Overland Adventure nach Deutschland 0 Change is as good as a holiday... Part I 23-NOV-2006 18:36:00 Dear Blog, What an appropriate place to start. Don’t you think? It is one day, to the hour, before out adventure officially begins. Unofficially, it began the moment I dropped my pen, picked up my bag and headed home from my last exam almost a week ago. Even then there was a tantalizing sense of change on the tip of my mind as the weeks of cramming became seemingly irrelevant and were replaced by; anxiety, fear of the unknown and the more discernible tension about the isolation from family and friends. What will become of neglected friendships? Will they wane with the turn of time, as we diverge down the many different paths of life. What commonality will we have when we meet again? What will you show me of your path? The weather reports for Darwin, a blanket of black plastic at 34degC and humid. Darwin will be our first stop (and last) in our home land before our flight to Singapore early next week (at 3am!) As the time edges closer, the questions are endless and seemingly rise out of the most obscure corners of day to day existence; what will I find? What am I looking for? What am I leaving behind? What types of place will we stay? How on earth will we communicate in foreign countries? What lesions will I learn? Where will I end up? How will things be different to Oz? How effect does wealth have on peoples lives? 0 The first step 24-NOV-2006 20:16:00 we flew to Darwin last night. total cop out I know. this is supposed to be the "overland adventure" after all. But the ship to Singapore proved too expensive and the drive to Darwin a logistical nightmare. damn cheap airfares... we're getting out of the country for less that $350 each! Hopefully the flight crazy-early on Tuesday to Singapore will be our last for a very long time - though we still haven't planned how we're getting home (mere details)! It's hot and we don't have much time up here so I can see us writing off most of the 4 days we have. already most of today has been spent seeking out air conditioning. I've been saying that the past few weeks feel like the storm before the calm and finally I feel like the storm is subsiding... the nit picking details are almost all dealt with ... and the holiday is beginning! One of the biggest challenges for us both has been giving up our laptops for the 3 month trip. we sent them by sea to Germany to meet us there it's a really weird feeling after depending on them for so long. We're hopeless I know. It's been hard... and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet! anyway I'm rambling. You can probably tell by now that Nathan and I have fairly different "blogging" (lol I'm trying to use the lingo) styles so I hope you enjoy and we'll try to get some photos up soon. Love Ellie 0 Air conditioner, bar fridge and a double bed 26-NOV-2006 02:10:00 These are all the fittings in out budget hostel... and they seem quite dated. To be honest Darwin, as a town seems a bit crap. Bit I'd say this is more a reflection of our tameness at this stage on the game. Like anywhere you make your own experience... I'm confident we will get better at it over time, picking better hotels, doing more research about out options, taking full advantage of the opportunities/moments, and meeting people. Were trading out bar fridge and double bed in tomorrow for 4 x wheels and 300km worth of that carbon intensive, outdated liquid energy. I have reservations about loosing the beg as Litchfield National Park only has camping facilities. We have been doing lots of reading, almost non stop... I've got like 4 books going at once. Its amazing the proportion of indigenous mob to us whities up here, feels much more balanced. The mob seems happier up as well, based on my observations in passing. Also a lot of orientally and islander blood in the neighborhood. Along with the spice of Asia come the culture, food, arts & crafts. Sweet dreams, Nathan 0 Two of these people are not quite like the others... 29-NOV-2006 03:04:00 After an amazing trip out to Litchfield where we swam (risking croc's) walked and read. At one stage we were bathing right beside a waterfall while reading books. IN the evening we waited for the sun to set, watching it slowly sink into the earth leaving a sky of vibrant colors. It was so peaceful as we waited a small eternity (2hours), engrossed in our books on a lookout over to another waterfall. In the cool darkness we light a fire, configured out tiny hire car to be the most comfortable possible. We were able to sleep with the doors and boot wide open, and a couple of mozzie calls burning and a tipple coating of rid - TO our pleasant surprise there were no mozzies ;). Despite all of this and the 8am snooze, I didn't have a good sleep. This in itself would have been fine, but it was further compounded by the 3am flight to Singapore the following night. Anyhow, we have now settled into out $12 a night (each) hostel, bought some food, haggled with professional sales reps for Ellie's new digital camera. Scoring a pretty good deal and a few extras. I've got the technology bug and want to buy a new ebook reader this evening with my no-money... so we will see how that pans out... time to crash... zzzz 0 waiting for our island paradise 30-NOV-2006 23:47:00 We made the big and extreemly cheap trip from Singapore to Mersing today despite the fact that it's monsoon season and everything we read warned against traveling to the east coast of malaysia... the thought of a deserted island paradise was just too much to pass up! We took the singapore public bus to Johor Bahru using our totally niffty pre-paid swipe cards and though we only had $0.90 left they got us all the way to the bus interchange through two customs posts. then we simply found the booth labled Mersing and bought our onward tickets. We had a Two hour wait at the bus interchange but that was no problem cause we were hungry and there was plenty to eat. Nick... if you're reading this you be proud to know our first meal in malaysia was Mee Goreng :) a massive plate for less than a dollar! when we arrived in Mersing the last ferry to Tioman Island had left so after booking tickets for out "resort" accommodation we checked out the beach (crappy) and listened to the music coming from the mosque on the top of the hill. later Nathan ate a whole fish while it stared at him from the plate. talk about flexitarian! tomorrow... our island paradise! Lot's of love Ellie 0 lazy afternoons... mystical nights 01-DEC-2006 16:30:00 0 the busses are good but not good enough 04-DEC-2006 01:59:00 well we waited on a jetty in Genting on Tioman Island for three hours today, missed a bus and ended up in the middle of nowhere in a (comparatively) really expensive "budget” hotel... fun huh? The day started out quite nicely though... took the 10 steps to the beach for a swim even though it was kinda overcast and threatening rain... (gotta love monsoon season) the sea was like a pancake and so warm. **bliss** we had a big breakfast and then continued our our lazing. finally at about 11 we packed up and headed out on the boat back to Genting only to find out the ferry was late and wouldn't arrive for hours. we had the lovely Malay family who were also at Nipah with us to keep us company though and I had a much needed lesson in Bahasa Melayu from Nine year old Alina. Nathan kept himself