From Sutton to the South Island

Settling in to life in NZ

2008-01-12T22:13:00.000Z

I've been a bit re-miss in not posting any updates to the blog since arriving in New Zealand, but in my defense I've been busy settling in. After spending a week in Christchurch when I got here I came up to Wellington to check the place out and decided that Wellington is where I'm going to call home. After heading briefly back to Christchurch to grab all my stuff, I drove up the coast of the South Island and hopped on the ferry from Picton. Once arriving back in Wellington, everything fell into place fairly quickly. I arrived back on a Wednesday evening and by the Friday I'd signed a lease on an apartment and did an interview for a job at which I'm now gainfully employed. Of all things I'm now actually working for an Irish company in New Zealand!

I spent Christmas in Sydney with Shane, unforuntately having to come back to NZ to work for a few days between xmas and New Years. That's so I have a few extra holiday days this year to cover getting back to Dublin in June and to take some time in March to go to Kelly & Steve's wedding and to have some time when Mum and Martin come over to visit.

Sunday 23rd Sept - Christchurch

2007-09-24T00:44:00.001+01:00

Graham took me on a whistle stop walking tour of the city centre. It was drizzling today, so New Zealand is really starting to feel like home! Christchurch city centre has quite an English feel to it, which I suppose isn't that surprising given that it was settled by mostly English people. I'm looking forward to getting a feel for the place over the next few days, and will probably head up to Wellington for a few days as well, before making a final decision on where I'm going to base myself.

Saturday 22nd Sept - D Day

2007-09-24T00:39:00.000+01:00

Arrived safely in Christchurch and found the welcome to the country by the immigration and customs, much more welcoming than the one I received in Perth. Both Oz and NZ operate fairly strict bio-security to ensure that no unwanted organisms make their way into the country, such as plant seeds, or anything else which might be harmful to the environment. In Perth this involved them literally rooting through all my bags, and examining some wooden items in detail (which I had declared). In NZ, they just asked me what the wooden items were, checked that the Australians had checked them out, put my bags through an X-ray and wished me well on my time here.

Myra and Graham picked me up from the airport and we headed out for a drive to the Port Hills, which are near Christchurch which take you out to the harbour at Lyttleton. The scenery is pretty spectaculour, with a steep drive which takes you up through the hills, with a sheer drop on one side. What a view though. There's the crater of an extinct Volcano which is now filled with water. Sun was shining, but its a few degrees cooler here, feels more like Ireland.

Fri 21st of Sept - Bridge Climb

2007-09-24T00:36:00.000+01:00

Weather forecast for today is good, so hopefully there wont be any more rain during my bridge climb. As it turned out the weather was just perfect, the sun came out, it wasn't too hot or too cold and the Bridge Climb was awesome. I'm not really afraid of heights but have to admit to being a little apprehensive when we got out onto the bridge. I felt better as we got higher. The views of the Opera house and Sydney harbour are fantastic. Definitely one of the highlights of my time in Sydney.

I made my way to catch the train by heading through the Botanic Gardens in the rough direction of Kings Cross station, which will take me through Wooloomooloo. The lads were talking about staying up all night to watch the Ireland V France rugby match which is on at 5am, although I have a feeling that I wont be joining them with my flight to Christchurch being just before 10 in the morning.

Thurs 20th Sept - Bondi Beach

2007-09-24T00:28:00.000+01:00

Weather a bit crap today. Its warm enough, but spitting with rain on and off. I decided to set off on foot for Bondi beach which is about 40 mins walk from Seamus' place in Bondi Junction. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting but I have to admit to being just a little underwhelmed by the beach. Its tiny! I'm sure its nicer in the height of summer when the sun is out but if I'm honest I didn't think much of the place. I stopped for lunch while there and was unsurprised to find that all of the staff and probably half of the clientelle of the café I went into were Irish.

The rain re-appeared in the afternoon so I decided to escape by going to catch a flick at the cinema when I got back to Bondi Junction. After a nice Thai curry headed out again with Paul & Seamus. Probably could have done without excess beer given that I have to pass a breath test before doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb in the morning!

Wed 19th Sept - Sydney Harbour

2007-09-24T00:27:00.000+01:00

Took the ferry over to Manly which goes through the harbour, passed the Opera House with great views of both Sydney harbour bridge and the Opera house. Had some lunch in Manly and then came back to the city to do the tour of the Opera house. Finished the day off with a pizza in an Italian place in The Rocks, which is the area just beside the harbour bridge.

Tue 18th Sept - Sydney

2007-09-24T00:23:00.001+01:00

Had a little time in Brisbane before heading to the airport, which gave me enough time to suss out public transport options for getting to and from Brisbane and Sydney airports. They both have rail links with the city centre, and this seemed like the best way to get around. When I arrived in Sydney I headed for Bondi Junction on the train and armed with a hastily sketched map of the area which I got from Google Maps, I set off in search of Hough St. Seamus, one of Shane's friends lives here in Sydney and is very kindly putting me up for the few days I'm here. Initially I set off in the wrong direction but after a short while managed to find Seamus' place. A little gate climbing later and I'd retrieved the key that Seamus left out for me. The guys are in a great location, its only about 10/15 mins on the train to the city centre. Bondi Junction has plenty of shops and places to eat and the guys are only a few mins walk away from here.

When Seamus & Paul got in from work, the lads cooked up a bit of grub and we ended up going out for a few pints, not before Seamus managed to scorch all of the hair of his right hand while lighting the barbeque!

Mon 17th Sept - Site Seeing in Brisbane

2007-09-24T00:18:00.000+01:00

My Lonely Planet guide book had a suggested walking tour of Brisbane which sounded like it was worth a go, to see some of the older parts of the city. Having spent the morning doing the all important job of uploading photos and updating my blog, I missed out on being able to take in the views from the top of Brisbane's city hall by a few minutes. Two of the older buildings that really stand out are the former Treasury and Land Administration buildings, both now serving different purposes, one as a hotel and the other as a casino.

Having spent my last few weeks visiting some relatively small places, its nice being back in a proper city for a while with all that comes along with that, cafes, bars and good public transport. I had been looking forward to visiting the South bank area, where there is an inland beach, but unfortunately this was closed for refurbishment when I got down there. Having walked across the river I got myself and beer and by the edge of the river and watch the world go by for a while, before getting the Catamaran ferry back across to the other side of the city. Am looking forward to my next destination, Sydney.

Sun 16th Sept - Australia Zoo

2007-09-17T05:05:00.000+01:00

I headed the 70km north of Brisbane to pay a visit to Australia Zoo, which is the home of the late Steve 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin. Well worth the visit. I'd already experienced some of the stuff on offer, like feeding the kangaroos, but they have a wide array of shows and experiences on offer. Even when you're just walking around the zoo you can come across some of the keepers bringing one of the animals around. The Asian elephants were impressively majestic even through they were being given a shower.

I paid a few extra dollars for an up close and personal experience with the wombats. They have a nickname of being the bulldozer of the bush, apparently able to run at speeds of up to 40km/hr in short bursts and built fairly solidly. We got to spend about half an hour with them which was great fun.

I thought that some of the merchanise on offer here was a little tacky but they do plough a lot of resources into conservation, so I suppose its all in a good cause.

When I got back to the hostel I'm staying at I bumped into a crowd of Irish people who were on the same Whitsundays sailing trip as me, small world!

Sat 15th Sept - On to Brisbane

2007-09-17T05:02:00.000+01:00

Another 3 and a half our drive, turned into something a little longer, with their being a lot of roadworks underway at various points along the highway. When I did finally get to Brisbane, I tried in vain to drive close to where I'm staying for the next few days, but was defeated by a number of confusing one way streets. In the end I found a car park which is about a 5 minute walk away from where I'm staying and set off on foot to find the place. There's a music festival on here in Fortitude Valley with live music on some of the streets around Chinatown, so I'll have to go and check some of that out and sample some of the Chinese food.

Thu 13tf - Fri 14th Sept - Fraser Island.

2007-09-17T04:45:00.000+01:00

Picked up at 7:40 in time for the 8:30 ferry over to Fraser. Our tour is being conducted by Brett, a former truck driver who adores his 4WD Unimob Mercedes bus, which has a little stairway which opens at the back of the bus for getting on and off. Landing on the beach, felt a little bit like we were storming the beaches at Normandy. I'm looking forward to seeing the island over the next 2 days. For those who don't know, Fraser Island is an enormous sandbar, measuring 120km by 15km, the worlds largest sand island. Brett gave us a safety speech before letting us out and about, which included a few interesting bits of info. The island is home to 6 of 8 venomous snakes that live in Australia, although hopefully we wont be seeing any of them.

Availed of the opportunity to go on a scenic flight of the island which really gives a fell for the size of the island. I couldn't get over the amount of vegetation which covers the island. Apparently it takes any trees or plants up to 4 times longer than normal to grow here, because of the lack of nutrients in the sand. The vegetation is interrupted by a number of inland freshwater lakes as well as some 'sandblows' which are basically large sand dunes. Unfortunately we didn't spot any marine life from the air.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Happy Valley and then went on to visit Ely Creek and the Moheno Shipwreck. At various points along the beaches here, fresh water literally seeps out of the ground and runs out into the ocean. One of these such places is Ely Creek, the water was pretty shallow (and cold), so I decided just to walk it, up to my knees in the water.

The Moheno has been stranded on Fraser island for 72 years and is gradually decaying. A large chunk of the wreck is below the sand level, with the rudder stuck out on its own with no remnants of the ship in the immediate vicinity.

At the end of day one we paid a visit to the Champagne pools and Indian Head, before heading back to our camp site for dinner. Normally you can see sharks and stingrays in the water from Indian Head, but unfortunately the visibility in the water isn't god at the moment as a result of some stormy weather that hit the week before last. The tents we're staying in are really comfortable, they have floor boards and proper beds, and once the zip is closed it doesn't really feel like you're in a tent at all.

Sitting round at dinner was good craic, our group is made up of an interesting mix of holiday makers (both Australian and International) and a few backpackers. The night ended with a bottle of scotch being consumed by some of us which was produced by Karl, a larger than life South African guy who's here with his wife.

Day 2 was all too short. Up at 6:45 for breakfast, then we headed for Lake Waby, one of the inland freshwater lakes. Getting there involved a 2km walk, first through forest and then up hill through what is probably best described as desert. Most of us went for a swim, which was very refreshing after the walk through the hot sand. After having some time to dry off, we then had another 2.5km walk through hot, soft sand back to the beach to meet Brett and our tour bus before heading on for a picnic lunch.

After lunch we headed to another of the inland lakes, Lake Birabeen which has sand similar to Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays, i.e very fine white sand. After a swim there, and some more time to dry off, unfortunately we had to head back to catch our barge back to the mainland. Great few days though.

Wed 12th Sept - Rockhampton to Hervey Bay

2007-09-17T04:44:00.000+01:00

Road trip to Hervey Bay took a little longer than I expected, about 4 and a half hours. Wont be doing anything mad tonight as I'm being collected at 7:40 in the morning for the trip over to Fraser island, coming back to Hervey bay for one more night before I complete the last leg of my road trip and make my way to Brisbane.

Tues 11th Sept - Mackay to Rockhampton

2007-09-17T04:39:00.000+01:00

After picking up my photos, of which a handful of them came out pretty well, I headed for the Finch Hatton Forge in Eungella National Park. I was originally thinking I might stay over night in the National Park (which is meant to be a good spot to see the platypus), I decided to just pay it a brief visit and then head on to Rockhampton, in the heart of Australian beef country. I went on one of the walks in the National Park which takes you through the forest until eventually you emerge at a waterfall. A short distance from the car park I could hear something hissing at me from the undergrowth, which gave me a bit of a shock, thankfully it turned out to be a goana and not one of Australia's venemous snakes! :)

When I got down to Rockhampton I spent the night at the Criterion hotel which is a lovely old Victorian building. The rooms were a little shabby but the building itself has the feeling of an old country house almost, except that there's a bar and a restaurant downstairs..

Sat 8th - Mon 10th Sept Sailing the Whitsundays

2007-09-17T04:30:00.000+01:00

We boarded the Atlantic Clipper just before 4pm on Saturday afternoon, setting off around the Whitsunday islands, returning on Monday afternoon. On Sunday morning we awoke to the sight of islands on either side of us. We had spent the night just off Tongue Bay, and headed over to Whitehaven beach for a couple of hours after an early breakfast. Only 7 of the 70 odd Whitsunday islands have any development on them, so it was fantastic to visit one of the unspoilt ones. There's a few walking tracks and some signs warning about dangers of jelly fish, but other than that, its pristine. There's about 40 of us on board the Clipper , a mix of German, Irish, English, Scottish, Swedish and Brazilian. Apparently Whitehaven beach is the 3rd nicest beach in the world, although exactly who travels round to all the beaches to figure this out, I've no idea. The beach is made up of perfectly white sand, and the water is the mix of blue colours you'd expect on a tropical island. Tranquility in a nutshell, made even more beautiful by the fact that the only way you can get here is by boat, unless you're a really good swimmer.

We headed back to the Clipper at 10 and then set off in the direction of our snorkelling spot on one of the islands. It was my first time snorkelling and it was really amazing. We were all dropped at the beach, which was made up of rocks and was pretty uncomfortable to walk on barefoot, however the experience in the water made up for this. From about a metre from the shore you could see fish in the water. Unfortunately I managed to graze my toe against some of the coral, hopefully not doing any damage to the coral in the process.

