Vietnam

What can we say about Vietnam, other than that it is stunning? Halong Bay was a few hours drive from Hanoi. After a little wait, we boarded our Junk Boat, our home for the next night. As our Junk departed we enjoyed a delicious fresh seafood lunch the first of many yummy meals. We sailed around some of the most incredible scenery we have ever seen. (one of the many 8th wonders of the world we have seen) There are hundreds of Limestone Islands, many fishing villages (their villages are in the middle of the bay floating on the water) and many great swimming spots. We also stopped at some incredible caves. Later in the evening we stopped at a small fishing village where we got to do some Kayaking. This was a great way to explore the little caves where the boats were unable to go. Unfortunately Kats Kayaking buddy lost half a paddle which made for a very long trip back for the two of them, followed by an argument about not paying for the loss of a dodgy paddle. Half way through said argument we noticed the arrival of the last of the Kayakers from our boat. They suffered the unfortunate fate of capsizing, lucky for them there was a nice lady who rowed them back to the boat. Needless to say a good tip was involved in the end. Not long after we anchored for the night and were able to do a bit of night swimming before another fresh seafood dinner.
The next morning we sailed to Cat Ba Island where we did a 3 hour walk........... Telling us that Jandels/Thongs/Flipflops were ok for this walk was the wrong answer to our question. After being told that the hard way was pretty easy we set out on what we thought was a leisurely walk. About 10 minutes into our walk we came across our first hurdle...... Mud puddles where our shoes would get stuck and we would have to fish them out. Kat at this point decided to turn back. Nat and I continued on and came across hurdle two....... Rock climbing in slippery mud covered Thongs/Jandels/Flipflops. We tried to do as locals do and just hop from rock to rock like little monkeys but we are not quite as graceful as the 9 year olds that passed us were so went back to being a typical tourist and taking our time. We finally made it to what we thought was the top when we came across hurdle three........ A rickety old tower that looked like it would fall down in the next wind storm. We climbed to level two and decided that was high enough for a good photo or at least an average one. We started our descent where hurdle four was an obvious one......... What we thought was tough going up was made to look like a piece of cake compared to going down. Once again those graceful 9 year olds showed off their skills and put us to shame. We finally made it down where we were greeted by a man selling ice cream and coke. We bought two ice creams and a coke. Nat however handed over what she thought was 50,000 dong (USD2.50) The man selling us ice cream became very friendly and offered a seat and put a fan directly towards us to help cool us down. We thought all part of the service.......... Later on when doing a count for the day we soon discovered that the 50,000 dong was actually 500,000 dong. Two Ice Creams and one coke ended up costing us USD28. Needless to say Nat took the title of the spaz for the day.
We found Kat at the bottom and noticed she was a bit dirtier than when we left her a few hours ago. It turned out that just after turning back she fell in one of those great mud puddles and was covered in dry mud :) For some reason everyone wants to take photos of us so we went through yet another photo session and through the normal questions..... Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? How old are you? Do you want a boyfriend. Then it was back in the bus to check into our hotel. That afternoon Nat and I went on another Kayaking adventure to Monkey Island. It was true to its name and there were plenty of monkeys to be seen. We enjoyed some time on the white sand beach and a long swim. That evening was spent relaxing. The following morning it was back on the boat for some more cruising around the bay and then back to Hanoi. Overall an amazing few days and would recommend it to everyone.
Once back in Hanoi we boarded an over night sleeper bus (a bus with beds only somewhat comfortable) to Hoi An the home of custom made clothing. This was a great experience for everyone (including Nat who hates to shop). We only had about 20 hours here but managed to walk away with some very full packs. We all had some dresses, skirts, winter jackets and many other things made to fit perfectly. While waiting for our final fitting a drink was in order. We ordered a cocktail which turned up in a 1lt bucket with three straws. A grand total of USD3. Hoi An was a very nice place to spend a few days but we were back on a sleeper bus to Nha Trang. Nha Trang was where we thought we could spend a few days relaxing on the beach and doing not much of much. Unfortunately this was not to be none of us were very impressed with Nha Trang. We went down to the beach and from the moment we sat down people/children where there trying to sell us stuff., trying to get you to have massages and threading, giving you food leaflets and just never leaving you alone. The children were very persistent and would sit there and wave there hands in front of your books and insult you when you say no. So after one day we decided to book the sleeper bus to leave the following night. The next morning we went out on a boat to do some snorkeling and Scuba Diving. The first snorkeling was a little unpleasant as there were Jellyfish everywhere. We got out of the water and had been stung about 100 times each. The stings went away after half an hour or so. The second snorkel was great, no Jellyfish and great visibility made for a great experience. Kat was the one who was Scuba Diving and after gaining her confidence again had a great time.

