My infrequent travel blog

Delhi

2014-08-13T22:18:00.001+07:00

Absolute madness is the only way to describe Delhi. Oddly enough, I didn't feel too out of place or shocked arriving there. Infact the hustle and bustle reminded me of being in Vietnam. The weather in Delhi is hot, sticky and terribly humid. It's almost impossible to walk the street in daytime without being in a pool of sweat. Not nice. Moving on, food is fantastic. I had the best Butter Chicken at Moti Mahal, M-Block Market, Greater Kailash 1. Legendary. I love Indian food and I'm yet to get ill... bonus!

GK1 is a South Delhi district which is an oddly westernised and affluent neighbourhood. Prices can be not that different from the UK here, and you'll find a Subway, Baskin Robins, Levi's or even Jack Jones store at the market. For a more authentic Indian experience (if that is what you're looking for) I would recommend north of the city in Old Delhi. Here it can be absolutely mental and perhaps what you imagine when Delhi first comes to mind.

After a great few days settling in India, I'm heading north for fresh mountain air in the Himachal Pradesh region. I'm going to be staying in Manali (known as The Valley of Gods) which is recently becoming quite a tourist hotspot. More to come on this...

A delayed start - Dubai, UAE

2014-08-13T21:33:00.001+07:00

Apologies for the complete lack of anything. I'm here, and I'm very alive and very well! So my journey started almost 10 days ago in Dubai, UAE. It's an amazing place to visit and actually quite mind blowing to just see the sheer scale of buildings and infrastructure. I had an amazing time and met some wonderful people, of which I met up with an old friend from Durham which was quite extraordinary. I really enjoyed Deira and Old Dubai, where you get to see the not so touristy nitty-gritty area which is mainly inhabitated by migrants who come to UAE for work. The divide between local Emirate nationals and those in manual labour and some private sector work is astonishing. One thing that I really did not like was the 'better than' sentiment which is quite widespread. Apart from that, if you have a lot of money to blow Dubai really is a dynamic city that is constantly changing and developing!

INDIA

2014-06-29T17:56:00.000+07:00

So my last post might have been a little bit of a clue, but it's official. I'm going to India! I got a place on the UKIERI Study India Programme so I'll get to experience Indian culture first hand to understand the challenges and opportunities facing new global economies. It looks like an amazing programme and I'll definitely have plenty to write about. I've also been told that we'll take a sleeper train from Mumbai to Delhi which I am very excited about...

UKIERI SIP 2014

2014-06-09T23:32:00.001+07:00

A short video I made on why I want to come to India on the UKIERI SIP. Please like and share! I promise to blog it all!

A return

2014-05-23T02:02:00.002+07:00

I have made a return to the blog! I realise it's been quite a while since I last updated this page, but I have actually done some travelling since my last post in 2012, mainly being Europe. I'm just not great at documenting it... This summer is set to be quite a good one and I have made some provisional travel plans to help me get over the fact I am no longer going to be 21. I've been busy interning with a company this past year, so I'm set to catch up on my travels once I finish at the end of July. Watch this space!

Saying goodbye

2012-08-27T22:24:00.001+07:00

Bao

Life is good

2012-08-09T18:25:00.003+07:00

Sorry for complete lack of blogging. Mainly due to my laziness plus being so busy all the time! I think the last time I blogged was Thailand, and a lot has happened since. Cambodia was awesome, I stopped by Siem Reap for a few days and got to check out the amazing temples at Angkor Wat. There were definitely some moments for me to remember for the rest of my life there. It was incredible. I then went to Phnom Penn, which was an absolute nightmare day. Basic gist of it includes sorting out visas at the Vietnamese embassy, forgetting my bank card pin number and then the cherry on the cake was my brand new Nikon camera dying on me. Gutted. So the pictures from now on are using my old Lumix which are no where near as good. Nevermind! I stopped in Saigon for a few nights, picked up the volunteers from the airport and we made our way up north, stopping by Nha Trang, Hoi An and finally getting to Hue. I’m all settled in now, and I’ve already started the volunteer project for the charity Hue Help. The last week has been really amazing. I work at An Hoa orphanage on Mondays and Tuesdays, followed by An Tay on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It’s a really rewarding job. I’m going to upload some of the last pictures from my Nikon so you can see what I’ve been up to. I also vow to blog shorter entries on a much more frequent basis!

