I visit Hong at time when my partying days are behind me (unfortantley). Here is a brief update on my time in Hong Kong and China.
We arrived on the 13th Feb 2017 in Shanghai, we spent a night there before heading down to Wuyi city to see our suppliers. Since my last post about Thailand, i've luckily landed on a dream and now run my own business working from home (or abroad!) I sell goods online through Amazon and ebay which I setup in 2013. I also setup another business in 2015 with a business partner doing a similar thing so at the moment everything is good. Who knows the future though!? Automation, AI, Donald Trump etc. Make the most of it I say!
So after a few days in Wuyi, going out to lunch and dinner every day with the owner of the company and they took us on a 4 hour hike up a mountain we made our way back to Shanghai on the bullet train. We spent 3 nights walking around the busy streets, seeing some of the sights. Its a shame the cities in china are so polluted, at least they seem to trying to sort out the problem with building solar panels on a massive scale to try and reduce emission's from coal fired power stations.
After Shanghai, we flew straight to Hong Kong. British citizens do not require a visa here and you can stay up to 90 days I believe. First impressions, streets are crowded, drinks over priced, £8 for a beer or or cider and accommodation is very expensive. I have been to the Peak where you can overlook the entire city, day or night. The tram ride is so steep, your neck hurts!
I have met lots of Chinese ladies in the Bars and on Tinder, they are very nice! I am currently seeing a lovely girl called Angel, early days though! On nights out we have been stoppped to get photos and the girls are not afraid to mention you are hot (thanks!). I was even asked to Dance with some girl because she was getting married the next day. Why not, I did.
I have also met some interesting people, including some Hong Kong Saints fans when we played in the Cup final. (shame we lost). Contact information exchanged on facebook!
I met a German girl in the History museum who is travelling around the world (without flying). She started in New Zealand and has made her way up to China on various Sail boats, amazing!.
Hong Kong is a crazy city, the hustle and bustle reminds me of Waterloo station at rush hour. You get use to it. Despit all the wanker bankers and the top knot tossers, the people are mostly warm. You do see on the faces of the hard shifts that people have to put in though to serve these tossers, the service industry in this city is booming. Every street and every premises is occupied with either retail stores selling clothes, watches or suits or food outlets. The choice of food is so wide, you can get virtually any dish and varying prices. The people that work in these places dont look too over joyed but then again, I bet there shift goes fairly quickly because most of these places are fairly busy. I havent found it too difficult waiting for tables and only the popular places require you to wait 10 minutes or so. Drinks are expensive though, anywhere from 7-10 per pint.
With so much time on my hands, I have recenlty joined a gym, again very pricey, £235 for 1 month although I have picked out a 5* hotel. In my currenlty cramped confindeds of my room, this gives some luxury in the day and to tone up. The gym has very good facilities including steam room, sauna, and rooftop pool, Ill be spending a lot of time here.
Bar 109, in Wan Chai, a girl Phillopeno girl humped my back when I was sat down. I also met another girl from the same nation on another night. I ended up going on a date and back to my hotel!
Have been spending so much money lately, but then I think pensions are a waste of time anyway, who actually think capitlism will be around in 30 years! In this time frame, my hope is that the earth has not been torn to shreads by climate change, water shortages or nuclear winter. Donald Trump is in the whitehouse and just bommed Syria! But then again, earth wont be here one day, if its on our watch, it will be so sad but time comes to end at some point, why not now.
Thursday, 9 March 2017
Monday, 19 November 2012
Van Vieng to 4000 Island Horror Story
When we finished our 5 day visit of Van Vieng, my travel mates Barny and Mills wanted to go to 4000 Islands in southern Laos. I decided at this point I wanted to head back to Bangkok to relax for the final few days. I couldn't handle another 12 hour bus journey and I much preferred to take the train back as there was no train towards 4000 Island.
When my mates return to Bangkok I was filled in on the journey from hell. When Mills left Van Vieng, he took a Malaria tablet and on an empty stomach. Apparently this is not advised. To cut a long story short, as Barny and Mills were in the mini bus on a 6 hour journey to the next change over, Mills decided he needed to fart, so to be clever, squeezed a silent one out only to his horror had realised he had promptly shat himself.
As the mini bus was plodding along, there was a very loud shout of the following 'STOP THE BUS!' As the bus slowed down and pulled over, mills leaped out faster than Usain Bolt could have done. As he was disembarking the vehicle, diarrhoea was pouring down his legs and then he stepped out of a mini bus in full view of everyone that he just met. He promptly dropped trou right in front of the group and the whole world apparently had just fallen out of his arse. Mills is a big fella who eats his fair share! Barny was apparently wetting himself with laughter. A few minutes had passed and things settled down, order was restored by a change of clothes and underwear. A nice German girl offered Mills a diarrhoea tablet which he duly accepted. Barnys laughter had soon warn off as the realisation that the bus ponged of foul smelling s**t which was all over the carpets and some of the seats. It was cleaned up as best could but the smell of s**t was still very evident for the next 3 and half hours of the journey in the mini bus with no air-con! As Barny says, one of the worst Journeys he has ever been on.
