Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Uncategorized category.
Antigua
Right, so the bus to Antigua showed up and turned out to be a private taxi….mega score. i was guessing it was gonna be one of the so called “chicken busses” so was glad that it wasnt though. and it only cost $10…that makes a trip from Guatemala city to Antigua cheaper than the trip from the airpoirt to my first hostel both in Guatemala city…ridic…but then i was ripped off the first time. i was taken straight to my hostel in Antigua as well….jungle party hostel. this was recomended to me by charlee and esme and it is an ok place, im sure i will survive, but at the moment im not liking it too much and cant wait to start the tour.
im in a mixed dorm with a guy on the bunk above me, and 2 girls….i dont know about anyone else, but nobody has really talked yet. also…when the guy gets up on the bunk above me the whole bed moves, properly. it sways cozits well old.
i braved havng a shower…realised how many spiders there are in this place too. but then i do have to remind myself of how little i am paying to stay here. i forced myself to have some food as well, again, ate at the hostel, but i didnt eat much, still not got the appetite back. may order free breakfats in the morning.
i kinda just wanna go to bed but its only about 9pm here so everyone will think im a freak. but i dont have much else to do. thank god this internet is free. otherwise i would just be wollowing even more lol. and its really hard to mingle here coz everyone already seems to have their own friends. and i know i should, but at the moment i dont have the confidence to just start talking to big groups of people…its ok if there is only 1 person, but whole groups. nah. and in the cafe area they are all watching a film which makes it even harder. meh.
at the moment i just want tomorrow morning to come and then i just want that day to go…i want the tour. i really hope i will be able to meet up with the ukranians coz tghey will make saturday go quicker at least.
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MEH…
ok, so im in Guatemala now after leaving Mark at the airport in Cancun yesterday. silly STA changed his flight so turned out we couldnt book in together at the same time and he had to wait at the airport for ages after i had flown to check in for his flight. saying bye was really hard seen as i have been with him 24/7 for the last 2 weeks. was horrible. and now its making me feel like i really dont wanna be travelling alone anymore. it sucks. not many people at the hostel i am staying at at the moment either so nobody to talk to really. only the tv in my room. if it didnt have tv i think i would have gone crazy by now.
so have had a bad tummy again for the past few days, dont know why, and didnt take anything because i didnt want to make it worse like the doc in bangkok told me. this morning was pretty bad though and i checked on travel doc online and it said i should go doc, so i took myself there today. at first we couldnt get me an appointment (the kind lady who speak really good english in the hostel was trying to book me in) so instead i had to go down to the hospital and go to emergency. there i was seen straight away which was good coz had the taxi wait. couldnt produce stool so asked for blood test ( again, fogettung to ask what blood type lol, whoooops). oh yer but before that they tried to extract a sample…..THE funniest thing in the world. i did laugh. the whole time. lol. but no luck, so yer blood test. she took loads as well. it kinda hurt.
cant back fine though….looks like i have some paranoia from the last time i got sick. but she gave me some kid of drink thing whcih will look after my intestines apparently. i hope they work though coz i dont like having the shits lol. fingers crossed.
tomorrow i leave for antigua, guatemala. i am taking a “shuttle”….i think that is code word for chicken bus, which is costing $10 which isnt too bad. need to find an atm to get some money out though. and there i am staying in a hostel in dorms so hopefully i will meet more people and it wont be so bad as wont be so alone.
right well i guess i had better go and find an atm before it gets dark and then do not much all night again. it sucks so bad. makes it worse. ah well.