busy hunting for oysters and we watched the massive school of fish... and watched it some more.... I guess we went to the island for some peace and quite and to relax anyway to I thought of those 3 hours as an extension of the holiday :) We had big plans to head straight to Malacca on the 5:30 bus on our return to Mersing but when we arrived the bus was sold out. long story Short we ended up in Kulang (which doesn't even rate a paragraph in the lonely planet) thinking we could get a connection to Melaka (we were too late). So Kulang's this substantial city... no idea what it's reason for being is!?... but they haven't heard of the concept of budget hotel. we forked out twice what we usually pay (all of $28! lol*) but we did get a hot shower in our room and free bottled water... fun for a change. It was an exhausting... if very nothing-full day. but we're booked on the 9am bus to Melacca tomorrow. so (if my mum's 30 year old rave reviews are anything to go by) adventures awate us there! love to all those still reading. .. c'mon you know you wanna log in and write a comment! Ellie *we're saving for the inevitably expensive Europe leg of the trip and living off our Centerlink payments ok... call me a cheapskate... whatever. 0 Melaka, Malaysia 04-DEC-2006 15:40:00 I'm a bit worried to write this post. (that's why it's belated!)I know there are people waiting for it expectantly... reminiscing on their own trips to Melaka (hi mum and darshi, thanks for the comments!). the reason is that we didn't really like Melaka. it was touristy, dirty, crumbling and damn hot. Nathan got food poisoning from eating seafood at the Portuguese quarter (we think) and I guess I'm just not that into museums. Melaka with its strangely proud history of foreign occupation and colonialism is full of culture, every building a museum. we stayed in a beautiful old melakan house with a dipping pool in the lounge room. (totally random) we spent the first day finding our way out of the massive bus station-come-shopping mall, booking into out hostel and then hitting the street. first stop highly recommended Indian restaurant. we were a little skeptical but as soon as we stepped in the door we were ordered to sit down and when no menu was forthcoming I was even more worried. Ve-ge-tar-ian we said repeatedly and then banana leaves with rice and three assorted curries turned up in front of us. next came the tray of extra tid-bits - pakoras.... Paneer! we were impressed! a lassi and weird spicy curry "tea" later we were stuffed and the bill came to all of RM12... that's about $4.50. stoked! Then we took to the streets for real. I'm not going to embarrass myself explaining the numerous old buildings (whose-names-I-can't-remember) we saw. lets say we got bored and really hot pretty quickly and I'm ashamed to say we retreated to the shopping centre for refuge. we made the trek home and cowered in our room until the sun was safely behind the horizon. Then we made out way to the Portuguese quarter... the food tasted good... pity about the diarrhea... hmm. day two we were skeptical ... we laid low ate at overpriced westerner oriented restaurants and took a tuk tuk to see a few sites. must admit it's pretty beautiful when you're not defying death walking along non-existent footpaths. another sleepy afternoon passed and then we went to the movies. I guess we didn't try hard enough to like it. sorry guys. Ellie 0 The Capital 07-DEC-2006 01:45:00 0 Cameron Highlands 10-DEC-2006 01:46:00 Time to bring you up to speed. Its been 10 days since my last entry. We are now 6000ft above see level in the Cameron Highlands, a rural tea growing region in the Pehang Provence. There are some good reasons for the 10day gap in entries. Every day has been packed, leaving only room for rest. In short, after leaving Singapore we spent 3 days in Nipah, a quite little villa on the ocean. Got stuck (between buses) at a plush hostel (by our standards) in Kluang on the way to Melaka after fleeing the sleepy fishing village of Mersing. In Melaka I got mild (but painful) food poising from all the seafood I've been eating (since converting to a flexitarian). The calamity was enough to make me revert to being a vegetarian. Also feasted over banana leaves (as plates) on Indian in Malaka. Then it was onto Kauala Lumpur where our bed collapsed :) (among other memorable things: spending more energy trying to find vegetarian food than the energy gained from the meal, eating a most amazing mango and rose apple (starfruit cross with an apple) in China town. We then jumped onto a luxury bus to make for our current location, the Cameron Highlands. Where we settled into a lovely hostel 5 min walk out of town on top of a hill... reminds me of the Australian hinterland on a warm winters night, crickets chirping and all. So far we checked out the oldest tea garden in Malaysia... (they seem to take care of their workers quite well, schools, hospitals, church, Mosque and Hindu temple for all faiths here) and the butterfly farm. Today we had planned a jungle walk to the Buddhist temple, but just after setting off I was overcome by tiredness and decided to have a much needed day of rest. Hoping you are all safe and well, Love Nathan 0 "damn we didn't make it to a proper destination" stop over 11-DEC-2006 00:01:00 gotta hate it... the prospect of spending two days traveling. but when we left Tanah Rata last night and opted out on panang we ended up yet again in the middle of nowhere. bound for somewhere in Thailand... we don't yet no where. :) It's kinda cool though ... to be in a place where people stare and say hello because you're the first white person they've seen in a while! more later no doubt e 0 Island Paradise 12-DEC-2006 04:43:00 0 Seeking Refuge in a tour guide book! 12-DEC-2006 23:03:00 500 odd km, 1 border crossing, 3+ languages and 2 days of my life at the mercy of bus, train, minivan and tuk-tuk drivers. It wasn't easy, fun or enjoyable but that said, I wouldn't have changed a thing. I'm a sucker for avoidable challenges. Just because you can fly or jump in a taxi doesn't mean that you should. The most challenging moments were: - waiting at connecting bust terminal while tiring to intemperate announcements (in Malay), having being given wrong bus number anyway. - crossing the Malaysia/Thailand boarder (by train) with no idea what to do or how far away the connecting Thai train was. - navigating Hat Yai, Thailand, with no map or guidebooks (let alone the language barrier) or plans about where/what we were actually doing next. - haggling with street vendor, while simultaneously trying to do currency conversions in my head (28baht to AU$1), without a common language. Anyway, I've always considered myself a relatively patient person, I can fill in hours waiting for trivial events to happen, but yesterday I was pushed to my limit. I'm not sure if it was the share exhaustion of having been moving for so long, or having no clear idea about where we are going, or the eternal search for filling (safe) vegetarian, but it was compounded 10 fold by having to communicate (batter) across languages with people who at times just seemed plain rude and arrogant. I was left with no option but to persevere but a the feeling inside was a crying for a quite retreat into the guide book. After the calamities had passed the inner dialogue continued for hours as I tried to understand/interpret what it was that had just happened. At the end of it, I realised it didn't matter so much and that the real challenge is to have plans yet remain calm and flexible, while knowing your boundaries and being comfortable to stop at them. On a side note; remembering and inspired by that saying a smile is the same in every language, I've been moved to cultivate a sincere smile to move others to warmer places. Warm wishes, Nathan 0 Karst Rock Formations 17-DEC-2006 16:00:00 we hung out in this low key provincial capital for a few days and went on an overnight boat trip to Ao PhangNga, sleeping at a fishing village on the water - and I don't mean on the coast this place was on stilts sticking out of the bay! very cool. 0 stopover 19-DEC-2006 02:13:00 we're beginning to master the unplanned stopover. on our way to Ko Tao and didn't quite make it in a day. our hotel was very pleasant though. managed by an english guy it was all about the mash potato and cheese on toast! 