Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

Tim - In Search of the Mythical Ice Bear

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 05:09:00 +0000

Before we parted ways, Casey and I were discussing our expectations of our impulsively chosen destinations. I casually mentioned a half-hearted desire to see a polar bear to which Casey replied “I will give you $10 if you see a polar bear”… My epic quest had begun to see the ice bear and claim the spoils of victory, a small sum of money, yet an immeasurable amount of pride.

This time I was allowed to leave Egypt, even though I did have a few issues caused by the lack of a departure ticket from Canada, which I had to “promise” the airline I would pay for if required. I boarded the flight excited by the awaiting possibilities. I arrived in Toronto, Canada with slight relieve I could easily communicate with everyone. My first impressions of Canada were fantastic! Not only did Toronto seem like Melbourne, but everyone I talked to was so incredibly friendly, I started to see truth in the stereotype. Trying to adjust to the climate, which heavily contrasted to my previous location, I made my way to my hostel in the heart of Toronto. It would be here that I strategised my acquaintance with the arctic predator. Toronto was a fantastic city that resonated Australia in so many ways, from the shopping malls to the people in the streets, I really felt at home. Amongst the similarities I saw, I definitely saw some differences that only North American culture could provide. To give you a small example of this, after purchasing a 14” super burrito and trying to ingest it in a small snow-ridden park, I spent about ten minutes chasing squirrels around the park trying to get a picture, which I think either amused or slightly scared the other park goers who hopefully assumed I was a tourist…

The hostel I was staying could easily have been the best hostel I’ve ever stayed. Even though the facilities and location were great, this wasn’t the highlight; it was the small group of people I met, my Toronto family. This group of people included Nans, Flora, Jas, François, Mo and Rob, resulting in a French, German, Austrian and, of course, Australian combination rivaled by none! I experience my first NBA game, an entertainment spectacle that is incomparable to any sporting event in Australia due to the heights they’ll go to continuously engage the crowd. GO RAPTORS! Yet, in all this fun, I had not forgotten my Canadian calling and had determined exactly where I needed to be for my Arctic encounter… The self proclaimed Polar Bear Capital of the world, Churchill.

Taking a slight detour passed Niagara Falls on my way to Montréal, I had the pleasurable opportunity to experience this Natural wonder. It was a miserable day, shrouded in mist, yet the falls still impressively channeled an unfathomable amount of water, a beautiful sight to see. I was a little surprised to see the sheer number of casinos around the falls on both the Canadian and American sides, but like many other naturally occurring attractions, people have successfully capitalised on the popularity of the location. I arrived in Montréal not realising how incredibly cold it was going to be, which slightly debilitated my adventurous spirit. I instead utilised my time preparing for the coming journey I was going to make across the country by train. Montréal was a beautiful city though; you could feel the French influence, unfortunately the same could not be said for my fingers or toes… I had organised a train from Montréal to Toronto, to Winnipeg, to Churchill, to Winnipeg and finally to Vancouver. A journey that would see me spend eight out of thirteen nights on a train. I jumped on the first leg of the trip to Winnipeg. Winnipeg was an incredibly lifeless city, granted when I arrived it was in blizzard-like conditions and after slipping twice with my pack on, I came to the realisation that I was unequipped to deal with ice or any real temperature below freezing… Staying only a night in an unexciting hostel, which I was the only guest, I was ready for my next leg of my journey. The two-day train to Churchill, a small isolated town that could only be reached by train or air, the destination that offered me glory or horrific defeat.

Before I’d visited Churchill I thought I had experienced cold weather, but I ended up thinking about those times to revisit warmth. Arriving into -35°C with wind-chill, I yet again realised I was completely out of my depth and the winter clothes I had dragged with me all year, whilst we tracked summer around the world, were inadequate. Donning six layers and a borrowed pair of boots, as the hotelier didn’t think my $10 Kmart shoes were suitable, I walked around the tiny town. Visiting the Eskimo Museum and National Parks Canada, I saw a stuffed polar bear at both locations, but it had been specified that the polar bear had to be alive and outside of captivity… Semantics. I booked an exuberantly priced tour for the following day, giving me one opportunity to see what I’d come so far to see.

I was collected the following day by my guide as we started driving around in what seemed like an old stereotypical American school bus that had icicles forming inside the cabin. He told us a history of the town and the area, which was all very interesting, yet a distraction from my main goal. I was told that I had missed the season by about a week, but we might be lucky enough to stumble across some stragglers. First we headed to the local tip, where a polar bear and its cub had been rumoured to be lingering. We searched, but to no avail. We then continued away from the town into the open plains and yet again, no luck. I did get to see numerous sled dogs and the beached tanker, The Ithica, whilst on the tour, but the true search continued. With the tour slowly coming to an end, we headed back to the tip to try our luck. As we slowly approached, the only other person on the tour shouted, “Stop! I see two of them running!”. The driver had gone just too far so tried to reverse, but the tyres had lost all grip, and we were stuck. We ran out of the bus to at least get a fleeting glimpse of the fleeing animals, but, today was not my day. Eventually another vehicle came to pull the bus out of the snow and we continued to search for the bears, but we saw nothing. My companion, the only other person on the tour, had seen the mythical ice bears, yet I had not. I had been defeated. The following day, I boarded the train for the two-day return journey to Winnipeg. There was a bitterness in the sub-arctic air, but that could have been the remorseful feeling of disappointment…

I returned to the same lifeless hostel in Winnipeg, where I had to stay for a few nights due to the train schedule, and due to a lack of resolve, I wallowed in the again deserted hostel until my final two-day train to Vancouver. Vancouver was an incredibly vibrant city, void of snow, a meteorological phenomenon I once glorified, yet could now do without. Visiting Stanley Park was the highlight. A huge park by the ocean, which offered a large variety of vegetation and, my personal favourite, docks littered with houseboats and luxury yachts. I then headed to Victoria on Vancouver Island, getting there by Ferry. It was here that I was meeting with my good friend Nans whom I had met whilst in Toronto. It was great to see him again as he showed me around the sights of Victoria, most of which was the beauty of the location itself. Victoria was my final destination in Canada as I would be catching the Ferry to the US to meet up with Casey in the following days, but not before I visited a highly publicised location that I could not avoid.

From Victoria, Canada I caught the ferry to Port Angeles, USA. Port Angeles is a very small port town, but knowledge of this town has started to build in the last decade due to the release of the Twilight books. As I was in the area (and to appease my cousin Princess Zazzles) I caught the local bus to Forks, the main setting of the Twilight books. The town itself wasn’t very big, but it was obvious that they had welcomed and even fostered the Twilight sensation. I visited the information centre and was presented with a “Twilight map”, so I could go and see all the sights that are discussed in the books. It was a shame I didn’t have more time in the area, because it turns out that there are numerous national parks worth seeing. I walked around the town ticking off all the ‘sights’ even though I had never actually read the books. I was curious about what people would have thought about an adult male taking photos in front of Edward’s and Bella’s houses… From Port Angeles I jumped on a bus to Seattle where I would catch a bus the following day to meet Casey in San Francisco. The Greyhound buses seemed to attract a certain type of people, which made the 24-hour journey to San Fran very interesting…

Alas, my solo journey had come to an end. I had failed to see a polar bear, but I had the opportunity to travel through the beautiful country that is Canada. Now, I just have some unfinished business… Keep posted.

The Reunion Part II - Amman, Jordan to Cairo, Egypt

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 20:19:00 +0000

This is The Reunion Part II! Since leaving you at a drool-soaked table at Egypt airport, The Earthbound Astronauts have ventured through ancient Jordan, taken a spontaneous detour into the religious epicentre of Israel and were unexpectedly stranded in turbulent Egypt, the very place we were attempting to avoid! We hate predictability, so what comes next will not disappoint!

To listen to the Part II podcast click HERE!

Jordan – Amman & Petra – October 22^nd – October 29^th

Casey and I arrived into Amman completely exhausted after our restless night in the Cairo airport, so we headed to our prearranged hostel. This particular hostel had been so highly recommended by a multitude of people online, with all the comments including how wonderful the proprietor ‘Andrew’ was. The hostel itself was nothing special, quite rundown and minimalistic, but we did have the opportunity to meet this infamous Andrew, completely validating all the positive comments. We spent our first day in Amman recovering followed by dinner at one of the best restaurants in Amman, the Hashem restaurant. The Hashem restaurant purely served the mixed selection of falafel, pita, salad and two dips, yet it was easy to understand how it had earned such an outstanding reputation. We now have a new appreciation for falafel and hummus, and the variety of ways to consume said food, but more about that later. We spent a day exploring the Roman ruins and visiting the ruins of a citadel, which rest above the remainder of the city. It was intriguing to see the remnants of ancient civilisations that dated back over three thousand years, whilst tracing the progressive evolution of these civilisations and observing the variations in culture and religious belief over time. It was here that we started to realise how historically and culturally significant this entire area really was.

We decided we wanted to visit the famed Dead Sea, so Andrew organised ‘George’ to take us on a day trip to the area. George initially took us to Madaba to see the oldest known map of the promise land, which was an intricate partially preserved mosaic on the floor of what is now a Catholic church. We then visited Mount Nebo, where it is presumed 120-year-old Moses climbed so God could show him the Promised Land before dying there. The view from the top was truly impressive allowing us to appreciate all the elaborate rock formations and the Dead Sea, which was our next destination. We paid an exuberant price to enter a complex with pools and direct access to the beach of the fabled sea. Entering the water was a surreal experience, as you expect your body to sink as in all other water, but we defiantly stayed buoyant with no effort on our behalves. As we left the water, we could feel the salt now layered on our bodies, which slowly precipitated into large salt deposits. We observed a direct contrast between effortlessly swimming in The Dead Sea and the exhausting swim in the pure water of Crater Lake in Banlung, Cambodia. Returning to Amman, after helping George out by utilising our duty free privileges, we decided it was time to head to Jordan’s main attraction, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Petra. We caught the public bus to the town Wadi Mousa, which acts as the tourist base for people visiting Petra. Andrew had suggest a hotel for us to stay in while in the area, “The Valentine Inn”… Luckily, they had a twin room available even though there were still hearts on our key...

Just like Indiana Jones before us, we entered Petra through the ominous entrance, a relatively small division between two formidable walls of rock. We were humbled by this intimidating stone corridor before the channel opened onto the renowned treasury, currently the most exquisitely intricate building in Petra. It was unbelievable and almost implausible to conceive that people had built such an amazing structure into a rock face. As we continued into Petra there were numerous tombs and other buildings erratically scattered within the surrounding landscape, linked by hidden staircases leading to what were once possibly prominent areas. As we’d decided to spend two days at Petra, we used our first day to explore the major attractions such as taking the long trek to see the astonishing monastery (seen in Transformers 2), which rivals the treasury in its grandeur, and used our second day to go off the beaten track and find a great location to watch sunset. Whilst at Petra, we were completely at the mercy of the sun, so we tried to track shade at any opportunity. Even when we left the main trail, we were still coming across the remnants of life in the form of carvings, stairs and buildings. We were, and continue to be, completely in awe of Petra and the amazing artistry the founding civilization had masterfully utilised to create this former epicentre of trade.

After immensely enjoying Petra, we headed to Wadi Rum, an arid nature reserve approximately two hours south of Wadi Mousa, where we’d organised a tour for one day and a night. Jumping into the back of a ute, we were chauffeured around the reserve to various impressive naturally occurring springs and rock formations before we were taken to a Bedouin camp to enjoy the remarkable desert sunset. Having decided to avoid Egypt due to the enduring civil unrest, we had intended staying in Jordan for two weeks. However, whilst in Amman, the seed had been planted to visit Israel and Palestine. Catching a taxi from Wadi Rum to a town on the Jordanian-Israeli border, Aqaba, where we nervously prepared to cross this precarious border.

Israel & Palestine – Jerusalem – October 31^st – November 3^rd

We anxiously crossed the border by foot, passing the armed guards on either side. As we crossed into the Israeli immigration area we were welcomed by what seemed like endless photos of Bill Clinton… We were heavily questioned by immigration officials about where we’d been, how and for how long we’d known each other and our intentions in Israel. After being allowed to enter the country, we walked to the city, allowing us to observe the stark contrast between the small town of Aqaba in Jordan and the heavily westernized city of Eilat, where we saw a dramatic increase in infrastructure and overall wealth. From Eilat we organised a bus to Jerusalem, but not before we went to an upmarket shopping centre where Casey purchased an iPad to replace his water damaged iPhone.

Arriving into Jerusalem was a surreal experience, a city that has consistently been at the focal point of history and contributed to the evolution of countless religions. The city was such a blend of culture, with an obvious division demonstrated through something as simple as the architecture in differing districts. We had organised to stay at a hostel within the walls of the historical old city, near the Jaffa Gate. Joining a “Holy city” tour we were taken to the main attractions that have importance to the differing faiths. Initially, we were taken to the Temple Mount, which is now also the location of the building with the iconic golden dome and adjacent to the Western or ‘Wailing’ Wall. The Temple Mount is only open to tourists for a single hour everyday, and when we arrived people had already been waiting for hours. Luckily, our tour group was able to join the line with another tour group, which saw us clearing security within the allocated time. We had been in the site no more then ten minutes before they started aggressively ushering us out. We had been lucky to visit this site, but we did feel a twang of guilt for pushing our way into the line and robbing people of this rare opportunity. We later learnt (after continuously interrogating our guide) that the Temple Mount was part of the area controlled by Palestine and an ‘incident’ between Israel and Syria at the precise time we had entered the area partially explained our rapid expulsion. The presence of police and army members at various points through out the city really does contribute to the already prominent tension we were feeling.

After visiting the Temple Mount, we headed to a small portion of the Western Wall where we were able to write a ‘wish’ and place it into the cracks of the wall, replicating a Jewish practice. The remained of the tour predominately followed the assumed stages of Jesus’ crucifixion. As we walked the small alleyways, we were shown locations that coincided with events that were referenced within the Christian New Testament before we reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This church, which is owned by all the major denominations of Christianity, housed the proposed location of Jesus’ crucifixion (Golgotha), the place of his anointment and the place of his burial. The people that were there on spiritual pilgrimages greatly contributed to the ambience and authenticity of the site. We then headed to the proposed location of the Last Supper, which, like the majority of sites in Jerusalem, had been in the possession of, and therefore influence by, one of the three main religious groups at one time or another. The tour was quite overwhelming in a way as were taken to sites that are considered sacred to differing people for a multitude of differing reasons. Walking through the four quarters (Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim) of the old town was really an experience in itself, but it was fantastic to see such diversity within the small area. The following day, Casey and I headed up to the Mount of Olives; where in Judaism it is said the prophet will descend and walk to the Temple Mount. Many cemeteries rest on this mountain for this very reason with their feet facing the summit as we were told, “people don’t want to miss the show”. Other prominent sites that rest on this mountain are the Garden of Olives, where it is assumed Judas betrayed Jesus, and the tomb of Mary, mother of Jesus. We also got an amazing view from the top over the city.

Jerusalem, on a whole, was quite an expensive city, which made eating extravagantly difficult. We found a tiny restaurant next to our hostel that made the most amazing falafel sandwiches, so amazing (and cheap) that it became our staple food whilst in Jerusalem, so much so that we were consuming two on each occasion… We were originally so apprehensive when it came to visiting Israel and Jerusalem, yet we were shocked by how Westernized the city was in parts and how isolated, yet apparent, the ongoing battle for territory really is between the conflicting sides. As we headed to the bus station to leave Jerusalem and Israel, we were shocked by the presence of a metal detector at the bus interchange, yet the large number of 18 to 20 year olds on their military service arbitrarily walking around with assault rifles seemed to make this somewhat redundant. We headed north to a border crossing we were assured would not be an issue to cross and returned back to Amman where we were catching our flight to Egypt and then Argentina the following day. We also had the pleasure of seeing Andrew again, who graciously sorted us out with a private room at a discounted price because “we were friends”.

Egypt – Cairo – November 4^th– November 6^th

As we were attempting to avoid entering Egypt, we had booked a flight to Cairo on the day of our flight from Cairo to Argentina. To avoid paying for an Egyptian visa to enter the country just to pick up our bags and check-in once more when we arrived in Cairo, we arrange to have our bags directly placed on our next flight. All smooth and seemingly easy... As we arrived into Cairo, we were ferried off to a room or ‘holding area’ used for transit passengers, having our passports confiscated. Feeling like were captives in this highly secured room, we waited for three hours to be presented with our connecting boarding passes, yet, we were ignored. Eventually, a man approached Casey and started asking about our visa receipt number. As Casey had travelled to Argentina before, where he had paid a reciprocity fee at the border, we were convinced that a prearranged payment was unnecessary. This situation continued, as we thought this seemingly less-then-official airport employee was taking us for a ride, before the man escorted Casey to the Qatar Airways desk. Casey then returned to the transit lounge, shockingly accompanied by our luggage. Unbeknown to us both, as of July, this fee must be paid online before departure to Argentina. They had refused to let us board the plane because we had not paid the fee, a fee that can be paid within minutes. I was also erroneously denied using my EU passport that doesn’t require a fee payment; we had been officially rejected from boarding the flight.