When my mates return to Bangkok I was filled in on the journey from hell. When Mills left Van Vieng, he took a Malaria tablet and on an empty stomach. Apparently this is not advised. To cut a long story short, as Barny and Mills were in the mini bus on a 6 hour journey to the next change over, Mills decided he needed to fart, so to be clever, squeezed a silent one out only to his horror had realised he had promptly shat himself.
As the mini bus was plodding along, there was a very loud shout of the following 'STOP THE BUS!' As the bus slowed down and pulled over, mills leaped out faster than Usain Bolt could have done. As he was disembarking the vehicle, diarrhoea was pouring down his legs and then he stepped out of a mini bus in full view of everyone that he just met. He promptly dropped trou right in front of the group and the whole world apparently had just fallen out of his arse. Mills is a big fella who eats his fair share! Barny was apparently wetting himself with laughter. A few minutes had passed and things settled down, order was restored by a change of clothes and underwear. A nice German girl offered Mills a diarrhoea tablet which he duly accepted. Barnys laughter had soon warn off as the realisation that the bus ponged of foul smelling s**t which was all over the carpets and some of the seats. It was cleaned up as best could but the smell of s**t was still very evident for the next 3 and half hours of the journey in the mini bus with no air-con! As Barny says, one of the worst Journeys he has ever been on.
Laos and Van Vieng Tubing Backpacking Blog
From North Thailand, we were ushered onto another train to Vientiane which is the capital of Laos. It seemed like an age waiting at the train station somewhere outside Vientiane sorting out Visas etc. I remember being annoyed having to pay more than the ozzies simply for entering their country. Just bloody let us in! I'm not sure why the train doesn't go directly to the capital. Being the capital, you would thought it would have a train station but being Laos, things happened differently.
We had to get a taxi into the capital and they always quote you a ridiculous price so you spend about 10 minutes negotiating. The good thing is, there's usually only a couple of them and a group of about 10 of you. Having just entered the country and now on Laos money, we found it a little strange and difficult to convert the exchange in your head, you can quickly become a millionaire by simply exchanging 100GBP or so.
Once in the centre we had to wait for a bus to Van Vieng. Of course it left about an hour later than promised and made a few extra stops to squish as many more people in as possible. After collecting all the other tourists in the van, it turns out we all paid different prices for the same journey. The journey is not for the faint hearted. The roads are of a very poor standard with pot holes and cracks everywhere. The bus often has to slow down for very large creators and go over them at an angle to stop the suspension from breaking. The last hour of the journey is made up of mud tracks. As back seat passenger, I watched nervously as the driver overtakes about 100 Mopeds and lorries.
Vang Vieng is a fairly small town that consists of several long streets. With a beautiful river and massive limestone mountains surrounding the town, it is a pretty place.
But like many tourist hubs, it’s charm has been squashed a little by the massive influx of young party goers invading the town to sleep in cheap hotels, partying and of course for the tubing. We were in that bracket of course, we didn't got to Van Vieng just to sunbathe!
Vang Vieng is most known for tubing. I had heard lots of thing from my mate Mills who with us and he had been passed on many good stories about it. On the first day we decided to chill out and not go tubing and instead we had a meal in one of the many restaurants followed by several drinks. We decided it was best to wait for the next day so we would get a full days tubing in. We were going to be there for 5 days so there was really no rush.
The next day, we went to rent a tube from the rental place, there is only one tubing rental place in town. We then piled into a tuktuk with our tube and get dropped off a few kilometres upstream, and join into the Nam Song River. When you get dropped off, there is immediately two very loud bars which are probably the best two on the river, so its best not to jump straight into your tube and head down the river. Booze is cheap and readily available but it really is sensible not to get too drunk and be very be conscious of your surroundings as best you can. It is very easy to fall off the high rise platforms on the bar platforms which have no safety barriers. If you fall off you land onto rocks and I'm sure loads of have been killed this way. The high rise rope swings and slides are also another danger if you dont jump at the correct point. You hear of plenty of accidents and deaths on the river so take my advice! If you go to the river just to drink, I would stick the first two bars and avoid the river altogether and get a Tuk Tuk back to Van Vieng.
As you go down the river, there are more bars and each bar will try and chuck a rope out to you and try and lure you in to spend money. Each bar has loud music, some with themes and if you go to the tubing more than one day, your hear the same songs being played. Buffalo Soldier being one of my favourites in the Reggae Bar.
