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Riding a bicycle in the Argentinian Patagonia can be adventurous, amazing and many things more, but to me it is monotonous and tedious. The Patagonia is enormous, and one can hardly begin to understand its breadth, width and mystique unless you’re in the midst of it. Maps are a double edged sword for the intrepid adventurer because the scaled distance goads one forth, yet scoffs at the reality of the space involved.
I remember an anecdote of an Indian who knew the true length of his land, how it stretched from this river to that place and so forth because he had walked the distance many times. Eventually he came across a map of the land and found it deceitful, infuriating! The...
Now here is something that I read about often, yet did not really expect so soon; the kindness of strangers along the way. I do believe that cyclists are among the most kindly people you can meet, especially during a hard journey.
My departure from Ushuaia was a hard one, a real trial by fire-- I had chosen the perfect day to leave. It was raining, cold and windy right off the bat as I left the dreary town. But I could not wait to start my journey any longer, I would not wait another day for the sky to clear. So off I went, climbing 50kms through a mountain range, slowly, slowly uphill... until I finally reached the tipping point and raced down the mountain.
The worst was...
The start of a solo journey on bicycle from Argentina to Alaska along the pan-american highway
13/11/11
Not a bad night I have to admit and after yet another shower where I tried to remove my skin we were ready for a day exploring Singapore. Although they would probably never advertise it, Singapore is a walkable city, as long as you have a map of course. We went from the hotel to the marina district via the financial district, this being a Sunday the roads around the huge glass towers were deserted, but the pavements still had the usual mix of locals and tourists, but not so much that it felt crowded. Through Chinatown we passed the buddha's tooth temple with it's fearsome looking stone guards outside and huge gym complexes designed for the bankers and office workers around the...
10/11/11
We left the room around 0930 to get to the booking office, the plan is to get the night train from Penang to KL, arriving early in the morning and giving us a full day to look around. 10 am came and went but I was reassured by local people also waiting for the office to open, so bet bex breakfast on the opening time and we stood back to wait, sure enough at 1015 the staff member cooly walked up and opened the office, yes! Breakfast on her today!
The price for beds was 40 ringits each (£8) and the train staff said we had the last two, phew! He also told us to be at the ferry nice and early as the train leaves at 2300 and the boats are always late, warning noted.
We left the p...
07/11/11
By now you'll know we only travel in the early morning or over night, so no surprises then when we grabbed a quick takeaway breakfast at the ferry port before boarding our boat which would then stop at Phi Phi where we would transfer to a boat heading back to Phuket, in total 4 hours on ferries. We had already decided to pit stop in a cafe before trying to find a taxi to the Golddiggers resort in Nai Yang, Phuket, thus avoiding the minibus fiasco from the airport. Gold diggers was chosen due to it's location from the airport (1 or 2 km depending on who you believe) and it also had a pool to relax in, as we were just using this as a stop over we hadn't planned any trips or look...
04/11/11
After running in the humidity last night we decided to give the morning a go to compare the two and it started well, with a cloudy early morning sky and nice solid sand near the waves we both felt fresh and awake at 8am. That all changed as the sun came out and the temperature jumped 20c in seconds and suddenly I felt like I was running in treacle , how is it possible to be this hot this early in the day?
As the restaurant was closed on Fridays we decided to rent the bike and eat on the road somewhere. Our destination today was the national park and lighthouse on the southern tip of the island a good 30k away but mostly straight roads, according to the map. I must have looked...
01/11/11
We tried the diner attached to our hotel for breakfast and found the prices normal, so by the looks of things the only place open for food last night was the most expensive in town (I'm convinced the taxi driver took a cut from this!) and by 0930 we were on Kata beach, creamed up and ready to relax. By 10am we were both getting restless, we really are crap at sun bathing and drowning in our own sweat as the sun was beating down already. The sea cools you off, but by the time you are back to your gear your melting again, how on earth do people just lie there day after day for weeks on end and say they have had a holiday?
By midday we had both had enough and decided to walk alo...
29/10/11
Bright sunshine greeted us at 6am, which was not right as normally it's thunderstorms in the morning and sun in the afternoon, never mind I'm not going to complain. I was also feeling a lot better today, nothing was moving but just in case I passed on breakfast until we got back from the dives. Once on the boat seasick tablets were being handed out like smarties as there were other groups on board with us and it was not as flat as it looked, strangely I was feeling fine so I guess my sea legs had finally arrived, while Bex had left hers back in the room and was one of the pill poppers.
Back in my shorts and rashie for the dive down to White Rock and finally I had my buoyancy ...
Kenya is the original home for safari which means travel in Swahili.Kenya is a land of many contrast as it lies a long the equator hence favorable climate for both flora and fauna.Kenya prides it self with the even distribution of these wonderful resources form north to south and from east to west.Kenya boost it self with vast wildlife such as lions,leopards,cheetahs,elephants,buffaloes,elands,impalas,kongoni,Thomson,rhinos gazelles,zebras,wild beast,baboons,hyenas,aardvark,hunting dogs,foxes and more than 1000 recorded species of birds such flamingos,jacanas,eagles,swifts,swallows,goose,ducks,weavers,owls,sun birds,vultures to mention but a few.Kenya have also both word ramsar and heritage...
25/10/11
Travel day, again! We don't seem to be in one place for very long, even if it was three full days. This time we were taking the catamaran to Koh Phenang, only a 20 min ride from Samui and even smaller still. We decided to go with Lompraya (Lompraya.com) as we could get a discount for future trips, something which had not escaped my attention when booking this leg of the journey.
