As we left Sydney I told Mike that I was bored of Western culture and I wanted my senses to be assualted. I certainly got my wish - Bangkok has just about battered my senses into non-existence! It's hot (really hot) and the fumes are so thick and cloying it's like the city is permanently shrouded in fog. It hurts your lungs and stings your eyes and even the smallest flight of stairs leaves us gasping for breath.
After a night of luxury at an airport hotel (lots of granite and bowing waiters) we took a taxi into the city amd it pretty much met expectations - thousands of cars, not much in the way of road rules, deafening noise and sky scrapers lost in the fog/smog. Our first attempt to see some of the smaller sights started badly as we wandered hopelessly trying to follow tourist maps that were not to scale and do not depict sights geographically where they actually are. Our wanderings eventually attracted the attention of a very "helpful" guy who told us that today was a Buddhist holiday and the Governement was giving Tuk Tuk drivers free fuel for the day in celebration. This meant, he said, we could get a Tuk Tuk to take us round any sights we wanted to see, all afternoon, for the bargain price of 20 Baht (50p) - great we said, lets go!
Our Tuk Tuk driver was a very nice man who first took us to a tourist office so that we could book the bus tickets we needed, then he took us to the Sitting Buddha (a very under whelming collection of Buddha's all in the sitting position). This tikki-tour of Bangkok then turned into one sales pitch after another as we were ferried first to a tailor's then to another tourist office, then a jeweller's and finally to another tailor's. This was all explained as necessary so that he could get his free fuel (he even showed us his free fuel coupon) because apparently the Government wished to boost tourist spending in this current economic climate. We were under no obligation to buy, he just had to take us there. He was very nice, and very convincing, so we felt sorry for him and went along. Oh what naive fresh arrivals we were! We later discovered that this is a well known tourist scam to get commissions on tourist's purchases and there's no such thing as a Government promotion for free fuel; there probably wasn't even a Buddhist holiday. Oh well, despite it being a bit harrowing having to listen to all these sales pitches, then say no, we didn't part with any money, so no harm done!
The rest of our time in Bangkok was spent wishing we'd already left, to be honest. We saw the main sights - The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun - and went on a Long Tail Boat ride on the river and canals. We also visited a night market but it was mainly fake designer goods and guys trying to get you to go into 'Go Go' bars where girls do unimaginable things with parts of their bodies you don't even want to think about. Not really the cultural experience I was looking for! Overall the heat was stifling, the dirt pervaded everything and I don't think I'd go back. Bring on the rest of Thailand, quickly :-)
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Monday, 26 January 2009
Road Trip USA. We're off to Hollywood
The uber long drive to LA, through the desert, stretched before us as we listened again to the scary warnings of death by the roadside if you were reckless enough to travel unprepared for breakdowns. Cheery! We broke the journey and stayed overnight in a town called Needles that certainly fitted the saying "We're not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from here!" I suppose it must have been an oasis in the desert at some point, but all we could see was dusty, sweltering concrete and no fathomable reason why anyone would want to live there, let alone how they support themselves. It was boiling - 105 degrees - so we hid out in our room with the AC going and enjoyed some TV!
We had booked a hostel in Hollywood (our last Dormitory stay of the trip YEAH!) and we managed to negotiate the labyrinthine freeways leading into LA with only a few wrongs turns. Hollywood, as it turns out is not very glamorous, more seedy and fraying round the edges but the hostel was nice and very sociable. We dropped the car off at the rental agency and discovered we had done 4000 miles in 3 weeks - not bad going! We walked the hall of fame on the way back t the hostel, shouting excitedly when we saw a name we recognised. There are an awful lot of people who have a star on the sidewalk that I have never heard of!
We went on a limo tour of LA that night, although we weren't really dressed for it. Everyone else had shirts, trousers, make up etc and there was us in our combats and the same old T-shirts! It was a real party tour with free beer and champagne, and the tour guide's sole mission seemed to be to get everyone as drunk as possible. As a result we didn't get to see that much of LA, and as our main aim was not to fall over drunk, it was a little under whelming!
The following day we went on a walking tour to the Hollywood sign which was really hard work! It was worth it though, as we walked through the Hollywood Hills and saw the houses of the rich & famous (well mainly just the rich), the sports cars in the driveways and the pools out the back. We stopped at points along the way so our guide could take photos of us and the sign:
Lunch was next to the Hollywood sign itself whilst we gazed across LA to the ocean.