After the tubing and all the partying, we headed back to town where there is ample eateries, bars and chill out places where you can wind down. However, we were there for 5 nights and we went out pretty much every night. All the bars are really friendly and its easy to get chatting to other backpackers. They have tables in most of the bars where beer pong is very popular and competitive amongst all the backpackers
In general I don't think Laos food is no where near as nice as Thailand but you will find some good restaurants among the busy streets. I cant really comment on the rest of Laos as we didn't see much else of it but coming home for my 2 other friends was a real drama. If you are the squeamish sort, its probably best not read the next my blog post
We had to get a taxi into the capital and they always quote you a ridiculous price so you spend about 10 minutes negotiating. The good thing is, there's usually only a couple of them and a group of about 10 of you. Having just entered the country and now on Laos money, we found it a little strange and difficult to convert the exchange in your head, you can quickly become a millionaire by simply exchanging 100GBP or so.
Once in the centre we had to wait for a bus to Van Vieng. Of course it left about an hour later than promised and made a few extra stops to squish as many more people in as possible. After collecting all the other tourists in the van, it turns out we all paid different prices for the same journey. The journey is not for the faint hearted. The roads are of a very poor standard with pot holes and cracks everywhere. The bus often has to slow down for very large creators and go over them at an angle to stop the suspension from breaking. The last hour of the journey is made up of mud tracks. As back seat passenger, I watched nervously as the driver overtakes about 100 Mopeds and lorries.
Vang Vieng is a fairly small town that consists of several long streets. With a beautiful river and massive limestone mountains surrounding the town, it is a pretty place.
But like many tourist hubs, it’s charm has been squashed a little by the massive influx of young party goers invading the town to sleep in cheap hotels, partying and of course for the tubing. We were in that bracket of course, we didn't got to Van Vieng just to sunbathe!
Vang Vieng is most known for tubing. I had heard lots of thing from my mate Mills who with us and he had been passed on many good stories about it. On the first day we decided to chill out and not go tubing and instead we had a meal in one of the many restaurants followed by several drinks. We decided it was best to wait for the next day so we would get a full days tubing in. We were going to be there for 5 days so there was really no rush.
The next day, we went to rent a tube from the rental place, there is only one tubing rental place in town. We then piled into a tuktuk with our tube and get dropped off a few kilometres upstream, and join into the Nam Song River. When you get dropped off, there is immediately two very loud bars which are probably the best two on the river, so its best not to jump straight into your tube and head down the river. Booze is cheap and readily available but it really is sensible not to get too drunk and be very be conscious of your surroundings as best you can. It is very easy to fall off the high rise platforms on the bar platforms which have no safety barriers. If you fall off you land onto rocks and I'm sure loads of have been killed this way. The high rise rope swings and slides are also another danger if you dont jump at the correct point. You hear of plenty of accidents and deaths on the river so take my advice! If you go to the river just to drink, I would stick the first two bars and avoid the river altogether and get a Tuk Tuk back to Van Vieng.
As you go down the river, there are more bars and each bar will try and chuck a rope out to you and try and lure you in to spend money. Each bar has loud music, some with themes and if you go to the tubing more than one day, your hear the same songs being played. Buffalo Soldier being one of my favourites in the Reggae Bar.
After the tubing and all the partying, we headed back to town where there is ample eateries, bars and chill out places where you can wind down. However, we were there for 5 nights and we went out pretty much every night. All the bars are really friendly and its easy to get chatting to other backpackers. They have tables in most of the bars where beer pong is very popular and competitive amongst all the backpackers
In general I don't think Laos food is no where near as nice as Thailand but you will find some good restaurants among the busy streets. I cant really comment on the rest of Laos as we didn't see much else of it but coming home for my 2 other friends was a real drama. If you are the squeamish sort, its probably best not read the next my blog post
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Thailand & Koh Pangan Full Moon Backpacking Blog
A group of 3 of us went on a 3 week adventure around Thailand and Laos. It was a whistle stop tour of both countries. Unfortunately our travels are restricted to our holiday time available from work.
We still had an amazing time and we found both countries to be an amazing experience. We started on Boxing day I met up with a couple of mates at Heathrow. We flew to Thailand to Bangkok via Beijing. We had a quick look around Beijing as we had about 5 hours to kill but we found the place to be cold and a bit depressing really. Wouldn't recommend it but if we had more time, I may have changed my opinion. I can imagine Beijing being a lot nicer in the summer.
We got a taxi to hotel our hotel from the air pot which took about half an hour. It was in the middle of the night which enabled the driver to drive about 100mph so we told him to slow down. We arrived at our hotel in Khaosan Road which is a very touristy street in central Bangkok. We arrived about 2am and the place was really buzzing. We stayed at the D&D Inn hotel which was adequate and had plenty of facitlities including a roof top bar and swimming pool with good views of the city. On Khaosan Road, there is a really diverse range of travellers from old men from Western Europe looking for there next wife to young Americans/ Australians, Chinese, many Europeans along with plenty of Brits. The street is a good first port of call for any traveller due the wide range of hotels, bars, restaurants and souvenirs. The bad points are that you will be hassled many times to buy a suits, lady boys, tuk tuks, ping pong shows and everything under the sun!
