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Bosses Travels |
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Page last updated on 10/03/2004
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The Boss (Flg Off Mark Fleming) has taken a year
out, at his age, to travel around the world. Charley and Mark set off on the
21st April to Delhi. The wonders of technology means that Mark
can e-mail us his progress around the world. For those
interested I have attached copies of them so you can travel with
him. |
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e-mails received on following
dates. Click on date to go to
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April 23, 2003
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April 27, 2003
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May 28, 2003
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June 17, 2003
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July 21, 2003
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August 30, 2003
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October 25, 2003
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November 28, 2003
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December 23, 2003
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March 02 2004
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----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: Namaste - Greetings
Dear all
You'll be pleased to know that we arrived safely ahead of
schedule on Monday evening. We are currently 4.5 hours
ahead of most of you and a damn sight warmer too!!
Delhi is a fascinating place, the chaos on the streets hits
you straight away as there are cars, buses, trucks, scooters
and rickshaws everywhere, intending to get to their
destinations as fast as possible and as noisily as possible.
It's a constant noise of horns blowing and people changing
lanes without a thought. (Mum, crossing the road is an
art form in itself!!!) The great thing is though that it
all works and people get to their destinations a damn sight
faster than they ever would in London. We took a cycle
rickshaw to the sound and light show at Delhis red fort on
Tuesday night, imagine the kind of bike that your grandmother
would have ridden in days gone by that has had the rear wheel
removed and two seats welded on instead over a pair of trike
wheels to carry passengers. The poor rickshaw wallah
then happily rides the wrong way along the equvalent of the
M25 with no lights to warn anything else that we are there.
Even travelling in the right direction you can feel the
headlights of the truck behind burning into the back of your
neck (to quote Carl 22/04/03). Mind you, for 20 rupees
(about 24p) it beats Alton Towers any day!!!
We are staying in an area called Parhaganj which is where all
of us travellers hang out. Rooms are cheap and clean if
a little warm as we can't afford A/C. The food is good
also, we're sticking to veggie at the moment as we want to
avoid good ol' DB. And for the curry afficionados
amongst you, we're drinking Kingfisher, funny old thing that!!
Today we visited the sights of New Delhi including India Gate,
King Humayuns Tomb, The Baha'i Temple and Qutab Minar.
The tomb has just undergone a 3 year restoration to
restore the grounds to original. Very worthwhile
(30000m3 of earth moved by hand up a bamboo ramp over a wall
to waiting tipper trucks. Quite a feat - I know that 'cos
I used to be a surveyor for an earthmoving company!!!)
Right, we have a change of schedule, tomorrow we are going to
Agra to see the Taj Mahal and Red fort and then catch the
train from there to Gorakhpur and on to Katmandhu by bus.
The main reason being that the next train to G from Delhi was
on Sunday night and we wanted to get away sooner than that.
So, there we go - everybody come to Delhi, it's a great place,
very vibrant and friendly and so easy to move around in.
I'm not sure what the mail situation will be in Nepal so it
could be a few weeks before the next one once we've climbed
Everest and circuited the Annapurna etc etc. I hope all
is well back in good old Blighty and not too cold for you
(it's 38 degrees C here).
TTFN
With Love
Mark
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----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: Nepal
Installment number 2
We made it to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal after a days
travel by sleeper on the railway then local buses for another
12 hours. The city is really nice, far more relaxed than
Delhi (So forget Delhi, everybody come to Kathmandu!!).
We did Agra on the way, the Taj Mahal is impressive as is the
Red Fort but we got caught in the tourist trap with the guide
and "you make this man happy" with tips and
handicraft shops etc. (Nearly thottled the guy who accused me
of looking like Michael Jackson then produced a
"blind" beggar selling necklaces) Mind you,
bought an Indian carpet for a good price, is hopefully winging
it's way to Norfolk now. The shops were actually very
informative as to how they made things and I'm getting back
into the swing of saying "Sorry, not interested"
when it comes to the hard sell part. The Taj you can
spend away from the guides and nobody bothers you so you can
take in the full majesty of the place. There is a
fantastic view of it from the Red Fort across the river where
king Shah Jehan who built the Taj Mahal for his wife after her
death as her tomb, spent his last years imprisoned by
his son before being entombed beside her.
