We are sitting on Ios island in Greece waiting for our ferry back to Athens and then we are off to Venice.
Greece has been absolutely beautiful. We arrived in Athens early in the morning after a long overnight flight from Singapore. We only had one day to see Athens so we dropped our bags at the hostel and headed out to explore. We were a little relieved that the temperatures, although still incredibly hot (36!) were just pure heat, unlike the smog and humidity we had experienced throughout Asia.
Our hostel was really well located by the Acropolis so we got a combined pass and saw almost all there is to see in Athens in one day! We started at the Temple of Zeus then walked all around the Acropolis and up to the Parthenon. The crowds were insane though, and very different to the people we had been touring with in Asia. There were families and massive tour bus groups everywhere. After touring around for a couple hours we stopped for some much needed shade and lunch. We didn't think twice about ordering a Greek Salad. We had been quite fruit/vegetable deprived in the last couple weeks and were very excited for some veggies (and cheese!) In the afternoon we walked around an area called Plaka, hopped on a mini tourist train to see the rest of the stuff on our ticket, and had an early dinner with more veggies! We were exhausted from a long overnight flight and walking around all day. We also had to be up at 3:30 the next morning to catch our incredibly early flight to Santorini so we crashed around 10.
The last 5 days we have been on the islands in Greece with 2 days in Santorini and 3 in Ios. They have been spectacular and a nice rest after a busy few weeks in Asia. The day we arrived in Santorini Laura went on a dive in the afternoon that went through some caves. I rested on the black sand beach in Perissa and then we met up for dinner beside the beach before packing it in for another early night. After all, we had been up since 3:30!
The next day was lots of fun too. We went on a day boat tour to the volcano, hot springs and town of Oia on Santorini. The volcano climb was crazy. It was rather hot (possibly an understatement) but the views were beautiful. Once we got to the top our guide dug a hole about 1 foot down and picked up some of the rocks for us to touch. They were steaming hot! (The volcano is still active) There were also sulphur rocks which were steaming too. We made it back down to the boat, stopped for a quick swim in the hot springs before going to another smaller island, Thirassia, for lunch. The last part of the day we landed back at a port on Santorini near the town of Oia. The climb up to the town was quite long and steep so we opted for the donkey rides up to the top (fulfilling our Greek dreams!) Although quite scary when they just told you to hop on the donkey and it set off up the uneven rocky stairs and felt the need to walk right on the edge so we were nearly hanging off a cliff, it was really fun. We safely made it to the top, walked around the town a little and then settled by the castle to watch the famous sunset. The scenery was breathtaking and exactly like the posters I have had up in my room for the last couple years! The day ended with a bus ride back to our hostel and some much needed showers and rest!
The last couple days we have been on another island, Ios, which seems to have been taken over by backpackers and European students. We haven't done much here other than lie by our hotel pool and soak in the sun. We tried to rent ATVs yesterday to go around the island and see Homer's tomb but we needed a European drivers license so that idea was quickly shot down. The resting time has been wonderful though and a nice break from walking around all day.
We have absolutely loved Greece. The weather has been perfect and we haven't seen a cloud in about 5 days. There has been some gusting wind here though but I guess it makes it slightly cooler! We are off now on our ferry to Athens followed by two flights to get us to Venice tonight. Another long travel day!
Sorry for the lack of blogging but hopefully this makes up for it!
Hope you are all enjoying your summers as much as we are! We will try and make our posts a little bit more frequent!
Love Morgan and Laura
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wrappin' up Asia
Koh Samui
We arrived in Koh Samui in fine form, although the weather was a bit less than ideal. After spending the past few days trekking nonstop in 30+ degree weather, we were all happy for our little 5-day beach vacation. We spent our time in Koh Samui catching up on our reading, sleeping and tanning. The beach itself was pretty commercialized and was crawling with vendors carrying everything from ice cream to bedspreads.
