My world wide web travel log...

2007-07-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

2007-07-07T04:14:00.000-07:00

So here it is.. the last update until i'm back in Europe (continentally speaking of course)

After the dangers and beautiful views on the bus through the Tibetan countryside, it was time to go back to China proper and our first stop was Leshan.

Leshan is famous for one thing, and one thing only: A giant (71m) sitting Buddha, calved into a hillside. The Buddha was mightily impressive, as were the people who managed to fix my rather worn out sandals. Quite amazingly the giant buddha was really the first 'Tourist Site' we had visited for the whole of china and the throngs of camera bearing, flag following chinese confirmed that domestic tourism is truly up and running

After the massive buddha we went to Chengdu (and checked into out first 'western style' youth hostel thus far). We then proceeded to eat some mouth burningly hot vegetable sticks and had a few beers (while others ate chicken feet around us). The next day we visited a Panda sanctuary just outside of town; it was amazing. The pandas were all pretty active and the infomation and videos were certainly interesting. My favourite: A real life film of a panda being born. I also managed to make an American lady gasp because of my foul language, all round success really.

Our next stop was Chongking, which we only passed through before embarekingh on a voyage along the Yangszte, which is the third longest river in the world..wow. The boat was certainly something to behold. A slightly rusted and worn looking old thing upon which we were to spend 3 nights, bit of a shock really. Our cabin had six beds in it and we shared it with 3 octagenarian chinese, one of who claimed to be a doctor, but we weren't so sure. The days on the boat were passed by sitting on the deck and admiring the amazing views (including the incredibly dramatic three gorges), eating in the restaurant, going to weird riverside towns and generally chilling with the other westerners on board. Oh and of course there was the incident with the 56% vodka...

On the final day, when we went to see the rather spectacular, but smaller than expected, Three Gorges Dam. This dam will generate the same power as 15 nuclear power stations and force 1.5 million people to leave their homes when it floods the valley behind it. After the Dam we made our way to a City called Yichan, not much there, but i did manage to lose my camera (so all pics between the Yichang and Beijing are courtesy of Max and Benjie).

Xian was our next stop and, most importantly, where we finally caught up with Dan. After my initial joy in seeing the little tyke he once again became part of the furniture and we could get on with real life. In Xian we spent lots of time eating at the most amazing cafe int he world which did the best soy sauce aubergines, and the crunchiest green beans and softest and fluffiest rice. It was good. We also paid a visit to the world famous terracotta army, built to defend an ancient city or something. They are pretty impressive, thousands of pottery soldiers stretched over acres.

After a few days in Xian, and one day after the other three, I finally left for Beijing. The train journey was as close to hell as a train journey has been for me. I was in the 'Hard Seater' section and got about 40 minutes sleep on a train which left at 8pm and got in at around 9am. I was lucky that the Australian and Bristolian (Anna and Lucy) next to me were rather amusing and entertaining and briefly helped me forget how uncomfortable I felt. I spent the whole of the next day whining to strangers and lying in bed alternately (I am still a teenager).

Our time in Beijing has been spent doing quite a lot of nothing and a little bit of something. We have vistied the impressive Forbidden City and the less than impressive but still rather haunting Tianamen Square. (No tanks). Me and Daniel paid a visit to The Natural History museum, which was impressively tacky and had a run-down aquariam (complete with giant turtles) in the basement. We've eaten lots (no change there) and went to a famous (and rather upmarket) duck restaurant with our two favourite French girls Raphael and Cynthia, who then joined us in drinking games at our hostel. A pool bar round the corner also entertained us for an evening and will probably continue to do so but the highlight has to have been the great wall.

We went to a rather quieter part of the wall than most tourists visit and it was well worth the long coach journey. Despite the near 40 degree heat the walk wasn't too bad, even when we followed the wall up the sides of steep mountains, and the views of the ancient wonder stretching into the foregorund were really quite out of this world. The walk was rounded off in terryfying fashion when we all zipwired over a river to ground level. It was a brialliant day.

And next (in 2 days in fact) is our 10 day trans-siberian train jounrney and we arew back in Europe and on our way home. Time is still flying past and leaving Asia will be hard but I have to admit I am looking forward to a few home comforts, and pint of real beer.