We spent our last day in LA, and indeed our last day in the States, at the Warner Bros. studio tour. Now this was great! We were driven around the studios in a giant golf cart and we saw, and walked on, streets built for the outdoor scenes of programs/movies, and were told how each program dresses the streets to make them look like different cities; we saw the ambulance bay from ER and the fire escape that Spiderman hangs upside down from, whilst being kissed in the rain by Kisten Dunst. We also saw a jungle/lagoon area that has been used for everything from scenes from the Vietnam war, to Japanese mountain tops, to grisly body discoveries in Cold Case.
We then got to go into one of the sound stages and saw the set of Two and a Half Men (no actors unfortunately), and a museum of cars from the movies: the batman cars, the Scooby Doo van, the flying car from Harry Potter, the Dukes 0f Hazard car and motorbikes from the Matrix. A movie buffs dream! Next up was a museum housing scripts, guns, costumes and memorabilia from movies across the ages; AND Heath Ledgers last costume worn in The Dark Knight! After this was a Harry Potter museum with the sorting hat, snitches, the marauders map etc and then the prop warehouse - a pretty unexciting collection of tables, chairs, mirrors and the like, until we saw the retired set of Central Perk, from Friends. It was great!
And then it was time to leave. We took a taxi to the airport and it was a really strange feeling to be ending that part of our trip. We'd been on the road for 4 months and yet it seemed like yesterday we waved mum off at the train station in Southend. We were ready to stop for a while though, to have a base, and a wardrobe instead of a bag felt like luxury. A bit of 'normality' was required to balance all of our adventures, but that feeling wore off very quickly!
We had booked a hostel in Hollywood (our last Dormitory stay of the trip YEAH!) and we managed to negotiate the labyrinthine freeways leading into LA with only a few wrongs turns. Hollywood, as it turns out is not very glamorous, more seedy and fraying round the edges but the hostel was nice and very sociable. We dropped the car off at the rental agency and discovered we had done 4000 miles in 3 weeks - not bad going! We walked the hall of fame on the way back t the hostel, shouting excitedly when we saw a name we recognised. There are an awful lot of people who have a star on the sidewalk that I have never heard of!
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| From USA |
We went on a limo tour of LA that night, although we weren't really dressed for it. Everyone else had shirts, trousers, make up etc and there was us in our combats and the same old T-shirts! It was a real party tour with free beer and champagne, and the tour guide's sole mission seemed to be to get everyone as drunk as possible. As a result we didn't get to see that much of LA, and as our main aim was not to fall over drunk, it was a little under whelming!
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| From USA |
The following day we went on a walking tour to the Hollywood sign which was really hard work! It was worth it though, as we walked through the Hollywood Hills and saw the houses of the rich & famous (well mainly just the rich), the sports cars in the driveways and the pools out the back. We stopped at points along the way so our guide could take photos of us and the sign:
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
Lunch was next to the Hollywood sign itself whilst we gazed across LA to the ocean.
We spent our last day in LA, and indeed our last day in the States, at the Warner Bros. studio tour. Now this was great! We were driven around the studios in a giant golf cart and we saw, and walked on, streets built for the outdoor scenes of programs/movies, and were told how each program dresses the streets to make them look like different cities; we saw the ambulance bay from ER and the fire escape that Spiderman hangs upside down from, whilst being kissed in the rain by Kisten Dunst. We also saw a jungle/lagoon area that has been used for everything from scenes from the Vietnam war, to Japanese mountain tops, to grisly body discoveries in Cold Case.
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
We then got to go into one of the sound stages and saw the set of Two and a Half Men (no actors unfortunately), and a museum of cars from the movies: the batman cars, the Scooby Doo van, the flying car from Harry Potter, the Dukes 0f Hazard car and motorbikes from the Matrix. A movie buffs dream! Next up was a museum housing scripts, guns, costumes and memorabilia from movies across the ages; AND Heath Ledgers last costume worn in The Dark Knight! After this was a Harry Potter museum with the sorting hat, snitches, the marauders map etc and then the prop warehouse - a pretty unexciting collection of tables, chairs, mirrors and the like, until we saw the retired set of Central Perk, from Friends. It was great!
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| From USA |
And then it was time to leave. We took a taxi to the airport and it was a really strange feeling to be ending that part of our trip. We'd been on the road for 4 months and yet it seemed like yesterday we waved mum off at the train station in Southend. We were ready to stop for a while though, to have a base, and a wardrobe instead of a bag felt like luxury. A bit of 'normality' was required to balance all of our adventures, but that feeling wore off very quickly!