We had 1 night in Bangkok before leaving to go South. We had bought our train tickets back in the UK as train tickets can sell out in Thailand (buy here), especially around the time of the New years eve Full moon Party. We got the train around 4pm and we had something to eat before the guards came round about 8pm to put the sleeper beds up. The beds are comfortable and clean but the sleep wasn't great, the journey lasted around 12 hours but I woke about 6 times in the night. Even though the trains travel fairly slow in Thailand, the state of tracks are poor and some parts of the journey are very bumpy.
We got to Surat Thani around 5am as the journey was delayed at some point. We were exhausted and had to get a short bus journey to the ferry port where we were getting the train to Koh Pangan. We boarded the ferry which took about an hour to get to the Island. We had a few days before new years eve to relax and chil although we decided to head to Haad Rin on our first night which is one of the main towns on the island and where the famous full moon parties are. We stayed at a lovely resort on the north of the island called Serenity Residence, the food was amazing wherever we went in Thailand but especially at the hotel we were staying in. It was a small family run hotel but they catered for our every needs. Our room was meters from the beach with sea views from the balcony.
We had a great time on New years eve, we headed down in a taxi from the resort and we met some other revellers who we actually ended up staying with. We met a great funny guy from Brazil who spent the rest of the evening with us. We decided to dress up in traditional face paints and colourful head bands. In the picture below, my arm reads 'Mr Happy Ending' . We got down to Haad Rin very early as we had heard the roads can get jammed up by taxis and many people ending up missing out on the full moon party. We arrived around 6pm for dinner and it was a totally amazing night. My memories are fairly vague but the Thai red bull sends you crazy (which is actually banned in the UK). In fact its so strong that I ended up drinking not as much I usually would on New Years as it gives you a great buzz. The buckets (drinks) are really cheap where you basically can purchase from about 100 booths and shops. You can negotiate with some if your in a group so always start the bidding low!. The good thing about the buckets is that you get to poor your own drink as you get a bottle of vodka or whisky with a choice of lemonade/coke and customary red bull. I think it works out about £3 per bucket and trust me, you don't need more than 2 unless you are a very hard core drinker, in which case you may manage 3. The beach's are packed with 1000's of people, I didn't see any fights/troubles/drugs or anything that made me feel unsafe. Just go easy with the drink and you wont have any problems.
After New Years eve we spent the next couple of days chilling out. We went to book our train journey back as we didn't pre-book tickets. What a mistake that was! So our only option was a gruelling 13 hour bus journey back to Bangkok. The coach was a good laugh for the first couple of hours as we had decided to sit down stairs with a group of people we met on the ferry coming back from Koh Pangan. Downstairs had a large communal table in the middle with long bench style chairs. We thought, great we had the VIP party section which we made a concerted effect to get. Most of bus was on the top deck with reclining chairs. So after the novelty had worn off we tried to sleep which was nye on impossible. We realised by this time we had definitely made a massive mistake and we ended up sleeping on top of each other, and at times taking turns to lie down. We arrived in Bangkok with severe sleep deprivation and we then found a hotel and went straight to bed!
Our next destination was Laos. We had to spend an extra night in Bangkok as the trains were full again but we managed to get trains tickets the following day to North Thailand and Laos. See next blog post for Laos backpacking trip
We still had an amazing time and we found both countries to be an amazing experience. We started on Boxing day I met up with a couple of mates at Heathrow. We flew to Thailand to Bangkok via Beijing. We had a quick look around Beijing as we had about 5 hours to kill but we found the place to be cold and a bit depressing really. Wouldn't recommend it but if we had more time, I may have changed my opinion. I can imagine Beijing being a lot nicer in the summer.
We got a taxi to hotel our hotel from the air pot which took about half an hour. It was in the middle of the night which enabled the driver to drive about 100mph so we told him to slow down. We arrived at our hotel in Khaosan Road which is a very touristy street in central Bangkok. We arrived about 2am and the place was really buzzing. We stayed at the D&D Inn hotel which was adequate and had plenty of facitlities including a roof top bar and swimming pool with good views of the city. On Khaosan Road, there is a really diverse range of travellers from old men from Western Europe looking for there next wife to young Americans/ Australians, Chinese, many Europeans along with plenty of Brits. The street is a good first port of call for any traveller due the wide range of hotels, bars, restaurants and souvenirs. The bad points are that you will be hassled many times to buy a suits, lady boys, tuk tuks, ping pong shows and everything under the sun!
We had 1 night in Bangkok before leaving to go South. We had bought our train tickets back in the UK as train tickets can sell out in Thailand (buy here), especially around the time of the New years eve Full moon Party. We got the train around 4pm and we had something to eat before the guards came round about 8pm to put the sleeper beds up. The beds are comfortable and clean but the sleep wasn't great, the journey lasted around 12 hours but I woke about 6 times in the night. Even though the trains travel fairly slow in Thailand, the state of tracks are poor and some parts of the journey are very bumpy.