We were escorted back to the original terminal, Qatar Airways washing their hands of us, after what was quite appalling handling of the situation on their behalves. Unfortunately, the blame rests solely with us, yet I do not hesitate to partially condemn the airline for their disorganization and lack of knowledge and assistance in what should have been a recoverable situation. Being told we could pay to return to Jordan or enter Egypt, we, still in shock from our shattered reality, reluctantly decided to stay in Cairo. Our presumption of being in South America within 48-hours had been crushed in the space of minutes. We had arrived into Cairo on the day of the Morsi trial, so tanks and other armoured vehicles littered the streets. We had found a hotel, which, like many of the tourist-centric businesses, was feeling the effect of numerous governments condemning travel to this politically unstable country. We had to determine our next move.

As we were in Egypt, we figured that we should at least try to see the sights we could in the short time we were here. Fortunately, Casey had made a friend who lived in Cairo whilst on his course in Germany, Naggar. Naggar came to meet us, acting as our more then capable guide through Cairo, organising a cruise on the infamous Nile River, taking us to an authentic Egyptian restaurant before taking us to a hotel where we could look over the city by night. Telling Naggar we had decided to visit the Pyramids of Giza seemed to fill him with slight concern and he decided to escort us there the following day, which we were more then grateful, yet perplexed by his concern.

We fought through the incomprehensible Cairo traffic before we started approaching the ancient pyramids. The final approach to the pyramids was one of the most stressful situations we’d been involved in thus far. As we drove, people started to approach the car trying to secure employment as a tour guide. We initially experienced a man being denied by Naggar, yet he desperately continued to run next to the car as traffic progressed before he collided with a turning bus. We then came to an area where people were trying to jump in front of the car to the shock of Naggar, who was evasively able to avoid them. We arrived at the pyramids where Naggar secured our tickets and a guide, who was employed purely to prevent unwanted advances. The pyramids and sphinx were formidably standing before us, and it was more then obvious why the pyramids were considered an ancient wonder and also an honoury member of the current Seven Wonders of the World. Yet, it was hard to fully enjoy the experience, as we were the only tourists present, we were continuously harassed by people wanting money. Having Naggar with us to both drive and organise everything for us was amazing. We now know why he hesitated when we told him about our plans to visit the pyramids solo, and I think even he was shocked by the conditions we encountered. We are incredibly grateful he was willing to accompany us during our time in Egypt. The entire experience of visiting the pyramids really did reiterate the pressure the entire country has been feeling during this incredibly turbulent time, unfortunately it was evident that the country was struggling.

The main question we had to answer was, ‘What do we do next?’. Do we pay for a new ticket to Argentina? Do we choose a new destination? And if so, where? This debate continued as we frantically searched Skyscanner for the cheapest destination that would partially coincide with our already booked flights. I’m sad to say to all our diehard fans out that there that Casey and I chose differing destinations. The Earthbound Astronauts are splitting once more! I had found an incredibly cheap ticket to Toronto, Canada, so thought I would go on a journey to find a polar bear. Casey, thought completely outside of the box, and decided to head to Tanzania where he’d organised a work away! Planning to meet up in the US in about a month, we said our goodbyes and farewelled each other once more. We truly are unpredictably earthbound after all. Keep posted.

The Reunion Part I - Geneva, Switzerland to Casablanca, Morocco

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 20:12:00 +0000

After three contrasting months apart, The Earthbound Astronauts have finally reunited! We’ve only been on the road for five weeks, yet we’ve had the pleasure of traversing through eight distinctly different countries. It’s been an adventure-filled reunion, so this is only Part I of our unpredictable voyage. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!

To listen to the Part I podcast click HERE!

Switzerland – Geneva – September 30^th – October 1^st

After being apart for three months, we were both enthusiastic to start the next phase of our journey. Meeting in Geneva was convenient for us both as Casey had been travelling with his parents in Switzerland, and Geneva was only a short two-hour train ride away from Lyon, where I had been stationed for the previous two months. We jubilantly met at a prearranged hostel both invigorated by the unknown of the coming months. Casey was excited to be no longer travelling solo, whilst I was ecstatic to be on the move once more. Wanting to celebrate our once again formidable duo, we ventured into Geneva to enjoy a meal. Having been forewarned of the exuberant pricing in Switzerland still did not prepare us for the blatant extortion encountered! Unfortunately for us, pricing was relative to the heightened salaries received in Switzerland, those with heavy financial restraints, such as ourselves, were reduced to the common European travellers meal: a baguette, cheese, salami and a lukewarm beer.

Meeting Casey’s parents at The European Organisation for Nuclear Research or ‘CERN’ was a very exciting occasion. We were able to join them both for a tour of CERN and find out about the enormous subterranean particle accelerator and the recently confirmed Higgs Boson, a concept that is still outside my scientific grasp. It was a great event to share with Casey’s dad, David, as he has a great passion for physics, and this facility is at the forefront of research in this area. As we sadly farwelled both Aleysha and David, it marked the true beginning of our journey.

A combination of rejuvenating motivation along with Casey’s resent success hitchhiking, spurred us on an adventure to hitchhike from Geneva, Switzerland to Barcelona, Spain. Catching public transport to the Swiss-French border, garnished with our packs, we climbed a small fence leading to the highway, casually strolled across the border checkpoint, placed our packs down for but a second, barely having time to lift the iconic hitchhiker thumb and a car pulled up. Knowing the broad direction we wanted to head in, AKA west, the driver asked us where we’d like to go, we said Lyon (a large city in the general direction of Barcelona), when he said he wasn’t going in that direction we naively insisted that any ride was a good ride, even one that smelt so strongly of cheese… We had a great time chatting to our new Hungarian friend about his new life in France; however, it soon became apparent that we were not heading in the direction we’d initially intended. We ended up in Chamonix, a small town in the shadow of Europe’s tallest mountain, Mont Blanc. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks, luscious forests and typical French buildings, this charming town is what dreams are made of. Contemplating our new situation, we separately had the same idea of travelling into Italy. Astonished at our already distorted plan (a habit we cannot seem to break), we changed our tact and now waited on a highway, not so far away from the Italian border, waiting for our next willing lift.

Italy – Genoa & Cinque Terra – October 2^nd – October 5^t^h

We were eventually picked up by a really nice Italian-speaking Albanian, who was kind enough to drive us past his own small town to Aosta, a town with a main train station. We drove through an incredible part of Italy, with valleys dotted with various castles and villages, which seemed to be untouched by the progressive modernization witnessed in larger cities. Unfortunately, our new friend was unable to speak English, but this gave Casey an opportunity to put his freshly practiced Italian to use. He was incredibly hospitable; he even bought us a beer and refused to let us pay for it! From the train station we headed to Genoa, a port town, where we would enquire about a ferry to Spain.

We arrived into Genoa at night with no organised accommodation. Not believing this to be a problem, we were turned away from numerous hotels and hostels either due to unavailability or extravagant prices. We swallowed our pride and stayed at the cheapest we could find, even though it was considerably more then we were expecting to pay. When enquiring as to why there was such a shortage of accommodation, we found out it was due to the famed Genoa annual boat show. What would a trip to Genoa be without going to the fabled boat show! It was amazing to see the yachts that were on show. Casey and I definitely didn’t quite fit the part when it came to prospective cliental, yet we boarded some of the more modest yachts and were still able to dream about potential future travel opportunities.

Determining that we had a few days before we were going to board the ferry to Barcelona, we headed to Cinque Terre, a portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre consists of five distinctively unique villages, all vibrantly coloured. Each village sits in a small cove, with the buildings carefully teetering on the sharp slope of the surrounding tumultuous terrain. It was beautiful to see these still lively villages in an incredibly well preserved and prosperous state. Returning to Genoa after a fleeting visit, we boarded the 20-hour ferry across the Mediterranean to Barcelona.

Spain – Barcelona, Tarragona & Granada – October 6^th – 12^th

As we arrived into Barcelona it was obvious that the city was going to live up to it’s impressive reputation as a culturally rich and vivacious city. Every street or small alley was bustling with life, a combination of luminescent light, erratically scattered boutiques and restaurants, and people eager to enjoy the temperate ambience. Having discovered that a friend from home, Sam, was going to be in Barcelona at the same time, we decided to meet. As Sammy had been in Barcelona for about a week before we arrived, he acted as our pseudo-tour guide, attempting to enlighten us about Gaudi, a famous architect whose eccentric and imaginative buildings have become icons of Barcelona. Shamefully, Casey and I were unaware of Gaudi before our arrival and were naively curious about this ‘Gaudi’ character people continually referred to as if it was common knowledge. As a trio, we trekked up to Montjuïc Castle, where we are able to see the incredible immensity of Barcelona and it’s surrounding satellite towns.

Even though Barcelona is well known for pickpockets and petty crime, we had no issues. The only act of theft that we experienced was due to a lapse in our concentration, forgetting to ask the price of mediocre paninis in what seemed like a legitimate panini business, which resulted in blatant daylight robbery! This was a sore moment for us both, especially when we sent Sam into the same shop a day later to enquire about the price, to find out there had been a significant price reduction… Having enjoyed our time with Sammy thus far, we invited him to join us through the remained of Spain and into Morocco. Even though there had been a slight ‘salting of game’ whilst we partook in the infamous Catalan nightlife, Sam whimsically decided to joined us.

We headed to the historical beach town, Tarragona, to see Margherita, a friend of Casey’s from his exchange to Italy eight years earlier. Tarragona is primarily a student town and Margherita, who was there on the Erasmus study exchange program, was kind enough to accommodate us for the night and expose us to the energetic nightlife of an Erasmus student on exchange. This was but a brief visit to Tarragona as we were eager to arrive in Morocco. Finding it difficult to plan a direct route to a port town where we could board a ferry headed for Tangiers, we organised an overnight train to Granada through Valencia, where we had the pleasure of waiting until the early hours of the morning for our connecting train.

Arriving in Granada with no idea about the city, we walked around attempting to find accommodation, which, again, was quite an ordeal. Eventually, we found a nice pension run by a very friendly elderly non-English-speaking lady we fondly nicknamed ‘Nonna’. The room was barely big enough for one person, let alone three, and this was before Sammy decided to covert the room into a Chinese laundry. Granada was quite an old town, and we had arrived (unbeknown to us) on National Day. This explained the lack of accommodation and the continuous parades consisting of marching bands and officials garnished with lavish medals and medallions. Granada was the point where we started to notice influences from North Africa. The main area of Granada was full of exotic stalls selling spices, clothes and various other memorabilia. Again, we were only in Granada for a night as we were attempting to arrive in a port town the following day and make our way to Morocco. We awoke the following morning marginally later then anticipated, which raised the anxiety levels slightly. Whose fault this was is an ongoing argument… However, we were able to board a train to Algeciras where we boarded a late, and somewhat delayed, ferry headed to Tangiers, Morocco. After about three and a half months we fondly said goodbye to Europe and were excited for the next stage of our journey, North Africa and the Middle East.

Morocco – Tangiers, Fes, Marrakech & Casablanca – October 13^th – October 21^st

The ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar was a swift yet symbolic passage from one continent to the next. As we left the Tangiers port terminal we were asked if we wanted buses or taxis into the city. However, we had done some research earlier and determined that a reasonable hostel was within walking distance and refused all offers. We started walking down a highway parallel to the port for what seemed like an immense distance before we started to question our whereabouts. It turned out that we had arrived into the second port of Tangiers, approximately 50 kilometres from the actual city. We swallowed our pride and returned to the port to enquire about catching a bus to the amusement of a collection of drivers that had offered us lifts earlier. It was nearing midnight as we arrived in Tangiers so we decided to stay in a quite reasonably priced four-star spa resort hotel. This luxury was quite a change from the accommodation we were accustomed. We had not intended on spending much time in Tangiers as we’d heard it was predominately a port town where Moroccans head to indulge themselves in taboo or illegal activities, so we decided to head to Fes.

Boarding the train to Fes was an experience in itself. We boarded an already crowded train with our large bags, the only remaining space was located next to the rancid bathroom at the end of the carriage, and this was filling fast. As we gathered in this confined space, we realised that standing for six hours in the sweltering heat was going to present us with another ‘unique’ experience. Obviously realising that the train was at capacity, they decided to add some additional carriages, and we were luckily able to secure a compartment before it too become obscenely crowded. Fes turned out to be what we imagined an incredibly authentic Moroccan city would be like. We had booked a hostel within the medina, the old town enclosed within a medieval fortification.

Within the medina, buildings were all constructed using the same yellowish clay into simple rectangular structures arbitrarily mounted upon one another. The small streets and alleyways were almost impossible to navigate as they unpredictably wound around and through buildings with smaller capillary streets branching of into small squares or to other indistinguishable locations. It turned out the train had been so crowded because people were returning home for an Islamic holiday, which became evident by the heightened activity within the medina. We were witness to donkeys hauling peculiar products into the labyrinth of the medina, sheep being delivered to a multitude of butchers and continuously directed to illusive tanneries. Seeing a sheep being delivered on the back of a donkey is an unusual sight at the best of times. Fes was also an interesting location as Sam and I were unlucky enough to encounter bed bugs, our first and incredibly unpleasant encounter with these brutal parasites. Casey was smugly impressed he avoided these macroscopic terrors, yet a few days later, to Sam and my enjoyment, a few bites did appear.

After we’d visited Fes, we headed to Marrakech, much more of a tourist-centric city, which did partially subtract from the appeal; however, the city was still an amazing spectacle. The highlight of Marrakech is a large market place that has numerous performances, snake charmers, orange juice stalls and restaurants. At night, the market was flooded by lights and truly came to life as people bustled between all the interesting performances, most of which seemed to involve men dressed as women… I, unfortunately, was slightly unwell during our time in Marrakech and didn’t have the pleasure of visiting some ancient tombs and a castle, but Casey and Sam visited the sights and raved about the intricacies and the impressive atmosphere of the structures.

Preparing to leave Morocco, we headed to Casablanca where Casey and I were going to catch our flight to Jordan and Sam was going to fly to Paris. Casablanca seemed like a very plain city, so we were glad we had not afforded it too much of our limited time. We headed to the Casablanca airport, said our goodbyes to Sam who we’d greatly enjoyed travelling with for just over two weeks, and boarded our plan to Amman, Jordan. We did get to enjoy a stopover night in Cairo airport that resulted in us both passing out at a table just outside of our boarding gate while we waited for a flight to Tunisia to board. An interesting image: Two westerners sleeping quite ungracefully at a table as a large group of Tunisians board their flight, many of them impressively carrying their possessions on their head…

And that is the end of The Reunion Part I! It is difficult to believe that this all happened within the space of three weeks. I’ll leave you with a quote by Ernest Hemingway that has helped me keep things in perspective, “Never mistake motion for action”. As we continue to travel I reflect upon everything we have done and everything we hope to do both while travelling and beyond. The Reunion Part II is only a few days away, so keep your eyes open and as always, keep posted.

The long awaited podcast!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 17:41:00 +0000

The Earthbound Astronauts parted for a few months, but here is a quick rundown of what we got up to! Make sure you keep posted in the coming weeks because we'll have another blog and podcast coming your way!

To listen to the long awaited podcast click HERE!

Tim - Istanbul, Turkey to Lyon, France

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 07:34:00 +0000

Even after separation the Earthbound Astronauts are still going strong! As you’ve probably read, Casey was busy conquering Eastern Europe one sexless hitch at a time, whilst I’ve been cavorting my way through parts of Western Europe. We have surpassed the midpoint of our journey, but in true Earthbound Astronaut style, things continue to take off!

Sofia, Bulgaria – July 1^st

I started my solo journey by heading to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Sofia has to be one of my favourite cities thus far. There is an intersection that has an Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Jewish Synagogue and Islamic Mosque in unbelievably close proximity of each other! Sophia was really a city that I felt at home in, a complete patchwork of culture and history. An interesting story I heard that portrays this intriguing identity is: Bulgaria was allied with Nazi Germany during WWII, and not only did they continue to delay (until the end of the war) the deportation of Bulgarian Jews, but they had not committed any form of violent act, and attempted to remain neutral. Now, of course, the German Reich and Axis Powers were not very impressed by this situation, questioning their loyalty, and applied pressure to the Bulgarian government. Thinking they were safe in Eastern Europe, they naively threatened the US (who had just entered the war), in a not so humorous twist of fate, the US bombed Bulgaria. Not so long after this, Bulgaria joined the Allied Forces.

I promptly had to adjust to this newly gained independence, which was both welcomed, but not without slight hesitation. I quickly made a few friends in my hostel, joining them for a city tour before we finished the day off at a popular Irish pub. The following day, I headed to the airport to fly to London where I was looking forward to seeing my good friend Angie.