The next sleeper bus took us to Ho Chi Minh City. I somehow managed to catch a virus and found myself in bed for a while while Katrina and Nat went out and explored the city. We decided that because we were running out of time that we would only spend the night there and would leave for Cambodia the following day.

Vietnam was an amazing country, so much more to see which means that we will definitely return for another holiday.

We are currenlty in Cambodia and will hopefully update again tomorrow night as it is time for sleep now.

Two Kats and a Nat

China continued

Alrighty, we are all up and running again. If you haven't read the first part of China, it's under this post so scroll away.

Before we were rudely interrupted by the computer running out of battery, we were just starting on our cruise on the Yangtze River. We headed out from Chongqing for a 3 night cruise. Once upon a time I think our boat was top of the line luxury...not so much anymore. It was not terrible and was clean but was fairly run down. The big dents in the back of the boat were a bit of give away. While exploring the ship we very early on discovered what Chinese karaoke is all about. Can we say power ballads anyone? First song off the bat was My Heart Will Go On in chinese. Impressive stuff. The best part about the karaoke was that it was going all the time. Really loudly. And there was people dancing. It was very relaxing hanging out on the boat with nowhere really to go. Got plenty of reading done that's for sure. There was a grand total of 8 westerners on the boat. 3 of them seemed kinda creepy and the other two....were actually pretty cool. Let's just say there is no shame in rubbing a strange chinese man's head...

Day two on the boat we did a tour of the three little gorges. Very beautiful and impressive. We had to hop onto a smaller boat for about 6 hours to get through the smaller gorges. I think they were probably better than the big three gorges. That evening invloved much vodka consumption, card games, a little pole dancing, all set to the sounds of karaoke. Needless to say there was four fairly sick and sorry people the next morning....

And that pretty much finishes up China. From the time that we got off the boat it was all buses, trains and more buses to get to the border and into Vietnam. We caught a bus from the boat to a place called Yichang. From there another bus to Wuhan, where we were dumped on the side of the road not actually at a bus station round the corner from our hostel like we thought. A 40 odd minute cab ride got us there but it was not as simple as it should have been. From Wuhan we caught the overnight train ride from hell. We had the Chinese Symphony Snorers all around us and let's just say they sure are world class. Never heard snoring like that in my life. The louder the Ipods went the louder the snoring went... Arrived in Gui Lin, caught another train a few hours later to Nanning. From Nanning (capital of the dog hotpot) we caught a bus the next morning. 10 hours later, we were over Friendship pass, into Vietnam and safe and sound in Hanoi.

China was such an incredible place. Loved pretty much everything, the food was amazing, people were friendly, gorgeous scenery and, of course, pandas! There are still so many places we could go back and see. But if our first day in Hanoi is anything to go by, than Vietnam is going to be great to. Heading off for another boat tour tomorrow. This time to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. We'll fill you all in when we get back....

Two Kats and a Nat

China!

Well China is all over and done with. After 3 weeks in China we have just arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam. We had very good intentions of writing more blog posts but the Great Firewall of China said no to blogspot. I think we just got lucky the first blog post that we did. Daryl did give us some ideas of how to beat the censors but we were just too busy ie. lazy. China was a pretty amazing experience. We ended up spending 6 days in Beijing and our stay there was a pleasant surprise. Overall everything was much cleaner than imagined. The people were all really friendly and their metro is amazing. We had some initial hassles involving getting our hostels address in chinese so we could get a cab...than promptly losing the post it note it was written on. But after much help from a few different people we made it to the Happy Dragon Hostel. Which is actually a great place to stay if anyone needs to know a place in Beijing....