0 Traped by mamouth waves... a well needed rest 21-DEC-2006 04:48:00 0 Smoggy days 25-DEC-2006 04:50:00 0 Ancient City 29-DEC-2006 04:52:00 0 Best Markets, best pizza, best coffee 01-JAN-2007 01:34:00 Chiang Mai is a pretty cool town. It's got a moat! we're hanging out here for new years before cruising off to Laos via the mighty Mekong River. we caught the night train from Bangkok and ended up in a kinda seedy guest house (it'll do though cause it's cheap and we're not here for long) we sepent the day yesterday getting our bearings before realising that it didn't really matter cause where it's at is the street infront of our place where this massive night market takes place every weekend. it took us good 3 hours to make it down just one side of the road, every stall is different and everythings so beautiful and amazingly cheap. the only thing lacking is space in our backpacks (that didn't stop me buying two shirts and a funky pair of shorts though). it's new years and we're about to head to the Night Bazzar which is supposedly even bigger and better that the markets which is hard to believe. at the moment we're uploading photo's as per usual, I swear when we're not taking photo's we're uploading them! but it's proven too time consuming to both upload them to our gallery (were we keep them all) and to trip tracker so if you want to see our photo's you'll have to go to http://www.madteckhead.dreamhosters.com/gallery/main.php Sorry this is the first post in a long time. we'll fill you in on what's been happening ASAP! HAPPY NEW YEAR! ellie 0 Happy New Year! 02-JAN-2007 01:51:00 well thankfully we weren't in Bangkok for new years though celebrations were cut short in Chiang Mai as well for precaution. We ended up searching out some waffles from one of the last street stalls then checking out the fireworks from our guest house window before heading to bed. :( we headed to Chiang Rai today. seems like a pretty cute sleepy town so far. it's only a short visit though because we're jumping on the slow boat to Luang Prabang in Laos tomorow (it takes 2 days). until minutes ago I'd only heard great things about the trip but a friend just emailed and "said it was two days of unspeakable hell on the slow boat with her legs around her ears on a wooden bench"... so we'll keep you posted. We're here now claire, there's no turning back! I wish everyone reading a wonderful journey in 2007! 0 Gloloating down the Mekong 02-JAN-2007 21:49:00 After a few melancholy days in Bangkok, we decided upon a escape, leaving the fume clouded air, night bazaar's, and good food for Chang Mai. After a patchy night sleep on the Cheng Mai express, we settled into a hostel then caught up on some tasks in the global network of information. Chiang Mai is a beautiful town, probably something like the Asian developing country equivalent of Brisbane. With a large base of people involved with agriculture, many hill tribes are coexisting peacefully For new years eve wee had planned (loosely) a night at the bazaar however while getting a foot massage earlier in the evening a fellow massagee informed us that there had been bombings in Bangkok and that the police were trying to hut the bazaar down early as a safety precaution. This came as quite a shock, as less that two day's had passed since we departed Bangkok. Yesterday morning we left Chiang Mai heading for the Laos border. Unable to get a connecting bus we stayed the night in Chiang Rai rising early to make the connecting ferry down the Mekong river in Laos. Another border crossing and the accompanying leeches who quite apparently take advantage of an information asymmetry for financial gain. The currency in Laos (the kip) is largely inflated. AU$1 = 7100kip as a consequence the Thai currency is regularly used along with US$ so we are now regularly dealing with 3 currencies and the associated exchange rates. I haven't seen much of Laos yet but so far the people seem to smile more and be living to a more pleasant pace. We are planning to be in china in about a week where we will spend weeks as we make our way towards Russia. Recently we have been placing more and more focus on photography, I've come to realise that this is one of my few creative talents (if I do say so myself) I/we have been teething out options to derive revenue from our photography in our capacity as amateurs. Several options are emerging as I do some preliminary research. I 'm thinking that a short business plan might be a good way to develop the concept clearly. I large part of me just wants to get in and do something practical /technical though. Also notices that I'm not comfortable taking photos of beautiful strangers, or sure how to approach the matter. I'm sure they would be flattered given the opportunity but I'll have to work on the confidence for that one. Wish you were here. Nathan 0 Down the Mekong 04-JAN-2007 17:54:00 We survived! my bum's still recovering, but we made it to luang Prabang via two days on a slow boat down the Mekong River!... more later love E 0 Welcome to China! 10-JAN-2007 04:59:00 0 Dali: adventure to the lake 11-JAN-2007 23:44:00 Dali was in Yunnan province. We stayed in a Tibetan style hotel as it was very warm and I was sick. We mostly rested and drank lost of amazing tea. On our last day we went on a adventure to the lake, after being informed we could charter a fishing boat back to Dali via the lake. This would have been possible if we didn't get lost walking around the country side, through vegetable fields and a couple of villages looking for the jetty. We were also plagued by immense trouble trying to communicate our plan and find the fishermen. After arriving at the jetty we learned that it was to late and we wouldn't make it back in time. So it was that we set of back to the hotel by bus, content with the sight we had been awarded for our efforts. 