After going back on board we headed further north to a spot from which to watch the sunset. What a day! We ended the night consuming whatever was left of the alcohol we'd each brought on board with us. I went to bed relatively early knowing htat I'd be doing more driving as soon as we got back to the mainland.

We got back to Airlie beach at around 1pm and I hit the road for Mackay, further south. It would have been nice to stick around for one more night in Airlie, there's a gang from the trip going out for drinks but I need to get moving. Found a spot in Mackay to get some under water photos I took while snorkelling developed. Hopefully there'll be a few half decent ones.

Fri 7th Sept - Townsville to Airlie Beach

2007-09-08T02:40:00.000+01:00

Continuing down south along the coast to Airlie Beach, I'm looking forward to seeing the Whitsunday islands and hopefully to do a bit of snorkelling. I tried checking in to the same B&B that Shane stayed at when he was here a few months ago, but they were booked out for the weekend. There's a triathlon here on Sunday and apparently there's a lot of people coming to take part. However I killed a few birds with one stone by going into one of the travel agencies here, got myself sorted with accomodation for the night and booked myself in for 2 day, 2 night sailing trip from tomorrow. The boat sails around the Whitsundays and stops at various spots for snorkelling. There's also the option of paying extra and doing a bit of diving. I was going to do two seperate day trips, one for seeing the Whitsundays, and another for snorkelling but this way I get the best of both worlds with the one trip. The boat doesn't go all the way out to the outer reef, it just stays near the islands, but for my first time snorkelling I'm sure it'll be just fine.

Thurs 6th Sept - Magnetic Island

2007-09-08T02:31:00.000+01:00

I popped over to Magnetic Island for most of the day, catching the ferry from Townsville at 9am. It wasn't immediately obvious where I might hire a bicycle so I set off on foot in the direction of Nelly Bay with the intention of continuing on as far as Picnic Bay. There's a free guide book on Magnetic Island which goes to great lengths to tell you about all of the really cool stuff you can do on the island but neglects to tell you where to go to organise some of these activities. That aside, it was a beautiful day, sun shining, about 27 degrees and it was nice to wander along the beach at Nelly bay on foot, having it almost completely to myself. There were maybe 4 others on the beach, and its probably a few kilometres long. I had half an idea that I might do a bit of snorkelling while on the island but I set off for Picnic bay assuming I'd find somwhere along the way that I could get kitted out, but it wasn't meant to be, so I'll just have to wait till I get down to Airlie beach.

I stopped for lunch at Picnic Bay in a place called Antonio Morans, I presume there's an Irish connection there somewhere. Townsville has a handful of Irish bars, so I can only presume there are some people in this part of Queensland of Irish decent. They can't have spread too much knowledge about Irish history though. I stopped for a drink in a place that brews their own beer and the guy who served me remarked on me saying that I was from Ireland, and not that I was from the UK. He's not likely to make the same mistake again, after giving him a very brief Irish history lesson, I explained that we weren't part of the UK and suggested he should watch the Michael Collins film.

Magnetic Island is worth a visit, but is quite developed, with about 2000 people calling this place home. Rottnest had a much nicer vibe with hardly any cars and the walking and cycling being the main modes of transport. Its not quite the same when there's a proper road and plenty of cars. Although I suppose if you were one of the 2000 residents you might like there to be good infrastructure for getting around the island.

Wed 5th Sept - Mareeba to Townsville

2007-09-06T09:49:00.001+01:00

Kick started the morning with a visit to the Coffee Works in Mareeba which was just around the corner from the motel I stayed at. I got there about 15 mins before the next tour was due to start and was left in a room with a selection of about 12 different coffees there for the sampling. Even only having a small sample of about half of them I was pretty alert by the time the tour started.

They roast coffee beans here that are grown in the locality, and it was actually pretty interesting to see how the whole process works from picking the ripe fruit from the tree to how they extract the beans, and how the roasting works. The tour finished up with a sample of 2 liquers made from their coffee and some chocolate that they also make on the premises. Not a totally unpleasant way to spend an hour.

Near Innisfail I paid a visit to Paronella Park, which was a small castle built by a Spaniard who settled in this part of Norther Queensland. He made enough money to buy the land from renovating a number of sugar cane farms over time and trading up. He built a small castle complete with ball room, outdoor tennis courts and various attractions to encourage paying visitors to come and have a look. He built a hydro electric power plant for himself about 20 years before electricity reached this part of Australia. The power was used to power lights for the castle and a film projector which he used to setup in the ballroom and charge admittance to films he had shipped up from Brisbane.

Unfortunately the castle has been subjected to flood damage and has been paid a visit by the cyclone in the last few years, so its a shadow of its former self. However, the present owners are quietly working away at restoring parts of the property, such as the hydro-electric generator to its former glory. Well worth the detour to pop in and see this place.

I paid a brief visit to Lucinda, a small town on the coast in the heart of sugar cane country. My main reason for coming was just to take a peak at the 6km long jetty. After a further few hours on the road I made it as far as Townsville, where I'm going to spend the next 2 nights, availing of the opportunity to pop over to Magnetic Island for the day tomorrow.

Tues 4th Sept - Hitting the road again.

2007-09-06T09:43:00.000+01:00

Was good to have the freedom of my own set of wheels again. Rather than head south straight away, I decided to pop up to Port Douglas, to see the place. The drive up from Cairns is really nice as you get closer to Port Douglas. The road is literally within a stones throw from the water on one side and on the other there are patches of steep cliff. At Port Douglas I paid a visit to the Rainforest Habitat. They have a selection of enclosures which attempt to replicate the environment that some of the animals call home, from grasslands to wetlands to the rain forest. There's an interesting selection of birds, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, and crocodiles.

The highlight for me was hand feeding the crocodiles! Only joking, but I did get to feed the kangaroos which was pretty special. They're really cute and it was nice to get so close to them that they were literally eating out of my hand. They share their enclosure with some of the birds, mostly ducks and other small birds but there were a few emus expressing an interest in the food I'd gotten for the kangaroos. It was just a little bit off putting to have a bird that could look me in the eye come towards me in search of food!

After leaving Port Douglas I visited the Mossman Gorge which is in one of the National Park areas. I missed out on the opportunity by a few minutes to go for a guided walk with an Aboriginal guide, but I continued on into the National Park and went for a walk on one of the riverside tracks. Staying in Mareeba over night before heading further south.

Mon 3rd Sept - Last day in Cairns

2007-09-06T09:39:00.000+01:00

Car hire sorted for 13 days from tomorrow at a considerably higher price than I paid in Perth. After the excitement of doing some laundry I made my way out by bus to the Tjapukai Aboriginal cultural centre for the afternoon. It was interesting, particularly when we got to have a go at spear and boomerang throwing. I wouldn't want to have to kill anything with a spear, or I'd probably go hungry without a bit more practice, but I was actually quite good with the boomerang.

Bumped into a guy from Bayside this evening in the hostel. We don't know each other but each recognised a face as being vaguely familiar. Am hoping I might find a few less Irish people when I hit the road!

Sun 2nd Sept

2007-09-06T09:34:00.000+01:00

Being a day of rest and all that, I didn't really do very much, I toyed with the idea of sorting out my hire car a day or two eary but decided that a day of R&R was in order. Caught the Bourne Ultimatum at the cinema and researched car hire for the drive down to Brisbane, along with getting up to date with my photo uploading and blog updating (hard work!).

After I grabbed something to eat I went for a stroll along the Esplanade. They've built a man made lagoon here on the strand which sounds a bit daft until you hear that the reason for this is because there are crocodiles in the ocean! Or perhaps, thats just what they tell the tourists.

I can't get over the number of tourists here, its much more noticeable than Perth. Plenty of Irish people over an working holiday visas. In a way that makes me want to move on, although I have a feeling the whole of the East coast is going to be a bit like that.

Saturday 1st September

2007-09-03T09:28:00.000+01:00

This time 3 weeks I'l be in Christchurch. Its funny how quickly the time flys by. Booked myself into the International hostel on the Esplanade in Cairns for a few nights. Its dead central and you can't argue with the nightly rate but I'll be glad to move on in a few days time. The place is really noisy, even late at night, and my room feels more like a prison cell than a bed room with no natural light. After splashing out on the pricey accommodation at Uluru I was trying to redress the balance a little but I may have gone too far in the direction of cheap and cheerful. Trying to decide what to do while I'm here, think I might leave a visit to the Barrier Reef until I head further south.

Fri 31 Aug

2007-09-03T04:11:00.000+01:00

Dragged myself out of bed at sunrise and headed the short distance to the lookout on the grounds of the hotel. It gets pretty cold here before the sun comes up which is a big contrast to the daytime temperatures in the 30s. It was worth getting up to watch the sunrise even if the view of Uluru was a little bit too far away. Thankfully the walking tour I'm going on later at Kata Tjuta finishes up with watching the sunset a short distance away from Uluru.

Walking Tour of Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) Walpa Gorge left me feeling like I should have gond for the longer Valley of the Winds walk. It took about 45 mins to complete the round trip through the gorge, which requires that you watch your footing as the surface you walk on is pretty uneven. The only annoying factor out here is the flies. They're just so persistent. It starts to get to you for a while.

Before heading to Uluru for the sunset we had to go on an adventure to find some Japenese tourists that were joining us. They weren't at the pre-arranged meeting point, so we had to do a lap of Uluru by bus, which was cool as I hadn't done the complete base walk. I got to see all the way around.

Watching the sunset at Uluru was pretty special, its a pity though that you can't easily position yourself to get Uluru and the setting sun into the same photo. Moving on to Cairns tomorrow.

Thu 30 Aug

2007-09-02T04:18:00.000+01:00

Morning spent on the Anangu Mala walking tour around Uluru. The Anangu being the local Aboriginals. It was really interesting to hear about Uluru through their eyes. The temperature has gone up a few degrees in the last week or so here, and this seems to suit the flies very well. They are the same size or a little smaller than the flies at home, but the feckers are far more persistent. Couple of interesting facts, 300m or so of Uluru is visible above ground but apparently about 3000m of rock stretches below ground. The rock was actually formed from the build up of sediment at the bottom of a gorge where the gorge has obviously eroded away many years ago, and whats left is the sediment. It can up to 6 years here in the Northern Territory with no rain. They don't have the same seasons that the rest of us get, it just gets cold, then hot then very hot and they hope somewhere in between for a little bit of rain.

The Aboriginals ask that people don't climb Uluru due to its significance as a sacred place for them, and also because its a dangerous climb. They don't however forbid people from climbing. Apparently there are still around 100 visitors a day who decide to ignore this and climb anyway. I think that's bad form, but there ya go.

Went on a camel sunset tour in the early evening which was good fun. The sunset wasn't as spectaculour as last nights, but it was a bit different being on the back of a camel. Am going to drag myself up early in the morning to watch the sunrise. There's a lookout point in the grounds of my hotel, from where you can see Uluru. The sunsets have been lighting up Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) in the evenings so hopefully the surise will bring more light on to Uluru. I'll have to see in the morning.

Wed 29 Aug - Uluru

2007-09-02T04:11:00.001+01:00

Flight from Perth to Yulara at 10:30. You get a great view of Uluru from the plane on the way in. It's a further hour and a half ahead of home here in the Northern Territory. Hotel I'm at is pretty basic, I picked the cheapest private room I could get, which has 2 bunk beds in it & set me back a little over 200 dollars a night. Wouldn't be bad if you were travelling with a group, but when you're on your own its a bit on the pricey side. However, I'm only here for 3 nights, so its not the end of the world. I'd booked myself in for the "Sounds of Silence" dinner which involves some drinks, a fantastic sunset (probably the best I've ever seen), and dinner out in the outback which all goes on for about 4 hrs. Absolutely fantastic!

There was an interesting mix of people at our table, two women from Yorkshire, one of them now lives on the Gold Coast, two Japanese guys both from Tokyo, but one of them now living in Sydney, myself and an Irish couple. Turned out that the woman was American and used to be on Glenroe! I though I recognised her from somewhere when she sat down.

Dinner was a selection of different meats, some of them from the bush. Before dessert there was a presentation from an astronomer pointing out the stars visible (which are completely differet to what we see in the night sky at home). I don't think I've ever seen the stars so bright. Firstly there were no clouds in the sky, the sunset lit up the whole horizon in a cascade of different orange colours, and when the moon came out along with the stars they were all much brighter than I've ever seen them before. Or maybe that was the result of a few glasses of champagne and some red wine with dinner! :)

Tue 28 Aug

2007-09-02T04:08:00.000+01:00

Picked up my new paper weight, which looks suspiciously like a digital camera. Spent the morning playing golf at Marangaroo, a Perth golf course which can boast its own resident kangaroos. At 3 or 4 of the greens I had an audience of kangaroos who were busy soaking up some rays and were probably wondering what all these people with sticks and white balls were doing while they relaxed in the sun.

Was very sorry to say my good byes to Steve & Kelly, its been great visiting their part of the world and I'm looking forward to coming back for their wedding next year.

Mon 27 Aug

2007-09-02T04:06:00.000+01:00

Dropped my camera in to a guy in Perth that Kelly recommended to see if anything can be salvaged but I'm not holding my breath. Spent afternoon at Hillary's Harbour Aquarium which was really nice but a little too similar to the Underwater World at Sentosa island in Singapore for me to get any value from it. Worth going to though if you haven't seen something similar recently.