So, Kathmandhu. The tour company at the India/Nepal
border sold us a bus ticket and a night in a hotel with pick
up which was useful as we arrived in K at 2300. The guy
who met us was very helpful and this morning carted us
straight off to his pet tour agent to get us to sign up for a
guided trek. We made our excuses and left. We want
to do this on our own as otherwise what is the point of independent
travel? There are so many bookshops selling maps and
guides etc and I know that we won't have a problem. So
we have another rest day tomorrow and then take the bus to
Jiri and start hiking on Tuesday. It'll be good to get
away from the rat race of the towns.
Thanks for all of your messages, I'm really sorry to hear
about Don. Please pass on my condolences.
Take care all, I'll be in touch after the trek.
With Love
Mark
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----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: Yeti Hunt unsuccessful..........
..........but the Himalaya's were great anyway!!!!
Dear All
Finally arrived back in Katmandhu on Monday after 4 weeks
trekking in the Khumbu. We covered about 200km (not
including the vertical distances) and reached a height of
around 5500m which is over half the height that a commercial
jet airliner cruises at. I now have calf muscles,
thigh muscles and bum muscles and the lung capacity of a
race horse!!!!
I am also now in the process of growing a new nose as the
last one burned, peeled and then fell off.....
So, where to start?? We caught a local bus from KTM to
Jiri, a 9 hour journey on the usual horrendous roads.
These guys will overtake driving uphill on a blind bend with
a huge drop at the roadside... Mad. Anyway, Jiri is
the end of the road and beyond this is simply trails and
hills and mountains. All goods are now carried by
sherpa or buffalo (yaks when you get into the mountains).
The sherpas are the mainstay of the area without whom
supplies would not reach the villages. These guys
carry loads of up to 100kg in a basket called a doko
supported by a simple strap over their forehead. We
saw a 15 year old boy carrying a load of timber joists
weighing 80kg!!! I tried a load of under 20kg in a
doko and carried for an hour and it really makes your neck
hurt!! These arn't just pavements eiher, you're
walking on mountain tracks with steep inclines and loose
rocks etc and the sherpas only wear thin plimsolls or flip
flops or even bare foot.
The route from Jiri to Namche Bazar took us 8 days. 8
days of walking up hills, over passes and down to rivers.
Hard work but it acclimatises you for what is to come.
When you are above 3000m the air becomes thinner and the
oxygen saturation in your blood reduces and your body needs
time to adjust. Otherwise you can come down with Acute
Mountain Sickness (AMS) which can be deadly if not caught in
time. At 5500m the air pressure is 50% and oxygen 77%
of what it would be at sea level. Therefore to
aclimatise we only ascended 300m per day, you can go higher
as long as you descend to the 300m level. This gave us
no problems apart from occasional sleepless nights which is
to be accepted along with whats called periodic breathing
where your breathing slows right down then your body panics
and takes a sudden deep breath to make up for the lack of
oxygen. Quite a strange feeling!!
OK, thats the technical bit out of the way..........I'm sure
all you air forcey types knew all that anyway.
The accomodation was an eye opener the first time we hit a
lodge. These are all along the trail and provide very
basic accomodation and meals. Usually a simple stone
building lined with timber boards and and a thin mattress, a
room would cost a massive 20 to 50 rupees a night! (about 18
to 40 pence). We're now into the realms of the long
drop toilet which would be anything from a proper ceramic
long drop to the more usual rough hole cut in a timber floor
long drop where you helped to build a new mountain......
Food was pretty good and varied even with a simple kitchen
with cooking fire. Staple meal is Dal Bhat though hash
browns and fried eggs popular also. We did however
stock up on Mars bars in Namche as in the hills these can
cost over 1 pound sterling due to the import by porters.
Once above Namche Bazar we climbed into the Himalaya proper.