London, United Kingdom – July 2^nd – July 11^th

As I arrived into London airport, it was surreal to be surrounded by the English language again, something I’d become comfortably accustom without. However, whilst in England, I still seemed have issues understanding the majority of people. One example was when I walked past a counter, when I thought I heard a guy say “how is it?”. Thinking people were just friendly here and asked questions in a bizarre manner, I replied “Good thanks mate”. After a very awkward stare, I realised that he was asking a customer “Is that it?”. This type of situation seemed to arise on a regular basis for me. In a passionate protest to every British person I meet, “You right” is a question, not a greeting.

Getting to stay and spend time with Angie was great! She had to work everyday, which allowed me the opportunity to relax and relish in a break from my somewhat nomadic lifestyle. This rapidly mutated into an opportunity for me not to get out of bed until the early afternoon. This lasted for about fived days before I decided my lack of productivity was interfering with my opportunities to see London and determining my next move. Other then seeing a multitude of movies whilst there (my guilty pleasure back home), I had the pleasure of seeing another one of my good friends, Susie. As a trio, we spent the day seeing the Tower of London and various other sights, a day that I efficiently and ruthlessly choreographed to the horrific dismay of both girls.

I had decided to head to Paris on the 15^th, which allowed a few days to visit Portsmouth, a costal town South of London, to visit the historical dockyard. Stupidly, I booked my bus ticket from Portsmouth to Paris without checking if there would be any accommodation available in the area. I was able to get accommodation for the first night, but there seemed to be a complete scarcity for the second, so I thought I’d be creative.

Portsmouth, United Kingdom – July 12^th - July 14^th

Having visited Portsmouth and the Historical Dockyard before roughly 12 years earlier, I was excited to see what I remembered. The Historical Dockyard berths The Victory (Admiral Nelson’s flagship and place of death), The Warrior and the remains of the Mary Rose, a warship commissioned by King Henry XIII in the 16^th century. My fantastic memories of the Historical Dockyard were untainted, however Portsmouth itself, which was still home to amazing forts and structures, lost it’s magic as swarms of redneck English beachgoers reveled in the opportunity to bask on the traumatically pebbled beaches…

Having still enjoyed my time in Portsmouth, I had decided to spend a night in Salisbury, intending to visit the local attraction, Stonehenge, before returning to Portsmouth the following afternoon to board my bus. I walked from Salisbury station to my already booked hostel, only to find out that I had erroneously booked for the previous night and they were fully booked. Frantically searching for a room in even some of the more upmarket hotels, I was disturbingly told by a hotel employee that he’d heard there weren’t any available rooms within an 80 km radius of Salisbury. Contemplating my next move, I seriously considered sleeping in a park if I could locate one. As a last ditch effort I asked at a few pubs on the way to the train station, being denied numerous times before I finally found a room at The Cat Tavern. After enjoying a celebratory drink, this incredibly authentic English pub made me feel like I’d hit the stereotype jackpot of the old English pub dweller. Envisioning an episode of “The Vicar of Dibley”, I shared some very interesting and ‘insightful’ conversations with some very colourful characters.

Paris, France – July 15^th – July 21^st

Having enjoyed the change of pace in England, I made my way to Paris to meet Sofie, a friend that Casey and I had travelled through parts of Vietnam with. As Sofie had never been to Paris before, I acted as a sublimely mediocre tour guide. This involved visits to such illustrious sights as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Musée de Louvre and the impressive Château de Versailles. I romanticise and marvel at all these infamous Parisienne icons, but there is one unmentioned touristic titan that soars above the rest, Disneyland Paris. After convincing Sofie that we needed two days to truly appreciate the magic, which was no mean feat, we spent two euphoric days at Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios. After satisfying the child within (for the third time), we returned to the city in time to witness the final leg of the fabled Tour de France and feel the incredible atmosphere of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées overflowing with enthusiastic fans waiting to get but a glimpse of their favourite competitors.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – July 22^nd – July 28^th

Having just over a week before I had to start my French course in Lyon, I decided to go to Amsterdam and meet up with some friends Casey and I had met in Mongolia, Frans and Sien. They kindly set me up in their old student housing, which was an enormous 16-bedroom labyrinth in a beautiful part of Amsterdam. It was great to hangout with a few of the people that were living there including Niels, Pieter and Frans’ brother, Sam. I’d organised to meet up with my Mum in a few days, so avoiding the Amsterdam tourist attractions, I explored the canaled city by foot. I stumbled upon the most amazing library I’ve ever seen, allowing me to research a growing fascination with the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Sam graciously took me on a motorbike tour to the outskirts of Amsterdam to see a part of the countryside scarcely seen by visitors to the infamous city. The countryside was just as impressive as the city, an exquisite patchwork of colours, windmills and canals, it was easy to see why The Netherlands had such a remarkable reputation.

It was great to meet up with my Mum and visit the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum seeing the ornate masterpieces of distinguished artists Rembrandt and Van Gogh. We also enjoyed a canal cruise, exploring the canals that are synonymous with Amsterdam, playing such a vital role in Dutch success and expansion over the centuries. We did briefly visit the degenerately renowned red light district, somewhat of an odd experience to share with a parent…

Lyon, France – July 29^th – September 28^th

My Mum and I travelled down to Lyon a few days before my course was to begin to explore some of the sights. Visiting the iconic Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière that loomed over the city and jumping on the tourist bus gave me the perfect opportunity to become slightly accustom to the city I was going to inhabit for the two following months. Lyon was a very lively city with cafés, boulangeries and pâtisseries found all over town and an atmosphere that only a French city could provide. As I farewelled my mother and began the difficult trek up to my course organised accommodation on a hill overlooking Lyon, I was excited to see what the next two months would bring.

I was staying at a university residence that had been built within a historical fort. The accommodation was incredibly rudimentary; a room with a single bed, desk, small fridge, sink, share kitchen and bathroom. When I say share kitchen I mean a microwave, a sink and two electrical hot plates... And a share bathroom where you had to provide your own toilet paper… But, with all its faults, it was a good temporary home to revitalize myself after the months of continuous travel and copiously indulge my love for French food/cheese away from the judging eyes of society.

I began a two-month intensive French course at Alliance Française, which really hit the road running! On my first day, I was quite nervous and had absolutely no idea what to expect, especially as my French knowledge was lacking after neglecting my French studies since completing my undergraduate course. I walked into the classroom, took a seat and was horrified as the students started conversing in what I considered perfect French. Not expecting to understand everything on my first day, I at least hoped to be at a similar level to my peers! However, as the roll appeared, to my relief, my name was missing. I’d gone to the wrong class. As I arrived into my actual class and we started by introducing ourselves and saying our nationality, I knew I was in the right place and started to feel comfortable with the level. Over the two months the classes, of course became more challenging, but I really enjoyed the teachers and observing my progress, even though it was intermittent at times. Other then providing me with a partial routine for the time I was in Lyon, class acted as my primary social network. The people I met are what made Lyon so memorable. Whether I was hanging out with my fellow Australians, Jakeb and Katrina, practicing my French with Kai and Jing, frequenting the Boston Tavern or contemplating who destroys antique furniture with Thula, Itsasne, Ismael, Alexis, Caz and Lancel, struggling in class with Hagen or seeing movies with Manuel, I was always having a great time, all contributing to a life experience that I’ll continue to treasure. Lyon was truly a home away from home.

Towards the end of the two months I was excited to start travelling once more, knowing that a third of our adventure was still to come. Packing up the solitary room I’d become so accustom to, I enthusiastically farewelled my new friends and parted Lyon excited about the possibilities of the coming months. The Earthbound Astronauts are reunited, revitalized and ready to embark on the next part of our adventure.

Keep posted.

Casey - Barcelona, Spain to Geneva, Switzerland

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 14:41:00 +0000

CHAPTER 5 - LA FAMIGLIA

As I have mentioned previously, 7 years ago I went on a one-year high school exchange program to Italy. In that time I was immersed in the culture, having stayed with two Italian host families, attended Italian school and as such had learnt a little of the language. I was needless to say, eager to get back this year. I was at the same time hesitant as my Italian was hardly what it was and after 7 years a lot can change. This chapter is more or less about my time in Italy and my families…

Catching a boat from Barcelona, my first destination in Italy was Sardegna, where I intended on staying a little while, practicing some Italian and maybe finding some work. My plans quickly changed however when I received an email of invitation to work at a farm in Tuscany. So my stay in Sardegna was short-lived - the handful of days however provided me with some confidence that my Italian was conversationally ok, some time to recuperate and a decent amount of sunburn after lazing on beaches.

Having never before been to Rome, it was one of the major destinations for me this year. Logistically it worked out better that I went there before heading to Tuscany and therefore I jumped on another boat and had a terrible nights sleep before arriving. I was a little over cities at this point, and the couple of days there felt like a tourist rush – getting around as quickly as possible to see all the major sites. It was, however, phenomenal as a city, full of history and magnificent structures – but in retrospect it would have been better to be a bit better informed, and have had much more time.

Il Pollaio Del Re was the farm in Tuscany at which I was to have my second Work-Away experience. Nestled in amongst rolling hills, olive trees and vineyards, the place was majestic and more than I could ever ask for. Unfortunately due to some time constraints I was only able to spend a week here. But it was a memorable week of hard work, siestas, amazing food, fun and Italian. Run by the ever-charismatic Viviano and his adorable mother - Giovanna, the farm specializes in birds but also has a small collection of donkeys, ponies and goats to create a rather large amount of work. As such, they are always in need of volunteers and fortunately when I was there, there were another two – Ramiro and Brendan. The three of us assisted in the daily running of the farm, watering and feeding the animals and during my time also constructed a rather lovely stone retaining wall. This little project made me realize that in my 5 years of studying civil engineering I was left with very little practical knowledge… great. The week was definitely a highlight and I feel that one day I would love to return. It was also a great week of speaking mostly Italian, which gave me a lot of confidence in returning to my host families.

Ravenna, in the northeastern region of Italy, is where I spent my time on exchange. Returning there was a bit of a surreal experience. The town itself had not changed much, no major building developments or renovations – to me the city centre looked exactly the same. Instantly I felt at home again – knowing every street and corner. Obviously, both of my host families had changed a little, but I felt just as at home staying with them as I had before I left. In the time that had passed my host siblings had grown up, changed relationships, graduated etc. My host parents had also changed in the lapsed time, but I guess to a lesser extent. It was fantastic to see all of them, to share experiences, stories and reconnect with people that had been my family for such a long time. Ravenna will no doubt always hold a special place in my heart and I must thank them all for hosting me once again J

Next stop was to visit an Italian student who had stayed with my family in Canberra 3 years ago – Carlo. Although having only met a handful of times when I had returned to visit the folks in Canberra, and once when I had hosted him in Melbourne, we had built a pretty good host sibling rapport. I was only more than happy to visit him in his home in northern Italy – in Pella along Lago D’Orta. Hosted in this beautiful area and touring around with Carlo was a lot of fun, and again I wish that I could have stayed longer. Cheers to him and his family for taking such good care of me.

Ultimately, I had to leave Italy, where I felt comfortable with the culture and language, and hit to the road again – this time heading north to German speaking Switzerland. This was a bit sad for me as I do love Italy, but the excitement of traveling to unknown lands also has its appeals. Also appealing was the fact that my actual parents were in Switzerland, at a place called Sargans, staying with another hosted student - Christina. As such, I bee-lined there to meet up with them, having not seen them in over 8 months. I had a wonderful 4 days with them, being shown the beautiful Switzerland by our hosts and even nipping into Lichtenstein for an afternoon. I fell in love pretty quickly with the country and the way of life here and could’ve stayed longer if only it was not so expensive (even by Australian standards it is). After a couple of days I left – going ahead of my folks and Christina – to Geneva where I was to meet up with Tim for us all to go to CERN. I will let him continue the blog from there, but just to comment that it was great to see my parents for the short period that I did and enjoy Switzerland with them.

That brings an end to my final European solo chapter. From here I will let Tim continue the blogging whilst I continue with my photos. It has been fun, but given me an appreciation of the work required to blog all of our adventures; which stories to include and which to brush over. For the most part, I hope that I have given you an idea of my last couple of months, but as you can imagine there is so much that I have had to leave out. I hope that you have enjoyed following and are looking forward to the next adventures of the Earthbound Astronauts now that we are back together!

“Travel is the only thing that you buy that makes you richer” - Unknown

Casey - Prague, Czech Republic to Besalù, Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 09:16:00 +0000

CHAPTER 3 – LEARNING

Prague was the final capital city of my Eastern/Central European adventure, and it didn’t disappoint. Teaming up with Claire Murphy, a friend from home, we explored the city for 4 days at a hectic pace. First it must be said that it was great to have a companion after what seemed like an eternity of being by myself. I relished the opportunity to chat about things back home, enjoy some drinks and speak non-stagnated English. It was definitely great to have her company.

In Prague, the magnificence of the structures, richness of history and vibrancy of nightlife soon made me realize that I had been travelling through Europe in the correct direction. No disrespect to the other capitals that I had visited earlier, but in my experience Prague definitely outdid them in almost every department. From the castle overlooking the city, to the history filled city centre, there was plenty going on, it was beautiful and it kept us occupied. We even managed a day trip to an incredible church decorated with the bones of those who had passed. Overall, Prague was a fantastic experience, but I was still looking forward to the next stage of my journey – The Summer Academy, upon which this chapter is based.

A couple of months prior, I had heard about the “Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience” in Karlsruhe, Germany through AFS (the organisation that I went on exchange to Italy with in 05/06 and continue to volunteer for). The course that I applied for revolved around intercultural competence - predominantly what it meant, what information was out there regarding it and how to transfer that knowledge onto others. In my opinion, a pretty good chance to solidify some of my experiences gained so far this year, and maybe put them into some sort of context. After being accepted, I had been actively looking forward to my time there as a chance to once again recharge some batteries, meet some fantastic people and maybe even learn something. My two weeks of the academy certainly ticked off the last two objectives, but recharging any batteries certainly did not happen!

Without going into the details of the course too specifically, my time was split up quite distinctly into two weeks. The first week was a quite academic look at intercultural competence, analysing models that I didn’t know existed and deconstructing everything. To be honest, I was a little out my depth for this part, having not studied anything that you can’t put a number or symbol to since year 10. Having said that though, I don’t think that I was the only one that was a bit lost, which was reassuring and I did definitely learn a lot. Week 2 was much more my style; actively engaging us with training methods, practical activities as well as giving handy feedback. I think that I also definitely gained knowledge from this and hope to bring the skills back with me when I return to AFS in Aus.

The course fortunately didn’t occupy all of our time during the couple of weeks and we had plenty of opportunity to explore Karlsruhe. This exploration included organised activities such as trips to beer gardens or was an opportunity for us to socialize amongst ourselves. On the weekend, a trip to the beautiful city of Heidelberg coincided with the 400^th wedding anniversary of some couple I didn’t really know anything about, but the fireworks at night provided a nice show. On the Sunday a group of us headed to the Black Forest in the south of Germany. It was a beautiful place made even better by the great company, but I doubt any of them really appreciated how amazed I was at how dense the forest was – it was quite the contrast to home and unlike anything I had really seen before.

This chapter would not be complete without a paragraph on what made it an unforgettable two weeks; and they are the people that made it special. The diversity of our group was undeniable; there was fantastic range in age, experience, occupation, beliefs and culture. We had students from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and myself from Aus – so most bases were covered. I would like to think that I developed a strong relationship with many of our group and regret not being able to spend more time with all of them. From my three great roommates with whom we could laugh about Julian’s morning antics, to the people in my track who made learning such a comfortable and enjoyable experience, it was phenomenal to get to know them all. It would be too much to name names here as the list would be too long, but thanks to those that put up with my capers during the Academy – it was a lot of fun, and hopefully I will see you at some point in the future!

CHAPTER 4 – FRIENDS

This chapter describes a large part of my time in Europe where I seem to have been moving between friends – hence the title. These people range from those have known me since I was a child to those that I have met in my travels this year. Each has been a special experience to me and I find it difficult to capture in a tiny piece of text my gratitude for their hospitality and kindness. However, as I am blogging, I will have to try and so I will describe each in a single paragraph. This may be quite a long chapter…

Yannick

Its funny how, with some friends, time and absence is of no importance; when you catch up you revert back to exactly who you were previously. That is definitely the case with Yannick, my best friend from my exchange year – 7 years ago. On the Monday of the second week of the Summer Academy I took the afternoon off classes (not my style at all) and Yannick visited me in Karlsruhe for an evening of drinking, catching up and reminiscing. Despite both being a little bit more grown up and with a few more experiences under our belt, I felt like nothing had changed and conversation quickly flowed between what we had done since exchange and the shenanigans that we had got up to whilst on it. I even managed to get out a little of Italian with him which was comforting to know that I remembered some things, but still had forgotten a lot. In all it was a great day that brought back a lot of great memories. So cheers Yannick, I hope that we don’t have to wait another 7 years to catch up again. Also, I owe you a few drinks!

