First Night - Oh What a shock! ;-)
Mumbai, India
So it all starts here!!!!! The flight to Mumbai was great, thanks to our lovely nurse friend Sarah who gave us some sleeping tablets we managed to grab about 5 hours so getting into Mumbai airport was great. We had no problems getting a pre-paid taxi to our hotel.....but the ride to the hotel was a bit of a shock, it's juct so busy with traffic and there appears to be no lanes- it seems to be 'who dares wins' pretty much! so lots of beeping horns & dodging in & out of traffic. It's just a bit of a cutlure shock, an obviously big contrasting city between the rich & the poor with a massive gap in the middle. The only way to describe it is like there's been a nuclear war, everything has been wiped out & people are starting their lives again. Except they're not. That's just how they live......wherever there's a space to squeeze, whether it's on the side of as road or down the side of a derelict building that's their home. Unfortunately we didn't have any charge on our camera hence only a few pics (which I'll upload soon) & when we got to our hotel , which was ok, clean & fine for 1 night, we didn't really want to spend the evening there. There was nothing really to do or see around it, so we headed in Mumbai. We saw the Gateway to India, had a wander around the Taj Mahal hotel which is spectacular, then the only place I remembered to go from when I visisted 10 yrs ago was Leopolds Bar! - which is an infamous Mumbai hangout.
So the first night that's pretty much all we did- and to being honest we're not sure how much more there is to see. So I don't think we'll be heading back. Sorry Mumbai, you're just a bit too crazy for us!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 6, 2011 from Mumbai, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog

Varkala, Kerala
Varkkallai, India
So next onto Varkala....a beautiful beach resort set in the cliffs. Our stay was at 'Shiva Garden' which for a budget of just 500 ruppees, around 7.50, it was actually prettty lovely. V. clean, everything we needed and it didn't freak out my lovely OCD hubby!! ;-) To be honest it was a bit of a easy settling in period.....we did naff all every day! Got up, ate amazing fruit salad, went for a bit of a stroll on the beach,tried to master marbles Solitaire (failed miserably) had a few beers , ate fresh fish, and then to bed. Every night! We met some really lovely people from the off....Ichbaal a guy from London, the crazy travelling Trish who gave us some great tips, Lauren, Margarita,and Matt & his wife Clare with son Oscar.
Our favourite haunt at lunch was Lakeside bar- we'd watch the fishermen come in every day on their 'boats' 3 Banana shaped pieces of wood tied together) & we even went out on the boat for a little trip with one of the fishermen which was amazing.
The people who ran Shiva were amazing & organised a trip to the 'Temple Festival' which I believe is how they celebrate the first & last crop harvests- the local guys will carry a massive Tower across the paddy fields which is then lifted onto the Elephant who parade them around the village.
the tower
The amazing elephants at "Temple Festival'
The photies posted are of the festivities & the local people who were just so beautiful & welcoming.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 7, 2011 from Varkkallai, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog

The Backwaters of Alleppey
Alleppey, India
Next onto Allepey for just a few days which is the place to see the amazing 'Backwaters'. We took a train from Varkala and were joined by Trish & Lauren whom we'd met at Shiva garden.....crazy girl, both really fab company. And they really did appreciate having Dan around to carry & load/unload their bags onto the train ;-) The trip took about 2.5 hours, and weridly on the way we met an Indian couple who had friends from Stoke & lived in Bridlington! Such a small world.
We checked in for just 2 nights as there's not much to do or see other than the Backwaters, and to be honest we'd been spolit a bit by staying in the beachy resort of Varkala. Alleppey is a bit more city like, not a relaxing place so 2 nights was enough. The owners of the Homestay recommened a canoe/paddle trip on the Backwaters which was just 700 rupees which all 4 of us booked.
The next day Antony who would be our local guide for the day, picked up up at 8.15 and we proceeded to catch the Ferry. From the start the views were absolutley stunning. The pictures speak for themselves
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 15, 2011 from Alleppey, India
from the travel blog: mich_and_dan_moors's Travel Blog

Kummilly, Thekkadi
Thekkadi, India
(Sorry not had chance to upload photies- to follow)
Staying here was amazing!!! Our guesthouse was set in the forest/national game park so the views were fantastic, our room was so clean & spacious that we immediately booked a few extra nights to take advantage. The guys at Shiva Gardens had already recommended things for us to do so we booked on the spice & tea plantation tour as well as an elephant ride.
It was a really lovely walk into the town, and on the way there & back every day we saw families of monkeys & their babies so that was a treat in itself.
The next day we woke up, excited for our visit to see the Elephants!!! I was like a child, too excited but we were both a bit worried about it being too 'commercial' and just hoped the animals were going to be well looked after..........the fab news was they were. So much in fact we saw a pregnant elephant who had conceived within the reserve so that was lovely. The ride lasted for 30 mins and was great, a bit bumpy , but the enormity of these amazing creatures when you're riding on the back of them is pretty unbeliveable. The BEST part of the day was that we got to actually wash an elephant!!! - we both washed & scrubbed it, then sat behind it ears & gave them a good wash! We then took it in turn to climb on it's back where it proceeded to squirt a trunkfull of water over us. It was great! I could go on & on about it, a bit boring for you to read, but we both loved the experience.
Day 2- Tea Plantation & factory tour which was so interesting, lots of facts including they use the same type of tea leaf to produce 6 kinds of tea ( i always thought green tea came from another tea plant?) as well as they only export 20% of the tea they produce, the remaining being consumed in India.
Ou guide for the Spice Tour was pretty mad- an old Indian guy who kept on telling us how much he loved the UK & quoting Mr Bean episodes! WTF?!!!!! Again we learnt a lot about spices such as 'All Spice' is actually a plant- which we originally thought was a manufactured mix of several different spices. Monty Don had actually been to this very Spice plantation so it seems we were in good company ;-)
All in all, we loved Kumilly its a great place to chill out & soak it all up
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 17, 2011 from Thekkadi, India

Trekking in Munnar
Munnar, India
After a 5 hour bus trip from Kumilly, we arrived at Munnar. The main reason for the stop over, as well as it kind of being on the way, was for us to do a bit of a trek. Which we did ..........all through the Tea Planatations starting at 6.30 am , breakfast on the Mountain at 2100ft, then back down. Piccies below
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 21, 2011 from Munnar, India

Fort Cochin & the Chinese Fishing nets
Cochin, India
Cochin is most famous for the Chinese fishing nets....which are pretty much as they sound ;-) So we of course saw these, and the really cool thing is that you can see all the fresh fish catches of the day pick what you like & then get it cooked. Simples!
We also had a great Rickshaw driver who took us on a tour of the town which included an amazing Dutch Palace as well as where the locals were drying, sorting & packing ginger.
The array of fish to choose from. And eat ;-)
A Bollywood film- on location in Fort Cochin
A laundry house
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 23, 2011 from Cochin, India

The epic journey to Mysore......but it was worth it
Mysore, India
We left Fort Cochin at around 7pm, so 2 rickshaw trips later & a Ferry we finally ended up at the right train station (our lovely Rickshaw driver took us to the wrong one initially, just becuase it was closer. Don't you just love them!) This was our first overnight sleeper train.....neither of us were really looking forward to it. Me (Mrs Moors) even less so once I had boarded and found myself on the top bunk of a jam packed carriage shared by around 35 passengers. Just lovely!!! But to be fair, once I had gotten over the initial shock & tucked myself up in my sleeping bag it was ok & I managed to get a few hours kip. We got awoke to the cries of ' Tea! Chai! Chai! Tea' at about 7am, passed a few hours away chatting to a lovely Indian couple & watching the scenery and finally arrived in Bangalore station around 10am.
We were pretty lucky to find a train leaving at 10.30 to Mysore.........but little did we know that this would take us another 5hrs. Finally we arrived after travelling for about 17hrs in total and consuming just a few biscuits in all that time! The saving Grace was that the homestay we had booked was just so lovely & clean, very much like a B&B in the Lake District!, so we quicky got changed a went to the 'Park Lane Hotel'
Afer about 10 bottles of beer, some gorgeous curry & a few hours of watching the Cricket all was forgiven!
Later that evening we managed to drag our tired bones to see the maharaja's Palace. It was so worth it, it was lit up in all it's glory. Truly beautiful.
Day 2- we went on a rickshaw tour of the city which including Tipu Sultans Palace, the Mysore Prison, Chaimundi Hill, a temple of worship with Amazing views of the city & a v.large Black Bull!, plus all of the local sights such a a guy hand rolling cigarettes (he makes around 1500 a day & gets paid about 1.30GBP a day, 10 hrs a day, 7 days a week!) the local market & Insence stick making.
All in all, Mysore was fab. Well worth a visit and the trauma of getting there ;-)
me being mobbed outside the Maharaja's palace :-)
Shaking & sorting the ginger
Hand rolled cigarettes
Hand-making Incense stcks
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 26, 2011 from Mysore, India

Bangalore - "Same, Same- but different"
Bangalore, India
The Bull Temple
the Black Bull!
Being a major city, Bangalore was very busy and very expensive compared to other places we'd visited so far. We checked into a hotel, as opposed to a homestay, which was probably the most plush place we'd stayed so far but we paid the price- about 4 times as much as we were used to. It even had a TV. Get us!!!
However this was the place where both Dan & I took it in turns to lose the plot...........the things that set us off were mainly the rickshaw drivers who ignored us when we asked to go somewhere but then insisted on taking us to where THEY wanted to, for whatever price that popped into their head. Or sometimes blatantly lying telling us 'oh no it's closed now, I'll take you xxxx that is open'. Oh and sometimes another guy would hop on just for the ride & try to take us where HE wanted to go, so he'd receive a commission. As they say in India "Same, Same. But different" ;-)
On the plus side (kind of), Bangalore was full of the things us tourists love.....Western shops. And plenty of them. Levis,M&S, Nike, Lacoste, as well as Hard Rock cafe, Pizza Hut, Nando's. Ashamedly we gorged ourselves on as much as we could (which actually gave us our first ever experience of 'Delhi Belly'), including shopping, and even went to watch a movie. We really just wanted to escape from the madness for a few days and kind of feel Normal.
We did see some of the sights too such as the Botanical Gardens and the Black Bull Temple, but I think we both came to realise that however much we love India the Cities are just not for us!
me being 'Blessed' :-)
The Indian Coffee house & staff in their traditional costume
The view from the 13th floor bar
At the park
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on March 29, 2011 from Bangalore, India

Hampi - Meet the Flinstones!!
Hampi, India
Hampi was amazing. From start to finish we absolutely loved it.
I think it was good karma straight away that as soon as we arrived we met a guy called Ray who recognised our Stoke accents and then proceeded to tell us that he once travelled with a guy from Stoke who I only went to High School with!! If ever the saying 'it's a small world' was more apt.
We met some more lovely people and pretty much spent the next few days on scooters with them exploring the incredible landscape. Everywhere our eyes could see there were huge sandstones boulders that were perfectly perched on top of each other, amongst rivers, Temples, mountains and lush green paddy fields. I know it sounds very cliched but it felt very magical........but it also looked just like the well crafted film set of a Flintstones movie!! We would not have been surprised to see Fred sliding down the back of a Dinsosaur or taking a shower under an Elephants trunk!
As a brucey bonus it was also Cricket World Cup Fever and India (as you know) were in the final against Sri Lanka so we got to watch the match with a the great group of friends we'd made, drinking 'Knockout' 8% Beer & eating Pizza. As my Dad would say 'What could be finer?!'
The photos I'll post probably wont do the place justice, but so far it's our most favourite place we have visited in India
Dan & Ray Mondo - the Easy Riders :-)
Our view at breakfast - Beautiful
Dan's new friend
On top of the world- Sunset at the Monkey Temple
After a few 'Knock Out's'!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 1, 2011 from Hampi, India