There are fantastic peaks out there with Mt Everest of
course but also Ama Dablam, Pumori, Cho Oyu, Lhotse etc etc
etc. The views of all of these are amazing and due to
the circular route we took we saw them all from many
different angles. We climbed a peak called Gokyo Ri
(5483m) on a beautifully clear and sunny day with no wind
amd stayed on top for 2hrs gazing at Everest and the
surrounding lakes and Glaciers and other peaks. There
is a high pass called the Cho La (5330m) which we had to
cross to get to the Everest valley. It was a steep
rocky and icy climb for 1 1/2 hours but well worth it for
the snowfield that opened up at the top and the ice falls
above. Truely spectacular. Beyond this and to
the North is the Everest viewpoint of Kala Patthar (5500m)
at Gorak Shep. This is about 5km away from the base
and gives a good close up view of Everest and of Base Camp.
We visited the tent city at EBC which is situated on the
Ngozumpa glacier. It's quite a sight with tents
pitched everywhere on the ice and on rocky platforms.
Setting up the place must be a logistical nightmare with
eveything coming in on Yaks and with porters. The
Irish alone used 120 Yaks to transport their gear from Lukla
to EBC. There were about 23 teams on the Nepal side
and a similar number on the Tibet side though nobody had
summited when we arrived. We had tea at the Irish
team base tent (all the English were in Tibet or keeping a
low profile) as we'd played cards with their hangers on
in Gorak Shep and had a good laugh. Stood at the base
of the Khumbu Icefall which is the way up to camp 1.
Two of the Irish team summited on Friday 23rd, we've met up
with them all since in KTM and got very drunk!!!!
This year is the 50th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillarys
summit ascent in 1953 so there are quite a few celebs about
(Hillary himself is in KTM for functions this week) we met
Hillarys daughter and also Reinhold Messner who was the
first man to summit all 14 8000m+ peaks solo and without
oxygen!!
Our last peak was Chuckhung Ri (5546m) to the East and close
to Ama Dablam and Island Peak. It wasn't a clear day
and the clouds came in later snowing as we left to head back
down the valley.
The end of our trek was in Lukla with it's airstrip.
The runway is on the side of a hill and only about 500m
long. You land uphill and take off downhill.
It's a weird feeling as you hurtle down the runway in a 20
seat twin otter watching the end of the runway (and the edge
of the cliff) rapidly getting closer and hoping that this
thing will get off the ground before it's too late!!!!
It did.
So we've now had a couple of days relaxing in KTM and
getting used to cars and rickshaws again. We've met up
with all the people that we trekked with, the Jiri crew was
12 of us all following the same itinerary for the first week
so we got to know each other very well. We all got
together for a steak dinner in KTM on Monday night and then
proceeded into various bars gradually losing people up until
3.30 in the morning. Of course the Irish Everesteers
outlasted everyone.
We've booked a white water rafting trip for the next 2 days
on the Bhote Khosi river which is going to be fun.
After that will be a breif stay in KTM before heading south
to Chitwan National Park to play with elephants and
hopefully tigers.......
Righty Ho, time to go. Hope all is well with everyone
Catch ya later
Take Care (don't do anything I wouldn't do!!!)
Mark
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From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: India
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Dear Reader
As we seem to have fallen foul of the Indian rail system and
ended up staying in Jabalpur for an extra day, I thought I'd
use the time to update you on our intrepid travels. We
were booked on the reserve list on a train last night, it
should have left at 2320, it didn't show up until 0220 and
then there were no available berths so we'd spent a long night
sat on our backsides on the platform only to get a good old
cycle rickshaw back to the hotel at three in the morning!!!
The next train we can get a confirmed booking on is on Tuesday
24th so we'll give the waiting list another go tonight and if
that fails it's a 24 hour+ bus journey to Bombay. Hmmm,
can't wait!!! The trials of world travel eh???
So, to business. Firstly let me apologise to all those
that I told I was down to 10 stone in weight. I'm
actually 11st 4 and Carl is 10st. I got my sums wrong so
don't worry we havn't wasted away just yet, just losing the
puppy fat thats all!!
After the Himalaya we headed to Chitwan National Park in
Nepal. We spent 3 days here which was beautifully
peaceful after Kathmandu. We spent 7 hours walking
around the jungle spotting rhinos, crocodiles and deer.
Nearly had a rhino charge us from a lake but the guide put her
off by making plenty of racket with a bamboo stick.