Sinja, Sebastian and Ebba

Two friends from the Summer Academy that get a special mention are Sinja and Ebba, with whom I scored a ride with out of Karlsruhe. Sinja and Sebastian (her bf) acted as tour guides in their native Germany for a great afternoon exploring the wine region surrounding the Rhine River. It was relaxing downtime after the two weeks of the course as we discussed what was learnt and also what was next for each of us. Ebba and myself were also introduced to a local delicacy in the form of Rüdesheimer Kaffee. Finally, in continuing with their hospitality, Sebastian and Sinja organised a car-share for me for the afternoon to get to my next friend. In all honesty I think they just didn’t want me to hitchhike…

Tom and Hanna

Now Tom and Hanna have been mentioned in earlier blogs, as they are the couple that we got on exceptionally well with whilst on our Tibet tour. After Tibet they had continued their own global travels and had only just returned from around 5 months abroad. Needless to say, most of our conversations revolved around the beauty of travel, what there is to see, the experiences to be had and what can be learned. I have found that such discussions harden my resolve to continue traveling – they fill me with desire to see new places and get in amongst it whilst I am there. I stayed with Tom for 3 days in which he was a fantastic tour guide. From grabbing beers together in Cologne and Bonn, visiting Hanna and the Mainz wine festival to exploring many smaller cities along the Rhine, it was a fantastic and relaxing time. I must thank both him and Hanna once again – I hope that I see you both on the road again somewhere.

Sandrine

After Germany (and a brief stint in gorgeous Luxembourg) I made my way to one of the cultural centres of the world – Paris. I will not go on about the beauty of the city, as everyone knows that it is phenomenal, but I will say that having only 2 days to explore is definitely not enough. If you do go in the future – give yourself at least a week.

What I will say is that the lovely family that I stayed with made my time there all the more amazing. 19 years ago Sandrine stayed with my family in Australia on something of an exchange. During the time, I daresay she acted as a nanny to me and some of my first memories are from the time that we spent together. Now all grown up, she has a husband and family herself, with 3 kids between the ages of 6 and 10. I think that I had also done a bit of growing since we last met, having been 5 at the time. As such, it was really fun to see how things had developed for both of us over the years. As I am sure was inevitable, the photo album of her time in Aus came out as well at some point. We were able to see some ridiculous fashion, crazy haircuts and laugh at some of the experiences that she remembered a little more clearly that I. Thanks to her, Boris and the kids for a memorable time in Paris – I will be back.

Timmy

This man needs no introduction; he is in fact the other earthbound astronaut. I went and found him in his cell in Lyon, France. Actually, a cell is not far from the truth in describing the tiny room that Tim had. But for the price we was paying, I wouldn’t be complaining - but I’ll let him describe that. Anyway, Tim was nice enough to put me up for a couple of nights on his rock hard floor whilst I was on my way south through France. After almost two months apart, it was great to meet up, share tales of our independent travels as well as develop new plans for the rest of the year. We will be doing a podcast together when we meet up next, so apologies for the large gap in time…

Luisa

If there is ever a place to recharge your batteries it is Besalù, in northern Spain. I made my way here to visit Luisa, an AFS volunteer who had spent a year in Melbourne a couple of years back. Besalù is a tiny medieval village in Catalonia heartland and opened my eyes to the Catalonian independence issue that is very prominent in Spain at present. I was amazed that the local school, taught in Catalonian with English as a second language, only offered Spanish as an option – it was not even a compulsory subject! Apart from this, the entire town was draped in Catalonian flags and many featured the flag as t-shirts and jewelry – making a point for sure. My visit also coincided with a medieval festival held on the weekend. It was full of people in medieval getup, makeup and countless performances – really bringing the tiny town to life. I had a fantastic time here and thank Luisa very much for her hospitality.

That pretty much wraps up my Friends chapter. It was no doubt a fantastic way for me to travel through much of Western Europe, and I cannot thank my hosts enough for looking after me so much! You have all confirmed for me that it is the people that make the place J

Casey - Istanbul, Turkey to Prague, Czech Republic

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 07:23:00 +0000

Well, time has certainly flown by since I parted ways with Tim in Turkey. Over 4 weeks has gone and there is plenty to write about. Tim has always written the blog in the past, and I can now appreciate how much work there is too it! Given the rate at which we are doing things, I can see that it will be difficult to decide which stories to put in and which to leave out. However, I will endeavor to keep it fairly short and succinct whist describing my journey. For ease of writing, I will break it up into chapters. So far there are two that I have called; In a Frog’s Shadow and Patience is a virtue.

CHAPTER 1 - IN A FROG’S SHADOW

Whilst Tim was bound for the western side of Europe by plane, it was my intention to continue travelling westward by land. The first country I was therefore to pass through was Bulgaria, a country that I knew next to nothing about. Having no real plan prior to leaving Tim in Turkey, and figuring that I could use an extended period in one spot to collect my thoughts; at the last minute I teed up a Work-Away farming experience in rural Bulgaria. Work-Away is a concept that I had recently heard about were you offer to work at a place for food and board. Not a bad idea for me, given I was money conscious, in need of stability and had no idea where I was going!

So with something of a plan in my mind, I departed Turkey for Burgas, on the coast of Bulgaria to kill a couple of days before heading to the farm. Burgas was a nice enough coastal town, but not worth spending too much time mulling over. It was a shocking introduction to Eastern Europe however, with 2.5L bottles of beer for $2, drugs readily flowing at my hostel and dogs eating out of bins. I couldn’t help but ask myself if I was safe travelling alone. Regardless, I moved on after a couple of days, and after riding through some gypsy slums contrasted against beautiful countryside, I arrived in the small town of Ovchi Kladenets and made my way to Frog Shadow Farm.

I find it hard to describe my time at Frog Shadow farm. The only real adjective that comes to mind is “unforgettable”. Run by Steff and Baz, a young British couple, the farm is a work in progress and a labour of love. There is no end to the number of jobs that require doing, from tending to crops, building the extension, looking after the animals or just making the place homely. Needless to say the guys kept me busy, but I loved every minute of it. Jobs that I had a hand in were; weeding crops, securing a pig pen, plastering, fixing cladding, killing a chicken, painting a thunderbox and that’s just to name a few!

Each morning would start early at 7:30 (which was a crude shock from the midday rises I was used to) with a strong pot of coffee and fresh goats cheese or homemade jam on toast. From there, whatever work for the day would be allocated and done during the day, with breaks for morning tea, lunch etc. of course! Each evening we would relax with a beer, wine or rakia. Rakia, is a hellish drink made of anything with sugar (at our farm, plums and apricots) and is anywhere between 40 and 70% alcohol. By the end of my time in Bulgaria, I was actually developing a taste for it!

Looking back, I relished the opportunity to have some form of schedule, and to have some sort of purpose to each day. My time at the farm was the perfect break from living out of a pack and being on the road. More than the schedule however it was most definitely the people with whom I was staying that made the experience. Steff and Baz were absolutely lovely and their passion for what they were doing in the heart of Bulgaria was contagious. Steff made the most amazing food and Baz, whilst being quite modest about it, was one of the most travelled and interesting characters that I have met so far. Mention must also be made of Malte, my partner in the “Great Genocide of Colorado Beetles, 2013”. Another work-awayer, Malte was a constant source of laughs and it wouldn’t have been the same without him. Many thanks to all three of you for the time we shared together.

In total, I spent only 12 days at Frog Shadow Farm, but I could’ve spent plenty more and I was very sad to leave. However, time was pressing and I had finally worked out the next part of my journey – hitchhiking to Prague.

CHAPTER 2 - PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

I made this decision very lightly and maybe that was the only way to do it. Thinking about the wakkos, nutjobs and psychopaths that could have picked me up would definitely have made me catch the bus like a normal person. But any thought of Ivan Milat, or a certain Quentin Tarrantino movie was quickly repressed and I pushed on. And so, after 1,876km, I successfully did it, I managed to hitchhike solo from Frog Shadow Farm, in the middle of Bulgaria to Prague, the bustling metropolis in the Czech Republic! It was an adventure in its own right and taught me a great deal, especially the value of patience…

Now, I am not new to hitching, having done a little bit of it with Tim in Mongolia. But this was certainly the first time that I was doing it solo, and relying on it as my sole method of transportation. The idea was daunting, especially when I set of from the farm along an old country road with my 30kg pack. So, without going into each hitch individually, and being personally somewhat interested in statistics, I will display of my journey in terms of numbers. I think that they show a pretty decent picture of my time;

Number of hitches: 29

Average waiting time: 38 mins

Times less than 10 min: 11

Times more than 1 hr: 7

Max waiting time: 3 hours

Times propositioned: 0

Countries traversed: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and Czech Republic

As you can imagine, each hitch was an experience in itself, and the stats show the amount of time by the side of the road. But what might be hard for the observer to realize is how much you can get out of hitching. I’ve learnt that through hitching, you get a fantastic chance to engage with locals, you are (if they speak even a tiny amount of English – which an alarming number did) often a guest in their country and they feel compelled to teach you all about it. I have, as a result, learnt a tiny bit of numerous languages, been given local foods and drinks, offered advice and invited to numerous gatherings. Also, I must note, that I was told by no less than 10 people, that whilst they are not racist, to watch out for gypsies! And so, throughout the journey, I learnt a great deal more than I would have should I have been sitting on a bus.

Hitching was of course, only my method of transport. The sights and places that I saw during this chapter were breathtaking. From the beauty that was the region of Transylvania, filled with castles and Dracula souvenirs, to the architectural elegance and history of any capital city, each place has filled me with awe. Also, as photography is something of a hobby, it was a delight for me to wander around with earphones in and camera in hand and just go berserk! A handful of the hundreds of photos I have taken are on the page “Casey’s Europe”.

Given the rate of my travel, I was only able to stay a maximum of 3 nights in a place, which was regrettably only sufficient to give me a glimpse. But one place that I dug a little deeper and will always remember fondly is Bucharest, the capital of Romania. The reason for my affection is mainly attributable to the people that I stayed with, as Bucharest was my first couchsurfing experience. Here I had the pleasure of staying with two 26-year-old locals - Alex and Vlad. Both guys were a lot of fun and together they made my stay a delight. After giving me a guided tour of the city, explaining the interesting history of still recent socialist rule, we went out and delved into the city nightlife. Being taken to local places and being introduced to the other locals was a great way to feel like a guest instead of a tourist. I will be couchsurfing a lot more in the future as a result, and many thanks to them both for their generous hospitality!

Reading back over what I have written, I can see that I have only scratched the surface. There have been many interactions and stories that I have left out. So, instead of writing them all here and making what has already become a long blog, even longer, I will offer to tell them in return for beers at a future date. To spark your interest, I can give you the titles;

1. My frightening hitch with The Hulk

2. The time I serenaded drunk, Polish truck drivers with my amazing harmonica skills

3. My journey to Jebuc, the tiny Hungarian village in Romanian Transylvania

4. How I learned how “Do you speak English?” is not an effective pick up line

5. The night I slept in a park like a bum

6. How to choose a hitchhiking spot – Casey’s Five Point Plan

Well, I hope that you have enjoyed my narrative of my life over the last month. I hope that the next month will continue to provide me with many experiences, lessons and anecdotes. To finish, I would like to use a quote. Whilst I don't agree with it, I can tell you that after a couple of hours waiting by the side of the road, your mind will start to think it!

"The good thing about hitchhiking is that the assholes drive right on by" - Unknown

Almaty, Kazakhstan to Istanbul, Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Our final days in Asia have finally arrived after an incredibly short, experience-rich, five months! We flew through Kazakhstan, jet through Georgia and rocketed through the wonders of Turkey. The Earthbound Astronauts are preparing to briefly part but not before completing their time in Asia with style. The adventure continues!

To listen to the podcast click here!

Almaty, Kazakhstan - June 1^st – June 6^th

We arrived in Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan really unsure of what to expect. Unfortunately the movie ‘Borat’ had tainted our ideas about this formidably mysterious country. When we arrived in Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan, we were incredibly surprised. Almaty was originally the capital of Kazakhstan, and for some unknown reason, the government decided that a city in the middle of nowhere, Astana, would be the capital. Coming from the concrete jungles that were Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, we were amazed to see that Almaty was one of the most revitalizing cities we’ve visited yet. A city that was beautifully positioned beneath snow-capped mountains, a sight that was becoming increasingly familiar throughout our travels in Central Asia.

We used our time in Almaty to recharge our depleting motivation. Originally we had big plans to venture away from the city into the surrounding wilderness, however these were ‘dampened’ by a torrential downpour, flooding both the city streets and our ambition. Seeing this as a sign, we decided to spend our remaining days exploring the city. This involved visiting the museum to discover that Tuesday was the only day it was closed, determining Kazak kebabs were a godsend and realising vodka was the most prominent and possibly cheapest beverage available. Finally feeling rejuvenated; we were ready to progress onto the newly founded capital.

Astana, Kazakhstan - June 7^th – June 10^th

Arriving in Astana by train, we were completely disorientated by our lack of city knowledge and the resulting sterility produced by a patchwork of contrasting architectural styles. After catching a public bus and arriving in the vicinity of the only hostel we knew about, we spent the better part of an hour deciphering the hostel address, a highly elusive residential apartment. Exploring the city with a maniacally peculiar Ukrainian character, we gawked at the conflicting architectural anomalies that are precariously placed around the capital. A very peculiar aspect of the city was the lack of street based restaurants replaced by a large number of malls and their subsequent food courts. We were lucky enough to make a Kazak friend in our hostel, a relationship that was purely based on our mutual use of Google translate, a very interesting and surprisingly lucrative medium for building a friendship. A few days in Astana were more then enough for us to comfortably farewell Kazakhstan. We boarded a plane to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, which afforded us the melancholy experience of staying a night in an airport during a layover in Almaty.

Tbilisi, Georgia - June 11^th & 12^th June

Casey and I fearfully observed Tbilisi reveal itself through the plane window, another potential concrete abyss. Wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into, we nervously caught the bus into the city centre towards our hostel. Probably due to our partial prejudice, we mistook the grand ‘Freedom Square’ for a random roundabout that had a very similar symmetry to the actually phenomenal attraction. After searching for our hostel for two hours we eventually realised we were on the wrong side of the river, obviously our navigational abilities hadn’t improved. When we found our hostel, it was positioned in a surprisingly beautiful cobblestoned area of the city. It turned out that Tbilisi was a very westernised city with a very good mixture of both modern and historical buildings, our first true introduction to Europe. The city didn’t have too much to see from a tourist’s perspective, the two main sights revolved around an old fortress, which acted as a city viewing point, and Freedom Square, which we used as a place to observe everyday people. Whilst in Tbilisi, we also met Paul who is travelling the world… on a bicycle, which completely puts our journey to shame. It was at this point we started to notice tourist numbers were on the increase, especially annoying ones…

Sighnaghi, Georgia - June 13^th – June 15^th

Hearing that Georgia was known for its wineries, we felt obliged to travel to the wine region to see for ourselves. We arrived in Sighnaghi, a town that was contained within the walls of a well-preserved fortress. Our guesthouse had a spectacular view of surrounding vineyards, acting as a placebo to improve the taste of the local wine, which was stored in a recycled plastic coke bottle. We organised a winery tour the following day, which turned out to be more of a monastery tour, lacking the copious amounts of wine we were hoping for.

Batumi, Georgia - June 16^th – June 18^th

Preparing to cross from Georgia into Turkey, we headed to the town of Batumi, next to the Black Sea. Batumi acts as the port of Georgia from Eastern Europe acting as a funnel of tourists from Europe into Asia. As we attempted to orchestrate our arrival into Turkey we explored Batumi, which did not seem to have that much to offer on a sightseeing basis. Georgia was definitely a small preview of Europe.

Cappadocia, Turkey - June 19^th – June 21^st

We arrived into the Cappadocia area in central turkey ready to start our fast paced Turkish adventure. Cappadocia is a very famous tourist destination due to ancient houses that were hollowed out of volcanic stone, setting a fantastic ambience. After trying to stay at the Flintstone Cave hotel, which inevitably was the name of numerous establishments in the area, we settled in a hotel that had a fantastic rooftop view of our surrounding landscape. After seeing the price of tourist tours, we decided to see the main sites ourselves. Whilst walking around a deserted area of caves, we decided to rest in a blissfully shady cave that was actually a centuries old church, which just helps describes the immense majesty of the area. We slowly started to see an increase of Australians, which was highlighted by the number of Australian themed hotels and restaurants.

Selçuk, Turkey - June 22^nd – June 24^th

We headed to Turkey’s west to see the largest Greek ruins in the Mediterranean, Ephesus. Ephesus was fantastic! We walked along a marble pathway that was once the thoroughfare of an incredibly vibrant and ever-changing city. Ephesus was a true architectural spectacle, complete with an enormous amphitheatre and surprisingly well preserved sculptures. The weather we enjoyed whilst in Turkey on a whole was perfect, even though we did get a taste of what the sweltering heat of the Mediterranean was like. As we continued speeding through Turkey we readied ourselves for the Australian pilgrimage to Gallipoli.