Sunday 26th Aug

2007-09-02T04:02:00.000+01:00

Back to Perth, good to Steve & Kelly again. We headed to Cottesloe, one of the southern suburbs of Perth for a session. Although I drove, so took it fairly easy. The weather was really wild, you should have seen the size of the waves that were rolling in off the Indian ocean.

Saturday 25th Aug - About Turn

2007-09-02T04:00:00.001+01:00

Deciding it was time to head back to Perth, I could have made it all the way back in one day, but by God its a long way. I decided instead to head for Busselton (about 2 hrs from Perth). I drove for about 8 hrs straight with a couple of very short breaks. Driving from Albany through Mt Barker, heading through Manjimup towards Busselton (you have to love the place names here!), was really nice, felt like driving through Wicklow with lots of wooded areas, with farms.

Will be nice to get back to Perth tomorrow, staying the night in a B&B which is just like the kind you'd get at home. Looking forward to a nice cooked breakfast in the morning!

Frid 24th Aug - Albany to Esperance

2007-09-02T03:55:00.000+01:00

Left Albany at 9:30 and arrived in Esperance at about 14:00 after 477 kms of long road. The striking thing about driving in this part of Western Australia is that you might be driving on the main road between 2 of the larger towns in this area and you can go 20 or 30 mins without passing another vehicle on the road. This makes more sense when you discover that WA which makes up 1 third of the country, and only has a population of about 2 milion people, with 3/4 of them living in and around Perth. Its only really when you travel overland here that you get a feeling for how massive the country is!

The beaches down here are truly spectaculour, complete with a few lunatics surfing on one beach in particular which is blessed with large rocks just off the shore. These guys were surfing in the gap between the rocks. Apparently thats where the best surfing is, but if they fell, they could very easily be impaled on the rocks.

The jetty in Esperance is full of people fishing in the evenings, along with a resident sealion who was swimming up and down near the shore, forever hopeful that some of the fishermen would discard their catches in his direction.

Got another motel style place for tonight, which came complete with a barbeque area so I've decided to cook for myself for the first time since I left home. I had a lovely bit of steak along with some red wine I picked up in Margaret River.

Wed 23rd Aug - Albany

2007-09-02T03:48:00.000+01:00

Weather much improved today, camera still knackered :(. With the weather much nicer, I back tracked slightly to see the Elephant rocks at William Bay and up the road to the Valley of the Giants tree top walk, which takes you from ground level right up into the canopy of the tall trees. It's well worth a visit. I'd hoped to see both of these yesterday, but skipped them because the weather was so miserable.

Moving on to Albany, I had some lunch and got myself sorted with accomodation for the night. For 70 dollars I had a whole 'apartment' to myself, which came complete with living room, kitchen and 2 bedrooms. They'd just painted one of the bathrooms, hence the knock down rate. I headed off to see the sights around Albany, which involved a stop at Whale World, the former whaling station which closed in 1978 and is now a museum. You can see that whaling was a large contributor to the economy in the area at the time.

Near Whale World, ther's a naturlal limestone bridge which has been formed by erosion from the sea. Back when the whaling station was still open a tourist fell into the ocean at this spot and was miraculously rescued by the whaling boat. A nice story, but doesn't realy take away from the nastiness of how they used to make a living at the whaling station.

Wed 22nd

2007-08-27T06:10:00.001+01:00

Weather really bad today, stopped off at the most South westerly point in Australia to take some photos of the Cape Leeuwin light house. If the weather had been a little nicer it would have been even more spectaculour than it was. While making my way across some rocks to take some photos of the lighthouse I slipped and managed to get some salt water onto my camera (which was turned on at the time). Unfortunately, I think this has shorted out all the electronics in the camera and turned it into a giant paper weight. I'll have to see if I can get it fixed anywhere.

With the weather being bad I decided to drive on as far as Denmark (not the country). Saw my first few kangaroos since arriving but unfortunately they were dead at the side of the road.

Tues 21st Aug - In vino veritas

2007-08-27T06:07:00.000+01:00

The only sane way to try and get around to see the wineries is to have someone else do the driving. The wine tour was great fun, which took in 5 vineyards, a brewery, a cheese factory and a chocolate factory, mostly locally run boutique places. I'd thoroughly recommend the Bushtucker wine tour. Lunch included kangaroo meat among other things, which was nice.

Our group was made up of a few English people, mostly Australiandws, a few Kiwis and myself. We all got on so well on the tour that a group of us organised to meet up for a drink later in the evening.

Mon 20th Aug - Road trip

2007-08-27T06:02:00.000+01:00

Hit the road at about 10am for the 3 hr trip to Margaret River. Traffic in Perth wasn't too bad and the further outside the city I got the fewer cars there were on the road. It had been overcast and raining in Perth, but about 30km outside the city the weather cleared and it turned into a lovely day. I stopped in Busselton on the way down to take a look at the 2km long jetty which stretches out into the ocean. There's an Underwater Observatory at the end of the jetty which sounded really cool but unfortunately this was closed due to poor visibility, so my visit was a brief one.

I stopped for lunch in Dunsborough before finally arriving in Margaret River. In Dunsborough I paid a visit to the Cape Naturaliste light house and the beach at Eagle bay, both of which are worth a visit. The coast line along here is lines with one beautiful beach after another. When I got myself checked in to some accomodation in Margaret River I set off in seach of a sunset photo, but was minutes too late to catch it, so had to settle for a nice sea food dinner of Marron (fresh water lobster) and booking myself in for a wine tour tomorrow as a consolation. It's a tough life really!

Sunday 19 Aug

2007-08-27T05:58:00.000+01:00

Last night finished late enough at about 3:30, with a few people coming back to Steve & Kelly's place. Feeling slightly hung over most of the day spent vegging in front of the tv before going over to Steve's parents for a barbeque. Felt a bit like being at home in Ireland, mostly thanks to the weather, barbeque cooked outside and ate inside! Paul & Philo are fellow North County Dubliners, from Skerries and Rush, but have been out in this part of the world for quite a while. We had a nice bit of steak, washed down with some of the wine from the Swan Valley. It felt like being at home (in Ireland) for dinner, and was great to meet Steve's parents who certainly made me feel at home. Paul & Philo still have their Irish accents intact. Apparently at work, Steve has to act as intrepreter for anyone who can't understand his Dad's Irish accent!

Sat 18th Aug

2007-08-27T05:54:00.000+01:00

Took a road trip to the Swan Valley, close to Perth for some beer, wine and a spot of lunch. Unfortunately I was driving this time, but was nice to be able to take Steve & Kelly somewhere as they've been ferrying me around since I arrived. We had lunch and some beer at the Duckstein brewery which has a German food and drinks. Not what you'd really expect to find near Perth. We stopped at a couple of the vineyards to sample some wines, unfortunately I didn't get to consume too much of mine but they were all very drinkable. We picked up some vino to bring to Steve's folks house. They've invited us over for a barbeque tomorrow evening.

Saturday night involved a trip to a local bar for one of Kelly & Steve's friends birthdays. Having met a good few of the people who were at last weeks engagement party it was nice to see a few familiar faces.

Fri 17 Aug 2007 - 'Rotto!'

2007-08-27T05:39:00.000+01:00

Had to get up early this morning to make sure I was in the city for shortly after 8am to give enough time to get to the Barrack St jetty for the ferry over to Rottnest island. Rottnest is closest to Fremantle and the ferry from Perth winds its way down the Swan River out to the coast and after stopping in Fremantle , takes you across the Indian Ocean to Rottnest.

The island gets its name from the Dutcfh word for rat's nest, when Willem de Vlamingh, a dutch explorer mistook the Quokka's, a marsupial that is native to the island for large rats when he 'discovered' the island. I only had a couple of hours to enjoy the island, as I had to be back in time to pickup the hire care, so I decided to join a walking tour which brought a small group of us to a lookout point on a hill which takes its name from de Vlamingh. The island is really beautiful with a number of inland lakes that were used in days gone by for harvesting salt, thanks to high salt levels. There is very little traffic on Rottnest, with most people making their way around on foot or by bike. After our tour finished, I went for a bit of a wander down a dirt track which skirted the edge of the salt lakes. I was looking for a clearing in the trees to take a few photos. I wasn't quite prepared for what happened next! There were two sea birds down at the waters edge and I though I might get a good photo if I moved closer to them. I could hear the chirping of another bird coming from the other side of the track I was walking on, but didn't really think anything of it. The two birds that I had been maneouvering my way down to started to fly towards me before I got close enough to take my photo. I thought I might get a photo of the birds flying. What I didn't realise was that they were flying straight for me! The chirping I'd heard was obviously their baby, and I was getting a little too close for their comfort. They dived at me a few times, getting closer and closer each time. Needless to say, I got the message, the first time they did this and was making a hasty retreat from the area!

On my way back to the main settlement I stopped at a spot where you can see some of the Quokka's. You can see how they were mistaken for rats, their tales in particular have a very rat like appearance. They're mainly nocturnal, so they weren't really up to much but I did get to see one of the younger ones getting into its mothers' pouch.

When I got back to the main settlement for some lunch I came across one of the Quokkas who had obviously decided that the day time is a more profitable time to try and get your hands on some of the food being gobbled by the tourists. This fella was much more active than the ones I saw earlier. He wasn't the only animal with that idea, a large number of ravens, sea gulls, and even a couple of peacocks were congregating near the restaurants in the hopes of scavenging some left overs. I saw a couple of sea gulls rather stealthily grab a few chips literally right out of the hands of some unsuspecting tourists. This would result in all the other birds going after the one with the chip!

When I was killing some time before the return ferry trip I went for a walk along the beach and one of the jettys. I got some photos of a stork that was hanging out at the edge of the water which was pretty cool. Both to Fremantle, train to Perth and then picked up the hire car. Nice to have a set of wheels again, even if it is an automatic.

Kelly was out with her work colleagues, so myself and Steve grabbed a few beers and a fantastic Thai takeaway.

Thurs 16 Aug 2007

2007-08-27T05:36:00.000+01:00

Not too much to sort out today. Heading out for dinner tonight, I'm treating the guys to a meal out. We're going to an Italian place. I booked my hire car earlier, which I'm going to be picking up tomorrow afternoon, so I'll have it for the weekend. I'll be able to do some of the driving for a change. Kelly & Steve's 'ute' only fits 2 people, so the guys have been borrowing cars from their parents if the 3 of us are going anywhere, so it'll handy to have the car at the weekend.

Also booked myself in to catch the ferry over to Rottnest island tomorrow morning. Ferry leaves Perth at 8:45 am so its going to be an early start in the morning!

15 Aug - Back in the city

2007-08-23T11:55:00.000+01:00

Popped back in to Perth for a bit more site seeing. Got on a hop on hop off bus tour which brought me to a few spots I hadn't reached on foot. The tour was supposed to include a drive through Kings Park, but this was curtailed slightly by the police having closed off part of the park while they were searching for the body of a woman who's missing.

We had dinner in Kelly's parents house. Myself and Steve stopped for a drink in a pub called the Old Bailey, which you would easily mistake for being somewhere in our part of the world, with the majority of patrons being from England or Scotland. Apparently there's a sizeable chunk of Perth's population which is made up of people from the UK and the odd few Irish thrown in for good measure.

We'd a selection of Thai food for dinner which brought back memories of my recent time spent in that part of the world.

Found a really good deal for car hire when I was in the city earlier, works out at about 30 euro a day for a 1.8l Corolla. You can't really go too far wrong with that.

Tuesday 14th Aug - Fremantle

2007-08-23T11:50:00.000+01:00

Got the train out to 'Freo' for the afternoon, which is a charming little colonial era town just outside Perth. There's lots of maritime history here, with two museums that are worth a visit. One of them focuses on ship wrecks in the vicinity dating back to some of the early European visits to this part of the world in the 1600s.

I had lunch in micro brewery called 'Little Creatures', which my guide book recommended for both the food on the beer. Its definitely worth a visit. Despite it being the middle of winter I was able to sit outside and enjoy my lunch. All the more enjoyable given that it was supposed to rain today.

For anyone who's a fan of the Crocodile Dundee films, apparently Wally's truck or 'ute' in the local parlance, is housed in the motor museum in Fremantle. I was going to pay it a visit but ran out of time.

Monday 13th Aug

2007-08-23T11:47:00.000+01:00

Spent the day wandering around Perth on foot, visiting some of the older parts of the city. Although old is a relative term when the city was only founded in the 1800s. The city centre is quite compact compared to Dublin, but they have embraced the need from some high rise, which leads to an impressive sky line against the back drop of the Swan River. If you venture up to Kings Park which sits on a hill top there is a fantastic view of the city.

Sunday 12th Aug

2007-08-21T02:35:00.002+01:00

We went for a drive up the coas from where Kelly & Steve live. It's really a lovely area, made all the nicer by the weather. Despite it being winter time, its up around 20 degrees with the sun shining, which is just fine with me after the 30 and 40 degree heat I've had for the last 6 weeks!

We stopped for a bit of food and a drink at a place on the coast, with a view of the beach. Kellys parents stopped by to pickup their car which Kelly had borrowed for the weekend. Pauline & Steve haven't lost their accents despite being here in Oz for over 20 years. Kelly was actually born in the UK, and was 2 when they moved here.