The best way to see the animals though was from the back of an
elephant. They are the most bloody uncomfortable things
to sit on while they walk but they can get you right up close
to the wildlife as the rhino etc only sees the elephant and
not the people on his back. We therefore got to within
15 feet of a rhino and her calf. The highlight of
Chitwan though had to be elephant bathtime. Around
lunchtime, the pahits will take their elephants down to the
river for a bath after work and for a small fee you can join
in. We found ourselves trying to stand upright on the
elephants back while the pahit had him doing rolls and
headstands trying to get us off. The elephant
succeeded every time funnily enough but we still climbed on
for more. Like being a kid again.
Had a bit of agro from the local bus touts at Sunauli on re
entering India which wasn't a good introduction but all has
been fine since. We rode for 11 hours on a local bus
from Sunauli to Varanasi. All transport over here is
similar, ie knackered, noisy and uncomfortable. The MoT
obviously doesn't exist - the tyres can be bald, the lights
not work, the exhaust not exist but as long as the horn is in
full working order then all is well!!!
Varanasi is city on the river Ganges famous for its cremation
ghats. It is actually the oldest inhabited city in the
country and is a mecca for the devout as it is the place
founded by the God Shiva as the place where the dead would be
able to attain Nirvana. People travel from all
over the country to die here or are brought when dead as
Hindus regard the water as the elixir of life bringing purity
to the living and purity to the dead. The living will
bathe in, wash in and drink the water while at the cremation
ghats bodies will be washed in the river before being burnt on
log pyres on the banks. Any remains and the ashes are
then thrown in the river. Doesn't sound too bad until
you realise that some bodies are forbidden to be burnt and so
are simply weighted and dumped into the river, a practice that
as we saw the knot tying may not be so good at times...
Interesting point though, anybody can be burnt here, even
tourists!! Cost is about 1000 rupees, about 15 quid.
We did a couple of boat trips on the Ganges which took us
between the two burning ghats. The evening one allowed
us to watch the Ganga ceremony performed by Brahman priests
offering various incenses etc to the Gods to the accompaniment
of bells and drums and thousands of people. Also did a
couple of temple visits. These were good as the people
were there going about their praying and receiving blessings
which made it feel more alive. All too often these
places seem to be empty or just have hushed tourists looking
around. Talking tourists, I reckon we've seen only about
a dozen westerners in the country since we've been here.
And so on to Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The
countryside getting more tropical now with desert areas and
date palms flourishing. The temperature is also hitting
45 degrees some days and sits around 30 degrees overnight.
It is not unbearable though which is good, mind you the
breezes from the approaching monsoon do help.
We had to change buses at one point and the driver pointed us
to one which was sitting with it's gearbox on the floor.
We thought he was having a laugh but he assured us it would be
ready in 30 minutes. It was too with us helping with a
push for a bump start.
Kanha is home to Indira Ghandis "project Tiger"
founded in 1973 to conserve Indias dwindling tiger population.
India now has approximately 4000 tigers, 128 of which are
here. The jeep safaris that we went on were not as I
expected. In Africa 2 years ago we spent hours
overlooking vast plains with hundreds of animals in all
directions. Kanha is mainly deciduous forest with small
open areas and so you have to do a lot more driving and hope
that the animals are close enough to the track to see them.
Invariably we saw small herds of Chital deer, Indian Bison and
Barasinga. There were also troupes of Langur Monkeys and
packs of wild dogs. We actually saw a couple of jackals
attempt to grab a monkey but got chased off by the rest of the
troupe. A close thing though. The highlight of
course had to be the 2 tiger sightings. The first was
really well hidden in the grass and could just be picked out
with binoculars. The second though we saw from the back
of an elephant, he was dozing in the grass and we stood right
next to him. Fantastic animal.
We trained down to Jabalpur and then local tuk tuk to the
Marble rocks. This is basically a marble gorge with
waterfall and very scenic. The Indians like to come here
to see where their favourite Bollywood film stars have posed
on the rocks. Unfortunately there were no film stars
here for them so we had to do instead..... You wouldn't believe
the number of people who asked us if they could have their
photo taken with us. It was a really nice, friendly atmosphere.