Road Trip USA. A great big hole in the ground
The Grand Canyon, Arizona
As with all distances in the States the drive from Vegas to the Grand Canyon was a lot further than we thought. We went over the Hoover Dam, saw some wild mountain goats and lots and lots of flat desert. We eventually arrived at about tea time and pitched our tent for the last time on our trip. We then found the bus to take us to the canyon, but as we arrived an almighty great storm broke and rather than get soaked we got back on the bus and decided that the Grand Canyon would still be there in the morning!
It is yet another place that words just cannot do justice too - breath taking, vast, spectacular, dramatic... here are the photos to prove it.
As with all distances in the States the drive from Vegas to the Grand Canyon was a lot further than we thought. We went over the Hoover Dam, saw some wild mountain goats and lots and lots of flat desert. We eventually arrived at about tea time and pitched our tent for the last time on our trip. We then found the bus to take us to the canyon, but as we arrived an almighty great storm broke and rather than get soaked we got back on the bus and decided that the Grand Canyon would still be there in the morning!
It is yet another place that words just cannot do justice too - breath taking, vast, spectacular, dramatic... here are the photos to prove it.
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Road Trip USA. The bright lights of Vegas.
California to Nevada
The 8 hour drive to Vegas, from Yosemite, took us through the Navaho Desert which was an amazing sight to see. Flat, stoney and massive; the sun kept getting hotter and hotter and the warnings on the radio about how breaking down in the desert with no water supplies leads to death, more frequent. We began to think we were never going to get there.
Lunch was KFC - yes they really do get everywhere - in a place that doesn't usually see 'outsiders' judging from the stares we got, and the petrol was twice the cost, but I suppose where else are you going to go!
Eventually we saw buildings on the horizon and we thought we were there, but it turned out to be an out of town shopping mall/rollercoaster park/theme show - just a taste of what was to come. When we eventually got to Vegas there was no mistaking it: nothing for miles around and then suddenly a pyramid, the New York skyline, a King Arthur castle, 12 lane roads and the MGM. We were staying at the Tropicana, a slightly less flashy hotel but at $40 per night we weren't complaining!
Walking into the hotel was exactly what I imagined Vegas to be. The whole ground floor was a casino full of fruit machines, poker tables, crapps tables and roulette wheels. Croupiers in smart suits and showgirls in high heels and tall feathers completed the picture. Every wall in the casino was mirrored, there were no windows, no clocks and no exit signs, which succeeded in its intention of making you walk helplessly around, getting more and more disorientated until you succumb, sit down at a table, and gamble your sorrows away (unless you are penniless backpackers like us) .
We dumped our bags and explored the strip, well some of it, because the 105 degree heat was punishing. We saw the Eiffel Tower at Paris in Vegas, the Bellagio and loads more. We headed to the ticket booths and scored ourselves half price tickets to the Phantom of the Opera and a half price dinner too. The Venetian hotel/casino and was everything I had heard - canals, gondolers, guys in stripy t-shirts singing the Cornetto song! The canals went into the hotel and were lined with boutique stores and the ceiling was painted like the sky. Amazing.
The following day we joined the pool party at our hotel and spent the afternoon trying to get relief from the heat, and then went for our meal at a Brazillian BBQ restaurant that was all you can eat. We rolled out of there!
All in all Vegas was amazing and lives up to all expectations. It's cheap, it's tacky and I couldn't spend more than a couple of days there, but it was great to experience. Maybe if we were into gambling a little more, or had more money to lose, we could have stayed longer, but I don't think that $5 in a fruit machine machine means that Vegas will miss me!
The 8 hour drive to Vegas, from Yosemite, took us through the Navaho Desert which was an amazing sight to see. Flat, stoney and massive; the sun kept getting hotter and hotter and the warnings on the radio about how breaking down in the desert with no water supplies leads to death, more frequent. We began to think we were never going to get there.
Lunch was KFC - yes they really do get everywhere - in a place that doesn't usually see 'outsiders' judging from the stares we got, and the petrol was twice the cost, but I suppose where else are you going to go!
Eventually we saw buildings on the horizon and we thought we were there, but it turned out to be an out of town shopping mall/rollercoaster park/theme show - just a taste of what was to come. When we eventually got to Vegas there was no mistaking it: nothing for miles around and then suddenly a pyramid, the New York skyline, a King Arthur castle, 12 lane roads and the MGM. We were staying at the Tropicana, a slightly less flashy hotel but at $40 per night we weren't complaining!