We got to Surat Thani around 5am as the journey was delayed at some point. We were exhausted and had to get a short bus journey to the ferry port where we were getting the train to Koh Pangan. We boarded the ferry which took about an hour to get to the Island. We had a few days before new years eve to relax and chil although we decided to head to Haad Rin on our first night which is one of the main towns on the island and where the famous full moon parties are. We stayed at a lovely resort on the north of the island called Serenity Residence, the food was amazing wherever we went in Thailand but especially at the hotel we were staying in. It was a small family run hotel but they catered for our every needs. Our room was meters from the beach with sea views from the balcony.
We had a great time on New years eve, we headed down in a taxi from the resort and we met some other revellers who we actually ended up staying with. We met a great funny guy from Brazil who spent the rest of the evening with us. We decided to dress up in traditional face paints and colourful head bands. In the picture below, my arm reads 'Mr Happy Ending' . We got down to Haad Rin very early as we had heard the roads can get jammed up by taxis and many people ending up missing out on the full moon party. We arrived around 6pm for dinner and it was a totally amazing night. My memories are fairly vague but the Thai red bull sends you crazy (which is actually banned in the UK). In fact its so strong that I ended up drinking not as much I usually would on New Years as it gives you a great buzz. The buckets (drinks) are really cheap where you basically can purchase from about 100 booths and shops. You can negotiate with some if your in a group so always start the bidding low!. The good thing about the buckets is that you get to poor your own drink as you get a bottle of vodka or whisky with a choice of lemonade/coke and customary red bull. I think it works out about £3 per bucket and trust me, you don't need more than 2 unless you are a very hard core drinker, in which case you may manage 3. The beach's are packed with 1000's of people, I didn't see any fights/troubles/drugs or anything that made me feel unsafe. Just go easy with the drink and you wont have any problems.
NYE - Koh Pangan 6pm
2 days before NYE
After New Years eve we spent the next couple of days chilling out. We went to book our train journey back as we didn't pre-book tickets. What a mistake that was! So our only option was a gruelling 13 hour bus journey back to Bangkok. The coach was a good laugh for the first couple of hours as we had decided to sit down stairs with a group of people we met on the ferry coming back from Koh Pangan. Downstairs had a large communal table in the middle with long bench style chairs. We thought, great we had the VIP party section which we made a concerted effect to get. Most of bus was on the top deck with reclining chairs. So after the novelty had worn off we tried to sleep which was nye on impossible. We realised by this time we had definitely made a massive mistake and we ended up sleeping on top of each other, and at times taking turns to lie down. We arrived in Bangkok with severe sleep deprivation and we then found a hotel and went straight to bed!
Our next destination was Laos. We had to spend an extra night in Bangkok as the trains were full again but we managed to get trains tickets the following day to North Thailand and Laos. See next blog post for Laos backpacking trip
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Inter-Rail Trip Amsterdam-Berlin-Bratislavia-Prague
Me and friend from work (Ollie) decided to go on an inter-rail trip around some countries in Europe on the train. We flew from Bristol to Amsterdam where we stayed for a few days.
Amsterdam is very expensive and you can easily burn money on just living; accommodation, food and drink are all expensive. My mate Ollie tried some Cannabis in the afternoon on the first day, however he suffered a massive head ache which I think has put him off drugs for life! We stayed very near the red light district which is really a strange place, we had a good look around but taking part was not on our agenda. We stayed in a 6 bed mixed dorm with 2 girls from Bath, and 2 Israelis. One of the Israeli guys moved out on the 2nd night and an Ozzie girl moved in. We had a good look around Amsterdam including all the famous sites, its very easy to get lost, so take a map at all times.
The next day I had noitce the ozzie girl was waking up as me at the same time. I was on the top bunk about 3 meters away when I jumped off my bed to go and introduce myself. Unfortunately for me, I was wearing boxers and as I was jumping off the bed, my little member decided to unpack him self for everyone to see including the Ozzie girl who's eyes were just about to pop out of her sockets. Thankfully we were leaving that morning, so we packed our stuff and headed off to the train station to experience inter railing for the first time.
So our first train journey was to Berlin, the journey took about 5 hours and was pretty straight forward filling out train passes and getting a seat. We had found all the train times before we left England but the trains seem to go every hour anyhow and you dont need to pre-book. When we got to Berlin, we got a Taxi to to Wombats Hostel which we had also pre-booked. This hostel is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in! Large rooms, clean, nice showers and a great bar on the top floor. We were meeting up with Mills the next day so we decided not to go out that evening, even though it was a Friday night! We also wanted to recover from Amsterdam. On the Saturday when Mills arrived we had a good look around Berlin by foot and by some bicycles we rented. We looked at some sites including the not so very fascinating Berlin Wall. We went out in the evening, me and Ollie took it fairly easy as we had a 10 hour train journey the next day but we had great fun and we met up with Calum who we had met when we were travelling in South East Asia. I don't think that would have happened if facebook wasn't invented! He was living in the city and he took us on a very long pub/bar crawl and we met some others in the hostel before and we dragged them along. Mills stayed out a little longer than us and I don't think he got in until 5am!.
