday I took a 5.30am bus to Addis Ababa from Bahir Dar which was pretty comfortable and arrived at around 3.30pm. When I get back to Melbourne I will write more - I want to write about this amazing country in general, and of course post many pictures!
Au Revoir until then!

Star trekking, across the Simiens... (part two)

2009-11-05T23:48:00.005+11:00

DAY TWO
Gich Camp to Chenek (3600m) - 22km
Gich Camp was on a plateau akin to something from a far off moon. It was mostly short grass with these amazing trees that looked like part cactus (not prickly) and part palm tree, called the Lobelia. The mountains were all covered in some unique and different flowers as well.
We had two challenging climbs today, the first was to the peak of Imet Gogo, 3920 metres above sea level.
I pushed myself and felt a bit better. The last section to the peak was a bit of a scramble over rocks, and I was fairly exhausted by the time I reached the top. Magnificant views, peaks one way, smaller mountains all around. What a special place.
Off we went downhill, and then up again to the next peak. Less than halfway up my body started to tell me this was too much. I was nausius and the result was predictable. Better out than in right?
Yes. Our lunch was watched by the most common bird of these parts - the thinkbilled raven. A very odd looking bird indeed, almost completely black, like a raven but with the long bill of an African parrot.
I was feeling better and marched on to the top of Natia - at 4070 metres above sea level the highest point we would reach (the highest in all the Simiens is Ras Dashen at over 4200 metres). That felt like an achievement and the rest of the walk was mostly downhill to Chenek Camp. It was a little hairy though - along the tops of sloping cliffs at times!
This camp was much nicer, had a stream nearby and also many more trees. We had a fire too which we really should have had the first night. Helped enormously as the temperature dipped to about zero again.

DAY THREE - 3-11-09
Chenek to Sankabar Camp (3000m) 21km
Day three and I started to feel much better. I could take air into my lungs and climbing became easier, I was moving a lot faster, I presume I was adjusting to the altitude.
The walk was perhaps less memorable, and slightly more downhill than up, certainly the easiest of the days. We paused on occasion to see the Walia Ibex - a special sort of antler or deer endemic to the region. They seem to like to sides of moutains particularly. Saw some in a pack, but often in ones or twos.
Sankabar Camp was the busiest by far of all the camps. We had a couple of big groups there and a plethora of tents. These people were doing it mostly by bus though! However, our fire was the one popular with the locals. At one point we had about four or five scouts around it with their rifles - too bad if the jackals went for the group of 13 Germans...

DAY FOUR - 4-11-09
Sankabar to Debark (2800m) - 22km
The road winds back to Debark from Sankabar and is about 36km in distance. Our guide took us a shorter route. This could only be done one way however, instead of going around the mountain peaks, we went over them. And quite a few. It challenged the second day as the most difficult. The sun was beating down and there was little shade.
One group who'd been at Sankabar went with us to the first peak and then returned. They passed us on the road and waved from their minibus. We were not amused.
Early in the day we got really close to a group of Gelada Baboons. There was thirty or forty in some sort of family pack, it was the highlight of the day.
We kept going down then up again. The sun was murder, even though I was 98% covered. I applied cream after cream but soon I was burning on my ears and face. It went on and on, the scenery was less interesting, and more and more kids ran up to us cheerfully yelling 'Hello!' and asking for pens. The last hill to Debark was almost it. So very very steep, it was possibly the hardest twenty minutes of my life.
As we rejoined the road into town with 15 minutes of walking left, a bus stopped and offered us a free lift. Where was he three hours earlier??? No way, I was going to finish this. As I walked through the market I was in delrium, yelling hello to everyone like I'd just returned from war. The hotel was the sweetest site ever - Debark is very flat, but the hotel at four floors stands above with pride.
It was probably the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. 79 kilometres. The downs were in some ways has hard as the ups - very steep.
But I did it. Not for the enjoyment, but for the achievement.

Whew.
I now have a very nice hotel tonight in Gondar with multiple jets in the shower.
I earnt it.

Trekking the Simiens Part One

2009-11-05T23:19:00.003+11:00

Hello folks of the world!
I am here in Gondar with internet for the first time in nearly a week. Somehow I survived. Let me tell you the story of the trek through the Simien Mountains I have just completed.

Unfortunately pictures seem not possible at this stage the computers here do not read my card unfortunately.

