The End

Well Marty and Mel fans, the time has come that we both have dreaded. This will be the last blog, installment & chapter of the Marty & Mel Chronicles. Our time has come to say our sad goodbyes as we have now landed back in to the best country that the world has to offer, 2 years, 1 month, 9 minutes and 17 seconds to the day that we left.

Marty's Dengue Fever has cleared up nicely, leaving no hideous scars or disfigurement which is always nice. After a few days in Kuala Lumpur, going nothing but 5 star, we have flown home for recovery, comfort and a good ol' curry pie which is just what the doctor ordered. Mel has developed a hacking cough which can only be attributed to the excessively fresh air and sunshine that this part of the world is known for. But don't worry, a few pills and we'll have her right as rain.

The trip has been a mammoth journey across 5 continents, 20 countries and 101 cities. There's been high times, there's been low times. We've met the best of people and the worst. Stayed in everything from 5 star to no star, Bedouin tents to high flying city digs. We've travelled by plane, train, car, motorbike, bus, bike, boat, cyclo, tuk tuk, horse and even camel. We've gone from 45 degrees Celsius to minus 15. We've been amazed, disgusted, mesmerised, touched, saddened and inspired by everything that we have been lucky enough to experience.

It's hard to say what was the best and what was the worst as there are so many memories, but a few do spring to mind....
* Blowing the budget at the blackjack table in Vegas, when I know we were just so close.
* Coming face to face with wild Grizzly Bears in Canada
* Being abused at a Roman laundromat by a little man unhappy with his lot in life.
* Getting plastered at Tropicana in Havana, Cuba.
* Seeing the sunrise from atop a camel in the Sahara Desert, Morocco.
* Walking 7 kilometres to Chimeara with no water and 45 degree heat in Olympos, Turkey.
* Munching on sausage at a gay pride parade in Germany.
* Breathing in the crisp, clean air of the Swiss Alps.
* Gazing upon the only remaining Ancient Wonder of the World in Egypt.
* Getting food poisoning day 1 in India.
* Working up the courage to visit a doctor in Laos.

So you may be wondering what lies ahead for your two favourite explorers. Mel is currently getting a lot of enjoyment from playing domestic goddess and working on her tan. Marty is turning the whole trip into an epic two hour movie and is enjoying life without decisions. They both plan to start work again....eventually....probably in the New Year. There will be future trips, but no additions to this blog.

Thanks to everyone who left comments, visited us, played a part in, or followed our trip. For the last time, take care and so long...

Marty & Mel

There's always a twist at the end

We arrived into Vientiane, Laos with our legs running and my head still thumping. We got in at night time and made our way straight to the hotel. After an average night's sleep we decided to seek out some of the very few sites Vientiane has to offer. As we walked down the street I peered down at my arms and noticed that they were becoming red, splotchy and swollen. Putting it down to my very first heat rash experience, we continued on to the oldest Wat in Vientiane. After a few happy snaps and a few quiet moments reflecting upon the golden Buddhas, we decided to call it a day, as my feet were now beginning to hurt.

The next morning, I woke up swollen, sore and with a rash that would impress Jenna Jameson. Feeling less than average we decided to head for the medical centre. Now I'm not talking about any 2 bit, backwater, Laotian Tiger balm medic. I'm talking about the $300 per consultation Australian Embassy Medical Clinic, where they confirmed Mel's Internet diagnosis. I have Dengue Fever. Yes I can hear you now...."Dengue Fever? Is that still around?" Oh yes my friends, it's around and I have a raging case of it. Upon doctors recommendations, the next day we evacuated Laos for Kuala Lumpur to undergo more blood tests. He also suggested a 5 star hotel, as out time here would be made up of cable TV and room service. And who are we to argue with a $300 doctor?

I've had my blood test and have been cleared to fly, so as you are all now probably fearing, the Chronicles are quickly coming to a close. Just like a good novel, every blog has a twist, and I bet you didn't see this one coming!

There will be one more blog before we sign off, so for the last time....stay tuned.....


A golden wat of Vientiane, Laos.


These are as big as the needles I've been having

Hanoi Antics

Being back in beautiful grey Hanoi felt different to our last visit 18 months ago. Everyone's wearing helmets, prices have increased and our regular watering holes are now construction zones destined to become cheap guesthouses or DVD shops. We started off on a good wicket. The first few nights the beer was flowing, the company was good, and our quiz answers were even better. But unfortunately this time, what took the Vietnamese 6 months to annoy us had now frustrated us to the very core within 3 days. Because of the incessant honking, beeping and cluttered sidewalks we decided to move from the very touristy Old Quarter, out to quieter digs with our friends Ed & Karen. This made for a very peaceful and relaxing stay filled with beer, Playstation, ten pen bowling and Trailer Park Boys reruns. However, Marty did reach his limit on the beer intake due to a 5 day straight thumping headache. All in all, Hanoi is nice to visit, but I think it's safe to say that our time there is done.


Old School

Ahh the joys of budget travel

We always say we'll never do again, but when it comes to the crunch it seems we choose dollars in our pocket over a good nights sleep every time. We had a few options to get from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang, these being flying (super quick but expensive), overnight train (fairly cheap and Vietnamese trains are quite comfortable) or the option we chose to take, the overnight sleeper bus which was an absolute steal at only $10 per person for the 10 hour trip. We saw some photos of the buses and they didn't look too bad. A lot better than the overnight bus we took in Turkey anyway as these had beds set up in them that looked like you were lying pretty much flat. What they didn't show in the pictures however is the 8 other backpackers in our section of the bus who were a mix of Canadian, British, Russian and Nigerian who thought it would be a good idea to turn it into the party bus. Most of the night was spent turning up the I-Pod to drown out their drunken slurs as they swigged from their bottles of cheap Vietnamese wine. This coupled with the fact that this section of the road has not been redone since the war and was decidedly bumpy. At one point we woke up when we were shot about 3 feet in the air as the bus went over a few larger than usual bumps in the road. Not a nice way to be woken up I can tell you! Nevertheless we made it alive and have just booked our overnight bus to Hoi An tomorrow night.........

Before the party started

Some of our backpacker friends....

Home away from home

Well we have come home before we get home. We caught the 6 hour bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City and driving back into the city was a very strange feeling, and a little emotional I'll have to admit. It's hard to be believe that the last time we were here was 18 months ago, as we've seen and done so much since then. But at the same time it feels as it was only yesterday that we were here. The people & language are so familiar and we had fun spotting out familiar words on signs as we drove in. Even the local petrol station or bakery brings back memories! The only change we can see so far is that everyone is obeying the new law and are now wearing helmets when they're riding their motorbikes...even the very cool and trendy ones that are shaped like baseball caps!

One thing that hasn't changed is the very open curiousity the Vietnamese still have for westerners. While waiting at the border check coming in from Cambodia, a Vietnamese lady couldn't stop staring at me so Marty gave her a big wave. She proceeded to laugh and turn her nose up at the end with her finger, indicating that I may have slightly upturned nose. I had to laugh back at her and squash my nose down with my finger to show her that yes she was different from me too! She thought that was funny nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

We have about 2 weeks in Vietnam to soak up all that this wonderful country has to offer, as it will probably be the last time in a while that we visit. We're looking forward to lazily making our way up the coast before catching up with friends in Hanoi over a Bia Hoi or two.

The streets come to life in HCMC.

The Contradictions of Cambodia

Well we have now seen both sides of Cambodia. The good and the down right terrible. We spent 2 nights in Phnom Penh which is nowhere near as chilled as Siem Reap, but it is the spot to get a good insight into the regime known as the Khmer Rouge.

We took a $8 all day Tuk Tuk from our hotel to our first stop Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This place was formerly a high school which the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison after they took Phnom Penh in April 1975. The museum is pretty basic but that's really what hits home. As you walk into the first room you cross the checkered floor to the centre of the room where there is an old cast iron bed. Above the bed is a photo of one man. He's lying on that exact bed chained down whilst he's beaten, tortured and interrogated. On the floor his blood across the empty room. This is just one of the many rooms that are set up all the same. In the adjacent building there are thousands of black and white photos of some of the people who suffered at the hands of one of the worlds worst regimes.

From here we went out to the Killing Fields. 14 kilometers from the city it's a small green area where 17,000 people were brought for extermination. They piled the bodies in 129 mass graves and as you walk around you can still see some of the clothing and bones on the ground.

The sites of Phnom Penh are definitely not for the squeamish but it does give you a bigger appreciation for todays people of Cambodia. They have suffered such pain so recently and for some it still continues. To my horror we found out that some of the former Khmer Rough regime still exists and even worse they walk the streets amongst the people they committed these callous crimes against. It's truly amazing that Cambodian people can be so friendly, have a great sense of humor and smile so much.

S-21 prison in Phnom Penh

The Land We Love (besides Australia)

Well as you know, or should know (if you've been reading your weekly update of The Chronicles) we are in Siem Reap, Cambodia and this is possibly one of our favourite countries in the world. This is the second time for us both and I think we are loving it even more this time around if that's at all possible. It has changed some what though from the last time we we're here (all those years ago). There are far more tourists than before, you can no longer climb over, venture into and visit any or every temple you wish (which is a good thing) and the picture postcard shot is a thing of the past as every temple is under restoration and will be for some time. The good news though is that the people are friendlier than ever before and the food is everything we remembered it being.

We've done some new and old temples this time around but for us it has just been a fantastic place for rest and relaxation after our trip to India. If there is a heaven in Asia then Cambodia be thy name! We are off to Phnom Penh tomorrow before hitting the coastal, beach communities on the south coast.

Look for our next post which will more than likely be after our visit to the stomach churning Killing Fields.


Marty and Mel inside the tree temple known as Ta Phrom


She gambled her postcards on a game of noughts and crosses. (She was good and we now have 10 postcards)


How many faces can you see at the Bayon Temple.

Two Years On

Well the 1st of October brought around our two year anniversary. It's now been two years since we set off on this epic adventure, and what an adventure. We've sipped Mojitos in communist Cuba, gazed at the Colosseum in Rome, picnicked under the Matterhorn in Switzerland, and blown the budget in Las Vegas. We feel as though we've seen it all, but alas it's not true. Every country we go to makes us realise how big this damn world is and how much we have left to see.

We are now in Varanasi, the famed holy city of India. This morning we went on a sunrise boat trip down the Ganges to see life in India played out before our very eyes. Pilgrims are bathing, bodies are burning, and colourful saris dot the shoreline. They come to wash away the sins of their lives, and to die in the holy river, thus ensuring an escape from the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth. Varanasi is one of the most interesting places we've been to in India and quite relaxing. That is until our 15 year old oarsmen pumped his Hindi-pop music from his cellphone, filling the air with the tinny twangs of a language unknown.

This is our last blog from India, as tomorrow we return to the land that time forgot, Cambodia.

Don't forget behind your ears!

The Mighty Ganges

Bath time at one of the many ghats in Varanasi

A change is as good....

Well we've been in India for 6 days now, and since we've been here there has been 1 bomb attack in Delhi, 2 bomb attacks in outlying cities, a stampede at a Hindu temple which killed 168, a severe case of Delhi belly, a strained back and one of the phlegmiest coughs that would make an Indian look twice.


We both loved the Taj and would recommend it to anyone but for us India isn't exactly floating the overcrowded boat if you know what I mean. We just haven't been in the right state of mind to appreciate where we are and what we're seeing. To us at the moment every Mughal fort looks like the last Mughal fort and every pile of shit looks like the last 10 piles of shit. We may return here one day, perhaps when we can further appreciate it, but for now we are going to pull up stumps and head to Cambodia. We are in Jaipur for one more night and then we have bought flights to Varanasi for two nights. From here it is Singapore Airlines all the way to Siem Reap where we will be sipping on Angkor beer and kicking around Asia for two months in thongs.


This Asian Odyssey will be the last leg of our great epic adventure.


Stay tuned....



This face says it all :(

A teardrop on the face of eternity

Well we have now seen our 3rd installment of the 7 New Wonders of the World, The Taj Mahal, and it's every bit as captivating as they say. Without it, Agra wouldn't be much more than a blip on the India map to be quite honest, but the Taj definitely makes it worth visiting. It has to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and interestingly, the local authorities are doing their bit to try and keep it that way with heavy security and no polluting vehicles allowed within 500 metres of it.

We are now in Jaipur, Marty is steadily going downhill health wise and I am struggling to dodge the crap everywhere. By crap I mean rubbish.....and actual crap. Human or animal is the question! So far our evasive skills have been excellent, unlike the unfortunate tourist we saw at the train station this morning. It was clear from the amount of flies swarming around her shoes that she had stood in something questionable. Lucky she wasn't in our cabin on the train!

Bye for now.

M and M

A captivating view...and the Taj isn't too bad either

Sunday best

The Taj

Delhi - A Brave Man

Well we have arrived at one of the most anticipated, feared, excited, crazed, thought provoking palaces on our trip. For the past couple of weeks we have not been sure of what it is we want to do or see in India yet we have known we were coming here for quite some time now. We normally travel like to travel with every last detail nutted out so we can just enjoy it more and not have to march from hotel to hotel or try and figure out what sights we want to see. And to get the most from our money on a trip like this it's the only way it could effectively be done. Yet here we are in India with no clue.

We arrived last night after a tiring 8 hour overnight flight from Egypt. A driver from our small, cheap & shitty hotel picked us up taking a little hassle out of our arrival. As we made our way through the streets it kind of resembled a few other 3rd world countries we'd been to on this trip. Vietnam.. Egypt... Morocco...except this time they all looked Indian. From lack of planning we had booked a hotel in the area that Lonely Planet describes as seedy, a reputation for drugs and full of dodgy characters. But this is the place that all the backpackers stay so we figured we're two smart travellers we'll be right.

After reading the endless stories about dodgy dealings, money tricksters, touts and the endless hassle, I am pleased to say we have not encountered any of it. We've come here expecting the worst and looking at everyone like they are out to get us, but so far we haven't had a problem. We haven't been hassled, robbed, ripped off or bothered and we are now going into our third day and leaving Delhi. If Delhi is the worst town in India then we are both looking forward to a fantastic trip. The lack of preparation has made for a more relaxed trip I think. We don't feel the need to run around from sight to sight from sun up to sun down. We've picked a few highlights in each town and the rest is spared for relaxing, shopping or photography.

Our first meal last night was of course Indian which was actually really tasty, but I am a little disappointed to already say that it has made me sick. As a wise man once said "It's a brave man who farts in India" and I can tell you I won't be.

Tomorrow we head for Agra and the Taj. We are on the 8.10am train and we've decided to spend two nights due to our late arrival. After that it's off to Jaipur which is the gateway to Rajasthan. From there we still aren't sure. It's looking like Pushkar, Jodhpur and Udaipur.

We're safe, sound and so far I think we're enjoying it.


Sunset at the Red Fort in Delhi.


In the back of a New Delhi Autorickshaw. O such fun it is to ride...


New Delhi train station.

From Pharaohs to Maharajahs

Well Egypt is done. We are currently whiling away the time before we have to get on our 2am flight to Delhi tonight. Should be fun. We're also flying with the well known and trusted Air Arabia so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.

Our time in Egypt has been wonderful. No other country I've been to has stirred the imagination so much as this place. Walking through these enormous ancient temples, with larger than life statues of the ancient pharaohs and their gods is an awesome experience and one that I'll never forget. But in saying that the next person who asks me if I want a Felucca trip on the Nile is going to get a swift kick to the head. Marty said he's enjoyed his visit more the second time round because he's a bit more experienced in the whole travel game, and far more confident in his dealings with foreign food!

We have both seen so many amazing things on this trip already and although it now feels like we are on the homeward stretch, we still have so many things to see and experience. They say that India is one of the most difficult countries in the world to travel in......so fingers crossed......there be some crazy times ahead!

Reading up at Karnak Temple

Hieroglyphs on a pillar at the Ramesseum

Waiting for lunch

Luxor

Well after taking the convoy up to Luxor stopping at Kom Ombo & Edfu temples, we are now happily traipsing around the ancient capital of Egypt's "Golden Era".

On day one we wandered around the beautiful Luxor temple before hitting Karnak at midday to avoid the crowds. Our plan worked perfectly as there was only a handful of people there (mainly because it was 42*C, but we're in Egypt so what do you expect. It was great that Mel and I could just take our time looking at everything as I was a little rushed on my last visit here.

Yesterday we ventured over to the West Bank to check out some of the biggest attractions Egypt has to offer. First we stopped at the Colossi of Memnon before hitting the Ramesseum with it's huge fallen statue of none other than Ramses the Great. From here we then went into the Valley of the Kings where we check out the stunning tombs of Ramses I, Ramses III, Tutmoses III and Siptah.

It's common knowledge that there is no filming or photo's in any of the tombs. But guess what?...... You can only take photos outside the tombs, no filming! I found this out after getting dragged into the Directors office who demanded to see the last two minutes of my film. He then said "You have to pay 1000 Egyptian Pounds (250 AUD) or leave the tape here!" Well I couldn't leave the tape as it has footage from Karnak, Luxor and the rest of the day and I surely wasn't paying $250. So after some discussion with the men they agreed to let me delete the footage and then we could go.

On the way out Mel did mention that she had seen a sign stating that no video cameras were allowed but it must have slipped her mind.....

Mel next to the head & shoulders of Ramses at the Ramesseum

Martiana Jones

Marty at Edfu Temple

From Aswan to Abu Simbel

After a good-ish nights sleep on the overnight train from Cairo, we arrived into Aswan bright and early in the morning. After checking into our hotel which was located in one of the finest bomb sites of Aswan, we headed off to the Temple of Philae. After buying our ticket we made for the dock where the boats are waiting to take you out. But guess what? The boat trip isn't included. That's right, you have your ticket to the island but you can't actually get there unless you pay the crazy prices the boat captain's have agreed upon. Not wanting to pay 7 times more than we should we decided to wait for more people to arrive. After about 15 minutes of standing around we managed to team up with some Japanese backpackers and thus began the bidding war. I'm please to tell you that in the end it was Australia/Japan 1 - Egypt 0. Compared to Europe, these temples are in amazing condition. The Temple of Philae is over 2000 years old and the hieroglyphics are still so finely detailed with colour still to be seen in some places.

The next morning we woke at 3am to go out to Abu Simbel which is a 3 hour drive away. The 3 am start is due to the fact that you have to travel in a tourist convoy which is lead and followed by police the whole way because of some attacks that happened in Luxor in 1997. The trip went all right for the first 2 hours but all of a sudden our van started blowing black smoke everywhere and we had lost the convoy. Great security! Our van breaking down wasn't all bad news though. By the time we got to Abu Simbel all the other tourist buses were getting ready to leave so instead of the regular 1000 people, we were only competing with about 30. Coming home now that's a different story. Our van had finally shit itself. We were unable to get above 45 kilometers an hour and there was now more smoke than after the dinner bell at the end of a Ramadan evening. At this rate the 3 hour trip was looking like a 7 hour crawl. But from between the sand dunes appeared an Egyptian mirage. A 30 seater luxury coach with 26 seats available and the coldest aircon that would make even Ramses proud. Before we knew it we were back in Aswan and sound asleep. Good times, good times.

Felucca's drifting on the Nile in Aswan.

Mel in front of the colossal fallen head of Ramses at Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel in all it's glory. And amazingly enough only 2 people in the photo.