And so we're now stuck in Jabalpur. Unfortunately we
won't make it to the Ajanta caves now as planned as can't risk
not getting to Bombay in time to look around and then catch a
fast plane to Bangkok on Monday. Fingers, toes, legs etc
crossed that this train works out tonight!!!
With that I will sign off, hope all is well back home wherever
you are.
Take Care
Mark
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----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Sent: 21 July 2003 12:50
Subject: Cambodia
Dear All
This is going to be a quick update on travels so far.
We're now in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam where the
internet is so slow that it's positively painful. I
spent an hour yesterday writing this update only for the
whole thing to crash out when I hit "send".
Bloody computers.........
Ok, we spent 2 weeks in Cambodia after some time in
Thailand enjoying the island of Koh Chang and the city of
Bangkok. I must admit that I didn't know what to
expect from the country, the only impressions I had were
from the years of civil war and famine back in the 70's
and 80's. However, it really is a fantastic country
to visit, the people are so friendly and seem very happy
with their lot even after that recent history of the khmer
rouge regime. Obviously the aftermath of the years
of fighting has left the legacy of millions of landmines
that litter the country especially on the route between
Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. We visited the landmines
museum in Siem Reap which was set up by a man called Aki
Ra who was taught as a child to lay mines for the various
military powers of the day. He now spends much of
his time coordinating mine clearance and helping children
who have lost limbs to landmines.
Siem Reap is the gateway to the Temples of Angkor and we
reached this after a 7 hour bus journey over the worst
road imaginable from the border at Poipet. This road
was so full of potholes that we spent the journey bouncing
and swerving all over the place. Carl and I were sat
behind the rear axle which meant that over every major
bump we had all the luggage from behind deposit itself in
our laps!!
If you have seen the film "Tomb Raider" with
Angelina Jolie then the Temples of Angkor were the
location for this film. The temples were built 1000
years ago and were part of an ancient city until it was
abandoned in the 17th century. The jungle took hold
of the place and it wasn't until the 1860's that it was
rediscovered by the French. Since then many of the
massive stone buildings have been restored and they are
fascinating to walk around. The main temple, Angkor
Wat, has 800m of bas relief's carved into the walls as
well as carvings of dancing girls and sculptures as you
climb higher. Particularly fascinating is the only
temple that was not restored and left in the state in
which it was discovered, Ta Prohm. The tree roots
have taken over and twist over the walls letting the trees
grow on top of the ruins giving an idea of what it would
have been like when the explorers arrived.
Around the temples which took us 3 days to cover are the
usual hawkers and souvenir sellers. Among these are
the small girls selling postcards - "You wan buy
postcard mister?, you buy from me one". Then
they expertly rattle off the names of the scenes on all of
their cards in perfect english. They are actually
not too annoying as it's quite funny in a way even down to
the crocodile tears when you don't buy anything.
Phnom Penh had little to offer the tourist though it was a
fun city to stay in. We had a guest house on the
edge of the lake with its open sided restaurant built on
stilts in the water with hammocks hanging from the posts.
The only problem was the rats that lived around it due to
the water. There was a restaurant in town called the
"Happy Herb Pizza". Now here you can order
any regular style pizza and then ask for it to be
"happy" or "very happy", at which they
will add some extra "herbs". The effect is
actually quite funny especially as the first time we'd
asked for non-happy. Realisation dawned two hours
later in the bar when we started giggling like girls at
the stupidest of things along with this big Aussie guy who
was nearly wetting himself making it all the worse for the
rest of us!!
Phnom Penh has the legacy of Pol Pots prisons at Teol Seng
and the killing fields at Cheoung Ek. The prison was
converted from a high school and housed thousands of
political prisoners who were tortured before being
massacred at the killing fields. There is a sobering
monument at Cheoung Ek in the shape of a large stupa
containing the skulls of some of the 8985+ bodies exhumed
from the mass graves. It is noticeable also that due
to the numbers of people walking around the areas of the
graves that there are still bones and the remnants of
clothes still working their way to the surface.