Day 0 : 31-10-09
Gondar to Debark
In preparation for the trip we left (that's myself and my two travel partners Graham and Nila) Gondar at around half past nine in the morning to head to Debark, at the foot of the Simien Mountains.
The bus was old, but left in good time and it was one person per seat. This didn't last, and a supposed three hour trip turned into five and a half hours. Through slum like villages but beautiful hills we rolled. People filling up the aisle, bags, baby vomit.... oh we had the works.
In Debark we ventured to the Simiens National Park Office to organise our trek for the next day. We needed - a guide, cook, scout (to protect us from naughty animals), and transport to the camp of Sankabar, from where we would start our trekking. Suddenly I turned around and all these people were already assembled! We bought some food earlier in Gondar and them some more with our cook in Debark, organised a tent and sleeping matresses as well as cooking equipment and we were one night's sleep awaay from the trek of a lifetime.

Day the One: Sankabar (3000m) to Gich Camp (3600) - 14km

I'll not lie - I was feeling decidedly seedy at 6am when I woke to start the trek. The hotel's toast was not an inspiring breakfast either. I sat in the bus, which I had understood was just for our crew, but they were giving lifts to others as well. At Sankabar we hired mules which would carry all our things over the mountains to our camp spot for the night. Our main packs, food, tent etc. There is nothing really out on the mountains so we had to take everything with us.
The trek began by nine thirty am with everything sorted. The views were amazing. The mountains are very green but not highly vegetated. There is a lot of wheat, grass and eucalyptus trees abound it seem here and all over Ethiopia.
We saw a waterfall and I soon got a stark reality of how it was to climb at altitude. Up one very steep hill I could barely breath, and was barely moving at all. Locals live in the Simiens and feed off the tourists. Suddenly a man was offering me a horse. NO! No way. Not so early. I pushed on.
The afternoon walk was easier, more downhill and flat. We had not had a lunch prepared though and had just eaten empty bread rolls. Not so good.
The last section was a long climb to Gich Camp. And boy was it hard on me. I started to feel very dizzy, and when I finally got there I was extremely light headed and blacked out for a fraction of a second. After some popcorn I scored a goal in a small football game the local kids were playing.
The temperature had dropped now (18ish during the day) and it was incredibly cold. Three people in a small tent kept us warm. Toilets were a fair distance downhill (and not pleasant) it was almost a mini-trek to get back up. One day over, three left!

No Gondolas in Gandar

2009-10-31T01:55:00.002+11:00

Well, that's cause theres no canals!
Well here I am in Gondar, I flew a rather rocky Fokker 50 here yesterday (well, I was in one I was not the pilot!)
It's an interesting town with a real feel of Africa as I have experienced it previously. It's got quite a bit more hassle than I've experienced thus far in Ethiopia, but still it's pleasant enough set amongst some amazing hills. Today I visited the royal enclosure - a surprisingly European looking Castle in the centre of town where ethiopia was ruled from during the 17th century and onwards for a few hundred years.
Tomorrow I head out to the Simien mountains for four days trekking. Should be a great challenge, my first time hiking at such an altitude.
i'm sorry to report I'm having troubles loading photos here. So it may not be until I return home that I can put up more Ethiopian pictures.

Lalibela

2009-10-28T23:28:00.001+11:00

well now I am in Northern Ethiopia in the town of Lalibela where some of oldest and most amazing churches in the world. The scenery up here 2600 is also beautiful. It is green and full of colourful birds. I am finding the people very friendly too.
The churches are amazing - they were carved out of rock in the 11th century (I think) over 23 years. Eleven churches in total. The rock in the hills was carved in all but one case from directly above and then inside. They still function today and Lalibela is probably the most important pilgrimidge site for Christian Ethiopians.
It is not that hot but the sun really beats down and there are insects aplenty - flies in the day, mozzies in the night. Fortunately it's too high for malaria. I have killed a handsome bounty of mosquitoes. But so far Ethiopia has been brilliant and breathtaking. Tomorrow I head to the town of Gondar and from there to the Simien Mountains for trekking. Unfortunately it is all dialup connections here so will be a while before I can upload photos and blogging will at best be spasmodic.

Addis Ababa

2009-10-26T03:32:00.002+11:00

Phew! Photos loaded! That was difficult! Well... slow.
I am in Addis Ababa, the capital of the African country of Ethiopia. Finally here and something different. I found the city to be quite laid back and cool - low twenties as far as the temperature goes. I spent the day doing a bit of a walking tour around the place where I visited the National Musuem and saw the following skeletal structure - that of Lucy, the oldest living direct ancestor to us humans. She's 3.2 million years old folks. Happy Birthday Lucy! Below here are a couple of street views of the capital. It's a bit hilly, has some interesting buildings and a friendly laid back vibe. My hotel seems to be a bit of an instution as is the restaurant attached. Tomorrow though it's up at five am to catch a flight north to Lalibela. What will the internet be there? We shall see...