We didn't completely sleep away our time, however. Our second second day on the island, we took a day trip to one of the neighbouring islands where Fiona and Morgan went snorkelling and hiking up to a beautiful viewpoint while I spent the day diving with a French divemaster, very nearly escaping a number of massive triggerfish.
Our last night, we took a boat over to Koh Phagnan island for the infamous full moon party. Covered in fluorescent paint and buckets in hand, we had a great time under the glowing moon. Needless to say, our flight the next morning was not the easiest one we've had.
Chiang Mai
With only two days in Chiang Mai, we decided to make the most of our time. We arrived in the afternoon from Koh Samui and took a nap to recover in time for the next morning. We woke up early for an "Adventure Trek". The day included feeding and riding elephants, hiking through the rainforest to a waterfall swimming point, more hiking and a visit to a nearby Akha village where we had the chance to see how the locals live. That evening, we went to the night market- an overwhelming market held every night that sells almost anything you could imagine.
The next day, we were up early again for our one-day cooking class. We were picked up at the hostel and taken to one of the local markets to pick up fresh ingredients. None of us have ever been able to identify so few fruits and vegetables. The meat section was also enough to make anyone a vegetarian for life. The class itself was fantastic. We were part of a group of about 14, but could each make our own combination of 6 the 24 dishes offered. The teachers were a riot, and the owner of the cooking school had a very dry sense of humour that made the day an absolute pleasure. Of course, it may have helped that we were given time to sit and enjoy each of the dishes we made. Some of the treats we are now all experienced in include spring rolls, pad thai, red curry, sweet and sour veggies, chicken in coconut soup, fried banana and mango with sticky rice. We had to be rolled home.
To walk off our day's activities, we explored the Sunday market that evening. We had spent about 3 hours wandering the market when the sun began to set and we had figured we had seen everything. Little did we know that we had actually not even entered the market itself, and found ourselves wandering a maze of streets lined with vendors and packed with both tourist and local shoppers for the rest of the night. Of course, the joy of markets on that side of the world is after going home thinking you've spent hundreds, you calculate the exchange to discover that you've left with bags of clothing and souveniers only to discover you've spent little over $20. Not a sight for any female to miss!
Kuala Lumpur
The next day, we deviated from the standard backpacker's Southeast Asia route and flew to Kuala Lumpur. Knowing we only had little over a day to explore, there wasn't much that our itinerary would allow, as most worthwhile activities are a little ways outside of the city. Morgan was unfortunately sick in bed for most of our time in KL, leaving Fiona and I to explore the city as a duo. At the advice of the hostel owner, we woke up early to get our tickets for the Petronas Tower bridge, only to discover that tickets for the entire day had been sold out by 8:30am. We made the most of it, however, and took plenty of pictures from terra firma. With horrid weather in the afternoon, the rest of the time in KL was rather uneventful, although we did manage to entertain ourselves around the city enough to still have a pretty great time.
Singapore
Our bus ride to Singapore was bright and early in the morning, and had us in town by the mid afternoon. With little time to finish up this post, I'll be brief in saying this: it's clean. Really clean. I was afraid to even so much as sneeze in public for fear of being fined. It was a tough couple days without gum. Some of the highlights in Singapore would include:
-a half our ride on the Singapore flyer, where we had a great view of the city
-visit to Merlion park to see the city's big... merlion.
-touring a few of the many cultural sections of the city
-Singapore slings at the famous Raffles hotel
-walking around Orchard Rd
-Harry Potter 5 on opening day (how could we not!?)
While our parents may be a little bit relieved to know that we're now back in the Western world, we're definitely missing SE Asia already. The temples, people, scenery, culture and of course the food will all be sorely missed!
We arrived in Koh Samui in fine form, although the weather was a bit less than ideal. After spending the past few days trekking nonstop in 30+ degree weather, we were all happy for our little 5-day beach vacation. We spent our time in Koh Samui catching up on our reading, sleeping and tanning. The beach itself was pretty commercialized and was crawling with vendors carrying everything from ice cream to bedspreads.