The Orient

2007-06-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

My oh my australia seems a long time ago. When i left you i was in Port Macqaurie I believe (excuse me if I am wrong..the chinese government has blocked blogs so i can upload but not view). Port Mac was a cool place..very relaxed. We spent our time looking at the stars from a planetarium (with some hilarious old people), eating cheap pizza, seeing the cutest little koalas ever and meeting some really cool people such as Dan from Venezuela, Martin from Munich and Rob the Robot from Holland. As i cannot remember where i left you i'll leave it at that.
We left Port (as it is known) for Byron Bay with Rob. Byron was definately something to behold. When we arrived we were whisked to out 'world famous' hostel called the Arts Factory. It is huge. Swimming pool, jacuzzi, table tennis, volleyball- basically a backpackers resort. I was a bit scared by all the people at first..but we got used to it. lots of the lovelies from the previous hostel were there which was great. It felt like a proper HOLIDAY!

On our first morning we were woken by the pleasant sounds of a yorkshire accent- John and Stacey who were stuck with us for the next week- had arrived and we hit it off straight away. So me, Alice, John and Stacey made the very best of the nest few days. Swimming, sunbathing, chips and a rather arduous but rewarding walk to the most Eastern poin of Oz made the time fly by- as did the goon and my fave an amazing hippy market. It was huge and had all sorts of tree huggers, vegans, bohemians and lots of others buying hemp dresses and recycled paper..my cuppa tea really.

Half way through our stay we were glad to have Rufus join us. We thought it fitting to go and visit Nimbin..a hippu mecca and marjuana farm..It was amazing. Not least our bus driver..dreadlocked and listening to Hendrix, the stones, pink floyd..and he didn't crash..not once. It was a great journey! We returned..slightly hazy and failed miserably at the quiz. But coincidence of coincedences we bumped into rachael and pippa who i met in Peru! Very nice surprise! And then..suddenly..it was time to leave Byron..time had gone far far too quick but we were nicely relaxed. After a sad Adieu to Rufus me, Al and John and Stace headed North to Surfers.

Surfers Paradise may have been fitting as a name..we know not..it rained and we didn't see the beach. Instead we got very cold in the pool then hot in the spa..then drunk in the kitchen..were amazed by johns card tricks...then drunk in the hall..and it was the next day. We were off to Wet n' Wild a huge and scary water park which was deserted because of the rain. Perfect! We rode some scary rides..such as Twister, tornado and black hole and screamed our lungs out to an appropriate level. It was a wicked day...they even had hot tubs.

Me and Alice moved on to Brisbane the next day and saw Shrek 2 which was well good! On June 9th we went..after years of dreaming..to Australia Zoo..formely Steve Irwins playground. It was pretty heavy on the Steve material..bit like Chavez in Venezuela..but so good. We saw crocs in the Crocoseum (pictured) otters, elephants, tigers and even stroked Koalas and fes 'roos. On the bus on the way back we even saw the video of Steve's memorial service..pretty awkward as i think the driver was in tears. Russel Crowe made an arse of himself when saying goodbye so that was good. It was definately the most exciting zoo ever. That night me and Alice had a final dinner and said a sad farewell to each other as the next day i was back down to Sydney then off to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong really hit me hard as soon as i stepped out. It was boiling hot and about 200% humidity. After my initial dizzziness i hopped on a bus and went to Chongking Mansions, a dangerously old building in Kowloon famous for people who cannot afford anywhere safe, and met Max and Benjie. Hugs all round and catching up till late looking over the beautiful harbour made getting up at half 8 the next morning and going to the Russian embassy a bit of a trek..the views on the boat however made it worthwhile. My half a day in Hong Kong passed pretty quick and included an amazing lunch in a veggie cafe on one of the islands. Yummy. That evening we caught the train to China..

We arrived in a City called Guangzou or something similar and found, after lots of looking, a lovely hostel for about a quid or 2 a night. It was financial heaven after Australia! The next morning we had a little time before our 26hr journey to Kunming and i went for a walk and saw the crazy morning excersises pictured- bit spooky really.