Wild Water Wonderment!

2009-10-22T20:36:00.002+11:00

Well yesterday I had a real kids day. You know the sort.... You go to a waterpark and spend hours and hours going up and down water slides. What could be better?

The Wild Wadi Water Park is at Jumeirah beach, not too far from my hotel. This is a very exclusive spot and features a couple of amazing buildings - the Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. A seriously expensive option for those who find Dubai not quite over the top enough!

I was not the only big kid there let me tell you. There were groups of business men and plenty of people older than me riding the slides. Now that's a way to spend a day! Today is a day of nothing. Resting up because I'm less than two days away from Ethiopia!

The Burj Al-Arab, Jumeirah Beach.

The Jumeirah Beach Hotel

Wild Wadi Water Fun!

A view of much of the Water Park

Dubai or no Dubai?

2009-10-20T23:13:00.003+11:00

The plane touches down in Dubai and within seconds there is na chorus of beeping mobile phones throughout the aircraft. Welcome to Dubai where big is small and bigger is not quite medium.I have arrived in the future, and Jordan feels like I was far far far in the past now.
This morning I sat at breakfast in one of the four Ibis hotels in Dubai and watched businessmen from India, the middle east and perhaps even Europe eating a mixture of rice crispies and coco-pops. It was hard to fathom. Surely they are all doing million dollar deals, buying property and investing in the world's latest extravagent metropolis.I feel so out of place, a phony, the lone backpacker in a city of business men. A city of excess - of shopping malls that no place can rival.
Yesterday I visited the Dubai mall. It has an ice rink. It has a giant aquarium, various waterfalls, and the biggest food court I have ever seen. Oh yes, it also has a theme park.But wait that is hardly enough, is it? The Mall of the Emirates, a way down the road, has Ski Dubai, an indoor snow park. And I went to that. How could I not? I went on a bobsled run and marvelled at ice scultpures.
Outside the mall it was mid-thirties and humid. Inside Ski Dubai minus four degrees.
Giant cinemas, and giants cups of coke. Virgin Megastore and computer shops, a department store slash supermarket called Carrefour which has to have been the biggest I have ever seen.And yet little ol' me has a budget to keep to. Somehow, so far I have resisted the urge to buy everything in site which is what the place is designed for. The candy shops.... hasnt anyone told them that large amounts of sugar mixed with kids is a recipe for disaster? In the words of bumble-bee man, Ay Carumba!Perspective. Please. Rampant consumerism gone wild or wild consumerism gone mad? Too many adjectives?How can there be a market for so much stuff. There are plenty more malls you know.
Jordan left me tired... in need of a few good night's sleep. Well, I have a nice hotel here where they regulate the temperature there are two bars and three places for eating. I was most happy to find they have just opened a new slick metro which will take me most of the way to places I might want to go. And it stopped at my airport terminal. The heat is easy to escape, which is a good thing - the humidity is damned high too. It does mean spending much time in malls though. Oh well, won't go hungry. Candy close by if I need a sugar rush.How do I equate this? It is really futuristic here. Like something from another world. It's one of those places which feels like anything is possible. And then today I crossed the Dubai Creek on a small passenger boat called and Abra. It just crosses the creeks day after day. I went to the museum, inside an old fort. Very impressive. I've still had to walk a fair bit, and internet is not so easy to come by either.Saturday I venture to Ethiopia. It's going to be very different.

Ski Dubai.

View of the city centre from an abra, on the Dubai Creek

The ice-rink in Dubai Mall. Every mall should have one.

Aqaba baa baa

2009-10-20T22:50:00.002+11:00

Aqaba was my final stop in Jordan before returning to Amman and flying to Dubai. It was hot there - around the high 30s, but nice enough if not the world's most interesting city. I stayed to nights there, was a little sick, relaxed. There is a small fort and museum which were interesting. The main attraction is the red sea, and from Aqaba you can see Israel and I believe Egypt as well. So a special little area. Although diving and snorkelling trips abound, the sights are apparently not as good as in Egypt.

There is a much bigger upmarket tourist scene in Aqaba compared to the rest of the country. Flashy hotels and restaurants abound, as does the odd night club or three. Aqaba by night from my hotel balcony.
The Red Sea. Surprisingly blue.

Again the red sea, along the promenade.