Cairo

Well it's our last night in Cairo and I must say I'm loving it just as much the second time around maybe even more. There is something about this place that is just so damn exotic. We were in the Cairo museum the other day looking at King Tut's Death Mask (as you do) when mel turned to me and said "this is just going to be great". Seeing her excited for all the same things that I love about Egypt makes the trip even better.

We have been out to the amazing Pyramids of Giza, the step Pyramid of Saqqara and the once great capital of Memphis. Today we saw a bit more of Cairo with a stop at Khan el-Khalili and then a climb to the top of the Cairo tower. We then treated ourselves to one of the best (and expensive) meals we've had this trip. We went five star all the way with a lovely evening at the Birdcage. A Thai restaurant inside the Intercontinental.

Life is good.

PS. I've also been offered 1500 camels for Mel but the good news is she's still with me. There's not enough camels in the world.

Mel taxi's it through the crazy Cairo streets. It may be safer than walking. We're not sure?

Marty shoots the giant Ramses statue.

The land of the Pharaohs

Well we touched down in Cairo yesterday and our fears about staying in an Egyptian hostel were quickly dissipated on check in when we got to the King Tut Hostel. Rooms are big, clean and more importantly have got crazy cold air conditioning. We also enjoyed a tasty hibiscus flower welcome beverage in the Bedouin style common room. We are in Egypt.

This of course became more apparent this morning as we made our way out to the Great Pyramid's of Giza with our taxi driver who recently retired from the rally car circuit. I thought the driving in Italy was bad but they are driving Miss Daisy compared to the Egyptians. Nevertheless we made it to the pyramids in one piece and they are amazing. The sheer size and scale that these were built on more than 4500 years ago just blows you away. You've seen them in photos and movies a million times, but as you drive up and see these giant structures loom up out of the sand it takes your breath away.

Can't wait for what's next!


No caption needed.

Cappadocia

Well it's our last few hours in Cappadocia which we have both found one of the most relaxing places on this whole trip. This region in famous for its natural rock formations that have sheltered the local people for thousands of years.

Cappadocia is a lot different to everywhere else we've been in Turkey. Not only is the scenery completely different but it's been about 15*C with blue skies and has an Australian winter kind of feel about it. We went out to the Open Air Museum which was good but nothing like what we expected. We both thought it would be a natural rock formation kind of place but it was mostly about the churches and houses that the people have built inside these termite like mounds.　One of our favourite spots that we found was called Love Valley. Check out the photo below to see how it got it's name.

Today we are flying back to Istanbul for one night and then we are off to the land of the Pharaohs for a few weeks. Turkey for us has been an amazing experience. The people are some of the friendliest in the world and that was not expected considering it's a Muslim country. The sites are breath taking with photo opportunities at every corner. The food has been great, the weather warm and the beer cold. What more can you ask for?


Love Valley, Cappadocia.


Hot Air Ballooning over Cappadocia.

Kas & Olympos

We are now in Olympos which I'm please to say is a backpackers paradise. We spent three days in Kas which unfortunately didn't live up to our expectations. I guess we always envisioned ourselves kicking back on the beach and just chilling out but as it turned out Kas is far too hot for any outdoor activities at all. The days were climbing up to a staggering 45*C and that was in the shade. We did do one of our planned day trips which was kayaking over the sunken city and around a few islands. This was fun and a complete full day but just for the future if someone tells you that kayaking 6 kilometers needs no experience and any fitness level can do then they are flat out lying. There wasn't that much time for a swim or a rest and the sunken city was not much more than a two or three house foundations partially submerged. Olympos on the other had is AMAZING! There are no tour groups here and there is a beautiful breeze that blows through the valley at all times of the day. It is also home to one of the best beaches in Turkey which I am pleased to say is not too busy considering. All is all I think we could both easily pull up here for a week or so longer but alas we are off to Goreme tomorrow on the overnight bus which we are super excited about.

So long

Sunset over Kas.


After walking 7 kms up hill in the 40*C heat with no water Mel is more than excited to have her photo taken. 1... 2... 3... say Chimera !

Pamukkale

A last minute switch brought us to the town of Pamukkale. We had heard that the famous white travertines were not what you see on the postcards but thought we'd check it out ourselves. And it's true, the tarvertines have dried up a bit since the photos were taken in 1970, but the surrounding ancient ruins of Hierapolis more than made up for it. You would think that the best place to find ancient roman ruins would be in Rome, but no, it is here in Turkey funnily enough. They are on such as huge scale and are in such good condition, that it almost puts the Italian ones to shame. You can see everything from the theatre, to where they went to the toilet during the show. It made Pamukkale worth the trip.

M&M

Street leading thorugh the agora in Hierapolis

Mel explores the tombs of the hilltop Necropolis

Oh Troy!

Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy. Where do we start with Troy? No doubt most of you associate Troy with the dashing Brad Pitt and the somewhat questionable performance of Eric Bana, but let me tell you, it is the shit.

As you walk around the foundations of Troy your imagination starts to run wild with the ancient tales by Homer. Around the site there are actually 9 different Troy's, all built on top of each other and I must say this turned out to be an unexpected favourite of mine. The signposts around the area are fantastic. They show you where Achilles slayed Prince Hector and also where he chopped the head off the statue of Athena. I was picturing this all in wide screen Dolby surround sound and found myself chanting, "Hector!!! Hector!!!" more than a few times.

For me, this is an undeniable must see and definitely one of the greatest fact or fiction stories going. Visit yourself and you decide.

M

Gallipoli

Well we didn't expect to feel too much emotion on our recent visit to Gallipoli, but to our surprise we both found it a very sad, touching and sombre affair. We've been to many war memorials and battlefields before, but it never hit home as much as Gallipoli due to the fact that it was here that so many Australians were killed in a pointless battle.

Our day started with a ferry ride across the Dardanelles and then a short 10 minute bus ride to the museum....which was closed due to the fact that we were there at the crack o' dawn to beat the crowds. From here we did a leisurely paced 5km walk which was scenic in it's own right. As the road winds around the coast you know you're getting close as bunkers start to appear under trees, on hills and even on the beach. After reading all the memorials and walking through the cemeteries we began to feel a deep sorrow for those who lost their lives. After 9 months they gained no ground, had over 500,000 deaths and not to mention the other 1,000 that died on the boat trip back home.

All in all we think it's a pilgrimage that every Australian should undertake whether you have any interest in the war or not. It makes you realise how lucky we are and what other Australians have sacrificed for our freedom.

Peace out

M&M

Marty & Mel at Anzac Cove

Gobble Gobble!

Well it's our last night in Istanbul and we've had an awesome time here. The sights are really beautiful, the food is great and the people are some of the friendliest we've ever met on all our travels. We've seen the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the Whirling Dervish and the very cosmopolitan shopping areas. And the beauty of this place is that even though they are predominately Muslim, you can still have a beer with them! And in my books...that's tops.

Marty sinks his first Efes in Istanbul

The Blue Mosque....... looking yellow.

Marty whirling after 2 more Efes

It's Istanbul, Not Constantinople.

Well after days of anticipation we have finally made it to the land of the sultans. We arrived into Istanbul this morning after one hell of an overnight train ride. We left Thessaloniki at 7.37pm last night in our somewhat cramped but cosy sleeper cabin headed for Istanbul. After 2 hours of watching nothing but open plains pass we decided to call it a night and hit the hay. A few hours later there came a knocking at the door. We had reached the Greek border and they wanted our passports to check everything over. After 45 minutes of just sitting, we were handed our passports back and away we went. After drifting off to sleep, we were woken again 45 minutes down the road, but this time it was the Turkish immigration officer who needed our passport. This time we sat for an hour and a half due to homeless drunken stowaways hiding out under the bunk bed next door. Long story short, we're here in Istanbul now and are loving it.

Today we went into the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and the Grand Bazaar and all this was on day 1. Stay tuned for day 2, 3 and 4.

M&M

P.S. We still can't figure out why it's 45 minutes from the Greek border to the Turkish border. Any help?


Aya Sofya in all her glory

We're Coming Home

Yes that's right blog fans, Marty & Mel are coming home. Well soon anyway. We have booked everything in including our flight home. This is the plan.

We leave tomorrow night for Istanbul, Turkey where we will be travelling around until 15 September. We then fly to Cairo, Egypt where we spend 16 days drifting through the sands of time before hitting Dubai in the U.A.E for 2 nights and then taking on the craziness that is India for 3 weeks. We'll then finish off our epic adventure in where it all began, Asia. After a few weeks travelling through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos & Malaysia we will fly out for home on the 3rd of December arriving into the Gold Coast the morning of the 4th. I hear you say "why the hell are they flying into the Gold Coast". Well at just $298 direct from Kuala Lumpur you can't say no.

So long... for a little while anyway.

Meteora

Well we are now in the small town of Kalambaka which is about a 5 hour train ride north of Athens. We've stopped here for one night to visit the 6 surviving monasteries on the surrounding hill tops.

What an amazing place. They have no idea how they were built but they do know that the were built around the year 1350 AD. They're just not sure how they got the building materials up there.

Only a one night stop but worth it if you have the time.


One of the 6 surviving hill top monasteries


Beats collecting spoons

The Road Less Traveled, The Peloponnese

Well we have made it back from the Peloponnese alive. Maybe not well, but alive. After a mammoth effort to make the most of our rail pass & save money we made it to Nafplion in the record time of 7.5 hours. Yes that's right, the trip that should only take 2.5 took us 7.5.

After 2 trains, 1 taxi and a bus we arrived into the beautiful Venetian styled town of Nafplion. Nafplion is a small town on the coast which is just dripping with beauty. The cobblestone streets are lined with shops, cafes, restaurants and charm. The town is overlooked by the fortress of Palamidi which I am happy to say we climbed the 857 steps to check out the breathtaking view.

On our stay in the Peloponnese we ventured up to Mycenae to check out the ancient sights of some of Greece's oldest civilisations. We did a cruise out to two of the islands, Hydra and Spetses to swim and check out the beautiful white washed towns. And of course no trip is complete with out 3 days of food poisoning. Just me though not Mel so I guess it could of been worse. I did however get to catch up on CNN and what has been happening in the world since we last looked.

All in all it was a very relaxing time. We are now back in Athens for one night. Tomorrow we leave for the small town of Kalambaka for one night and then on to Thessaloniki for one night. Then we are off to the lands of the Turks on an overnight train.

Take Care for now

M&M xx

Mel in the Aegean. It's a hard luck life!

Marty is just so happy at the ancient sights of Mycenae

The picture postcard town of Nafplion

Acropolis Now. It's all Greek to me!

Well we're finished with pizza and pasta and we've moved on to the souvlaki and gyros. And it's a tasty change! We've been in Athens for 3 days now and so far we're loving the food (we'll let you know in a week how we feel).

Athens is a really cool city. It's our first time here and so far we love it. On the way to getting some souvlaki you walk past some discarded columns along the side of the road that are about 2500 years old. Pretty crazy stuff. We went up to the Acropolis and checked out the Parthenon which is under some reconstruction but it's still awesome. There's also a lot of other temples and theatres around the Acropolis to explore but I think my favourite would have been the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The thing was apparently the size of a football field and there's only 15 of the 100 or so columns left but they are just soooo huge. It's pretty mind blowing to think that they could have erected something of this scale so many years ago without all our modern day technology.

Tomorrow we're off to Nafplio in the Peloponnese which is meant to be one of the prettiest towns in all of Greece. It's on the water so I'm hanging out for a swim as it's still a balmy 38*C here. Sizzle sizzle souvlaki.

The Parthenon on the Acropolis

The Temple of Olympian Zeus

Last days in Italy

Well it feels like for ever that we've been in Italy. After spending 4 nights in Venice, 4 nights in Florence, 6 nights in Rome and 3 nights in and around Naples it has all come to an end.

Tomorrow we farewell the land of the Romans and say hello to Greece. We've seen all the highlights that Italy has to offer from the major cities as mentioned before right down to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. The highlights for me would of been Florence and the Renaissance period and one of the most memorable things would be seeing the Colosseum glowing at sunset and then walking down the main road Via dei Fori Imperiali between the ruins of the Roman Forum.

Yesterday we spent the day basking in the sun of the Amalfi Coast hitting one of the best known spots Positano. After a walk, swim and of course a few photos we made our way to Sorrento for lunch.

For me Italy has been a little like what I expected but on a much bigger scale. The sights are amazing and majority of the people are relly friendly and welcoming. The food is good to but if I have to eat another pizza or pasta I'm going to go nuts.

Farewell from Italy and chat you soon from the land of the gods.

xx


Us in Positano.


Positano from the cliff tops.


Mel and her pegs at Pompei

A Roman Birthday

Well as many of you know it was my birthday a few days ago and I have now reached the ripe old age of 22. Ha ha just kidding I'm 27 but what's a couple of years between friends?

We left Florence in the morning and made our way to Pisa to check out the biggest architectural balls up the world has ever seen. And yes it does lean out quite a way, and yes we did the obligatory touristy "I'm holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa" shot. Marty and I have both taken up sketching lately so we sat down for a while and did some sketching before heading off to Roma!

We got there in the afternoon, checked into the hotel and made our way to dinner as the sun was setting over the Collosseum. Ahhh bellisimo! We found a little Italian restuarant (although I believe here they're just called restaurants) complete with red and white checked tablecloths. We had our fill of bread, salad, pasta and wine and it was a very merry birthday indeed! It's our last night here in Rome so we're thinking of finishing off with dinner at the same restaurant for old times sake.

The rest of our time has been great in Rome. I've been here before but it's still great to go and see things for the second time, but spend a bit longer exploring them. The Colloseum is still awesome, and the Pantheon is beautiful, I threw some coins into the Trevi Fountain (was too embarrassed to do that last time), explored the Roman Forum which was gorgeous, climbed down the Spanish steps and roamed around all the cobblestoned streets and piazzas. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's my favourite city in the world! And Marty's loving all the history and sights on offer too so that's a bonus!

Anyway we're off to the South of Italy tomorrow where we'll be exploring Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast and hopefully I can get to swim cause it's still bloody hot here!

Mel xxx


Mel looking at the leaning tower of Pisa


Marty at the Collosseum

Florence

Well this is my first time to Florence and Mel's second and I must say what a fantasic little spot in the world. I'm just amazed at the history, buildings, people and everything that is Florentine.

We've hit all the major sights in the last few days such as the Duomo, the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, Santa Croce, Michelangelo's Square and of course we sat for 45 minutes just staring at the David in the Accademia Museum.

The sights are endless and so to the stories. I think I can easily say I love Florence and it may just be creeping to the number one, best city ever spot

Ciao for now!

The fake David in the Piazza della Signoria.

Ponte Vecchio.

M & M de' Medici

We are now in Florence and this may just be the best city in the world. The history and people to come out of here is just amazing. The Medici, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Donatello, Botticelli & the list goes on.

We've only been here for a few hours but we have four nights which I'm sure are going to be action packed.

It's been a while since we've blogged so make sure to scroll down to the blog Vienna does it with style as we've updated you from there.

Talk soon

XX M&M

Venezia

WOW!

Venice is truly one of a kind. We arrived here a few days ago and it's everything you think it's going to be, plus more! As you walk out of the train station it just goes BAM!! There it is Venice. The waterways are crazy, boats are beeping, tourists are shopping, locals are yelling. WOW again. It's also about 34*C with now airflow whatsoever.

We're staying at a nunnery in Venice which is not to bad surprisingly. We're only a few steps from St Marks Square which is the most famous sight of Venice. I feel like we've seen so much already. The streets and alleyways in Venice are very, very small so the crowds of tourists are unbelievable. To get a few blocks can take you half an hour sometimes. But the good thing is that Venice is an island which means all the roads lead to the same spot (most of the time). So we've just been getting off the main allyways and we've found nothing but empty streets, Gondoliers singing as the drift down the canals, locals sitting in a park or leaning out their windows watching the world float by. All this makes for a much nicer Venice experience as you can imagine.

We also did a day trip over to Murano which is the home of glass blowing. After sneaking into a couple of live glass blowing shows it's amazing to watch these guys at work. Within seconds they can turn a red hot ball of glass in to a horse, a jar, a clock or even a total naked man with a raging friend. Amazing.

Venice probably isn't a city we could go back to unless it was for the Carnival or something. But saying that it's not a place you could ever miss. It's just once you seen it, you've seen it. One of the most relaxing times was just sitting in St Marks Square with a drink sketching the Church.

There's no place quite like it.

M&M

Rialto Bridge in Venice.

Marty sketches in St Marks Square.

Gondolas on the waterfront.

Lucern & Interlaken

We are now in Lucern which once again is Beautiful. Lucern is apparently the spot that Switzerland was founded. Three tribes from back in the day came together here and said "let's be friends", and they were.

I'm sure every town in Europe has an old town and Lucern is no exception. There is an old wooden bridge that runs accross the lake but my favourite bridge was the less touristy "Death Bridge" a little further down stream. The paintings are called the "Dance of Death" and they are about a skeleton urging everybody to dance with him. Go figure but it's interesting.

We also went to Interlaken for the day which was one of Mel's fav's. To get to the small town you have to take the train though one of the most scenic areas in Switzerland. The train winds it's way over and through the mountains and gives you breath taking vistas at every turn. Then you arrive at Interlaken and it's heaven as well. Set in the middle of a lush green valley with not one, but two blue lakes on either side. It's no wonder that this is the backpacker capital of Switzerland.

Switzerland is the most stunning, clean, breath taking country we've been to so far.

Now we are off to Italy. Can't wait.

Mel on the way to Interlaken.

The beautiful lakes of Interlaken.

Marty finds his very own castle in Interlaken.

Matter Who? Matterhorn!

The number one thing I wanted to see in Switzerland was the Matterhorn. But during the planning stages of our trip it just seemed too hard to get to so we decided maybe next time. But I'm pleased to say.... we've seen the Matterhorn!

Switzerland is small and it only takes about 3 hours to get across the whole country. At first it looked like we would have to change trains six times on the entire trip but after asking our friendly Train Information Man we found a way to do it in one.

Upon arriving in Zermatt (the town closest to the Matterhorn) we took a short wander through the town before coming upon the impressive mountain I think I've ever seen. She's a beauty! It's not really that big and in fact there is one bigger just down the road but it's the sleek, slender lines that makes her a must see in Switzerland. We did a nice hike through the Swiss countryside and had a lovely picnic gazing at the mountain and I now feel like I can truly tick this country off with what we have seen and what we will see. A great day was had.

We also stopped in Bern on the way home. It is after all the country's capital. But to be honest the city felt a little disorganised. They are doing their part lowering their carbon footprint & all that jazz with the electric trams but the cables look horrible. Beside the blue, blue river that runs through it, it seems the only attraction is the millions of small fountains around the town and the Glockenspiel that only spins the head of it's eagle while letting off chicken noises.

Matterhorns a go go, but Bern you could take or leave.


The stunning Mel with Matterhorn in the background.

The Banking Capital

Well if your're not sure where we are by the name of this blog then you would be normal... I think. We are of course in Zurich, Switzerland.

Now Switzerland has been on my European must do list for some time now. But I could probably never tell you which city I wanted to see and why. The only thing I ever wanted to see in Switzerland was the Matterhorn (like the ride in Disneyland, only bigger). But as far as towns the options were pretty well up in the air. But I am pleased to say Zurich is beautiful.