Eceabat, Turkey - June 25^th & 26^th June

We arrived in Eceabat, the town where we’d access Gallipoli. Unbeknown to us both, whilst on the bus, we actually crossed from the Asian continent to Europe an exciting milestone to reach after our four and a half month adventure. As soon as we’d arrived at our Australian themed hostel, we booked our Gallipoli tour for that day. The tour took us to all the important sites starting with ANZAC cove. It was difficult to imagine that this beautifully tranquil piece of coastline was the setting for such violent bloodshed only a century ago. It was great to see the amount of respect that was obviously poured into maintaining the memorials and the sites. The Gallipoli area is also an important site to the Turks. This is understandable because, to them, this campaign was a success, even though they lost approximately ten times the number of soldiers as the ANZACS.

Istanbul, Turkey - June 27^th – June 30^th

We’d finally arrived at our final destination together, the Turkish capital, Istanbul. This vibrant metropolis was incomparable to any other, so historically rich yet refreshingly modern. It was easy to see how this city had acted as a centralized point of trade throughout suceeding civilisations. We visited Taksim Square hoping to observe some of the tensions, yet the heightened police presence seemed to have dispelled the majority of the drama. Even though we wanted to visit the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, the exorbitant entrance fees convinced us to enjoy them both externally. A sight that couldn’t be missed was the Blue Mosque. The mosque was colossal yet equally as exquisite. The majesty of the Blue Mosque was rivaled by the Basilica Cistern, the site of water storage for the ancient city. It was amazing to see the multitude of pillars that had been taken from various sources through out the ages.

The fabled Grand Bazaar was a sore disappointment for us both as we expected a much more raw experience and were ultimately confronted with a glorified shopping mall. However, the Spice Market, next to the Bosphorus, exceeded expectations. The Spice Market is just what it sounds like, exotic spices, dried friends, tea and every type of Turkish delight imaginable. I was not a fan of Turkish delight before this experience, but my opinion has completely changed! Istanbul was a fantastic place, but you can feel a bit lost in such an active city.

Casey and I said our goodbyes in Istanbul, both heading into Bulgaria, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. As we part, to continue our journeys separately, our appreciation of the places we’ve been, the places we’ve yet to visit and the inevitable impact that this opportunity has had on us both, as one of ongoing self-discovery, continues to grow.

Keep posted.

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Almaty, Kazakhstan

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 11:35:00 +0000

Yet again, a blog and podcast is more then overdue! We have navigated our way through the deserts of Mongolia, circumvented the world’s second largest saline lake in Kyrgyzstan and arrived in the home country of Borat, Kazakhstan. The Earthbound Astronauts have truly landed in Central Asia, pleasantly overwhelmed by antics!

To listen to the podcast click Here!

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - May 12^th – May 14^th

We both had heard differing opinions of Mongolia, yet all negatively portrayed the capital, Ulaanbaatar, ironically coined “The city of nomads”. We, however, were determined to arrive in Ulaanbaatar with an open mind unhindered by prejudices formed by others or by our interesting experience in the border town. As we arrived, it became evident as to how hard that would be; presented with a city that was a jungle of concrete and dirt, completely void of any positive emotion. It was our first encounter of a former soviet state and, unfortunately, the soviet influence had definitely left its mark. Not only was there an aesthetic unfamiliarity but as the predominate second language was Russian, communication became just as foreign.

We decided to stay in Ulaanbaatar just long enough to apply for Kazakh visas. As it was the weekend, we had a few days to explore. Surprisingly, on Sunday, Ulaanbaatar was completely lifeless. For those that listen to the podcast, you would know that we had our first run in with an opportunistic thief trying to ’liberate’ my wallet from my pocket, not helping improve our already fragile opinion of Ulaanbaatar. Heading straight to the Kazak embassy the following morning, we somehow had our incomplete applications accepted even though the embassy employee was shocked as to why we even wanted to visit Kazakhstan especially without an invitation. Elated to have the opportunity to escape the capital, we began to devise a plan to leave. To our pleasant surprise, we serendipitously teamed up with the aforementioned Dutch couple, Frans and Sien, and a Finnish/Swiss stallion, Nik, deciding to head to Dalanzadgad, the capital of a southern province and the gateway to the largest of the 32 Gobis or deserts. A day before leaving, Casey, Nik and myself ventured out to a nearby town to visit a small monastery. This is where Casey and I had our first taste of hitchhiking as we jumped into the back of a truck to get to the monastery. We were then offered a lift returning us to the capital, which was our first true glimpse of Mongolian hospitality. Sadly, after being in Tibet so recently, we had been partially desensitized to monasteries, and this one certainly lacked intrigue.

Leaving Ulaanbaatar was a true saga as if we were stuck in a malicious gravitational field. After first going to a bus station that did not have buses to Dalanzadgad, we were mislead by ‘taxi’ drivers that kept our friend’s packs hostage until we paid multiples of what was initially agreed for a ride to the correct station. After finding the robust soviet van heading to our destination and being told we had five hours to wait, even after we offered to pay for the remaining seats to leave then, we waited next to the “Black Market” for almost four hours before being told our negotiated price was now acceptable, even though the van was now full of people. Miraculously, we finally departed for Dalanzadgad arriving the following morning, but not before enduring two flat tires and a five-hour breakdown.

Dalanzadgad & tour - May 15^th – May 19^th

Dalanzadgad was a small town situated amidst incredibly arid terrain. Finding a hotel for the night and having a tour organised twenty minutes after arrival marked the beginning of our amazing adventure in the Gobi. Amusingly, as we just arrived in our hotel room our van driver’s friend followed us into the room used our toilet, took a piece of our salami, smiled at us and then left to the bewilderment of us all. This town did however contain a few hazards that Casey and I both seemed to encounter. I stepped on and partially entered a poorly secured manhole and Casey, whilst venturing back from attempting photography of the stars, plummeted into an unmarked pit, protecting his camera, but losing the key to our hotel room…

We were collected the following morning by our driver in a Russian van identical to the multitude of others we’d seen. We drove through some incredibly diverse terrain, roads and signage a non-existent luxury, relying on the instincts and experience of the driver to navigate through this extremely foreign environment. Arriving at our first ger (tent or “yurt” in Russian) camp situated next to an immense sand dune, we all decided to climb the sand wall to inspect the other side and visualise the landscape we had just traversed. We struggled up the deceptively sheer dune where at the top we marveled at the sand dunes on one side and the incomprehensible greenery on the other. Racing down the dune proved to be the easiest part of the trek, and the most enjoyable, especially as I witnessed Casey trip and hit his face in the sand. The day was then completed by an anticlimactic camel ride that involved our uncontrollable camels relishing the opportunity to eat, prompting the guide to make us grab the reigns of the camel behind, forming a caravan of camel riding shame. Returning to the ger camp surrounded by goats we spent our first night in a Mongolian ger.

After another day driving in the Mongolian wilderness and viewing a canyon where a copious number of dinosaur bones had been found, we arrived at our second ger camp, which was home to a large Mongolian family. Staying in what we believe to be the ‘living room’ ger, we were introduced to various games using sheep knuckles. Feeding us like they thought we’d never been fed before, we stomached traditional Mongolian pasta and rice filled with fat and sand and drank traditional camel milk tea, of which I am not the biggest fan. Enthused by the kindness of the family, Casey and Nik were ushered over to help catch baby goats and place them into a small pen, a highlight for them both. The following day we visited a national park that contained an ice river where we had the opportunity to walk along the ice and marvel at the amazing ice formations. This marked the end of our short tour in the Gobi as we returned to Dalanzadgad in preparation to return to Ulaanbaatar the following day.

Ulaanbaatar - May 20^th & May 21^st

Catching a public bus rather then an unpredictable Russian van turned out to be a very successful experience. We did not need to stop for mechanical reasons and the trip, which had taken us sixteen hours a few days before, only took eight hours to return us to the capital. It was by this point that the capital was a welcome sight as we all looked forward to a meal that had either a little more flavour or less density then food we’d been eating over the previous days. We celebrated collecting our passports from the Kazak embassy, complete with a visa, a triumph for us both. This afforded us another three days before we had to be in the capital to catch our flight to Bishkek, another great opportunity to see another part of Mongolia.

Torelj - May 22^nd – May 24^th

Casey found the Torelj national park, approximately seventy kilometres from Ulaanbaatar, which contained numerous tourist ger camps and, the major attraction, a golf course. Feeling enthusiastically confident about the direction we needed to travel we started walking with the intention of adopting the common Mongolian practice of hitching a ride. We walked over ten kilometres before we decided it was time to raise the arm indicating the desire for a life. Less then thirty seconds passed before our first car stopped to offer us a ride. The first car travelled about a kilometre before stopping at a group of houses. Our spirits partially dampened, Casey sort out a luxury car parked on the side of the road who quickly offered us a lift to our destination. Dropping us off at the entrance to the national park, we thanked the driver for his hospitality and continued following a dirt road adjacent to a beautiful river. After walking for about twenty minutes we caught our third and final ride. This driver attempted to communicate with us and even made a call to his English speaking wife asking her to translate that we would pick her up on the way and that she would recommend a good location. After picking up our driver’s lovely wife, they dropped us at Turtle Rock (a rock shaped like a turtle) leaving us with both advice and her business card incase we needed anything translated.

Walking past Turtle Rock, heading down a dirt road towards a monastery, we saw a small group of gers. We approached the camp and were welcomed by an incredibly jolly man who welcomed us with open arms. We spent the afternoon relaxing looking forward to the impending golf game the following day. Waking early and walking the five kilometres to the Chinggis Khan Country Club to play golf, we were severely disappointed when we discovered a game of golf would cost us $80AUD each, a price we refused to pay. In defeat, we decided to climb an incredibly steep hill before travelling overland to return to our ger camp. This saw us accidently encounter a marsh, which I, unfortunately, was a victim. We left the following day, catching a ride with a British woman we’d met at the camp, but not before the man embraced us both, completing our amazing experience in the national park and solidifying our opinion of the nomadic Mongolian people.

As we returned to the concrete capital, it was hard not to reminisce about our time in Mongolia and the pleasant unfamiliarity of a country and people whom are trying to create their own identity after so recently being part of such a uniform regime. The following day we headed to the airport preparing to enter our first ‘Stan’, farewelling a society, which had sincerely proven that superficial appearances can be deceiving.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - May 25^th & May 26^th

We hesitantly arrived in Bishkek with an unfortunate stereotype of the ‘Stans’ affixed in our minds. After leaving the airport and catching a van through an incredibly green city to a large apartment complex, which turned out to contain our poorly marked hotel, we were slightly shocked to realise that the private room we had paid $20AUD each for was in fact a vacated family bedroom/lounge room. This was also topped off by the fact there was no door on the room and the family was sleeping in the kitchen. As we walked down the streets of Bishkek, premiering our money belts, it was obvious that people could see we were tourists and stared at us with the cold, interrogating stare we’d first met in Ulaanbaatar. Spending an extra day in Bishkek before we were going to depart for the countryside, we decided to see a movie, Star Trek 2. After enjoying the incredibly cheap price to see the movie and the fact that we could bring a beer into the cinema, we were slightly taken aback when the movie was in Russian… A first for everything. One positive thing that can be said about Kyrgyzstan though is that the pastries and breads are amazing! We were told by our incredibly hospitable ‘hotel’ manager that Bishkek was incredibly safe, which filled us with a mild sense of confidence to venture out and see the city square at night. This was a great experience as we saw fountains in the square luminesced by surrounding lights and people roller-skating. Yet again, our predetermined prejudice and hesitation seemed unfounded.

Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan - May 27^th – May 31^th

Leaving the uneventful capital, we headed to the tourist town, Choplan-Ata, on the northern side of Lake Issyk-Kul, the world’s second largest saline lake. Amusingly, a taxi driver asked Casey where he was from. After Casey answered, the taxi driver exclaimed “What are you doing here?! You crazy!”, a statement that amused us to no endh. As we arrived at this completely desolate town, we luckily found a pink hotel down a side street at a reasonable price. Wanting to explore this beach we had heard so much praise for in Bishkek, we headed to the edge of the lake. Walking along a dirt road past a plethora of abandoned shipping containers that had once contained shops foreshadowed what we were about to encounter. As we found the beach, it was obvious that this potentially once vibrant and prominent site was now a product of neglect, completely tarnished by a human presence.

Staying only a night in Choplan-Ata, we progressed onto Karakol, a town to the far east of the saline lake. Finding a hostel that was highly recommended by Lonely Planet, we decided to spend three nights in this sullen town. After spending a day recuperating we decided to visit the Karokol Valley. We walked about ten kilometres out of town before we reached the ticketing booth of the national park. Being prewarned to ensure we received a receipt, we had a very amusing conversation with a park ranger who attempted to barter a price to enter the national park without a ticket, no doubt a potential source of his side income. The valley was extremely beautiful as we walked past rolling hills covered in greenery and a bubbling brook all incorporated by a backdrop of snow capped peaks. It was hard to avoid thinking that the beauty of the landscape was tainted by humanity. In an ironic response to our criticism, we were offered a lift back into town by a very hospitable family. The following day we caught the bus back to Bishkek, where in just a few days we had lost the hesitation and gained the confidence to walk down the street with conviction without pondering our safety or the safety of our belongings. A true story of growth.

We have just arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. That brings us to now. Entering these two very different yet comparable countries has taught us both some vital lessons. As we continue to travel the world we see differing cultures and the hardships they have and continue to overcome on a daily basis. We are starting to gain an appreciation of why certain cultures seem superficially cold, abrasive and intimidating unreceptive. Whether it is due to past necessity or the effects of rapid change, it is obvious that these cultures we have experienced are true products of both their history and environments. With this in mind, I cannot avoid personally reflecting upon our own culture, pondering the differing perceptions people form of us through their varied experiences of our country and it’s people.

Keep posted.

Vientiane, Laos to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:42:00 +0000

Wow! It’s been a long time since the last post, but we have been going strong and there is a lot to catch up on! Casey and I have enjoyed our time in both China and Tibet and have ventured forth into the unknown of Mongolia! I have a lot of information to cover, so I’m taking a slightly different tack and writing about location rather then day-by-day. Welcome back and enjoy!

To listen to our more then overdue podcast click here!

Vientiane & Luang Prabang, Laos - Mar 28^th to Apr 3^rd

After enduring Vientiane in all is ‘grandeur’ (or incredible lack there of!), we decided to continue on to Luang Prabang, the popular pinnacle of Lao tourism. Luang Prabang was a truly beautiful town, isolated from the majority of westernizations. The town was very laidback, making it easy to lose track of days. With the sites of the town consisting of a mighty 32 wats, the Pak Ou Buddha caves on the Mekong and the magnificently formed Kuang Si waterfall, it was easy to see why Luang Prabang was a highlight for anyone venturing into Laos. We joined a tour to see both the Buddha caves, which were naturally occurring caves consisting of Buddhas of all shapes and denominations, and the waterfall. The waterfall and associated pools were a truly majestic sight. Deposits of calcium had created a tiered waterway while simultaneously making the water an intricately deep turquoise. Casey enthusiastically photographed the landscape before we both relished the opportunity to swim in the beautifully temperate water.

Feeling that we were finally ready to farewell South East Asia, we organised a bus to Kunming in the Yunnan province, China, but not before I had the displeasure of joining Casey in the age bracket of the mid-twenties.

Kunming, China - Apr 4^th to Apr 9^th

After successfully entering China with near to no issues we reached our first point of call, Kunming. Kunming was our first real reintroduction to the western world in two months! Tempted by Maccas, KFC and a Chinese fast food chain, Dickos, we needed to employ self-control to avoid blowing our budget and maintaining our semi-authentic cultural experience. This was also where we fruitlessly tried to satisfy our hunger for fried dumplings, which in hindsight aren’t as common in china as Australian Chinese restaurants depict. An hour and a half from Kunming is a popular local tourist attraction that Casey was desperate to see, The Stone Forest. As the name suggests, the attraction was in fact an impressive forest of stone. Unfortunately, the forest was partially ruined by the sheer number of tourists and the attempt to convert the natural beauty of the site into an artificial amusement park, a more then common occurrence around China. The amount the Chinese government was involved in controlling the population was slowly becoming evident as we discovered we were blocked from accessing Facebook and our blog, and the number of police had multiplied since our time in parts of South East Asia where we didn’t even know what a policeman looked like. We then continued on to Guilin, only a torturous 24-hour seated train ride away.

Guilin, China - Apr 10^th & Apr 11^th

Guilin was a quaint town that we were using as a gateway to the awe-inspiring town, Yangshuo. We still enjoyed Guilin; where you can find a plethora of differing and exotic Chinese foods including self-selected skewers fried in a chilli sauce that really stimulates the taste buds!

Yangshou, China - Apr 12^th to Apr 16^th

Yangshou is the town that inspired the floating mountains in the blockbuster movie Avatar. It was incredible to see landmasses rising from the flat surrounding terrain in such close proximity to buildings as if the locals were oblivious to this formidable backdrop. The main tourist street, West St, was saturated by Chinese tourists (that included all nightclubs), which was refreshing, having recently escaped the tourist demographic of South East Asia. After seeing bike rental businesses all around town, Casey and I decided that would be the best way to see the incredible landscape. We, of course, needed to do this in style so we hired a tandem bicycle. We inevitably were a spectacle, as people did not see two large bearded westerners riding a tandem bike regularly. Yangshou was a truly magical location and it was easy to see why this was such an iconic site.