Six days was more than enough to see all the sights that we wanted to see. On day one we went and checked out the Water Cube and Birds Nest at the olympic park. In the night we went to the most famous duck restaurant in China (so says the sign outside) for some amazing duck with all the crew from the train. Such great duck! We ate so much and it was really cheap in the end! In the days after we covered much ground to see the Forbidden City (chock a block full of tourists and we probably should have done the audio tour seeing as we didn't actually know what we were looking at), Tianemen Square & Chairman Mao (again really super busy. And Kat & I are both undecided as whether the Chairman is a wax figure or not...), Silk Street (kinda like Paddies Markets in Sydney on steriods. Only good if your idea of fun is having people bully you into buying things). A chinese acorobat show was also in order. Not particularly impressive if you've ever seen a Cirque de Soleil. The most amusing part was the poor guy who stuffed up 5 times and just kept on trying. Finally made it in the end though...

Our biggest day was the day that we went to the Great Wall. We had a three hour mini bus ride from hell just to get there. Imagine if you will: stuck in a tiny, tiny bus. With a super, duper loud guy talking non stop for three hours, about nothing. And the driving was crazy! It seems like the best way to drive is to change lanes....every 5 seconds. Tooting constantly and cutting anyone off is also the go. As is driving on the wrong side of the road and honking for the people who are in front of you to get out of the way. Plus there was a possibly dead man lying on the road who had been knocked off his motorbike. Needless to say we were very, very pleased to get to the wall in one piece! We walked (& climbed) a 10km section of the Wall. Most of it is unrestored. We walked from Jingshanling to Simatai, shadowed all the way by people trying to sell us post cards, t shirts and even beer. Such an amazing day though. It is unbelievable how long it is and how much ground it covers. We were all so tired at the end of the day but it was totally worth it. Such an incredible experience to actually walk along it.

Finished our stay in Beijing with another night out with some more of the train crew, this involved some bloody awful martinis and just a little bit of impromtu karaoke. Our final day we headed off to the flea markets for a spot of souvenir shopping. Than it was off to the station to catch our train to Xi An. We only stayed in Xi An for one night. The main attraction there is the Terracotta Warriors, also pretty amazing when you see them up close. A word of warning for anyone thinking of going though....don't stand in the dark corners....this is where little children with their split pants go to pee.... You have been warned. That afternoon it was back on the train to Chengdu....to go and see some pandas!

The pandas were so cool! We went on a tour to the Chengdu Breeding and Research station. Had to go pretty early in the morning cause if you go to late than they don't do anything. They are pretty lazy buggers generally so we had to try and catch them when they are eating. This is prime time for moving & playing, otherwise they just lay around. Saw a few big ones, some middle ones and also a bunch of baby pandas. The little ones were only a 7 months old and had just been released to public view. We got there in time to see them get their morning milk, as well as a little bit of exercise. The handlers make them chase their milk bowls around because otherwise they might get to lazy and fat. They were so very cute and I think more than one person went away wanting one as a pet...or maybe that was just me! Kat and Kat said I wasn't allowed though so I had to leave empty handed. It's a pretty good thing that Chengdu has the pandas a a selling point, cause there wasn't that much else going on there. We went for a wander through the old town and also caught the bus around but it seemed like most other cities we had been to and though. So after two nights it was back on the train and off to Chongqing....

We didn't actually stay in Chongqing. We went pretty much straight from the train to our cruise boat for a Yangtze River cruise......

To Be Continued.............

We have just realised the computer battery is nearly dead and we can't find the charger. Oh no! So have to finish this one up once we get all charged again....

Russia & Trans Siberian/Mongolian

So, it seems we have been slack in our blog posts so far... thank you Mrs Hereshoff for that comment! I think we have an excuse though. We arrived this afternoon in Beijing, after being on the train for 6 days. Couldn't exactly pick up wireless internet while we were cruising along through the wilds of Russia, Siberia, Mongolia and China! Not to say we didn't try though....