The trip from Salzburg was a long 6 hour journey by train but as soon as you hit the Swiss border the mountains go straight up on the little neutral part of the world. The train journey is one of the most scenic train trips we've had since Canada. It all looks a little bit the same as Canada but I think it's even more dramatic. The blue, blue water sits at the bottom followed by some thick woodland as you move up. The middle section breaks in to the greenest pastures with little houses dotting the most inaccesible places. The tops of the mountains then break into jaggered rock of even snowy caps (in summer). Capital B eautiful!

Zurich is a nice little spot situated on the banks of a stunning lake. It has an old town with the main attraction being the biggest clockface in Europe. It's quite small for a major city with no high rises anywhere. After the stunning vistas theres probably not that much but we're glad to be here.

The banking capital of the world.

Mozart's Sound of Music

Salzburg fair Salzburg. What a pretty little place in the world, not to mention the home to the "Sound Of Music".

There isn't that much to do in Salzburg if you're not a fan of the Sound Of Music or Mozart but we found it a nice spot to just kick back. It has a beautiful, if not small "Old Town" which probably takes about 2 hours to get around because of the hoards of tourits. But every corner you go around is an even more picture perfect photo than the last. After wandering for a bit we decided to try a bit of culture Dahhhling. We bought tickets to an open air Mozart concert. Or at least to 10 guys who were going to rip off his music.

We got all dressed up in our respectable gear (jeans and a long sleeve shirt) before readying ourselves for the 2 kilometre walk up the huge hill to the castle where we would be entertained. Now it's important to note here that if you are going to walk up a hill to a castle for any type of concert or shindig do not wear long pants on a 28 degree evening. After making it to the top we took our sweat soaked seats to listen right in the middle of the well lit castle. The band... or sorry Orchestera (cultured) then came out and began to play. As we began tapping our feet, rain began to fall. The band then stood up and ran off the stage quicker than Julie Andrews falling off a steep cliff. We sat for a while not knowing what was happening. All the crowed just stood there. What do we do? After about 20 minutes of confusion we were all herded into the castle in a small castle chapel. The band that came out again and did their thing. All in all it was a taste of the highlife with the whole show running for 2.5 hours. Just divine dahhhling!

Maybe I could handle Mozart on a Sunday afternoon at home. You never know.

xx

Mozart open air concert before it turned to an indoor air concert.

The hills really were alive with the Sound Of Music.

Vienna does it with style

We arrived into Vienna not really knowing what to expect. Of course we knew there would be rolling hills, palaces and statues everywhere but what else would there be.

We arrived in from Bratislava to be greeted but sunny blue skies. In fact it was one of the best days we had for some time up until this point. After strolling along the Viennese equivalent of Rodeo Drive we hit Palace city. Let me tell you, the Hapsburgs knew how to build a palace. The Hofburg is Impressive. It not only has grand balconies held up by Corinthian columns & statues in every arch, it was built on such a grandiose scale that the only way they could finish it off of course was to deck the roof out with some huge bronze statues and a double headed gold eagle (as you do). The Hofburg was not only impressive from the outside but on the inside they have an audio tour so good that Mel and I were happy looking at the royal cutlery for four hours.

Actually it wasn't just cutlery, we did get sucked into reading about the muched loved Queen Elizabeth of Bavaria. She apparently was a lovely girl if you ignore the fact that she was a Crack addict who hated her children, was obsessive compulsive about her weight which she instilled on her children, hated her husband and all this was before the age of 21. Now they have statues all over the country for her.

Another sight that we were more than impressed with was the Schloss Schonbrunn. This is the summer palace for the Habsburgs which for some reason is just down the road from the winter palace. But it's not the palace that's the attraction. This place is home to some of the most amazing gardens we've seen in Europe. Waterfalls, fountains, flowers, a maze, lakes, hedges, horse trails, hills and the list goes on. Impressive.

The Hofburg, what a palace.

The gardens of the Schloss Schonbrunn.

Europe with a side of Slovakia

We had no idea what to expect upon our arrival in Slovakia but I'm pleased to say it was a total success. Bratislava turned out to be a beautiful little town and maybe, a highlight so far (maybe).

There aren't that many sights to see but we did manage to check out the huge castle that overlooks the city, as well as simply wandering the cobblestoned streets of the old town which is possibly home to one of the loveliest squares I've seen in Europe so far. The food was also a bit of a surprise as well. Who would of thought Slovakia would serve up fantastic pasta accompanied with tasty tasty beer.

I don't know if we would recommend any more than a one night stopover but it's definately worth a visit if you have the time.

(We also put some photos on our earlier blogs below)


The old town with Bratislava Castle up on the hill.


Bratislava Castle


Old Town in the front, New town in the back.


Main Square (Old Town) by night.

Oh my god we've missed the train !!

Well after a last minute decission to switch a night in Munich for a night in Bratislava, I must say it paid off. First of all if your not sure where Bratislava is, it's in Slovakia. If you don't know exactly where Slovakia is, then your about the same as Mel & I two days ago.

The trip started with the usual train ride. This time our first train was going from Munich to Vienna. All was going well on the trip until 30 minutes before scheduled arrival. All of a sudden an annoucement is made over the load speaker saying we are running 14 minutes late so we will arive into munich later than expected. Normally this would not be a problem except that our next train was 16 minutes after the scheduled time of arrival which gave us 2 minutes to run from one platform to the next which normally takes 10 minutes acording to the itinerary we had.

So 19 minutes goes past before we pull up in the station. We run off the train and look for the underground which maybe, just maybe would get us to the next train station to catch the already departed train. After running up and down platforms and stairs, we managed to find an underground that would take us to another station where we would have to change one more time to possibly catch the first train we wanted.

After getting off our third train we managed to make it to our scheduled train with 2 minutes to spare.

Ahh train travel it's so relaxing


Mel has a relaxing drink after the train epic!

Munchen on Slovakia

Hey there kids. After spending 3 days in Munich in the blissful 10 degree rain, we've decided to head to Bratislava in Slovakia to see what that's all about. I hear you asking, "Why?". Because that's how we roll.

We'll let you know more if we make it out alive.


Mel slams another one down at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich

Time's up

Well Berlin is all but done. It's our last night and we're stuck down in the basement doing our laundry.

Yesterday we went out to Sachsenhausen Nazi & Soviet Concentration Camp located 35 kilometers north of Berlin. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see or experience but it didn't hold the shock factor that I expected, even though it detailed all the horrible horrible things that went on within the walls. I guess you know what to expect when you go to a place like this. We saw the work fields, living quarters, execution trench and the mass graves but there weren't that many photos to take your imagination into a place like that. Not surprisingly I guess considering it was a concentration camp and not a fashion parade. Still I would say it's well worth a visit if you come here. We did do the audio guide which was good but I think it may of had too much information. We had only planned to spend 2 hours here but ended up being there for 5.

After having a few drinks last night we decided to have a bit of a sleep in today forgetting that we still had a few sights to see, but hey... we're on holidays. We really only saw a couple of things today but it wasn't because of the sleep in. It's because there is so much history at each spot that you will end up spending 3 hours at what looks like a plain old building but before too long you find out that this building is the reason Hitler rose to power. But that is another blog.

We're off to Munich tomorrow so we'll chat you from there.

So long.


The Jewish Memorial in Berlin.


Marty in front of the Reichstag where Hitler siezed power.

Berlin is the Shizen

Guttentag Schnitzelgroovers we're in Berlin and we're loving it. There is so much history here and who thought learning could be fun!!! We did a free tour of the city today and there's just so many things that have happened here that are intertwined with other importnant events in history, it's just mind boggling.

We only walked about 4 blocks over about 4 hours and during that time we took in the Reichstagg, Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide at the end of WWII, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall, one of the last remaining Nazi buildings (now the tax office), Berliner Dom, Humboldt University and library where the book burning occurred and also where Albert Einstein studied. But most importantly we saw the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby over the railing a few years back.

All in all we're loving Berlin. Depending on weather we're going to see a Nazi Concentration Camp tomorrow.

Later


Marty at the Berlin Wall


The Red Amplemann wears his hat with pride

Koln (Cologne)

We'll after spending three nights in Cologne we have left and headed to the big smoke that is Berlin. Cologne was a nice little town on the bank of the river Rhine with coblestone streets, gingerbread houses and home to Germany biggest cathedral,The Dom.

We arrived in on the Friday and to our surprise we weren't the only ones making our way to this small town. Unbeknownst to us at the time of booking was that this weekend was also the Cologne "GAY PRIDE PARADE". That's right! We have seen enough tight t-shirts, leather chaps, men in skirts, fishnets and penis's to last us the rest of our life. I understand the Gay Pride part of the parade as it's written on all the signs, "Gay Pride Parade". But does that mean you should be a proud man if you wear your girlfriends best leather mini skirt along with her 6 inch heels and halter top? (Not that theres anything wrong with that).

On a different note our whole reason of coming to Cologne was to go on one of the many Rhine River Cruises. Which I'm glad to say we did. After getting up at the crack of dawn we caught the train down to the small town of Koblenz where our boat would depart. Taking us down the river was the Grand Old Dame Paddlesteamer Goethe. She was a lovely boat!

After taking a nice leasurily walk along the shore we boarded our boat with 15 minutes to spare. As we grabbed our seats on the front of the boat it was then that I realized I left my sunglasses 700 meters down stream. Now I must say that I'm a little dissapointed with my Fitness World membership as the three sessions I did, did not prepare me for a 1.4 kilometer run in 10 minutes. But the good news is I have my glasses.

The cruise itself was amazing. Something worth doing! The boat just snakes it's way down the Rhine Valley past Wine Fields, lush mountains, small towns and dozens of castles. We finished our trip at the small town of St Goar which is home to the biggest and best castle on the Rhine, Berg Reinfels.

The cruise was defininately the best part of Cologne followed closely by the man in a bright red parrot suit with fake breast exposed felling really "Proud".

We'll post some photo's as soon as we find an internet that will allow us.

Bye Bye.

St. Goar on the Rhine River Cruise


Having a gay old time at the Gay Pride Parade

Mont St Michel

Well it was a quite a day trip from our small town of Caen but we made it to one of the highlights of France, Mont St Michel.

Mont St Michel is a 1000 year old castle/church/prison sitting on a small island about 100 metres off the coast. We got up at 6.00am and caught the early morning train. Mont St Michel get's about 3000 visitors a day but for some reason this is the only train departure. Access to the Mont is by the small town of Pontorson where we planned to walk around for a bit, but upon arrival we found out that there is only one main street and nothing else to see. Better yet the only train back to Caen didn't leave until 5.50pm so we had 9 hours to explore the Mont.

The shops around the base of the island use to be a small medina in medival times, but they're now home to tacky tourist shops where you can by everything from a $7 Mont St Michel pencil right up to a full dinnner set complete with Mont St Michel place mats.

Today we're just taking in Caen's medieval churches, castle and small winding streets. Caen is a beautiful little town that makes for a great base to all the Normandy highlights. Its also has quite a bit of history with the occupation by Germany troops and the liberation of France by the US, Canadian and French armies during the war. Surprisingly enough though, Caen does not make any of the guide books therefore the tourist numbers are really low. The only thing that has taken some getting use to is all the shops, sights and restaurants closing at 8.00pm. But this is a nice change which has made for some relaxing early evenings.

Mont St Michel was one of our highlights of France and something I would recommend in a second. Tomorrow we head back to Paris to catch our train to Cologne to begin our German section of this trip (not to mention all we can eat sausages).

Bye for now.

Mel is well excited to be at Mont St Michel


One of the many churchs of Caen.

Un jour laissé à Paris

Well if you can figure out the title you are doing exceptionally well.

As quick as it comes... it goes. We have all but finished our stay in the city of love. We've seen all the sights, soaked up the vibe & strolled the coblestoned streets of love for our last time (at least on this trip anyway). Tomorrow morning we are off to Caen as we start our free Eurail journey that we won so many months ago.

Paris is a city of so many sights. Every corner you turn around there is something even more spectacular or more historic then the last. I feel as though you could spend weeks here & barely scratch the surface. I must say though it's a hell of a lot more expensive than I thought it would of been, even after coming from London which was third world prices compared to Paris.

This blog is just short & sweet. We are having a ball, once in a lifetime stuff I'm sure. Can't wait to see what happens next.

M & M

Ooo La la

Well we left Morocco 4 days ago & are now in the city of lurvvve, Paris. Oh how nice it is to be back in a western civilisation. We still can't make out the street signs or food menu's but who cares.

As this is my first time in Gay Paree I can't help but feel a little more cultured. We've checked out the light & shade of the Renaissance paintings, not to mention the fantastic brush strokes of Da Vinci, strolled along the Champs Elysses and the Seine, ogled the hunchback at Notre Dame (or he could've been some homeless guy, we're not sure).

We've gt a couple more nights here before we storm the beaches of Normandy and journey to Mont St Michelle, so for now au revoir!

With love from the city of love xxx

Fes

Well it's our last day in Fes and therefore our time in Morocoo has come to an end. We had anticipated Fez being a shit fight like Marrakech but were pleased to find that it's a lot more relaxed here. Marrakech seemed to be driven by tourism whereas Fez is more of local people just doing their everyday thing. There's only two main streets and then all the little souks go off the side streets and once you get in there it's impossible to find your way out again. All part of the fun! My highlight would've been seeing the camel head hanging in the butcher shop......mmmmm........nothing like a good piece of camel head for dinner!

We hired a local guide yesterday who took us on a tour of Fez and we checked out some local sights like the palace and tanneries and went exploring through the medina. He was a crazy man called Missouri who had the craziest laugh you've ever heard and would lean back so far when he laughed it looked like he was about to fall over, while holding his belly and crying "That is un-be-lievable!" He was entertainment himself! Funny stuff but maybe you had to be there. He's coming to drive us to the airport tomorrow as we are off to Paris and western civilization...viva le France!

Here's lookin at you Casa

Well most people we have spoken to said don't go to Casablanca, it's horrible. But we kind of wanted to go there just based on the fame Bogart brought to it & obviously to see it for ourselves.

After catching the CTM bus up the coast for 7 hours, we finally arrived into Casablanca. From here we decided to walk to our hotel, Hotel Central. Our map said it was just down the road near the Medina so we thought we'd walk as it would be quicker than arguing over the price of a taxi. As we rounded the final corner of the Medina our hotel came into sight. Hmmm.... that's nice I think??? Our hotel stood at the end of a small park looking over all the other buildings. It looked exceptionally old & in need of a restoration but we figured we should see inside before making any comments.

We were greated by the Hotel manager with a one arm grab & a Harlem lean. After giving us our keys we made for the top floor to check it out. Not too bad. It was old & smelt like mothballs but it was better than it looked from the outside. It was basically as good as any of the other hostels we had stayed in. Best of all we had a TV to catch up on what was happening in the rest of the world.

That night we went to bed with a large gathering of drunk people 3 stories below us on the street. We just decided to close our doors & try to get some sleep. At about 2.00am we were woke by chairs & tables being dragged along the floor which just happened to be our roof. The drunk tour group decided to move from the street & sit on the roof. This went on until 4.45am which is about the time we figured we were changing hotels the next day. Shortly after the call to prayer started up at the mosque which sounded like it was just next door. This went on for about 10 minutes and seemed to remind thr drunkards that it was time for bed so we managed to get a couple of hours sleep before hotstepping it out of their a 9am the next morning.

After lmited sleep we head down the road with all our stuff & checked in to the Hotel Ibis which was only a three star but completly new & plush. Best of all the rooms were soundproof. At only 650 Dirhims there was nothing stopping us. Today was new day! We showered in our new lovely room & got ready for a day of sight seeing. We picked up some breakfast/lunch at 1.00pm & then headed for the Mosque of Hassan II.

The mosque can be seen from all over Casablanca & is the 3rd biggest in the world behind a mosque in Mecca & Medina. It's also the only mosque in the world to have a lift to the top of the 200 meter minaret. But the bling did come at a cost for the King, approximatley 800 million was spent which includes the retractable roof. . They took us inside the prayer hall, abolution rooms & through the Hammam pools which is not part of the mosque but a social gathering area for Muslims & Non-Muslims to meet.

After several hours walking around the Mosque we decided to call it an end to a good day & head back to our luxiourious hotel. But before we could get back to our hotel we walked through quite a few slum areas where one small boy of about 6 thought it would be a good idea to flash & wave his penis about before throwing rocks. If he was ours we would of flogged him but really what do you do in a Muslim country?

Where is the love Kech. Essaouira's how we roll.

Well as most of you know we are now in Essaouira & loving it. This is by far a better place than Marrakech was or probably will ever be. We both like Marrakech but it is a city of constant hassle. On our arrival day we were greeted by a man in the street who wanted to take us to our hotel. We declined as we obviously aren't first time travellers & know this means he wants us to pay him money or he many get a cut of the commission for bringing us to the hotel. After telling him we didn't want his helped the conversation ended very quickly with him yelling a very stern "Fuck You!!!" Welcome to Marrakech huh?

This didn't really bother us as we know the worst time in any new city is finding your way from the airport to the hotel. But during our stay in Marrakech we have been hassled, prodded, poked, cussed at, blocked, ripped off & even been flipped the bird by a passer by. Magical Marrakech? Magical if you like it perhaps?

I must say we don't hate it entirely. It does have a cool feeling to the city which feels almost mystical. Our bus ride into the city was on that set our imaginations wild. The sun was setting a fiery red as camel & nomadic dressed men darted across the road in front of our bus. We quite enjoyed the Medina & loved our Riad & host. But I feel as though 6 days in Marrakech is far to many, even if you break it up with 3 days in the desert like we did.

As soon as we left Marrakech we have found the people to be more than lovely & have not been hassled at all. The 3 days in the Sahara were amazing & our stay in Essaouira has been fantastic. We have not been hassled or cussed at once since leaving & the people almost seem to not notice you as they go on about there every day life. Essaouira is a small white washed village on the west coast of Morocco & it should be a must on every itinerary. The food is a lot cheaper than Marrakech which is a nice change. In Marrakech the food & shopping is equivalent to Australian prices. A meal there will cost you approx $15 & it's nothing to write home about. The menu's basically consist of three things. Couscous, Kebab's or Tajine (which is like a chicken or beef stew).

Essaouira has definitely restored our faith in Morocco & it's people & we now look forward to the rest of the trip.

Sahara Desert Expedition

We just got back from our three day epic journey to the Sahara Desert. Before we left the number one thing I was looking forward to seeing in Morocco was Ait Benhaddou, which was stop number one.

Day 1:
We left Marrakech at 8.00am & drove through the flat landscape until we hit the aptly named "High Atlas Mountains". The Mountain landscape changes quite a bit as you travel further east. From green tree covered cliffs to nothing but brown rocks.

Our first stop Ait Benhaddou was about 4 hours down the road. It's was at this point that we realised the temp was just pushing 40*C & our van had no air conditioning. After a few stops we arrived at a small village here our driver turned around & said Ait Benhaddou, Ait Benhaddou pointing down a small winding path. As we walked along under the belting sun we rounded the last bend to see Ait Benhaddou. It was pretty impressive but not as much as I though it would of been. Air Benhaddou is a World Heritage Listed mud brick city. I guess the reason it wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be was cause most of the houses in Marrakech & on the drive to Ait Benhaddou are mud brick so you see a lot of them. It was still worth the visit though as the buildings are quite a bit bigger then other ones you see.

That night was spent at a little chateau in the middle of a valley over looking a little stream & huge vertical red rock mountains.