The next day we took about 2 hours to trying to find a decent breakfast joint, it seems Germany does not do breakfast on a Sunday! Mills was extremely hungover and looked like he was about to through his guts up at any moment. We said farewell to Mills and me and Ollie headed off to the train station again.
We were really not looking forward to the next journey as it was an 11 hour mission down to Bratislava. Inter railing can involve long hard journeys at times! We spent 4 days in Brat, it is a really nice city and we were pleasantly surprised by the place. We were there during the week so the nightlife was very tame and we didn't stay out late any of the nights we were there. The woman are amazingly hot! that's one memory we have from Brat! We definitely have a bum deal living in the UK!. Not a fat person in site.
We then got another train journey up to Prague which took 4 hours, we stayed for 5 nights, the first night we got fairly drunk and went to a 5 story club called Karlovy Lázně which is most definitely worth a visit. The last 3 days was great fun as my then sisters fiance decided to have his stag in Prague and so we purposely re-arranged our schedule so we could be there at the same time. I don't really have any memories apart from drinking TBH!.
Another train back to Bratislava for a our flight home and we landed about midnight getting back to Dorset around 2am. I thoroughly recommend inter rail trips around Europe but I would suggest mixing up with flights if you can afford it.
Amsterdam is very expensive and you can easily burn money on just living; accommodation, food and drink are all expensive. My mate Ollie tried some Cannabis in the afternoon on the first day, however he suffered a massive head ache which I think has put him off drugs for life! We stayed very near the red light district which is really a strange place, we had a good look around but taking part was not on our agenda. We stayed in a 6 bed mixed dorm with 2 girls from Bath, and 2 Israelis. One of the Israeli guys moved out on the 2nd night and an Ozzie girl moved in. We had a good look around Amsterdam including all the famous sites, its very easy to get lost, so take a map at all times.
The next day I had noitce the ozzie girl was waking up as me at the same time. I was on the top bunk about 3 meters away when I jumped off my bed to go and introduce myself. Unfortunately for me, I was wearing boxers and as I was jumping off the bed, my little member decided to unpack him self for everyone to see including the Ozzie girl who's eyes were just about to pop out of her sockets. Thankfully we were leaving that morning, so we packed our stuff and headed off to the train station to experience inter railing for the first time.
So our first train journey was to Berlin, the journey took about 5 hours and was pretty straight forward filling out train passes and getting a seat. We had found all the train times before we left England but the trains seem to go every hour anyhow and you dont need to pre-book. When we got to Berlin, we got a Taxi to to Wombats Hostel which we had also pre-booked. This hostel is one of the best hostels I have ever stayed in! Large rooms, clean, nice showers and a great bar on the top floor. We were meeting up with Mills the next day so we decided not to go out that evening, even though it was a Friday night! We also wanted to recover from Amsterdam. On the Saturday when Mills arrived we had a good look around Berlin by foot and by some bicycles we rented. We looked at some sites including the not so very fascinating Berlin Wall. We went out in the evening, me and Ollie took it fairly easy as we had a 10 hour train journey the next day but we had great fun and we met up with Calum who we had met when we were travelling in South East Asia. I don't think that would have happened if facebook wasn't invented! He was living in the city and he took us on a very long pub/bar crawl and we met some others in the hostel before and we dragged them along. Mills stayed out a little longer than us and I don't think he got in until 5am!.
The next day we took about 2 hours to trying to find a decent breakfast joint, it seems Germany does not do breakfast on a Sunday! Mills was extremely hungover and looked like he was about to through his guts up at any moment. We said farewell to Mills and me and Ollie headed off to the train station again.
We were really not looking forward to the next journey as it was an 11 hour mission down to Bratislava. Inter railing can involve long hard journeys at times! We spent 4 days in Brat, it is a really nice city and we were pleasantly surprised by the place. We were there during the week so the nightlife was very tame and we didn't stay out late any of the nights we were there. The woman are amazingly hot! that's one memory we have from Brat! We definitely have a bum deal living in the UK!. Not a fat person in site.
We then got another train journey up to Prague which took 4 hours, we stayed for 5 nights, the first night we got fairly drunk and went to a 5 story club called Karlovy Lázně which is most definitely worth a visit. The last 3 days was great fun as my then sisters fiance decided to have his stag in Prague and so we purposely re-arranged our schedule so we could be there at the same time. I don't really have any memories apart from drinking TBH!.
Another train back to Bratislava for a our flight home and we landed about midnight getting back to Dorset around 2am. I thoroughly recommend inter rail trips around Europe but I would suggest mixing up with flights if you can afford it.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Australia East Coast Backpacking Trip
Backpacking in Australia was one of the best things I have ever done, I would recommend it to anyone, its an amazing journey meeting so many friendly faces whether travelling alone or in a group of people.