Shanghai, China - Apr 17^th to Apr 21^st

After another grueling 24-hour seated train ride we arrived in westernized Shanghai. Now, Shanghai is an amazing city and is definitely one of my favourite cities we’ve visited thus far. Casey having visited China twice before was able to act as my tour guide around some of the ‘cultural’ sites such as the main shopping street, East-Nanjing rd, and a local electronics market where sales people were ruthless for a sale. Not only were we targets for people trying to lure us to teahouses, but Casey is convinced he was offered ‘services’ by a guy in the male toilets. It was also in Shanghai we decided to obtain visas for Mongolia, which ended up being incredibly easy and falsely foreshadowed what we would expect from our next country, but more about that later. The highlight of Shanghai for us, and inevitably the people that have to look at us, was the shaving of our beards. I bravely opted for full facial hair removal where as Casey decided to only trim his facial monstrosity. As we farewelled our homeless look and welcomed back a small amount of class, we prepared for the jewel of our Chinese adventure, a tour in Tibet.

Lhasa, Tibet - Apr 22^nd to May 2^nd

Our visit to Tibet had been an impromptu decision whilst we were in Luang Prabang, and even though we had to join an intensively organised tour to see this mysteriously isolated area, the organisation of permits and payments still added complication to our very fragile plan. Whilst in Shanghai everything had finally come together (except monetary issues with the company that continued into our first few days in Lhasa, involving calls from our travel agent ‘Debbie’ whilst we were inside sacred Buddhist monasteries...). We had organised to catch two 48 hour trains to both arrive in and depart from Lhasa after our eight day tour of Lhasa and the Mount Everest Base Camp (EBC).

We boarded the train in Shanghai and both got comfortable in our hard sleepers on the highest level in our cabin of six beds. This was an interesting train ride for numerous reasons, not only did the train reach an elevation of 5000m while we ogled the beauty of the Tibetan Plateau, but we also had to adjust to having about 50cm between our beds and the ceiling of the cabin. Elated to have arrived in Lhasa, we were welcomed by the sight of extremely heightened security. We were collected by a guide holding a sheet of paper garnishing our names and taken to our three star hotel, which was possibly the nicest we had stayed in thus far. Lhasa was exquisite! As we drove through the streets for the first time, we were met by a strange mixture of present day domineering China fused with the repressed, yet courageously prevalent, Tibetan culture, all on a formidable backdrop of snow capped peaks. Every Tibetan person we met was so merry and friendly, solidifying our opinion of the Tibetan people as the kindest and warmest we have encountered thus far.

The following morning (whilst I was battling with a slight level of altitude sickness) our freshly formed tour group visited the oldest Buddhist temple in Lhasa, the Jokhang temple, and the surrounding Barkhor st, a remnant of old Lhasa. This was followed by a visit to the Potala Palace, the rightful residence of the exiled 14^th Dalai Llama. The Potala Palace was magnificent, a structure that commanded respect by its sheer position above the town and the deep religious significance the palace held to each and every Tibetan. The intricacies of the palace were a marvel in themselves as we caught a glimpse of the spiritual ideologies that form the cornerstone of Tibetan culture. Throughout the following days we saw a multitude of monasteries such as the Drepung monastery, the Sera Monastery and the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. All the monasteries we visited were unique in so many ways, differentiated primarily by the founding denomination of Tibetan Buddhism or the particular focus of worship. Unfortunately, due to the number of monasteries we visited, it became increasingly difficult to distinguish them from each other, however, this did not subtract from their individual majesty. We did have the privilege of seeing monks debating in a courtyard, which they use as a method of revising their teachings. This was a very impressive sight as we were able to see monks in their natural environment.

Travelling from Lhasa to EBC was incredibly impressive as we skirted the beautifully vibrant Yamtso Tso Lake and scaled vastly steep mountain ranges whilst enduring frequent police checkpoints and permit checks. After staying a night in the very authentic Tibetan Rongpuk Monastery, which is the first EBC, we were taken to the second and third Tibetan EBC. Mount Everest was a spectacular sight! Casey and I were truly mesmerized by the beauty of the peak and the highest point on Earth, a sight that makes you ponder the magnificence of nature. We had reached the pinnacle of our tour, so we then began the decent back to Lhasa and inevitably our return to reality outside of Tibet. We boarded another 48-hour train, this time to Beijing, continuing to gestate the experiences we had gained and the memories we will forever cherish. I cannot mention our time in Tibet without mentioning our German friends Thomas and Hanna. It was more then a pleasure to meet them both and a definite highlight of the tour and our travels thus far.

Beijing, China - May 3^rd to May 8^th

Arriving into Beijing demonstrated that our time in China was drawing to an end before we departed to Mongolia. We were determined to be proactive and visit the Kazakhstani embassy to obtain visas for our distant arrival; we, unfortunately, were met by about fifty well-prepared Chinese nationals, which ruined even the slightest chance of obtaining even the forms required. Determined to make sure this day of enthusiasm was not in vain, we continued to the train station to buy tickets to the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. We were again met with disappointment as we were told that they could not sell international train tickets at the train station and we would have to visit the “International Hotel”. After visiting said hotel and refusing to pay the $200AUD for a ticket, we determined that we could reach the border town by train and, at the insistence of our hostel manager, would still be able to leave the country before our visa expired, which is profoundly frowned upon by Chinese customs officials.

We booked a tour to see the Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. As amazing as the Great Wall really is, the highlight of the day was getting to toboggan down after walking the steep incline of the wall. The construction of the Great Wall is truly impressive and it’s hard to believe that it stretched as far as 6000km. As Casey had already seen the Forbidden City, I ventured to the well-known sight solo before meeting Casey at the Chinese national museum. The Forbidden City was amazing and is definitely a testament to the Chinese dynasties of the past. However, I must admit that the number of security personnel and cameras around the Forbidden City and Tiananman Square was a true spectacle in itself and took away from the whole experience. Casey and I were able to use our time in Beijing to not only decide on our plans for the next few months, but also book some flights to ensure our continued world journey.

We were both ready to say our goodbyes to China and boarded the train to the tiny border town, Erlian, the only point where tourists can cross from China to Mongolia.

Zamin Uud, Mongolia - May 9^th to May 11^th

Waking up in Erlian still in possession of all our belongings was a good start to the day that, unbeknown to us both, was only going to get longer. We fortunately met a nice Dutch couple that we decided to accompany across the border. Now, the border between China and Mongolia can only be crossed by car, and only certain cars are allowed to cross. So after an hours walk to the first border checkpoint we had to pay for a jeep. After paying a guy and getting into his vehicle we waited by the side of the road waiting for him to drive before another vehicle pulled up that we were ushered into. This new vehicle crossed the first checkpoint, but the driver was then abused by a solider and made to turn back. We, again, waited at the first checkpoint until we saw our first driver exiting from the second checkpoint guard station. We then successfully managed to cross the second checkpoint and were dropped at Chinese immigration and the vehicle entered the line so we would be met on the opposing side to continue our journey. We crossed immigration, relieved to know our visas were still current (with only four hours remaining), and continued to wait for our driver. After waiting 45 minutes we came to the upsetting conclusion that we had been left at the first immigration stop and would need to find another ride to continue. This was quite an issue as most cars had people hanging out the sides at any rate and luggage on the roofs and bonnets. Luckily, a jeep was just about to leave the third checkpoint and saw an opportunity to make some money and welcomed us in, there were now nine people crammed into the jeep. With Casey sitting on my lap and both our packs unsecured on the bonnet, we arrived at Mongolian immigration before repeating the process and arriving in our first Mongolian town, Zamin Uud.

When arriving in the barren wasteland that was Zamin Uud, we headed straight to the train station to secure train tickets to Ulaanbaatar that night. We discovered that there is no order in the train station, after waiting two and a half hours in one line, Casey had moved, yet it was possibly a metre in the wrong direction whilst being sandwiched between two Mongolian women. I, joined by my Dutch friend, was lucky enough to reach the front of the line where after waiting for two hours was told that the tickets were sold out and that we were unable to buy tickets for the following day until morning. Leaving the train station incredibly frustrated we eventually found an incredibly overpriced hotel that had a shower but no water. We then ventured to a restaurant and managed to consume a very oily meal that was supposed to resemble a steak.

The following morning we again went to the train station to try and secure tickets for that night. There were four police officers present that had managed to form three almost orderly lines in front of the three ticketing booths and were stopping people from joining at any point. Casey and I, each with one of our Dutch friends, joined two separate lines. The police presence was great until they decided to leave when I was still ten people away from the window. This caused an abrupt amount of both pushing and general chaos. Luckily, the police returned and we were able to buy four tickets to the capital. Whilst on the topic of chaos, I have almost been hit by cars twice since our arrival in Mongolia. My theory is that no one needs to drive properly because the police are busy maintaining order in the train station… We easily jumped on the train and arrived in Ulaanbaatar the following day, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. Our opinion of Mongolia so far is not great, but we are hoping that the border town is not a true reflection on the remaining country. We have found this to generally be the case in other countries and still have high hopes for the remainder of Mongolia.

That brings us to now. There was a lot of time to cover and I’ve skimmed over some truly amazing experiences and locations, but it’s a pretty good overview of what we’ve been up to. Our time in China and Tibet was amazing, the people and the landscapes are truly incredible, and I feel lucky to have been able to see so much of it in such a small amount of time.

To keep you all in the loop, Casey and I have booked a few flights for the next few months for: Astana, Kazakhstan to Tbilisi, Georgia; Casablanca, Morocco to Amman, Jordan and Cairo, Egypt to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also, Casey has enrolled to do a two week course in intercultural experience in Germany and I have enrolled in a two month long intensive French course in Lyon, France. So we definitely have some pretty exciting things to look forward to in the coming months. As always our love goes to our friends and families and we hope everyone is well and enjoying their own adventures. We are now back on the radar and have unrestricted access to Facebook and the blog, so we’ll make sure we don’t leave it too long.

Keep posted.

Earthbound Astronauts have landed in China!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:51:00 +0000

Just to let every one know, we are in safe and well in China. Unfortunately due to the Chinese internet firewall, we are unable to access the blog to post anything (other then a way I found to use the internet unrestricted for 10 minutes). We are currently planning our trip to Tibet, hopefully it'll all work out and we'll have plenty of exciting things to tell you when we post next. Hope everyone is well back home. Keep posted!

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Vientiane, Laos

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:02:00 +0000

We have a lot to catch up on! We have regrettably finished our journey through the intriguingly beautiful Vietnam and have arrived in Laos to continue northward on our voyage to the red giant, China.

To listen to the podcast click Here!

Due to the sheer number of days since the previous blog, I have combined days spent in the same location. Enjoy.

Mar 8^th

We had previously organised to reunite with two girls we had met whilst on Koh Samet, Sofie and Mari, and join them slowly staggering north to the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. Having jointly decided with the girls to leave Ho Chi Minh City the following day, this left us all with a full day to see as much as we possibly could of this Vietnamese metropolis. We used the morning to visit the war remnants museum, which had been cringingly described to us as an emotionally evoking experience similar to that faced at the S-21 museum in Phnom Penh. After walking in the heat and humidity that accompanies all large Asian cities, we arrived at a museum surrounded by varying types of grounded aircraft and decommissioned armored vehicles, all marked with the badge of US possession. As we entered the museum, we yet again were reminded of the atrocities of war and the continued struggle consecutive generations face due the effects of Agent Orange. Unbeknown to use both, the museum closed at 12 and would not reopen for an hour and a half, we felt we had satisfied the required visit and left the museum slightly relieved. However, the lack of complete objectivity in this museum did play on my mind, as there was clear bias towards the North Vietnamese. This contrasted heavily with my favourite museum, the Berlin history museum, which chronologically explores the checkered history of Germany in a purely objective manor. Regardless, the war remnants museum was a good introduction to the brutal war a mere 40 to 50 years earlier.

We had organised to travel with the girls to Nha Trang, primarily a beach town that was about 10 hours away by bus. It is at this point that I’ll mention that Sofie wasn’t feeling quite well at this point of our journey, which was a reoccurring theme over the next few days.

Mar 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12 & 13^th

We said goodbye to Ho Chi Minh City as we boarded the coast-bound bus, happy to be leisurely heading north along what we later found to be the tourist trail. The bus to Nha Trang took us passed some amazing scenic coastline and picturesque landscapes created by mountains that, without warning, disturbed the uniformly level terrain. As we stopped for lunch in another beach town called Mui Ne, we were introduced to our first taste of Russian tourist domination as English was superseded by Russian in all restaurants and shops. As we arrived in Nah Trang, we luckily arrived directly in front of a hotel that suited us perfectly for the duration of our stay. My only criticism is the fact that Casey and I were asked to change rooms twice starting with an amazing room that was for six people and finishing with a closet built for potentially one and a half. This was because a single girl wanted a balcony… The mind boggles.

As we arose the next morning, Mari told us that Sofie yet again was feverish and was an odd green colour, which strongly suggested a trip to the doctor. Waiting for both Sofie and Mari to return left Casey and I to endeavor to the beach where we were shocked to see rather large speedo wearing Russian men precariously scattered along the beach. As the girls returned we were again shocked to learn that Sofie had a mild case of Dengue fever and required three consecutive days of treatment each with a four-five hour session of intravenous fluid administration. Fortunately, this did not tarnish our time as Sofie started to feel fine after the first treatment, and could choose the time of sequential treatments over the following days. We then spent a few uneventful yet relaxing days visiting the beach and trying a plethora of restaurants in the area. We all also went to a massage parlor and enjoyed hour-long massages, something that was quite foreign to both Casey and myself. One night that stands out amongst the rest was the night we decided to visit a mall that had both a bowling alley and karaoke. After about an hour of karaoke in a private room that Casey informed us was not soundproof, I feel the staff were probably happy to farewell the Backstreet Boy singing Westerners.

We had decided to catch a night bus to the historic town of Hoi An. The night bus was an adventure in it’s self as we were given the seats at the back that, unlike all the other individualized seats, were five adjoining seats. This did not cause problems for our group of four, yet the lone Austrian girl that had been instructed to join us may have had a somewhat different experience.

Mar 14^th, 15^th, 16^th & 17^th

We arrived in Hoi An at an outrageously early eight o’clock before we, as was extremely common at the end of every bus journey, were hounded by people to stay at there hotel or employ their transport. We walked from the bus past rows of buildings and shops all coloured a rustic mustard, a reminder of the earlier French influence. We reached a hotel, which we later determined to be run by quite a shady group of people, who insisted we sign a handwritten agreement that if anything went missing from our room it was our responsibility. Unfortunately, Mari was stung by this policy as 500,000 dong (A$25) went ‘missing’ from her bag. After mentioning this missing money, our possessions luckily are still all accounted for. Hoi An was a beautiful town that had a spectacular old town that boasts a tantalizing mixture of Japanese, Chinese, French and Vietnamese influences. The sheer number of tailors made Hoi An the ideal place to go for specifically tailored items, a service we did not employ even though we were tempted by matching felt suits…

We spent a day with hired motorcycles and traveled to the UNESCO world cultural heritage site, the ancient Cham city of My Son. Unfortunately, the heritage site did not quite live up to the expectations of a UNESCO heritage site, but the highlight of the day was enjoying the formidable Vietnamese roads once more, with a passenger no less. Getting use to a slightly slower pace whilst traveling in a group suited us all and gave us a good opportunity to relax and reflect on our adventure thus far. It was very different traveling with another pair, but an extremely welcome and refreshing change. The next destination was chosen to be Hué and after being told by a hotel staff member that there were three types of seats on the bus and that the cheapest seat type was unavailable, we bought the tickets that were not near the bus toilet at a dearer price. When boarding the bus for the 4 hour journey we evidently had been conned by the hotel again as this approximately 20 seat bus did not have a toilet or seating allocation. This finalized our time in Hoi An, a place where the buildings are incredibly beautiful, yet tourism had obviously impacted this town, at least partially, for the worst.

The next town of Hué was equally as beautiful and our opinion of the people was in a much more positive light. Once again, when we got of the bus, we were dropped at a hotel, the Google Hotel, which was the nicest we have stayed in thus far. We had free Wi-Fi, free coffee all day, free beer after five o’clock, breakfast for US$1 and large rooms with proper showers that had been lacking from each and every room we had previously stayed.

Mar 18^th, 19^th & 20^th

Mari had innovatively suggested we all compete in a self-created scavenger hunt, which saw each member of the group contribute specific tasks to complete with the intention of being issued a corresponding number of points, the team successfully gaining the most points would be named victorious. Some of the more exciting tasks included: swimming in the river, fitting three choco-pies in your mouth, dancing in the street, wearing team uniforms, wearing a rice hat in all photos and finding a German. Every task was required to be completed with corresponding photographic evidence so each team could successfully claim the points associated with the task. Though it was an extremely close battle, I am happy to say that Sofie and I took out the title of Scavenger hunt 2013 victors, earning ourselves a dinner purchased by the opposing team. The scavenger hunt proved to be a great way to see the city, but traveling’s not all fun and games, our hotel staff made us drink a few beers while playing pool and were upset when we decided to stop drinking free beer… Stressful life.