From Phnom Penh we headed south to the seaside town of
Sihanoukville. Now I would never have believed that
Cambodia could possess such beautiful beaches but here we
had white sand, palm trees and warm lapping waves on a
beach that is only busy on the weekends with well heeled
Cambodian families. A few palm walled restaurants
and bars at the back of the beach and the whole thing was
like being in a Bacardi advert. Ideal for a couple
of days holiday from our weary travels....
The public transport has changed once more, we're now
being ferried around on the pillion of little Honda
scooters. Quite a thing especially in the cities, if
anyone has seen Matrix Reloaded then it's a bit like the
scene with Trinity on the Ducati!! By the way,
speaking of Matrix, we can buy it in Vietnam on DVD for
20000 dong which is about 80p as well as all the other new
movie releases. CD's are a whopping 10000 dong, it's
criminal!!!!!
We've taken the opportunity a couple of times to get out
on our own into the villages to get among the people.
We rented a couple of 250cc trials bikes in Kampot to ride
to Kep and Kampong Trach which was great fun on dirt roads
full of potholes. In the villages the children all
wave and call "hello" "goodbye" as you
go through. When we stopped they had a particular
fascination for my blue lensed sunglasses which made for
some excellent photo opportunities as did the encounters
with the women in their conical hats planting rice in the
paddy fields.
So we've now reached Vietnam which promises to be just as
good with a planned trip on the Mekong river and then
heading north (hopefully via more good beaches and this
time some diving) towards Hanoi before crossing into Laos.
Hope everything is fine at home for all of you.
Take Care
Regards
Mark
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----- Forwarded message from Mark Fleming -----
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003
07:09:38 +0100 (BST)
Reply-To: Mark Fleming
Subject: Vietnam & Laos
Swadi Khap everyone, reckon I've got about 6 weeks to fill you in
on so here
goes.
Vietnam was pretty different to Cambodia, the roads were paved
once more and
everywhere seemed to be go go go all the time. Spent a week
in Saigon which
was pretty mad. 7 million people and 2.5 million mopeds.
We learnt how to
cross the street Vietnam style as zebra crossings are ignored here
(as they
everywhere else in SE Asia), basically you just walk across the
street and let
the traffic avoid you rather than the other way around. It
works as well!!
>From Saigon we had a 2 day boat trip on the Mekong Delta which
though very
scenic was also very wet, thats what comes from travelling in the
rainy season
I suppose, mind you, further north we were back to brilliant
sunshine and
heat. We had a day at the Cu Chi tunnels just outside Saigon
which is where
the VC used to hide out during the Vietnam war. These
tunnels are about 0.8m
high by 0.5m wide, we had a crawl along about 150m of one and
could barely walk
afterwards. I wouldn't want to spend weeks down there, or be
one of the
US army tunnel rats for that matter either. Saigon is
home to the
revolutionary museum which is very anti US and "up the
comrade soldier". Has a
very good display of photographs taken by media personel from both
sides.
Makes you think when the caption beneath tells you that seconds
after a photo
was taken, all the GI's featured were suddenly attacked by an NVA
platoon and
many were killed.
>From Saigon to Nha Trang on the coast of the South China Sea.
Got my first
days diving in here. Viz not bad though not a lot of colour.
Quite a few new
species of fish and corals that I hadn't seen before though.
Also hired some
mopeds for the day and ended up following a funeral procession
where the coffin
was in the back of a transit with a couple of flaming torches on
the back with
the occupants (the live ones) throwing out photocopies of dollar
bills??!!.
This was followed by the rest of the mourners in a coach with a
guy sat on top
banging a huge drum. Quite a scene really.
Hoi An is a beautiful town further up the coast, very French
influenced
architecture wise apart from the Japanese bridge at one end.
Had such a
different atmousphere to the rest of Vietnam. Found a temple
with a pond which
had a bar next to it in the same grounds! They were playing
lots of 80's stuff
in the open air so a quick beer at 4.00 ended up being 6 beers and
a chat with
the locals about how they hate GW Bush (good lads!!) Oh, and
it's official, I
am still young as the waitress here reckoned I was only 26.
Hah! Mind you,
come to think of it, a lot of them are saying that. Perhaps
it's the tan and
the fact that all my grey has bleached itself blonde!!