The infamous sleeper bus to Gokarna
Gokarn, India
Omm Beach, Gokarna
We travelled to Gokarna on the sleeper bus with the lovely Zoe & Kate we met in Hampi. The plan, as we thought, was that the coach would take us direct into Gokarna. The bus driver however had other plans......so at about 1am in the morning we were kicked off the bus and transported to a 15 seater mini bus that then proceeded to drop us off at Om Beach at 3am. Apart for that being a bit of a shock to us all, the killer punch was that we had to make our way about 1mile down to the beach in pitch black to try & find a place to sleep.
Not Open!
There were about 8 of us all aimlessly wandering the beach amongst the stray dogs & Cows hoping to find a guesthouse open but they were all shut for the night. We managed to 'lose' the other 4 people (we were a bit worried that if we did manage to find somewhere open we'd have to have a bun fight for the beds!) and Zoe & I crawled through the opening of a place where we could see a few people sleeping . We managed to wake someone up & pretty much ask if there was any room at the Inn? He kindly let us sleep with them on the concrete floor/walls until the morning when the Manager would let us know if there were rooms free.
So who was it that said travelling was such careless fun?!!
Thankfully there were rooms for us all. And in a happen of coincidence, our rooms were next to our other friends we'd met - Charlotte & Acer, and Uri. So it was like a group Reunion!!
Other than chill on the beach & swim in the sea, Dan & I made our way to Murudeshwar on the bus. It took a few hours to get there but boy was it worth it!
Murudeshwar is basically just one HUGE Shiva monument, sitting on top of a massive hill next to a golden Temple. I'm sure the Indians can give it a much more holy explanation, but whatever the reasons for it, it was certainly very impressive
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 4, 2011 from Gokarn, India

Palolem & Anjuna, Goa
Goa, India
We weren't sure what to expect of Goa to be honest, and although the beaches were nice they were not quite the idyllic haven we expected but nonetheless we had a fab time! The places to visit are pretty much the beaches as opposed to temples so we did that is style & became beach bums for about 2 weeks which suited us fine! Vodka, fish & omlette butties became our staple food & we loved every minute. Sorry, there's not much of a cultural spin I can put on this one :-)
the best omlette butty in the world!
Our Dolphin watching trip- they are there somewhere in the distance. Promise!
the infamous omlette butty van
our fab, but tiny, waiter :-)
The tequila continues!
Anjuna
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 9, 2011 from Goa, India

Udaipur
Udaipur, India
We made our way to Mumbai on the train, and caught a flight into Udaipur which was so worth the money or else it would have taken us about 3 days overland to do the same trip.
The Lake is what all of the guide books talk about. And it was beautiful.
We visited the Palace Museum, and other than that just really wandered around the streets, of which all streets either led to the Palace or the Lake. So I think we pretty much covered the city off.
Udaipur Lake, the view from our Rooftop
Hand made shoes- enough to send a girl crazy!
The Palace in Udaipur
Wildlife in the streets of Udaipur
Our favourite little Daschund!
Udaipur bridge
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 21, 2011 from Udaipur, India

Jaisalmer...& camel trekking!
Jaisalmer, India
I think Jaisalmer is most famous for it's fort & Desserts....so those were the top of our things to do.
Unfortunately we had a horrible start to our journey as on the overnight bus that we caught into the city from Udaipur Dan lost his shorts (they myteriously went 'missing' from the bus) which had all of our money & cash cards in. So when we finally arrived that afternoon after the trip from hell- which also took about 5 hours longer than we were told - our main mission was to find somewhere to get a cold beer!
Nightmare over & we actually really loved Jaisalmer. The people were so friendly and seemed to have a really great sense of humour.
Although it was incredibly hot we did the main sight seeing of the forts & organised to do a Camel Trek with the infamous 'Mr Desert', owner of Sahara Travels. This gentleman was a mere truckdriver until somebody one day took his photo...........which led him to winning the Mr Desert competition 5 times in a row! He then became the face of a cigarette ad campaign as well as doing a Coca-cola TV commercial and eventually opened his Travel Shop.
The Camel trek we did was amazing, we got to see the Dessert at sunset as well eat fresh Indian food cooked on a camp fire (the tastiest & spiciest food to date!) Just a minor complaint was that my bloody Camel bit me! I'm sorry but I had to take a photo just to show the sheer size of my bruise. Have you seen the size of their teeth?! :-)
After much deliberation Dan decided it was best NOT to buy this for me ;-)
Nadi....our comedian chef!
Mr & Mrs Moors with Mr Desert
Our Desert Sunset
dinner by the campfire
Ouch! That damn camel
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 23, 2011 from Jaisalmer, India

Jodhpur
Jodhpur, India
Known as the 'Blue City' Jodhpur was our next stop.
A nice Surprise was that our friends Charlotte & Acer had already arrived a day earlier, and they'd already planned our itinerary with them for the next few days!........so that saving us a job, we set about our tour of the city.
We visited Jodhpur City Palace, which had an amazing vintage car selection, the Fort, and on top of all the cultural sights the guys(i.e. everyone but me, Michelle) also did the 'Flying Fox' 6 zip wires across the city- ranging from 190mtrs long to 400mtrs and goodness knows how high! About 50mtrs or so which was just too much for me.
By day 3, the 44 degree heat was getting too much for us. We were drinking about 9litres of water between us & only peeing once a day which was ridiculous. Rajistan was beginning to take it's toll but nonetheless we did have a great time in Jodhpur.
Why its called The Blue City
The City Palace
more monkeys....beware
The lovely Charlotte & Acer
A night out at 'Rocktails'!
Dan meets a taller Indian Man than him!
Another Omlette butty van.....we have a bit of a theme going on.
Yum!
Turban anyone?
Jodhpur Fort
The Flying Fox zip wire team!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 27, 2011 from Jodhpur, India

Pushkar
Pushkar, India
By now the heat was really getting to us. We're not complaining but we'd been on the go for a few weeks now so we were looking forward to getting to Pushkar & chilling out. And that's exactly what we did.
It's a really small, quiet little place with a lot of temples all scattered around the Ghats but to be honest we only visited a few.
We did manage to walk up to one of the main temples on the hill which had fantastic views. The pics should hopefully give you an idea.........
City views
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on April 30, 2011 from Pushkar, India

Jaipur
Jaipur, India
So back to it in Jaipur! Lots to see & plenty to do despite the heat.
We stayed with an absolutely amazing family who were so helpful & gave us so many top tips for getting around the city, so we managed to see all of the major sights including the city Fort & Palaces, the Observatory as well as a few snake charmers on the way! We also went to the infamous 'Rajmandir' cinema theatre, which is very Grand beautiful building and watched a very silly Bollywood film. It was fab!!
Could this guy load ony more on his bike?!
The lovely family we stayed with, cooking us dinner. Yum!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on May 4, 2011 from Jaipur, India

The pinnacle of India.......the Taj Mahal!
Agra, India
We were advised to pretty much get in & out of Agra as quick as possible as there's not that much to see other that the Taj Mahal. So that's exactly what we did.
The Taj was very impressive, it felt a very magical place & definitely lived up to the hype.There was no way we were coming to India without visiting and even though it was only a brief visit for us we loved it............despite the tiny gripe of having to pay 750 rupees entry fee as 'foreigners' but Indians are only charged 20 rupees?!!
It was still amazing though :-)
outside Agra Fort
A rickshaw driver taking a nap on the roadside....what a uncomfortable position?!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on May 6, 2011 from Agra, India

Varanassi........Get us out of here??!!!!
Varanasi, India
It's fair to say that we didn't enjoy Varanassi that much.........but it could have just been because by this point the Indian heat was really getting to us & at the back of our mind we were looking forward to getting to cooler climates in Nepal.
I don' think it helped that our room was pretty grotty, & that I got sick and had to spend 24rs in bed, in the grotty room! But apart from that Varanassi was great?!!!! ;-)
We did get to see the incredible sights though - the River Ganges is considered as the holiest place for families to cremate their loved ones so it was a bit surreal to actually see this happening. And it's common for everyone, strangers & tourists alike just to stand by and watch this happening which in itself very strange.
It's almost more strange to see local people freely swimming & bathing in the River not caring that the water is full of human remains, as well as goodness knows what else. Holy or not, we did not partake!
The city was just heaving & bustling with people. Apparently over 40 million visit in May as its festival time so we hit it at the busiest time ever. So to us it felt as far away from 'Holy' as you could get!
The cramped train to Varanassi
Bathing with the cows in the River Ganges. Very holy....not!
a local off-licence we found!
Fancy a tipple?!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on May 7, 2011 from Varanasi, India