Aug 11th - Singapore to Perth

2007-08-21T02:35:00.001+01:00

Up early to get to airport for my flight. Singapore airport is really a nice spot to pass through,. Free internet access is dotted throughout the aiport along with plenty of tv's, free Xbox games for to keep kids (or big kids) occupied and all sorts of other stuff. Lucky for me Perth is in the same time zone as Singapore, so after my 5 hour flight I didn't have to add a time difference to adjust to on top of the travel. Kelly picked me up from the airport and brought me back to her place in Trigg (one of the northern suburbs of Perth). Kelly & Steve's place is just a couple of streets away from the beach and the Indian ocean. It's a really nice area.

Friends of Kelly & Steve are having an engagement party in Fremantle tonight, which I got invited to. It was a nice intro to Perth, going out for a night out on the town as soon as I arrived and a good chance to meet a lot of Kelly & Steve's friends. Having been up at 6:30, I was surprised that I had no problem staying up till 3:30! :)

10 Aug

2007-08-13T06:30:00.000+01:00

Last day in Singapore! I only really have one thing left that I wanted to do here, the Night Safari at the Zoo, so I spent a leisurely morning wandering around some of the shops on Orchard Road and went to see the Simpsons movie. I had heard mixed reviews of the film and have to say I think that they should quit while they're behind. They lost their way on the tv show a good while ago and they don't appear to have improved things in the big screen version.

I caught some of the National Day celebrations yesterday, which was interesting. I managed to make my way to a bridge nearby where most of the activities were going on, but there were too many people for comfort, and I ended up retreating to one of the big screens that was setup around the city centre to watch what was going on. They had an attempt to make the largest human Singapore flag on the ground of the Cricket club, with people using different coloured umbrellas. It looked very funny, but you'd really have had to be on the roof of one of the buildings to see it properly.

Was talking to Kelly earlier, apparently its 16 degrees in Perth and the moment and raining. It'll be nice to escape from the heat for a bit. Apparently I've an engagement part to go to tomorrow night as well, which should be a good chance to meet Kelly and Steve's friends. Am really looking forward to arriving in Oz.

8th August

2007-08-09T06:11:00.000+01:00

I had to figure out which of the remaining tourist attractions that my pass covers that I could fit in today. I decided to pay a visit to Sentosa, and to take a ride in the DHL helium balloon. Sentosa is a man made beach resort which has hotels, restaurants and some attractions, like Sea world in the States. I paid a visit to the Dolphin lagoon and Underwater world which were both pretty good.

The DHL balloon takes you up for a 150m view of the city from the air, which was nice, you get a different perspective on the city when you can see above some of the high rise.

First full day in Singapore

2007-08-09T06:03:00.000+01:00

7th Aug 2007

Spent the day mostly seeing some of the sights. They have a 2 day tourist pass you can buy which covers you for free entry into a whole load of places, as well as the use of a hop on, hop off bus and a Duck tour (like the one they have in Boston or the Viking splash in Dublin). After doing the duck tour, I headed for Chinatown which is worth a visit. I stopped at the Chinatown Heritage Centre which gives you a feel for what life was like for the Chinese who arrived en masse here in Singapore in search of a better life. Probably not all that different an experience from the Irish who left during the famine. Away from home, a lot of them were lured into spending what little money they were able to earn on opium or gambling.

Having skipped lunch, by the time I stopped for food at 7pm I was absolutely starving. I was down at the Esplanade, nearby where the National Day celebrations will be held over the next few days. I found one of the many outdoor hawker centre's where you can sample all kinds of cuisine. While trying to figure out what I was going to have, I was offered a sample of some soup which was really tastey, so I decided to go for that. It was as lot like the hot pot I tried in Beijing, where you get a whole load of raw ingredients (meat and veg) and you cook them yourself. The cooking takes place in a little clay pot which sits on top of a clay holder with charcoal burning away to keep your pot boiling away. Plenty of eating and drinking in it, all for about 3 Euro. Apparently eating and shopping are two of the most popular pasttimes here, certainly eating good food is really cheap.

Farewell to Thailand

2007-08-07T09:00:00.000+01:00

6th of August

I didn't exactly stray too far off the beaten track while I was in Thailand but I had a really good time. I'm sorry not to have made it up to Chang Mai but at the same time I'm glad to have had 2 weeks to chill out in Ko Samui, so I guess I'll just have to come back! Thai people are very friendly and the food in this part of the world is really top notch. They really adore the Royal Family here, you see pictures of the King and Queen all over the place. I've found this quite helpful as one day blurs into the next, as a large number of people wear yellow on Mondays in honour of the King. They do this in honour of the king (who was born on a Monday).

Am waiting for my flight to Singapore and what should be playing in the background, but a cheesy instrumental version of "All kinds of everything...". Cheesy and all as it sounds, Dana's version is probably a little cheesier.

Arriving in Singapore, I decided to make my way into the city by train, which was relatively painless. My hotel is about a 5 minute walk from one of the train stations. Singapore seems like a nice place, although it does feel a little bit artificial, as it it was genetically engineered. I suppose that's partially because its a modern city. The Brits only got here in 1819, sending Sir Stamford Raffles to setup a trading post here. After grabbing a quick bite to eat one of the hawker food courts which is near my hotel, I went for a bit of a wander around downtown Singapore.

I went down to the Esplanade where in 3 days time there is a big celebration kicking off to celebrate Singapore's 42nd birthday, which should be good craic. There's a fireworks display along with a big open air concert. After wandering around the old colonial part of the city, I thought it would be fitting to stop off in Raffles hotel for a drink. Tempted to have a Singapore Sling, I was glad I checked the price list first! There's not too many times you get to drink a cocktail in the bar where it was invented. However, the S$30 price tag, even though they throw in the glass as a souveneir seemed a little expensive, a tad on the tacky side and a little reminiscent of what you'd expect to find at an American themed restaurant like TGI Friday's or Planet Hollywood. I opted for a Tiger beer instead, which at 15 dollars wasn't exactly cheap either, and that was just for a glass. That's before they add on what appears to be the obligatory 10% Service charge and then government tax on top again. The beer did taste good after walking around in the humid evening heat. I didn't expect a drink in Raffles to be cheap by any means, but I don't think its likely to become my local boozer while I'm here in Singapore.

Heading back to my hotel, it dawned on me that this is the first place I've been to in 6 weeks, where you don't have to worry about the quality of the tap water. On the whole Singapore seems like a really nice spot and I'm looking forward to doing some sight seeing tomorrow.

5th Aug 2007 - Back in Bangkok

2007-08-07T08:52:00.000+01:00

I'm back at the Siam Heritage hotel for my last night in Thailand. Not sure if it's pure chance or because I'm a return cusstomer but they've upgraded me to a suite! My room comes with no less than 2 tvs, 2 air con units, a very large bathroom, a small kitchen and lounge area and a bedroom. They also gave me a complimentary 30 min head and shoulder massage. Altogether not a bad result!

After calling home from an internet cafe I went in to a Japanese restaurant which I don't think I noticed the last time I was here. Then went down to the Patpong night market which isn't too far from the hotel. Before anyone makes any snide remarks I wasn't searching out any of the bars that line the street here. I came in search of a few souveneirs, which I picked up. Even though I paid a fifth of the original asking price, I'm sure I've still just paid above the odds. Anyway, its nice to have something to remember my visit by.

Couple of quiet beers then off to bed, have to get up at 7 in the morning, Singapore here I come.

4th Aug 2007

2007-08-07T08:51:00.001+01:00

Rented a jeep for the afternoon and headed off to visit the Na Muang waterfall at the opposite end of the island. Thankfully this 2nd outing around the island was much less eventful than my last one! :)

My last night here in Ko Samui and I'm looking forward to the next phase of my travel adventure.

Paid one final visit to the bar at the Waterfront, (where I'm not actually staying tonight).

This is the life!

2007-08-03T04:37:00.001+01:00

You know, I could definitely get used to this whole idea of living on a tropical island by the ocean. I haven't really been up to much for the last few days. I've been taking it easy, planning roughly what I want to do with my 6 weeks in Australia. If you're coming to Ko Samui and are looking for a nice quiet, relaxing place to come while you're here I'd recommend coming to the Waterfront in Bophut. There are a few draw backs, you can't swim in the water on the beach directly outside the hotel because of some dead coral being just off the beach, and the sand is quite coarse but it's a really a charming spot. Very chilled out atmosphere.

Most of the guests who've been here at the same time as me have been leaving over the last few days, so I'm happy to be moving on myself on Sunday. There was usually a good crowd around the bar here in the evenings, which has been good fun. Although, I think I could do with taking it a little easy on the alcohol for the next week or so! There's been a respectable representation from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales into the wee hours of the morning on more than one occasion!!

Still alive!

2007-07-28T12:47:00.000+01:00

In case anyone was wondering, I am still alive and well in Ko Samui. I haven't posted in a while, no excuses really, other than I've been enjoying chilling out here in Bophut. So here's what I've been up to:

Sunday 22nd of July
Yet another plane journey! This time a two leg trip from Siem Reap to Bangkok and then no to Ko Samui. Bangkok Air have a very nice lounge in the airport in Bangkok, with free food, soft drinks and internet access for any of their passengers. While checking my email I heard a few Irish accents beside me. 3 girls from Sligo were also checking their email, and as it turned out were sitting beside me, on the same flight as me to Ko Samui. My hotel here is a charming placed called the Waterfront which site right alongside Bophut beach. There are a number of rooms and what they call 'bungalows' surrounding a central courtyard where the bar and a small pool are. I'm looking forward to some R&R here.

Monday 23rd July

Very eventful day today, most of which was spent lying in a hammock which hangs in the shade between 2 palm trees, listening to music and reading my book!

Friday 27th of July

More of the same for the last few days, just chilling out here at the hotel. Have enjoyed taking it easy. There's some really great restaurants here in Bophut. Whether you want Asian or Western food they have somewhere to serve up what you're looking for. On my first night here I had a fantastic steak in an American grill place, run by a guy from New York. After eating Asian food for the last 4 weeks it was very nice to tuck in to a big juicy steak. There's also a great Italian place wihch is run by Malcolm (an Irish guy) and Guido, his Italian business partner. Malcolm got chatting to me while I was looking at their menu, and started off with "Where are you from", and turned into, "What part of Dublin are from". He's been living in Asia for the last 40 years, and is married to a Thai woman, and has been here in Samui for the last few years. Their restaurant didn't disappoint either, fantastic pizza and pasta. Malcolm is from a small village just outside Killarney.

Today, I rented a scooter and headed off to explore the island. It was great to be able to head off under my own steam and stop off anywhere I wanted along the way. I had lunch in Chaweng which is the next resort down the road from where I am. I'm very glad to be in Bophut. In comparison Chaweng is very heavily developed. There's a lovely beach there but a little too many bars/restaurants, along with McDonalds, Starbucks and various other Western chains. After lunch I found some really nice beaches down on the south part of the island, which literally had nobody on them. Check out some of my photos from Samui to take a look. Stopped for a soft drink after in a little bar that looks out on to the beach.

After leaving the beach, had a small mishap on the scooter, when going from a car park back on to the road, the scooter skidded out from under me, and then landed on top of me. Thankfully I was only doing about 2 km an hour and didn't end up with any worse than a few cuts, like you'd get from tripping and falling. Having been very careful on the thing I was kicking myself for having come away with a few scratches. Anyway, I'm fine, nothing too serious. The Thai family that run the bar came running out to my aid with cotton wool and some disinfectant and helped me clean myself up.

My plan was to stop off at one of the beaches which is meant to have the best sunset, but while searching for a pharmacy, I must have passed it. I got myself bandaged up at the pharmacy and then stopped at another small beach in Nathon, to get some snaps of the sunset, and then made my way back to Bophut.

All in all a pretty eventful day. I went back to Villa Bianca for a pizza and Malcolm insisted on plying me with a few brandy's as a disinfectant for my 'Samui tattoo' that I picked up from the scooter.

Friday 20th July

2007-07-21T04:21:00.000+01:00

I'm very glad I brought an alarm clock with me. I'd organised a hotel wake up call for 4am but thankfully wasn't relying on that, as it didn't materialise. Had a quick shower and pulled on some clothes and went down to find the night porter fast asleep. It was nice though to see that they also have a security guard outside the hotel at night, and he was wide awake. My tuk tuk arrived on time and we set off for Angkor Wat. It was still pitch black when we got there. Thankfully my tuk tuk driver had a torch with him which he very kindly lent to me so I could find my way up the steps and across the causeway that you bring you in to Angkor Wat. I turned off the torch and gradually my eyes adjusted to the darkness and was accompanied by some eerie sounds from all manner of insects and other creatures. When I arrived at one of the pools of water that sit in front of the temple I discovered that I was the only tourist there, at that stage. This however was short lived. Before 1st light I was joined by 3 other Irish people, a girl from Roundwood in Wicklow and her 2 friends from Bray. It was just the four of us while the first glimmer of sun light started to appear and within another 10 mins or so, gradually more and more tourists started to arrive until about 5:45, at which point the place was packed with tourists.

I suppose it makes sense to go that early because you can avoid the worst of the heat, but I actually enjoyed wandering around the temples on Wednesday morning with relatively few people around. I took lots of photos as the sun was coming up and am hoping they all came out well, although the speed of the internet connections here in Siem Reap isn't great, so it'll be a while before I get the photos uploaded.

The range of tv channels on offer at the hotel, gives some indication of the range of visitors they get here in Siem Reap. There's everything from CNN & BBC World to local channels sitting alongside Japanese, Malaysian Chinese, Korean and Indian channels. I've been able to watch a bit of the Golf at Carnoustie, it's good to see Paul McGinley played well in the first round, hopefully he'll be able to keep it up.