We didn't completely sleep away our time, however. Our second second day on the island, we took a day trip to one of the neighbouring islands where Fiona and Morgan went snorkelling and hiking up to a beautiful viewpoint while I spent the day diving with a French divemaster, very nearly escaping a number of massive triggerfish.
Our last night, we took a boat over to Koh Phagnan island for the infamous full moon party. Covered in fluorescent paint and buckets in hand, we had a great time under the glowing moon. Needless to say, our flight the next morning was not the easiest one we've had.
Chiang Mai
With only two days in Chiang Mai, we decided to make the most of our time. We arrived in the afternoon from Koh Samui and took a nap to recover in time for the next morning. We woke up early for an "Adventure Trek". The day included feeding and riding elephants, hiking through the rainforest to a waterfall swimming point, more hiking and a visit to a nearby Akha village where we had the chance to see how the locals live. That evening, we went to the night market- an overwhelming market held every night that sells almost anything you could imagine.
The next day, we were up early again for our one-day cooking class. We were picked up at the hostel and taken to one of the local markets to pick up fresh ingredients. None of us have ever been able to identify so few fruits and vegetables. The meat section was also enough to make anyone a vegetarian for life. The class itself was fantastic. We were part of a group of about 14, but could each make our own combination of 6 the 24 dishes offered. The teachers were a riot, and the owner of the cooking school had a very dry sense of humour that made the day an absolute pleasure. Of course, it may have helped that we were given time to sit and enjoy each of the dishes we made. Some of the treats we are now all experienced in include spring rolls, pad thai, red curry, sweet and sour veggies, chicken in coconut soup, fried banana and mango with sticky rice. We had to be rolled home.
To walk off our day's activities, we explored the Sunday market that evening. We had spent about 3 hours wandering the market when the sun began to set and we had figured we had seen everything. Little did we know that we had actually not even entered the market itself, and found ourselves wandering a maze of streets lined with vendors and packed with both tourist and local shoppers for the rest of the night. Of course, the joy of markets on that side of the world is after going home thinking you've spent hundreds, you calculate the exchange to discover that you've left with bags of clothing and souveniers only to discover you've spent little over $20. Not a sight for any female to miss!
Kuala Lumpur
The next day, we deviated from the standard backpacker's Southeast Asia route and flew to Kuala Lumpur. Knowing we only had little over a day to explore, there wasn't much that our itinerary would allow, as most worthwhile activities are a little ways outside of the city. Morgan was unfortunately sick in bed for most of our time in KL, leaving Fiona and I to explore the city as a duo. At the advice of the hostel owner, we woke up early to get our tickets for the Petronas Tower bridge, only to discover that tickets for the entire day had been sold out by 8:30am. We made the most of it, however, and took plenty of pictures from terra firma. With horrid weather in the afternoon, the rest of the time in KL was rather uneventful, although we did manage to entertain ourselves around the city enough to still have a pretty great time.
Singapore
Our bus ride to Singapore was bright and early in the morning, and had us in town by the mid afternoon. With little time to finish up this post, I'll be brief in saying this: it's clean. Really clean. I was afraid to even so much as sneeze in public for fear of being fined. It was a tough couple days without gum. Some of the highlights in Singapore would include:
-a half our ride on the Singapore flyer, where we had a great view of the city
-visit to Merlion park to see the city's big... merlion.
-touring a few of the many cultural sections of the city
-Singapore slings at the famous Raffles hotel
-walking around Orchard Rd
-Harry Potter 5 on opening day (how could we not!?)
While our parents may be a little bit relieved to know that we're now back in the Western world, we're definitely missing SE Asia already. The temples, people, scenery, culture and of course the food will all be sorely missed!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Cambodia
A little late now that we are halfway into our adventures in Thailand, but here is the update on Cambodia.
We arrived from Hong Kong into Phnom Penh and made our way to the hotel for the night. It was pouring rain so we decided to just stay at the Guesthouse and have dinner and then relax in the room for awhile.