The train journey flew by really. Lots of catching up to do and cards to play and best of all an amazing view into rural china all the way. Oh and a comfy bed. Could i ask for more. When we arrived in Kunming we checked into our Hostel and stumbled right next door into a rather fabulous cake shop..where we bought a MASSIVELY decadent cake for 2 pounds and rather glutinously stormed through it. We then went next door to the nude baths which was relaxing and max and Benjie got beaten to within an inch of their lives (massaged). It was a rather pleasant afternoon.

Of course the next day we had to move on. We spent the morning wandering through the busy streets, getting used to China, and getting lost. By this time we were quite familiar to Chinese food..my fave definately Aubergine..but there is so much good stuff really. That night we took a night bus, with tiny little beds, to Lijang in Western Yunnan.

Lijang is a truly beautiful town. Although rather run over by chinese tourists it was so pretty. Canals ran alongside cobbled lanes, there was great food, lots of places to sit and read and just a very relaxed atmosphere that china has quite little of. We only stayed the one night because the next day we were off to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The walk along the Gorge was well..gorgeous. We walked with a couple of lovely French girls called Cynthia and Raph and we tried hard and failed well to speak french to them. We got a bit better though..maybe. The walk was qyute tough on the first day and we climbed really high over the gorge begore we finally reached our picturesque guesthouse. It looked right over the valley and we ate some great dinner and played some rather difficult bi-lingual drinking games with the French, canadian and Hong Konger that we met. The next day was easier and all downhill and we were joined all the way by an adorable puppy who needed to be carried at times because it was too steep. SO CUTE.

Must hurry now..the internet owners are getting restless!
After one more night in Lijang me and max, unfortunately Benj wasn' too well and didn't fancy the trek, embarked on a 4 day mammoth bus ride accross the tibetan hills, not actually tibet on buses that broke regularly and were full of spit. The experience and views were unforgettable: We met a lovely chinese girls at a restaurant who was so nervous to speak english that she was shaking. We stayed in an amazing Tibetan guesthouse with templelike pictures on the wall. It was just superb to go through the wilderness of Tibet, on dangerous roads with local people an Yaks all over the place. There is simply too much to say and a week has passed since then. I will update again soon.
Thanks for reading.
Oh and please keep in touch. drop me and email if you have a moment to spare.

The end of the New and the begginning of Australia

2007-05-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

It really has been a long time hasn't it.
Last time I left you i was in Rotorua, in the Northern part of the North Island of New Zealand. Rotorua was really great, i spent a good few days up there, camping and getting wet and seeing lots of cool volcanoes. I travelled with a rather cool swiss lady called Patricia (pictured with tongue out, Maori style) and together we experienced a rather cool Maori evening (including dances and eating (thanks for recomendation ryan)) and stangely it was there that i bumped into Hamish from the Kensington Arms, as in the pub i drink at and he works at.
Hamish kindly dropped me in Taupo the next day (after listening to some trashy music in a pub the night before and waking up with a rather painful head) and from from Taupo I got a lift from a rather Hunky fireman down to a quiet place called Turangi. Patricia was at this time following me (or maybe i copied her) and she stayed in the same place. That night we ended up at the local pub playing pool, and i actually won!
The next day was amazing! We trekked across the Tongariro crossing (MT Doom from Lord of the rings) and saw amazing emerald lakes, huge volcanic cliffs and at the top took our shoes off on the thermally heated floor. It was bliss.
Once again my travels took me back to Kowhai house and the Volunteers in Wellington. That night i ended up staying up all night watching Lord of the Rings among other things, it was really great. Unfortunately that meant that the rest of the next day was spent on the sofa at the House watching trashy films and eating vegemite on toast. Later on however me and Lauren had a 'girly night in' and ate some yummy stir fry and watched 'Happy Feet' which was super fun.
The next day was beautiful and i dragged myself from the Volunteer house and after a number of public transports found myself North about 50kms in Kaitoke Regional Park. I walked along the hilltops with my massive bag (falling over often). It was incredible, clear skies means i had views down the valley for miles- i saw literally nobody all day and it felt amazingly peaceful. Eventually i reached the deserted campsite by a river and set up my tent. The night passed and included both a frozen tent and frozen snot at the end of my nose- but i survived- just about. In the morning I packed up my stuff and got a lift back to Wellington with a man called 'Jedi'. He had copious amounts of beer and other things in his car which was pretty amusing and he even offered me to sleep at his house- he lived on the streets.
For the last and final time ever i stayed at the Volunteer house (which was sad cos i LOVED it their) and drank lots of their tea and stayed up late again- it was fun though.
Next morning me and Katie (ginger texan from the Volunteer house) went about exploring New Zealand together. We caught ourselves a train (with an annoying commentary by a man who looked like Jummy Neutron) up to a place called Ohakune. Although it turned out to be a deserted ski town, we had our fun. We were staying in a pretty cool hostel and we did lots of Walking in Tongariro National park. Everything about it was beautiful. We also found a cool cafe (where the locals were very interested in our knitting) and we ate lots of hummous as well. After a couple of nights their we sadly parted.
I really really really loved New Zealand.