2012-07-17T16:10:00.003+07:00

What's been happening in photos for the last few weeks...

The monkey only pretends to hold the Golden Chedi

Sandstone model of Angkor Wat, Wat Phra Kaew

Frog curry - Actually SO good

Papaya Salad!

The view from the top of Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

English class in Luang Prabang, Laos

Cheeky swim in the Mekong?

Beerlao. Yes.

An offering to Budda for safe travels. Check out the Asian Giant Hornet, Vespa mandarinia

Thailand

2012-07-16T18:38:00.000+07:00

Losing contact with the world! Can't remember where I last was on here, but I made in to Chiang Mai, Thailand, and had a good few days there. Definitely one of my favourite cities! I did alot there... went round the mountains by moto and visited some pretty amazing sites and temples! Adjusting to Thailand was easy, the food is SO good! Love trying everything at the markets. Also got to see the university's 'fresher initiation', where all first years they have to walk a ridiculous amount to the top of Doi Suthep (Suthep Moutain) to get to the temple at the top. It's CMU tradition which promotes the building of relationship and about 20,000 students and university staff take part. The steep twisting mountain road got completely road blocked by thousands of students sorted by faculty racing their way to the top. I seriously need to upload pictures of everything! Most of the internet cafes I'm in don't had SD card readers so the pictures will have to wait... Last night I took a flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and arrived just after midnight on Th. Khao San... probably not the best time, (due to Oriental Thai airlines delaying the flight for hours and in the end I flew with Air Asia) and all my preconceived thoughts of what Bangkok would be like (mainly from The Hangover Pt. 2) came true.. The road there at night is 'pretty' wild...My head was spinning trying to take everything in. Over the next few days I need to make my way to Cambodia (visa stuff to sort out at Phnom Penn, and hopefully a short visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat) and then I'll be back in Vietnam to start the volunteer placement!

Leaving Laos

2012-07-11T16:20:00.002+07:00

Time to fill in what's been going on! So I made in to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. It was a really weird city, kind of like a ghost town! Strange to call in a capital! Wasn't much to see or do there, so next day I took a bus to Luang Prabang. The bus journey is apparently 'the bus of death'? I've heard the same for the Vientiane - Hanoi route... I didn't die! But it wasn't the most pleasant bus ride... The road was so windy going up the mountains and I felt queasy for the majority of the journey. It didn't help that a local Lao woman was throwing up right in front of me. Finally made in here and found a really nice guesthouse, super cheap too. The city definitely has great charm which is probably why it is infested with tourists. Right now it's the low tourist season so it isn't that bad... The city is filled with lots of ancient temples, a palace, many monks wondering the streets and has a nice night market selling lots of pretty artifacts. I rented out a cycle for my first full day here so I could fully explore what there was to do! We've met some great people in this city too! Yesterday was such a busy day. First we drove out of town to an elephant camp not far from LP, where we got to ride the elephants. It was incredible! It was the first time that I've actually seen an elephant in real life but it felt so familar to me! In real life it is much more breathtaking, and you can truely appreciate how magnificent the animals are. Straight after that we headed further out of the city up the Nam Khan river where we kayaked for a good few hours. The views were incredible. There were just 7 of us, including 2 local guides in this huge vast landscape. There wasn't anyone else there so it made it feel alot more 'untouched' like we were the first ones ever to be here. We stopped on the edge for lunch that we brough along with us. After we kayaked down to the Pak Ou Budda Caves which we pretty impressive. It was packed with tourists taking boats here, so it was nice to get back on our kayaks and enjoy the solitude. There were a few rapids too, where me and Alex managed to capsize! It was kind of crazy. My camera managed to survive in the waterproof bag! We then kayaked down to a small traditional Lao whisky making village. It was really nice, very sweet. They were bottled up with all sorts of creatures - scorpions, cobras and other stuff. They also weave here too and made many beautiful fabrics, scarfs etc... I bought one which apparently takes 2 whole months for a villager to make. The tour guide, Touy, was infact a university student who was volunteering with the activities company, so he invited me later on in the night to come to a local school and help practice English with the kids. That was great fun, everyone was so eager to speak to me! They asked (and said) alot of hilarious things... And all of that was in 1 day! Crazy! I managed to get a good rest and today I'm leaving for Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have a bus journey to the border, a boat ride across the Mekong and another bus ride to look forward too...