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Last dive
Not much has happened over the last few days. Mark went diving pretty much every day after we finished the course, sept not today. I was persuaded to go with him yesterday so that we could have some pictures of us diving together, so we bought a camera that works underwater. i did this so that i can show the rents underwater (seen as they cant do it now – so they better appreciate lol).
we went with Katana – a really cool mexican guy who is hilarious. at first he was telling me it was too windy to dive and i believed him…..but he was joking. the waves were pretty massive though so i was kinda worried. we got kitted up and off we went. i really wanted to see some turtles so he took usto the places where they are most often seen. we didnt see any though, gutted.
the dive was good, except the currents were strong so i didnt enjoy the dive very much. mark was left with the camera and coz i was always battling against the current i was too stressy to take many/any (:s) pictures of him. i feel really bad now though coz if anything there will be about 1 pic of him and loads of me. whoops. we saw a baracuda, i held a spider crab (it was a baby), a starfish, saw a mega big crab and Katana found us an eel under a rock. so we did see quite a bit. not sure how the pics will come out though. especially as the camera, of course, was an old one that you wind on and had to look through the viewfinder to take a pic, which is quite hard when you have a mask on lol.
after abut 30mins it was time to surface. i could tell that Katana wasnt sure of the way back to the boat, we just had to surface where we were. the current had taken us about 200/300metres from our boat. it was ok though, Katana simply signalled to the boatman that we needed picking up and over he came.
after that we were both completely zonked, so we just crashed in the room until about 8.30. both of us are pretty broke now too. not sure what we will do today as low on cash. probably just the beach again, top up that tan.
will update again soon, oh and i have some pics to put up…YAY! so you can actually see whats been going on. i will have to be selective though.
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I dont know how Charlee and Esme did it!
Today and for the next 2 days i will be scuba diving. today was the first day so we had to read a book last night – well 1 chapter of the book, which took hours. i was so tired this morning when we got up for a 9am start ar the dive shop. we then watched a couple of hours of dvds teling us even more stuff and repeating the stuff from the book. and then we were off to the beach to do our first dive. i was shitting myself coz the book had said we would have to do a swim and tread water to make sure we were up for the dive. but all we were asked was can we swim and have we ever snorkelled? the answer to both yes, we continued. sorted.
but then came the diving – i found it hard and very scary. we went in the shallow water at the beach first. thr currents were strong and the visibility poor due to the sand. we had to take our mouth piece out and put it abck in again, refind our mouth pieces, let water into ouyr masks and get it out and then fill the whole mask and get it out. i was worried about this as the salt water really hurt my eyes when we went snorkelling but luckily the process of getting it out is actually easier than it sounds and after a mini stress in my head when i completely filled it to begine with i can now do it ok…touch wood. we then had to regulate our bouyancy in the water to make ourselves neutrally bouyant….one of the most important aspects and one which i have not yet mastered. we soon found out that i had not mastered it when we went for our first 12metre dive. i was less scared than before and it wasnt till we got to the dive site, right in the middle of the sea when i started to worry again. neither me nor mark were sea sick on the way but when the boat dropped anchor i started to feel and and we feeling quite dizzy. we sat on the sides and fell backwards into the water. sounds crazy and i cannot imagine doing this in my head – lookign at me doing it that is if you see what i mean…
anyways so then we were to swim to the front of the boat to the line which dropped to the anchor and descend holding the line. however, i had difficulty even getting to the fron of the boat. i had changed masks from when we first dived as it had hurt my nose – too tight. so i had another mask which turned out to be too loose and in the choppy water it was filling quickly. this and the big waves out there was enough to stress me out and i forget all the calm thing i was supposed to be doing. i tried my best to swim to the rope but did so with difficulty ending up way too close to the boat. i tried explaining to the main guy (not too sure of his name right now, something mexican) that mask was too loose but i was getting so out of breath and had to take my mouth piece out to talk that the waves were just going right over my head and got water down my throat. this stressed me out more so by now i was just floundering. out of breath and knackered i wanted so much to just get back on the boat, i didnt want to dive. suddenly i was by the side of the boat and katana (the boat guy – well cool) was telling me to take my mask off and to breath slowly and deeply. i wasnt quite sure what to do with the mouthpiece but eventually decided that for it to be in my mouth would be best (lol). at last i swapped masks with the one on the boat and the guys were helping me to calm down. all i could see were the massive waves coming at me and so breathing clamly was hard. i kept breathing so heavily that the air supply was making strange noises but after a couple of mins i was fine again, thank god. then it was time to dive :s
back to the rope, we began to descend. easier than swimming to the rope. always swallowing to equalise. and blowing through my nose to equalise my mask. we found mark on the way down who was trying to equalise his ears. his “buddy” had left him though – the trainee instructor. so when my guy – the main instructor, saw this, he got a right bollocking under water. even though there was no noise to this telling off even i could tell the wrath due to the very harsh hand movements. was quite funny. but leaving a buddy is the worst thing to do.