Day 2:
After getting up early we made our way to a small village where we visited a local Berber man's home to look at the process of Moroccan rug making. As soon as we checked out the fields & the village we made our way to Todra Gorge for lunch. We sat here for a while eating more Brochettes for lunch before starting our final 4 hour drive to the Sahara Desert. Today was worse than the day before. We were at about 45*C with no Air Con & now the sun was belting down on us the whole way to the Desert.

The landscape once again was barren & now completely flat, which was a bit of a surprise considering we were on our way to ride camels through the highest sand dunes in Morocco. After a few more hours it was still all flat but then all of a sudden there they were. The highest dunes in Morocco just went straight up out of no where. After meeting the local Bedouins we mounted our camels for the 1.5 hour journey into the dunes & to our camp site. Halfway through the ride the sun began to set which made the dunes turn a brilliant red colour. The sand is actually red anyway but the sunset just made the even more so.

After settling into our camp, we both made our way for the biggest sand dune around. It took us at least 30 minutes & several rest stops to climb big bertha but once we got there, the view was more than worth the effort. That night we ate Tagine chicken with vegetables which was sensational. Our hosts then played some traditional bongo music for us before we decided to call it a night, sleeping on the dunes in the open with nothing but the moon, stars & sand dunes around us. Amazing!

Day 3:
The next morning we rode our camels back though the dunes at sunrise for an equally breathing taking experience before jumping back into our van for the long 12 hour journey back to Marrakech.

This experience was well worth the long, long, no air con, sun soaked drive. And I can definitely say we would do it all again in a second. I thought Ait Benhaddou was going to be the highlight of this three day epic trip but I think it was easily over shadowed but the Sahara Desert Camel trek.

We leave for Essouira on the coast tomorrow so...... so long from Marrakech.

Ait Benhaddou

The red dunes of the Sahara Desert & our home for 1 night

Sunrise in the Sahara from the back of a camel.

Our Bedouin guide in the Sahara Desert with a sand fish.

Our Moroccan Adventure Continues

Well we've seen most of what Marrakech has to offer. For a third world African nation it is a lot more expensive then we thought it would be. Sure the locals all try to jack up the price for every westerner that comes through & of course you have to barter like Asian but it's still expensive. We pay pretty well the same prices as we would for most things back home. Food in restaurants are similiar price, camera equipment & drinks are also jacked up. But I guess it's all part of the experience. Luckily for us though we have budgeted excess so we still aren't spending anything more then we would of liked.

Tomorrow we are off on a 2 night, 3 day camel trek. We stop at about 10 different spots along the way but the highlight for us will probably be seeing Ait Benhaddou. We also sleep under the stars for one of the nights so it should be quite the Moroccan, desert adventure.

So long for now & we'll speak to you upon our return, hopefully with no saddle sores.

Feeling the heat in Marrakech

Well we've arrived in Marrakech Morocco & oh boy is it hot. The heat here is about 32 degrees & climbing. We've only been here a few days but have settled in to the madness quite well.

Upon arriving in to Marrakech we tried to get a taxi to our hotel but like most third world countries they wanted to charge us triple the price so we just jumped on the first bus that pulled up even though we weren't to sure if it was going the right direction. Half hour later we pulled into a big medina looking area & we assumed this was close. So we jumped off. It took a little while to find our way as everyone speaks French & not much English at all. But after being hasseled & given dodgy directions we finally found our hotel at about 9.30pm. That night we went down to Jemma El Fna ( the main square in town) & sat a food stand for about 1.5 hours just watching & eating our surprisingly tasty meal.

Yesterday we just went for a walk out to the city walls, saw a few mosque's & got lost for a few hours in the winding back streets of the medina. Sunset is probably my favourite time here as the sky goes a brilliant red colour lighting up the red & pink walls of the old city.

Today we're off to a few tombs, the old palace & maybe try to find the smelly tanneries.

Take care

M&M (loving you from Morocco)

Last Day In London Town

Last night was spent with one of Mel's best friends, Kate. We went to an old English pub in Covent Garden where I ordered up some bangers & mash while Mel hooked into a pie with veggies. Quite a few pint's were had but we managed to catch the last Tube back at around 1.00am calling it a night as we only had one last day in London.

Needless to say we rose quite late today feeling a little tired, but all in all we were in pretty good shape. Today was one of the sunniest day's we've had on our trip so it was a shame to miss the first 5 hours of day light, but this is how we roll.

Today was just a quiet one spent at the British Museum. We checked out a few of the different period statues & exhibits before heading down to Oxford street to check out the shops & basically do nothing. After a few last minutes photo shot's we have decided to call it a day as we have to get up at about 5.00am for our flight to Morocco. The flight really isn't that far but due to some shoddy time changes & our travelling on a budget we will be sitting in Madrid for about 6 hours. So now we are thinking of shooting into to town for a few hours for a look & another pin on the map. (Yes we can pin that one because we left the airport). We are scheduled to arrive in to Marrakesh at 7.40pm which is a bit of a late arrival but it's the only flight so we'll just have to put up with it.

OK so long for now. Hopefully we will be getting a few more photo's up when we are in Morocco. These hostel Internets don't allow us to put on photo's or video so we haven't done as much as we would like. But trust us we're still having a ball even if you can't see it.

M & M

I Like It A Lot

We are in London now. We've been here for two days after a very tiring 6 hour overnight flight from JFK New York. Mel's been here before but this is my first time & I am more than impressed. I've never had a big urge to visit London. I'm not sure why but it's never been very high on my list at all. But now that I'm here I must say I like it.

I'm now going to do my 2 year working visa here & Mel is going to do work on the side for cash. So it looks like we will be home around November 2010. I'm so excited.

It seems like every corner you go around here there is some wicked history that has taken place, or an impressive building built before Australia was even settled. The monuments are so huge they are on another scale all together & the people seem so polite. We've done the touristy things here & visited all the common sights so I won't bore you with the details as most of you have probably been here before.

Here's some photo's for you to check. Cheerio for now guvna!

(& i was just kidding about the work visa Helen we will be home when the money runs out)

The low low on NYC

Well we're about to fly out of NYC and into London. We've had a great couple of weeks in the States and New York has been my favourite. It's such a massive city with so much happening in the present, as well as so much history. There's millions of different people from all walks of life, and I think that's what makes this city so great. That and the awesome things to see and do! We've checked out all the main things - Statue of Liberty, World Trade Centre, Brooklyn and it's Bridge, Central Park, Times Square, Harlem, the Diner from Seinfeld, Hell's Kitchen, Battery Park, Wall Street and I could keep rambling but I know you're getting bored.

A few things I've learnt...don't buy anything in Times Square cause you pay twice the price, the Subway is interesting but not so scary after all (even at midnight coming from Brooklyn), the Brooklyn accent is the coolest of all the NY accents, Harlem is the core of the Big Apple, and there really are rats in NYC. But he was a baby and really kinda cute so that's OK. Not big with gangly teeth like Splinter.

Anyhoo...signing out from the Big Apple, we'll talk to you from London.

M

Celeb Spotting in The Big Apple

As most of you know New York is the haunt for a lot of Celebs & it's not uncommon to bump into a few on the streets. We thought we would double our chances & head down to NBC Today where the A list celebs are interviewed every morning. When we got down there we lined up at the exit with a few other stalking paparazzi who told us Dustin Hoffman & Ashley Judd would be out soon. So we hung around the exit for about an hour just waiting. It was then that we were told they had already come & left & we were to late. Bugger!!!

Anyway we did spot a celeb walking down the street. Check out the photo below of Marty with Jay Mohr. He's the evil guy in Jerry McGuire. We will try to get someone bigger & perhaps a little bit better photo next time.

Kickin' it in the Big Apple

Well we've just finished up a fun filled 4 days in Vegas and we didn't lose too much money! We can still afford to carry on with the rest of the trip so that's the main thing. Vegas was great...again, it was Marty's third time there but it was my first so the razzle dazzle was a lot of fun. And besides the gambling there's so much other stuff to do. Checking out all the hotels is entertainment in itself. It's just like stepping into another world when you cross the street. We went and saw Cirque Mystere at Treasure Island which was awesome. It's amazing what the human body can do, especially when you're dressed up in a freak costume and haven't been eating hot chips and burgers for a year! We were going to do a road trip out to the Grand Canyon but stayed up too late and couldn't get up early enough for the 6 hour drive out there so maybe next time.

We left Vegas this morning and arrived into New York this afternoon. New York is just one cool city. So many movies and TV shows have been set here so it seems strangely familiar to be walking through the bright lights of Times Square, Rockerfeller Centre, 5th Avenue and Central Park. We've got 5 nights here so we should hopefully be able to get a lot in. Providing the weather stays good we're going to do an open top bus tour tomorrow and hopefully catch a baseball game later in the week. Will keep you posted on the happenings!

La La Land

Well as most of you know we are in the beautiful warm weather of California. Well that's how it suppose to be. We got her a few days ago & arrived to glorious sunshine & summer heat. This got us both more than excited for what was ahead. The next day we rose early for Disneyland & since then we have had nothing but rain, clouds & a bitter cold snap of about 10*C & even less once the wind hits. None the less we haven't let the weather get in the way of any of our fun.

Day 1 was just spent wandering around Hollywood Blvd. The next day went to visit Mickey & friends & then shot across the road to California Adventure Land. Day 3 was in Beverly Hills & at the Improve Comedy Club which was a bit of a laugh, I think? We did universal Studios yesterday & today we hit Santa Monica & Venice Beach. Today was lovely sunny, blue sky weather & we are now both supporting red sunburnt noses from the lack of sunshine the last 2 years.

Anyway all is good for first stop of part 3 of our journey. I've been here 2 times before but I'm getting as much excitement from watching Mel's reaction to things that it's almost like my first time all over again.

Tomorrow we head for Vegas. Stay tuned hopefully we'll get some interesting photo's & video's up as soon as these blasted internet cafe's allow us to.

Have fun... cause we will :)

Alaska is DONE!

We just rocked back into Vancouver this morning after 7 relaxing days on the high seas. The weather turned out to be exceptionally good considering we were up there in May. Besides visiting Ketchikan, Juneau & Skagway most of our time was spent on board watching the Vegas styled shows, playing Blackjack in the casino, shooting a few hoops & eating more than our share for every meal.

A few of the highlights of this trip for me would of been Horse riding in the Alaskan wilderness, visiting Skagway & not having to get on time for anything at all.

3 nights sleep left in Canada & then we are off to the always fun LA LA Land.


M & M

This is a short little flick of our cruise.

Let The Holiday Begin

Well as most of you know Mel & I have began part 2 of our holiday. My mum & step dad came over from Australia to try out Canada for their first time so we've been hitting the local sights one last time with them.

A few days ago we jumped aboard the Whistler Mountaineer for our first class journey to Whistler. (Yes that right I said FIRST CLASS, the only time we will ever experience it I bet). As we snaked our way through the wilds that is Canada we were greeted with picture perfect moments along the entire journey.

Whilst in Whistler we decided to break our 8 months of hibernation & get active. We did the always scary "Valley Trail Walk" looking for bears, cougars & everything else in Canada known to horribly disfigure you. We ventured up Blackcomb Mountain where my mum got to not only see & touch snow for the first time but also experience the very cool feeling of it snowing.

On our last day we decided to do a Zip Line Trip. What happens is they drive you 1/4 the way up Blackcomb hill where you get harnessed up & attached to a cable that runs from one of the tallest trees to another. You then have to walk yourself to the last step at the top of the 50 metre drop & step off. As you can imagine the first Zip line is a bit of a leap of faith but before you know it your shooting down the cable at a high rate of speed looking at the breath taking view.

On the trek there are 5 Zip lines in total. After finishing the first 3 & building up quite a bit of confidence we arrived at the 4th. This one is the GODFATHER of Zip Lines. It goes for 750 meters & drops down a staggering 20 stories, zipping so close to the trees that you can smell the pine'o'clean freshness. My mum then steps up & decides she is going to do it first. As she gets strapped in & makes her way down the 5 steps she sees the drop & freezes. "Mum let go of the fence" I yelled several time before she finally let go. She shot down the canyon trying to yell but the shear terror had her voice less. "That wasn't so bad, I might try no hands on the last one" she says at the bottom.

We then approach the last Zip Line & they tell us that they would like everyone to try no hands but UPSIDE DOWN. "Oh Shit!, I don't think I can do that Martin". "I was going to try no hands but I can't do upside down". I was up. I took off from the platform backwards & flip! Upside down, no hands. After getting to the other side it was my mum's turn. All I could see was this pink jacket & helmet in the distance. Next thing I know she steps off, & OH MY GOD there's my mum 54 years old shooting though the forest upside down with no hands screaming! The whole group cheered as she shot down to the Whistler Village. The pressure was on Mel. Could she do it? Would she do it? She leaped off & ..... hat trick, all 3 of us upside down no hands. Mel unfortunately had to stop the tricks half way as she felt her harness slip. But after checking her gear to find it was all OK she finished off with one another upside down trick.

Today is the 11th of May my second birthday overseas on this trip. Mels parents arrived last night also & in about 1 hour we are all jumping aboard the NCL Sun for a 7 day Alaskan Cruise. Today is also mothers day so this has created a good end to the Canadian portion of our adventure.

Stay tuned for as we check out Alaska the final frontier, or is that space?

M & M

What's happening with Marty & Mel

Well the time is almost upon us. We only have 3 days left of work for the entire year of 2008 & boy is it taking it's time to pass. Mel has unfortunately had to deal with the painful experience of wisdom teeth. She had two teeth taken out 3 days ago & as a lot of you would know she is now swollen, sore & eating a whole stack of ice cream.

We have been trying to get all our last minute organising & packing done in haste for our departure. As most of you are aware we have managed to sell three movies (226 Day's In Nam, Havana & O Canada) to Lonely Planet which is more then I would of ever expected with my movies. Our little movie company "Big M Productions" is also currently in talks with LP as they have asked to possibly commission us to make movies on the road which is very exciting but still in the works.

Our parents are also on the way over very soon to experience Alaska with us which will be nice as it is 18 months since I have seen my parents & 12 months for Mel. Crazy how quick time goes.... huh.

Get ready for more Marty & Mel than you can probably handle as this website will be updated every 2 to 3 days as we travel. Officially we leave Canada on the 11th May but we will be doing little BC roaming before then so stay tuned.

Take Care

M&M

Havana

We've been so busy over the past few weeks we've had no time to do anything. With 3 weeks to go until our big journey begins we still have a whole load to do.

Below is a short movie we made about Havana Cuba. For all our fellow Australian viewers look forthe guest appearance by Catriona Rowntree (Getaway) in the purple convertible. (no joke)

For best viewing of the video. Push play & then push pause. Wait for the grey bar to load the entire movie, then sit back, hit play & enjoy

Enjoy

Cubanarama

Havana has got to be one of the most vibrant, fun and alive cities that I've ever been to. Everywhere you go there is music echoing in the distance or being blasted right at your dinner table and it's common place for people to just get up and start dancing in the middle of a restaurant, or in the street, whether it be night or day. The salsa of the musical kind is in the Cubans bloodstream and they're not afraid to express themselves!

This musical expression is showcased in all its glory at the famed Tropicana show, and we took a 20 minute Coco taxi ride outside of Havana to experience it ourselves. Included in the price of our ticket was a bottle of the local Havana Club Rum which went down a treat, and the show delivered all the glitz and glamour as promised. So inspired after the show, we decided to go out to a salsa club with some locals we met and danced the rest of the night away. Needless to say we woke up feeling a bit sorry for ourselves the next day but it was a great night.

We had been warned many times about the Cuban food before we went. It's renowned for being very bland due to the strict trade embargo that the USA has enforced on Cuba (they can't import any spices amongst other things). Although the taste of the food was good, it just got very repetitive after a week. Chicken and rice. Pork and rice. Fish and rice. You get the picture. First thing we did when we got home was order a pizza cause we'd been craving the salt/sugar/flavour explosion!

We found the Cuban people to be great, even though they are obviously going through so much hardship under their current political regime. They earn such little money in our terms and the buildings are so dilapidated that they would probably be condemned by western standards, but they still remain a really fun and friendly people, even though we didn't speak the language! This would have to be the first country I've been to in a very long time where it was presumed that I didn't speak English! Everyone assumed that we spoke Spanish and always looked shocked when we said we didn't. For the first time in a long time the shoe was put on the other foot. Usually we just expect everyone to speak English as it's become such a universal language, so it was good to have our eyes, and ears opened again :)

We finished off our Cuba trip in Varadero which is a beach resort 2 hours outside of Havana and I had my first swim in the ocean for about 18 months! Ahhh t'was very nice! White sand, and blue blue water with the odd palm tree along the beach. Picture perfect.

I'm so glad we experienced Cuba now before it all changes under the rule of Raul. It's a completely different world down there and it's stuck in a 1950's time warp which I don't think you could see anywhere else on the planet. Viva la revolucion!!!

:) Mel

Cuba

Well I know most of you have been keen to hear about our Cuba trip & I must say that this is by far the longest it has ever taken us to blog about a country but we have been snowed under with things to do in haste of our departure, but I have now made time.

Where do I start. We decided to go to Cuba on a "last minute special" which is definitely not the way we like to book things. It just didn't allow any time to get excited or to read about the sites & things we wanted to see. We read all types of things on the Internet in regards to what Castro will let you bring in & take out, so this was one of our most disorganised holidays but extremely memorable.

We departed on Skyservice at 8:00pm. Possibly the worst flight times that anyone could have. The short 6 hour trip turned into an overnight energy draining expedition. Arriving into Varadero at 5:00am we made our way past the extremely friendly (ha) & very intimidating customs official. After changing our Canadian money over to Cuban Peso's we jumped on a bus for the 2.5 hour trip to Havana.

After a quick cat nap we woke up to be greeted by shaded trees, old cars & Cuban looking people. We had arrived! We stayed at a small hotel called Hotel Lido. This place was possibly the best located hotel in Havana. We were unfortunately greeted with no hotel booking but upon paying $5 extra we were bumped up to the roof top, balcony room. Pink walls, air con & best of all hot water, which we weren't expecting.

Havana has a big Spanish history which extends far beyond the language. There are some stunning cathedrals, medieval forts & beautiful plaza's to relax in. The "old car" thing was something I was looking forward to & there are tons of them around but not as many as I was led to believe. While you only have to stand on a street corner for no longer than 2 minutes to see 5 old cars drive past, it's not uncommon to see it followed by a Toyota van & a small European car with tinted windows & the Spanish version of Beyonce cranking loud.

During our 5 day stay in Havana we had more than enough to see & experience but by the end of it we started to feel as though this isn't a cheap country. While you can spend $3.50 on a large meal, the taste is somewhat lacking. A tasty meal will set you back at least $10, if not more.

Your meal is almost always accompanied by a band playing hip swinging Caribbean music. After their 3 song repertoire is played they come around for tips. Two minutes later there is another band who'll play their 3 songs before coming around once again for some money.

The conversion is possibly the worst in the world. While $1 Canadian is worth roughly $1 Convertible Peso the locals pay with something completely different to the tourist money. A meal in a restaurant might be 4 Peso's. So while a tourist pays $4 Convertible Peso's the local will pay 4 Cuban Peso's which is roughly 26 times cheaper. Yes that's right 26 times cheaper! If only we spoke Spanish we may of been able to get some local pesos to make the trip a whole load cheaper.