In the morning we caught a very early bus to Siem Reap. We decided to spend the extra $3 and take the $9 bus instead of the $6 bus, but we still weren't expecting much. To our surprise though, the bus was quite nice, air conditioned and seemed relatively safe. We tried our hardest to stay awake for the 6 hour journey so we could see the scenery. We were mainly going through the rural areas which we later discovered is about 80% rice farming. It was very interesting and different than any of the farming we have ever seen.
We arrived in Siem Reap and got into our first tuk tuk (with all our bags). We were holding on tightly and hoping that we (and our bags) would make it safely to the hotel! The hotel was very nice and clean and we all had our own beds which was nice.
After deciding over lunch what we were going to do, we heading out to Angkor Wat for the first time to see the sunset. We climbed up a mountain to a temple but unfortunately just as a thunderstorm was approaching. We quickly went down the mountain again and got to the tuk tuk just in time to escape the rain.
The next day we were up at 4:30 to meet our tuk tuk driver and guides for the day. We heading to Angkor to see the sunrise, this time right over Angkor Wat. After we walked around the temples (Ankor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm) for about 8 hours. The temples are absolutely amazing. A lot of them are being restored and parts of the walls have crumbled but they were still very interesting. There are carvings on most of them all around and our guide was telling us all the stories. Needless to say we got home in the afternoon and were exhausted so took a little rest before heading out to the main market area for dinner.
The next day we decided to see some more temples (there is no shortage of them!). This time we just had a tuk tuk driver, not a guide so we went exploring ourselves. We saw Preah Khan, Banteay Srey and Banteay Samre. Again, very big and beautiful temples. We headed back to our hotel, got ready for dinner and went on a spending spree at the market where most things were not more than $4 (if that!).
Cambodia was a very interesting and eye opening country. We were frequently called "lady" and asked to buy anything. All around the temples were very young children who would walk ages alongside you insisting that you buy one of their bracelets or magnets or something. Interestingly, they would ask where you were from, then state the capital and continue with "If I tell you the capital, the PM, the population, the provinces and territories, etc., will you buy something from me?" It was quite difficult at times to continue to say no. It was also very interesting to see the difference between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, as Siem Reap has obviously been hit hard with tourism and is flourishing much more than Phnom Penh. Overall, a very interesting, and like Hong Kong, incredibly HOT country.
Back soon with an update on Thailand!
We arrived from Hong Kong into Phnom Penh and made our way to the hotel for the night. It was pouring rain so we decided to just stay at the Guesthouse and have dinner and then relax in the room for awhile.
In the morning we caught a very early bus to Siem Reap. We decided to spend the extra $3 and take the $9 bus instead of the $6 bus, but we still weren't expecting much. To our surprise though, the bus was quite nice, air conditioned and seemed relatively safe. We tried our hardest to stay awake for the 6 hour journey so we could see the scenery. We were mainly going through the rural areas which we later discovered is about 80% rice farming. It was very interesting and different than any of the farming we have ever seen.
We arrived in Siem Reap and got into our first tuk tuk (with all our bags). We were holding on tightly and hoping that we (and our bags) would make it safely to the hotel! The hotel was very nice and clean and we all had our own beds which was nice.
After deciding over lunch what we were going to do, we heading out to Angkor Wat for the first time to see the sunset. We climbed up a mountain to a temple but unfortunately just as a thunderstorm was approaching. We quickly went down the mountain again and got to the tuk tuk just in time to escape the rain.
The next day we were up at 4:30 to meet our tuk tuk driver and guides for the day. We heading to Angkor to see the sunrise, this time right over Angkor Wat. After we walked around the temples (Ankor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm) for about 8 hours. The temples are absolutely amazing. A lot of them are being restored and parts of the walls have crumbled but they were still very interesting. There are carvings on most of them all around and our guide was telling us all the stories. Needless to say we got home in the afternoon and were exhausted so took a little rest before heading out to the main market area for dinner.