Thursday 19th July

2007-07-21T04:04:00.000+01:00

Even though I woke up quite early there was no way I'd have made it to Angkor Wat this morning. A day in Siem Reap was on the cards. I got talking to Jeff, one of the owners of the hotel and he made a few recommendations of stuff to do while I'm here. He's a retired Australian who's chosen to base himself here. He invested in the hotel along with 2 other Australians. I decided to go on an afternoon trip to the Tonle Sap lake to have some dinner, a few drinks and watch the sun set. After getting up I went down to the Old Market to have a look around and grabbed some food at a place called the Funkey Monkey that's run by an English couple. They invited me along to a Table Quiz night they have every Thursday, which I would have liked to go to, but would have scuppered all chances of seeing the sun rise at Angkor Wat.

The Tara River boat was recently done up by a couple of Australian guys. It was well worth the visit. The water level isn't yet at its highest level, so I was collected from my hotel and taken by car to a nearby floating village where I was taken by a small boat out to where the larger river boat was at anchor. The 'captain' of the small boat thta I was in couldn't have been more than 12 years old, accompanied by his younger brother who I'd say was about 7. No radio, no GPS, although there was one life jacket which I presume was meant for me. On the way out to the lake the younger of the 2 guys pointed out a few things to me; fish farms, crocodile famrs, churches, schools and even a basketball court which were all wooden structures floating on the water.

At one point I thought I was the only person who was going to be there. But after an hour of having the boat to myself a few other tourists, and the Aussie owners turned up. The sunset was really nice and I'm glad I went out on the lake. You get to see what life is really like for some of the Cambodians living in rural parts of the country. Probably not a million miles away from rural Ireland's poor from days gone by, libing off the land.

The short boat ride out to the Tara in the smaller boat was made all the more interesting by a few Cambodians in rowing boats launching themselves at out boat in what looked like an attempt to board the boat I was in, but in actual fact was them trying to come alongside the boat to see if I wanted to buy anything to drink! This happened a couple of different times on the way to and from the river boat. Invariably the seller of the soft drinks would be a young child accompanied by older brother and sister or by parents.

On the way back to shore the engine of the small boat I was in cut out a few times. However, my two young Cambodian captains appeared to know what they were doing. They got the engine restarted each time, except when it finally cut out just as we got back to the spot where they moor their boat. They attached their boat awkwardly to one of the other boats and we were able to make it to shore by hopping across a couple of other boats until finally making it to shore. Luckily there was still some light from the sun at this point as I wouldn't have fancied jumping from one boat to another in the dark!

The car ride back to SIem Reap was intersting, no a dirt track thats lined with houses, bars and restaurants which are all built on the water (on stilts). There's no electricity out this way, but people have power through batteries and generators. A lot of the bars we passed had sings outside advertising karaoke and the range of local beers on offer. In most places hammocks seemed to be the seating on offer.

While we were sitting on the river watching the sun go down, drinking a beer or two, you do find yourslef aksing the question, "Where else would you rather be?". When I got back to the hotel I went for a boring early night after arranging a tuk tuk to take me to Angkor Wat at 4:30.

Wednesday 18th July

2007-07-20T08:14:00.000+01:00

Up at 6:30 to have breakfast and sort out my plan for the day. Tried joining a group tour but the hotel weren't able to organise that for me. Its the low season here at the moment, so I got myself a guide for the day along with a tuk-tuk to take us around to the major temples. We left the hotel at 8am and came back at around 4:30pm. After spending the full day in the heat I was pretty wiped out. Its about 35 degrees here in Siem Reap in the middle of the day and slightly humid, so it feels a good bit warmer.

My temple visits included Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and all of the surrounding smaller temples, the names of which probably wont mean anything to you, so I wont bore you with the details. Some of the smaller temples are being invaded by the jungle. There are literally trees growing on top of some of the temples with the trees roots sprouting down to the ground and then into the ground. In a few places these trees are supporting the decaying structure of some of the temples, but in others they're contributing to the collapse of some of the temples.

Having been responsible for a lot of destruction in this part of the world during the 2nd World War, its nice to see that a lot of the restoration projects that are going on here are being part funded by the Japanese Government. According to my guide, the main focus of the Cambodian government is on the two main temples, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, so its nice to see that funds from other countries are helping to keep the other temples standing as well.

Had dinner in the FCC here in Siem Reap which is the sister hotel of the place I stayed in Phnom Penh. I would have liked to stay at the FCC here as well, but its about 2 or 3 times the price of the one in Phnom Penh and is a much more swanky affair. Had a nice meal though, having had some local Khmer food at lunch, I went for a pizza which was very good. I headed off to bed early with the intention of trying to get up early for sun-rise at Angkor Wat, but I knew by the time I got back to my room that I probably wasn't going to be able to get up before 5, will have to fit that in on Friday.

Plenty of Irish people around here, met a girl from Athy who now lives in Boston while looking at some of the Temple Ruis. She's en route to Oz and NZ as well. Seems to be plenty of people with similar ideas!

Tuesday 17th July

2007-07-20T08:05:00.000+01:00

Where would we be without the internet? Even though I have a guidebook that covers all of the places I'm visiting on my travels, you really can't beat going into an internet cafe to do some research, read some experiences of fellow travellers, check your email and even keep up with what's going on back home via the Irish Times. Travelling in the 21st century the world definitely feels like a very small place. Last night I was able to call home via Skype for the first time, its been the first time I've been in a decent internet cafe at the same time as Mum has been at home. Not quite as good as a regular phone call, but close enough. If anything I'd say an of the times the call went a bit dodgy it was probably caused by Mum's NTL connection.

Having another lazy day today just killing the few hours before my flight this evening to Siem Reap. For anyone coming here to Phnom Penh I'd recommend you visit the FCC, whether to stay, eat or drink its worth a visit.

My hotel at Siem Reap had organised a free hotel pickup for me. What I didn't know until I arrived was that the mode of transport was a tuk-tuk. So upon arrival in Siem Reap I had my trusty tuk-tuk driver waiting to take me to the hotel. The guy thought it was going to rain, so he pulled down a covering at either side of the tuk-tuk to protect me from the down pour and he pulled out his rain coat for him. The poor driver is a little more exposed to the elements. Each country I've visitied has its own unique style of tuk-tuk. India's are noisy affairs with a two stroke engine, where it seems that a khamakazee attitude is a pre-requisite to driving one. The ones in Bangkok are far more luxurious in comparison, almost looking like all terrain vehicles with a comfortable back seat, but they probably go even faster than the ones in India. The Cambodian tuk-tuks are completely different. They're basically a motor cycle pulling a trailer where the trailer consists of the seating area for the passengers. I wouldn't say the motor cycles are any more than 100cc, so travelling by tuk-tuk is much more relaxed, laid back experience, and a lot less hair raising.

Arrived at my hotel and got a bite to eat, although it doesn't look like the hotel has too many guests at the moment. When I went upstairs to get a bite to eat the place was deserted apart from a few staff. It looked like they were in the process of shutting up shop for the night, even though it was only 7:30. There seems to be a lot of hotels here in Siem Reap to cater for the tourists visiting Angkor Wat, but I'd say in the low season they all have difficulty filling themselves.

Monday 16th July

2007-07-16T13:35:00.000+01:00

My last full day in Cambodia's Capital. Spent another leisurely afternoon visiting some of the sights. After stopping briefly at the Independence Monument which celebrates the Vietnamese liberation of the country, I paid a visit to the Genocide Museum. Before being turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge this series of buildings used to be a school. It was used as a detention and interrogation centre while Pol Pot presided over the murder of countless Cambodians. Visiting this place leaves you with some concept of the horrors experienced here in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. I opted not to visit the Killing Fields which is where most of the people detained ended up.

The Central Market in Phnom Penh, housed in an Art Deco building was built on reclaimed land. It houses countless stalls selling all sorts of stuff from jewels & jewellery to clothes, electronics and souvenirs for the tourists. I was tempted to buy a tripod for my camera but realised that despite how good I think my bargaining skills may have become over the last few weeks, I didn't have enough cash on me.

My last stop was Wat Phnom, around which the city of Phnom Penh was founded. The temple here sits on a hill land had a gathering of monkeys around the grounds, being fed fruit by some of the locals.

I'm looking forward to finally seeing the Angkor temples when I move on to Siem Reap tomorrow. Its funny how quickly the time goes by, I'm 3 weeks on the road today. It doesn't seem as long as that!

Sunday 15th July

2007-07-16T13:31:00.001+01:00

Being a Sunday, a day of rest I decided not to play tourist today. Caught up on current affairs and later on, moved up to the bar for a leisurely evening. Just as I left my room the heavens opened and I was very glad to be inside. The bar is open to the elements but if you're at the right end of the bar (depending on the direction the wind is blowing) you're sheltered from it all. There's definitely something appealing about this city, can't quite put my finger on it. There seems to be a fairly vibrant expat community, combined with the French influence I feel like it wouldn't be the worst of places to end up for a while. There's quite a lot of Australian and French tourists as well.

Saturday 14th of July

2007-07-15T06:14:00.001+01:00

Enjoyed a leisurely first day in Phnom Penh. Didn't check the guidebook until after I had breakfast and only discovered at that stage that most of the tourist sites close between 11am and 2pm. In the light of day the area that I'm in is really nice, Sisowath Quay runs alongside where the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers meet, with a nice promenade running along the length of the quay as well as a number of bars restaurants and shops dotted along the road. The place definitely has a European feel to it. My hotel, the Foreign Correspondents Club, despite the name has only been here since the early 90s, its really a restaurant and bar but they have a small handful of rooms on the first floor.

Got bitten by a mosquito during the night despite liberal application of insect repellant. From talking to the Irish couple I met last night they were telling me that they'd heard about an outbreak of Dengue fever in this part of the world. So here's hoping I wont get that, by all accounts it doesn't sound like a very pleasant experience. Like Malaria its transmitted by infected mosquitos but in the case of Dengue the only preventative measure is to not get bitten. They had a friend of theirs who was in this part of the world a couple of years ago who caught Dengue fever but had moved on to Australia by the time the symptoms started to show. Apparently the guy was quarantined in Australia and was stuck in the hospital for 6 weeks before getting the all clear. The chances of catching it are very slim, but fingers crossed I wont be one of the few that does! :)

After a bit of lunch I paid a visit to the Royal Palace and the National Museum which are both just around the corner from where I'm staying. The architecture in this part of the world for traditional buildings is pretty spectacular, but the impact of it is slightly lessened the more of these similar places you visit in a short period! The Cambodian Royal Palace is similar in a lot of ways to the Thai one. Was funny to see groups of Buddhist monks in their Orange robes, visiting this place as tourists as well, getting their photos taken in front of the various buildings.

As with India, there's a sizeable gathering of motor cycle taxis, rickshaws and taxi drivers outside the hotel waiting to pounce on anyone leaving any of the bars, restaurants or hotels in the area, but they do seem to get the message when you say 'No', although maybe my 'No' has become a little firmer in the last few weeks! The Royal Palace was worth a visit, all of the buildings are filled with beautifully intricate paintings on their ceilings which unfortunately you're not allowed to photograph. The National Museum (as with the one in Delhi) was probably missable. I must remember that the next time I feel the desire to visit a museum! Weather is warm here, probably around 30 degrees but not really humid and am feeling comfortable (ish) during the day, must be getting more used to the heat.

Just had dinner here at the hotel restaurant and I have to say that Cambodian Khmer food is fantastic. I just had some veggy spring rolls and a fish curry for main course and its definitely the nicest meal I've had since my travels began. Melt in the mouth fresh water fish cooked in a coconut milk based curry sauce. Might have to try and get my hands on a Khmer cook book before I leave. Phnom Penh has a laid back feel to the place, although maybe that's just my perception from the limited part of the city I've seen so far, with the colonial French influence very much evident in the architecture of the buildings in this part of the city.

Earlier today on my way back to the hotel I did something I'm normally dead against doing when away from home. I'd passed a "Rory's Irish bar" on the way to the National Museum and ventured in for a drink. Complete with picture of Michael Collins above the bar along with various GAA paraphanalia it was nice to have a small taste of home (even if I was drinking Tiger beer).

Need to figure out the plan for tomorrow but the Genocide Museum, Russian Market and Wat Phnom (from where the city gets its name) look like they're worth a visit. I think I'll give the Killing Fields a miss, a little bit too much like visiting one of the Nazi concentration camps, not exactly my idea of a tourist attraction.

Friday 13th

2007-07-15T06:09:00.001+01:00

Last day in Bangkok

Hadn't realised I'd be flying to Cambodia on Friday the 13th! Thankfully no mishaps along the way. After re-arranging my luggage so that I could leave one of my bags at the hotel while I head off to Cambodia and Ko Samui, and killing some time at an internet cafe I grabbed some lovely Thai food at the hotel restaurant. The food in this part of the world is top notch. Didn't really have time to do anything else after all that.

After arriving at my hotel in Phnom Penh I went up to the bar for a drink (the place is really a bar/restaurant but they have 3 rooms as well for people to stay), I got chatting to an Irish couple that sat down beside me. You really can't go anywhere without bumping into people from home! They're from Roscommon but live in Dublin, and had spent the last month in Vietnam with their last few days in Cambodia.

First impressions of Phnom Penh are that it has a lot of similarities with New Delhi. Wide colonial tree lined streets. With lots of street stalls and activitiy going on after dark. Haven't really seen much of the city as yet but am looking forward to exploring over the next few days.