after reaching the bottom we were off. this was the easier bit and i had clamed down now for sure. we swam around for probably about 10-15mins, maybe more. saw many pretty fish, was well cool. i just kept singing in my head “under the sea, la la la la la, under the sea…”, so that made me chuckle to myself and calmed me down more. but i definitely had trouble with the neutral bouyancy thing. at one point i just couldnt float – turns out i had too many weights on and so was being pulled down too much. and then i thinki got abit too carried away with stearing clear of the reef so i didnt cut myself and i just was floating up and up….woops. i was enjoying myself more now i was “inot it” but still couldnt wait to get back to the boat and for the day to finish.
i think im glad i have done it, but i dont think i have enjoyed it as mcuh as i hoped i would have. this is why i am so shocked that charlee and esme did it without complains or any stories and loved it. and it seems bad that now i am still worried about tomorrow with the same feeling i used to have for swimming lessons, which i hated when i was younger. and i just cant wait for the next 2 days and next….6 dives? to be over. im worried that the same thing will happen when i exit the boat tomorrow. if it does i will probably be completely put off…so fingers crossed the sea will be calmer or i will get used to it more. maybe it was just the madsk problem and with the mask fine i will be ok? hope so.
i will let you know tomorrow. charlee and ez, you def are the dive queens.
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the ‘full on’ end of the tour…alone again
ok everyone, chill your beans, i have been waiting till i have ages on the net and for a good connection before i wrote my next blog because i know its gonna be so long. even in my diary im only up to about day 4 of the tour. error. im trying to catch up but tis hard.
so i think the next bit im up to is the overnight train. well that was so long ago… it was alright actually but the bunks were 3 tiers. not all th beds were together either so me and my friend anna tried very hard to get beds in with the 6 together and succeeded. the 2 aussie ladies had to go into another carriage (not that they really were carriages coz there were no doors..they just kinda came off from the main corridor.\ so it was quite noisy) and they said that all the other men in the carriage just stared at them all night. so glad i didnt get those ones. the next morning we got to allahabad and after breckie, g (the tour guide) dragged us off to see where gandi stayed a few times. it was so boring. me and the 2 uk guys were just looking at one of the rooms and then this indian guiy came in kinda pushed us out of the way and walked straight into the glass in front of us. it was so funny. but i burst out laughing so had to run off. was well bad.
then we had the approx 4 hour drive to where we were gonna catch the boat. it was in a bus that was quite comfy…if you were on a normal road. my bum by the end was in pain…it think i still have a bruised tail bone now.
we reached the boats all needing to pee and as there were no toilets it was take it in turns and go behing the wall in the field. lovely.didnt know what we would do on the boat but was soon to find out.
we boarded the boats in groups of 4…guess who i was with 
the 3 aussies of course. me, anna, sharon and julie. oh yer it was funny as well; the previous night i realised had been calling sharon sheila coz its such an aussie name – epic fail. but i appologised and she said she hadnt even noticed. it was nice to be sitting on the boat now while pur 2 sailers did all the work. it wasnt very widny so they were having to row – felt kinda bad. not long after we had left the other 2 boats and the kitchen boat jon\ined us and we had lunch. it was amazing to think that a few guys could make such a nice lunch on a small boat.
after a while i needed to pee but luckily a stop was sheduled. ‘pee pee stop’ one of the sailers asked and we agreed. but we could not see where he was gonna stop. on one side was just a beach island in the middle of the river and on the other a tall, steep embankment leading up to fields! he pulled over on the embankment side and let us get off. i was the only one that needed to pee but didnt want to go alone so the others follwed me. people were working in the field and there was no privacy, everyone could see. but there was no other choice. we all just peed where we stood never mind who was looking. it was so funny!