So, as one country bids farewell another welcomes me. Back to Amman. The wrong way - I hopped on a bus and there was some communication problems. It went to Ma'an, not Amman! oh well, luckily it was on the way and then a share taxi driving at a lazy 150kmph with the Arabic music turned past maximum got me back to Amman and my old hotel.

Reflections?

Whew. Sometimes one feels over this sort of travel. It's very tiring and jees, well, I feel old all of a sudden. I'm only 34. Muscat has been scrapped from the destination list so now I will have a week in Dubai. Jordan has been amazing though, if far too hilly for its own good. Taxis - I am very over taxis, the bargaining. Oh well. Met some really nice taxi drivers too. And some really nice people -

Lukas, Sabrina, Karsten, Dorothy, Bert, Charlie, Lucy, Anna and Matthias it was great to meet you all! And Francesco too. Until we meet again!

Where Things are Rum

2009-10-15T02:55:00.003+11:00

Howdy Folks!
Just arrived in Aqaba today - a town in the south of Jordan. I spent yesterday and last night in the amazing desert of Wadi Rum. I was on a small tour of seven people and we drove around the dunes. It's truly breathtaking scenery! Here's a general view of the desert. Giant rocks jut out as you can see. It's similar in many ways to central Australia which I visited last year but never quite got around to blogging about. Note to self: When home blog about Central Australia!

Our tour was not one where we got out many times and we given loads of information one could not possibly remember. It was a day of appreciation for where I was. One tidbit though: Lawrence of Arabia spent time in this very desert. Food for thought!

The rocks have been carved over the centuries by sand and wind. The ravages of time have had an art about them, some are striking works of art. There are a few 'bridges' such as the one above. A bridge to where? The soul? Or perhaps just another rock...

What can I say?

The sun set on the day and I spent the night at a Badouin camp. The food was the best meal I've had in Jordan, cooked in a smouldering hole in the ground. There was then a scorpian incident, then some music, and finally sleep in the open on mattress below the stars. What a place to sleep. I saw at least four shooting stars before I fell asleep. Best day of the trip.

So far...

Photo Success - Petra and Jerash

2009-10-12T02:41:00.002+11:00

The wonders of modern technology! I have successfully uploaded pictures from both Jerash and earlier today at Petra!

JERASH

Jerash - long street and many columns!

Doorway - Jerash

PETRA

The Treasury, Petra - Most famous site in Petra

Urn Tomb, Petra - Largest of the Royal Tombs and most impressive!

Facades - Petra

Pottering in Petra

2009-10-11T22:29:00.003+11:00

Hey folks
still pottering around.In Petra at the moment. Pretty amazing stuff. Unfortunately I can't get pictures up at the moment computers are not agreeing with my card reader for some reason.
I've walked to the point of nearly having no feet here. Quite exhausted.
Petra is most famous for the treasury building and featuring in Indianna Jones and the Last Crusade, but is actually an ancient city bulit across many kilometres. There are amazing buildings bulit into rock faces,and alsomanytombs. Also some Roman buildings although the orginal builders of Petra were the Nabataeans who settled in Southern Jordan 2200 years ago. According to the brochure.
Unfortunately Petra has its bad points - as does this sticky keyboard. The number of tour groups is somewhat over whelming, as are the people constantly trying to sell you things or get you on a donkey. When you say 'No thanks' don't think that's the end of it!
So another day tomorrow at Petra, and hopefully a desert spot of Lawrence of Arabia fame the following day called Wadi Rum.

Jerash and invisible celebrations

2009-10-10T01:22:00.003+11:00

Many centuries ago the Romans, as is their want, built a city in the now Jordanian city of Jerash. It certainly was impressive, and was full of columns. They certainly knew a thing about columns!

I journied out to Jerash yesterday by bus as a day trip. The bus had an accident 500 metres after leaving the bus station and we had to wait 40 minutes whilst the police arrived and photographed it for presumably their report. All the men bar myself and couple of others exited the bus and sucked down some nicotine goodness. It's amazing how many people smoke here. It's playing havoc with my sinuses. In fairness though it seems to be other travellers who do the smoking mostly. And indoors over meals as well....

anyways wandering a largish Roman city is a splendid thing to do and I recommend it to everyone. I am back in Amman today and will head to Petra tomorrow! Here the roads are closed and there are celebrations... somewhere. Didn't see them myself! For you see today is Amman's 100th birthday. On the television there was a song 'Amman Amman Amman Amman Amman' (it continued in a similar vein!) So I have done nothing today. It is good!