After a rather long and arduous bus journey to Auckland i arrived in the early morning and rang mum which was lovely. I then grabbed a delicious brekkie from a cafe and headed to the airport where i hung around for what seemed like hours. After a 3 hours jaunt in the air I was in Sydney and it was WARM and their was SUN. Amazing. I scurried along to the hostel i had booked, complete with smell of chinese food in the room and pretty much went to bed.
5am the next morning and i was on my way back to the airport to meet Alice. After a bit of a nervous wait out she came, tanned and all, and we headed back into the big city.
I really liked Sydney, it's incredibly multicultural and clean and set on a rather famous and beautiful harbour. Our time in Sydney was almost straight out of the guide book but so much fun. We saw the bridge and the opera house and walked around the amazing botanical gardens and got drunk at a place full of English people playing the same music that we listen to back home! We ventured to the bohemian quarter of Glebe and the rather posh beach called Manly and to an amazingly terrible bar called Scubar where they played Sean Paul. I even stayed up one night to watch the dreadful FA cup final.

After 4 wicked nights in Sydney we took the train and bus up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and stayed in an amazing backpackers called the Flying Fox. Every day we went for walks along cliffs and through valleys and next to waterfalls and every night we chilled outside by the fire and chatted with the brilliant people at the hostel. We became quickly familiar with the Australian travellers drink of choice: 'Goon' (5 litres of wine for 5 pound) and i got in a debate about feminism, little of which i remember of course. Our days up their flew by so quickly.
After this we made our return to Sydney where we stayed for another couple of nights (one of which i watched Liverpool lose in the champs League at 5 in the morning) and we went to the famous Bondi beach one day. Bondi is really full of rather beautiful people and we fitted in perfectly of course (with our chips and mash on the beach).
When the time came to finally leave Sydney we caught a bus to Newcastle (yes they steal our place names) and then a local bus to the quiet bay of Port Stephens. We planned to stay for two nights but camping in the Koala and bird filled garden and chilling with the baby 'roo proved too much to leave behind. Along with it being a great hostel we also spent time on deserted beaches, climbed a big hill, went on some massive sand dunes and drank goon with a few people at the hostel. We also took a boat out into the harbour and watched dolphins play all around us. One of whom, Zach (orange t-shirt), took us to the beach one night where we lit a bit fire and lay back and watched the stars, it was beautiful.
And now we are in a place called Port Macquarie, but more on all that later. Again this has been so brief to describe so much. It has all been so good.