we got back on the boat and continued on our way. the sailer told us that in approx 10 mins we would see dolphins. g had kept this quiet and we were all really excited, ready with our cameras. we couldnt believe than dolphins would be living in the ganges, how random. and we all figured that you guys back home would never believe us either so we had to get a pic. when they finally emerged many shots were taken and many missed. luckily, i was able to get a shot so you will all believe me when i add it when i get home.
but i did not only see dolphins – i saw my first dead body. not very nice. abit shocking. very smelly. we knew that we might see some (cant remember if i mentioned in ealier bog) as i was told that it had happened to someone else. we coudl see something quite large flaoting in the water and could not tell what it was and as we got closer i thought it was a vegetable. then i saw the legs and realised. it must have been a toddler or small child. in india, they cremate most of the people who die except for babies, holy men, pregnant women and leppars. this stunted convo for a while as we were all very shocked.
after about 6 hours of sailing we reached the place where we were gonna camp – it was another beach island in the middle of the river. we all decamped and by now it was cold and beginning to get dark. the sailers got the tents from the boats and errected them for us. of course, they did not shut the door things and so by the time we got into them they were FULL of bugs. lovely. malaria. as at this point i was not taking tablets. but it was fine. some of the guys decided they would rather sleep out in the open than in the tents with so many bigs but they had sleeping bags – i did not. tea was served and it was even more amazing than lunch. we had masala chai which i am now in love with, pasta and chips. and the chips were amazing too. we couldnt get enough. we all sat out for abit before bed, but we all went to bed so early as there was nothing to do and it was dark. we stargazed for abit and i saw a shooting star which i was chuffed about. then bed. i wrapped my head up in a scalf, wore my thermals and pulled my silk liner over my head. i had blankets too of course. oh and the toilet for this stop was another taller tent with a predug hole – luxury.
morning came and we were served yet more chai yay and breakfast. we all jumped back into our boats and off we went. again, the guys were rowing as there was little wind. we all had a go at rowing and got some funny pics.
after 6 hours and yet more dolphins and pee pee stops we came to the end. nobody wanted to leave the voats as they were so comfy and cool. but off we got and climbed a steep hill with our packs to the connection transport to varanassi. this was ‘jeeps’ but they were pretty much just massive cars. our packs were crammed in the back and on the roof. we were all so hot and looking forward to the air con we saw in the roof of the car. the driver got in – and immediately turned the air con off. what the hell. it was midday and 7 of us were crammed into this car. it was not gonna be a nice ride. it took about an hour to reach our hotel but when we did we were all glad of a shower.
that evening, we were taken on a tour of the city so we could know what therw was to do. we walked all along the ghats were cremations take place and saw a few. then g took us to a cotton place. the man explained to us about how it was all made, the processes etc. it was pretty boring but we were all being polite. it was so funny though coz then he asked if he could show us more and then directed the question at burta (the german lady) and she said really bluntly ‘no’. how rude but it was so funny. we would have to get used to this german abruptness.
we wnt for tea – the 2 boys, the aussies and me decided on a place that g suggested, the others came along but then decided against it because they had seen the loo in the place. so they went elsewhere. i had some indian dish as did julie but she sed that her rice was cold and that it meant it had not been reheated properly and i realised mine was cold in some places too so to be on the safe side i ate the dish and the nan, leaving the rice. does anyone know if this is true though?
we sat on the rooftop that night, the aussies having some rum. and soon after we all went to bed.
the next day was free time and as julie is a buddhist we decided we would go the saranarth where the buddha gve his first serman. so we got 2 tuk tuks – 3 in each – again it was the 2 boys and the aussies and me. the tuk tuk ride was about 30mins and hurt my tail even more. they need to sort their roads out.
sarnarth isnt that interesting and the most interesting thing that me andthe guys saw there was an ice cream called ‘gaylord’ icecream. so immature i know but it was funny. julie and sharon also went to the museum but the rest of us couldnt be bothered and it was quite expensive so we waited for them. on return we got our tuk tuks and went back to varanassi in search of lunch. we explained to the drivers where we wanted to go and they said they could not get there driving but would drop us the closest they can. so we ended up being being dropped somewhere and being told the way to go but having no idea where we were or any idea which way the river was (the restaurant was by the river). we wondered the streets going by the way we thought not the way we were told which turned out to be completely the wrong way anways. eventually we got there and the others were already there. the food was ok, but i got so excited when i saw they had choco cake so we all ordered one. it was THE most disguisting choco cake i have ever tasted in ym liiiife. it tasted of vinegar eiw eiw eiw. so most of us left it. eiw.