Looking for Amman?

2009-10-08T19:28:00.004+11:00

Hi Folks
And good morning here from sunny Amman. Yesterday I visited some of the sites around this cool city, which I really kind of like. The guide book says 'Amman is not one of the great cities of antiquity', suggesting it's not so amazing but it was built on Roman ruins which have been somewhat restored and I think it's really amazing. As one can see it's a very hilly place. There is a Roman citadel on the top of a hill that is sort of the centre of Amman, but over the surrounding hills are many homes which make it very striking. This is the view on the roof of the hotel I am presently staying in.

Here is the citadel - well part thereof. It's slowly being restored.

And this is the Amphitheatre. It has been restored and they are preparing for a royal visit apparently. Very cool indeed.

I've met a few people who are not so enamoured with Amman, but I give it the thumbs up! A great place to start a Middle Eastern trip. Many people here (tourists) have come from or are going to Israel. Jordan is one of perhaps two countries in the Middle East that permit you to enter if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport. It's the obvious and now rather predicatble dinner conversation. However this is not a political blog and so I keep my thoughts to myself. Generally not a relazed topic.

Photos from Mt Nebo et al

2009-10-08T19:06:00.002+11:00

The view across to Palestine from Mt Nebo. People get covered in mud before they swim in the Dead Sea.

Looking across from Mt Nebo in the direction of Jericho.

View across to Israel/West Bank over the Jordan River.

Day trip not to Bangor!

2009-10-07T18:16:00.002+11:00

One day in and I already took a day trip.
After a nice long trip sleep on my first night I was feeling surprisingly good to go and headed out on a 'tour' that is run by my hotel here in Amman.
Now tour gets quotation marks because in fact it's just a taxi service to the different sites. This tour was to Mt Nebo, the Dead Sea and a couple of other places. I shared with three Germans who were really nice people... and spoke German a lot!
Well what would I expect? So yes I was the one non-German speaking person in the car

The first stop was a town called Madaba, with the impressive Orthodox church of St George of dragon slaying fame. The town is also famous for mosaics which were rather impressive. Onwards and upwards to Mt Nebo where Moses is rumoured to have stopped and pointed across the way saying 'how about here? let's build our lives here. A McDonald's there and a Starbucks also here!'
Impressive view, a host of tourists some dressed in strange white garbs singing songs. We ventured to the river Jordan to the site where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. Right on the Palestinian/Israeli border, we looked over where the river now flows (it has changed its course in the last 2000 years. Eh, these things happen. So the point of baptism is now completely dry) and only 30 metres away was an Israseli flag flying in the breeze. Everyone I've met travelling here seems to be headed that way at some point or has come from there. I must be the only one just seeing Jordan in this part of the world. When in 1999 I travelled to Egypt it was similar.
So the Dead Sea was the last stop before returning at breakneck speed to Amman. Well it's te Earth's lowest point and incredibly salty. I thought it would be the highlight of the day but alas not really. After five minutes of being really floaty I was over it. That was a good thing because i got some of the salty water in my eyes and couldn't keep them open. They stung like crazy and I ran like a girl to wash the salt out! Still it was like a mini resort and the pool was nice!
The drive home was fast. 120 in 60 zones. However we kept slowing down suddenly - Jordan has radar. They stand behind a large fourwheel drive and well are pretty obvious, nevertheless we must have passed nearly ten on the way back to Amman. A new day dawns and I want breakfast! Photos hopefully very soon!

It begins again.

2009-10-06T04:31:00.002+11:00

Dear Reader,
The trip is officially under way!
I am writing after a very very long day of travelling from Amman, Jordan. I left Melbourne at 3am this morning and the day still has a few hours left in it. Well, here it does, it's already tomorrow in Melbourne!
The weather is warm. The first flight was Melbourne to Dubai and was a very good flight - I slept heaps! Which is what I really needed to do. I left feeling stressed and tired and the ol' tum was not being my friend. After the fourteen hour flight I actually felt better and more awake.
Ok so I left my notes on Dubai and Muscat at home, so I had to buy the Lonely Planet in Dubai, but apart from that it was a pretty successful getaway.
There was dust all over the middle east unfortunately as we flew over Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan but still it was clear the scenery is amazing.
The second flight from Dubai to Amman changed gates twice and had me running like crazy. But such is life. I got through customs in Amman and was on the bus into town by 5pm.
There are house and buildings over rolling hills. It's quite amazing I think. Can't wait to get out and take photos. For now I'm at the Palace Hotel and ready for some well needed Zzzzzs.....