17th February 2011 For Maureen’s birthday we took a trip to Gunung Batur, the volcanic mountain in the middle of Bali. The guidebook warned us that the touts and guides are so avaricious and persistent around here that many people leave vowing never to return. What a birthday treat! In the event we only picked » » »
Posts Tagged ‘hassle’
22 February 2011
Coffee in the rain
14th February 2011 It started to rain on the morning we left Flores, and we sat in the little cafe on the hill overlooking the airport watching for our plane to land through the drizzle. Around us sat locals playing chess and smoking cigarettes over coffee. In half an hour they would finish their drinks » » »
2 February 2011
Poor hat
31st January 2011 I would have been quite happy to hang around the house all day doing not much, but oh no we had to go and visit the clifftop temple of Ulu Watu with grandma. Also known as the monkey temple. Actually, almost all temples in South-East Asia seem to be known as the » » »
27 January 2011
Grilled fish
24th January 2011 Bali is going to be a very two-sided place, I think. Up until now I haven’t seen anything to fall in love with, which apparently you’re supposed to when you arrive on this pearl of Indonesia. I’ve seen towns that look much like those of Malaysia or Cambodia; ramshackle little businesses and » » »
17 January 2011
Thailand nutshell
It’s clear why Thailand has such a gravitational pull for travellers of all kinds. The country is full of interest, it’s more modern and accommodating than other Asian nations, and the crucial travelling commodities of food, lodging and transport are all cheap and good quality; you can dwell comfortably in Thailand for £20 per day. » » »
26 December 2010
Banteay Srei
26th December 2010 Banteay Srei is the name of the last temple we’ve seen in Cambodia. Again, it is a pleasant surprise to find that it has a different character again compared with those we’ve seen before. This temple is smaller, but the sandstone is a desert orange and the whole place is covered in » » »
19 December 2010
Lucky charm
18th December 2010 We left Bangkok on the 5:55AM train and headed for the Cambodian border. Research on the internet and in guidebooks suggested we were in for an irksome day – tales of a thousand touts and a hundred scams at what was described as a “nightmare” border crossing. We got off the train. » » »
15 December 2010
Diarising
5th December 2010 I’m going to try blogging daily. I’m flattering myself that my writing is interesting enough to put together a diary that won’t reduce our small readership to zero. If anyone has any views on whether this is a good or bad idea, please drop me a comment! I’ll happily go back to » » »
25 November 2010
T.G.S.
“Why the f*** aren’t you making babies?!?” This is the comment from Singh (a friendly chap who turns out to be trying to lure us to a bespoke tailor for a commission) when we explain that we have been together for over fifteen years. I’m not sure whether all his swearing is natural, or part » » »
22 November 2010
Nepali farewell
My farewell gift from Madagascar was a dodgy stomach, looks like Nepal’s farewell gift is lost luggage. Our flight from Kathmandu was via Hong Kong with DragonAir then onto AirAsia, and the luggage was checked right through. But after 14 hours of transit I was standing wearily at luggage belt 12 in Bangkok airport with » » »
19 October 2010
Overland to Tibet?
Paragraphs in blockquote written by Maureen We travelled overland from Kathmandu to Lhasa, and flew back. So instead of a country summary, here’s a summary of that particular (and popular) trip. This may help if you are thinking of doing the same. A Nepali travel agency arranged the trip for us, which lasted 7 nights, » » »
14 October 2010
Seven days in Tibet
Written by Maureen Day One An early start from Kathmandu in order to reach the Chinese border before it is closed. After an hour our driver finds he’s left some important documents, so we go back to Kathmandu to find his brother with the docs on the roadside. The road to the border is the » » »
11 October 2010
Daddy Mountains
I’m really worried. I’ve got a splitting headache, I’m dizzy, my heartbeat is racing and I can’t sleep at all. These are most of the symptoms for altitude sickness (lucky me, at least I’m not nauseous). I’m not worried about my health, because these are the mild symptoms and the “cure” if they get worse » » »
7 October 2010
Kathmandu goes BEEP
Sight-seeing in Kathmandu is an endurance sport. The whole city is clogged with motorbikes, pedestrians, tiny Suzuki taxis and other random obstacles, which might be okay if the roads weren’t barely one lane wide with shops and street pedlars spilling out onto them. Crossing a road is like walking across the dodgems ride at a » » »