Kathmandu & Everest Base Camp
Kathmandu, Nepal
So....next onto Nepal! We travelled overland into the Nepalese border which was pretty easy actually. We got our visas on arrival with no problems and stayed in Sanauli for the firt night just to rest & plan our bus trip to Kathmandu. However we had just a little problem, that being here was a transport strike & buses for the next day were cancelled- typical! Thankfully the strike latsed only 1 day so we managed the get an overnight bus the day after, which took about 11 hours, and arrived in Kathmandu about 4am.
Thankfully, being organised as we are (sometimes!) we had a pick us from the bus station & got taken straight to our hotel.
We stayed at the 'Hotel Nepalaya'....and what a novelty it was for us. We had carpet in the rooms plus a Bath!!! Get us!! Seriously, this was real Comfort for us after our India experiences. Also it was soooooo cool temperature wise in Kathmadu- only about 25 degrees which was heaven.
The main reason for our trip to Nepal & Kathmandu was to do Everest Base Camp. We'd already been in touch with a guy called Bijay from Oasis Trekking, so once we'd booked the trek we spent the next few days getting ourselved organised - making sure we'd got all the right gear, sleeping bags, hats & gloves etc plus we did a bit of sight seeing around the town.
Kathmandu is a really great place, a complete refreshing change compared to India, and it had a really nice 'feel' to it, and you'll soon find out that everybody visting has either returned from a trek or is about to do one. Us included!
Day 1- Our guide Kamal picked us up at our hotel at 4am ready for the flight to Lucklar which is where the trek began........and by the way Luckla aiport is one of the most dangerous airports ever! And when the plane truned up we know why! It was the smallest plane we'd ever been on seating just 16 people & we within an arms distance away from the pilot. Thankfully we made it it one piece (the flight wasn't too bad actually!) and the scenerey was immediately stunning. Just breathtaking.
We did just a lttle easy walk on day 1, about 3 hours and then rested our heads for the evening.
Our luxury plane. Or something like that?!
Day 2/3- So our real first day of trekking began on day 2, and to be honest it wasn't too bad. It wasn't easy, but I think at this point we were both still a bit 'drunk' on the scenery and the whole experience of making our way to Everest Base Camp (or EBC as eveybody calls it!).
Now, day 3? That was a whole different ball game.........it was truly horrible!! For me anyway, I found it really difficult as we walked about 6 hours that day & 3 hours of it was uphill, & I mean up very, very, steep hills. When we finally made it to Namche oh was I glad to rest there. I was knackered!!
The view of Namche......after we'd had our 'rest day' walk :-)
Day 4- this was our 'rest' day. But to be honest I don't call climbing 300 meteres uphill for about 2 hours a rest!!But it did the trick, we were now aclimatised to the height & neither of us were showing signs of any altitude sickness. So the next day instead of resting again we made our way up.
Day 5 - onward to Tengboche, which all considering was quite a nice walk! Here was a very ancient monastery, so after lunch we were able to have a look around & see the monks during one of their prayer sessions. In the morning we were awoken by a helicopter landing outside our room.....we heard that another group had decided to fly back down, we're not sure why but we were both thankful that we didn't need a chopper. Not just yet anyway ;-)
Day 6 - we were climbing to Lobuche today & it was now getting colder, and higher (obviously!). The weather hadn't been too great for the past few days, it was very hazy so we were a bit worried about what it was going to be like when we did finally get to EBC but we tried not to worry too much & being so close to our goal was keeping us both motivated.
We'd always start our walks early morning, about 7am and after a few hours we'd stop for a cup of tea & snickers to keep us going, so by about 1pm we'd arrived. The Tea House where we were staying was pretty horrible, but to be fair it was the first not very nice place that we'd encountered. It was just soooooo cold, and the food wasn't brill, and we weren't really looking forward to sleeping here at all. But we were knackered, so we did sleep alright. After we'd stopped shivering at least!!
One of the locals at Lobuche
Day 7 - Today was EBC day! So were were up early, at about 6am - & what a view we had! It was just gorgeous, the sun was shining (Hooray!!!) and it was breathtaking. We could actually see Everest & teh whole mountain range in full view so we were really looking forward to walking to Gorakshep.
Our beautiful morning view
We had about a 4 hour walk so as soon as we did arrive we had food........egg & chips! It was great!! They were the best chips we'd tasted so they really set us for the day. After a few hours rest we kept our eyes on the weather because it started to look a little hazy again. Today we had a choice of either walking to EBC or up to Kalapathar which was 5545m and THE mountain where we'd get the best views. So we opted for EBC as the weather really wasn't on our side.
We could see EBC in our views, it actually looked quite close. And that was the first of many challenges we faced that day! The trek was tough. It was up constantly up/down, up/down, over rough terrain, plus it started to snow a little & I think also because we could see it so clearly the deception that it was actually miles away was just too cruel!!
Both Danny & I found it tough, but after about 3 hours............WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!
To this day I can't believe we have actually done it. But we have! And it felt great!!!
Everest Base Camp.....we made it!!!!
To say we were knackered when we got back to our Tea House was an understatement. But the buzz, speaking to others who had either just completed it too, or were on their way, was great. We couldn't celebrate too much though as we had to get up at 4am the next day!!!
Day 8 - up & up & up & up we walked!!! And it was soooooooo steep. And sooooooo early!!
The only way I could keep myself motivated was to keep on walking & not stop. I kept on marching so hard that I actually left Danny trailing behind me a little. And I reached the top first!!! Not that it was a competition ;-) It was 1 1/2 hours of pure hard slog, but to say the views were worth it is an understatement. I think this is my most favourite sunrise I've ever experienced!!!
So to quote a song 'What goes up, must come down'. And we did.
It wasn't so easy, especially after only about 3 hours starting our decent I fell over & sprained my ankle. To say I slowly hobbled for the next 5 days down was an understatement.
To say that we were supposed to be on our way don there were actually quite a lot of annoying ups ......we went a slightly different route down going to Pheriche instead of Lobuche (which was far nicer) and we also did a little detour to Khumjung to visit the Sir Edmund Hilary School which was great to see.
The Sir Hilary Edmund School
Another bonus was we were now able to have a few tipples of whisky to celebrate- seeing as though we'd practically done the hard bit. I think we deserved it!!!!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on May 12, 2011 from Kathmandu, Nepal

Pokhara & Poon Hill
Pokhara, Nepal
So after resting in Kathmandu for a few days , and after Danny decided that he wanted to do a 170m bungee jump (yes really he did it! I did not!) we decided we really wanted to visit Pokhara.
And do another trek???!!
I don't know why but I think we felt a bit invincible after succeeding at EBC and it was only a 5 day trek to 'Poon Hill' so we were looking forward to taking in the views and doing a little walk.
Pokhara was beautiful. So quiet compared to Kathmandu and it was very green & lush. But what neither of us were expecting was the trek to be so tough. The first day wasn't too bad but on day 2 we walked up 30,000 steps!!! And they were not just steep, I'm really not exaggerating when I say they were practical vertical.
This practically wore me out, both physically & mentally....and to say I was in a bit of a mood was an understatement. So much to the extent that Danny & I had a 'heated debate' about going down an alternative/easier route & I'd just about had enough ;-)
However we kept on going and on Day 4 we got up at 6am to climb up to Poon Hill. It was an incredible view and from here we see the full Annapurna range of mountains.
The full trek was amazing. It was totally different to EBC, and in many ways it was a lot tougher. We're not sure if we'd done this before Everest that we'd even have attempted to do EBC.
But we didn't. And we did. And it was incredible!
At the Top!! Poon Hill
A stroll around the lake. Beautiful
Just one of the sights we saw in Pokhara!
After a full week of totally relaxing & doing nothing more that eating & taking in the sights of Pokhara we returned to Kathmandu & met up with Bijay & Prem - the guys from Oasis Trekking, who by now we'd become really good freinds with. So much in fact that they kindly offered to cook dinner for us at their home.
Their family are beautiful & it was such a lovely night and one which we'll never forget.
Danny & the boys! (Bijay, left - Prem, right)
Me & the girls!
The Oasis Trekking family!
The yummy home made food
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on June 2, 2011 from Pokhara, Nepal

Our next adventure- China
Beijing, China
We flew from Kathmandu to Delhi and boarded our plane to Beijing.......only to be told that there was a 'small' problem with our plane. It was ok, just that it couldn't turn??!!
Honestly that was the explanation we got. And so we were delayed for 24hrs. The only good thing was that we were put up in a very new plush hotel & fed gorgeous food all for free. It was so luxurious that secretly Danny & I were hoping we'd be delayed even longer ;-)
So we finally arrived in Beijing, and I think only then did it dawn on us just how massive a country China is! I know that sounds ridiculous but it's true & there was so much for us to see & do.
We settled in a bit too easy to be honest, as we soon met up with Jonathan & Renea (friends we'd met at EBC) and went out on the p**s! But after the initial partying we got down to some serious sight-seeing.
We did all of the usual - first Tiananmen Square which was sooooooo big! Maybe thats a too obvious statement to make but it' really is.......the Forbidden City, the Olympic Village, and of course not forgetting the Great Wall which was truly amazing. It's incredible to see it spread for Miles before your eyes. Another great place we visited was Art District 768. We spent hours here looking at some incredible modern art which made a great escape from the traditional touristy places.
overlooking the Forbidden City
The Olympic Village
Art District 768
But of all of the places, landmarks & temples we visited our most favourite was the Summer Palace - which as it sounds was where the royal family spent their Summer holidays. It took us almost 4 hours to get around. We just wandered & gazed & lost ourselves for a few hours which was just lovely.
At the Summer Palace
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on June 19, 2011 from Beijing, China

Shanghai City
Shanghai, China
Next stop Shanghai. We'd booked a hotel in a great spot - it was just minutes from the River Bund so when we arrived in the evening we just wandered around and found ourselves overlooking the night view. It was just fabulous.....so straight away we knew we'd enjoy it here.
We'd arranged the next day to meet up with our friend from Stoke, Sue, who'd been working in Shanghai for a while so she gave us a tour of the best places in the city........which was basically 'City Shop' - a supermarket that sold western food and sold freshly made butties & baguettes (yum! just what we were craving!), the indoor market that sold lots of fake goods such as cheap make -up & handbags, and the best bars to go to. What else did we need to know?!
We had a pretty crazy night, too much G&T but we did get a feel for the city & Sue gave us a great insight into all of the tourist spots we needed to see so the next day (albeit with a wee hangover) we set about seeing the sights - the beautiful Yuyuan Gardens, the Jing'an Temple......which has been completely moved brick by brick to Shanghai city centre & looks very strange set against the skyscrapers & high-end fashion shops, and we also splurged out and had a few cocktails on the 85th floor of the Grand Hyatt. Well it would have been rude not to!!!
Yuyuan Garden
Peoples Square
A chinese delicacy we did NOT try
Jing'an Temple
The 85th floor City view. Stunning!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on June 29, 2011 from Shanghai, China

Suzhou
Suzhou, China
Being just a hour away on the train from Shanghai we decided to explore Suzhou which is famed for it's gardens. We were expecting to arrive at a small village, and looked forwards to leisurely wandering the streets………..however after about 2 hours of walking and realising we were absolutely nowhere near where we want dot get to we quickly realised that this was another massive city as all Chinese cities appeared to be. China doesn't do small ;-)
Suzhou is not on the same Grand scale of Beijing or Shanghai, granted, but is it very vast & there are lots of beautiful places to visit - the Tiger Hill Gardens were absolutely gorgeous and we lazed away a few hours here just taking in the views. There's also a canal that runs just outside the Gardens across some of Suzhou city and this was probably the highlight of our trip here…….the stilt houses that sit beside the canal look just charming & it all feels a bit romantic. We loved it!
In the evening we went to a lovely tree-lined street that had some amazing boutique shops ( I am on a budget & I did NOT purchase unfortunately!), a few bars , some yummy street food stalls, and also the evening Theatre. We watched 7 'performances' that included traditional chinese musicians & mini plays set within a Traditional Chinese home. We felt very cultural (get us!) but also it made us really appreciate the traditional art form of China- it was so interesting & so completely different to what we expected to see. It was fab.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 5, 2011 from Suzhou, China

Louyang
Luoyang, China
It was a long journey from Suzhou. We briefly went back to Beijing then had to fly to Shenzhen, go across the border into HK and then cross back into China within the hour, catch another plane to Zhengzhou & then catch an evening 4 hour bus to Louyang arriving at almost midnight……….and all because we'd stuffed up out China Visa. D'oh!
Oh well, back to the real reason why we wanted to come to Louyang. To see the Longman Caves.
I hope the pictures do the place justice as they were truly amazing. They were only discovered in the 1970's I think, hidden for thousands of years, and it's incredible to believe The Caves were all carved & created by hand. They could easily be an 8th wonder of the world.
Another day trip we made & were really looking forward to was to the Shaolin Monks (at Shaolin obviously) but to be honest the trip was a bit of a waste of time. We only got to see them perform for about 30 mins & it was a bit naff & didn't really shows off their skills.
Off to see the Shaolin Monks. Yeeeeehaaah!
There were however loads of great street food stalls in Louyang - China is pretty much all about the food! Dan's fave were nan bread-style snacks stuffed with pork & Spring onion & smothered in chilli of course……they were almost my fave too before I discovered they had meat in them. I thought they were a bit too tasty ;-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 7, 2011 from Luoyang, China

Pingyao
Pingyao, China
A really interesting place, it's like a mini chinese temple city walled within a city………very traditional & pretty, but actually not much to see or do other than enjoy the surroundings. Which we did. Even our hostel was very traditional, as they all seemed to be, and had a central 'courtyard' inside.
The streets of Pingyao
There were lots of little streets & alleyways that were lovely to wander through. Most of them were lined with 'tat shops' (selling tourist crap) but again we discovered a hidden gem of a food stall that was literally a few plastic chairs on the street with a guy & his wok. In Pingyao one of their local dishes is 'cat ear noodles' which are shaped just a the name implies & actually tasted a bit pasta like. They stir-fried it with lots of fresh tomatoes, veggies & chilli & it was so delicious we ate this dish for 3 days on the trot, sometimes twice a day. And the bonus was it cost us about 2 quid for two massive bowls & a couple of beers!
Our fave chef in Pingyao
So we ate. walked, and ate some more, as outside of the city walls they was not much to see.
We also met a fab couple from Manchester called Danielle & Richard (who weirdly are family friends with one of our good friends who live in Nottingham. It's a small world as they say!) so we had a couple of beers with them too. Well it would have been rude not to ;-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 10, 2011 from Pingyao, China