With our Vietnamese visas ending on the 27^th, we were keen to head to Hanoi and travel on to the fabled Ha Long Bay. We boarded another night bus where, like all transport in Asia, we battled with seats obviously made for people of a smaller stature. We arrived in to Hanoi, again at an outrageously early time, at a bus stop on the outskirts of town. After finding a taxi to take us to the Old Quarter to find accommodation, we spent the day discussing potential ways to go to Ha Long Bay, enjoying the sites around Hoan Keim Lake, which Casey and Mari decided to run around. It is here that we also enjoyed crab spring rolls, potentially the best spring rolls I have ever tasted. We settled on a planned cruise of Ha Long Bay, which was three days and two nights aboard a junk (boat). This inevitably turned out to be a fantastic option.

Mar 21^st, 22^nd & 23^rd

We were picked up from our hotel by a bus that took four hours to reach Ha Long City where we boarded a small boat that took us to our awaiting junk. It was a slightly weathered three-story boat that consisted of cabins on the lower level, a dining room, kitchen and wheelhouse on the middle level and a deck with shelter on the upper level. The cabins were extremely nice, and included a very nice bathroom with a proper shower. A short while after settling in our rooms, a very indulgent lunch was served before we were to board the smaller boat to travel to the ‘surprising’ caves, which contained three caverns of increasing size which had been formed through the weathering of the stone over countless millennia. We then had the opportunity to jump in two-person kayaks and go around a few of the smaller islands that make up the much larger complex of infamous Ha Long Bay islands. We were ferried back to the junk, enjoyed another sumptuous meal before being left to our own devices. This included sitting on the deck and admiring the incredible number of other ships that were anchored in the same area as their lights dance on the surrounding, almost undisturbed, water.

The following day, a smaller two-story boat picked us up and took us for a very scenic journey to a cove where we had the opportunity to swim, kayak or relax. Casey and I took the opportunity to unobtrusively float around the cove wearing provided life jackets. They cooked lunch for us as they had done the previous day, to the extremely high standard, and then returned us to the junk where we had gained another group of passengers as some people chose to only spend one night on board. The most recent additions decided they’d take up the offer to do karaoke until just after 11, which was amusing at best. We then woke and enjoyed breakfast and lunch aboard the junk while it leisurely sailed back to the original port at Ha Long City. It was amazing, and equality upsetting, how fast the two nights had gone. We again boarded the bus in the opposing direction towards Hanoi, returning to our hotel as if our expedition to Ha Long Bay was just a distant memory or a reminiscent dream.

Mar 24^th & 25^th

Deciding we would leave Vietnam and the girls on the night of the 25^th, pushing our visa departure date to the utmost limit, we had a full day to farewell two people that we had become exceptionally close to over the passing weeks whilst still being able to enjoy what we were yet to see in Hanoi. In pairs, we ventured out into the city with the intention of seeing all we could. We were lucky enough to see the presidential palace, the outside of Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum (we couldn’t go in because it was only open from 8.30-10.30 every day except Monday and Friday) and enjoyed breakfast, lunch and dinner at one of the many highly recommended Gecko restaurants around Hanoi’s tourist area. Our final day in Vietnam was spent making sure we had everything we needed to leave and spending the fleeting time with our friends before they too left Hanoi that night. As we waited for our bus to collected us from the hotel we said a very somber goodbye knowing our paths would cross in the not too distant future.

Our hotel pick up was a man on a motorbike that drove in front of us as we followed him through the streets of Hanoi gradually gathering people. We boarded a small minibus that brought us to a hectic bus terminal. We then boarded the bus that was intended for our journey. I am fearful that Casey and I were accomplices to some kind of underground Oreo trade from Vietnam into Laos as a multitude of boxes filled the seats on the lower levels and under the bus. After being asked to sit in the two seats at the far back of the bus, the remainder of people’s luggage was sandwiched next to us. The bus was truly at capacity.

Mar 26^th & 27^th

No one knew how long the bus was suppose to take to get to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We were told 20 hours, yet judging by the copious number of unnecessary stops along the way, it could have taken us days. We woke on the morning of the 26^th parked at the front of the growing queue by the border awaiting the time it would open. We had a relatively smooth walk across the border where we walked about a kilometre on international soil before painlessly being issued our visa for entry into Laos. The bus ended up taking 25 hours to reach our destination; this was primarily due to the fact we stopped for a two-hour stop for an unknown reason and secondly, due a required tire change. We stepped off the bus relieved to have finally arrived and followed the people on the bus, all whom had bonded over the possibility of spending another night on the road, to a hostel. The hostel was quite nice, but lacked the privacy we were hoping to write the blog and podcast. The following day, we found a guesthouse to settle down in for the day providing an opportunity to write the more then overdue blog post. And that brings us to now!

I loved Vietnam; it was a beautiful country with an amazing culture and people. It has definitely been the highlight of the trip for me thus far. Our visa for China is valid for entry until the 8^th of April, leaving us just over a week before we want to cross the border. We really aren’t paying Laos the respect it deserves time wise, but we wont rush through the places we do chose to stay. We are hoping everyone is well back home. We are still loving traveling and going strong.

Keep posted.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:38:00 +0000

Yet again, it has been a while since we have posted a blog, a podcast or any photos, and for good reason. We’ve left Cambodia and have been “occupying” ourselves in Vietnam, but more about that later.

To listen to the podcast click here!

Feb 26^th

Unfortunately, the appeal of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, was purely due to the remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime and the reminder of Cambodian genocide a minute forty years before. The emotion of this day definitely outweighs any other on our trip thus far. The anxiety we both felt as we walked towards the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, which in the height of Khmer Rouge reign was known as Security prison 21 (S-21), was extremely burdening to say the least. S-21, was originally Tuol Svay Prey high school, a fact that is still more then evident at the museum. As we apprehensively visited each room of the three story buildings of the four that formed the complex, we caught glimpses of the horrific brutalities that occurred in each, contributing to a systematic regime of torture, interrogation and inhumane slaughter. The S-21 staff were meticulous with the information collected on each prisoner, this fact will haunt us both as we passed the photos of scared and confused men, women and children whom had succumbed to the mindless hate of their own people. After leaving S-21 in shock as we contemplated what man was truly capable, we still had one destination, the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. After much deliberation on whether we could emotionally handle another gruesome reminder of Khmer Rouge reign, we decided we should see this iconic resting place of nearly 17,000 innocent Cambodians.

As horrible as the Killing Fields really were, it was presently very tactfully and was a place of memory and tribute to the potential three million people killed during the three year and eight month Khmer Rouge reign. We were guided around the site by an audiotape stopping at gravesites, which had been adorned with mourners’ wristbands. The voice of the man that guided us on this journey will be a hard one to forget as was his wise words about genocide having occurred before and, hauntingly, the inevitability of it happening again in the future unknown, a chilling thought after witnessing the travesties that are so deeply engrained into the culture of each and every Cambodian. We then had a very solemn tuk tuk ride back to our hotel, lost in reflection trying to digest the emotional day piece by piece.

Feb 27^th

Deciding to stay an extra day in Phnom Penh, determined to finish our time in Cambodia on a high, we decided to walk to Psar Tuol Tom Pong or the “Russian Market” to conduct a bit of retail therapy and acquire me some new thongs as their predecessors were held together by a can ring pull found on the bridge at Angkor Wat. This proved to be quite an enjoyable endeavor as we left with items we had no intention of buying prior to our Russian Market experience. We had a nice dinner where Casey ambitiously ordered frog from the menu, which was actually quite nice, and prepared to leave Cambodia the next day. Our time in Cambodia has been a life experience that will never be forgotten by either of us, yet we were ready to leave and progress into the next leg of our trip, Vietnam.

Feb 28^th

We boarded the bus in Phnom Penh, said our goodbyes to Cambodia, and excitedly watched the evolution of the bus’ external surroundings as we crossed from Cambodia into Vietnam, where our visa had been valid from the previous day. I must note, that whilst on the bus, the choco pie incident was rectified by the parties involved. Intending to stay just under a month in Vietnam before we moved on, we were ecstatic to be starting what appeared in our minds to be a new adventure within itself. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, shocked by the lack of tuk tuks and decided to walk to our hotel positioned in the tourist district. Vietnam is a communist country, the first I believe I have ventured into, my expectations were pleasantly surpassed as we were had entered an obviously prosperous country with a strong history and culture. Our one issue lay with the lack of Facebook access, which, unbeknown to us, was restricted in Vietnam. After quickly rectifying this issue, finding a relatively easy solution, we were able to calmly plan our next step. We enjoyed dinner and inspected the nightlife of Ho Chi Minh City, finding the shear number of near-to-empty bars full of Vietnamese women quite peculiar…

Mar 1^st

Sorry about the earlier ambiguity about our activities in Vietnam, however to reduce the worry and stress of our family and friends we refrained from earlier sharing the details of our adventure South of Ho Chi Minh City. This is primarily due to the fact that we hired a motorbike each and ventured onto the perilous roads that form Vietnam’s traffic system. We decided to venture south of Ho Chi Minh City to My Thó, a city on the Mekong. Our tenacious initiation to the roads of Ho Chi Minh City were both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As we got use to riding on the right-hand side of the road and the laws of the Vietnamese roads (a reconstruction is listed below) our confidence began to skyrocket as we both had to reign in the adrenaline junky within. As we arrived in My Thó, we ran into difficulty, as each hotel wanted two passports, yet Casey’s passport was being held as collateral for the motorbikes. After painstakingly finding an Internet café and printing of a copy of Casey’s passport, we were able to find a hotel that would house us for the night. We were also desperate to find accommodation due to our stupidity of wearing singlets and short shorts, we were inevitably burnt on our faces, arms, shoulders, thighs, hands, ears and feet. We enjoyed a cold shower and a nap before feeling like we had to explore the town. It was that night that we determined that it’s not a Vietnamese dish unless it has three types of meat in it, as we enjoyed an omelet/pancake hybrid with chicken, prawns and pork.

Mar 2^nd

From My Thó we ventured about 110km south to Can Thó, which the Lonely Planet labels “the epicentre of the Mekong Delta”. Other then the persistence of locals trying to secure our business on “boat trips” the following day, Can Thó didn’t seem to be as vibrant as we hoped and it was definitely a short lived stay. The multitude of tourists here was also another reason that we disliked this town. We enjoyed some of the local Vietnamese beer, Saigon Green, the VB of Vietnam, and called it a night planning to travel to a city on the east coast of Vietnam the following day, hoping we could visit a beach.

Mar 3^rd

The town that was in proximity to the beach was Bạc Liêu. Now, this town was more like what we had in mind when we wanted a town that was untouched by tourists. We stayed at a establishment that on one side was a hotel and on the other was a karaoke bar “Karaoke 168”. We utilised the Lonely Planet to determine the Vietnamese word for hotel and found this relatively new business in an area that seemed to be densely populated by other karaoke businesses. We walked to a local karaoke bar, after a misunderstanding with the karaoke staff in our hotel thinking we wanted to “order” two girls to sing karaoke with us, and watched people sing memorised songs. Interestingly, everyone stopped to look at us and found our attempts to thank them in Vietnamese an opportunity to playfully mock us. It was obvious that they didn’t have much experience with tourists, especially western tourists. We continued to walk around the town, intrigued by the number of lights that draped the city. We came across a number of men that were sitting in front of a convenience store drinking beers and ushered us over to them. We then enjoyed a very animated conversation with these very generous and friendly people that offered us food and drinks, whilst taking photos of us with each member of the group. It was great to be included and really did feel like we were at the heart of Vietnam and were fortunate enough to have enjoyed this opportunity with some very gracious people. We decided we liked Bạc Liêu and decided to stay an extra night affording ourselves the opportunity to go to the beach the following day and try to recover from our reoccuring sunburn.

Mar 4^th

Enthused by the opportunity to visit the beach, we rose and headed in the direction of the beach. We were sorely disappointed. What we had imagined to be a pristine, untouched beach, turned out to be a polluted wasteland that was used as a fishing port. We returned to our hotel feeling very disillusioned and after a visit to a “Mart” that sold clothes and had a supermarket upstairs, we retreated to the hotel with a box of choco pies in hand. We then enjoyed a day of recuperation and dinner in a night market, where, like most establishments, people argued over who would have the difficulty of serving people that couldn’t speak Vietnamese. This marked the point where we decided we would start making our way back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Mar 5^th– A month down

Determined to travel to a town on the other side of Vietnam, Rạch Giá, without retracing any of our previous steps we travelled south. We travelled down some of the quaintest roads that were barely big enough for a single vehicle, this didn’t stop trucks from playing Tetris with our lives! They were truly beautiful riverside roads though, that deserve mention. We continued on until we reached the town that we knew would lead us north to Rạch Giá. Due to a lack of signage, or highly ambiguous signage, we had no real idea if we were going in the correct direction. Poorly calmed by the insistence of locals that we were in fact heading to Rạch Giá, we continued onwards. That said, we were very confused when we arrived at a point that required we board a ferry. Having no idea where the ferry was heading and seeing no mention of Rạch Giá, we adventurously decided to board. We competed to get to the ticket booth to buy our ferry pass and then waited in a caged section that was used to limit the number of motorbikes on each ferry. We were released from the cage and progressed onto a ferry to the delight of the other ferry passengers, whom found it very interesting to see Westerners using this mode of transport. After getting off the ferry we continued onwards until we finally saw a sign indicating a town that we knew was right next to Rạch Giá. We continued on and by some miracle, we stumbled into our desired town. We shook hands and marveled at our day’s accomplishment.

Not only was this a pretty interesting day worthy of report, but this day also marked our first month milestone. We enjoyed a beer to celebrate the day and to celebrate the month. With some reflection, it is amazing how much we have seen and experienced in such a small space of time. It makes me wonder about what is install for the Earthbound Astronauts in the coming months… However, I digress.

Mar 6^th

We continued on our pilgrimage back to Ho Chi Minh City, and intended to stay in the town we stayed in on the first night, My Thó. This day was inevitably one of the largest riding days we had, at roughly 240km, which on Vietnamese roads can take a while. We were traveling as planned and hadn’t run into any directional issues as of yet. We’d been riding for a while, and we were both starting to feel it and were ready to call it a day, yet we hadn’t seen any signs for My Thó for some time. We progressed towards signs indicating towards Ho Chi Minh City, knowing that My Thó was just outside the city. Casey, spotting a “sign” suggested we turn right. We continued down a small road that eventually lead to another ferry. Casey then confessed that the sign was an “unofficial sign”. We backtrack to a hotel on the road right next to the main highway. We neglected the plan to make it to My Thó, willingly as we had already visited the town, and call it a night. Yet, not before enjoying chicken with soup containing chunks of liver.

Mar 7^th

Finally the day had come when we got to return to Ho Chi Minh City and return the motorbikes. We had an amazing time with them, yet our bodies were starting to feel the strain of travelling every day. The roads were extremely busy today, it was mayhem! After a few near misses we were definitely ready to get back and return the bikes from whence they came. Casey was spotted by a policeman travelling in the heavy vehicles lane, and ushered to the side of the road. He was asked for his motorbike papers and license, which of course, he could not procure. The officer then told us that he would have to take the bike, which we could collect and pay a fine. He then went on to say that we could also pay the fine now and drive away. It seemed very much like a bribe, which was definitely confirmed when he offered Casey “50% off”. We paid him one million dong ($50), but gained an experience, our first bribe! We continued into the city, where the Laws of Vietnamese roads (Constructed in a list below) truly came into play. Our experience driving in the city can really be summed up by one statement “these people have no desire to live!”.

We said goodbye to the motorbikes, celebrating that they didn’t claim our lives and reacquainted ourselves with a bakery that had been at the pinnacle of Vietnamese bakeries so far. And that brings us to know. Our bodies are incredibly sore and are in need of numerous days of recovery, but we have gained an amazing experience that money truly can’t pay for. Unless you’re Casey in the heavy vehicle lane...

LAWS OF A VIETNAMESE ROAD*

1. Small gives way to big (Most of the time)

2. If you want to do something illegal, beep. The more you beep the higher the illegality of your actions eg. Going in the opposite direction to traffic requires constant horn work.

3. Stay to the right, unless of course, you don’t want to!

4. Wear a helmet, anything on your head will do…

5. You need to surpass the speed limit if you want to survive.

*Note: Any of these rules are subject to change without notice and may indeed be false.

The Vietnamese roads are not for the faint-hearted or those that value their lives.

Next we are going north.

Keep posted.

Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:24:00 +0000

We are officially templed-out after exploring the temples of Angkor Wat and Vietnam is lingering in our sights.

To listen to the podcast click HERE!