It was during the Summer of 2008, I was driving back to Dorset from Southampton when all off a sudden I made a split second decision to go travelling to Australia on a backpacking adventure. I knew my mate Dave was out there after he had quit his job about 6 months previous and I decided to follow. He was working in Southampton and saved enough for one years backpacking. I was going to do a 4 month stint.
I quit work about a month before I left, sold my flat and cleared my belongs and off they went back to the family home in Dorset.
In late November 2008, I was off. I arrived on the East Coast in Cairns at 6 am having hardly spoken to anyone for about 24 hours. Dave had been staying in Sydney and flew out to Cairns the night before. He was staying with me for 5 nights until he flew onto Asia but I was to meet up with him again in Sydney before Christmas.
Cairns is a bit of a party city, a strange place but a nice setting. its not like a typical City, its more of a town and its not that difficult to get lost. I'm not sure why they gave it City status. There a couple of well known infamous bars for cheap food and drink.
Gilligans Backpackers
Sunbathing in Carins.
We were staying at place called Gillagans. I got to the place about 7.30am and asked if I could check in early. I couldn't but they told me which room Dave and I would be in. Dave having checked in the night before decided to go out on the piss and was probably still drunk when I rudely awakened him. We were staying in an 8 bed dorm and with 5 girls and an old timer from America. Dave had got talking to a girl from Southampton in our dorm and she ended up staying in his bed. When he was telling me the story the next day, I was like so... you have come half way around the world to sleep with a girl from Southampton, brilliant!
After breakfast someone had checked out so I claimed the free bed. I got some much needed rest as were going out that night. We got blind drunk, the place we staying was great for cheap food and drink. We got back and I passed out. My sleep was not that great however. I kept waking up as I was still on a different time zone. It must have been about 3 am when I was quite consciously awake (due to jet lag) when this Irish Guy walked in with a blonde. I didn't know an Irish guy was staying in our room but I didn't realise one of the girls checked out during the day and this Irish fella moved in.
He was completely smashed and he was on top bunk. At that point I thought, how the hell is he going to get this girl up there (she was carrying a bit of timber). The guy was rustling around in has bag looking for condoms for about 5 minutes. He gave up and proceeded to wake every bugger in the room asking for a condom in a very thick Irish accent. Most people ignored or told him to F*** off. I had a spare one but there was no way I was giving him one after pissing everyone off. He went looking in his bag again and eventually hit the jackpot, so this couple stumbled up to top bunk and straight away, you could hear the sound of heavy kissing and the rest! The bunk beds were not that stable and a little creaky. The action hadn't really got going on top bunk when I realised the 60 year old American man was underneath the carnage. After backpacking down the east coast, this is easily the oldest person I saw in a back packers accommodation but I think he had broken down outside the hostel and thought it would be a good idea to crash there. After about 10 minutes, I think Irish guy got down to business and started pumping. The bunk bed must have been swaying all over the place as the noise increased and I looked over to Dave who was woken up from the condom episode and he just made out the grin on my face in the darkness and he promptly grinned back. I at this point I started laughing like a little kid and I found it hard to contain my laughter holding my mouth with my hand. I think about 15 minutes has passed and the old timer packed up his stuff, casually walked out and we never saw him again. The poor fella did well not to say or do anything in his annoyed state. I guess one would find it difficult to separate 2 lovers in the act.
I had an amazing time travelling down the rest of the east and met so many great people. I went on the Oz experience bus which is basically a bus pass that allows you to hop on and hop off as and when you please. I largely travelled down the coast with largely the same group of people. I actually ended up ended up getting an apartment with 2 of the guys I met along the east coast. The oz experience I think is better than the grey hound or other bus companies as you are much more likely to make friends not only on the bus but all the extra activities that are included. For example, the first leg heading south, you get to go to a wildlife park with plenty of crocodiles and friendly kangaroos amongst others. You also get to do other silly things like a bowls competition, surf camp, and spend a couple of nights on cattle ranch which was great fun. The ranch put on activities such a riding a mechanical bull, rounding up live goats, shooting, horse riding which all are optional, you are never forced into doing anything!. There is communal meals where you get to try usual meats like goat and there is a little bar to get you in the partying mood.
We did all the usual tourist attractions travelling down the coast through Byron Bay, Brisbane and Surfers Paradise. When we got to Surfers we couldn't believe how busy it was, and we had hit spring break, great! Admittedly, I was 26 at the time and perhaps too old for Spring Break but I thought what the hell and joined in with the celebrations along with all my fellow travelling buddies.