Nonetheless, we both enjoyed the sunshine, the music, the city & the country. Now that Fidel has stepped down it created an urgency for us to visit as soon as possible and we're glad we did. There is no McDonald's & even finding a Coke is an extremely hard task which is a nice thing. Internet is also another hard thing to find & if you can it usually comes at an expensive price.

While the people aren't to willing to talk about Fidel (we found that out in the back of a taxi at 2:00am, thanks Mel) there does seem to be a sense of moving forward for Cuba. I just recently read that Raul (Fidel's brother) is allowing the importation of computers & DVD players in the near future, with toasters to follow in 2010. Crazy huh!

Stay tuned for more on Cuba & photos to follow.

An exciting time to be us.

Well this has been one of the most exciting weeks that we've had in Canada. Firstly the Eurail tickets I won way back in August have turned up which means our major mode of transport is finally all locked in.

The second HUGE piece of news is that a little movie I made back in Vietnam that some of you may of seen called "Hai Hai Sau" aka "226 Days in Nam", has been picked up. Yes that's right Marty & Mel fans I have been approached by a well known & well respected worldwide company & asked to sell the movie. As you can imagine this is more then flattering & a step in the right direction for worldwide domination of the backpacker movie market. (Stay tuned for more on this once the contract is signed)

Our last piece of exciting news is that we are off again. Yes the time has come to pack the bag, dust off the camera & grab the passport. Unfortunatly it is only for 9 days, but it's better than nothing. We are off to the "BAD LANDS" to visit one of Americas favourite neighbours, Cuba.

We will be flying into Varadero & then heading for the old world charm of La Habana for 5 nights. After this it's up to the overrun & super touristy beaches of Varadero for a couple of nights before coming back to Canada for our last 7 weeks of work.

"Why are they going away just before they travel for 8 months?" I hear you say.

Why? Beacuse we can!

"Viva La Revolución!"

M & M

Another Pucking Good Night

With a few friends over from Australia we decided to do what Australians do best & hit the town for a drink. The night started well but ended with us on Granville street in the Roxy making crazed drunken phone calls to who ever wouldn't answer their phone. Needless to say we were all sad & sorry when we woke at 3:00pm the next day.

After a day of rest we decided to do the Canadian thing again & head down to GM Place to watch the Cancuks play. After Dave & Zahrah bought their white Cancuks t-shirts, Mel & Zahrah decided to purchase the ever popular "giant foam #1 finger". As we settled into the beer, I mean the game it became apparent that we were supporting the losing team. As we sat deflated in the stands, the only cheering & support we found ourselves engaging in was when they began to fight. I'm pleased to say there were five fights that night & we won all of them.

It ain't all sunshine while were gone.

Now I'm not the usual person who gripes about travelling. In fact I rarley find anything wrong with a country I travel to & usually try to embrace any difference. But living in a country, other than your own can get extremly frustrating at times.

Take for example our current frustrations. When we lived in Vietnam there were many things that we just couldn't get use to but that was expected, right? Travelling to a western country such as Canada you would expect there to be a few obvious differences between home & here. But what you find might not actually be what you'd expect.

Now I'm not one for generalising about a race or a country so be aware this blog is based on experiences I have had working several jobs in Canada. To our Canadian friends from Victoria to Halifax, Vietnam to home this has nothing to do with you. But here goes......

The Canadian's I've worked with are extremely lazy when it comes to work. It seems work etthic has been thrown head first out the door & it's not coming back in any time soon. This is how it appears to work. Turning up to work on time & even staying there until your shift is finished seems optional. It's highly recommended to take as many breaks as you can so the minimal hours you do turn up for can go quick. I have heard all kinds of excuses for sick days that make the "I have the flu" look like the truth, or a posibility anyway.

What would your boss say if you said "I have to go home now my dog has diarrhoea". Imagine if you worked in a customer service field where actually 'serving' customers was part of your job. What would your boss say if you answered the phone with "Oh I'm sorry we're closing in 10 minutes I'll do it for you in the morning if you like, or perhaps you could call someone else".

I know for a fact, that if you tried any of these move in The Land Down Under you would be bounced from your job quicker than a $2 bouncy ball from Coles. (Let me run with the slang Aussie terms). Now Australians always like to mention to each other how easy it is for us to get a job overseas cause all the employers love how hard we work. Maybe that's true, or maybe we don't work that hard. Maybe we just like to do a full, honest days work. We don't skip out early, look for excuses or tell customers "Call back in 30 minutes cause I'm going home, someone else will help you".

There seems to be no real satisfaction from working hard for your money. If it doesn't come easy it seems that the right thing to do is just complain that we are being under paid & blaim it all on the employer. Now I can see why tipping is such a big thing. Sure the employers don't pay very much money here but they do pay for what they get.

I'll sign off this bitter blog by saying this has all been building up. I know there are some Canadians out there that work hard. In a country of 30 million there have to be a few, right?

No offense was meant by this. It is mearly an observation from the greener side of the fence.

2.5 months to go. I can't wait!

Take Care


M

What's up in BC

Well we don't have to much to blog about as not much has been happening the past few weeks. We have mostly been focused on making money for our trip which I know doesn't sound like a holiday but what can I say, we all need the green.

We do have some good news though. We have booked & paid for the next portion of our trip so we can confirm some of the fantasic destinations that we will visit in the very near future. We finish up work at the end of April & begin our holiday with both our parents on an Alaskan Cruise. After that we prepare for a solid 7 months of travel hitting all the major spots. The USA, England, Morocco, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, India & Thailand are all locked in. From there one it's dependant on money. We are doing really well at the moment so a big Asian overland may be in the books also.

We are both so excited for the travel we are about to set off on & look forward endless summer as it happens. There is a Marty & Mel Chronicles movie in production that will be completed at the end of this epic journey so look our for your exclusive invite in the mail. Critic's are hailing it as the best movie of 2009.

Take care for now & thanks to everyone we know & don't know who comments on our movies & blog. We love to hear from you.

M & M

Whistler Winter - Canada Movie

We are now back to the doldrums of work, work, work. We had a great little Christmas at home with a big pile of presents, chocolates, roast chicken & veggies, Christmas snow & our sore bodies.

We just spent 4 days in Whistler with our friends Justina & Pugs from Australia. They're over here for a ski vacation & a well deserved break.

Day 1.
We hit the slopes early to try & pick up the basics. We decided to start our mini holiday with snowboarding. Pug's & Justina were kind enough to offer us some lessons which we were more than happy to take them up on. Our first lesson was to try & stand up on the board whilst our feet were strapped in a permanent position. The run we choose to go down was one of the most used so unfortunately for us, most of it had turned to ice which made for a hard impact every time we fell over. By the end of it we were bruised & beaten but felt like we were getting somewhere.

Day 2.
After a horrible painful night's sleep we were up and ready to go again. This time we thought we would give skiing ago. We had heard it was easier which is what we were after as we didn't think our bodies could take any more beatings. It wasn't long until we had a new found confidence on the slopes. Partly from the heavy snow that had fallen the night before making the slopes soft & full of powder.

Day 3.
We woke in the morning a little hung over & very tired but managed to get up to the top of the mountain by 10:00am. After doing a few easy runs Mel & Justina decided to call it a day as they were tired & sore. Pug's & I thought one last run was needed. As we got to the bottom of the first run all was going well, I hadn't fallen over & I managed to get quite a bit of speed happening.

It was then that Pugs yelled out "let's keep going right to the bottom". Why not? We kept making our way down the hill when I began to pick up quite a bit of speed & felt control slipping. I drove the plow as hard as I could & managed to pull up letting Pug's catch up. The "plow" is the term for the shape the ski's take when you are trying to stop.

Pugs kept going & I decided to take it easy as we were coming up to one of the steeper parts of the hill. I couldn't take the hill in my usual way as it was covered in ski students. The next thing I knew I was heading straight down the hill at 57 kilometres an hour & heading right for the trees. "Plow, plow, plow god damn it! All of a sudden it all went white. Was I dead?

I was buried in 3 metres of powder & couldn't be seen from the track. I dug my feet & ski's out before rolling & crawling back to the hardened surface. After dusting myself off I heard Pug's say "Where have you been?" After showing him my tracks leading straight down the hill & into the trees we began to laugh.

We're back in Vancouver now & still very sore. It was a holiday like no other we have ever had & hopefully we will get to do it again one day soon.

We have put together this little movie of our Canada trip so far.

Enjoy M&M

Winter Wonderland - Christmas 2007

It's all turning to Christmas very quickly over here. Snow, Santa's Work Shop, ice skating, tree's & most of all presents. To everyone back home have a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Enjoy Mel & Marty's Christmas movie

There's snow on them there hills!

After only 5 months of lving in our apartment we've finally posted some photos for you to have a look at and check out the view we have! It snowed here the other day which was very exciting and we can't wait to get some skiing in. The view is of Grouse Mountain which apparently has a Santa's Workshop, ice skating and sleigh rides with real live reindeer so I can't wait to be a kid again! Maybe I will see where my family roots are from (Ha ha...get it? Rudolph! Ha ha!)

I Voted For The Other Guy

Not much has been happening lately. Our life has been the unfortunate doldrums of work, work, work with our highlight being our first overseas vote.

The day began with a brisk walk in the chilly 3*C temperature to our consulate in Vancouver. We were welcomed at the door by one of those guys handing out flyer's on the way into your local school. Who ever thought there would be one of them standing at the door directing us to vote for Rudd. We asked him for directions before making our way to the 12th floor to cast our vote for the next Australian leader.

As we entered the lobby on official Australian soil we waited in line behind two other fellow Australians waiting to cast their vote. As they left we were handed our official papers which we sat down to fill out. As the door slowly closed behind them we heard one of them say " the Australian Shooter Party got my vote" which made us both chuckle as we adored the good old Australian sense of humor.

The next morning, we heard that Johnny was out & Big Kev was in. We watched a video that night of the great Johnny Howard giving his last speech as our fearless leader. As Mel wiped a tear from her eye we hoped that Australia had made the right decision. As long as the economy keeps doing well, Rudd keeps Medicare & most all taxes don't increase, who can complain.

Until next time take care

Marty & Mel

Halloween

"Trick or Treat" are the words you will hear time & time again for this scary festive season. This was another first for us. Having never celebrated a Halloween before it was interesting to watch the build up to this family affair. Weeks prior we would see skeletons & pumpkins in the windows of street front homes. As well as every shop trying to sell their best looking pumpkins, all of which are the size of beach balls.

Mel & I both had to work on the 31st Oct but both our stores were hammered with repeat calls of "Trick or Treat". As I work in a shopping centre it all just seemed to start at 4:00pm which is the official time for shopping centre Halloween. Their were small goblins, princesses, pumpkins, skeletons, harry potter, dinosaurs, witches, pirates & monsters to make George Lucas envious.

It was an interesting experience but from what we saw, don't run out of candy.

Puck off!!!

10 years ago, State of Origin used to be that momentus battle of State against State, Mate against Mate. But somewhere along the way, the great sporting event lost some of the passion and aggression that made it such a spectacle. Nothing would please the fans more than watching Lewis, Meninga, the Chief, and lets nots forget Sam 'Backo' Jackson take to the field in their maroon and blue jerseys and then get into a good biff not more than 10 minutes into the game, the pride of their state resting on the mighty shoulders. Well that spirit has not been lost here in Canada. Bring on Ice Hockey (well it's just called hockey here). Marty had watched a game before at Madison Square Garden, but we went off to GM Place on Saturday night to watch our home team, the Vancouver Canucks at my first ever game of Hockey. And true to its reputation, there was a brawl in the first five seconds of the whistle blowing. Now this is a sporting match! The refs just stand aside and let the boys go at it until somone lands on their backs, then they are deemed to be the loser. And this makes sense to me. They're already going to get a penalty for starting the fight in the first place, so they may as well entertain the fans and see who is the better brawler. None of this pussy footing aound and breaking up the fight before it even gets started. It doesn't make sense that in sports of such physical agression, men are expected to just turn their testosterone on and off depending on the blow of the whistle. But besides the fights it was a really good sport to watch. Really fast and always something happening. There was mexican waves, songs being sung by the whole crowd ( I pretended to know the words) and beers and hot dogs for a ridiculous price, but that was all part of the fun. And the Canucks won hurrah! So the State of Origin can take a leaf out of Ice Hockey's book, and in the immortal words of Reg Reagan, bring back the biff!

1 Year On

Well today is our official one year mark. We left home on the 1st of Oct last year & have seen & experienced some amazing things. Here's a few things we have picked up along the way.

Malaysia: Totally different to what I expected. It was a little like glitzy Singapore but more on an Asian level. A cool country though with plenty to offer. A great Muslim / Asian experience close to home.

Vietnam:
I have said so much about Vietnam in the previous blogs that it's hard not to repeat myself. I'm still amazed that there are places in South East Asia that are not frequested by hundreds of visitors. My favourite would have to be Nha Trang. White sand, blue water & fantastic seafood all with out an other visable tourist in sight. South Vietnam seems to have a more layed back western style of thinking which can be nice when you living in the country. Everyone always seems to say that Hanoi is prettier but I think thats because Saigon is the fisrt place they visit & their trip gets easier by the time they reach Hanoi. Hanoi is pretty but Saigon definately beats it for parks & chilling.

Canada:
Breath taking scenery at every turn. I don't know if there would be any other place like it. Sure plenty of other countries have mountains, snow & blue water. But I'm not sure if it's on the same scale as Canada. Not only do the mountains seem to rise straight up into the clouds but that literally go for thousands of miles. The people are also friendly & the cities are beautiful but it can be hard times here for the average Jo. Working & living in this country can be a stuggle for a lot of people as the pay is terrible ($7 an hour minimum wage) & the cost of living is higher than Australia.

Australia:
Well it may sound funny but I think the one place I have learnt more about on this trip is Australia. We are by far the best country in the world. Even our shittest jobs are paid enough to survive & save a little. Despite JH & the ever increasing costs at home, things are still achievable if your willing to work for them.

Our Government cares for us on so many more levels than any other government around the world (Save Medicare!!).

Despite the occasionl groan that telephone companies are ripping us off, they are actualy giving us so many things for free that so many other companies charge for.

We have blue skies alot!! Hanoi experiences a London winter every year. The temp drops & the clouds come in producing this dark dingy environment for 6 months. Canada also gets the clouds but along with it comes the rain & cold. A blue sky winter would be nice at some point.

I'm not a beachy person but it's there if I wanted it. White sand, clear water. We have the best beaches in the world so we haven't produce an "All-Inclusive" nation which is nice. When we travel we like to rough it just to get the experience.


One year on & these are some of the things we have learnt. Cheers to a few more.

"We still call Australia home"

A Not So Crowded House

Well after a month & a half of anticipation, our Crowded House concert ended with a fizzle. I bought Mel two tickets to Crowded House for her birthday. They were supposed to play at a theatre downtown which was restored & in peek condition. But the civic workers have gone on strike here for what ever reason & guess what, the people who work in the Orphuem Theatre are part of the same union, which means they are also on strike.

In short we booked our tickets for the Crowded House concert but it then got changed to a different venue. We basically got down graded to an outside venue where there were no seats, no umbrellas allowed & rain was predicted.

After picking up our tickets on the day of the concert we began walking home & what happened, the sky began to drop buckets of water down onto us. 30 minutes before the concert, we decided standing outside in the cold weather & rain wasn't worth it & got a refund on our tickets.

Needless to say we are still on the look out for a kick ass concert. There always seems to be something happening here it just depends what we want to do.

The Crackers of Cracktown

Vancouver is consistently voted as being one of the most livable cities in the world. And I don't disagree. There's beautiful nature in and around the city, some cool buildings, a relaxed mentality, and heaps of dining, shopping and entertainment options. But step one street wrong in this Utopian city and you end up in Vancouver's "mustard stain on your new shirt" kind of embarrassment.

When we first arrived into Vancouver we were calmly walking through one of the cities tourist districts, Gastown, when lo and behold we wandered one street back from the main tourist drag, and we ended up in what local Vancouverites call Cracktown. Here you can faintly hear the police sirens in the background as shady types skulk around in the shadows and congregate on the corners dealing in whatever concoctions they have brewed up in their basements. Preferred attire for the ladies would be the cliched fishnet stockings, short skirts and platform shoes. Or maybe just their pyjamas which cling to their skinny, malnourished, drug dependant bodies. Men prefer to wear jeans that haven't seen a washing machine for at least 5 years, coupled with a shabby t-shirt, and equally shabby cap or beanie. Often in summer no shirt at all is required. Neither is a bath apparently and you can smell the stench as you walk past. Amazingly they are generally confined to this one area of town known as East Hastings Street. Now we live on West Hastings Street which is in theory, the same street, but we're a few kilometres away which may as well be a different planet in terms lifestyle. They don't often stray from their East Hastings community but occasionally you will see male crackers screaming down the street in their shopping trolley, singing at the top of their lungs with all the bottles clanging along with them. Quite amusing to watch actually!

At first I was wary of the Crackers but have now come to realise that they are harmless and will just go around doing their own thing without bothering anyone else too much. Who knows what their story is, and how they got to be in such a bad situation, but you have to wonder what the Canadian government is doing to curb this unfortunate problem in downtown Vancouver. Well I imagine there isn't much money left over from the 2010 Olympics, which is expected to cost an amazing 1.3 billion dollars (about 1.5 billion Australian). And you can see that the crackers aren't too happy about this as they graffiti East Hastings with slogans suggesting this is too much money to be spent when there is so many homeless in Vancouver. But then you have to ask, why should the rest of Canada be denied their Olympics, just because a small proportion of the rest of society can't get their lives together and STAY OFF THE CRACK!!!!!!

The best birthday ever!

Well on Saturday, there was no stopping the clock from ticking over, and all of a sudden I was now a year older, at the ripe old age of 26. Surely I have to become a grown up one day, but that can wait! My birthday was actually extended this year, as I started receiving birthday wishes at about lunchtime on Friday which was technically my birthday back in Oz, then continued right through the long weekend we're having here in Canada! Hooray! A four day birthday!

On Saturday morning (Canadian birthday time) we had a sleep in for the first time in ages. I'm telling you, after almost a year of half arsedly working in Vietnam, it's a bit of a shock to the system that I'm now expected to work a minimum of 38 hours a week!!! Yes that's right people, 38 hours! And this is no backwards country we're talking about here. This is Canada!!! With Vancouver being rated at one of the most livable cities in the world. I tell you it's an outrage. It's slave labour. Anyhoo I digress....

Marty then proceeded to make me breakfast and present me with 2 Crowded House tickets. Yay! A little bit of Aussie in Canada! Or were they Kiwi? (we'll claim them but not that bloody Russell Crowe...except if he wins another Oscar) Anyway I'm super excited because I love all their music and I thought they were one of those bands that I'd never get to see play because they broke up, but they're back in business baby!!

Then the next surprise happened. We won 2 first class Eurail tickets to travel though 18 countries in Europe!!! We get 15 days travel in 2 months and are now excitedly planning the best route! The tickets are worth almost $3000 and we can't believe our luck! Well the competition wasn't based on luck, but rather skill so really we can't believe how talented we are! We're going to head over there after we finish our visa in Canada.