Our arrival in China has come after spending three days in St Petersburg, 3 days in Moscow and 6 on the train. Russia was definitely interesting to say the least. St Petersburg was freezing and it seems like we didn't choose the best time of year to be there. Not only was it freezing, but we weren't quite close enough to summertime. All the trees were still very bare, so the city didn't seem to be all that pretty. We tried to visit the Summer Garden, apparently St Petersburg's prettiest park. That didn't work though, as it was closed for drying! All we could do was look through the fence at bare, brown trees and dirt. The old buildings of St Petersburg kept us busy for the majority of our time there. We spent a fair few hours wandering around the Hermitage, a pretty impressive museum. Although the Winter Palace of Peter the Great was a complete waste of time and money. It took all of 5 minutes to get in and out again. The only positive was that we somehow managed to talk them into giving us two student tickets, even though we have no student cards between us. Students get in for free so it wasn't a complete waste of 5 minutes! We also did a river/canal cruise, which was a nice way to spend an hour and see the city. The non stop commentary was totally in Russian, so we learnt nothing about what we saw. But it was nice to rest the legs for a little while. Overall, St Petersburg was a little underwhelming. Not as good as expected....

And so it was on to Moscow. We caught an overnight train, it took about 8 hours. Our carriage mate was a nice Russian girl, we helped her practice her English. We arrived at 6am and promptly spent at least half an hour wandering around in circles looking for the metro. We seemed to have many troubles finding a giant big M.... I can only say that we were all very tired at the point. It was early and our bags were heavy! At last we found it and were on our way again. Hostel reached, we dumped our bags and headed off into the big city of Moscow. I was a little apprehensive, having heard all kinds of stories about the people being grumpy and the police picking on tourists. But our stay there was a pleasant surprise. It was very warm and sunny, and the parks weren't closed for drying! Day one was spent on the usual tourist trail, Red Square, St Basil's (smaller than I imagined it to be), around the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theatre. We did a little shopping from the markets near Red Square and than had a little sleep in the park. Well, Katherine slept anyway. Day two was spent meandering around in the Kremlin.....endless cathedrals, they all looked the same after a few hours. Afternoon we wandered through the old part of Moscow, stopping on the way back to the hostel for our first bottle of genuine Russian vodka. First bottle did not last very long and was swiftly followed by the second... Day 3 involved more walking, lots of Pelmeni and preparation for the epic train trip soon to come.

At 9.30pm, after numerous failed attempts to buy more vodka (seems it's not sold at train stations, a valuable lesson learnt) we set off for Beijing. Our cabin was a four person berth, a very cosy little home for the next 6 nights. We thought the train was going to be very busy, but there was only 5 of us in our carriage. We quickly made friends with Peter, from London, and played our first (of many) card games with a wee bottle of vodka....also the first of many. Throughout the majority of Russia, the scenery was pretty much the same. Lots of silver birch trees and lots of grass. We passed the time by playing cards, travel Scrabble, reading lots of books and meeting many interesting people from all corners of the world. At each stop we would hop off, stretch our legs and stock up on more food. There were generally locals at every stop, selling all kinds of food and bits and pieces. It was easier to buy food on the station as it was cheaper than the dining car and it was generally pretty tasty and fresh. Most nights on the train were pretty sleepless. We crossed 7 time zones during the trip, so half the time we never even knew what time it was. The last two nights were super long as they were spent crossing borders and going through customs. From Russia to Mongolia it took 5 hours on the Russian side, than another two on the Mongolian side. A similar amount of time was spent crossing from Mongolia to China. And so we arrived in Beijing today, tired, dirty and very pleased to be here. The train was an amazing experience, we saw some beautiful scenery, ate interesting food and met many great people who we look forward to catching up with here in Beijing or elsewhere. But it was very, very nice to get off and be able to shower and sleep in a normal size bed. So it's off to sleep for tonight and tomorrow more exciting stuff to do. We'll keep you updated.......