On arrival we found a taxi to our destination, Sunset Cove, booked due to the huge off season discount and quite frankly, the name alone. I can honestly say there was only 6 other people in the whole complex and after posing for photos on palm trees and rocks we decided to spend the rest of the aftern...
22/10/11
0530 and we're up again as the flight to Koh Samui leaves at 0745. Deposit returned we find a taxi and get a price, cheaper than the ride here so it's a go! The freeways in this direction are almost deserted and after watching a fiery red sunrise we arrive at the airport 25 minutes later, using a much more direct route than the arrival yesterday, which was obviously just an attempt to rack the meter up!
Again it's another lightning fast checkin with Thai Airlines and it's off to find breakfast. The weather in Samui is not to brilliant at the moment, but the next 2 days should be a lot better, but to be honest we don't care as it's relax and water sports time!
Becky's luck wi...
20/10/11
0455 is NOT a time to get up when you are on holiday, but we had to be at the bus station for 0530 to make sure we get tickets and it was a 15 minute walk away from our room.
Seats secured, phew! And the bus looks very new, tv's, aircon and the loudest Thai stereo in the world which makes me wonder if I will last the trip!
I'm not a parent, but even I know that, if your child is sick 30minutes into the journey the one thing you don't do is buy them 3 large bags of crisps at the next stop, this journey, I fear, will end in tears for a lot of people on board!
5 hours in and I've now got my headphones in to try and drown out the screeching from the radio, somehow, through all ...
16/10/11
I'm awake with the sunrise, much to my annoyance. My head cold is getting better but still making sleep a pain and during the night I worked out that the windows, which have bars on, do not have any glass in just mesh. Sometimes being a light sleeper is a real pain in the backside!
We set out to explore around 9 and already the sun was out and the temperature was rising fast, by midday the humidity would be at it's highest too so now was a good time to do any walking around. We grabbed our smoothies and headed for the highest point in town which is mount phousi and the temple which sits on top. It's only 300 steps to the summit, but since everything else sits just above river...
Who hasn't dreamed of going on a wildlife-viewing safari to sub-Saharan Africa? Inspired by the wish to observe exotic animals in their natural environment … the promise of grand adventure … and the opportunity to experience traditional African culture … each of us has a unique vision for our African "trip of a lifetime."But where to start? The continent is vast and the terrain breathtakingly varied, with thousands of fascinating wildlife species. Every African country is unique in the quality of its parks and reserves, roads and other infrastructure, visitor accommodations and receptivity to tourists. Creating an itinerary and arranging travel logistics can intimidate even the most enthus...
Ruma National Park the only Terestial Park in the entire Nyanza Province , was initially established as the Lambwe Valley Game Reserve in 1966 and gazetted as a National Park in 1983 to protect its indigenous population of rare roan antelopes which exist nowhere else in Kenya. covers an area of 120 square kilometers. It is situated in Lambwe Valley in South Nyanza, 140 km from Kisumu, 10 km east of Lake Victoria and South West of Homa Bay and 425 km west of Nairobi. It lies on the flat floor of the Lambwe Valley, bordered by the kanyamwa escarpment to the south east, Gwassi Hills, Sumba hill and ruri hills to the north.It was renamed “Ruma” upon request of the local community. The area had...
14/10/11
Bitty day today, it's the night train to Hanoi again tonight so we have to check out of the room by 1030. I was woken at 3am last night by a huge storm going on outside and the rain on the window sounded like someone trying to get in. I pulled one of the curtains aside and was almost blinded by the lightning, is it strange there was no thunder to go with it?
The rain continued into mid morning so the day was pretty much taken up with writing this and watching the new arrivals entering the town. If you arrive during the week the place is a lot quieter, but from Thursday to Sunday it's a mass of day trippers and new arrivals, so I was glad to be leaving, but for this reason o...
12/10/11
Another early start but this time we were mountain biking from the town into the lower villages along the river valley and yet again the sun had decided it was summer not winter! We had the same guide, Hoe, as the day before and I hoped he was a fitter biker than he was walker, so water on board we started out along the road for 6k. Once the nightmare traffic was negotiated we hopped off onto a dirt track and into the first village, waving at the kids and trying to avoid the farm animals who seemed intent on killing themselves under our wheels!
The first climb and all hopes of a better biker vanished, Hoe soon realised that we had done this before and was left trailing some w...
10/10/11
It's 0530 and I'm awake! A restless sleep, waking up every few hours due to the movement of the roller coaster, sorry, the train. On the upside I got to see the sunrise over the mountains and jungle of North Vietnam which was misty but already a lot greener than the South. At 6am there was a knock on the door announcing that we would be arriving soon to Lao Cai, which is as far as the train goes. Lao Cai is a border town with China (2km to the north west) and some 30km from our final destination of Sapa and this shows in the town itself as there is literally nothing, a few shops, but mostly it's just used as a go through for other places. Once off the train the taxi touts mov...
08/10/11
Nothing worse than an early bus ride in the rain to Halong Bay. It's 3 hours on some of the worst roads in the world, and our bus seems to be mounted on two pogo sticks so writing is almost impossible, at best I'm correcting more words than I write. As we move further away from Hanoi the weather has improved slightly, it's still very grey but the rain is only appearing in showers and I'm more encouraged by the dry roads.
I'm told that our junk will be the Paloma and it was build in 2009, so unless we hit an island, there is no real risk of it sinking, so let's hope they have better captains than they do drivers!
On arrival at the dock we are herded into a small boat which w...
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