a whole new world

2007-04-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly a month since i told you what i've been up to, and it has seriously flown by.
After a rather long and sickly flight across the world's biggest ocean i arrived fresh and ready in New Zealand; only to find that immigration didn't want me and biosecurity were scared i was carrying diseases, that aside all went well and by 8am on the 7th April i was in Christchurch.
I would love to go into detail of all the people i caught lifts with but time constrains me so i'll be brief. There was a Maori bloke, who was convinced his girlfriend was cheating, a windmill engineer, a French Canadian with a mini-van and the campest and funniest bus driver i've ever seen; and i arrived in Queenstown.
It was Easter weekend and the only space i could find was in a massive holiday park which had superb views over the deep blue sparkling lake and the pretty down beside it. Queenstown is one of the most beautiful places i've seen and the beauty was only increased when, on the morning of the 8th, i met up with Mark and Juan (and their 2 newly aquired Swedish mates) from back home. It was good to see some familiar faces and we spent the day chilling by the lake and in a bar and went to see '300' in the evening which was pretty good.
Me and Mark rose nice and early the next day and made our way up a mountain called Ben Lochmond. It wasn't easy but it was so worth it. From the top you can see for miles and miles and we had a lovely lunch together (very romantic). At 1700m, of which we climbed 1400, it was probably the highest i've climbed in a day and i felt rather proud indeed.
And then, after a night watching legally blonde (don't tell anyone), Queenstown was over! I got about 6 lifts until i arrived at Fox Glacier with a French bloke and another Hitchhiker; a swiss one. Fox was superb. We climbed up a nearby hill in near darkness and had a look at the massive moving block of ice from up high. Dinner, prepared by the French guy was, as would be expected, rather tasty. The next day, after sleeping at a hostel where the owner explained he didn't really want us to stay, i went with a group on Fox Glacier itself. The weather was extreme. Gale force winds and extremely heavy rain made it cold and wet but in no way miserable. Walking on the ice was great- the crevasses and ridges and everything felt surreal but made for an amazing days walking. On the ice with me was a lovely group of Americans (among others) and quite possibly the most annoying man i've ever met, an Israeli fresh out the army who i quite nearly pushed into a swallow hole!
After fox and a night in a room all by myself watching trashy TV i got myself on a bus to make the mammoth trek up North to Nelson. The ride was great; vast ocean to the left and huge snowy peaks to the right. I met a nice guy from Edgware who was on a 6 month booze cruise round-the-world. I arrived in Nelson (after 10 hours) and got the YHA. Highlight of the evening? A girl gave me a massive bowl of salad. Yes i was bored.
Next day trekked up a nearby hill (Pic left) and looked over the world in front of me. After running, sliding and falling down again i arrived at a replication of an old village. I sneaked in for free and saw a strange assortment of object, a huge plane and a fake village bakery. I spent a large amount of the day reading and finishing a feminist book.
By nightfall i was in Picton being verbally assaulted for 4 hours by an amazing 67 year old with a whole life story to tell, as i had nothing else to do i listened. At times i laughed and at times i wanted to cry as the guy told me how he, wifeless and pretty friendless had very little to live for and traveling was a way to escape his depression.
Next day and i woke up early in preparation for my Sail to the north. I would be lying if i was to say i was looking forward to the voluntary project, I had loved being by myself so much, but i was so wrong to be pessimistic.
After a calm boat rive accross the Picton Straight (and a heated discussion about God with 2 randomers) i was greeted at the Ferry Terminal by three of the lovely ladies who were to be my housemates for the next fortnight. After my usual initial dislike of new things and people I settled in pretty quickly (withing about 10 minutes). I could right quite easily for a few days about the great people who i was dumped upon for those two weeks, but instead maybe a few words for Each.
Lauren (House Advisor): Australian, very forgetful and incredibly funny (and my cigarette partner)
Sarah (Volunteer): Washington State, mother of the house, knows all the things that need to be known, also makes a mean corn bread.
Anna (Volunteer): Devon, mental gardening type, bit of a country girl at heart, knew to appreciate a good cuppa. Milk NO Sugar.
Claire (Volunteer): Leyland (right?), 'The Northern Lass', refreshingly brash i think, especially after vodka, liked diggin' and shovellin'- and why not?
Mairead (Volunter): Irish, Crazier by the day, best moments? 1) 'Matthew, you talk more than anyone i've ever met' and 2) Looks at a BIRD 'That's a fat little fuck isn't it'.
Melene (Volunteer): Danish, Seemed to have the amazing ability to get drunk of air and dance like someone on acid. Introduced us to a sadistic Danish cartoon...(NO NOT THAT ONE)
Ryan (Volunteer): Not only the only other bloke, but also 100X more man than me. Despite his outside appearance he was a big bear really and often his use of sarcasm impressed even me.
Katie (Volunteer) : Texan, Loves 'the office' (and you though they were all backwards over there). Spent much time falling over and eating peanut butter, cottage cheese and drinking tea. Tended to lose standing ability when drunk. :-)
Oh and then there was Toby, our team leader, what a man, that's all i'm saying.
So what did we do?
Weeding
Beach Clearing (Pic above)
Walking (Pic Above)
Digging
Shovelling
Driving a tractor
Couting Seals
Sailing (above right)
Made Paths
Drank Tea
Got Drunk (Obvious picture)
Made Cakes
Watched the Office
Ate (as on beach)
Painted a dinner set (up)

Argued about politics

It was a great two weeks, too many good things to fit into this blog (look at the pics). I seriously couldn't have wished for better people.
Two days have passed since i left Wellington. After chilling with some Anarchists on Mayday i bussed it to Rotorua and arrived at 3.00 am and slept on bench. Yesterday, i went mountain biking and fell over many many times, once head over heels with the bike landing on my head. It was great fun.
More on Rotorua and elsewhere to follow...
Love to all.