Bangkok Continued.........

2007-07-12T14:44:00.000+01:00

Went to the Royal Barge Museum, Chinatown and the Temple of the Golden Buddha today. Royal Barge Museum was fun to get to, I came across 2 other groups of tourists trying to find their way there, in the end we figured out how to get there, but they don't exactly make it easy for you. You have to go down through this alley way where there you're literally walking by the front doors of people's houses through this narrow alley way that does not look like it has anything at the end of it. You can of course get to museum by the river as well, but none of the public boats stop there. The barges are used for special ceremonies and are used to transport the king down the river.

Chinatown was an experience, between vast numbers of stalls on the footpath selling any manner of things, to the sites and smells of food being cooked on the side of the road, and in the restaurants. I had a tastey dim sum lunch in a restaurant I came across and then went off in search of the Temple of the Golden Buddah which is in Chinatown.

Am starting to feel a little travel weary at this stage, only being in each place for a couple of days before moving on to the next place is a bit of a pain (poor me, I can hear you say as you're reading this!). Am looking forward to my 2 weeks in Ko Samui where I wont be moving around too much.

Bangkok Site Seeing

2007-07-11T12:10:00.000+01:00

Set off from the hotel to explore Bangkok. Felt a little hotter today but that was probably because I wore trousers and a shirt (they have a strict dress code in the Royal Palace, although they do loan out clothes for people who are unsuitably dressed). Went on the BTS Skytrain, which is one of the train systems they have here in Bangkok, its ultra modern and puts anything we have back home to shame. I think its about 5 or 6 years old, but it looks brand spanking new. Anyway, got the train a few stops down to the river, where you can get boats that go up and down to piers along the way, and you can hop on and off to go and visit parts of the city that are close by, which is pretty handy.

Went to see the Royal Palace, which also contains the Wat Phra Kaeo temple containing the Emerald Buddha. Just as I was arriving at the Royal Palace the heavens opened and the rain started, although thankfully it didn't last too long. While waiting for the rain to stop I discovered there was a free tour in English starting at 1:30 which I joined and we had a guide taking us around to some of the highlights of the Royal Palace. The Emerald Buddha has 3 different costumes that are changed depending on the seasons (by the king).

Wat Pho was next on my list of destinations, which contains the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Also here, is a centre for traditional Thai medicine and massage. I was feeling a little weary after my couple of hours site seeing so decided to get a half hour massage.

Across the river from here is Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn), which you get to by taking a 30 second boat trip to the other side of the river. This place is apparently Bangkok's most distinctive land mark. I walked up the steps as far as you can go up this thing, which was an experience. The second set of steps is incredibly steap, and each step is pretty high. Thai people aren't exactly that tall, so you'd wonder why they'd go and build something that is so difficult to get up! :)

Bangkok

2007-07-10T14:00:00.000+01:00

Arrived safely in Bangkok (along with my luggage) after a brief stop in Singapore. Flight wasn´t too bad, 5 hours from Delhi to Singapore and another 2 hours from there to Bangkok after an hour and a half stop over. Singapore airport is a nice place to be stuck for a few hours, was sorry I didn´t have more time there, they have a whole load of free stuff for passengers passing through the airport on their way to other places.

Landed in Bangkok at 10am and had made it to the hotel by midday. After checking in and getting something to eat I went straight to bed for a nap, as I hadn´t really slept on the flight. My first impressions of Bangkok are that its very western in appearance, in comparison to some of the other parts of Asia that I´ve been to. I have a feeling that I´m not going to experience much of the ´real´ Thailand between here and Ko Samui. Having said that, after my 2 weeks in India, its nice to be in a relatively clean modern city, staying in a nice hotel where electricity and hot water are both reliably supplied! Its about 30 degrees here at the moment, a little humid but is definitely cooler than India.

Emerged from the hotel to go for a wander around my immediate surroundings, to be greeted by heavy rain. I had to go back to my room to retrieve an umbrella from my room that was provided by the hotel. So far have only made it down the road to an ATM to get some Thai Baht and to get a bite to eat (can´t remember what I had, some noodle dish but it was lovely).

2007-07-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

Amn't up to much today either. My flight is tonight and I don't really have anything left to do in Delhi, bar perhaps going to get a photo of India Gate and possibly some shopping. Although, I have just spent some time adding a new map to my blog! Have to credit Graham with the idea. I'll try to update my map more often than Graham updated his! :)

India Gate

Thankfully the monsoon rains have caused the temperature to drop by a few degrees. It's much more bearable, but it does come with the impending threat of the heavens opening at any moment! Got an email from Grainne & James (who I met in Dublin airport), they've moved on to Bangkok as of yesterday and we're going to try and meet up for a drink when I get there.

I was thinking that the cinema might be a good option today to kill some time and to avoid the heat, as I've pretty much seen all of the sites that I'm interested in here in Delhi. There are some multiplex cinemas here showing the latest blockbusters in English but unfortunately they all appear to be well outside the city centre. Any of the ones in the city centre are only showing the latest Bollywood releases. Not really wanting a hefty rickshaw fare just to catch a film I decided to have a leisurely afternoon with some lunch and possibly a bit of shopping, so I headed to Connaught Place after stopping off at India Gate to take some photos.

Final thoughts on India before I head onwards:

- I'd definitely recommend visiting, although if your reasonably sane I'd say you should probably avoid coming here in the summer months if at all possible, unless you're a fan of oppresive heat.
- If (like me) you just want to see the Taj Mahal you could see Delhi and Agra in a week, although that would be a shame as the country is huge and there is a lot more to see than just these 2 places.
- My main regret is that I didn't get to see some of the other spots in Rajasthan, namely Jodphur, Jaisalmer and Udaipur which sound like they're probably worth a visit. Although you always have to strike a balance between having enough time in each place and seeing as much as possible!
- If you're coming here to India and money isn't too much of an issue, if you don't like the sound of being hassled at airports, train stations and outside your hotel by rickshaw drivers (among others), its probably worth considering hiring a car & driver to take you around for a few days, it's relatively inexpensive to do this. However after my initial annoyances of the first day I've viewed all of that as part of the experience.
- If you see constant electricity, and hot water as essential to any stop in a hotel then I'd suggest that the budget accomodation in India isn't for you! India is very much a developing country, so if you like your creature comforts you might want to come here on a package deal that includes stays in 5 star accomodation. However, if you do that I don't think you'd really experience the full depth of the place.

2007-07-08T09:21:00.001+01:00

Sunday 8th July

Not much to report for today, have checked out of my hotel and am just killing time until I catch the train back to Delhi. Flying on to Thailand tomorrow night.

2007-07-08T09:06:00.000+01:00

Saturday 7th July

Set out by auto-rickshaw for the Amber and Jaigarh forts which are about 11km north east of Jaipur. The options for getting up to the fort once you arrive in Amber are to go by jeep, by elephant or on foot. I opted for the latter, although was tempted by the idea of travelling by elephant! The poor elephants aren't exactly in the best of locations. Rajasthan isn't exactly a wet tropical climate and the few spots that might have water for them to bath in are nothing more than muddy puddles at this time of the year. Both of these forts are on the side of a hill, on the outskirts of Jaipur. Parts of this place reminded me of my visit to the Great wall of China a couple of years ago with structures stretching into the distance.

The views from both forts were pretty cool, with Jaigarh fort sitting further up the same hilltop as the Amber fort. I opted to continue on foot for the up hill journey to Jaigarh, although I did find myself questioning the wisdom of that option in the mid-morning heat on more than one occasion. I didn't come across any other westerners on the way up, although was joined by a few Indians. Thankfully there were a few stalls selling nice cold bottles of water once I reached the top, and there was also a nice shady ara to sit down. Without the water and the shade I probably would have been in a bit of a bad way after the long up hill walk in the heat, as I was feeling a little de-hydrated.

One of the main attractions of Jaigarh fort is a huge cannon made in the fort foundry which was constructed in Mughal times, dating from 1720 it has a barrel around 6m long made from a mixture of 8 different metals and weighs 50 tonnes. To fire it requires 100 kg of gunpowder and it has a range of 30km, although its debatable how many times this monster cannon was actually used.

Cannon at Jaigarh

The walk back down from Jaigarh to the village was much easier and enjoyable despite an increase in the temperature. I bumped into 3 local lads on their way home from school who have to walk up and down the steep path at least once every day. They caught me having a rest on the way down, and assuming I was on my way up to the fort invited me to join them on their up-hill walk. After chatting to them briefly I wished them well and continued the descent. A little further down I met a Canadian guy from Toronto who was on his way up. His first question was 'Is it worth it?', referring to the up-hill walk. When I explained what was to be found up at the Jaigarh fort he decided that the long up-hill walk probably wasn't worth collapsing over in the middle of the hottest part of the day and joined me on the walk back down to the village! We exchanged a few Indian travel tales on the way down and then went our separate ways. On the way back to Jaipur I stopped to take a photo of the 'Lake Palace', a fairly misleading name at this time of year as the lake is pretty non-existant.

The Lake Palace.

I had planned to go to the 'Monkey Temple' which is meant to be worth a visit at sun-set when large numbers of monkeys descend on the place, however this wasn't really an option due to some heavy rain showers. Instead I decided to grab something to eat at the OM restaurant which revolves to give good views of Jaipur from the 14th floor of the hotel that its part of. Unfortunately with the rain the visibility wasn't that great, and they didn't turn on the revolving mechanism until I was finished eating. It was a little odd being in what is supposed to be one of the top restaurants in the city and they didn't serve any alcohol.

Am travelling back to Delhi tomorrow evening by train for my last night in India!

2007-07-08T08:45:00.000+01:00

Fri 6th July - Jaipur Day 2

Forgot to mention an interesting experience that I had yesterday while waiting for my train at Bharatpur. I had a few people that were looking at me (as the only westerner on the platform) and chatting amongst themselves. It was a little unnerving at first as a gang of 5 or 6 guys came over to talk to me. In situations like this I'm aware that I'm travelling solo in a foreign country. However, the group of guys were merely curious to find out where I was from, what I'd been doing in Bharatpur and where I was going. I think they were just looking for an opportunity to practice their English. They were soon joined by another guy with better English who works for the Indian government, and at that point a few more interested natives came over to check out the white guy! :)

The guy who worked for the government was genuinely really friendly, he's from Jaipur and was full of info on places to go etc and made sure I knew which train carriage I needed to get on, although I'd figured this out already having travelling by train already. When you purchase a ticket here you are assigned a seat in a particular carriage, but its not all that difficult to figure out as the carriages all have a letter and number on the outside, so you know which one to get on. After having been made wary of people in Agra and Delhi it was refreshingly different to just have a chat with a few of the locals.

My train carriage was full of a few different groups of westerners. There was a Canadian and American girl that I didn't get chatting to on the train, but have bumped into on three separate occasions over the last few days here in Jaipur, its funny how you keep seeing the same people doing the tour of the various sites! I was sitting beside an Australian from Brisbane and an American from Vegas who were part of a group of westerners doing volunteer work here in India for the last few months. They were nearing the end of their time here and were being taken on a whistle stop tour of a few cities by their Indian hosts. The girls very kindly shared some of their food with me, which included a few Indian nibbles, one of which wasn't a million miles away from being similar to Turkish Delight, although is made from pumpkin of all things.

On my first day in Jaipur I got to see a few of the centrally located sites. First off we stopped off briefly at the Albert Hall which was built in honour of the Prince of Wales visit in 1876. The Albert Hall now houses the Central Museum which contains a collection of artifacts, paintings, carpets and other items of historical significance from around Rajasthan. Unfortunately though, because this was a Friday the museum was closed for whatever reason. In preparation of the Prince of Wales visit in 1876 Jaipur was painted pink, this is why Jaipur is known as "The Pink City". The pink section of the city is the old part of the city, which is partially surrounded by a wall which has a series of gates at intervals. Jaipur outgrew the boundary of this wall and has sprawled outwards.

The main attraction of the Old city is the City Palace where the current Rajasthan Royal Family still live in a part of the palace. Apparently the current Maharaja is a great polo chum of Prince Charles. Jaipur gets its name from Jai Singh II who came to power at the age of 11 after the death of his father, Maharaja Bishan Singh. It's said that at age 15 Jai Singh met with the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (remember him, he was the one who seized power from Sha Jahan - who built the Taj). When the emperor grasped the young lad's hand the youth retorted that, as the emperor had extended the traditional gesture of protection offered by a bridegroom to his new wife by taking his hand, it was incumbent upon Aurangzeb to protect the young ruler and his kingdom in a similar fashion. This earned Jai Sing the title 'Sawai' which means 'one and a quarter', a title that was proudly borne by all of Jai Singh's descendants. Today there is still a quarter sized flag flying next to the full size version when the Maharaja is in residence.

One and a quarter flags!

Beside the city palace is Jantar Mantar, the name is derived from the Sanskrit 'yanta mantr' which means 'instrument of calculation'. Before building this observatory in 1728, Jai Singh sent scholars abroad to study foreign constructs. It contains a collection of sun dials for charting the suns annual progress through the zodiac as well as other devices to measure the position of the stars, calculate eclipses and even to predict the arrival of the monsoon rains.

Jaipur

2007-07-06T13:17:00.000+01:00

Thurs 5th of July

Slept really badly last night thanks to the part of my a/c unit that actually cools the air shutting up shop at about 1am. Wolk up shortly after that in a pool of my own sweat. It brought back memories of the summer I spent in the States, when we had no air conditioning.