Me and Brooke at Surfers Paradise
Fraiser Island was highlight on the east coast in Australia as you go camping and left to fend for yourself with 10 others per group and you travel around the island for 2 days on 4x4. We really enjoyed driving on the beach trying to avoid streams, oncoming traffic and people!. It is the largest sand island in the world stretching 123km long. The island is also made up of 40 freshwater lakes, which are great to swim in. I volunteered to cook one evening, (risotto) which I enjoyed although challenging to try and avoid the sand. The trip is very well organised, they provide with all your food, tents, water, gas stoves and most importantly beer!. We also had to be wary of wild dingos on the island which have attacked people in the past.
Fraiser Island - My Group
I eventually landed in Sydney where I stayed for 3 months. Hostels are great fun but I was glad to be able to get an apartment and settle down for a bit. We lived with various people but mostly Dave Martin and Duncan. Dave left after a couple of months and we had various people move in including a Kiwi who only stayed for a week as he got arrested whilst drunk on a drunkard trip to Canberra.
We spent Christmas day on the beach, it was a really nice day with lots going on including street entertainment and a music festival. On Boxing day, we went to the Sydney Racing, which was international day. I won 4 out of 6 races so came away with a nice profit.
New years eve was amazing and luckily i wasn't too drunk to appreciate it. We dressed as Mexicans and the only people dressed in fancy dress out of Millions, (we didn't see anyone else anyway). We had an amazing buzz from it as everyone was loving it. We decided to walk across Sydney harbour bridge to celebrate it on the north side, away from all the tourists and back packers. We had a great view of the fireworks, we could see the Opera house directly from our view opposite the river. It was great banter with the locals and we had a great night.I think my fame went to my head after mid-night however as I think a little fumble in bush with a girl resulted in me getting punched and kicked in the head by someone I can only describe as a skinny Jackie Chan. I had actually lost my friends by this point and it was impossible to text or call as the networks were jammed and I thought there was no way of finding them again but I strolled around and luckily met up with them around an hour later. My Scottish friend who I share a flat with got so drunk, on his way home he somehow managed to walk across the bridge, get lost somewhere in Sydney and cross the bridge again as he thought he was on the wrong side of the harbour! The harbour is about a mile apart! He eventually arrived back at the flat at 6 am, getting a lift from a friendly local who took pity on him.
New years eve was amazing and luckily i wasn't too drunk to appreciate it. We dressed as Mexicans and the only people dressed in fancy dress out of Millions, (we didn't see anyone else anyway). We had an amazing buzz from it as everyone was loving it. We decided to walk across Sydney harbour bridge to celebrate it on the north side, away from all the tourists and back packers. We had a great view of the fireworks, we could see the Opera house directly from our view opposite the river. It was great banter with the locals and we had a great night.I think my fame went to my head after mid-night however as I think a little fumble in bush with a girl resulted in me getting punched and kicked in the head by someone I can only describe as a skinny Jackie Chan. I had actually lost my friends by this point and it was impossible to text or call as the networks were jammed and I thought there was no way of finding them again but I strolled around and luckily met up with them around an hour later. My Scottish friend who I share a flat with got so drunk, on his way home he somehow managed to walk across the bridge, get lost somewhere in Sydney and cross the bridge again as he thought he was on the wrong side of the harbour! The harbour is about a mile apart! He eventually arrived back at the flat at 6 am, getting a lift from a friendly local who took pity on him.
Fireworks on Sydney Harbour Bridge
Mexicans on NYE!
There are always things going in Sydney. Before we could get over New Years, they immediately have a month long festival in January. The city parks are filled with stages with a variety of different music and performances. My old school friend has now gone out to New Zealand, and oddly we advertised the room and a Kiwi has taken up his bed. In February, its the Chinese New Year, so another month long festival to celebrate this...
When my trip was over, I ended up staying an extra night as there was a fuel problem and the flight got delayed and I was put in a hotel. This was only the start.
When my trip was over, I ended up staying an extra night as there was a fuel problem and the flight got delayed and I was put in a hotel. This was only the start.
We arrived in Singapore the next day, was suppose to be a 1 hour turn around. 3 Hours later we left, there were lightening bolts striking the airfield, the plane could not refuel let alone take off.
Eventually we got underway and the journey home was a little scary, not only were we worried about flying with the dodgy fuel issue and new plane that is not tested that much, we encountered a cyclone and more bolts of lightening. A Geordie guy next to me actually got in the brace position and started proper sweating up. This made me feel slightly uneasy to say the least.
We eventually touched down in Heathrow, but just when you thought are troubles were over, the plane suffered from a 'technical fault' which was due to a steering problem, so basically we were stuck on the runway and the plane couldn’t turn. one and half hours later we were tugged back to safety and the terminal. I was put up in another hotel, this time the Hilton at Terminal 4 which was very nice. All you can eat English Breakfast!
Whilst we were away my Mum and Dad met a couple in India in February, and they happened to be in Sydney on New years eve, and my Dad was mentioning us and the fancy dress , the couple quickly realised they saw 4 Mexicans who must have been us! what are the chances!!!
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