Two Kats and a Nat :)

Even more piccies..... Istanbul

Basillica Cistern - Istanbul
Aya Sofya
Egyptian Spice Market
Turkish Delight @ the Spice Market

On a cruise of the Bosphorus

More Photos

Outside the Turkish Memorial The Aussie service at Lone Pine
Halfway to Chanouk Bair
Big crowds at Lone PineSunset the day before

Photos

Sorry everyone they are a bit out of order


First Glimpse of Gallipoli from the beach


















New Zealand Memorial. Chanouk Bair
















Sun going down on the Eve of Anzac Day











One of the many cemeteries at ANZAC Cove









Everyone walking to ANZAC Cove

Merhaba from Istanbul!!
Does anyone know how to start a blog? We have writer's block and we have only written one post!

We arrived safe & sound from London on the 24th. We had a very eventful drive from the airport to our hotel. I will never again complain about Sydney drivers after witnessing how people drive in Turkey. I have never before seen buses get in such tight streets and spots. It was a little hair raising. Aside from the crazy driving, Istanbul is a beautiful city. It is so busy and full of life. We are staying in the middle of old town, right around the corner from the Blue Mosque. Around here it is almost a home away from home, there are so many Aussies and Kiwis around (most of them seem to be Fanatics & Beige Brigade). We have heard so much John Farnham, Men at Work, Crowded House and John Williamson being played it's easy to forget where we are. Walking the streets of Istanbul is a very interesting experience. Sometimes I was wondering what all the women do, it is very male orientated. We have never had so many people tell us they love us in one day! And all just to sell us carpet. Although we did get some free tea out of it, which makes it all worth it!

The second day we were here we had an early wake up call to head off to Gallipoli. Up at 5am, a little brekkie than on the road. All up it took about 6 hours on the bus to get there. Arrived at Anzac Cove at about 1.30pm. Somehow our bus (& 4 others) got through a security check point without getting stopped. This caused a fair bit of confusion as no one was sure how we got as far as we did. And once we were there, they weren't entirely sure what to do with us. Eventually that got sorted and we got to go. It's hard to sum up the whole experience of Gallipoli in one paragraph. Needless to say, I think it was very different than what we all expected. It's actually a pretty stunning part of the world. We had no idea how beautiful the whole area is. And it really wasn't as cold as everyone makes it out to be. There was about 7500 people there all up. Everyone was very well behaved, thanks to the ban on alcohol (a very good idea, I think). We all managed to get a little bit of sleep through the night. Katherine got a little more than most, but she was sick so she needed it! After the dawn service, we trekked up to Lone Pine for the Aussie service. It's about 2kms up the hills. Than on to Chanouk Bair for the Kiwi service, another 3.3kms. So lots of walking and not much sleep makes for a whole lot of very tired people! We did run into a little bit of luck on the way back down though. Somehow our bus was about the 10th to arrive to pick us up. Someone said there was 700 buses there, so glad our bus wasn't number 700! After we got picked up, it was off back to Istanbul for a well earned sleep.

After Gallipoli, we have spent another 3 days here in Istanbul. We've been doing all the touristy things. Yesterday we went to the Blue Mosque, as well as the Grand Bazaar and Spice Markets. I have to say that the Grand Bazaar does put Paddies Markets to shame! I read that something like 30 000 people work in there. It would be very, very easy to get lost and wander around in there all day. We did a spot of shopping, bartering with the best of them. Today's highlight involved going to a Turkish Bath. Let's just say that it was fun but if you worry about being nude, it's not the place for you.... We all felt very clean afterwards though!

So we are off to St Petersburg tomorrow. Istanbul has been great but looking forward to the next stage of the adventure now. Now that writer's block has hopefully been broken, we will keep you up dated.

Two Kats and a Nat

Hello and welcome to the next two months of travel updates. We are about to embark on our amazing (some would say crazy) adventure. We will be traveling to many amazing places through Turkey, Russia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and would love for you to follow all our adventures.
Tomorrow we fly to London where we will meet up with Katrina and hopefully obtain the rest of our visas.
I'm sure somewhere on this page you will be able to comment on our blog, that way we know everything is going well where ever you may be.
We hope this finds you all well and hope that you are just as excited as we are for what is to come.

Two Kats and A Nat
(Katherine Katrina & Natalie)