0 Southern Capital 15-JAN-2007 05:02:00 0 The first Mountain 17-JAN-2007 05:04:00 0 Pandas!: birthday in Changdu (Ellie) 17-JAN-2007 23:51:00 I spent my birthday in Changdu (Ellie), the capital of Sichuan province, famous for its spicy food. The moputofu and spicy roast potatoes from the hawker stalls will be going in our personal cookbooks. It was a pretty weird feeling when we first arrived in the city as it was the biggest we'd seen in china, actually since Bangkok I guess. And compared to places in Yunnan it seemed so much more prosperous (neon everywhere!) at somewhat of a lost as to what to do (we had intended to head straight to JiuZhaiGou on arrival) we decided to visit the world class panda bear sanctuary. It was a very memorable thing to do for my birthday. I never really understood the panda's appeal until seeing them up close. They where fantastic! We found a great Italian restaurant for dinner which topped off a great day. It was hard to leave the next day (and not just because we had to wake up at 6am. 0 A weekend away! 22-JAN-2007 00:52:00 JiuZhaiGou (back to Nathan) We headed for JiuZhaiGou, desperately in need of mother natures warming embrace. We risked the fact that the National park was a 10 hour trip through high mountain ranges, and that we might have to take the same road back before continuing north (effectively a +1000km detour trip), and lastly we were not even sure the park would be open as it is off season here, and many of the mineral lakes freeze over. Our gamble paid off and we found ourselves in a valley between high snow covered mountains peaks. Where the valley forks off into two is the entrance to the national park, this was about 3km from our hotel. Which we wouldn't have found without the help of our new friends David & Angle, who we shared our time in the park with and a delightful sample of vegetarian Chinese food on our last night. We spent two days in the park and it can only be described as winter wonderland. Many Tibetan tribes still live in the park and we were lucky enough to have traditional Tibetan tea (which they have for breakfast and is actually quite thick) in a very colorful Tibetan home. Our timing was quite fortunate as many of the hotels were closed being the off season (only 4 were open), and the park was effectively empty. The prices were also good as we got a 4 star hotel for AU$28!!! Our time in JiuZhaiGou wouldn't have been the same without the amazing company that we found, thanks David & Angel for making our stay a pleasure we hope you come visit Australia some time. 0 Terracotta warriors and so much more 24-JAN-2007 23:57:00 Xian (Ellie) In the end we had to come almost all the way back to Chengdu in order to catch the train north again. The bus ride was an adventure in itself. We just made it to the bus station in time and felt ourselves quite lucky to get seats together but and hour or so into the trip we hear a bang and theres glass raining down on us. The window, brittle from the extreem cold had just exploded in on us! I was the first to get a cut and then kinda lost it freaking out about the whole situation. Nathan managed to get us both off the bus and shook most of the glass off our clothes and belongings. Our window was the o nly one affected and the driver seemed to be ancitous to keep going so we were hurried back on the the bus where they had made a vague attempt to clear our seat of glass. This was when nathan got his first cut and let it be known that he was not very impressed with being hurried back on the bus. We finally maded a stop where the driver and his lackys "fixed" the window with some cardboard and we swaped seats. We were not very impressed and proceeded to take it out on anyone who attempted to light up a cigarette for the rest of the trip. Appart from that the trip was farly uneventful. We managed to procure tickets for the train to Xian that night and so ended another long day of travel. 0 Over the hump! 29-JAN-2007 23:30:00 woah! well we've got an excuse for our slackness I promise!!!! China's internet has been atrocious! but I'm happy to report that we're having a fun time in Beijing, nathan is well on the way to having this Russian visa, and we're on track to arrive in Germany at the beginning of march! oh there's a long way to go but I definitely feel the hump passing us by. we've been laying low in Beijing. I got a 24hr vomiting bug the first day which is never a good start. we hit the techy markets and Nathan got his long awaited new phone-and-a-half (I'll let him regail you with stories of it's glory later) and we found a great book shop and stocked up for the mammoth train rides ahead (oh yeah and tian'men square and mao's mausoleum... we'll be off to the wall and the forbiden city in good time too). well with nathan's fandangled new phone we should be able to up date you in more detail soon. but for now this little update with have to suffice. we love the comments so keep them coming. and check out our friend's tim and jodi who also have their trip on this site cause we'll be meeting up with them in St Petersburg! much love Ellie 0 Freezzzing toes 02-FEB-2007 23:22:00 Ok well nathan has just set me up here with his new phone and a portable keyboard to write the latest blog post. It's too cold to go outside... My toes are still thawing from the last time) so it's a perfect opportunity to fill you in on the last few days. We realise that we've been slacker that we wanted to be with this trip tracker. It's been a combination of really dodgy internet access in china and that we've realisdd there's a life away from the computer screen (i know... It was a shock to us too!) but now we're well and truly in the cold end of the journey and the only thing I can imagine doing is drinking hot chocolate (on the rare occastion that the chinese get it right) and snuggling inside. We have some very long train journeys to come (a couple are 40hrs). So this protable computer set up is going to come in handy as we try to update the blog and add comments for places we've skipped along the way so stay tuned! Anyway enough of that. what have we been doooooing? We just arived in Harbin. Capital of china's most northern province and bloody cold. They have an ice festival here in january and the ice sculptures last until thaw. So aside from being a convienient stop over between Beijing and the russian boarder (we decided not to go through mongolia to save on visa hassles) and on the official transmanchurian rail line this place is a destination in itsself and if we get up the courage to go outside again no doubt we'll find out why. The Fact that we're here means that nath obviously suceeded in getting his russian visa!!! (now there's a story... For another day) but that was about the only thing that went right for us yesterday (our last day in Beijing). admittedly we shouldn't have left our trip to the great wall untill the very last minute, but we did. And we shoudn't have just believed the first bus driver when he said he'd take us there, but we did that too. In the end after packing up and picking up the visa it was about 1:30pm when we left. But we ffigured about 3 hours get out there and back and we'd have a couple of hours out there and make our way back for some dinner before getting on the train which left at 9pm. Well at 4:30 the bus finally "arrives" at it's destination (I won't go into the flat tire) a full 60KM short of the great wall and we're informed that we'll have to take a taxi the rest of the way. Well. Let's just say we weren't happy. I may have cried and nathan may or maynot have threatened phisical violence on a certain bus drivers property. So we came very close to the great wall. But unfortunatly, while you can see it from space you can't see it from 60km away. Next time I guess. We turned around and headed straight back to Beijing, ate dinner (i lied earlier we had excellent middle eastern for dinner the 2nd good thing to happen that day) and got on the train. We'd been sold tickets on two different carrages so didn't even have each other for comfort as we left beijing. Another day another city. We've found a nice hotel in the middle of town so I'm looking forward to some fun adventures in Harbin! 