that night we all went to bed pretty early as we were to get up really early for the drive to lumbini on the boarder with nepal. this would be a 6 hour drive apparently. so at 5 the next morning we all piled into the jeeps again. i was with the usual group and at first, felix, the tallest guy was shoved in the very back with me and sharon. he had no leg room and kept hitting his head so while on the move i climbed through to the seats in front. almost falling in the process. i was happy as i was comfier too and tried to nap. the roads werent the greatest as expected and there was still a fair bit on bumping. the tail bone was not enjoying it. after 2 hours we stopped for breckie. some random village place with a bar/restaurant whcih didnt look the cleanest of places. i had toast and chai but most of us cancelled the chai after we saw the milk. lol. i had to go to the toilet at this place as well. probably the worst i had been to. there were flies everywhere and it stank of pee but i was getting used to this.
(will write more later – will try to keep updating to reach where i am at now)
still alive – just with bad internet connection
hey everyone,
have not written in ages because the connection is so slow so once i have emailed the people i need to email, i have alrewady been on for an hour. so frustrating. its like what it was in the uk about 10 yrs ago.
anyway, i have joined the tour now and all is well. im with 3 other brits (2 also gappers), 3 aussies (who are amazing, and i am picking up the accent slightly yay) , one german and 2 norwegians . sharing rooms is not as bad as i thought and i actually perfer it as i have someone to talk to and someones else milling around so i dont feel so alone at all. but this has made me worry about when i will be alone again, in katmandu for a week and bangkok for a week.
we have been very busy. i have seen the red fort in delhi and also the friday mosque and a sikh temple. this was on the first day of the tour. oh and by th way…the taxi driver got me there ok, even if it was with me looking down the left roads and him loking down the right roads. we were going round in circles for abit. he got a big tip.
then we visited agra – getting there via train. the toilets on these are interesting – holes through the floor which just go straight throguh to the tracks below. lovely. we spent a couple of night in agra. this was nice after the chaos of delhi which took it out of us all. it was still busy though. it was here, fo course, that we saw the taj mahal. it was amazing.the most beautiful building. everyone says it but thats baecause its true. when we walked thruoguh the archway to see thet typical view down the middle it looked like it was just super-imposed onto a background. it was interesting though – it is all symmetrical – apart from the tombs inside – his is much lkarger than hers. bet you didnt know that did you!!! it was so funny though coz it turned out that we were more interesting thn the taj. we sat down to take a rest right next to the building and an indian fam started arranging their kids next to us for photos. so we joined in and started taking photos of them and a few mins later the whole family (about 20 of them) were sitting with us having a laugh. it was amazing. many good photos were taken. and then a chinese guy joined inm. this did make me laugh – the chinese always wanted our pics when i went to china. but we arent even in china and a chinese guy wanted to take pics of us. and then of course everyone else saw that we were having pics with people and so wanted their bit of the action. i dread to think how many random home around asia i will have my pic in now. the owner probably saying – oh yer and here is my western friend. its crazy!
after agra we came to orchha, again on the trains. this is a small, but touristic village. the shopping is amazing and i have bought lots of jewellery here. the only bad thing is i started loving indian food – and it made me ill. wasnt too bad thoguth coz at least we are in an ok place to get ill. im ok now fingers crossed. yesturday, me and the aussies were invited to a little family home. at first we were very reluctant to go but the, after a lot of persuasion from the tille guy, we went and met his fam. they were very humble and did not want payment, but my chocolate biscuits that i had just bought. the kids were so cute though. again many good photos were taken but i cant get them online due to the bad connection. it would take hours. so i will just put them up here once i get home.
today we leave on the overnight train and i will not have access to the internet for a few days so dont expect many more posts for a while again. and then tomorrow we take the boats down the ganges and camp along the river overnight. i dont think the tents will have walls though so it could be interetsing/cold lol. we will see though. oh yer, and the boats dont have loos so if we need the loo the boat will pull iver and we will go on the baks of the ganges, apparnetly. so you can see why i am abit worried about this but also glad that i have been ill already and am hoping that i will not be ill again. please do keep your fongers crossed for me.
il let you know how roughing it went next time i reach civilisation. i have so much more to tell from the last few days but just not enough time to write about it.