The next day we decided to see some more temples (there is no shortage of them!). This time we just had a tuk tuk driver, not a guide so we went exploring ourselves. We saw Preah Khan, Banteay Srey and Banteay Samre. Again, very big and beautiful temples. We headed back to our hotel, got ready for dinner and went on a spending spree at the market where most things were not more than $4 (if that!).
Cambodia was a very interesting and eye opening country. We were frequently called "lady" and asked to buy anything. All around the temples were very young children who would walk ages alongside you insisting that you buy one of their bracelets or magnets or something. Interestingly, they would ask where you were from, then state the capital and continue with "If I tell you the capital, the PM, the population, the provinces and territories, etc., will you buy something from me?" It was quite difficult at times to continue to say no. It was also very interesting to see the difference between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, as Siem Reap has obviously been hit hard with tourism and is flourishing much more than Phnom Penh. Overall, a very interesting, and like Hong Kong, incredibly HOT country.
Back soon with an update on Thailand!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Hong Kong
Well, leg 1 of the travel has been completed. With 12 minutes on a half-thai keyboard in the Bangkok airport, please forgive the brevity of the update.
We left Sydney the morning of the 28th and flew into Singapore for a 5-hour layover enroute to HK. We are now travelling with Fiona, our friend from England. We arrived late at night and checked into the hostel on arrival so we could rest our tired heads. There is really only one word to describe the HK weather: humid. It's also just as muggy at noon as it is at midnight.
Monday we spent touring the mainland. We wandered the markets, walked in Kowloon park and stopped to take pictures outside the innfamous Chung King Mansion. The main thing to do in HK is stick to the malls to avoid the heat, which we managed to do just fine. At night, we stood at Avenue of the Stars to watch the nightly light show.
Tuesday, we ventured out of Kowloon and up to Ngong Ping. After a 30-minute cable card ride that literally took us into the clouds, we spotted the Big Buddha and stopped for a quick lunch at the monestary before heading to the Peak on HK island. We took the tram up (at an 89 degree angle) to watch night fall on the busy city. The view of all the lights was breathtaking. After a much-needed shower, we set out for dinner in LKF. Much to our surprise (and delight), all the clubs were celebrating Canada Day (known as Canada D'Eh in LKF, apparently). It was a welcome taste of home.
To our parents: don't worry. We are safe, happy and well-fed. We miss you lots, but not too much. We'll hopefully have a chance to update you from Siem Reap!
ศฟีพฟ ฟืก ทนพเฟื (Laura and Morgan... sort of)
We left Sydney the morning of the 28th and flew into Singapore for a 5-hour layover enroute to HK. We are now travelling with Fiona, our friend from England. We arrived late at night and checked into the hostel on arrival so we could rest our tired heads. There is really only one word to describe the HK weather: humid. It's also just as muggy at noon as it is at midnight.
Monday we spent touring the mainland. We wandered the markets, walked in Kowloon park and stopped to take pictures outside the innfamous Chung King Mansion. The main thing to do in HK is stick to the malls to avoid the heat, which we managed to do just fine. At night, we stood at Avenue of the Stars to watch the nightly light show.
Tuesday, we ventured out of Kowloon and up to Ngong Ping. After a 30-minute cable card ride that literally took us into the clouds, we spotted the Big Buddha and stopped for a quick lunch at the monestary before heading to the Peak on HK island. We took the tram up (at an 89 degree angle) to watch night fall on the busy city. The view of all the lights was breathtaking. After a much-needed shower, we set out for dinner in LKF. Much to our surprise (and delight), all the clubs were celebrating Canada Day (known as Canada D'Eh in LKF, apparently). It was a welcome taste of home.
To our parents: don't worry. We are safe, happy and well-fed. We miss you lots, but not too much. We'll hopefully have a chance to update you from Siem Reap!
ศฟีพฟ ฟืก ทนพเฟื (Laura and Morgan... sort of)
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