Xian & the Terracotta Army
Xian'e, China
To see the Terracotta Warriors in Xian was probably THE main reason why Dan wanted to visit China. And after seeing them it's now officially the best thing Danny has ever seen. Ever!!! To be honest I wasn't expecting to be as wowed with them as I was. I was looking forward to seeing 'a few statues of the Chinese Army' and that was as much as I'd thought about it but I can't describe just how amazing to see them is. It really is incomprehensible to think that thousands of people spent 45 years creating each Army figure by hand, fired each of them individually & then hand-painted them………all in preparation for when their King was to die. And then bury them!!!!
The city of Xian itself is fab. One of our favourite spots was the Muslim Quarter - it was a bustling area of markets & local people across lots of little streets, but again we mostly loved it for the gorgeous food you could buy! It was a foodie haven……….we ate delicious flat style breads stuffed to the brim with either a meat or veggie filling & deep fried. Wrong, but just so right! Oh and there was a great cake/pastry stall that sold the best peanut brittle which we ashamedly bought about 5 bags of in just 2 days.
Muslim Quarter food. Delicious!
Situated just outside of the Muslim Quarter were the Bell & Drum Towers. We managed to see a Drum show one day which was great, and from the top of each of the towers you could see great views across the city.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 13, 2011 from Xian'e, China

Yangzi river cruise
Yichang, China
We took an overnight train from Xian to Wuhan, and arriving the next morning tired & hungry it proved quite a challenge to find the bus we needed to catch to Yichang. We were a bit panicky as we had to get to our boat that evening, and our best attempts at speaking Chinese was not helping. Thankfully a lovely young guy could see we were struggling & really helped us out by taking us to the right bus station (we were at the wrong one!) and showed us where we should wait.
Across the whole of China I have to say that the local people are so friendly and everyone we met were very genuine & lovely helpful people. They seemed to like practising their English (which was great for us as we could only manage a few Chinese words) and often would go out of their way & take the time to help us.
So back to the boat! We made it in the end & boarded at about 5pm. Neither of us know what to expect really as we had never been on a cruise before, but it turned out to be really great. We saw our itinerary for the next 5 days and we were actually really looking forward to being told what to do, taken to places, being fed & generally not having to think for ourselves :-)
Each day we'd be woken in our 1970's style cabin by an early morning walk-up call. 7am!!! After our big daily breakfast we'd then go off to our trip for the day, of which there were 3;
1. The Yangze Dam - an amazing structure which was built to manage the water levels & prevent future flooding, but unfortunately in order to build it they had to flood an entire villages & re-home all of the locals.
Three Gorges Dam
2. Hanging Coffins- we took a Paddle boat trip along the yellow river which was just breathtaking scenery, very green & lush but I also thought it felt a bit spooky! Probably because I was most excited about seeing the hanging coffins…………..which are nestled about 100 feet above in the rocks, literally perched on the edge. Nobody knows why or how they got there (or if they do they don't say in order to add to the mystery of it all!) but either way I really loved the trip.
The spooky hanging coffins!
At one point, in the really low water levels, our paddle boat was pulled along by about 7 men who waded through the water in their bare feet. To say they were strong was an understatement!
3. Ghost City - A temple that was set high upon the hill overlooking the Yellow River. It was named after the 2 people who built it, but some confusion about their names getting mixed up when translated into English meant 'Ghost' hence the name. It definitely wasn't as spooky or mystical as the hanging coffins but was still a great day out.
Ghost City
All in all we really enjoyed our cruise & would definitely recommended anyone to do it. We met some lovely people, ate more than our fair share of gorgeous food & saw some breathtaking scenery.
Meet the Captain!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 18, 2011 from Yichang, China

It's all about the Pandas ;-)
Chengdu, China
We finished our cruise at Chongching, and then made our way by train to Chengdu……………to see the PANDAS!!!!!!
I was more than a bit excited, Danny less so, but it just had to be done. I was a bit worried about being disappointed by the whole experience, and worried about how the Pandas may have been kept & treated. But I'm glad to say I wasn't & it was fab!
We visited the Pandas at the Chengdu Sanctuary & Breeding Centre & the whole environment was just so lovely- there were big open spaces for the Panda to climb & feed and they really did seem to happy in their 'natural' habitat. We got to see some babies too, although at 3 months they were quite big!
Unfortunately it absolutely chucked down with rain for over an hour so we couldn't leisurely walk around as much as we would have liked, but we both really enjoyed it & are glad we went. Even Danny ;-)
Beside the Pandas, another trip on our agenda was to visit the 80 foot Giant Buddha at Leshan. Unfortunately for us we visited on a Saturday, during the public holidays, on a red hot scorching 34 degree day, so to say it was packed out was an understatement. We had to wait in a 3 hour queue just to get to the beginning of the queue to even see the Buddah!
So we waited. And waited. And we were about 3 hours into queuing when I had a bit of a funny do, almost fainted and had to be carried out of the queue to sit down.
So after all of that I didn't even get to see the bloody Buddah!! Thankfully Danny did. And the pictures look pretty good so it was kind of worth it.
The Buddha is VERY big :-)
We explored Chengdu on the bus mainly, it was so easy to get around and in the evening we would go the the night market which was just so pretty, full of lots of little stalls & really good places to eat & drink. BBQ skewers & noodles were pretty much our Chengdu diet. Perfect!
The fabulous night market
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 23, 2011 from Chengdu, China

Kunming
Kunming, China
Kunming was a great city just to wander around & hang out really.....there are no major tourist sights as such, but a real big bonus was that the temperature there was so cool which was a real welcome.
We stayed in the area close to the University so it had a great studenty/cafe culture feel, very laid back full of quirky shops & bars so it was just perfect for us!
Within the city, amongst the fast food restaurants & chain stores is the Bird & Flower market which is really worth a visit- you can buy pretty much anything you want to here although I think it's a lot more tame than it used to be. But you can definitely pick us something far more interesting than in the high street shops.
poor little chicks!
We were also very close to Green Lake park which was where all the locals would go to sing Karaoke, do their Tai Chi, or just generally dance around and have fun. But the best thing was that the majority of the locals were over 60. At least. They'd be singing & dancing around, having great fun & it was so lovely to watch. Not to mention very entertaining. To say there were a few 'characters' hanging around would be an understatement ;-)
Water Lillies at Green Lake Park
This guy was crazy!! One of the many sights we saw at the park ;-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on July 27, 2011 from Kunming, China

Dali
Dali, China
Dali is an ancient walled city, in that respect it's very similar to Pingyao but on a much larger scale.
It's a very pretty maze of little streets full of street stalls & shops situated amongst the traditional Chinese style buildings and we spent most days & nights simply walking, taking in the sights & and eating at the BBQ stalls.
Again, it's all about the food ;-) but the stalls were great just to gaze & guess at what actually most of the 'meat' skewers were, and sit amongst the locals instead of sitting in one of the many pubs along 'Foreigner Street' (yes, that what it was actually called!)
Aside from eating & drinking we did a little trek one day & decided to walk almost 2hours up the Mountain instead of taking a 20 minute cable car ride. The scenery was fab, however the rain was very persistent that day & when we finally reached the top we had to take cover. It absolutely chucked it down!!
There was no way we could make it down by walking, it would have been just too slippy & steep so we succommed & took the cable car. Coincidently it was here that we met an Australian couple that actually had family in the same town as where my Mum lives, and they had even visited 'Mow Cop' which is where we live.
It truly is a small world!!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 1, 2011 from Dali, China

Lijiang & Tiger Leaping Gorge
Lijiang, China
One of the main reasons we visited Lijiang was it was here where we could organise our next trip to the 'Tiger Leaping Gorge' (more about this in a bit!) however it was another great ancient city where we whiled away the hours meandering the streets, checking out the market stalls & generally just taking in the very traditional Chinese atmosphere.
Black Dragon Pond park is a beautiful attraction, a lovely walk just outside of the old town main square with a number of temples and a lake with the gorgeous backdrop of Jade Dragon Snow Mountains. Definitely worth a visit
Tiger Leaping Gorge
This was a trek we were really looking forwards to as we'd heard great things about it. However not so great was the '3 hour' bus ride to Qiaotou which in reality because of the truly awful roads and many accidents we saw along the way took about 5 hours.
So after we arrived at 1.30 we set about finding the beginning of the trek. Along the way we met 2 other couples & we all basically got lost. After about 40 minutes of going completely the wrong way & not being able to find the signposts, we set about going the right way. And then it pi***d down with rain!
So we were already almost 2 hours late on starting the trek, but thankfully the weather brightened up and further on we met another 3 guys that were on their way up so we all headed on together.
The killer punch of the day was the '24 bends' which is an extremely steep hike, apparently 600 metres, so after successfully making it that far we finally rest at the 'TeaHorse Guest House' at around 6pm.
The next day was beautifully clear & allowed us to truly appreciate the scenery. It was breathtaking.
It stayed clear for us all day so the 9 of all hiked together across waterfalls, high above the Yangtze River, all in all about 5 hours that day and we enjoyed every minute of it.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 3, 2011 from Lijiang, China

Guilin & the Reed Flute Caves
Guilin, China
Guilin is quite a modern city, at least in comparison to the many 'ancient' towns we had recently visited, and it was really easy to get around by local bus & see the sights. One of which was a trip to the Reed Flute Caves.
It's a beautiful grotto, illuminated by multicoloured lights with lots of strange rock formations some of which look like mushrooms & tigers (apparently!) and was actually pretty spectacular.
Here we sampled a few of our fave culinary delights, rice pots filled with as many delicious ingredients as we could ask for (but only those they could understand that we were asking for!) and a great shopping centre/market stall that served up the best noodle soup ever.......that we actually shared with a fellow Stokie that we met along the way!
From here we took a River cruise on the Li River, down to Yangshou..........and I think this was the highlight of Guilin for us. The River scenery was almost like a minature Yangze River cruise and for us was the perfect way to reach our next destination. Yangshuo.
The yummy rice pots
our fave market stall......eating with our fellow Stokie!
On the Li River
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 9, 2011 from Guilin, China

Yangshou
Yangshou, China
The trip across the Li River really got us in the mood for Yangshou as it really was beautiful…….& we'd heard great things about the place, including it's where HSBC filmed their TV ad - the one where the fisherman sit on their boats on a huge picturesque lake & use Cormorant birds to actually fish for them. So when we arrived & were surrounded by huge mountains that seemed to sprout out of nowhere like you can only imagine exist in magical places, were were not disappointed.
The actual 'town is not that special- the fact that the main street (West Street) is renowned for haggling kind of gives you an idea of what its like ;-0 However the surrounding countryside is just stunning.
There are huge lakes, lush greenery & everywhere around you can see the mountainous landscape. We took a bike trip which was a great way to see just how gorgeous a place it is. And of course we went & watched the Cormorant fishing at night……which isn't quite exactly how it happened on the HSBC ads but even so it was pretty spectacular :-)!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 12, 2011 from Yangshou, China