15^th, 16^th & 17^th Feb

We apologise for the time between posts, but it is purely due to the few days after our last post not warranting any real report. Unfortunately, we had our first run in with suspected food poisoning. We were too fearful to leave the room in Siem Reap and were living off a bare trickle of food, including tiny croissants, cheese biscuits and wagon wheel like biscuits called “choco pies”. This resulted in the Choco pie incident of 2013…… Even so, we were still in pretty high spirits and did enjoy the time relaxing (if you can call it that) even though the guilt of being so close yet so far to the temples was occasionally evident. In a way, we were lucky that we were both impeded by this illness at the same time. Sharing such a small room with a bathroom that seemed to amplify everything, has definitely cemented our friendship pretty solidly, unlike our bowel movements. Needing a reason to test our health, we felt it was necessary to visit “Pub Street” for a few drinks.

18^th Feb

After feeling up to the challenge, Casey decided to ride west of Siem Reap to visit some small temples that are older then the temples at Angkor, yet due to their size, don’t receive the same level of relevance of the larger, newer temples. Unfortunately for Casey, the tickets to the temples were not sold in this general direction, so the ride towards the temples was partially in vain even though he did get to enjoy an introduction to the Cambodian countryside. I, however, still not feeling up to the task of endeavouring too far from the safety of the room/bathroom, stayed behind.

19^th Feb

We both seemed to have recovered and decided to venture out towards the north-eastern temples, and following the suggestions of the Lonely Planet guide, would see the older, smaller temples first and leave the awe inspiring Angkor temples for the final day. After jumping on bikes and enthusiastically stopping off at every temple around the circuit and enjoying the individuality of each, the temples slowly started to morph into one, signaling an end to the day. After agreeing to meet a friend that we had made in Battambang on “Pub Street” that night, we again ventured out in to Siem Reap for a well-deserved Angkor beer.

20^th Feb

The day had finally arrived! We were going to visit the Lonely Planet acclaimed eight wonder of the world! Angkor Wat definitely deserved this title. The sheer size of the moat that surrounded the temple of Angkor Wat was mesmerizing, as was the land bridge that was in place allowing tourists to cross the threshold. Obviously weathered through age, it was incredible to think about what these temples had been through on both a cultural and political level, and you couldn’t help wondering what the marvelous structures would say about the folly of man. Unfortunately, restorations were occurring at the entrance to Angkor Wat, which played a very spoiling role in the majority of the photos that were taken. However, we continued to traverse the highly preserved temples admiring the intricacies of even the smallest detail. We, unknowingly, had worn singlets and shorts that did not cover our shoulders or knees. This almost obvious point now, was the reason we were not allowed into the main temple. This prompted us to leave Angkor Wat at this point vowing that we would return to complete this pilgrimage we had charged upon ourselves. With a slight loss of spirit we continued onto the Bayon temple complex, which was a wonder in it’s own right. After watching sunset from this temple, we rode our bikes back to our hotel past the monkey-laden grounds and ruins that speckled the heavy foliage along our route. Looking forward to a dish I had seen in a menu the night before, a Khmer curry, Casey and I decided to spend a little more on dinner ($3.50 each) and try this dish that proved to be the most enjoyable we’d had in Cambodia thus far. Finding out that the bus to Kampong Cham City (Our next destination, designated the “Gateway to the North” by Lonely Planet) left at 7.15am the next morning, we decided to spend an additional night (taking us to the morning of the 22nd) so we could go back to Angkor Wat at sunrise and finish what we’d started.

21^st Feb

After hearing Casey’s alarm go off at both 5am and 5.30am and observing Casey consider getting up both times and then returning to the fetal position, I was provoked to wake him up knowing I wouldn’t hear the end of his disappointment if we had missed his big opportunity for a photo shoot. We again hired bikes and raced to Angkor Wat, where we both got briefly separated as I took a slightly different turn, however, we both got there and got to enjoy a rather overcast sunrise. Of course we now had our shoulders and knees covered, determined to enter the temple that we had been denied entry the day before. The temple didn’t open until 7.40am so we decided to source ourselves some breakfast. Seeing a man selling bread, we decided to buy two incredibly fresh bread rolls and two coconut buns. Not such an interesting fact, but the comments we got from two locals must have been one of the highlights of our trip thus far. The first man said, “Hello sir, you want water, another bread?” (It was yet to occur to us that this man did not sell bread) and then a woman that shouted, “Hello Mr big bread!” before entering into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. This made our day and definitely gave us something to raise our spirits even though we were both exhausted from the early wake up. We finally had an opportunity to see the temple, which definitely reinforced the beauty of this almost mythical site.

One thing had crossed my mind over the last few days was where was the tree that Angelina Jolie was in front of in Tomb Raider. Unbeknown to us both, we had missed one temple! Ta Prohm was the temple that we had been imagining this whole time, a temple that had almost been lost in forest. This temple was beautiful and it was obvious why it was so iconic. Obviously this fact was known by about half of the tourist in Siem Reap, who were there in droves. Otherwise this place was truly magical, it was incredible to see the roots of trees intertwined with the temple structure, which had been so physically altered that each seemed symbiotic of the other. Feeling like we had finally seen every temple in the Siem Reap area, we called it a day and triumphantly returned to the hotel where we recuperated from our early morning and prepared for the journey we would undertake the following day. It would be sad to leave the hotel we had grown so accustom to, yet it was time to leave the room that hadn’t been cleaned since our arrival and was harbouring our filth. We’d also left a lasting impression with the hotel staff……

22^nd Feb

Again, sleeping past the alarm, we were late to leave our hotel and reached the bus with a comment from the bus driver saying, “Come on, the party’s over!” Feeling a little guilty, we said our goodbyes to Siem Reap and prepared for our arrival in Kampong Cham City. After about a 7 hour journey we arrived in a town that was our first destination by the Mekong. It was completely empty and without much attraction, which was reflected by the single paragraph dedicated to the town in the Lonely Planet. We decided to go north the next day, which we were told left at noon.

23^rd Feb

Waking up leisurely at 9.30am and leaving the hotel room at 10.20am, we decided to go and book our bus trip and then have a quiet breakfast before we boarded the bus for 8 hours. When we arrived at the bus company we were quite shocked to realize that the bus arrived at 10.30, which was, at the time, two minutes away. Running back to the hotel, paying and then running fully loaded with our packs and other items, which we lacked time to pack, we arrived at the bus stop and waited for a bus that was luckily 10 minutes late. The bus was very nice, enjoying the Cambodian countryside as we headed northeast to Ban Lung. Exiting the bus at a very bizarre bus stop a few kilometres from town, we, with some friends we had made, continued to walk down the main street until we eventually approached the centre where we found accommodation in a nice guesthouse.

24^th Feb

Finding out there really wasn’t much to do in Ban Lung either, except to see a large volcanic crater lake called Boeng Yeak Laom. We set out to this lake with the two friends we had made the night before by foot (it was about 6km). It felt quite rewarding when we reached the lake and were able to enter the beautifully clean and refreshing water whilst marveling at the incredible formation of this crater. Casey decided to run back to the hotel from the lake as I returned with our evidently unfit friends, who really struggled with the elevated slopes returning us to the main road that returned us to town. We then organised a 6am bus to Phnom Penh, which is going to be our final destination of Cambodia before we progress into Vietnam.

25^th Feb

The bus to Phnom Penh must have been the most enduring so far. Not only was the bus not properly air-conditioned, but we both felt that they were employing some form of torture in the form of a Cambodian comical singing duo or Cambodian soap operas that involve someone either getting run over every few minutes or love triangles. We have, however, arrived in Phnom Penh in high spirits. It is completely different to any other Cambodian town we have visited and definitely has a high degree of western influence. We were elated to know that the room we booked actually included an air conditioner, a luxury usually declined due to the high price mark up of the room. And that brings us up to now. We officially feel we have seen enough temples to do us for a while and we are ready to leave Cambodia and experience a slightly different country. In saying that, we still have found the Cambodian people incredibly friendly and have definitely enjoyed our time here. We will spend the next day exploring Phnom Penh and seeing what it has to offer in contrast with the other Cambodian towns.

We’ll be in touch soon. Our love goes out to our family and friends, please let us know how new jobs and moves are going via Facebook, you’re all never far from our thoughts.

Keep posted.

Koh Samet to Siem Reap, Cambodia - Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:02:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have finally left the beach and are in our second country, Cambodia.

To listen to the podcast click here!

9^th Feb

After waking up relatively late due to a long night of celebrations for Casey’s birthday, we had decided to stay in Koh Samet for two more nights. We found out that our current room has been previously booked, so we had to find some new accommodation. We walked around for about an hour in the rain trying to find a hotel, until we eventually found one just around the corner. Fortunately for us, the hotel was much nicer then the first and at the same price of 500 baht, or approximately A$16 for us both, was a steal. We inevitably spent the day relaxing by the beach reading, before Casey enjoyed a run on the beach. The day was then finished off by having dinner with some friends we’d made the day before, by the beach of course.

10^th Feb

As our final day on Koh Samet, we decided to make it count with some serious beach work. I, unfortunately for me, was roomridden due to a very mild bout of the runs, the first victim of what I’m sure will inevitably reoccur during our trip. Luckily that passed within a few hours and I was able to join Casey on the beach where he had accrued additional sunburn whilst reading his book and taking photos as you have probably seen in the tabs above (if not, check them out!). We enjoyed a bit of a workout session on the beach before a light run and enjoyed our final night by having another dinner on the beach at a place we’d frequented every night bar one.

11^th Feb

We were keen to go to Cambodia, and utilising the liberated Lonely Planet guide we had an extremely rough idea about how we intended to get there. We got off the island much later the expected and luckily were ushered to a minivan company, which did visa runs to Cambodia. They suggested we headed to the city Pailin, just across the border and then make our way to Battambang. We had no idea where Pailin was as it was not listed in the lonely planet, so we spent the next few hours on a bus that dropped us in a Thai city just near the border that we still have no real idea about. After waiting at an outdoor restaurant for an hour, we were both forced to learn our first real words in Thai, the words for “public toilet”. This was mainly due to Casey’s failed attempt of a hand rubbing gesture, which made a lady gesture towards a tap….. We caught another minivan to the Cambodian-Thai border, which was typical of a Thai town, happy people, colourful, graveled roads and buildings that I still would have considered pretty rudimentary, until we crossed the border and saw the ultimate contrast.

The border crossing was relatively painless, but as we crossed, we were hounded by men pulling up on motorbikes for lifts and taxi rides on the now dirt road. We ended up acquiring the help of an English speaking tourist advisor (who obviously would get commission out of any sale he assisted in) we reluctantly paid for a taxi to Battambang as the suggested alternative was to stay in a hotel that looked like it would be robbed the second we fell asleep. The roads we travelled down were mostly ungraded as we avoided potholes after pothole as we passed houses that were now made of wood and straw in the most part, we could visually see the difference between Thailand and Cambodia, and the harsh history of the country really did start to become highly evident. The taxi driver was in fact one of the men that had been stalking us down the street earlier, yet through his limited English, we could tell that he was actually a really nice guy as he stopped off at picturesque locations so we could take photos. After working out the debacle of paying the driver in Thai Baht and American dollars, which we have now learnt is interchangeable with Cambodian currency, the Riel (1 to approx. 4000), we found a nice hotel. Battambang was obviously quite a touristy town, but it was a nice place to start in Cambodia.

12^th Feb

The night before we had organised a Tuk Tuk with three other people to go around and see the local sights of Battambang for the day. We first ventured to the Bamboo train, which is just a rectangle formed by pieces of bamboo to utilise abandoned French train tracks. This was great to get a few pictures of the Cambodian countryside. We then went to a very old yet beautiful temple that was reached via a rather steep set of stairs at Phnom Banan. We then went to the only winery in Cambodia and had a wine tasting. There is a reason there is only a single winery in Cambodia. I have a feeling we were drinking gasoline infused with grape juice…. Our final and most confronting destination so far was to a set of temples; bat infested caves and “The Killing Caves” at Phnom Sampeau. Visiting the latter definitely put things into perspective for us, as we learnt about the bloody atrocities committed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge during their relatively recent reign. This did not completely hinder the enjoyment of seeing the temples in the area, visiting a monastery where monks were living and accidently disturbing numerous classes of students in a school as they all wanted to wave and say hello as we passed. We then watched a consistent stream of bats leave their cave for roughly 20 minutes. It was truly incredible to see them uniformly weave into the distance and even more interesting to watch from a platform next to the head of a 30 metre Buddha being carved into a cliff face. We then went back to town and enjoyed a traditional Cambodian dinner with our friends from the Tuk Tuk.

13^th Feb

We decided to set out towards Siem Reap, which is the town that is within reach of Ankor Wat. We boarded a relatively small boat that uncomfortably took roughly 9 hours to reach Siem Reap port, passing by floating villages and the friendliest people, always waving and smiling. We then caught a Tuk Tuk into town finding out that most accommodation was full at this point, spending an hour with our packs trying to find a place to stay. We had to break the accommodation budget for the first night, yet we had a pretty nice air conditioned room. We ventured out into Siem Reap to discover how expectedly touristy it really was. There’s a street called “Pub street”, enough said. We visited the night markets, which is really just stall after stall of relatively similar merchandise such as the Khmer scarf.

14^th Feb – Valentine’s Day!

That brings us to today, a day we have decided to relax and try to recover from the sunburn and peeling that has been inflicted on us whilst on Koh Samet and the boat ride from Battambang yesterday. We had a nice scrambled egg breakfast with the most amazing bread either of us was expecting in Asia (probably due to the French influence on Cambodia). We are preparing our next few nights here and our trip to Ankor Wat and the surrounding temples, which is one of the main reasons we really decided to come to South East Asia, hopefully it’ll live up to the hype. Unfortunately for the day, we are each other’s Valentines....

We are loving the people we are meeting and the unexpected and different experiences we are already having. We can’t believe it’s only been 9 days. Hopefully it keeps up and you’ll keep reading about our adventures. Hope all is well back home, we both send our love.

Make sure you check out the photos on the Cambodia page and add your e-mail address to the subscription box on the left to keep updated.

Keep posted.

Bangkok to Koh Samet

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:49:00 +0000

We arrived in Thailand safely!

To listen to the latest podcast click here!

5th Feb:

We arrived at about 8.00pm into Bangkok airport and as soon as we left the airport terminal we really realised how hot and humid Bangkok was, and the climate we would have to get use to for the next 3 months! We caught a cab to our hostel (which we later discovered was overpriced) passed pristine roads and billboards setting an almost facade for the Bangkok we were still to meet. When we arrived at our hostel we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the accommodation. The place was clean and seemed quite nice. We went for our first walk in Bangkok to get something to eat in this foreign city that was evidently no stranger to westerners. We finally settled on Fish Ball soup from a street vendor as our first meal, wondering if food poisoning would follow (It did not), we actually quite enjoyed it. We then bought a few beers, Chang being the beer of choice in Thailand, and headed back to the hostel. It was there that we met three French Canadian girls who had done a bit of traveling around India and Nepal, and were just arriving in Bangkok themselves. We worked out that we would travel around Bangkok with them the next day and then end up at Khao Sarn road (the tourist street). We then enjoyed a very humid night.

6th Feb:

We woke in the morning and left the hostel with the three girls heading for the river to catch the ferry to Old Bangkok. We slowly made our way to Khao Sarn road where we enjoyed a beer dispensing devise I've never seen, called a Tower. We had a pretty good night, discussing the possibility of leaving Bangkok, having no real idea where else we could go.

7th Feb:

Casey asked the question "Are we still leaving today" and I agreed. We would go south towards the beach. We found an abandoned old Lonely Planet book and Casey picked an island, Koh Samet. We then took the skytrain, a minivan and then a ferry to the island (It wasn't as easy as it seems). We walked around Koh Samet until we found accommodation, just paying for a room with a fan because you had to pay more for airconditioning. We then enjoyed a beer and dinner on the beach before falling asleep early.

8th Feb:
Casey's birthday! Casey went to the police gym, at the invitation of a policeman. We then enjoyed swimming before we decided to hire scooters to travel to the other side of the island. We traveled on what we later discovered to be a walking track, which was worse then many dirt roads I've seen back home, always hard for scooters. We decided to turn back and enjoyed a nice relaxation session on the beach, which we are currently paying for with extreme sunburn, which is giving us both grieve right now. We are going out to celebrate Casey's birthday tonight, and hopefully meet some people we've been seeing around.

Make sure you check out the photos on the Thailand page and add your e-mail address to the subscription box on the left to keep updated.

Keep posted

Take Off! @ Melbourne Airport

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 02:56:00 +0000

Hey guys! Welcome to our first proper post and podcast!

We are at Melbourne Airport waiting for the plane to start boarding so we can begin this epic adventure. The first stop is Bangkok and then we are heading into Cambodia. We will definitely check in when we arrive in Thailand, but until then, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and then have a listen. Make sure you keep a track of us as we travel to every possible location that will have us!

To listen to the first podcast, click here!

Over and out.

The Beginning - T minus 1 month!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim & Casey) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 21:37:00 +0000

Welcome to the Antics of Earthbound Astronauts blog!

You have just come across the next generation of travel blogging. Following the adventures and exploits of two Aussies as they endeavour to conquer and explore the world one location at a time.

Starting in early 2013, the countdown begins, prepare yourselves......

To listen to the first podcast click here