0 Hello again world!!! 04-FEB-2007 23:21:00 (I just typed this post and didn't save it so I'm trying again...) I have a confession to make.... Its been over a month since my last blog post. And we also have failed to upload new photos for family and friends. Being the computer fanatic that I am, I attempted all sorts of technical things to get the internet working faster in Laos and China but none could increase the speed of the connection to make it bearable to work with. Now you can find all the Laos and China photos uploaded at www.madteckhead.dreamhosters.com/gallery/ 0 Vodka and Russia 06-FEB-2007 23:24:00 Wow, I'm inspired enough to write in pen tonight. For a while there I wasn't sure if It was a passing phase. Today was the final day in China and the first in Russia (almost part of Europe!). From the beginning the day was not taken lightly given the usual rigmarole involved with crossing boarders. We somehow managed to sleep in till 10am on the train from Harbin to Manzhouli. After being the last ones off the train, because we couldn't understand the announcements yet again. Then we made our way by (non-metered) cab that we would regret having not negotiated a price in advance. Our timing was perfect as we boarded a bus headed for Zabaikalsk, over the boarder in Russia. There were only about 4 of us on the bus, along with an assortment of mobile phones, DVD players, and other cheap electrical equipment which the Chinese and Russians seem to find anyway (legal/illegal) over the boarder for resale. We were lucky (seemingly not as you will find out below) enough to have a Chinese, English and Russian speaking Russian lady in her mid 40's on our bus. Thankfully Ellie also had the foresight to ask for advice about crossing the boarder on the Lonely Planet forum (which I downloaded to my shiny new PDA phone). Anyway the Russian lady hurried us along helping us go to the right buildings and desks, pay the correct fees and fill out the immigration cards which were only in Russian and Chinese... I think it was at this point that the Russian passport officials started taking an interest in us as we were unable to make heads or tails of the form. To cut a long story short, we were the first of 40 people (all Russian or Chinese) to get to the immigration desk and the last to leave the room. Before they gave us the magic stamp they proceeded to thoroughly examine every page in the passports with a magnifying glass under a variety of special lights, felt the thickness of ever page (at least once each and there were 5 officials at one stage, not to mention the ones that ran out the back with Ellie's passport for 15 minutes). Then they closed the only counter open, leaving us in a room with no furniture for 30-60mins with no idea was happening. We used this time as an opportunity to stuff our face with bread and butter, and drink tea followed by a short burst of reading. (the officials walking through found our little camp out for a visa quite amusing). Eventually they filed back in, open a counter, examined our passports a bit more, and gave us stamps. Then it was back on the bus for 3 more passport checks before we got out of the compound, and then we were requested to pay some random official looking guy local money, we had none so that wasn't a problem and he let us pass. 30min more on the bus through flat snowy desert and we were at the Zabaikalsk train station. At the station we were so incredibly luck to be approached by the local English teacher as we were attempting to book our tickets to Irkutsk!!! Whom we can't thank enough for helping us get the last two tickets on the train to Chita, only one more train from Irkutsk. We chatted briefly to her before slipping away to fix some porridge and brown sugar with dates. Several hours later, her husband a well dressed and astute man approached us and introduced himself as Sayan. He ever so kindly invited us total strangers back to his place for tea and dinner, after pondering the offer vs. the 5 hour wait in the train station we gladly accepted. Sayan's English was very good, as he had studied in San Francisco, USA after completing his university degree in Russia. Having also visited the states as a boy with family, we discovered we both have an appreciation for the natural beauty of west America. They offered us tea, traditional Russian dumplings (mince wrapped in pastry - v.good), cheese, salami and a range of other assorted nibble food. Then he got out the premium vodka (I could tell it was the real deal because it was holographicly sealed). He gave us a short run down about what and how to have a shot...(the secret is in the exhale). It was a divine evening, the company so fascinating. Sayan had many stories to tell and was pleased to be able to practice his English having no other people to chat with in the town. Turns out he is running the public hospital for the town and has 300 odd staff, his boss is a former KGB agent! When giving us a brief tour of the town he showed us the location where the new hospital is to be built. He said that because the owner wasn't using the land that the local council (equivalent) had just granted him permission to build on it. No compensation or anything... Amazing, that's how things are done in Russia apparently. I don't think land is hard to come by being the largest country in the world. Lastly he gave us a stern but admiring talk about the dangers of travel and foreigners in Russia. Many of which we are already familiar with from our travels. Though we had overlooked one, theft... As it turns our Ellie's shiny new digital camera that we bartered so hard for in Singapore was nicked somewhere between Harbin and Zabaikalsk. More on this later no doubt. Arrr....I'm on the train and they just turned the lights out and I can't see what I'm writing.... Goodnight, but so much more to say. 0 Chita to Baikal 10-FEB-2007 17:45:00 Hi-ski (AKA "zadrastvuyte" or hi) Ellie here again. Adding"-ski" to the end of every word began as a joke on the first day here in Russia but it seems to have stuck and while a can hardly pronounce "hello" in Russian I've been kidding myself into thinking I sound Russian when I simply use a Russian accent (which sometimes borders on Swedish or even Scottish) it's a really bad habit... But fun! In fact we've been getting on really well here with the language. Mostly because a lot of people speak English but also I can understand some words because of their similarity to English, German or even (surprisingly) Italian. Written Russian is another story though! They have 34 or so characters and even the ones they have in common with English are not always pronounced the same so in shops and resturants it means trying to spark conversation with who ever is serving you and hoping they have some patience. I guess one of the main reasons we have had such a good run here in Russia is because of the great people that have taken us under their wing. I met Jennia in my carriage (Nathan and I were split up for the night as we got some of the last tickets) on the train from zabaikalsk to chita. She asked me something in Russian, I told her I don't speak Russian and so we had a stilted but welcome conversation about what the heck I was doing in Russia if I don't speak Russian and how dangerous and horrible Russia is. Jennia was coming home (chita) after having her Chinese work visa revoked (she had worked as a translator for a Chinese manufacturer) she said she moved away from Russia primary because of the dangers here and the lack of protection from police who are underpaid and we are told, often supplement their income by abusing their position. Completely negating the picture she had just painted of her country Jennia was on the phone to her mother within about 10 minutes checking that it was ok to invite us back to their house for breakfast, a shower and a snooze. Having not showered since Harbin this was an offer I couldn't refuse! when the food trolley came along she bought beer and we spent the evening chatting. After a great relaxing day in Chita with Jennia and her family we jumped back on the train for our third consecutive night. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to getting out on the frozen lake Baikal and just being in one place for a few days. But on arrival in Irkutsk we had a few errands to run before we could relax. 1st encounter with Russian militsa (police) When we realized my (brand new) camera had been stolen I was not looking forward to going to the police for the required police report. We've heard not a few stories of dodgy police and long waits for the simplest requests. So before going to the police I called my travel insurance company to ask if it was absolutely necessary for me to have a police report. She told me it was and she highly doubled that the police would put me in jail if I didn't cough up a bribe so with trepidation I left Nathan with our luggage and headed to Irkutsk police headquarters. Thankfully a woman who had lost her passport spoke English and was able to explain my predicament to the humorless officer who clearly wasn't appreciating the game of schirades I was playing with him. Barely moving his lips he told my translator that I'd have to go to the railway police. So back to Nathan empty handed I went and we gathered our gear and went back out to the railway station. This time the officer didn't seem to mind our schirades and were pretty sure they got most of the story the first time. They ushered us into a room and they just about every officer (on duty and off) came in and chatted to us. Our favorite was max. He spoke no English but we practiced every phrase in the language chapter of our lonely planet and he heard all about our travels from Singapore over land to Russia. Apparently when he's not a militsa he studies physiology (or so we understood). Then came a guy who kinda spoke englishski. He interrogated us a little more and then we bribed the lot of them with chocolate which seemed to do the trick and 2 hrs after arriving we left the station with three lines of writing in Russian, a signature and a stamp. We were assured it would do the trick but time will tell. Off to Baikal Finally we headed to the bus station! We wanted to go to olkhon Island one of the biggest fresh water islands in the world with a great reputation for natural beauty and an awesome homestay sty hostel. We were worried that we'd be too late for the 6 hour journey out there but when we got to the bus station we found out the time was the least of our worries. Call it an usually warm winter if you will but I'm calling it Climate change. Olkohn, usually accessible to cars and even busses over the ice from November to early April, was inaccessible due to the ice thawing, there was no way to get out there at least this week. So we settled for our second option (we've learned to have back up plans) and waited for a bus to listvyanka just an our from irkutsk. I don't know how long we waited in the snow for that bus but when the first one finally arrived I could tell there were far too many people waiting than could fit on the miniscule thing. By that time I was worrying that pain in my toes might have been frostbite and fought tooth and nail with ladies in furs for a seat.... Unfortunately I couldn't secure one for Nathan but another bus rolled up on cue and we jumped in that one instead. We arrived in Listvyanka after dark and the concept of finding a nice homstay cabin down one of the dark streets proved too much so we headed for the 7 story lighthouse style building that dominated the otherwise nonexistent skyline with it's strobe light lighting up the icy lake baikal. We figured even if it wasn't a hotel we could probably find some help there. It was indeed hotel marka... Totally swish but surprisingly affordable if there is such a thing in this country. Their motto seemed to be "ofcourse!" it seemed the receptionists could achieve anything (except the super human feat of booking train tickets which you'll hear about later from nath). All in all we had a very pleasant stay on lake baikal. Though there's not much to do we managed to fill the days with eating, reading, and walking on the lake. Highlights were a ride on a hovercraft, being interviewed for a tourism documentary and sliding countless times down the ice slide. I love baikal. Wanna come back in summer sometime, anyone care to join me? Much love, Ellie. 0 Trans Siberian 13-FEB-2007 17:50:00 13/02/07 Crows even in Siberia at -20degC. Well it was a race against time but we made it, now we are on the Tran-siberian heading from Irkutsk to Moscow. This leg of our trip is the longest and will take 4 days straight on the train. My impressions of Russian systems is that whatever it is that they are optimized for its not efficiency, consistency, or transparency. Buying our tickets was a disaster (this is the second, the first time they messed up the passport number and name on my ticket, yes you need your passport several times a day in Russia, and we only discovered when boarding the train with about 7 minutes to race back to a ticket office and get the name changed. This of course cost half the price of the original ticket, but you can hardly argue with policy regarding incompetence - right?!?) Buying our tickets to Moscow: Arriving in Russia we were quite aware that we would have to be uber organized, however evidently almost not prepared enough. After arriving in Irkutsk we headed straight for the ticketing office, there are trains leaving on the date we want but of course you can't book any seats because the updated seating allocation doesn't come out till 6pm. Ok, so we will find someone that speaks Russian and Englishski and get them to call up after 6pm. Next morning we walk down to reception and request to use their 'ticket booking service'. "No problems, the numbers busy now but we will call you room when we get through". All is going well.... So we head out for the day and make sure to give them our mobile number. Upon returning we check in with them having heard nothing. "O yes, Of course, here are the prices but you can't book until the day after tomorrow" Are you sure? The lady at the train station says she reserved some. "Yes, sure" Ok...(reluctantly)..and you can book them for us? "Ofcourse!" Great. So we have some fun, play in the snow, walk on a frozen lake, get a hover craft ride, then 2 days later head back to reception to book the tickets. Of course by this time the staff has changed several times, and they have no idea what we are talking about. So they call up and check train times and prices. Now they tell us that the train for the 11th is booked out and unless we want to spend 4 times as much we will have to wait one more night. Of course we might be able to just jump on a train and find a seat later...