Avoiding the milk-vomiting monks

2012-07-08T00:16:00.001+07:00

A lot has happened since my last entry! From when I last reported I was near Saigon, Vietnam and took the 24 hour sleeper bus to Hue. That was my first experience of an Asian sleeper bus and since then my experience with buses hasn't stopped. The buses and standard coach sizes, with three rows of miniature sized bunk-beds squished in. It was surprisingly comfortable considering how cramped we all were. I met the volunteers in Hue and had a great night touring the city on a bicycle and grabbed something to eat with them. The memories from when I was last there (9 years ago) all came back to me and it all felt pretty familiar! Early next morning me and Alex took a bus that left from Hue to Savannakhet, Laos. Slowly the Vietnam I was used to faded away as we got higher and higher into the mountains. The bus had departed from Hue pretty empty, but once we were nearly at the border we had picked up so many randoms who backhanded the driver and spotter a fraction of the price (I'm guessing) that we'd paid. We descended at the Vietnam exit gate to get our passports stamped, and then had to walk across the border to Laos. It was quite a funny experience walking from Vietnam to Laos. Once our visas where all done and dusted, we got back on the bus and off we were in Laos! I imagined that as soon as we crossed the border everything would instantly be different... I was quite right. It was weird! The obvious difference is the Lao alphabet, I couldn't read any of the writing on the stalls, but even the houses (shacks should I say) and everything outside around us was different. The roads are unbelievably bad - I guess during monsoon the rain literally washes them away. That meant the bus came into a few tricky situations making it a very bouncy journey. Animals are all over the roads here too. Cows seem to rule here, plonking themselves where they please and not at all being bothering by a huge charging bus. 12 hours later we finally arrived in Savannakhet and it was like being in the middle of absolutely nowhere. There isn't really much to do there, and it was more of a tiny town with hardly anything, and a lack of people. I think I became to accustomed to how busy and bustling Vietnam is. Laos is definitely a lot quieter, laid back and more forgotten. I imagine it to be what Vietnam was like maybe 30 years ago. We then took another local bus (never forget that bus) to Thakhek. Again it was so weird being in a tiny town with absolutely nothing. By the time we arrived it was dark and late, with most things closed. We took a tuktuk to the place we were staying (thanks to Gretta & Stephanie for discovering it) and after a dodgy little situation we made it to the hotel! The driver of the tuktuk lead us down a tiny dirt track away from the main road in the pitch black...We kind of both though erm, this could be bad, but we made it in the end. We stayed at a great place where I made friends with the guy Berm that worked there. I asked if I could drive his scooter and he agreed, was a little shakey at first since I wasn't used to a battered old manual but made it to go buy a sim card in this dead ghost town. The next day we had an amazing day at the Konglor cave- I think I could write a whole post alone on it... but I'll keep it brief! A 4 hour drive up to the mountains and I could see what made Laos such a country to remember. The view was incredible. Once we were at the caves some local peeps took us through on some boats and it was definitely like I was on the movie set for the next Indiana Jones or something. So cool! Next day Berm took me, Alex, and our massive rucksacks on the back of his scooter to the bus station where we took the overnight bus to Vientiene. Can't believe it's actually the capital... it is so weird but I think I'm slowly adjusting to slowing the pace down to Laos style. And here we are! Tomorrow I am ready to leave for Luang Prabang which should be amazing!