The end of South America

2007-04-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

After Machu Pichu we spent a few more nights at the Point hostal in Cuzco. After staying up all night on our final night the time had finally come for us to move away from the land of the Incas. We hopped on a train South to Puno and Lake Titicaca and found ourselves a nice cheap hostel where we met a cool buddhist guy (about our age) and his 40 year old 'friend' who he had met on his travels. The youing guy was so chilled out he very nearly sent me to sleep while talking to me.
After a few days Lake watching and the like we packed up our various belongings and hopped on a bus for 20 hours to Huacachina via Ica. Huacachina is a beautiful little desert town surrounded by sand dunes big as mountains with a cool oasis in the middle of it. Our hostel, amazingly, had a swimming pool (with attached bar) which we dived into on arrival before we went sandboarding (the pool that is).
Sandboarding, for those who don´t know, is a sport where you either strap your feet to (if you're good) or lie on top of (if you're us) a board and then fly at about a hundred miles an hour, or so it feels, down huge sand dunes. (Max still has a sand burn now). It was amazing fun.
We stayed in Huacachina for a few days, chilled out, climbed some sand, ran down some sand and then left at five in the morning on the 3rd day to go to Paracas, or more accurately Islas Ballestas where we saw pelicans, penguins, sea lions and loads of other birds and whole heap of bird shit that was once Peru´s main export. It was a great morning, topped of nicely with 20p egg sarnies on the waterfront.
After the morning was done we hopped on a Perubus to Lima and found ourselves a nice Israeli run hostel (very friendly) to park ourselves for the last night. Our aim of seeing Lima in a day was slightly inhibited by the Hostel having Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on the playstation, but at least we got better at that.
The next morning we did actually manage to remove ourselves fromt the hostel and see Lima. It´s a really lovely place actually, especially the old colonial centre. We also had a lovely lunch (green rice for me) and some brown lemonade. After a coffee by the sea front and our usually daily debate, this one especially heated, we got ourselves a delicious chinese meal in Miraflores (the posh part of Lima we stayed in) and headed to the airport.
It was at the airport that we faced a dilemma: Leftover currency. So we spent it all on Donuts, i mean who wouldn´t and the problem was solved. The flight to Santiago was quite interesting, we met a lovely columbian woman who was flying to meet her new fiance in Santiago. Once in
Santiago airport at about 6 in the morning and with about one hours sleep, we all felt a bit rough, Benjie still managed another donut however.
About 6 hours later and we were right bang in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in Easter Island. It´s an amaizing place, huge grass covered esxinct volcanoes at each end, woods and desert in the middle, a magnificent coastline and 20ft rock heads all over the place.
We camped right on the sea shore in a campsite and we could hear the Pacific crashing against nearby rocks all night.
Day 1 in Easter Island consisted of:

-Renting bikes
-Cycling to the other side of the Island (20km)
-Max getting a puncture
-Me offering and starting to walk back (stupid me)
-A horrible realisation about 5 hours in that the way we were taking back was actually too long on foot.
-Hitching a lift with a grumpy family
-Arriving back safe and sound after seeing some graceful wild horses roaming the land and experiencing one of the quitest and most naturally beatuiful places i´ve seen combined with a weird and interesting history of creating huge rock faces facing into the Island. It was great.
On day two we climbed a volcanoe and looked into its old crater lake, it was well cool. Me and Benjie sneaked in a drink at a harbourside bar before dinner (same pasta 3 nights in a row on the bloody expenisve island) and a film at a local hotel. It was called Rapa Nui and was produced by Kevin Costner, it was great.
The next day we flew out of Easter Island all happy and content and arrived back in Santiago in the evening in time to find a nice cheap hostal with a slightly mad receptionist.