Macau
Macau, Macau
We hadn't really planned on visiting Macau as to be honest we were umming & ahhhing about wether to go to HK simply because we knew it was going to be quite expensive, however we figured that we were pretty much almost there. It turned out to be an amazing trip, & it would have been a disappointment to miss out.
From what we'd read, Macau was being called the 'New Vegas' because gambling is illegal across the water so they had made the most of it & opened lots of casinos & huge hotels such as the Venetian.
What we didn't really was that it also had a massive Portuguese culture to it & in the first day we visited some absolutely gorgeous parks, historical buildings & the Cathedral all of which were stunning & you really could have been in the Med!
Danny & I are not gamblers at all, but we of course had to check the casinos including the Lisboa (which I think is the oldest). To be honest we only went to the Mandarin Oriental to sample their cocktails ;-) and excuse as we don't gamble. It was here where we got chatting to their executive chef who was such a lovely interesting guy…..we must have been talking with him for over an hour when we so kindly offered to let us try one of his signature afternoon teas - on the House! So there we were, at 4pm is the afternoon eating smoked Salmon sandwiches, Victoria sponge & drinking English Breakfast tea. It was ace!!!!! So all in all Macau turned out to be a real highlight of our trip, and an unexpected pleasure of all kinds.
The Portuguese influence
views from Mount Fortress
Mount Fortress
The ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral
Casino Lisboa
Afternoon Tea at the Mandarin Oriental. Get us!
meet the Chef
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 15, 2011 from Macau, Macau

Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Unlike Macau, we had big expectations about HK…..bright lights, big city, crazy shopping etc & it certainly lived up to them & more.
We stayed on Fashion Street ( basically the wholesale area for fashion buyers) which was very close to Ladies Market- another place we'd been recommended to visit. Luckily we were give some great tips form the guy whose apartment we had rented- well I use the term 'apartment' loosely as it was actually only a 8ft x 12ft box room! But after some of the advice we'd read online about dodgy hostels & way expensive hotels it was just the perfect place for us. The location was fab, everything we needed was literally just within 10 mins walk……amazing local food (where nobody spoke English which was interesting!) fashion, electronics, jewellery shops etc & the bus to the Ferry stopped right outside!
So we made the trip across to HK Island & from here did some great day trips. We of course went to Oxford Street which was full of quirky shops & cafe, and saw all of the big glam shops at Times Square & went on the famed longest escalator (weird, but true!) However the best bits were going to HK point as the views across the city are just incredible, seeing the almighty massive Buddha, as well as visiting Tao which was a really cute little fishing village.
HK we love you!
Lantau Peak - the highest point of HK Island
The amazing Hong Kong skyline
the streets of HK
Tian Tan Buddah (Ngong Ping, Lantau Island)
views on the country trial (Ngong Ping, Lantau Island)
Hong Kong skyline. Just fabulous
our snug apartment
The view from our apartment
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 18, 2011 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Hanoi
Hanoi, Vietnam
To be honest Hanoi was a bit of a shock to us - the traffic is crazy, the streets are tiny & are teaming with millions of motorbikes. Apparently there are 4 million in Hanoi alone and the best way to tackle the these we were told is just to walk- fast! And don't stop! Amazingly they do seem to manoeuvre themselves around you with no injuries ;-)
There's not a great deal to visit in Hanoi really. There are a few nice lakes to wander around, and we watched an underwater puppet show which was really great……..but the main reason everyone visits is to organise their onward trips. As did we!
Hanoi city centre
St. Josephs Cathedral
Skater dudes in hanoi park!
Water Puppet show
Me, Dan & Acer
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 21, 2011 from Hanoi, Vietnam

Trekking in Sa Pa
Sa Pa, Vietnam
First on the agenda was a 3 day trek in Sapa- so we boarded the overnight train form Hanoi which took about 9 pain filled, dirty & hot hours (my tolerance for sleeper trains was fastly deteriorating). But thankfully the Mountain town of Sapa was totally worth it- surrounded by rice fields and greenery as far as the eye could see the scenery was gorgeous.
The trek included a home stay, and because of the lovely bunch of people we where this was great……we were cooked some amazing food, we ate & drank outside overlooking the hills & slept in a huge dorm like room in a huge wooded House on simple mattresses under mosquito nets. It was the best nights sleep whe'd had in ages!!
The local tribeswoman were the only thing that made the trip a bit weird. They were lovely, but there were hoards of them following us around everywhere & asking for us to buy from them literally every 5 minutes, which gets to be very tiring, and annoying, meaning unfortunately you forget just how basic & tough their lives really are.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 25, 2011 from Sa Pa, Vietnam

Ha long Bay
Ha Long, Vietnam
This was a trip we hadn't planned on making, but we'd been told by so many people what a great time they'd had - we felt we just didn't want to miss out. And we are so glad we didn't as it was even more beautiful & magical than we'd imagined.
It was similar to the landscape we's seen in Yangshou, but on a much larger scale, and even more spectacular. It really was breathtaking and we really couldn't believe our eyes.
We spent a bit more than budgeted just so we could stay on a nicer boat (& one that wasn't a teenage booze cruise trip !) which was worth it not only for the quality of food we were served but also the trips we were taken on………visiting the floating villages (families literally living on a 20x20ft wooden platform bobbing around in the Bay) kayaking, visiting monkey Island & swimming in beautiful clear waters. But the best part of the trip, for Dan at least, was jumping off the boat into the gorgeous sea every night after sunset & splashing around being surrounded by the beautiful mountains. I just hope the photos do this stunning place justice.
The never missed a trick to sell us stuff!
Kayaking
I made my very own spring rolls. Yummy!
fun for Dan in Halong Bay!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on August 30, 2011 from Ha Long, Vietnam

Ninh Binh
Ninh Binh, Vietnam
A guy we met in Hanoi recommended us to come here to simply get a moped & scoot about to explore the place, so that's exactly what we did.
We made our way to Tam Coc which was only about a15 minute ride & took a trip on the Ngo Dong River which was a bit like a mini Halong Bay with huge caves which we paddled through, and was surrounded for Miles by jagged cliffs jutting out of the lush paddy fields. The scenery was just gorgeous. A quirky little Surprise to the trip was that the locals actually paddled the boats with their feet - it looked like a great workout!
We also did a spot of unexpected rock climbing! what we thought was a few steps up a Mountain to take in the gorgeous views ended up being climbing up the side off quite treacherous rock for about 30 minutes in just our flip flops. But its actually doing unplanned things like this that have made our trip so amazing :-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 1, 2011 from Ninh Binh, Vietnam

Hue
Hue, Vietnam
One of the main attraction here is is the Citadel walls which sit on the Banks of Hue's Perfume River - so called I believe because of the aroma of the blossoming flowers.
It's actually quite hard to visualise what is once would have looked like as most of it is just ruins now, but I imagine that it would have been like a smaller version of the 'Forbidden City' in Beijing.
In it's time it was also used to House one of the favourite royal past times .......elephants fighting with tigers! So today you can see a few elephants here & ride them around grounds. We didn't actually do this but seeing these gorgeous creatures again took us back to our time in India.
We also did the DMZ tour- we wanted to learn as much as we could about the Vietnam war & this took us to the De Militarised zone at the time of the North/South divide & we got to see a section of some of the man made tunnels. The Vietnamese had built Miles of this tunnel system, which were so complex & tiny only they knew how to navigate in & around them. We crawled our way into them & there are so small that I couldn't properly stand up & width wise I had only just a few inches spare either side of me.
It was just incredible to learn that the local families actually lived here, women even gave birth here in these tiny dark tunnels and they are one of the main reasons why the Vietnamese outwitted their enemies & won the war.
views of the itadel
the Citadel ruins
inside the Citadel
inside the Vinh Moc tunnels (DMZ tour)
on the DMZ tour
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 4, 2011 from Hue, Vietnam

Hoi An
Hoi An, Vietnam
A charming Riverside city, lots of bustling little streets with food market stalls - and lots of places to shop! Kind of a nightmare when you shouldn't really be purchasing, but here you can have anything you want hand made - ranging from leather sandals & boots, to winter coats & suits. All of which a fraction of the price you pay back at home
Unfortunately Danny got really sick here & spent 4 days in bed, so we didn't really explore the place other than to take a stroll up & down the River. But actually that in itself was lovely, and I felt quite at home just wandering around & browsing, visiting the food markets & eating on my own.
One event that we were lucky enough to see, was the Dragon Dancing festival, which all of the kids in the city would take part in. Around the streets at night they'd be beating their drums & dancing beneath the Dragon suits - putting on a show for everyone to see. It was great fun to watch
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 6, 2011 from Hoi An, Vietnam

Nha Trang
Trang Na, Vietnam
We arrived here after an 8 hour bus journey from Hoi An, at about 6am & it was lovely to see all of the locals, irrelevant of age, either running, doing aerobic exercise or playing Badminton along the promenade! It seemed that this whole stretch alongside the sea was the main hub of activity & luckily our hotel was within just 5 minutes walking distance.
We just pretty much pottered about here - we spent a few days on the gorgeous beach eating fresh seafood that was cooked for us by local ladies on their version of a beach bbq i.e. a bucket full of hot coals!. We also went on a snorkelling trip & swam in beautiful clear blue water & got to seem some of the most amazing fish. It was lke Finding Nemo! And to top it all of we spent a whole day at a spa having a Mineral mud bath, which cost us all of 6 quid each. Life doesn't really get much better than that ;-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 10, 2011 from Trang Na, Vietnam

Mu Nei
Phan Thiet, Vietnam
Mu Nei was another beach resort, but so much quieter than [[Vietnam/Nha-Trang]] - and when we saw the lovely bungalow we'd booked that were not only ridiculously cheap, but also literally just a few strides away from the beach we were very happy indeed!.
Here they served really great, cheap food & gorgeous fresh fish so to be honest we didn't really move much further between beach & bungalow for the next 5 days. There's not a lot else I can say about Mui Nei other than we loved it!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 16, 2011 from Phan Thiet, Vietnam

HCM City
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
We were both a bit apprehensive about going to the capital city, only because we were a bit disappointed with Hoi An & we imagined it to be similar - but on a much larger scale. It took us about 8 hours to get there on bus from Mui Nei…….but as soon as we arrived at our hotel which was situated at the end of a street that was lined full of locals cooking & eating goodness knows what - we decided we loved the place straight away!
It had a really good hustle, bustle street feeling and there was so much to see & do - we just took out a map & wandered around the streets ticking off all the places we wanted to visit; their version of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Sheraton Hotel (where we'd been told we could see amazing views of the city & have have a sneaky cocktail too!) and the War Remnants museum.
The museum was absolutely fantastic . I cant say it was 'enjoyable' as it gave very graphic & frankly really upsetting details of the Vietnam war, telling stories of families who survived & displayed photographs showing the most horrific effects of agent orange. It really opened our eyes to the ordeal the whole country must have faced and it's a must for anyone that visits HCM
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 20, 2011 from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Beautiful Phu Quoc?
Phu Quoc, Vietnam
We flew over to this remote Island as we'd read & heard so many great things about the gorgeous Sandy beaches that stretched for Miles & which are apparently the best in Vietnam. However the fact that we weren't even sure we'd reach our hotel because the little lane leading to it was flooded should have given us an indicator of things to come ;-)
It pretty much rained the whole time we were there. We didn't get the chance to experience the beautiful beaches because the sun never came out & we couldn't really get around the Island as it was too wet & a bit too risky to hire a moped. So in between the rain showers we would wade up the lane (the water was up to our knees!) & make our way up to a few of our favourite places;
1. The Curry House. We ate there 3 times over 2 days which explains just how tasty it was
2. The Tapas restaurant. They sold red wine & cheese. Enough said.
3. The little shop at the end of the lane that sold cheap beer & vodka. Enough said.
To be honest we did make the most of our time in Phu Quoc, and I can't say that we didn't like it - we just didn't enjoy it as much as we thought we would.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 23, 2011 from Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Kep
Kep, Cambodia
We travelled across the Vietnamese border into Cambodia with no problems, and got taken to the gorgeous bungalows we were staying at for the next 3 days. They were seconds away from the sea (there wasn't really a beach), and only about 15 minutes walk from the infamous Crab Market. Here you can see the locals catching, buying & selling fresh crab (you don't say?!) and other seafood, at a very noisy & frantic pace. We of course sampled the fish, which couldn't have been any more fresh or tasty than it was.
We explored the beautiful lush countryside - there was a 10k walk we did around the national park that had amazing views, and we also hired Mountain bikes & followed the dusty road out of Kep into the next village.
In between all of our sight seeing it did rain quite a lot, but that didn't really stop us from doing anything. In fact on the first day we arrived it gave us an excuse to take refuge in the 'Veranda' hotel, where we'd only really gone to to withdraw some money………but then the rain came down, and they served relatively cheap red wine. And so we stayed put for the next 4 hours :-)
Kep was definitely a highlight of Cambodia for us. Although there was very few sights to visit or 'things to do' the scenery was stunning and kept us very happy.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 27, 2011 from Kep, Cambodia