Hung out in my room again today which probably wasn't the most productive use of my time but after the hassle factor of travelling in India so far, it was nice to chill out and read a book for a bit. Although I found myself a little bored in Bharatpur I'd thoroughly recommend stopping off at the Birder's Inn (where I was staying for the last few days) either just for a bite to eat or for a night or two. The food was lovely here and the staff really go out of their way to make you feel welcome.

Train arrived on time in Jaipur and I've made it safely to the guest house where I'm staying for the next 3 nights. I've organised an auto-rickshaw for the first half of the day tomorrow to take me around to some of the sites in Jaipur for the princely sum of 150 Rs (about 2.50 Euro). The rickshaw driver gave me a whole speel about not trying to take me somewhere that he gets commission if I buy a souveneir which is what all the drivers in Agra & Delhi are up to. He did however make a suggestion that I stay somewhere else, which I'm sure is a variation on a them. To be fair I'm actually getting a good deal from him (provided he lives up to his side of the bargain)

Am looking forward to exploring Jaipur over the next few days.

Bharatpur

2007-07-03T11:29:00.000+01:00

Monday 2nd July

Fatehpur Sikri and Bharatpur

Took the easy (and realively expensive) option of getting a car from the hotel to take me to Bharatpur, stopping off at Fatehpur Sikri on the way. It's nice to now be away from the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities for the next few days. Fatehpur Sikri was interesting with some beautiful Mughal architecture but at this point in my Indian trip its starting to become a little samey. There's only so many forts, mosques, tombs etc that you can look at before you start to get just a little bit bored. I'm still enjoying it but am looking forward to moving on to Thailand next week.

The road from Agra to Bharatpur was ful of Massey Fergusson tractors pulling trailers laden with all sorts of stuff which I suppose goes to show that rural areas whether you're in India or Ireland are not that different! Bharatpur is a small village with a few sites to see, the main attraction being the Keoladeo Ghana National Park which is a bird sanctuary and World Heritage site. Ironically what is now a sanctuary was originally a duck shooting preserve made for Maharaja Suraj Mahl of Bharatpur in the 1850s. A large tablet near a small temple in the park records that 12 Nov 1938 was a paticularly bad day to be a duck - 4273 birds were shot by 39 guns, of which the then Viceroy of India Lord Linthigo killed about 2000.

Arrived at the guest house in Bharatpur mid-afternoon and decided to wait to venture into the park until tomorrow, as I have two full days here before I move on to my final Indian destination before heading back to Delhi, Jaipur. (not the restaurant in Malahide/town in case anyone is wondering why I'm coming back to Dublin!). My apologies to anyone expecting photos of the Taj Mahal etc, I've fallen hopelessly behind on my photo uploading. The PCs in internet cafes here are not the fastest things on the planet and the internet connection tends to be a bit patchy. I probably wont get my photos uploaded until I'm in Jaipur/back in Delhi.

My room here has some sort of contraption for killing mosquitos, so I'm hoping I don't get bitten here. I've got my own gadget which is supposed to keep a 20 cubic metre area clear of insects which you plug in at night time. I'll be using that along with my insect repellant and will hopefully be fine.

Tuesday 3rd of July

Got up at 6am to allow for 4 hours in the Keoladeo National Park with a guide. I have to admit to being a little disappointed. Winter is supposed to be the best time to visit but I had read that you get large flocks of birds migrating here during the summer as well. I did see some monkees, antelope, deer, jackals and various species of bird but overall was a little disappointed.
The guest house that I'm staying at is nice and comfortable with good food. I think I'm going to just take it easy for my remaining day and a half here. I'd say this place is probably worth a visit for a day or two during the winter but my 3 nights here is seeming a little long. Nowhere to upload my photos as of yet, am hoping Jaipur will be a better option for that. Getting train to Jaipur on Thurs evening and arrive there about 22:30. Probably wont be posting anything until after that.

Sun-rise at the Taj Mahal

2007-07-01T10:18:00.000+01:00

Anybody who knows me is probably aware that I'm not the best at getting up early in the morning. I generally don't really wake up until I've had a cup of coffee. As a rule I enjoy a nice lie in when I don't have anywhere that I need to be! :) This morning I had intended getting up at about 8:30 and spending a leisurely day investigating onward travel. However, I happened to glance at my watch shortly after 5am and after weighing up the pros and cons of missing out on my lie in decided to drag my lazy ass out of bed. 5:15am apparently is not a good time to be looking for an auto-rickshaw driver outside the hotel, the usual gathering of them wasn't present, so I had to resign myself to avail of transport from the hotel, which although very comfortable is a good deal more expensive. It does however come with air con. Yesterday my auto-rickshaw driver had taken me to the main entrance to the Taj which is in the Taj Ganj area (complete with narrow alleys that aren't really appropriate for cars). This is defintely the place to enter the Taj, as you can get really close to the entrance. The main entrance is a good distance back from the main Taj building and the auto-rickshaws can get pretty much right up to it. However, the East gate where I was taken this morning is much closer to the main Taj building and cars are prevented from going all the way to the entrance. I got to the barrier where the cars can go no further at 5:30 and was anxious that I might have missed the sun-rise. A short cycle rickshaw ride brought me to the East Gate where I had to wait until just before 6am along with 2 Germans and 2 Italians to get a ticket. They say the Taj opens at sunrise but if its 6am every morning that its open its more sun-rising rather than sun-rise.

I was one of the first tourists to get in through the gate and was the first tourist to get close enough to the Taj to take some nice photos which I hadn't been able to get yesterday. I'm hoping that they turn out as well as the view that I had this morning. Despite not getting the actual sun-rise as a backdrop against the Taj, I was very glad I dragged myself out of bed this morning as there were very few tourists around when I was there, and its really nice to enjoy such a fantastic monument when you pretty much have it all to youself!

Having done a quick tour of the main spots I had taken photos of yesterday I decided to head back to the hotel. On the way out of the Taj, I bumped into a couple that I had gotten chatting to at Dublin airport the day I left Ireland. Grainne and James were on the same flights to Delhi via London and they happened to be at the Taj this morning as well. Small world or what! :) They're heading to a few of the same spots as I am, so we exchanged email addresses so that we can trade stories of how we're getting on in South East Asia. Guys if you're reading this I hope that you enjoyed the remainder of your time in India and that you get to chill out a bit in Thailand.

I got chatting to an American guy while eating breakfast back at the hotel, he works for the US Goverment and at the moment is based in the Embassy in Beijing. He also lived in New Zealand for a few years, and it was nice to hear yet another person with nothing but great things to say about NZ.

I'm travelling on to Bharatpur tomorrow, and I'm not sure if there will be internet access easily available there, so if there are no posts from me for a while - its probably just that I don't have access to the internet. If you've been reading up on floods in India on the west coast and in Mumbai I'm nowhere near there, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh do get hit by the monsoon as well, but not as badly as the west coast.

Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Baby Taj

2007-06-30T12:24:00.000+01:00

Just back at hotel at 4pm after an afternoon of site seeing. My plan to get up early to catch sun rise at the Taj Mahal was foiled by not being woken by my alarm clock. If I'm truthfule I was going to miss the sunrise anyway as I did not fancy a 5am start. I did however set my alarm clock for 7am with the intention of having the days site seeing out of the way between 11 and 12 so as to avoid the worst of the days heat. All of that planning went out the window by only waking up at 10:30 this morning! After grabbing a late breakfast I headed out into the hottest part of the day to see the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the Baby Taj (Itimad-ud-Daulah).

Despite the scorching hot midday heat the Taj does not disappoint from up close. Getting to see it up close has definitely made my trip to India and I'm very glad to have come all this way. I'm very much looking forward to sifting through my photos from today and hope to have them online very soon.

I walked around during the heat of the day, and the best way to desribe how it was, is that I felt like I was melting, the combination of melted sun block mixed with perspiration and the insect repellant I'm using doesn't half sting the eyes after sweating consistently! :) On any of the really warm days I'm drinking more water that I thought it was possible to consume in a 24 hour period. Despite all of that I am very glad to be here in India. Tomorrow I'm going to chill out and take it easy with my one main task of trying to figure out how best to get to Bharatpur. I can hire a car and driver if I don't opt for public transport of some sort.

My auto-rickshaw driver for the last two days has offered to sort me out with transport to Bharatpur with a stop off at Fatehpur Sikri on the way. Fatehpur Sikri is an abandoned city that contains more sites from the Mughal period and was briefly the Mughal capital in the late 1500s before being abandoned due to the lack of a reliable water supply. Despite no one living here, the site is still used for worship and also for festival celebrations, as well as being a tourist attraction. I need to give some thought to my transport options for Mondays' journey to Bharatpur.

After visiting the Taj Mahal, I went to Agra's Red Fort (where Sha Jahan was imprisoned by his son). The mixture of white marble structures (similar to the Taj and funnily enough added by Sha Jahan when he was in power) with the red sandstone which is used in the original structures results in some impressive buildings, although my appreciation of the place was impacted some what by the heat. Have to say I'm feeling more comfortable here in Agra when out and about from the hotel which is partly as a result of there being less traffic and less people. Although I'd like to think that my finely honed bargaining skills are paying a part in that as well! :)

While at the Taj I got chatting to a bunch of American college students from California who were travelling as a group. I took a group photo for them and they very kindly reciprocated. There were 10 or 12 of them and they had opted to hire a car/van and drive around Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Having seen the state of the roads and the way people drive here I don't envy whoever the driver(s) are in their group!

After my visit to the Red Fort I paid a quick stop at the Baby Taj which although it is much smaller than the 'real' Taj was still worth a visit. After the intense heat and copious amounts of site seeing I'm relaxing with a nice cold Kingfisher beer as I'm writing this. An American guest in the hotel has very kindly let me use her login to the hotel's computer network to type this blog entry and to check my email. Saves me heading out later. After being quite drained by the heat today I"m looking forward to taking it easy tomorrow to re-charge the batteries before I move on to the 3rd leg of my visit to India.

One final thought for the day, you really have to ask yourself to what extent the British are responsible for the widespread poverty here during there time ruling this country. I'm sure they plundered some of the wealth of the country along with natural resources (as I"m sure did other conquerors). Certainly during the reign of the Mughal empire there was obvious wealth here and you would wonder to what extent the country would be better today if history had unfolded differently. However, no doubt if the Brits hadn't invaded one of the other colonial powers would have. Anyway, that's enough of that I'm going to enjoy the rest of my beer!

Arrived safely in Agra

2007-06-29T07:20:00.000+01:00

Fri 29th June

Got the 6:15am Shatbadi Express train which takes a little over two hours to make the journey from New Delhi Railway station to Agra. Upon arrival at the station to catch my train I discovered how I had been given the run around on Wednesday when trying to sort out my train tickets. There are two seperate entrances (with car parks, ticket counters etc) to the train station. The fecker who brought me there on Wed took me to the back entrance where there are no obvious signs directing you to the International ticket office. Anyway, time to let that go! :) The train journey was very pleasant in an a/c carriage where the 375 Rupee fare includes your morning newspaper, a 1L bottle of water, a cup of tea with some biscuits followed by a bit of breakfast which consisted of some Indian nibbles, some bread and jam and butter along with some juice. I think CIE could learn a thing or two from how they do things over here!

9am Have just arrived at my hotel and am in my room for the next few days. The Taj View hotel is definitely an altogether plusher affair than my budget accomodation with prices to match. The room rate is actually pretty reasonable at 65 US dollars per night, which includes breakfast, but is somewhere between 3 and 4 times the price of what I was paying in Delhi. Some stuff is a bit on the pricey side - bottle of beer Rupee equivalent of 7 euro, internet access 150 Rupees per half hour which is probably only marginally cheaper than what you'd pay at home in Dublin (was paying 20 Rs/hr in Delhi). I'm typing this entry from a little internet cafe down the road from my hotel and am paying a third of what it would have cost to stay in the comfort of the hotel. However I did get mobbed by cycle and auto-rickshaw drivers as soon as I stepped outside the grounds of the hotel. Ah well, I suppose you have to put up with these things if I want to stick to a reasonable budget!

Fell asleep on the bed when I sat down for a bit after having come back from a stroll down the road looking for an internet cafe. There are a collection of auto-rickshaw drivers waiting for the odd tourist to exist the hotel (that aren't interested in or by virtue of trying to stick to a budget, can't afford the luxury a/c cars available at the hotel). Having the rickshaw drivers there is handy but is a bit of a pain if you do actually just want to walk to somewhere nearby! FOund a couple of places within a short distance of the hotel for internet access, all around 50 Rs per hour, which is grand. Even though they all seem to use ancient computers and the speed of the connection is a little slow.

After a power nap decided to head over to Mehtab Bagh which is on the riverbank opposite the Taj Mahal and lets you see the back of the structure (which is a mirror image of the front). Everyone has seen photos of the Taj Mahal but I have to say that you can't beat seeing it with your own eyes. If you're coming to visit here I wouldn't bother with the garden that you pay into, there's a much better view if you walk right down to the riverbank, which you can get to for free. I had engaged the services of an auto-rickshaw driver to take me to see the back of the Taj, then on to the Shanti Lodge which is a guest house/budget hotel in the Taj Ganj area. This part of Agra resembles Old Delhi but is much quieter. It grew into a town that housed the 20000 workers during the construction of the Taj. Now unfortunately the parts of it closest to the Taj from what I saw tonight look fairly run down. The view of the Taj Mahal from the roof of the Shanti Lodge was the next best thing to seeing the Taj up close which I'll have to do tomorrow along with the Red Fort here in Agra.