We woke up early enough for our free breakfast on the morning of the 4th and headed into town to see some sights. The centre of Santiago is beautiful, quite similar to Lima in its colonial architecture. We spent some time wondering around the city before we hopped on a funicular railway which stops off at the zoo which hugs one of Santiago's hillsides. The zoo was great, it had a jaguar, lions, tigers, polar bears and loads of other cool creatures. 2 quid well spent we all tought!
And now? I sit alone for the first time. Max, Daniel and Benjie have left for India and i go New Zealand tomorrow.
It´s been an amazing month- sorry the accounts haven´t been more detailed, there is so much to tell and so little time. (especially when an evil woman is sighing at how long you´ve been on the computer...hope she can´t read english...)

From Venezuela to Lake Titicaca

2007-03-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

The major difference between Venezuela and Peru (Chavez aside) is that in Peru(this part) it is Cold and wet (which i love) and in Venezuela it is warm and sunny (dangerous for a ginger like me). Otherwise the amount of tourists here in Peru (especially some quite talented Irish drinkers) is pretty staggering. This time i'm going to try and avoid too much text. And you can see my last week or so through some Pictures, the bottom are most recent.

1)Caracas from the worlds highest cable car.
2)Another pretty bad shanty town, Caracas.
3) St Partricks day, Cuzco. (HA ha ha what a mess)
4) Max and Dan leaning on a big rock in Sacsayhuaman (Pronounced Sexy woman) An Inca Remain near Cuzco.
5) Football Match Cuzco, Referee under Police Shield. Lots of flying debri. Pretty funny. Just one arrest.
6) The start of the Inca Trail (Altitude Sickness not pictured)
7) Our Inca Trail Group (Barely alive after 3000ft climb day before)
8) The 4 of us at Machu Pichu.
Brief enough for all i hope.

The Islands and the falls...

2007-03-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Uh oh, this might be a long one. In short: Went to sparkly, lovely, beautiful deserted Caribbean Islands, saw blue green and yellow fish, returned to Caracas, went to hostel where a monkey lives in Southern Venezuela, saw worlds highest waterfall in middle of untouched jungle, returned to Caracas, tired.

Los Roques is a rather special thing to see, long clear stretches of white sand touching on stunning tourqoise sea. Reefs full of fish and residents full of hate for tourists. It really is special. We camped in a mangrove clearing (pictured below) one night, looking onto a lagoon, and on a deserted beach the next night and cooking our dinner on an open fire. It was amazing. The cloudless sky and lack of shade found us in need of anything cold and beery with some shade between about 11 and 3 but this was fine by us. I haven't enough time or space to detail just how perfect it was waking up and watching the sunset from a spit sticking our into the sea as pelicans pick fish into their mouths all around you. Stunning.

We flew back to Caracas on the 6th (Tuesday) and had to plead with a hotel to give us a room for the night as earlier the receptionist had been far to engrossed in a game of virtual pool to book a room over the phone. (Before this we had turned up at Carlos' posh as hell restaurant in swimming trunks sandals and sand all over the place. Quite funny really. )
Next morning at about 5 am we set off by Bus to Ciudad Bolivar in the Southern state of Guyana. Apart from being freezing cold with A/C at like 5 degrees the journey was great. We ploughed through the pretty amazing lowlands and saw political propaganda on every road and at one time an alomost continual pro-chavez rant went on for about 50 miles along an oil pipeline. We (Well Dan as he speaks the lang) chatted at length to a cooperative farm builder who explained how private enterprise and farms are soon to be ´killed´. Interesting.
At the bus station we were met by our Hostel/Posada owner Peter. He had quite clearly had a few too many beers and he stopped off on the way for some more. It was pretty fun roaring down a dirt track at 80km while he looked the wrong way and drank too much. Good fun.