So after the excitement died down we went out to lunch at a restaurant down on the harbour to celebrate, followed by an ice cream watching The Simpsons Movie. Being a life long fan of the show and able to recite entire episodes, it was weird to see them up on the big screen. I think they probably left it a bit too late to bring the movie out, but still, it was good.

Vancouver City Council had put on some fireworks for me but after all the excitement of the day, we decided to stay in for the night. We had another sleep in on Sunday and lazed about. We bought a soccer ball with the intention of kicking it around in Stanley Park, but were a bit tired after the walk to the shops so decided not to. I think we'll play that sometime today. And besides we'd bought the Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring...we've got a trip to start planning!

All in all it was the best birthday ever!!!

Hai Hai Sau

I made this documentary to try & show a different side of Vietnam. The side that doesn't really spring to mind when you hear the name. We lived in Vietnam for 226 days & this is some of the stuff we learnt.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Enjoy! (A set of head phones will give you the full effect)

FC'n again

Well as most of you are well aware, Mel & I are back working for Flight Centre but this time in Canada. We got sick of the shit jobs, low pay & lack of housing in Banff & moved back to the big smoke of Vancouver.

Mel is working in a store in Yaletown which is just on the edge of Downtown. I was also working in a Downtown shop but changed to a shop in another suburb. Its was a good store & the girls were great to work with but coming from a shopping centre store in OZ I needed something a little more action packed to keep me going, not to mention the drive we both have to make money to fund the next part of the trip. So I'm temping in the busiest & biggest money making store in Canada until kicking it off at my own shop on 1st Aug.

It all seems to be coming together now here though which feels like it is well over due. We moved into our new apartment today which is located on the waterfront at Coal Harbour which is right in the best part of Downtown Van. Unfortunately when we signed the lease though, we didn't really take to much notice of the height restrictions that the car park had & now we've come to find out that the Van doesn't fit. So tomorrow my day will be full of hair brained schemes to get around this obstacle so we don't have to worry about any cracker stealing our wheels to Mexico.

That's about all for now. Another movie will be along shortly as well as some long awaited photos of Betsy. We have had a few issues with the laptop & the loading of photos but I promise all you eager people that it is coming soon.

Hooroo for now.

Video has arrived!

That's right blog fans! For all you crazed readers of the Marty and Mel Chronicles, we now bring to you Marty and Mel in widescreen and Dolby Surround Sound. We've put together this little video below to show you some of our favourite moments of the trip so far & all you have to do is double click the play button in the middle of the screen. If you have speakers, crank them loud. If you have curtains, close them up. If you have a popcorn machine, get poppin. We bring to you...

The Trip So Far

Let's make it harder!

Now after being in Canada for 1 month we can both say it is one of the most amazing,naturally beautiful spots in the world. The people are also friendly & courteous especially when they pull up 20 meters from you so you can cross the street. But there is one thing here that just make life so annoyingly unbearable. The mobile phone network!

This seems to be Canada at it's stupidest. I don't even know where to start telling you the logic that goes behind it. First you approach one of the many mobile phone dealers & decide what plan you want. This is a hard choice as they are all expensive, include nothing & have really shit conditions involved. First we were told that prepaid is not really a good option here as it's usually reserved for young children who aren't of the age to have an account, there for the call rates are expensive. So we decided to go with the smallest payment plan after some friendly persuasion from our friendly salesman (we don't know anyone here after all so calls should be low). Now you buy the sim, pay for a service fee & a few take your money fees then your in business, right? Wrong, there is more you need to know.

Firstly none of the payment plans include the simple things like caller ID. So the phone rings & who do you think it is, you can't tell, it just says "Unknown Number you cheap bastard". So we ask our friendly salesman which plan includes it & he says "None, why give give it away when people will pay for it". Now the number you are given is also only for the province you are in (BC is where we bought ours). If you make any calls outside of that province even if its to the person next to you, you will pay twice as much in fees. If anyone calls you locally, long distance, international or even sms you pay phone calling fees as well. If you move from BC to Alberta like we did you have to change your phone number to an Alberta number because you mobile phone was bought & registered in BC so you will pay twice as much for every phone call. How will people who have your old number be able to call you? I hear you ask. Well....... they can't. That's just stiff for you because there is no forwarding of phone calls so you need to ring or sms everyone to let them know your new number.

So once you get all that sorted & your over priced bills start turning up. You can't pay them with cash. The banks are apparently able to take cash for them but it takes 10 business days for that to process & meanwhile you credit card is debited six days after the bill is issued so you can't do it anyway. So maybe go into the Rogers store & pay it right!...... wrong! they only take credit card not cash, sorry! Meanwhile I'm paying International fees on every credit card transaction.

After all this I think we're just going to switch to prepaid & accept the bad rates. At least there is no bills.

Red Necks, Rig Pig's & Betsy.

We slipped back to Banff from Jasper which ends the Moose trip. After 2 nights in Banff we jumped on the Greyhound bus & headed for Calgary. Now over here not too many Canadians have anything nice to say about Calgary. We have been told that it is full of nothing but red necks & rig pigs. As we pulled in to the station after two & a half hours on the bus we made our way to our hostel in downtown. Now the city centre itself is OK. It's a little bit like downtown Vancouver & has a few parks around where you can go to escape the busy streets.

Our main purpose of the visit to Calgary was to pick up our sin numbers, which is like our tax file numbers back home. So on day one we made our way to the Harry Hays building where our cards would be waiting for us. Us we made our way to the main entrance we were told that the building is closed for the next week due to bad storms the night before. Apparently in Calgary they don't know how to make buildings very well, as the 8 story Government building was flooded. We would have to get our cards at another time.

There were a few other reason we came to Calgary. The first was to see if we could pick up a van or motor home of some sort to do the well over due across USA trip & then vehicle willing, into Mexico, Central America & then maybe on to see the sights of the most expensive continent for all Australians to visit, South America.

We checked out quite a few cars, trucks, utes, ice cream vans, motor homes & mini vans before settling on Betsy. Betsy is a white Dodge Ram 3500 Van. She has a V8 with 360* viewing windows & with a whole lot of attitude for any hill she encounters. Now purchasing a car in Canada is no easy feat, or at least in Alberta anyway. They have a crazy system where you must have private insurance before you can get a car. So once you see the car you want you have to go & get the insurance before you can register it. Now with insurance, if you don't have any history of insurance in Canada you are looking at the most expensive rate which is about $1800. So after many phone calls, emails & faxes we managed to get our insurance history & driving history sent over (thanks heaps Bevan). This lowers your rate by leaps & bounds. Our insurance cost then dropped from the previously mentioned $1800 to $480. But then they tell us it's not as easy as just registering the person who owns the car anyone who has access to the keys needs to be insured, & who ever the biggest insurance risk is, is the person who the policy is based on. (If your confused after reading that, trust me it isn't any easier from this end). So now we had our insurance it was time to register the car. But you can't drive it to the registry office with no plates. So you have to get to there & back some other way. We drove.

After all that we now have a motor home fit for some long distance travelling. We spent a little more than we wanted based on the fact that we totally forgot there is a little thing called exchange rates. And we had to deck her out as suite on wheels.

So now we are back in Calgary & broke (Not really mum's so don't worry), so it's time to get a job & make some travelling cash for the cross continent trip at the end of our year in Canada or eleven months, as we've already been here for over one month. Time Flies!

Jasper

From beautiful Lake Louise we jumped back on the Moose again, this time headed for Jasper. We made the 17 routine stops along the way including a stop at the Columbia Icefields.

Along the drive we headed up the Highway that a lot of people like to call "Animal Alley". It gets this name from the amount of animals that can be seen by the side of the road. But someone must of forgot to tell the animals that name though, because we saw nothing. Not even a single squirrel!

We stayed at the HI Hostel which is the cheapest thing in town for backpackers. But unfortunately it's not even in town, it's 7 klm on the outskirts. I don't understand a lot of the people on the Moose Network Bus. We get into all the towns at about 8.00pm in the evening & then they leave the very next day at 8.00am in the morning. Even if you were just here on a short holiday, wouldn't you want to actually see one of these spots for more then 2 hours?

Jasper itself didn't really appeal to Mel or I. I'm sure it would be nice in winter, & it is a nice national park. But it just lacks the character of the other places. It has one very small "shopping street" if you will, & the other street with a few restaurants faces the railway track. Also any of the treks or rides that you want to do in the National Park require you to drive out of the town for about 15 minutes.

While we were there though, we did do another wildlife tour & this time we hit the mother load. Not only did we find so many mule deer that you just don't bother with the photos, but we also came across some stunning elk & a black bear with two cubs during feeding time. This may sound dangerous but we were up a slight cliff so we were safe.

Basically we got a little bored in this town as there's not that much to see & do here that you can't do in Banff or Whistler. One thing that we also found very shit was the fact that we had to stay in a 67 bed dorm. After trying to have a few beers so we would fall asleep easily it actually had the opposite effect. Instead we found ourselves starring at the roof listening to about 4 guys snore. After two hours of this I was throwing pens, pencils & anything I could get my hands on, while Mel went for the thump & run approach, which apparently resulted in heated discussion with the accused at 3.00am. Meanwhile thanks to Mel's approach I was fast asleep.

The following night was spent 30 klms down the road in another dorm with another snorer & two loud annoyingly chatty Japanese. This one also ended in words. We were also going for the wilderness approach here with no showers running water or power points.

I don't think Jasper is anywhere we would run back too in a hurry. But we're both definitely glad we can tick it one off.

Have you seen...the most beautiful lake in the world

Let me just say first off, the title of this blog is supposed to be sung in your best Prince voice to the tune of his song.

Well we are now in Lake Louise, which is by far the most beautiful & the most photographed lake in the world. We arrived here two days ago at about 10.00am. We were told by a few people in Banff, who visited the lake one week earlier that it was still all frozen over, but lucky for us it had broken up by the time we arrived.

The Moose bus dropped us off for a quick 25 minute look before dropping us off at the hotel for check in. After several room changes due to the ongoing completion of our wing, we manage to settle in & get out for some sight seeing.

We decided we would walk back up to the lake. It was only four kilometers, (granted all four of them were up a 60 degree incline) but we were told it would only take about an hour. So off we set. By the time we reached the top my calf muscles were starting to feel the burn. But once again the view made it all worth while. We went in to check out the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise to see if it could match up to the Hi Hostel Alpine Center, it did.

We decided to enjoy the lake the best way & possibly the most expensive, by hiring a canoe for $40 an hour. We took it for a paddle close to the edge once again looking for bears, but still no luck. It took half an hour to row to the end of the lake, 20 minutes to take photos & then 10 minutes to get the canoe back so we didn't have to pay another $40.

There wasn't much we wanted to see here besides Lake Louise. The town really only consists of 10 small shops & three restaurants. So besides the Lake, the Gondola & not to mention the outdoor activities, there isn't that much to do & see. So we decided to take it easy for the last few days & did nothing at all.

Banff

Well we stayed in Banff for 3 nights & I think this will be the place we head back to for jobs & winter. Banff is a little like Whistler but a bit bigger I think. Just like Whistler there is plenty to do as far as outdoor activities such as hiking, riding, skiing, snowboarding & animal spotting.

The town itself is everything you expect from a Canadian ski village. It's surrounded on all sides by mountains, the people are friendly, all the houses are built in that winter wonderland style & even though there seems to be a lot of tourists & expats it has some sort of proudness about it.

Just like everywhere in Canada there seems to be a stack of jobs going, with every window displaying a Help Wanted sign. Eventually we're going to have to go for one of these but for know I think we will just be content & settled with the thought that we don't have to work.

A few days ago we did an evening wild life safari which took us around the National Park that Banff is situated in. We saw a few deer, elks, long horned goats, a black bear & a few birds, so we thought it was money well spent.

Obviously after riding a push bike on a trail for 10 klms in Whistler we didn't learn our lesson, because we decided to hire them again in Banff & take a ride out to Lake Miniwanka (pronounced miniwonka, not wanka you dirty people). It was a beautiful blue sky day as we made our way along Banff Ave & out into the wilds of Canada. Whilst Whistler is mainly black bears, Banff National Park is perfect Grizzly territory so we had our eyes peeled the whole way. Six kilometers later we made it to the beautiful Lake Miniwanka. Most of the ride was up hill so I must say that if we had of encounted a Grizzly on the trail I would of been screwed trying to get away as my legs were jelly & my bike chain kept popping off.

After no more than 2 minutes catching our breath & taking some photos we decided to jump on the bike & ride like crazy. Moving quickly over the tops of the mountains was a pretty fierce looking thunder storm & we had no shelter in sight.

As we made our way up the hill again we flew down the back side of the mountain as the rain began to bucket down. It was ridiculously heavy & made it very hard to see where we were going. We passed a sign that said Two Jack Camp Ground 300 meters, so decided to fly in there to seek cover. As we came round the bend peddling like crazy & soaking wet it actually began to hail. We jumped off the bikes & huddled under a small 1 meter x 1 meter roof that looked like it had been used for a bus stop. Drenched from rain with hail falling around us, we stood huddled for 1.5 hours in the middle of the forest being bitten by mosquito's the size of pterodactyl's, right in the heart of Grizzly territory. Eventually it cleared up & we made our way back to town. Despite the weather we had a good day spotting a few deer & long horned goats, but still no sighting of the elusive Grizzly. I'm starting to think this is something the Canadians make up to bring in the tourist.

We are heading off to Lake Louise & then Jasper before we return to Banff for a few nights & then Calgary where hopefully we should be able to get ourselves a set of wheels. Then I think the plan at the moment is to return to Banff for a bit of work. But as everyone knows, plans change.


Passing time in the woods

It's all up hill.

Well after our stay in beautiful Whistler we headed back to Vancouver for one night before roping the Moose for our biggest day of driving yet. We left at 8.30am in the morning & were headed for Banff. Moose had broken this trip up into two days of about 8 hours each. The reason for the extra time was the stops & sightseeing that Moose had added in. Which is good for the sight seeing, but bad considering it made the trip a whole lot longer.

As we left Vancouver we were naturally surrounded by mountain tops covered by snow. But as we made our way across the country you could slowly see it becoming drier & drier. The reason for this is that Canada seems to have the same climate difference as the west coast of the USA. The dry region in Canada which resembles the wild west is the same dry region that comes all the way up the North America coast from Arizona.

We made a few stops along the way. The first being at Bridal Veil falls. As you could probably guess the water rushing down the falls supposedly looks like..... yep you guessed it a brides veil. The next stop was at the small city of Hope which is the worlds chainsaw carving capital (something to be proud of around those parts). We then continued on the Alexander Bridge which is a death defying walk across rapids of rushing water. Death defying because the bridge has not been touch, looked at or restored since it was built in 1926, and as you can imagine it is covered in rust with small pieces of it falling off into the river below.

So as the snowy pine tree covered mountains gave way to the bare jagged peaks we had made it to a look out over Kamloops. A few K's further down the road had finally bought us to our one night stop, Shuswap. We booked the accommodation on the Internet with Hi Hostels & it sounded kind of cool. We would be staying in a Caboose, which is an old Canadian Train Carriage. As we got our bags from the bus everyone started talking under their breath. In part because of the strange mountain woman that came out to welcome us & second for the small "General Store" that was falling down behind us. As we went into the store to buy some food for the hostel we found out that this was the reception for the hostel. And that strange mountain woman was the owner. As she led us through her house & out the back we could help but feel like this was the end of the road for us (it was the perfect start to a horror movie). but as we made our way past Sampson the dog, two llamas & a couple of stoned Japanese people playing Frisbee we saw our rustic Caboose & realised we should be fine.

That evening we took a Canoe for a paddle down to a dammed up beaver house & despite all the attempts we couldn't get it to come out. The next day the rest of the group joined us for breakfast on the lake next to our train & then we were off again.

After another big day ahead of us with a few more sightseeing stops including Yo-Ho National Park & checking our some local Ground Squirrels, we had finally made it to Banff.

The only thing that really sticks out from the two long, long days of driving is how beautiful Canada is & that the country seems to be nothing but very tall mountains.

Mel on the Caboose at Shuswap

Marty challenges Larry to a death match!

A ground squirrel doing the running man!

Canada, the land of death or disfigurement!

In Australia if you want to go for a walk to the shops or even in the bush it's perfectly safe, right! The only thing you have to worry about is the occasional snake or your own stupidity when you get lost. But let me tell you, in Canada every thing will kill you, or at least disfigure you.

What's he going on about I hear you ask? Well listen closely as I enlighten you to the wilds that is Canada. There are so many National Parks & forests here & I don't mind saying they are all so stunning & beautiful. But it's what lurk within that you have to be scared of.

Let's start with the obvious Bears! I can't help but walk along these tracks, absolutely wired with my heart racing looking for them. One of our drivers said that Grizzly’s are the only bears you need to worry about & that the black bears are more scared of us then we are of them. But can I just say what a load of crap. I can guarantee that if I come across an animal the size of a hippo with three inch claws & teeth, that can run the hundred as quick as Ben Johnson on speed, then I will be shitting myself more than it would be. Mel seemed to find a false sense of security in the words of our driver. At least that was until we saw a few signs on the walk that labeled them as very dangerous & to stay ten bus lengths away from them at all times as to avoid being attacked. The really confusing thing with these official government signs it what we should actually do if we encounter a bear. Obviously your first instinct would be to run as fast as possible or at least quicker than the other people around you, but that my friend is a big no no. First you must assess the situation.

Situation 1: If you see a bear but it doesn't see you keep quite & back away slowly. (easy right)
Situation 2: If you see a bear & he sees you but does not look as though he is a threat to you. Speak softly so the bear can identify you as human than slowly begin to back away. Do not run.
Situation 3: If you see a bear & he see you & begins to approach speak calmly & softly so as to identify your self as human. If the bear continues to approach in a threatening manner yell in a very strong voice NO!........ NO!.......... NO! If the bear stops back away slowly. Do not run.
Situation 4: If the bear continues to approach & begins to attack you role up in the foetal position & play dead.

Now situation 4 is where it begins to get confusing. Everyone knows that a bear can swim, climb trees, out run you & just basically beat you at everything you can do. We've read, role in the foetal position & play dead, then another one says lay down on your stomach covering your head & neck with your hands but keep your legs as far apart so the bear can't flip you over easily, but still play dead. The idea behind the play dead thing is that he will only swipe you a few times with his claws and then get tired of you & walk off. Then another sign said that if the bear doesn't get bored & begins to bite & basically eat you fight back. Punch, throw stones & it even said climb a tree!

Now maybe it's just me but there is no real clear idea on what to do it you come across a bear which is a bit worrying considering it happens every day. As we walk through the forests here I can't help but think about the TV show "When Animals Attack" & how I use to say "well it's his own fault, who would walk around in the middle of Grizzly country anyway". Little did I know that the guy was just going to the bakery for a loaf of white bread with sesame seeds when he got mauled.

So now if this isn't enough to make you watch the trees for any kind of movement they also have cougars which aren't seen as often as bears but they will attack humans. Though an encounter with these isn't very common because the WOLVES scare them away. Yes that's right WOLVES. They are big & come in all types of colours. Grey, white, grey & white, brown, sandy & there's even a really scary looking one that's pitch black with orange eyes. The smaller version of these is the Coyotes which have been known to attack small children from time to time. Another one from the cat family is the Lynx which looks like a bigger version of your house cat but don't be mistaken as this crafty devil is a stealth hunter.