2012-07-03T13:44:00.000+07:00

2012-07-03T13:19:00.001+07:00

2012-07-03T13:14:00.001+07:00

Catchup

2012-07-03T00:22:00.002+07:00

Day 19

Okay apologies for lack of blogging! Not doing that well at it to be honest, there's lots to talk about! So the other day we visited the costal city of Vũng Tàu, which was really nice! It's a pretty city with some quite quirky landmarks and a beautiful sea view. I got to chill on the beach for a while and take a dip in the sea. I was wondering what mysterious creatures might be lurking about in the depths, but I didn't really come across anything that monstrous or ghastly... Kinda disappointed really! However at one point I thought I felt something nibble my foot ;)
After that we went to a really nice restaurant not far from the beach, where they served up their daily catch of fresh seafood. Again, the food is SO good here! It's probably the best aspect of the trip, mealtimes are my favourite part of the day! Definitely eating like a King.
We took a walk through some parts of the city, there is a massive 32 meter statue of Jesus on a top of this mountain, kinda Rio de Janeiro style! I had to climb god knows how many steps in the sweltering sun but the view from the top was definitely a worthwhile reward! A little further was another churchy mountain walk with a huge statue of Maria at the top. That mountain wasn't so bad to climb!
The city of Vũng Tàu was the place in which thousands of 'Boat People' fled Vietnam from communist rule during the Vietnam war and after the Fall of Saigon, including my father, so it was really interesting to visit. Pictures to come! Hopefully I'll be back here one day.
The last couple of days I've been busy with a family ceremony. We marked the first anniversary since my father passed away. A lot of people gathered at my Uncle's house for a small praying ritual and at the end I thanked all the guests for coming with a small offering of something to eat and some tea to drink. The following day we went to the graveyard to have a small family gathering. A year has passed by real quick, but there isn't a day where I don't think about Dad.
Tonight I ate my final meal with my family as tomorrow I leave for Hue to meet Alex. I'm taking a bus that takes about 24 hours to get to Hue, so I bet that will be fun! Once I get to Hue we're off to Laos for an adventure, don't know where we're going, don't know what we're doing... but I'm sure it's gunna be exciting...

Last supper

2012-07-02T23:37:00.001+07:00

My final evening meal with the fam before I leave for Hue tomorrow! They took me to eat one of my favourites - Nem nướng, delish!

Baby duck

2012-07-02T23:32:00.001+07:00

Yah, Felt guilty eating it...

2012-07-01T18:29:00.000+07:00

Vũng Tàu

Life of a local

2012-06-29T12:21:00.000+07:00

Day 16

The past few days I've spent with my family in the rural town of Trang Bom, away from the city lights and anything tourist like. You won't see any western people here. To be honest, I prefer being here than in Saigon. You get to see the real Vietnam and can truly see the country for all that it is. Life is a hell of a lot cheaper too, where I pay local rates for everything, so it's dirt cheap. I'm away from the vendors looking to capitalise on tourists and paying extortionate rates for basic stuff. I've been helping my Aunt at the local market, where she has a small stall selling shoes. Working in a Vietnamese market is a real experience. The branding on stuff here is hilarious too, you'll see just about any brand labelled on knock-off goods.. they seem to like branding iPhone on flip flops for some reason... Once the market finishes at around 11am I'm free to do what ever I like. Eating is my favourite activity here, every meal time I always get to try something new and delicious! My Uncle keeps telling me that I'm going to go eat dog soon, I kinda laugh thinking it's a joke, but secretly question how serious he is being. I'm sure one day he's actually going to take me to eat dog. To be fair, I would probably try a piece to see how it is. I've been going swimming at the local pool too, where the water is a mysterious greeny/brown colour. Alot of Vietnamese people don't know how to swim, so I've been trying to teach some of my cousins, and one seems to have got the hang of it. On the evenings I go out with my cousins and friends that I have here, we generally drive about and go to eat/drink something. Tra Sua / Milk tea is one of my favourites, not sure how healthy it is for you though. My driving has definitely improved too! I've been driving around town on a scooter, getting the hang of blasting the horn at every junction and avoiding running over local folk, 3 legged dogs, chickens and whatnot. I'm also in the process of getting a Vietnamese driving license too, so I should be able to drive about legitimately soon..
P.S. Got my results yesterday, a 1st baby! Definitely can enjoy my trip knowing I don't have to come back and resit! Roll on Laos next week!