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a little better – starting the tour
i dont have much time to write today and my last post was very random and disjointed :S
i am leaving this hotel today and am not sure when i will next be able to access the internet. hopefully will get a little chance at the next hotel (as it is more expensive) but depends on how much time i get as am not sure what will be going on really.
that is if i get there…i have to take a taxi from here to the next hotel alone again. 
abit sad stil but the friends i made made it a little easier. am worried about getting to next hotel though as when i got here the first day i told them i would need a taxi and they asked to where and when i said the name of another hotel they didnt seem too happy. so hopefully they wont send me to the wrong place. also they are making me pay an extra 400 irp when i leave – i asked gemma and john (my buddies) about this and they said they did not have to pay this, so im gonna refuse…or attempt to anyway.
we went to the zoo yesterday and i was well excited coz we would get to see animals i wouldnt get a chance to see anywhere else. so the taxi took us there etc but when we got there it was closed. the driver admitted to knowing this – so funny. but he took us to the museum instead for no extra charge! i got into the museum for 1 rupee coz i flashed my student card….tight….so that is about 1p or 7p. currency still confuses me slightly. but cheap anyways. i have started eating indian food but have not got ill yet. wished i had though as it now mean i will when sharing a room with some poor person!!! saw some mokeys too! took photos but not had a chance to put them up yet.
also, we took a tuk tuk, i would never do this by myself, was waaaaay too scary!
update soon, the replies make me smile. love xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Homesick already
So I’m in Delhi now…after a very long day of flying, not much sleep and quite a lot of worry and stress.
Flight connections were fine and the first flight was amazing. I had 4 seats to myself and was amazed that each seat had its own tv which had a selection of about 50 films, programmes like friends and games like battleships and tetris. The food was also amazing as it was well posh – goats cheese for appetiser!! didnt eat it but it made me smile. I should have got more sleep and not watched rush hour 3 though because i had 6 hours waiting in doha airport for the flight on and then a 3 hour flight in camped conditions. so i am so tired right now. its about 8am gmt time, 1pm here, and i have had about 3 hours sleep.
I have never been this homesick thought, i have missed home but have not had that sicky feeling - i don’t want to eat at the moment and feel very alone. I knew it would be hard travelling by myself but not this hard. i just want to hear some nice english voices which will make me feel more at home so i now cant wait to join the tour. i did not stop crying until the flight had left gatwick and am still finding it hard now. i would listen to my ipod for some english words but it is low on bat due
to the long travelling and not having the right plug sockets in the room homefully they will do at the other hotels or nepal/thailand etc. if not i dunno what im gonna do about my camera and stuff..
i just made a friend in the internet cafe – erro i cant remember her name.
this internet is annoying me, it keeps going gammy on this site. i just wrote loads of other stuff and i just lost it all.
so will update you again when im next on. need some sleep now.
Back from London
Hmmm, so London was a complete disaster. Ended up only getting one of the visas that I needed to get and it was the one which I could have got in 3 days via email…gash. The Vietnamese embassy was apparently closed from today (the day I was going to go and get it) until next Tuesday, as it is ‘Lunar New Year’. So I’m going to have to go down again next week to get it. Gutted. Oh well, hopefully all will work out eventually. The tube etc was fine though, now I’m a pro
Visas in London
So this doesn’t really count as the first part of my travelling but will do for my first blog. I’m staying at my mate Becka’s down in her London pad…got the right train and found my way to her flat from what I could remember from last time. Hopefully I will be this good when abroad. Tomorrow I have to navigate the underground by myself which will also be a challenge, and then find the different embassys using a map.Will let you know how I get on, fingers crossed all will be fiiiiiine. xxx