Kampot
Kampot, Cambodia
Kampot has a completely different feel to it than Kep. The centre of town is less green & feels more industrious, & it's It's certainly a lot bigger & more developed - but the 'things to do' list is relatively small. It was until we got to Pnomh Penh that we learned Kampot literally went from being a hub of activity to a ghost town when Pol Pot's army ordered everyone to leave, and to be honest it still has that kind of atmosphere…….a deserted dusty town that you'd expect to see tumble weeds fly past at any minute.
That's not to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves here. We hired a moped and discovered some really lovely places, a few hidden temples and at very pretty area near to the River that seemed to be where the locals picnic-ed. Again, it rained quite a bit but that gave us the chance to watch the England v's Scotland rugby match and re-discover our love for tequila. Oh dear!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on September 30, 2011 from Kampot, Cambodia

Shady Sihanokville
Sihanokville, Cambodia
There's a really great beach here that seems to be at it's liveliest in the evening. It's lined full of restaurants selling fresh fish & shack like beach bars, and every other establishment seems to sell 'happy' pizza, (better known as marijuana topped pizza) so it's not surprising that its a very relaxed, easy going place ;-)
We did hire a moped and explore other parts of the town, but we really loved just eating & drinking beside the beach so we spent most if the time here just watching the world go by.
Unfortunately the area is quite notorious for sex trafficking & prostitution - although it's not glaringly obvious in the fact there are not people working the streets or coming up to you & offering their services. However after a while you do notice that there are a hell of a lot more western males with VERY young cambodian women (or men) on their arms, in comparison to white/cambodian couples.......which I know might sound like we're either making quite big assumptions that these guys are paying for company, or that we're totally phobic, narrow-minded people. But on both counts I can tell you honestly that we're not, and what we saw with our own eyes was quite disturbing. But there really is no supply without demand, so exactly who is in the wrong here?
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 2, 2011 from Sihanokville, Cambodia

Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The capital of Cambodia, and the main reason we wanted to visit was to see & understand what happened to the country under Pol Pots regime. This meant unfortunately a visit to S21 and the Killing Fields was inevitable.
Neither of these trips were enjoyable. In fact they were truly horrific. To see the actual S11 building (that if fact used to be a school) where prisoners were tortured to death was spine chilling. And being in the rooms & seeing the photographic evidence of what went on in there was so frightening.
We paid for the audio guide at the Killing Fields visit which gave in-depth accounts from various people that were involved. This ranged from victims that had luckily escaped, family member who recounted their horrific stories of how they never saw their loved ones again, right through to those who worked for the Khymer Rouge who were too frightened for their own lives not to kill others as they had been ordered to do so.
It was hard not to want to leave Phnom Penh immediately after seeing these awful places, but the Cambodians are really lovely friendly people, and there are others sights in the capital that we enjoyed, such as the beautiful Royal Palace.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 5, 2011 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

It's all about the temples!
Siem Reap, Cambodia
It really is all about the temples here! So as soon as we arrived we struck a deal with a tuk tuk driver and set off to buy our passes for the next day, and went to Phnom Bakheng Temple to see the Sunset. The walk up to the temple was beautiful, it was kind of like being in the middle of an English Forest! And when we arrived there were absolutely hoards of people on their way to do the same………..but the views were stunning & even the crowds didn't spoil it. So we were both excited of the day ahead to see many more.
Unfortunately I was sick that evening (a spot of nasty food poisoning we suspected), so the next morning Danny set off & visit the temples on his own. And I watched cable TV from my sick bed & was well & truly gutted. When he came back that evening & told me they the temples were probably the most amazing he had seen - ever - well I was even more gutted!
We had planned to leave the next day, but I wasn't really well enough to travel, so we stayed an extra day and I managed to pull myself out of bed.
Bless Danny we saw the same temples as he had already seen, but these were the 5 main big ones which included the infamous Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm, or better known as the 'Tomb Raider' because they filmed the movie here.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 7, 2011 from Siem Reap, Cambodia

Thailand & it's obsession with the Moon!!
Ko Phangan, Thailand
One big event on our trip agenda was to go to the full Moon Party , and so we had to go to Ko Phangan. The actual party is in Had Rin, but we decided to stay somewhere a little more 'sophisticated' (or read 'older'! We were actually worried that the 20 yr olds would get on our nerves too much & so we decided to avoid here) and so we headed to Ban Tai beach near Thong Sala Pier - only a 20 min drive from the parties.
We caught up with our old pal Jonathan here who we hadn't seen since China, and basically just partied for about 10 days!!! We made it to both the Full Moon party & Half Moon party, and typically at both we just consumed the local delicacy of 'Buckets'........basically just sandcastle buckets filled with a quarter bottle of local whisky, which is actually rum ? plus a botlle of coke + red bull. Delicious!
The Half Moon party is a bit more of a club event- it's situated in part of a jungle with loads of DJ booths spotted around which feels a bit more exciting as opposed to just partying on the beach amongst the masses at the Full Moon. But both were fab, definitely an experience not to be missed, but not necessarily to be remembered :-)
As well as the partying we did manage to scoot around & discover the Island which is beautiful. We did an amazing trek up to 'Bottle Beach', and also stayed a few nights in Haad Yao which we loved. The beach was jsut fabulous and it was so, so quiet.
Unfortunately we did come across some quite nasty locals one night, who tried to intimidate & get violent with us when we asked them to give us fresh drinks because they were disgusting. The owner of the restaurant/hotel was just as hideous & rude as her staff (she threw away our drinks!) so that was a bit of a shocker. The only bad experience we've had on our trip really. But thankfully we didn't let that ruin anything for us.
We loved Ko Phangan. And it's Moons!!!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 10, 2011 from Ko Phangan, Thailand

Ko Samui
Ko Samui, Thailand
Next we hopped on a boat and went across to visit infamous Ko Samui.
To be honest it was ok, just not quite our cup of tea. There are too many McDonalds, Starbucks etc here which takes away any Thai authenticity it probably had a few years ago. However we were still travelling with our friend Jonathan and we found a few cool bars (as well a a few ropey ones that we avoided!) so all in all it was a nice trip. We just wouldn't rush back in a hurry.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 23, 2011 from Ko Samui, Thailand

Amazing times in Chiang Mai & it's incredible jungle
Chiang Mai, Thailand
We had such a fab time in Chiang Mai.....the city itself has such a charm about it, so many things to see & do and it seems to have just the perfect mix of traditional/western that we really did fall in love with the place.
We stayed in Somphet Market which is THE place to buy all of your fresh produce, meat & fish etc so walking past here every day was such a treat, seeing all of the locals eating & buying. And the smells we nearly always amazing :-)
We visited quite a few temples, but to be honest by now we were pretty much templed out, and our favourite pastime (as always) was just to wander the streets & find some great local street food.
However the main highlight was our 2 night/3 day trek to the Jungle & Elephant camp. The actual trek was great, the scenery changing between paddy fields & 'in the thick of it' jungle.....but the best bit was rocking up at the Elephant Camp & sleeping literally with them! Our bed for the night was a mattress under a gazebo, about 200 meters away from them, so close that they actually woke us in the night with their trumpeting. It was great!!
We got to bare back ride them and wash them, and then the next day whilst in the jungle we had to hide from a wild one. In between walking we visited some amazing waterfalls that you could actually slide down, and we got to do some white water rafting too. The people we met on this trek made it a fab experience too.
When we got back to Chiang Mai to be honest we were knackered. So the next day we took a visit to the Women's Prison - we'd been recommended to have a massage here as 6 months prior to the women being released they train to become masseurs & receive a percentage of monies taken to set them up in their life after prison. Not only is it a commendable scheme the massage we got was incredible!! They use their elbows, feet, bend you over their knees........all for a grand total of 7 quid for 2 hours massage!! It was so good we went twice :-)
An unexpected night out took us to Doi Suthep lake. We were taken here by some locals, after we'd sampled many glasses of the lethal Sangsom whisky with them! There are lots of food stalls & bamboo huts situated all around the lake & it really is only known by the locals, so much in fact I think we were the only white faces there :-)
It's definitely not a luxury set-up, more like a picnic area but it was great fun just sitting around on mats in these makeshift huts. Was was a bit scary though was the food.....especially what is known as 'dancing shrimp' which is literally a bowl of live shrimp that jumps around in the bowl. So we didn't eat a great deal that night!
I also took a Thai cooking class & I managed to create some of my fave dishes, the more traditional ones like Massaman curry, Tom Yam soup & Pad Thai noodles. Not a shrimp in sight thank goodness! And even if I say so myself they really were as tasty as what i'd ordered in restaurants - so I really don't have any excuse not to cook these when i get back home.
All in all I think we spent about 10 days here in between the jungle trek & our little trip to Pai (see the next instalment!) and to be honest we could have stayed longer.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on October 26, 2011 from Chiang Mai, Thailand

The heart of Pai. We heart Pai!
Pai, Thailand
We'd heard a lot of great things about Pai and so we were desperate to visit. The bus from Chiang Mai took about 4 hours alongs a really windy road, and the great thing was it passed right outside the hotel where we'd booked. So we hopped straight off into 'The Heart of Pai' which is a fab place to stay with a quirky upside-down House as it's trademark.
Pai is only a small village, you can easily walk into the main area & wander around in an hour or so but we absolutely loved it here. It's got a kind of 'hippie' vibe, is very laid back & had some lovely cafes & bars and some funky little shops.. The best thing though to do here is to hire a scooter & just hop around.......there's so much beautiful scenery & some great places to visit. We went to 2 amazing waterfalls, the best being Pambok which you had to swim inside a little cave to get to, and we also boiled an egg in the hot springs!
We met up with some friends from Chiang Mai, Matt & Nadine, & so we spent the days exploring & the evenings drinking amongst great company. It doesn't really get much better!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 1, 2011 from Pai, Thailand