(yeah right and risk 4 days of agony). Oh, and by the way they can't book tickets without 3 days notice now. So after discussing the hotel staff are either incompetent, or scheming to get us to stay longer because its off season, we head back to Irkutsk to the train station to book tickets ourselves. Upon arriving, the nice (if incompetent) English speaking lady has been replaced with a large butch immovable Russian martian. Who tells us (after much agony, and with much reluctance) that tickets we want aren't available until the 14th now! This would mean a 3 day delay. Not acceptable. The only other tickers are for 2.5 times the price for the class we wanted, and leave tomorrow, the 12th. One days delay, another hostel, after some tears because the Russian lady is ... well... speaking Russian loudly at Ellie because she thinks she is deaf or stupid or both, we walk away with expensive tickets, cursing the Russian martian and booking system generally. The rush for the train: It was all because closed minded skeptical people wouldn't sell me mentholated spirits (as fuel for our cooking stove), this threatened to spoil our carefully planed out vegetarian meal options for a 4 day train trip. I spent 3 or more hours looking for simple burning alcohol (in a snow blizzard), exactly like the stuff you drink only 95-100%, I checked sports stores, camping stores (who sold the same stove we have, and empty fuel bottles), auto stores (as it is commonly used as a degreasing agent), paint stores (strong alcohol makes a good paint remover), several pharmacies (its great for disinfecting wounds), and one supermarket (its also sold as aftershave). No one could help me!!! The little bit of paper with all these translations must have been a bit over whelming for people. So it was we were running (again) for the train through the snow with only minutes to spare. Of course we made it, we always do, we must be approaching the end of our years fast and soon though at the rate we are loosing them what with all the stress. So now it is I'm sitting hear on a train with 4 days worth of cold baked beans, pasta and pancake mix, pots pans, cutlery and plates but no fuel!! Thank god for the chocolate. Over & out, N 0 Surviving Siberia 15-FEB-2007 17:42:00 We're into day three of our three day four night train epic from irkutsk in eastern russia to moskow. Said to be a once in a life time experience... Both nathan and I agree that we'd do it again given the chance. I've done the maths and including visas and invitations (the russian visa system is a nightmare), and transport to/from western europe this part of our trip will cost around $600 in second class - $450 if we'd gone 3rd class (or if we had gone with a bare bones tour agency it would have been $1900) I think that's a pretty affordable way to get across the world. And fun! Well acctually it's often been ungodly boring. Like yesterday I hadn't yet learned how to read the schedual of stops but had depended on our cabin mate Ellena to let me know when there'd be a 20 or 30 minute stop for us to streach our legs and stock up on supplies. I missed the morning stop because I was sleeping and then ellena slept the whole morning so I couldn't tell when I could get off. I started to get cabin fever big time. Getting up on my bunk and then down again. To the toilet, eat some chocolate, play sudoku, read, up, down. Eat some more. The next stop (I finally figured out the timetable) was in 2 hours. Sigh. And then finally it came around. Though the stops is only usually 20 minutes. It really brightens the day for at least an hour. Half an hour before the stop you begin to get excited. Start the ritual of puttingon the layers. But be sure not to be too eager! The cabin is heated to 27degC so tomany layers too soon can be problematic. Shoes, jumpers, scalf, hat jacket... Then wait. We're sslowing down we can see all the snow decked houses. Some people working on the tracks others going about their day. Then the station! We head out into the cold. It's refreshing! We scan the platfrom for babuschkas selling their wares, kartoshka (roast potatoes) are a favorite but we'll settle for water, maybe some cheese, bread, and juice from one of the many Kiosks lining the platform. Laden with our new purchases we head back to the carrrage. Some times we settle back down inside but other times we savor every breath of fresh air. Then we wait again. Today there won't be another stop until 9:30 pm. When the sun goes down at 5:30 that's a late stop and I don't know if I'll still be awake. We arrive tomorrow at 4AM so I think an early night is inorder. The nightcaps (vodak, coniac...) fed to us by our cabin mate ensure that our long nights sleep are peaceful. Each day is 25 hours as we head to the west and while the train runs on moskow time we have tried to keep up with the time zones and change our about watches once a day for us time is pretty subjective. The train, crampt and boring as it can gets, certainly beats jetlag and has come as a welcome rest for us. I've already finish one book 1421 the year china discovered the world - I recommend it! And I've started on "salt; A world history" by mark kurlansky a great writter and what's shaping up to be a great story for those that love odd facts about the world. Anyway I think I'll sign off with that today. Our next post will probably come from moskow. We're certainly looking forward to it! Much love ELlie 0 We're in Europe! 18-FEB-2007 05:06:00 0 Hi Jodi and Tim! 20-FEB-2007 05:22:00 0 We love the baltics 23-FEB-2007 05:25:00 0 stop over :( 23-FEB-2007 05:26:00 0 Little Green Men! 26-FEB-2007 03:06:00 0 da Bahn 28-FEB-2007 22:51:00 Today we snaked our way from Berlin to our new home in Tubening via Frankfurt and Stuttgart using the Bahn. It was a pleasant journey, looking out the window at the rolling green hills covered in newly sprouted crops at 250km an hour. With towering 80-100 meter tall, 3 blade wind turbines shooting up like giant trunks of trees. It was an inspiring sight for an aspiring engineer and passionate environmental advocate. (Note: I will try to secure some work experience with a renewable energy firm in Germany as part of my degree, fingers crossed.) Unfortunately we were unable to get into the office early enough to sign up for our 31sq meter apartment somewhere around the university grounds. So we made our way to an overpriced, monopolizing hostel were we will retire for the evening. Its lovely to know that we will soon have our own space, and a new routine with time to persue our own projects. Its been a monster of a journey, taking 3 months, and just about every mode of transport I could imagine. I've sure changed as a person, learnt new skills, experienced a plethora of situations, made new friends and read more books than my whole life combined, amongst nemourous other things. To all those people who made our journey what it was, although you may never read this and many of you don't speak English, Thanks from the bottom of my heart. Without your suggestions, help, reassurance, smiles, friendly conversations I'm sure it would have been a lot harder, and less fulfilling. I welcome you to visit in me in my new home in Germany, or my homeland Australia and wish you good health and a fulfilling life. Your slightly more worldly friend, Nathan p.s. A special thanks to all those random strangers who were drawn into our journey for a few frantic seconds as they helped us decipher our tickets as we ran to catch trains and busses throughout Asia and Europe. - You will be pleased to know that is three months of navigating foreign transport systems we didn't miss one long distance connection!!! 