Got chatting to an English girl and Austrian guy when having dinner on the roof of the Shanti Lodge. She had been travelling around NZ, Oz, and Asia for the last 10 and a half months (fair play to her). Although she's going back to the UK in about a months time. She was full of praise for New Zealand, where she started her travels, which is good to hear! :)

Monsoon Rains at the Red Fort, Delhi

2007-06-29T06:24:00.000+01:00

Thurs 28th June.

While visiting the Red Fort in Old Delhi, the heavens opened at 11 am and a torrential downpour started. Thankfully I was indoors at the time, but while writing this entry in my diary I found myself trapped in a fairly boring museum which is here at the Red Fort. The Red Fort has just been given the status of a UNESCO World Heritage site which is being heavily reported in the media here at the moment. Built between 1638 and 1648 by Sha Jahan (the guy behind the building of the Taj Mahal), the Fort was part of a city which he built called Shajahanabad which now forms part of Old Delhi. Unfortunately for Sha Jahan he didn't get to complete moving his capital from Agra to Shajahanabad in Delhi because he was deposed and imprisoned in Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.

While I'm waiting for the rain to stop I might as well keep writing! The Red Fort dates from the peak of Mughal power in India. However, the Mughal reign from Delhi was a short one, Aurangzeb was the first and last Mughal emperor to rule from here. The British used the Red Fort as a military garrison while they ruled India and after Independence, the Indian army did the same. Apparently this continued from 1947 right up to 2003, when the army handed control of the Fort over to the State, so that it could be maintained as a tourist attraction.

We now have thunder in lightning in the background and I'm beginning to wonder how much of my day is going to be taken up hiding from the rain!! One of the museums here at the Fort details the Indian struggle for Independence from British Rule. Its striking some of the general similarities with Irish history. The original political bodies that were founded as a voice for Indians were setup by Indians who were loyal to the British crown. After a few atrocities such as British forces opening fire on large numbers of unarmed civilians, along with exploitation on a massive scale of ordinary workers, the political mood gradually changed. The main political movement expanded to include representatives from all over India and was used to co-ordinate opposition to British rule through evasion of taxes, boycotting of English goods and a number of other activities.

Hmmnn, apologies for the history lesson above (I'm just trying to kill time!). I've been here in this museum for about an hour and its still lashing out of the heavens, time to read up on some of my destinations for the coming week and a half.........

Well, the rain finally stopped after about 90 mins stuck inside the Archaelogicla museum at the Red Fort. I think I visited each exhibit at least 3 times. The Mughal architecture is really spectaculour, I'm looking forward to my few days in Agra which is full of more of this sort of stuff. After leaving the Red Fort I went on a cycle rickshaw tour of the bazaars in Old Delhi. The best way to describe thi spart of the city is like a massive warren of alleyways where each street is a mini-Moore street specialising in goods of one type or another. Whether you're looking for that all important sari, or the gold merchants or spice sellers, this is the place to come. Amidst the frenetic mix of cycle-rickshaws, pedestrians, guys with hand carts (pushing and pulling all manner of things), oxen pulling carts laden with spices/flour or god only knows what. I felt sorry for the rickshaw driver having to carry me around on the back of his bike contraption, although when he was bringing me around we passed many other rickshaw drivers carrying stuff that would have weighed a lot more than I do! :) My rickshaw driver was from Nepal originally but has lived in Delhi for the last 15 years. He travels back to Nepal every year for the months of July and August to escape the heat here in Delhi. When I heard him say that I was glad I'm leaving on the 9th of July and have less than one full day left in Delhi!

The tour ended outside the Jama Masjid mosque which isn't too far from where I'd been that morning. Jama Masjid in Delhi is India's largest mosque and can cater for up to 25000 people worshipping at a time which is pretty impressive. Sha Jahan was behind the construction of this mosque also (must have been kept busy supervising all of these construction projects when he was in power!). It took them 14 years to build the mosque with construction starting in 1644 and 1658. This place (and the Red Fort) was definitely worth a visit, however I left feeling completely ripped off. I had to pay entry (which is fine), and for some cloth to cover my legs (I was wearing shorts - which is also fine). But I was taken round by a "guide" that I neither asked for nor wanted, all the time knowing that he was going to have his hand out at the end of it. He didn't even speak English and was gesturing to show me what each of the parts of the mosque were! More fool me for going along with it I suppose, but I just assumed that it might be something to do with the fact that I was wearing shorts that I had to be escorted round the place. But what really took the biscuit was when he brought me over to what I suppose you could descirbe as an altar enclosed in a little wooden hut. I was shown some relics related to the prophet Mohammad and then invited to make a donation to the holy man who showed me the stuff. Anyway, the place was worth going to, but the in your face everyone looking to try and extract a few shekkels from the tourist attitude that seems to be quite prevalent here wears a little thin after a very short time!

I've an early start in the morning, the train to Agra leaves at 6:15am. The hotel I'm staying at in Agra is slightly more upmarket from where I've been for the last few days in Delhi. I have to say I'm looking forward to a few creature comforts and to (hopefully) escape the hectic pace in Delhi, although from what I hear Agra and Jaipur are just as bad as Delhi when it comes to being careful about being ripped off or harassed by auto-rickshaw drivers etc. The Taj Mahal is actually closed on Fridays, so I'll have to occupy myself with some of the other attractions or maybe I'll just chill out in the hotel for a bit.

Dodgy Dealings in Delhi!

2007-06-27T18:17:00.000+01:00

The Lonely Planet guide book that I have with me warns of all sorts of scams aimed at confusing the foreign visitor to India to part with their hard earned cash. I wasted about 2 hours this morning experiencing this first hand! :( I didn't part with any money but it was a frustrating couple of hours. Between taxi/auto-rickshaw drivers trying to take you to a similar sounding destination (to rip you off - where they get a cut from a "tourist information" office) to being approached by people looking for money. You need to keep your wits about you here and know exactly where you want to go when getting in a taxi (so you know if they're taking you to the wrong place!). Unfortunately the result of all of that is that after a couple of hours making your way around the city you begin to find yourself questioning everyone's motives, even when the odd person is just trying to be helpful. I only have one more full day in Delhi (tomorrow) and then part of my last day in India before I fly on to Thailand - I can't say that I'm disappointed about that!

Having said all of the above, after a very frustrating start to the morning, I actually enjoyed myself today. I visited the Indian National Museum which contains all sorts of pottery, coins, paintings, sculptures and other items of historical interest about the British East India company etc. Historical stuff dating back from a recent times back to a few thousand years BC. Two-tiered pricing is in operation at all the touristy spots where as a foreigner you're paying a massive multiple of the Indian price. Some of the places I visited today were a few (less than 10 Rupees, 1000 Rupees = about 20 euro) for an Indian national and in the 100-250 Rs region for a foreigner. Now, I don't mind paying more as a foreigner as its still not that expensive, however it really highlights the relative poverty of your average Indian, despite the Indian economy doing very well, this obviously hasn't filtered down to everyone (yet). There are noticeable numbers of homeless living everywhere and anywhere on the streets throughout most of the places I visited today. You also see a strong army presence (well a few guards at least) outside government buildings like the National Museum that I mentioned (both inside and out).

The Brits definintely left there mark here in Delhi. There is a real colonial feel to the street layout in New Delhi with nice wide tree-lined streets arranged into city blocks. There's a feeling of order to it all that you don't get in some of the other parts of the city. Particularly when you compare it to the Pahar Ganj area (where I'm staying), although that probably says more about Pahar Ganj which is a budget accomodation hub near the New Delhi train station. Its a series of narrow alleyways containing all sorts of shops with cows roaming the street and not the cleanest of spots. However my hotel is fine, the rooms clean and from over-hearing some people at breakfast this morning who've been to this part of the city before it sounds like I've done well, they were telling a few horror stories of being ripped off to stay in a dive nearby where they were paying twice what I'm paying for my room.

After visiting the National Museum I attempted to make my way to the official Government tourist office - this was another challenge. However, I was on alert from my mornings experience and armed with some info from my guide book I got there in the end. The office is on a street called Janpath, but the crafty auto-rickshaw driver tried taking me to a place on Janpath lane which is nearby where he would have received a commision from anything that I booked. I think my reward for doing him out of the commission he was expecting was that I was dropped about 2 blocks from the tourist office - but to be fair he did tell me the direction to head in, he just neglected to mention the distance. Having made it to the genuine tourist office (where they funnily enough don't try to sell you anything and are there for info and maps etc), I discovered that I had been on the right track in the morning. I was trying to buy some train tickets but couldn't find the ticket counter for International visitors. They make you go to a special counter as a foreigner and I was misdirected by a "helpful" guy at the station who worked there. The lady in the tourist office was very helpful and explained that this happens a lot to visitors. You'd wonder why they don't improve the signs at the station if thats the case!

After loading up on maps and info I had a bite to eat in a vegetarian restaurant thta specialises in cuisine from Southern India and after feeling suitably re-charged and re-hydrated after hiding from the heat for about half an hour I made my way to visit two tombs that are in the Southern part of Central Delhi.

Safdarjang's tomb was built by the nawab of Avadh for his father in the mid 18th century and is one of the last examples of Mughal architecture before the empire of that period collapsed. After my visit there, I made my way to Humayun's tomb (built in the mid-16th century by Haji Begum, Persian born senior wife of the second Mughal Emperor Humayun). This place is a superb example of Mughal architecture and elements in its design were to be refined over the years to eventualy create the magnificence of Agra's Taj Mahal. (and yes most of that is shamelessly copied verbatim from my guide book! ). Visiting these two tombs definitely left me with a feeling for the sophistication and rich cultural heritage which is evident in India. I finished up my sight-seeing about half four this afternoon, at which point I wasn't able to take any more of the 42 degree heat. I slinked back to my hotel and wussed out on having a second go at organising my train tickets by opting to get the hotel to organise them for me. They were up front about the "service charge" they levy on top of the ticket price and at that stage in the day seemed to be the best option.

Tomorrow am planning to visit the Red Fort and a few other spots in Old Delhi.

Destination Delhi

2007-06-26T17:33:00.000+01:00

Monday 25th of June -
Finished off my last minute packing of the stuff I'm shipping down to New Zealand and my luggage for the trip. After checking the weight of my luggage I managed to convince myself that I was going to get seriously fleeced for overweight baggage. My round the world ticket was just an email of my itinerary and contains no helpful info on baggage allowances etc. After a frantic hour of re-arranging my carry on baggage and shipping some stuff I brought the baggage weight down, only to discover when I got to the airport that the ticket I'm on allows me to carry a small contain load of luggage (as long as it will fit into 2 cases and each one weighs less than 32 kg).

Shane and Mum dropped me off at the airport and we said our farewells and my three month travelling adventure began (well almost). I passed through Heathrow and made my flight connection, although thats not an experience that I'd be particularly keen to do too often. Security in Heathrow is a pain in the ***. On top of making you exit as if your staying in London at terminal one, and then making you go through security (despite having already been through this at another European airport), I was selected for a random pat down search and to top it all off had to pass my shoes through a seperate scanner. Travelling in the aftermath of 9/11 and the London bombings is definitely an interesting experience.

Tuesday 26th of June
Arrived in Delhi after 7 and a half hours in the air. Total distance travelled so far 4411 miles, according to my RTW itinerary. Didn't really sleep on the flight, but the on-demand selection of films kept me busy for most of the trip. Thankfully I arranged an airport pickup from the hotel I'm staying in, after a long flight its nice not to have to think about where you're going. I'm staying in the Paharganj area of the city which has the main selling point of being close to the main train station (which will come in handy when I'm going to Agra in a few days). I'm just back from going out for a wander around. By god is hot here. I'm not sure what the exact temp is but it feels like about 40 degrees. Its hot sticky and a little overcast. I definitely think I'll be getting up early and trying to avoid the heat in the middle of the day. If the heat at 10pm is anything to go by, I'm not going to last long in the midday heat! :)

Travelling by car from the airport to the hotel this morning was interesting, the road was filled with a chaotic mix of cars, peddle rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, suicidal pedestrians and assorted other vehicles. The lane discipline seems to be similar to what I experienced in Beijing. i.e lanes are optional and you can complete any maneouver you like as long as beep a lot before, during and after any sudden lane changes! :)

Anyway - I haven't had anything to eat in a while so I'm going to go off and try and get something to eat before I go to bed. No photos to post yet, but hopefully I'll be able to rectify that soon.

No turning back now!

2007-06-18T15:26:00.001+01:00

Over the last couple of months I've handed in my notice in work, rented out my room in my apartment, moved home to my Mum's house in Sutton, sold my car and finalised my travel plans to head off to New Zealand on a working holiday visa. Finishing up work on Friday really drove home to me the reality that I'm heading off in a week's time and I have to say - I can't wait! :-)

For anyone who I haven't already bored to tears about where I'm going, I leave Dublin on the 25th of June and will be visiting India, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore and Australia before I finally reach NZ. I'll be travelling for a total of 3 months before arriving in Christchurch on the 22nd of September.

I treated myself to new digital SLR camera for Christmas and am looking forward to taking lots of photos of all the cool places I'm going to visit. I'll try and publish regular posts to the blog to keep everyone updated on where I am and how I'm getting on. Feel free to email me.