Quote........'It's like Blackpool on Acid!
Phuket, Thailand
We missed out on visiting Bangkok because of the terrible flooding, and although we'd heard that it hadn't really hit the centre we just weren't prepared to risk it. So the main agenda here was to meet up with my lovely Sister & her hubby Bryan at Bangkok airport and fly out to Phuket.Exciting!!!
Unfortunately we had a 5 hour delay, and poor Jo & Bry had already been waiting for us for about 5 hours so it was an even longer wait for them. We finally arrived in Phuket at about 11pm and we were all knackered, but what we all agreed on was that we needed a bit of a drink and so we went out to the main Patong Beach area. Which is where my lovely sister described it as being like "Blackpool on Acid'. And to be honest it is!!
It's a mad place full of lots of tattoo covered tourists, pretty much enjoying themselves and the sights of the infamous 'go go girls........who will not only dance for you, but will keep you entertained (and thereby keep you drinking!) by playing bar games with you. So if you take accept the place, and the go go girls, and accept if for the cheesy fun place it is, then you'll probably enjoy it like we did.
One of our must do things was to see a Muay Thai boxing match and so we booked a ringside seat at the Bangla Boxing stadium, which was in fact pretty gruesome but so compelling to watch. As well as seeing boxers as young as around 8yrs old (who were bloody good!) I think the highlight for us was watching the only UK boxer on the bill who proceeded to jump over the ropes, fall flat on his face & then get knocked out in the first round! We were so proud. Not!
So Phuket for us was great fun. Outside of Patong Beach I believe there's a lot more beautiful places to see & visit but we were only here for a few days as a stop over to Phi Phi and so it fitted our purpose just fine.
The family together x
After a few......
.....and a few more!
Dan with the 'Go Go' girls
The sophisticated game of knocking nail into wood....with the wrong end of the hammer. It kept us happy for ages??!!!
My sister - the Connect4 champion!
....and a few more!
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 14, 2011 from Phuket, Thailand

Fun with the family- part 2
Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
So the second leg of my Sis & Brother-in Law's trip was to Phi Phi & we'd all heard so much about it that I personally was just hoping that it would be as perfect & idyllic as I'd hoped.....and thankfully the views from the boat as we arrived didn't disappoint.
That night we pretty much made ourselves familiar with the Island the best way we know how.....by drinking on the beach & eating pizza late after a few too many!
The next day we decided to have a proper wander & so we took a walk up to the Viewpoint. And again the views were just breathtaking.
I love my sis xx
The little wander around in fact turned into about 3 hours of walking, trying to find our way down to a secluded beach cove which we never actually got too. A few wrong turns plus a big family of monkeys with whom we literally had a 'stand off' in the middle of the jungle with prevented us from actually getting to the beach!
The next day we took a snorkelling trip around Bamboo island, Mosquito island, Monkey island & Maya Bay (where the film 'The Beach' was filmed and it was such a fab day. The snorkelling was great, we saw so many fish, but just being out of the boat seeing around all of the Islands was so beautiful. Maya Beach was a little too touristy & very crowded but even so the scenery around there is to die for so it's just something you have to accept & get on with.
"The Beach'
Sunset after a day's snorkelling
The rest of our nights in Phi Phi was pretty much spent drinking too many of the infamous 'buckets' - literally a sandcastle bucket with too much alcohol & too little mixer ;-) Ok so it's not the most glamorous drink ever but it was cheap & it certainly did the trick!
What a classy lot we are
After goodness knows how many buckets!
Another highlight was the early morning boat trip we took at 6.30am to Shark Point where the boys hoped to spot some Black Tip Reef Sharks. And thank goodness they did as me & Jo would never have heard the end of it!!! In the end the saw quite a few but me & Sis were just too scared to get into the water so we left them too it. Afterwards we chilled out on & soaked up the rays at Long Beach.
Guess how many sharks Dan spotted?
We all had such an amazing time in Ko Phi Phi. To be honest it wasn't quite the undiscovered paradise that I'd imagined it to be, it really as become a backpackers haven so its inevitable that there were more than a handful of people on the Island ;-) And I'm sure that the Tsunami has made it more popular now than ever......but none of this spoilt it for us as the sea is truly aqua blue & the views are like paradise. Plus we had our lovely family with us too so that made it extra special! xxx
P.S In the 7 days I think we ate pizza about 6 times (day & night) plus we had 2 curries. Ok, so we didn't go totally native but we had fun. And so this is our little tribute to my sister hubby who we love, and who really does love a curry :-)
A curry? With Bryan? Of course :-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 16, 2011 from Ko Phi Phi, Thailand

Georgetown.......& Little India ;-)
George Town, Malaysia
After the fab time we'd had with our family we were a bit sad to be leaving Thailand, but seeing as Malaysia was so close to us it seemed rude not to make a stoop off there . Plus it was so easy for us, we just caught the Ferry from Phi Phi to Krabi, then took a mini bus straight into Georgetown. Having said that it was about a 15 hour journey' China Town' all within a few blocks of each other so there was plenty to see and do, all of which you can easily walk to as Georgetown isn't that big.
Needless to say we feasted ourselves on the Indian street food which took our memories back to all those moths ago back in March. Although we did have a few curries in Thailand, it made us realise just how much we missed Indian food, as well as the smells & sounds wafting out of the shops.
We also visited a few of the main attractions including the Giant lying Buddha (which does exactly what it says on the tin) , the cannons, and we took the cable car trip up to Penang Hill which was quite picturesque.
There's also a beach resort called Batu Ferringh which is only about an hour bus ride. We actually just missed a beach party that was happening there the next day. But even so we took advantage of the surroundings and spent a few luxurious hours in the Sheraton poolside bar!
It was great to actually get back to doing some 'real' backpacking in Georgetown. Sometimes we do feel like we're cheating a bit when we're enjoying beach resorts & not traipsing around places, visiting temples etc. so it was good to soak up a bit of culture and learn more about the country. Plus it made us feel less guilty about or next trip to Langkawi ;-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on November 24, 2011 from George Town, Malaysia

Bali
Sanur, Indonesia
On the way to Bali & we'd already booked into 'Flashbacks' hotel in Sanur, it was the only place we'd had pre-booked since before we left the UK with it being Xmas and all (trying to be organised!) & when we arrived we definitely weren't disappointed. It was like a beautiful little haven, so very tranquil with a cute little pool. It felt a million miles away & just what we needed.
We met up Jonathan that night (a guy from Manchester whom we'd already met at Everest Base Camp) he drove up to us from Kuta, & then the next day we hired a moped & went to see him as he was leaving that day. Kuta was so much busier than where we sere staying & just so many motorbikes & typical aussie backpacker dudes - you know the type, lovely to look at but not much going on upstairs ;-). It was ok, but just not for us & we were glad to be staying a bit further out of the crowds. We left about 6pm that evening & what should have been a 50 min trip ended up taking us almost 3hrs! Yes we got lost & we discovered that the road signage in Bali is terrible. No excuse it really is.
The next few days we pretty much hung around at Flashbacks as it was just so peaceful, until we took our first trip off the island & went o the Gili Islands- we stayed at Gili Trawangan which is the largest of the islands (the other are called and it situated just across from Lombok. It's only 8k around the whole of the island and there are no vehicles here, only horse & carts. We took a snorkelling trip to the other 2 islands, Gil Meno & Gili Air and saw some amazing fish & coral as well as giant turtles which were incredible!!!. We met a lovely couple called Benito & Maya from Palma & had such a lovely day with them that in the evening we met up with them again & had a few drinks. Which turned into a few more & we didn't finish until about 2pm. In fact we know were were drake when we woke the next morning to discover that there had actually been a mini tornado that caused white a bit of damage to where we were staying & we hadn't even heard it!
Gili Trawangan
Benito & Dan
Fun on Gili!
Another place we were keen to visit was Ubud which on the map looked quite close to us to we decided we'd hire a couple of mountain bikes & take a trip. Well, after 18 miles just one way, a painful 2 1/2 hours of biking and a sore bottom later we finally arrived! I thought I was going to die! The ride there however was pretty spectacular, the villages & Balinese temples & buildings were very beautiful so that kind of made up for it ;-) And Ubud itself was a lovely, hippie like town. We decided that we'd definitely visit again, but next time take a motorbike!
Too much biking now......make it stop!!
On the way to Ubud
Ubud Monkey Forest
Ubud
As usual we decided that after a few days mooching about we were ready for one of our favourite pastimes…….a trek! So we booked a trip to Mount Batur Volcano, which involved being picked up from our hotel at 2am, taken to a small village where we managed to grab a quick coffee & then started our 1hr 1/2 walk at 4.30am. On the way up we couldn't really see anything to be honest, we'd got our torches at the ready & we culled only make out the pathway up. But when we arrived, and the sun rose the views were just spectacular. It was a fantastic little trip.
Sunrise atop Mount Batur
We had such a lovely time in Bali, obviously it was also special with it being Xmas, which although was very quiet was lovely even so - we enjoyed a traditional cooked diner on the beach & a few drinks so we definitely couldn't complain:-) But what was really great was just hiring a moped & scooting around the countryside. There are many beautiful landscapes & paddy fields, not to mention the famous sights such as the floating temple at Tanah Lot which was fab too.
Tanah Lot
At Uluwatu.....just beautiful
Views of Uluwatu
The 'secret' beach we found
Well, not so secret (it is signposted) just bloody hard to find!
Dans fave Balinese dish - Ibu Oka, Suckling Pig
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on December 8, 2011 from Sanur, Indonesia

Definitely one of our most memorable New Years ever!!!!!
Singapore, Singapore
So we were pretty excited to be going back to Singapore......not only because the lovely Clare had made it so fab for us the first time around, but as a brucey bonus two of our bestest friends Jolene & Phil were flying out to meet us there too with their two kiddies Ed & Elle! So as soon as we met up with them we pretty much didn't stop. We headed straight to 'Little India' which we hadn't managed to get to on our last visit. To say Dan was a happy bunny was an understatement......the fact he was having a curry, his most favourite pasttime no matter where in the world he is), plus drinking beers with friends just topped it for him!
Curry with the boys
It was just so lovely to be with friends & we wanted them to have the best time ever so we'd planned a few places to visit. The first being East Coast park where the kids could enjoy splashing around in the sea (which they did!) & we 'just so happened' to come across a lovely Belgian Beer & Mussels bar :-)
fun in the sun
making sandcastles
Hmmmmm we love Belgian Beer!!!
It was the perfect start & build up to New Year! That night we all got ourselves glammed up, me & Clare shared a few glasses of fizz before we made our way to 'Overeasy restaurant' - our reservation for the big night ahead.
getting ready to P.A.R.T.Y
The location was just fab, it was right on the waters edge opposite the Marina Bay Sands hotel which gave us the best seats in the House for the fireworks
Fab location
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on December 30, 2011 from Singapore, Singapore