Walking into the hotel was exactly what I imagined Vegas to be. The whole ground floor was a casino full of fruit machines, poker tables, crapps tables and roulette wheels. Croupiers in smart suits and showgirls in high heels and tall feathers completed the picture. Every wall in the casino was mirrored, there were no windows, no clocks and no exit signs, which succeeded in its intention of making you walk helplessly around, getting more and more disorientated until you succumb, sit down at a table, and gamble your sorrows away (unless you are penniless backpackers like us) .
We dumped our bags and explored the strip, well some of it, because the 105 degree heat was punishing. We saw the Eiffel Tower at Paris in Vegas, the Bellagio and loads more. We headed to the ticket booths and scored ourselves half price tickets to the Phantom of the Opera and a half price dinner too. The Venetian hotel/casino and was everything I had heard - canals, gondolers, guys in stripy t-shirts singing the Cornetto song! The canals went into the hotel and were lined with boutique stores and the ceiling was painted like the sky. Amazing.
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
The following day we joined the pool party at our hotel and spent the afternoon trying to get relief from the heat, and then went for our meal at a Brazillian BBQ restaurant that was all you can eat. We rolled out of there!
All in all Vegas was amazing and lives up to all expectations. It's cheap, it's tacky and I couldn't spend more than a couple of days there, but it was great to experience. Maybe if we were into gambling a little more, or had more money to lose, we could have stayed longer, but I don't think that $5 in a fruit machine machine means that Vegas will miss me!
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
Road Trip USA. It's sunny at last!
Yosemite National Park, California
Yes we found the sun at long, long last and I wasn't complaining, but geez it was hot!
We left the coast road again to head inland to Yosemite National Park and checked into The Bug - a hostel outside the park and our second to last stay in a dormitory of the trip YEAH!
The park is beautiful - steep valleys between towering granite cliffs - and we did a few of the walks on the valley floor. I think Mike had wanted to do some of the longer hikes up the peaks, but climbing granite for 6-12 hours in 90 degree heat is not my idea of fun, so I won that one! We still managed some strenuous hiking though and rewarded ourselves with a dip in the river to cool down at the end of the day, which was freezing! We rented bikes whilst there too, and took a leisurely ride around the valley and came across a huge brown bear at the top of a very small tree that was buckling under its weight, but the leaves at the very, very top were obviously the tastiest.
The hostel was really nice, describing itself as a 'retreat', which served superb meals and so we over indulged a little. Sleeping was an issue though. The first night there was near sleepless due to some persistent snorers (I retreated to the car with my sleeping bag at 4am because I couldn't take it any more); and the second night wasn't much better as we were invaded by a group of young students from China who had no idea about dormitory etiquette and kept us awake most of the night by continually opening and closing the door, switching on the lights and talking. A complaint by me settled things down a little only for the mobile phone, belonging to the one student who actually went to sleep, that rang every 10 mins for the rest of the night. She slept soundly though. Arghhhh!
Yosemite is gorgeous and a great place to go for a family holiday, or if you are a serious climber, but we decided that we preferred Crater Lake National Park, which wins hands down in terms of stunning scenery.
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| From USA |
Yes we found the sun at long, long last and I wasn't complaining, but geez it was hot!
We left the coast road again to head inland to Yosemite National Park and checked into The Bug - a hostel outside the park and our second to last stay in a dormitory of the trip YEAH!
The park is beautiful - steep valleys between towering granite cliffs - and we did a few of the walks on the valley floor. I think Mike had wanted to do some of the longer hikes up the peaks, but climbing granite for 6-12 hours in 90 degree heat is not my idea of fun, so I won that one! We still managed some strenuous hiking though and rewarded ourselves with a dip in the river to cool down at the end of the day, which was freezing! We rented bikes whilst there too, and took a leisurely ride around the valley and came across a huge brown bear at the top of a very small tree that was buckling under its weight, but the leaves at the very, very top were obviously the tastiest.
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| From USA |
The hostel was really nice, describing itself as a 'retreat', which served superb meals and so we over indulged a little. Sleeping was an issue though. The first night there was near sleepless due to some persistent snorers (I retreated to the car with my sleeping bag at 4am because I couldn't take it any more); and the second night wasn't much better as we were invaded by a group of young students from China who had no idea about dormitory etiquette and kept us awake most of the night by continually opening and closing the door, switching on the lights and talking. A complaint by me settled things down a little only for the mobile phone, belonging to the one student who actually went to sleep, that rang every 10 mins for the rest of the night. She slept soundly though. Arghhhh!