On every bike ride or walk you are almost guaranteed to come across some deer or elk but don't approach them as they have been know to kick & attack if they feel threatened. But the one you really need to worry about is the docile looking Moose. These things can get gangsta on your ass! Especially if they have a baby with them. They have been known to attack cars that wait for them to cross the road. They can even get so stubborn as to have a stand off, which leaves you sitting in your car with the gear in reverse just in case he attacks. I head stories here of stand offs lasting as long as an hour & a half. If you come across a moose in the wild the only advice is to haul ass the other direction.

All these animals make for a heart thumping hike. Whether it be to the shops for food or in the forest for some fresh air.

I will end by saying, I have have met some Canadians who are scared of spiders but I must say unless it can run you down, trash your car or grab you by the jugular what is there to be scared of.

A Whistler Wonderland

We left Vancouver on the Moose Network and arrived into Whistler at about 2 in the afternoon not really knowing what to expect. Was it big or small?, snowing or hot? (The Moose network is a backpackers bus that runs several itineraries through out Canada. The pricing is quite good & it is really set up as a cheap tour. They do a lot of stops a long the way for sight seeing, hiking & photos a well as give you some commentary & history along the way).

The place we were staying in was a three million dollar chalet, which was about a 15 minute walk from Whistler Village. Our driver told as to be wary on the walk into the village as a few of his clients were walking the trail a few days earlier & got a huge surprise when they stumbled into a black bear.

Whistler Village is quite small. There are no cars allowed in the village itself which is quite nice as we both keep forgetting which way to check for cars. There are a few brand name shops & a few restaurants, but like most of the other ski villages it's bloody expensive to eat out. Once you order your main, a drink, add the tax & include a tip we are looking at bout $20 a meal these aren't even fancy places.

There are tones of walking, riding & hiking tracks around Whistler as well so it's very easy to get into a fitness state of mind here. We did a nice little 10klm bike ride & a 10klm hike on a few days as well as venturing up to the top of Blackcomb Mountain to check out the skiing that was still happening. For me the town town seemed a little bit to small to live in but Mel fell in love with it quite qickly as you can have a lot of fun there & it does feel quite safe.

All the outdoor activities we've done have been based around trying to see some bears. We've walked around the golf course where they apparently like to hang out, hiked where they had been seen before & even walk around the prime skunk cabbage habitat where they like to feed but still no luck.

Get some wheels or ride a Moose

Well for now Mel & I have decided to ride a Moose across the western part of Canada. We are still looking at buying a vehicle but just not in a rush to buy any old piece of junk. We have seen quite a few used car dealers in Calgary & the vehicles look quite cheap there, so we are going to check out a few when we arrive. The only place we have been to that had cheapish cars was Vancouver. Whistler, Banff, Lake Louise & Jasper don't have many & the ones they have aren't that cheap.

Once we find our perfect hunk of junk then the road trip will be planned. How far can we get? Will we make it to South America? How will the border crossings go? These are questions that will only be answered when we find Betsy.

Yo-Ho National Park & the Natural Bridge

"Does this make my bum look big?"

Vancouver

So we’ve been in Canada for three weeks now & have just been so busy with the fun & sight seeing that we haven’t found any time to blog anything. But fear not we are back on track.

Vancouver seems to have it all. It has beautiful parks, beaches, hikes, trails, snowy mountains, skiing, and glitzy shopping, cool pubs & lastly it’s a nice size city that’s really not too busy.

On the first couple of days we went to check out the biggest tourist attractions that Vancouver has to offer. Some of the places we went to were Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, Stanley Park, Science World ( I know that may sound a bit gay but it was pretty interesting), Crack Town which isn’t really a tourist attraction it’s more of a step across the wrong side of the tracks were there is a crystal meth epidemic at the moment, a little Red Trolley Tour, plus heaps of others. We also did a lot of shopping (window & purchasing) & eating nice big western meals.

One thing that Vancouver has a lot of is convertible cars & nice cars. When you’re walking around you could be mistaken to think you’re in the mid life crises capital of the world. But it just so happens like any other big city there is a big divide between the rich & poor. And the rich definitely like to show it off as they get around in the Mustang, Porsche, Bentley, Hummer, Corvette, Ferrari & of course Lamborghini’s.

Whilst in Vancouver Mel was a little put off by the amount of homeless people. Coming from Vietnam I think it was just a shock for her to see western people begging especially if you compare it to Asia where every western person is considered rich & can afford the every day items like food & shelter. One person we met said Vancouver has the highest number of homelessness in Canada because it has the warmest weather year round. It never seems to hit the –30C like a lot of the other places do so it makes a lot of sense that the homeless flock there.

On a few days we got up & out of the hostel by 8.00am to have a look around. Now this would be a normal time in Australia, but in Vancouver it’s not. No shops seem to open in Canada before 10.00am & because of this there was not a lot of people on the streets in except for the large numbers of homeless people. It was quite strange one day when we were walking along the waterfront at about 8.30am looking at the North Vancouver skyline & a man was walking next to us. He began making the usual chitchat & said he was here from the US, where are we from, do we like Vancouver & can he have some money? It was not expected by either of us. He was dressed quite reasonably & by no means looked homeless. It came as quite a shock as we had already passed ten other people who had no shoes, holes in their pants & looked like they had been deprived a shower for quite a few days.

Despite all the downfalls Vancouver has, for me it’s definitely small in comparison to the great things, great people & great times you can have. Mel also likes it besides the things mentioned earlier but at the moment it’s not on her number one “place to live” list.

Shocked by Westernism

We've been in Canada for five days now & I'm pretty sure I can talk for both of us when I say, "we love this place!". We arrived into Vancouver extremely tired & ready for bed. Our last night in Saigon was spent at a bar playing cards with a Vietnamese man listening to old war songs from a time gone by. It was a great end to Vietnam for us but unfortunately we didn't get to bed until 4am in the morning so we were a little tired. The next day we had three & a half hours to Taipei with a four hour lay over, followed by our next flight which lasted a little over ten hours. We decided not to sleep during this one as we were going to arrive into Vancouver at 7.30pm and would be going straight to bed (hopefully).

We had dinner that night at the pizza place next door & just watched the people do their thing. Now I don't know if we have been in Vietnam to long or if we're just a different breed in Australia, but let me tell you... over here, the people seem big. This is the first time in quite a while that I feel short & I don't just mean an inch or two either. I'm talking at least a foot. Even some of the girls have me looking up at them. Another crazy thing here is the daylight. We have had a problem getting into our regular sleep pattern. We both just keep waking up every hour or so. This could be due to the fact that there is a night club down stairs that vibrates it's music up though our pillows every night or just because we haven't quite settled into this time zone. The sun comes up at about 5:45am but it doesn't set until 9:15pm or 9:30pm. True darkness sets in at about 9:45pm. One other thing that we did expect but still wasn't prepared for is the increase in living expenses. We've only been 5 nights, but already spent more money than we would of spent for a full month of bills, restaurants & drinking in Vietnam.

Our first few days in Vancouver have been spent trying to get over our jet lag as well as doing a little sight seeing in the rain. We've been to Gastown, Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain & Capilano Suspension Bridge just to name a few. We've even seen a couple of bears, made a snowman & had a snow ball fight (Grouse Mountain).

We're going to get ourselves a set of wheels soon, but for now I think we're going to take the Moose Travel bus around a few places here on the west coast before deciding where to work. We're also looking at doing an Alaskan cruise before we start work just because we can!

All in all, we definitely love this western holiday. It makes for a nice change after all the places we have visited on our last few trips. It's nice not having to argue for the price of anything, having everyone form an orderly queue for things instead of rushing the front, not smelling urination on every street corner & possibly the best thing would have to be the peace & quiet of it all. Even through the busy moments of the day, it's so quiet here. There is no yelling or beeping, no loud music or whistling or clapping to get your attention. It's just nice!

Anyway I'm off to bed now as it's 10pm & the sun just went down. So until next time take care.

M & M

Sunset on Eleven - Cheers to the Nam!

Well the sun has set on our teaching in Vietnam. We are both back to the free spirited choice of life.... unemployment. We've collected our final pay, sold our few possessions & said our sad goodbyes. We've both talked about & considered changing our flights to stay longer especially since we've had a good run of sunny blue days. But we know for us, it's time to leave while were on a high note & loving it. I don't think it matters which country we go to after living in the Nam, they will all take a bit if getting use to. It's just such an easy life here for us at the moment. Being able to afford to go out everyday of the week and eat, drink & have fun with out spending any more than $10 is the biggest luxury we'll miss.

Yesterday was my first birthday I've ever had overseas & what better way to spend it than with 13 friends, flowing beer and Vietnamese karaoke. That's right karaoke! We started the night at one of our favourite restaurants in Hanoi, Quan An Ngon. We sat in the nicely lit beer garden & ordered 7 plates of the best & freshest traditional Vietnamese meals to share around. After two hours of feasting & drinks we made our way to the karaoke club. As we entered the room we were greeted by a huge TV, stacks of beers & chips and a birthday cake. The first song after happy birthday was a Vietnamese pop song sung by Linh, our Vietnamese Academic Coordinator. After a few careful selections everyone was getting more & more into it. I'm not sure whether it was the great song selections or if it was due to the fact that there seemed to be a lot of empty bottles building around us. From here we hit Half Man Half Noodle for a few more beers before making our way to the final destination, The Spotted Cow. We all left our name & marks on the wall amongst the many thousands that covered it before calling it a night at about 4am. The sun had set on the 11th of May.

This is definitely a birthday I won't forget any time soon. It really made for a great end to our stay in Hanoi not to mention Vietnam. Tomorrow we fly down to Saigon where we'll be relaxing for five days soaking up Vietnam before flying out to Canada on the 18th.

The next time you here from us we will be in the glorious sunshine of Canada.

Take Care.


Karen, Ed, Marty, Mel, Simone & Angela

A Grizzly Maple

Well as most of you know we will be off to Vancouver quite soon. After living in Vietnam for 8 months we will be leaving Hanoi on the 13th of May & heading for the big smoke of Ho Chi Minh City. After spending 5 days down there relaxing, drinking & making movies we will be off to Vancouver on the 18th May.

At times it has felt as if the past 8 months had dragged on, but looking back now, I can't believe how quick it has gone. We will both miss Vietnam but we're looking forward to a western style holiday where we are happy to eat all the food in a shopping center, pay the same price as the locals and also find clothes that fit over both legs & not just one.

5 things we'll miss about Vietnam:

• Being able to afford to eat out every night in fancy restaurants wearing thongs and shorts.
• Working a maximum of 5 hours a day.
• Feeling like a rock star with 20 children & adults yelling "bye, bye" as you leave the school.
• Learning to count up to 20 million every pay day.
• Having a maid clean up after us. We haven't done any washing for 6 months.

5 things we won't miss about Vietnam:

• Riding the motorbike during rush hour with cars & imbeciles beeping us to move over while they are on our side of the road
• Seeing people of all ages just dropping their pants & just pissing anywhere they see fit.
• Paying at least twice as much as locals do for rent, electricity & most things.
• The pollution or "cloud cover" as well as the 6 months of grey skies.
• Any teenage class at school. They don't want to be there and don't care about learning English.

Until next time, Hoo Roo.

Mum, Dad & a Buffalo

Well I left Marty in dreary Hanoi and set off for a little holiday Vietnam style with my parents. I flew down to Saigon and when I stepped off the plane the heat was lovely! After three months of solid grey skies with the occassional blue day teasing us, it was nice to be in sunny weather again. I hung around the airport for an hour until Mum and Dad flew in and then we were off to the hotel. It was quite late by the time we got in and even later after we met up with our life long friends, the Murrays so we just grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel and went to bed. It was up early the next day and off to the War Remnants Museum in the morning and the Reunification Palace in the afternoon. Although I had already been, it was still good to go and have a look around and soak up the Saigon vibe. There's something about Saigon I just love. The people are super friendly, it's hot and it just feels like you're in Vietnam. Hanoi is a bit more closed and kinda feels like you're in China but I guess that stems from their more communist roots. I went out to the Cu Chi Tunnels again but this time chose to shoot the M16. I find it had less of a kick than the AK47. Spoken like a true expert! It was great to catch up with the Murrays and it was a really nice (but short) 3 days down there.

After that we caught a plane up to Hoi An which is the cruisiest place ever. We got some clothes tailor made for bargain basement prices, read my book by the pool and ate lots of yummy food. When we were feeling a little energetic we hired some bikes to ride down to the beach. On the way, there was an old man walking his buffalo (as you do) and we stopped to pat him (the buffalo, not the man) and he asked if I wanted to have a ride. When in Vietnam! She was the the lovliest, most placid thing ever and it was great fun! A little while ago, a young man named Colin set us a challenge. This challenge was to ride some type of livestock in Vietnam while wearing a Vietnamese hat.....Is this close enough Colin? (see photo below) I think it's pretty darn close! I would have asked to wear his hat but it was a little bit sweaty. Our 3 days in Hoi An were up and we flew back to Hanoi. After 35 degrees in Ho Chi Minh and 28 degrees in Hoi An, the 15 degrees in Hanoi was a not so pleasant change.

Mum and Dad seemed to like our home town and it was fun playing tour guide. Dad got a little bit sick on the home stretch and unfortunately missed out on going to Halong Bay but Mum and I had a nice time. It was sad to see them go and I got a little bit home sick but I will soldier on and get back into the routine of moulding the minds of the youth of Vietnam....now that's a scary thought!

For Your Info

Hi to all our loyal readers. This is just a quick post to let you all know about our new links on this website.

We have put our photo link over to the right and we've added a new page called " Vietnam Information" which contains somethings you may find interesting such as cost's, useless info and much more. We will be adding things to the pages over the next few months so don't forget to click in & check it out from time to time.

Once again thanks again to everyone who has been checking in. We have had our site up and running for about 2 months now and so far we have had 807 hits. So we are glad that some of you out there either still remember us, want to be in the know or are just bored shitless & want something to do

We have kind of settled into a routine here so unfortunatly there is not to much to blog about, but as soon as something goes down we will keep you well informed.

Tet time - Bring on the Pig!

Well the last week has been filled with the Vietnamese people running around to finalise their Tet preparations. Tet is Christmas, New Year and Easter all rolled into one.

How to get Tetted in 4 Easy Ways.

Step 1: You must buy yourself a Tet tree which come in various shapes and sizes. We made do with the communal one bought for our building. But it's not an uncommon sight to see a Tet tree riding a motorbike with a small Vietnamese man situated amongst the leaves. Unlike Chrismas trees, Tet trees are only decorated with the orange seasonal friut that hangs from its branches.

Step 2: You must get yourself some square cake or round cake which comes wrapped in banana leaves. Tet cake is made of rice, beans and meat. Our landlord wanted to make us feel like it was our Tet too and brought us our very own square cake. As we unwrapped the banana leaves to find a sticky green covered rice formation we couldn't help but contain our excitement for the tasty treat that lay within. We sliced open the cake and took a big mouthful and.....nothing. Not a single bit of taste. This was like Christmas cardboard....but soggy. After a few more mouthfulls we had decided we were full of Tet spirit and the rest was destined to be smuggled out into the garbage.

Step 3: Relax and don't do anything. All the shops have been closed fo the past 5 days and those few restaurants and shops that have been open have been operating on holiday hours and holiday menus. This means they're rarely open and when they are it's not what you wanted to order anyway.

Step 4: Make sure you get yourself a barrel full of firecrackers. Give them to the youngest children you can find, along with their own Zippo lighter, and it's hours of disfiguring fun for the whole family. We have been driving along all the roads dodging small propelled fireworks that are cast in our direction. With no regulations on fireworks, the new year was seen in with a bang. Thousands of families hit their rooftops and streets to light fires and let of their dazzling light diplays.

All in all it has been a lovely and peaceful Tet...except for the firecrackers of course. In all seriousness though, this has been one of our favourite times to be in Hanoi. The sun is shining, the weather is sweet, and 3 million Hanoians are inside and not on the roads.

Martins first and Mels third brush with death (The final one hopefully)

After riding out to the airport to drop off our friend Kath for her flight back to Australia. Mel and myself had about a 45 minute ride back into Hanoi. It was a beautiful day and like always the roads were very busy. As we came onto one of the main roads right outside the Australian Embassy we were riding along and chatting when out of the corner of my eye I caught a lovley brand new black Toyota Camry deciding to just pull out and accellerate without looking. I had to slam on the brakes to try and avoid hitting it but in doing so the bike locked up and he kept coming out. We slammed into the left hand rear quarter panel denting it from the left rear light all the way up to the door. As we bounced off the car, the bike then began to throw us the other way tossing us to the road with bike landing on us. After a dazed few seconds we had witnesses rush over to get the bike off us and the driver of the car trying to help us up. A few more very dazed seconds went by and the owner of the car asked us if we were OK. A quick check of everything and we seemed to have everthing in the right place. On quick inspection of the bike it just seemed to be a little bent but pretty good considering what just happened. The car on the other hand was another story. We said to the driver of the car "Yeah we're OK" he then said "OK" shook our hand, hopped in his new bent car and drove off. Lucky for us we had our helmets on, no broken bones just a bit of swelling and bruises and the bike seemed OK. As we were flying through the air I couldn't help but think "I know this isn't our fault but this is Vietnam and it's going to cost us a fortune to fix our bike and his car". After all this we have definately learnt a valuable lesson (take a camera so we can capture it on video next time).

A Well Deserved Rest

Well after working so hard we decided to take a well earned 3 day holiday to Halong Bay. This time our friend Kath (from Australia) would make the short 3 hour journey with us. Conditions were perfect, blue skies, the food, the people and the tour guide were all fantastic. We started by sailing through the magnificent bay and ventured back to the caves that we'd visited on the previous trip. This time our guide pointed out all the glowing rock formations that you really had to use your imagination to see, like the "Happy Buddha", "Mother and Child" and every ones favourite "the Male Penis".

We spent the first night on the boat with some new friends we had met who were from the USA and Canada. As it was Australia Day we decided to have a few drinks and play a few games of cards.

The next day we were up at the crack of dawn due to the boats generator kicking in. After breakfast we slowly made our way to Cat Ba island were we went trekking to a small village to experience the local way of life. On the trip we met a young Vietnamese man who lived in the village who is now paralysed from a bike accident he had while carrying some tourists around. The bike slipped out from under him and as they were flying towards some rocks he decided to put himself in front of the tourist and smashed his head on the rocks. After his accident his wife and child left him and he is now limited to his dark bedroom which is also his lounge room, kitchen and mothers bedroom. Despite all this he still has a positive outlook on things which would definitely be needed to live his life of constant pain.

After returning to the boat we made our way to our very own private island were we had lunch on the beach and then took a few kayaks out for a spin in the emerald green water. After this long day full of activities we made our way back to Cat Ba were we spent the rest of the night having a quiet drink and playing pool in a Vietnamese pool hall. All in all, it was a great long weekend.

Mel's Hanoi - The second brush with death

Well this happened quite some time ago but I have been too traumatised to share this with you before now. Over the months I have come to grips with the reality of what happened and can now impart to you the events that happened on that fateful day. Let me tell you first off that me and two wheeled modes of transport don't mix as you may have read in "Mel’s Hoi An - The first brush with death".