NZ....the camping fun begins here!
Queenstown, New Zealand
We'd booked into Nomads hostel & met up with Jonathan, our pal from Manchester who'd madly wanted to join us through NZ, who'd already arrived the day before. This was the first chance we'd got to get our heads together & try to plan & organise the next few weeks in NZ. However the most memorable event of that evening was tasting our very first Ferg Burger! Now there's a story behind this…..we'd met a few people in Nepal on the Everest Base Camp Trip who were from NZ & after getting some good tips of where to travel to from them, then then proceeded to tell us in great detail about the best ever burger joint called Ferg Burger. Now bearing in mind at this point we'd been walking for around 9 or 10 days,eaten only basic stuff & had been away from home for a few months so this really got out tastebuds going. So basically we'd been dreaming about having one since Nepal! As were were told to expect, there was a massive queue and about a 15 min wait for our order but it was pretty special to be honest, and so it was a very good first night for us in Queenstown. Oh the simple things!
Thurs 12th
We had a proper wander around the town, which was just beautiful……I can only describe it as being a bit like Windermere or Keswick in the Lake District, stunning moutains & hills all set around Lake Wakatipu. That day we set about doing 2 walks, the first was the Queentown walk and then we went up to the Skyline Gondola. The views were just fab. That evening I cooked for the first time in 10 months and it wasn't too bad! Practising ready for our camping extravaganza I cooked chilli beef pasta :-)
The next day (Friday the 13th!) the poor boys had to go mountain biking in the rain ;-) Well that's what THEY wanted to do……..so I had a bit of a lie in & enjoyed some peace & quiet. JT also did his first ever bungee jump whilst me & Dan tried to be organised & bought all of the camping gear - a 4 man waterproof tent, plates, cups etc, a gas cooking stove, aired mattresses & we also got our first lot of food supplies which was basically, pasta, tinned tomatoes & tuna. Lets get ready to camp!!!!
Sat 14th
We made our way to Milford Sound in our trusty car we'd hired - a very exclusive Gold Nissan Sunny, with the infamous beige interior & retro cassette deck. Nice!. We decided to stay a close as we could to the Sounds, but in a free site. Our strategy being that we'd rough it for 2 nights & stay at the DOC conservation areas which were either free or around $5 each, then every 3rd night we'd book into a serviced campsite. The site was right on the lake & we were bowled over at the setting. It could't have been any more remote or beautiful. So the boys set up camp & I made our first (of many!) camping meal extravaganzas - pasta with tom & veg sauce, with sausage in for the boys :-) I thinks we were all a bit excited as we started drinking & cooking pretty much a s soon as we arrived, so by about 3.30pm were were all a bit drunk! We ate sitting on the lake & it was very squiffy and special.
Sun 15th
We drove into Milford however the weather was a bit rubbish, quite overcast, cold & drizzly so we decided against going for a long trek and instead we took an 1hr 1/2 boat trip on the Sounds which was fab! We saw some incredible waterfalls as well as seas basking on the rocks & a family of dolphins! We stayed at the same campsite that night & I cooked a sausage curry which the boys did appreciate!!
Mon16th
We set off Wanaka, and had our minds set on a 'luxury' campsite! To be honest the last 2 nights had been pretty cold, although the setting was gorgeous is was very windy & a lot colder than we'd anticipated so the thought of a lovely hot shower was just too much to resist. After setting up camp we drove down to see the beautiful lake views….which were so great that we opted to buy some beer wine & cheese & have ourselves a little picnic by the lake
Tues 17th
We had an early start, ate breakfast & made some buttes in preparation for our 3hr walk to Rob Roy Glacier. This was about an hour or so drive from Lake Wanaka, and when we arrived we set off amongst the grassy hills & cows up to the Glacier. I wasn't sure what to expect really as I'd never seen a Glacier up close before, and in contrast to the forest & green hillside we'd just walked up it was incredible to see ice just a few hundred or metres or so above you!. When we got back to campsite we took advantage of the hot showers again before starting the drive towards our next destination - the Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers.
Weds 18th
So today was my Birthday!!! So I opened my lovely cards but then got straight back to business ......cooking breakfast & making butties for the day ahead as usual ;-) However I really couldn't complain because the day was very special. Walking up the glacier was an experience like nothing we'd ever done before. We had all the kit including crampons & ice picks etc and being amongst these huge vast glaciers when only a few hours before we were in the town centre was pretty amazing. My Birthday was topped off my a beautiful bottle of red wine & tuna pasta. Definitely a day I won't forget!
Thurs 19th
We spent the next few days in Kaikoura which is a bit like a seaside resort (but definitely not Blackpool!) and it's famous for whale watching and it's fresh fish. So the first thing we decided to do was head into the town centre and treat ourselves to fish & chips and eat them on the beach. Pure heaven!! Our campsite was right alongside the beach so when we got back to the site we took a few bottles of wine & made ourselves a campfire on the beach which was pretty impressive even if we do say so ourselves.
Unfortunately we weren't able to do a whale watching trip in Kaikora which was a bit disappointing. We went to book it but they told us the likelihood of seeing any whales was so remote we resigned ourselves to the fact that it just wasn't possible. Maybe next time, and we'd live to go back
Sat 21st
We'd made our way to the Abel Tasman national park the night before (which was a bit of a nightmare drive and we didn't get settled until 9.30pm) so that morning we headed into Kaiteriteri as we'd been told by a fellow backpacker that we absolutely must do a trek around this area. From here we booked a boat to Bark Bay & then walked back to Marahau which took us about 6 hours- we were knackered but it was totally worth it. The scenery was like anywhere you could imagine in the Caribbean.....turquoise blue sea & gorgeous little hidden bays.
The next day we drove up to Charlotte Sounds, but on the way we stopped off at Havelock as we'd read this was THE place to buy fresh mussels. We got 2kg (which was about 50 of the buggers!) for only $8, about 4 quid! We checked into campsite about lunchtime and then quickly headed off to do a bit of a trek. The weather wasn't great but we managed to squeeze about a 3hr walk in without getting wet which was v. lucky. We were so looking forward to our feast…I did one batch in white wine & cream sauce, the other in tomato & garlic & I have to say they were absolutely amazing. Such a treat but i'm sure that the 'back to basics' living we'd been doing for the past 8 days meant were were due a bit of luxury ;-)
Mon 23rd
Dan & Jonathan went for a bike ride early at 7am and I had a lie in! We leisurely made our way to the Ferry which we caught across to Wellington then stayed at a campsite about 14k outside of the city. That night was our opportunity to catch up on boring thing like laundry but after all of the walking we'd done we were in desperate need of clean clothes ;-)
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on January 11, 2012 from Queenstown, New Zealand

The North Island
Wellington, New Zealand
We spent our first day in Wellington just wandering, stopping off at the Te Papa Museum for a few hours & then we caught the cable car up to Wellington Botanic Gardens with its magnificent lookout over the City and harbour. But to be honest we thought it was a bit of a weird city? It wasn't as atmospheric as Queenstown and appeared to be quite a big financial area with not much to see or do.
As we felt like we'd seen pretty much all there was to see, we headed on our way North to Lake Taupo & stopped mid way at Tongariro ready for a big walk! We got to our campsite quite late & it was very cold & blustery…..thankfully we had a sheltered area to cook under & we got chatting to 2 other couples who were planning their walk the next day too. Little did we know that this walk required 2 cars, 1 to get to the start at Tongariro crossing & 1 at the finish point which we hadn't researched & knew nothing about. Thankfully these guys were kind enough to suggest we pool all of our cars together so we could all do the walk.
Wed 25th
We got up early at 6.30am, had a big breakfast made our buttes for the day & headed on to our 7hr walk for the day! This was the legendary 'Mount Doom', and Jonathan being a bit of a Lord of the Rings fan meant we had a bit of commentary on the way there ;-)
It was a pretty tough walk in places, parts being quite a steep climb but the views are stunning & for me the highlight was the turquoise pools on the way down. To say we were knackered afterwards was an understatement…….we'd been lucky with good weather so we headed off to a campsite with showers :-)
Over the next few days travelling north we went to Lake Taupo and visited Huka Falls, which are the faster flowing falls - so fast they can fill something like 9 olympic sizes swimming pools in just 6 seconds. And closely to here is the 'Craters of the Moon' attraction, which as the name suggest is a huge area thats full of bubbling mud pools & steam arising from the ground due to the volcano activity in the area.
Sat 28th
After stopping off via Rotorua, we drove up to Coromandel and visited to Sting Ray beach & Catherdral cove. These were both beautiful beaches, very secluded and paradise like and it was fab to have a chill out amongst gorgeous scenery. Then we went to the infamous 'Hot Beach' which was a bit overrated really…….as expected it was very busy as the crowds basically come here with their spades and dig themselves a deep hole in the the beach, where eventually red hot water comes through. It is pretty cool I guess as you're standing next to the cold Pacific sea yet you're standing in a pool of red hot water that's being heated by the thermal volcano activity. We actually cheated a bit & sneaked into somebody elses hot pool & dipped our toes in. We got the same effect without the hard work! !
That evening we stayed at Kanawera valley park & met a very large, wild but friendly, NZ family who were intent on getting wasted & have fun that night. And they did!
The next day we left coromandel early as weather wasn't great & headed towards Auckland. We stopped at great free big campsite that had a bit of a mini farm , and there wasn't really much in the way of sights or things to see or do so we decided as this was nearly the end of our trip together we'd have a party night. So we drank beer. cider & wine & stumbled into bed!
Mon 30th
The boys woke with a massive hangover! Using this as a perfect excuse we headed to a luxury campsite and then drove nto Auckland. It was their holiday weekend & there was a big boat & food festival going on at the marina so we had a good wander around.
So this was our last night in NZ.
It had been an amazing few weeks, to be honest I can't believe I survived camping for so long! But we had such great fun, a real adventure and we loved it so much it's definitely a country we'd love to visit again as 3 weeks is just not long enough.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on January 24, 2012 from Wellington, New Zealand

Santiago
Santiago, Brazil
We flew from Auckland at about 2pm to Santiago. So for some reason Dan & I assumed that we'd arrived on Wed 1st Feb……however it wasn't until the day after when recalled home that evening did we realise that in fact we'd actually gained a day! So now we know we arrived on TUESDAY and the fact that we even managed to get into our hostel in the first place, bearing in mind we'd booked it for Wednesday, was a miracle!
We were staying in the Bella Artistes area, which lucky for us was actually pretty cool. There was a really lovely Plaza close by that was bit too posh for us, full of very nice trinkety shops & expensive looking bars, but even so it was nice to wander around. Then there was a street lined with tables & chairs, packed full of locals sharing a 'grande cerveza' so we of course joined in ;-) All of this was only about 10 mins walk from us, just across the River & so it was perfect.
We hadn't really had the chance to go onto the internet & do any research whilst we'd been camping so the next day we set off early to Santiago Tourist Information to try & sort out the next week or so in Chile. The lady spoke great English & gave us some fab tips on where to visit and where we could cross into Argentina etc. and so finally we felt like we'd got a plan together
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on February 1, 2012 from Santiago, Brazil

Beautiful, beautiful Valparaiso
Valparaiso, Chile
It was only a couple of hours bus ride into Valparaiso & neither of us really know what to expect as we hadn't done any research on the area, but after just a hour of walking around the streets we immediately loved the place. There's a huge naval base here so it's ovally down by the port. And as you can imagine there are some incredible local fish restaurants here - where of course the menu is only in Spanish so you have to improvise & point at dishes and hope for the best! But that's part of the fun.
There are also lots of little parks and winding, charming streets that makes it such a lovely place to idle hours away. We found a really lovely bar that's themed like a ship (called the Galleon) and the locals were so friendly that we quickly got chatting to Carlos the owner. Who proceeded to take us in person to the Post office after we'd enquired for directions only………..and then he insisted on paying for the tram ride up to an area called 'Conception'
The views here literally took our breath away. You can see for Miles across the city & the sea views, plus many of the houses here are painted beautiful pastel colours - pink, blue, yellow. It's like a fairytale village in the sky. We loved it here! So much in fact one day we just took a picnic & sat in a bench for a few hours & wandrered aroun the streets discovering art galleries & trinket shops
We also visited 'Vina del Mar' which is only a 20 min ride on the local bus, and it has a really nice beachfront. It seem this is the place where most of the locals go to at the weekends as the beach was packed.
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on February 3, 2012 from Valparaiso, Chile

Chiloe, Castro..........and the penguins
Castro, Chile
We travelled overnight on the bus from Santiago & arrived on late on 7th Feb.......and compared to beautiful, colourful & sunny Valparaiso to be honest it looked & bit grey & was bloody cold! However as soon as we arrived as usual finding some great local food was first on our agenda- local fish & mashed potatoes which was just amazing. The town was very small, nothing really to visit as such it felt very much like a really old fishing village & that was about all there was to it. Very few tourists and lots of local markets. We weren't really sure what was there so we founds a great tourist info place & booked up a couple of bus trips.
The next day went to Ancud & saw penguins! We also went to a really small village about 2 hours away where they made 'curasco; which was basically a load of fish, sausages and potatoes cooked underground in between hot coals & leaves. It was a fantastic day
written by  mich_and_dan_moors on February 6, 2012 from Castro, Chile