2012-06-28T22:01:00.001+07:00

Nước mía / Sugercane juice - Cheap, delicious and easy to find amongst street vendors

2012-06-26T00:25:00.004+07:00

Sầu riêng

Coffea

Chôm chôm

At least a mile of this... no joke

Driving to pick Chôm chôm and sầu riêng fruit

2012-06-25T20:26:00.001+07:00

Going to drink Trà Sưa

Where to start?!

2012-06-25T13:27:00.000+07:00

Day 12

It's been non-stop, so I haven't really had that much time to be online. The other day we went to an orchard to pick some chôm chôm and sầu riêng fruit. It took about an hour to get there, driving in a convoy with my cousins. Inevitably, one of us got stopped by the police on the way. My first taste of the corrupt political system (doubtfully the last) but a quick telephone call to an officer that somebody in my family knew was enough to escape. The drive there was an event in itself. Driving on a scooter through narrow dirt tracks swamped with mud and water, at least a few inches deep, for a stretch of about a mile... It was crazy. We rolled up to a random farmer's home as we could see they had fruit in their garden, and they allowed us to pick their garden for a negotiated price. Driving back, the moto started to spin out of control due to a punctured tyre.. Not a surprise considering the route we'd taken. Luckily we broke down outside a repair shop and 5 minutes later we were back up and running. It's now the 25th of June, and since my last blog I've done alot. I stayed in Saigon for a while, where I met some friendly scousers at a waterpark, partied with some scottish folk, hung out with my family in the city - I got to see May and Huy Nguyen, my great aunty and her cousin, driven around the city on a scooter - not for the faint hearted... Stayed at the Windsor Plaza too, where I got to chill by the pool, go to sauna/steambath and get a massage... I'm now back in Trang Bom, taking a breather before my next adventure...

2012-06-18T00:52:00.000+07:00

Rice, beef and soup

Back in Vietnam

2012-06-16T17:44:00.000+07:00

Day 3

So, here I am... back in Nam! I can honestly say I've really missed the place. It couldn't be more different from my life back in Manchester... and I love having a home from home/alternate lifestyle here. It's nice to get away. The journey wasn't too bad, in fact us volunteers practically had a private jet flying from Dubai to Saigon since the Emirates route is fairly new and not that popular I guess. I said my goodbyes to the guys at Tan Son Nhat, where my family's happy faces were waiting for me at the arrivals/departure barriers. Exactly where I had left them last year.
Since starting University I've had serious lack of real Vietnamese food, and as soon as I got here I got my fair share of Phở bò, with the same helping for breakfast the next morning along with a cà phê sữa đá. Standard. Despite the country still being undeveloped and fairly poor, the people here still eat a much 'richer' lifestyle compared to that in England. The food is fresh, healthy and delicious! I've spent my first three days adjusting back to life here. The dreaded mosquitos have had their attack on me already, they seem to have a thing for foreign blood. I'm enjoying the company of my family, where I get by with my limited Vietnamese since nobody really speaks any English. So far so good...
Let's see how long I can last... 3 months is kind of a long time, right?