It was not long after we first got our shiny new motorbike that I was somewhat coerced into taking it for a test drive. Marty drove us out to a secluded car park out the back of a huge shopping centre on the outskirts of town and told me to jump on the front of the bike. He sat on the back of the bike and in hindsight, telling me to just "Go!" probably wasn't enough instructions. So I went, and of course pulled on the throttle waaayyy to hard and the bike took off! I tried to pull on the brake but of course pulled harder on the throttle and the bike went careering out of control. Marty flew off the back and fell off as the bike landed on its side, still revving and carrying on. I was scraped all down one of my legs and could already see the bruises forming.

That was enough for this little black duck and I wanted to take my bat and ball and go home. But of course Marty wouldn't let me so I jumped back on the proverbial horse for another go at it....this time with more involved instructions. This was a much better way to learn! I have now ridden on Vietnamese roads with other Vietnamese motorists (motorbikes, cars and buses included), have changed lanes, merged and gone through 2 roundabouts! Granted it wasn't the busiest road of them all but still....baby steps.

Home sweet home

Well we finally have a place to call home! We moved into an apartment on Monday hurrah! It's a 1 bedroom/studio type thing and it's brand new. We love it! It's on the fifth floor so we have a good view of the crazy street below (quite possibly the busiest street in Vietnam) but the bonus is that it has a lift so no more climbing the stairs unless we want to! We can come home from work and cook up a storm in our brand new kitchen or just sit on the couch. We have a kitchen table, computer desk with a wheelie chair and best of all a brand new bed with a big springy mattress instead of a bit of foam. We also have a maid so there's no cleaning, washing up or doing laundry. We are living the high life! Although she doesn't speak a word of English and I speak about 3 words of Vietnamese so it does make it tricky when she's tring to tell me something about the tea towel but I can't quite figure out what she's saying. I just nod and smile saying yes, yes.

The first morning after we had moved in, Marty had gone to work early and I was having a very well deserved sleep in, when I woke to the sound of her washing up in the kitchen. There is nothing quite like the feeling of waking up having a stretch, then realising there's a short Vietnamese woman cleaning around your bed. I hadn't even met her yet. I'm sure we will become the best of friends though.

GE2-7 What a great night

Well tonight was a great night! My very first class that I ever taught was GE2-7 which is Elementary Adults. These are the best people anyone could have for their first class. Every class with them has been a blessing, fun and full of laughter. If only every class was like this! I don't think I would ever leave Vietnam. The course is coming to an end in 4 days time and they invited me and Melinda to go to dinner with them. We found out that if you're invited to dinner in Vietnam it means that you're the guest and you don't have to pay for anything. If you're asked to share some food it means you're paying for half. They asked us to meet them at Cleverlearn then we would go some place special for dinner. We did as they asked, and met my student Khue at the front gate. We weaved our way through the crazy traffic and went to a local place called Quan An Ngon (Restaurant eat delicious, when translated). This is a very popular restaurant with the Vietnamese, and they only sell authentic Vietnamese here, not the average tourist Vietnamese. They said you can try some local food and began to order for us and the rest of the table. Next thing we are presented with about 12 different dishes, dessert and Tiger beer. We then made our way from here to a local coffee shop called Pho Cu (street old). The Vietnamese never drink coffee in the same place as they eat dinner. After some more chatting we all called it a night. We did do one thing for them which sounds a bit lame after they bought us dinner, dessert, beer and coffee. We gave them some of the treasured Carmello Koalas that we had been sent from Melinda's parents. To our surprise, none of them wanted to eat it as they had to take them home to show there families so they could share these tasty Australian treats.

Leave me alone you're Hanoing me

Well it all hasn't been bliss on this trip. There have been some quite frustrating times. Where do we start...

1) Mel has the class from hell as blogged in "The Devil is Alive". I have an adult class I like to call "The Funshines" due to their not so sunny nature.

2) How is it that the Vietnamese people are so smart to defeat some of the most powerful nations in the world but put them on a motorbike and they are a bunch of reckless morons? The thought of an amputated arm or cracked skull is not enough of a deterrent to stop them from having four people on a bike while the driver is texting on his mobile and crossing from one side of the crazy road to the other at a ridiculous speed cutting us off in the process.

3) We had been leaving our motorbike key with reception at night, so they would be able to bring it in off the street so it wouldn't be stolen. Little did we know that once we had gone up to our room they had been taking it out on the town whenever they saw fit. After a month of this, we actually caught him red handed. We then got into a heated discussion and recieved an apology. We thought this would be the end of it. Oh we were wrong. Two days later we decided to go for a ride and the bike broke down. It turned out they had opened up the fuel cap and poured in a cup of water as pay back. Needless to say we don't give the key to those sneaky beggars anymore.

4) Since the problems with the hotel, we have been trying to find a house to move into. But this is no mean feat. We've dealt with 4 agents so far and have been shown mostly overpriced shacks that looked as though they had a slight rat problem. The one we do like is still being built but they would like us to pay them 4 months rent now. Just in case you don't know apparently every westerner is a bloody idiot. At the time of signing the lease the price had incresed by $50. Amazing!

Christmas comes to Hanoi

I was asked by Cleverlearn to play Santa Clause with one of the other guys here and give out the presents to the children. “Sure” I said. I will never have the chance to do this again I thought. Matt the Academic Coordinator had a chuckle to himself and said “thanks heaps I’ll owe you a few beers”. Cleverlearn put on a big show for the children called “Jingle Bells”. They even invited a famous “Vietnamese Rock Star”. So as she warmed the crowd up for me (I hope she didn’t mind being the support act) I carefully slid in to the pre loved Santa outfit. They gave us our sacks which contained 250 presents each and with little direction except to "be ready" and "start giving the presents out" we made our appearance. OH MY GOD, the children went ape shit. We were both swamped with children pulling at the bag, my pants and suit. There were children getting trampled on, pushed and shoved. I could no longer get any presents out as the 14 kids on the bag alone weighed it down. We snatched the bag and I made my way up to the stage where there where children dancers, who then realized that Santa was here and forgot that they should be dancing. It all ended with about 67 children yelling ME, ME, ME. But sadly I was out of presents and off to the pub for the beers that were owing.

Show Me the Money!!!

Well we‘ve both been teaching a lot lately, which was never the plan but we figured we would throw ourselves into the deep end at first and get some experience. Saving money here is something that just happens so easily especially when we make four times more than we spend a month. We don’t really cook any meals here, as it is so much more convenient and cheaper to eat out. Food, beer, or any type of luxury is just so cheap. $10 Aussie will buy you 60 beers at a beer hoi. That’s 16 cents per beer, but there is a down side. Beer hoi beer has the after taste of an ashtray.

The Devil is alive and well in Vietnam

Some of these children are the spawn of Satan himself. I have one class of absolute terrors who throw things around the room, yell at eachother, run around playing hacky-sack, draw on the furniture and walls and generally make my class a living hell. Get them on their own and they're lovely little things who look like butter wouldn't melt in their mouth. I've spoken Matt (a.k.a the head honcho) about them and he said there's two ways to solve the problem. First option is to carry on getting grey hairs and stress induced wrinkles...or if they misbehave I can boot them out of the class. Really??? I can do that??? Exxxxxcellent! Don't get me wrong, all Vietnamese children aren't like this. I have two other classes who are just the cutest sweetest bunch of kids to work with and they want to learn English (always helps!) and I look forward to teaching them. As Matt said, I'll just have to kick some Vietnamese ass to sort out the other class!

We're real life English teachers

Well after several job interviews at a few less than reputable schools we have both started work at a great little spot called Cleverlearn. I started on the 14th Nov and Mel started on the 20th Nov. I walked in on day one with a lesson plan that I thought was flawless (it took me so bloody long).

As I walked in I let out a big “HELLO!” I got nothing back but blank looks. “OK my name is Martin and I’m from Australia, does anyone have any questions for me?” Blank looks again. At this stage I’m thinking I need to go straight to an activity, I decided to use one I learnt in TESOL training. It worked great there and was a very basic name game. I asked the first persons his name and got nothing, I was thinking to myself how could the TESOL game fail. I’m screwed. After a few more failed games it began to go like clockwork and best of all they thought it was fun and thanked me for a great lesson.

Why Hanoi?

We have decided to give it a go here in Hanoi even though we think we preferred it in HCMC. Hanoi is a prettier city as far as the tree lined boulevards and lakes are concerned, though I must say we have found the people a lot friendlier down south. They seem to resemble the Chinese a lot more here in Hanoi, both in looks and mannerisms. Urinating on the nearest tree is quite normal and acceptable, so walking past some street corners can be unbearable. Spitting is a lot more common here and also walking around with your shirt up rubbing belly like the Chinese do in summer is a common sight.

Halong till Cat Ba Island

We took a 2-night trip out to Cat Ba Island and Halong bay. There are two ways to get to Cat Ba you can do option A and take the ultra fast 45 minute Russian hydra foil out or you can take option B, like us and cost along at 1 Km an hour on the 2.45 hour locals boat. Good for the first 15 minutes until the fans stop working, you have no legroom and the hawkers keep at you to buy their chicken meat and water.

Once on Cat Ba it’s a good place to escape the crowds and traffic of Vietnam. The streets are free of traffic and it is so quite that you would swear you were in another country. Watch out for the night butterflies. These are girls that come out and try to entice you in for a massage but there are little extras thrown in.

The next morning we made our way to our private boat for a journey through the amazing Halong Bay. There are over 2000 islands here that just rise straight up out of the emerald green waters. There are some big and quite touristy caves to visit but the best part is when the boat drops anchor and it’s all go with swimming, kayaks and beer.

The Reunification Express

We left Hue aboard the Reunification Express traveling overnight to the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. We managed to score some soft sleepers, which made the journey more comfortable. Once aboard there was nothing to do for the next 13 hours except drink, eat and chat. After some over price Halida beer and a few 3-day-old pork kebabs we decided to hit the hay. Get up, get up, get up they started screaming to us as we pulled into Hanoi station. We had 3 minutes to get off with our entire luggage before the train continued north. Dragging our luggage behind us we made our way to the hotel.

The train is not too bad of a journey but I would only do it on the soft sleeper, which you share with 3 other people. We took a walk through the rest of the train and to save the few bucks it’s not worth being crammed into a room with 5 people and I wouldn’t even look at the option of a hard seat.

What a Hue!

We've spent the last few days in Hue which is a nice little stop. We did a motorbike tour yesterday which took us out into the country where the kids treated us like celebrities, giving us high fives and screaming hello as we zoomed past on our bikes. We stopped at a few temples along the way but the most interesting thing was where we stopped for lunch. We decided to have lunch in a monastery with some vegetarian, female monks. The food was quite good but the conversation lacked as the female monks were not allowed to talk to males.

Cold shower again

Cold showers come thick and fast here in Vietnam. Before we had come to Vietnam we expected cold showers now and then, but since arriving here you realise it's not as untouched as you first thought and cold showers are not that common.

We found out that we are the only people on our Intrepid tour that regularly have cold showers. If you are not the first or second person in the hotel to have a shower you are guaranteed it's gonna be cold. Some of the cold showers however were our fault, we didn't realise that when you leave your room they shut off the power to save them selves money. Doing this clicks the circuit breaker into the off position cutting off the hot water tank. Once we realised this we began to turn it back on and have had hot showers ever since. The only down fall is that we have had no water pressure in any hotel since we discovered how to work the hot water, so we're yet to enjoy a nice hot shower.

Mel's Hoi An - The first brush with death

Hoi An what a place! This small town on the central coast of Vietnam has it all. Beaches, restaurants, temples, ancient buildings and a nightlife. If you are only going to see one town outside of HCMC or Hanoi make it Hoi An.

We have been enjoying the beautiful sunshine here by hiring bicycles as the streets are not overly busy. We had been to the beach front and then decided to go out to the country to see some of the rice fields. As we were heading the wrong way, we had to carry out what sounds like a simple manouver and do a U turn. First it I waited for a break in the traffic and decided to make it across safely. Then it was Mels turn but she thought she would just do a U turn and the traffic would go around. WRONG!!! As Mel turned she forgot that you don't have to stay on your own side of the road here (just another guideline) and was struck by a speeding girl on a motorbike. Both the bikes went flying, the Vietnamese girl hit the road and so too Mels camera but she managed to land on her feet shanken but not stired. Instantly men coming running to both the girls aid but then began hinting to the Vietnamese woman get some money, get some money. She realised it was her fault and appologised. We then then took Mels wobbly bike back to the bike store.

An American Nazi

A small stop on a very big drive between Quy Nhon and Hoi An is a small community called My Lai. During the war it was a small village that was thought by some Americans to be helping the Viet Cong. A few of the higher ranking Generals went off the rails here and decided to order a massacre which could only be thought of as similar to the Nazi party. 504 people including women and children were dragged from their houses and thrown into a ditch, where they were fired upon until dead. 2 US troops decided to try and help the Vietnamese people escape. One of them was a Helicopter pilot who began flying the remaining people to safety. The village is now a permanent memorial.

One good turn - Quy Nhon

Between Nha Trang and Hoi An there is not much to see at all. While the country side is amazing and the hills just seem to rise straight up out of the ocean, tourist spots are few and far between.

We stopped for the night at a small little city called Quy Nhon and visited a place called Nguyen Nga Centre. Here they looks after disabled, deaf and retarded children affected by "Agent Orange". The Centre was started by one woman who did so against her mothers whishes. She funded the school with her own money and beliefs that someone needed to help the children. After several years of operation she has now gained government funding for her 230 students, some of which she has managed to send to university.

Get out of the way!

We hired our fist pushbikes today and decided to take on the traffic. Let me tell you about the road rules in Vietnam, there aren’t any. If you feel like turning left from the right hand side of the road cutting off 25 people just do it. A red light is just a suggestion and most times it means go quicker. If there is a slight traffic jam just take the bike up over the curb even if it means you are driving through a restaurant. The only road rule you have to follow in Vietnam is to beep your horn as much as you can, even if you don’t have a reason.

Nha Trang

A cool little beachside town with a really good feel about it. We took a bright green tug boat out through the emerald green waters for a bit of island hopping, basket boating, snorkeling and swimming. Upon our return we rented some bikes to ride to the nearby Cham Towers which are very much like the temples of Cambodia.

Rising early every morning we would take a stroll along the palm tree covered beach front and watch the locals participate in some tai chi or take a dip before the sun came out. Nha Trang has beautiful beaches, great restaurants all with in walking distance, some of the prettiest clear waters we have seen so far in Vietnam and it’s also one of the best places to do nothing.

Dalat

An 8-hour bus trip from HCMC up into the highlands brings you to the city of Dalat. While still a pretty city with the lakes and French architecture there is not a great deal to do here. Once you've strolled though the small city center and seen the tourist spots such as The Crazy house, built by an ex-presidents fame driven daughter which is an eye sore of a hotel but interesting, the Last Emperor of Vietnam's Palace (which smells quite a bit like moth balls) it's safe to say you have seen what Dalat has to offer.

Cu Chi

This place is just cool! As you walk through the jungles in Cu Chi you can’t help but feel like you're looking for the enemy. Trying to make out shapes between the millions of trees with broken light shining through is not an easy feat. As you walk along keeping an eye out for trap doors and tunnels you can hear the deafening sound of gunfire ringing through the trees.

You can see some of the remaining tunnels of Cu Chi, and if you‘re the size of a smurf you can crawl in and have a look. Most of the tunnels here have now been dug out for fat westerners but there are a few that still remain true, with a 30cm opening to crawl into. Mel jumped at the chance to slip into one of the openings but I decided not to as I would have to leave half of me behind to do so. Instead I opted to go and do what every red blooded Aussie male would do, Shoot some shit! My choice of weaponry was an Ak-47 and also the good old M16. Whoever said guns weren’t fun hasn’t been to Cu Chi.

The Mekong Flow

After making the obligated stops along the river to visit various produce, fruit and cake stores we made our way into the tight winding waterways that is the Mekong River. We pulled up for some lunch at a restaurant on the riverbank that had a pet snake they just wanted you to pat and hold.

After lunch we continued to our home stay, traveling further up the river. At the same time the tide was going out which is quite an amazing thing to see. You could pick a spot on the riverbank or on a tree and you would see the water level drop at an alarming rate. With in 10 seconds it would be almost 15cm lower.

After about 6 hours we had finally made it to our accommodation on the Mekong. When we arrived we were greeted by our new family and shown to our room. It was a little wooden shack on the river with stretchers and mosquito nets to guard us from those pesky little critters.

We soon relaxed back into a hammock to enjoy the peacefulness with an ice-cold beer, a book and a guitar. I know, it’s a hard life right.

Consequence of war.

Possibly the most disturbing effect that we saw here (HCMC) from the war, was when we visited the War Remnants Museum. Here we viewed some born and unborn babies that had been affected by the disfiguring gas, "Agent Orange". It was quite sad to see, especially finding out that people are still feeling the affects from it today.

We then went through the Reunification Palace which has a very solid footing in Vietnam's history. This place has been bombed, shot at and even had spies working inside it during the war. It also has endless underground tunnels
where the war was being fought from.

One of the servants that worked in the Palace was a Viet Cong spy and on the morning of the 30th April 1975 he let of a bomb in the foyer which was being occupied at the time by the South Vietnamese President (That very same spy is now one of the head directors for Vietnam International Airlines). It was on this day that the Viet Cong came crashing through the front fence in two tanks to regain control of South Vietnam.

Gooood Morning Vietnaaam!

Well it's a balmy 34 degree heat here today. Actually it's hot. Real hot! Damn hot!
The only thing that could make life in this country better would be to have a bit of Creedence, Jefferson Airplane or James Brown on rotation, cranking out at full volume every minute.

"Life is better with a soundtrack."

We arrived into HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) 4 days ago and have been in love with it ever since. Upon arrival at the airport we were greeted by 47 men all offering us the cheapest possible taxi in Vietnam. Who would have thought that the 47 cheapest taxis in Saigon would be at the airport waiting for us! What luck! After a few minutes of haggling, we settled on a short, skinny, black haired Asian guy. We now understand why they call this the country of motorbikes! There are 17 million motorbikes in Vietnam and I think most of them are here in HCMC. Crossing the road on foot here is like playing Russian Roulette. Your first instinct is to run like mad, but if you did that you would end up as road kill! It's a painstaking process of step by step, bike by bike. You need to put all your faith in the very young men and women behind the handle bars and they will miraculously veer around you at the last second.

Malaysia - The first stop of many.

If your into western style shops, great food and giant pewter beer mugs then Kuala Lumpur is the place for you.

We arrived into KL after a very rushed departure from Australia but it still hadn't sunk in that we had packed up all our belongings and quit our jobs. The first stop on our trip was one of friendship. Mels bestest bud in the whole wide world is here in KL for three days so we thought why not! It would be another country and hopefully a chance to get some well deserved relaxation.

After the first sleep in for quite some time we rose to the smell of a buffet breakfast full of all the fattening wonders of the world. With our pants bursting at the seams we decided to check out the sights and sounds that KL has to offer. Over the last four days we have visited places such as The Petronas Towers, KL Train station, the National Mosque, The Kings Palace, The Royal Selangor Pewter Factory (not as crappy as it sounds, check out the photo), The Markets, KL Tower and lastly the Batu caves.

The Batu Caves are supposedly 400,000 000 years old but were in great shape for their age. They are slightly overrun by crazed monkeys, but if you can make it past them and also survive the climb up the 270 stairs while breathing in the stale air it does make for a great view and some fantastic photos. After a fantastic 4 days here we are leaving for Vietnam in the morning so stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in the Marty and Mel chronicles.