0 WE MADE IT! 02-MAR-2007 21:14:00 almost exactly three months afterour departure we arrived in Tubingen on the 28th of Feb 2007. We've had many ups and downs since then but we'll fil you in on them when we'rea little more settled. This one's just a little one to brag that we made it!!! Much love to all our friends and family that are following our journey and the friends we made along the way. Ellie 0 The Truth 05-MAR-2007 00:12:00 Update: In the last post you might have picked up on my satisfaction in that our journeys were approaching a smooth ending or transition, and that we had secured some final destination we could call home. This turned out to be only part the story. Day 1: The crap apartment following confrontation We rose early, gathered our shells (like turtles carrying there homes on there back), and made our way to the studentenwerk (but not before getting lost on the public transport system). We eventually found the place and headed on in for the low down. There was a rather sharp, abrupt woman (who spoke both English and German). Who handed us about 20 pages of contracts (all in German, the standard procedure for international students we were told). While Ellie could help me decipher some of them, It would be an uncomfortable situation if you were alone and German illiterate. They were requesting that we sign all the contracts, pay a 1150 euro (about AU$2000, 800 euro bond plus the first months rent in advance , an extra 350 euro) - all without even seeing the apartment!!! Crazy... So I gathered my nerves, asked if we could see the apartment. A sharp confident "No" followed. I then queried the need for such a large bond, and requested to pay it in installments because we didn't have that much in cash (which they expected). Once again, a short sharp "No", followed by the ladies opinion "You reserved the room, so you should sign the contract (regardless)". Sensing an uncompromising, unhelpful and to an extent antagonizing tone, I left to try find the apartment and gain access myself. While I could find the apartment, it was locked and there were no keys forthcoming. So I returned to the Studentenwerk, empty handed. And so it was that we reluctantly signed the contract, even though had no knowledge of the German legal system. We had no were else to sleep that night. As it turned out the apartment has been left un-renovated since the 70's, having the original aged and outdated fittings, a 'kitchen' which fit in a small two door cupboard (with no stove), a bathroom with no drainage on the floor, water damage from were the water from the bathroom comes out of the bathroom and flows around to the front door, and no internet connection (which is a problem since I study computers). So it was that, less than satisfied, we retuned to the studentenwerk to lodge our complaints, and request another apartment. Unfruitful we received condescending looks, and sharp "No's", which resulted in frustration, raised voices & tears... We spend the rest of the day looking for houses on the internet. Our confidence was boosted by and early offer to look at a place. While it was out of town a little the room was large and perfect, the housemates were also pretty cool unfortunately it was lost in translation that we are a couple and BOTH wanted to move in (their contract wouldn’t allow it, and the landlord lives upstairs). still we felt confidant that we could find something better than what the studentenwerk had on offer so we decided to head into their office the next day to try to cancel the contract. Later that evening as we sat in 'our' crummy apartment, we were saved by an offer… (ok so we begged) to stay at Ellie’s friends apartment short term (until his Girlfriends next visit), we jumped at the opportunity. Thanks so much Andreas for your hospitality, we enjoyed the stay with you immensely! Day 2: German student housing crisis + laptop screen smashed So it was that we rose to set out on our urgent task of tracking down accommodation and canceling our contract (and appologising for the previous days tension). It didn't take long for me to discover the large crack in my iBook screen... 'No problem, it will be covered by the travel insurance', right?, 'I'll just have to jump through a few hoops and it will be fixed in no time'. A quick call to the travel insurance firm reveled the clause in the small print "damage to laptop screens will in no circumstances be covered". Shit! The quotes started to roll in, AU$400-700. Wow... To much to process... So we prioritized the accommodation situation, and we headed out to the studentenwerk again to cancel our contract and retrieve out money. This turned out to be no problem, and with money in hand we headed out to look at uni notice boards, track down internet listings, and friends of friends for any available accommodation. Day 3: There is a god! As it turns out, seems we are at a particular disadvantage trying to find accommodation. As we are a couple, and only looking for a place short term. We had also now had time to discover that Germany has a student accommodation crisis. The country is inducing international student to come and study in Germany, however the influx has caused fierce competition for accommodation. It is claimed that many students return to their home country, before beginning study having been unable to find permanent accommodation. The fear of being unable to find accommodation was setting in, as our German classes start in only 3 days. As we stuffed ourselves on Doner kebabs (a german/tukish specialty), we received an urgent text message from Andreas. Who we feared was frustrated at our imposing ourselves on him in his one bedroom apartment... As we braced for the worst, heading to our meeting location we were surprised to see a large smile on his face... He had infact found a large double room, in the center of town, fully furnished, and available the next day, he had even organised a meeting time. Later that day we meet with Thomas and his partner. We got on well, loved the room and decided to take it. We even headed out to buy new sheets, pillows, a quilt and cover. Phew! Day 4: Movin' on in Within less than 24 hours we had packed, moved in and unpacked. My quickest move ever! O, and my God did it feel good! Day 5: Tomorrow, German 101 I should probably be practicing my German... tomorrow we are headed in for the first day of our intensive course. What a tight squeeze! We truly have made it now! Goodnight, goodnight & sweet dreams wherever you may be. Nathan 0 The move to... My (not just travel) Blog 16-MAR-2007 02:06:00 We have been settled in Tubingen for a couple of weeks now. And I feel the time has come to move from this travel site to my Blog. I've just made a new post, to read it follow the link below >>> Click here to go to My Blog 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0