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| From USA |
Yosemite is gorgeous and a great place to go for a family holiday, or if you are a serious climber, but we decided that we preferred Crater Lake National Park, which wins hands down in terms of stunning scenery.
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| From USA |
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Road Trip USA. A short stop in San Francisco
We only had a day in San Francisco but we made the most of it. The Alcatraz tours were sold out so we did a harbour cruise instead in order to see it from the outside at least.
This is the famous Golden Gate Bridge - or as much as we got to see of it anyway - apparently thick sea fog is normal in San Francisco.
The old cable cars were fun, running on the steep San Francisco streets that you see in the movies.
Our motel was an experience. We stayed out of town in Oakland to try to save some pennies but we gathered when we got there that it was in the 'not so great' side of town, which is probably why it was so cheap. The receptionists sat behind bullet proof glass, there was an armed guard at the entrance to the carpark and signs in the room advised you to keep the door locked and dead bolted at all times whilst inside the room. Nice! Our stay passed uneventfully though so the security measures are obviously working.
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| From USA |
This is the famous Golden Gate Bridge - or as much as we got to see of it anyway - apparently thick sea fog is normal in San Francisco.
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| From USA |
The old cable cars were fun, running on the steep San Francisco streets that you see in the movies.
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
Our motel was an experience. We stayed out of town in Oakland to try to save some pennies but we gathered when we got there that it was in the 'not so great' side of town, which is probably why it was so cheap. The receptionists sat behind bullet proof glass, there was an armed guard at the entrance to the carpark and signs in the room advised you to keep the door locked and dead bolted at all times whilst inside the room. Nice! Our stay passed uneventfully though so the security measures are obviously working.
Road Trip USA. California & the giant Redwoods
Oregon to California
Back on Highway 101 we crossed the border into California and headed to the giant Redwood forests. Now these trees are amazing. Up to 52 feet wide and 350 feet high, and up to 2000 years old. Unbelievable.
We went on a few walks in the forest and drove our car through a tree!
We booked ahead to ensure we could camp in the forest itself with these majestic trees and were astounded when we got to our appointed site at the size of the 2 gigantic tree stumps in it.Here's a photo of Mike climbing one for scale, he looks child-sized in comparison to the stump!
These trees are so majestic and humbling, it was a truly awe inspiring experience seeing them.
It's easy to see why tree hugging is popular here!
The campsites in America are great. Well laid out, clean, great facilities and a Ranger service that is excellent. You can get free guided walks with the Rangers every day and they do Ranger talks around the campfire in the evening. We went to the talk taking place whilst in the Redwood forest on the geology of California, and more specifically earthquakes and the "Big One" (the anticipated earthquake that is going to wipe out most of the west coast of America). It was really informative and I have to say, I'm glad I don't live in California with the constant threat of earthquakes and tsuanamies.
As we drove through California we saw the effects of the wild fires that we had been watching on the news first hand. We rounded a corner and were suddenly in smoke so thick we couldn't see past the end of the bonnet. Scary. Apparently the fires had been burning since the beginning of July, after a lightening strike.
Back on Highway 101 we crossed the border into California and headed to the giant Redwood forests. Now these trees are amazing. Up to 52 feet wide and 350 feet high, and up to 2000 years old. Unbelievable.
We went on a few walks in the forest and drove our car through a tree!
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| From USA |
We booked ahead to ensure we could camp in the forest itself with these majestic trees and were astounded when we got to our appointed site at the size of the 2 gigantic tree stumps in it.Here's a photo of Mike climbing one for scale, he looks child-sized in comparison to the stump!
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
These trees are so majestic and humbling, it was a truly awe inspiring experience seeing them.
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| From USA |
It's easy to see why tree hugging is popular here!
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
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| From USA |
The campsites in America are great. Well laid out, clean, great facilities and a Ranger service that is excellent. You can get free guided walks with the Rangers every day and they do Ranger talks around the campfire in the evening. We went to the talk taking place whilst in the Redwood forest on the geology of California, and more specifically earthquakes and the "Big One" (the anticipated earthquake that is going to wipe out most of the west coast of America). It was really informative and I have to say, I'm glad I don't live in California with the constant threat of earthquakes and tsuanamies.
As we drove through California we saw the effects of the wild fires that we had been watching on the news first hand. We rounded a corner and were suddenly in smoke so thick we couldn't see past the end of the bonnet. Scary. Apparently the fires had been burning since the beginning of July, after a lightening strike.
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