At the Posada we actually met some other tourists shock horror! Iulia and Dan (Jeezus) were probably one of the sweetest things i´ve ever seen, and we got on with them straight away- Matthew: So Daniel what do you do? Jeezus: I'm in gastroporn... you get the picture...well i hope not literally.
We woke at 5 the next day and hopped in a teeny weeny six seater plane (pictured right) over forest plane and jungle to Canaima. It was pretty shaky and pretty fun.
When we arrived we were greeted by a couple of Indiginous folk who are i must say incredibly small, but very lucky with the ladies we here. Before we started the tour properly we had an hour or two to look around the amazing lake and falls in Canaima (pictured below with Dan, Benjie and Max)

At lunch we met a few more people, my faves being Tara and John who had come here after working in Ecuador and were English. We then hopped on a boat, climbed some stunning waterfalls, saw a wicked yellow and black frog walked through jungle swam in the black river water and motored up river (probably not in that order). The jungle is amazing and in the background huge tabletop mountains fill the horizon. After a pretty full day we arrived at a base camp had some dinner. (Pasta...for a change..fucking carnivores) and pretty much passed out.

Guess what? We woke up at 5 the next morning. All raring to go...as i´m sure you can imagine. We hopped in the motorised dugout canoes and rapped and sung all the way to the next camp. From there we walked for about an hour and were suddenly contfronted with one of the most spectacular things i´ve ever seen. Angel falls seems to rise from nowhere and has itś top aboce the clouds. Thin white water cascades into a pool on the bottom and another small waterfall in which we sat and swam follows. Only 12 people saw it that day and being one of them was breathtaking.

After lunch (rice and potatoe) we headed back and relaxed and swam in the river until evening. I fell asleep under the stars in a field next to the camp before later trudging onto one of the hammocks.

The trip was amazing: The views were spectacular and the ride exciting and the people we met truly made it special. Sorry if this seems rushed...too much to write, too little time...

Caracas

2007-03-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Caracas is an amazing city. It is huge and yet feels small compàred to the massive mountains that box it in on all sides. On the plain on the way over we were politely informed by some venezuelans that we were crazy to be doing this trip at all considering we had no tour group and only one spanglish speaker in the group. After an hour waiting in line for a visa we emerged into the hot busy airport and immediately set upon by a policeman. A contact of Daniel´s had booked a Cab and the policemen insisted he escorted us to meet him, obviously some travellers have never made it past the airport! The cab journey in was fascinating, a long winding road around the coastal mountains connects Caracas to the airport as the original bridge the old road was on collapsed. Add to this the winding road being half closed because of a mud slide and you get a long journey. The cab driver told us, reasuringly, that visitors are put off caracas because of the huge gun crime rate. As we apprached the glowing metropolis shanty towns began to crowd around the road, it was quite someting.

We finally arrived at the hotel (view from room pictured) at about 9, after flying in at half 4 and Dan spoke to Carlos, his contact and we were invited for dinner at his rather plush restaurant. The fact that vegetarianism is laughed at did not stop me having a delicious meat-free meal at a fantastic restaurant. It was a very strange end to a a long day as we ate delicious food and drank free beer and laughed off the fact that none of us hadslept for 24 hours.
Today we have booked ourselves a flight to some Caribbean Islands, eaten strange cheese dishes in a cafe and experienced the local buses. The people here are lovely and without loads of help from total strangers we could easily be one of those gun crime statistics. The city is fantastic as long as you are told where to go and are careful. The gap between rich and poor is immense but you get no hassle from anyone, a testimant to the people of this proud nation perhaps. It feels as though we have been dropped in at the deep end but what a great place to start the trip.

The Beginning...

2007-02-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

Sitting here in the basement of City and Islington College in North London, in my lunch hour of course, it is quite hard to imagine that in 9 days time i will be on a plane headed for Caracas, the notorious capital city of Venezuela. The last 6 months months seem to have flown by and i'm beginning to wish that I had given a little more time to the planning of the trip. Here I am however, bag bought, Jabs had and nerves tingling waiting for a journey that will take me further from home than I have ever been or will probably ever go again.

Carbon guilt apart I do feel that what I am about to do is the right thing. The idea of not seeing my girlfriend Alice for 2 and a half months and my family and friends for five months fills me with fear. I am afterall a rather sheltered well nourished and cared for young man who has always had everything and is soon to have literally nothing but what is on his back.

I don't expect the trip to change me and I certainly don't expect to return a 'Man' but I do hope that the value of seeing other cultures and experiencing independence outweighs the inevitable cost that the fragile Earth will pay for my numerous international flights.

Thanks to everyone who I leave behind. I'll probably be missing you if you're someone who is bothering to read this.

I'm hoping the next time you read this I'll be in Venezuela enjoying hot sunshine and anti-malarial induced photosensitivity.