Bought lots of souvo's
in HoiAn though the "tailor made" silk shirts here were
crap. If I was 3 stone
heavier it may have a chance of fitting. Never mind it'll do
for surfing in
Oz 'cos it's quite a lary one.
>From there to Hue which is just south of the old Demilitarized
Zone. We did a
day trip to the DMZ from here which was informative. Visited
a bullet ridden
church at Quang Tri which was flattened during the war. The church
now stands
as a monument. Trips like this must be hard to run now as in
30 years a lot of
building has gone on and the landscape revitalised so there isn't
an awful lot
of war evidence left. The US firebases are now overgrown fields
with the odd
shell of an M42 tank at the roadside. Above the beach at Cua
Tung north of the
DMZ are bomb craters from when the US shelled the NVA from ships
at sea. I
have now walked part of the Ho Chi Minh trail, now tarmaced as it
was such a
good route south during the war that the govenment decided to make
permanent
use of it. Visited the remains of the Khe San army base too
which was heavily
attacked by the VC before the Tet offensive in 1968 as a
diversion.
It's not all war though, Hue has the Perfume river which is nice
for dragon
boat rides and also many mausoleums of previous emperors.
Hue used to be the
capital city before it was moved to Hanoi and so there is also the
old citadel
which we had a leisurly ride around in a cycle rickshaw.
Tried BBQ'd sparrow
on the street too, quite pheasanty but not much of it!
Train from Hue to Hanoi on the overnight sleeper which actually
took 2 hours
longer than the bus but was far more comfortable. We'd now
travelled 1750km up
the country in about 2 weeks. Hanoi was a nice city though
not as vibrant as
Saigon and didn't have the normal "tourist zone" which
meant that a plentiful
supply of hotels and bars in one area there wasn't. Still,
we found a great
little guesthouse with really freindly staff where we had a quaint
room in the
attic. This was good untill it rained an the roof leaked and
flooded the
floor!!. Went to see "Uncle Ho" lying in state in
his mausoleum. Apparently
his wish was to be cremated but they embalmed him instead and put
him on public
display. The visit lasts around 30 seconds as the soildiers
frog march you
around the coffin and god forbid that you should slow down or
stop! He now has
a 2 month "holiday" every year when they send him to
Russia to be touched up.
And yes, the Vietnamese do eat dog as we found when entering a
cafe to find 2
freshly spit roasted specimens of rover sitting on a platter ready
to be
chopped up. More worrying was the Yip Yip Yip from a puppy
in a cage in the
corner. He was removed by the scruff and taken off
somewhere.............
Had a 3 day trip from Hanoi to Ha Long bay on the east coast.
This area is
absolutely stunning and is made up of 1969 tiny islands covered in
lush
greenery. We spent the time on a chinese style sailing junk
and leisurly
sailed around the bays swimming and visiting caves and beaches
etc. We had a
great crowd on the boat with an evening of drinking vodka on deck
and sleeping
under the stars too. Next night we found a Karaoke bar on
Cat Ba island,
apparently I can sing, though I don't think George Michael would
be overly
impressed by my Careless Whisper. More beer required maybe??
Anyway, we have
a few more places to stay when we get to Oz now.
And so on into Laos. The first impression was
"green". The journey took 17
hours by bus from Hanoi to Vientiane which was quite a trial with
no AC after
the first 5 hours. Another noticable thing about Laos is
that although it was
involved in the war wit the US, it is not publicised, there are no
tour trips
and very little evidence save for the few B52 bomb craters that we
found.
Vientiane was unremarkable so we left for Vang Vieng for some
recreation time.
Apparently, the same day we travelled another bus was attacked by
gunmen and
some people injured. There is still some hostility around
the area though not
directed at tourists, though it's not unusual for them to get
caught up in it
though. Vang Vieng is a real small quaint place with just a
few streets,
timber buildings and chill out bars with DVD's and "Happy
Shakes" reminiscent
of the happy pizzas in Cambodia. Apparently a few ellicit
opium dens around
here too.
We spent some time caving with water up to your nose and head
touching the
ceiling. Quite daunting when you find on your return from
the underground
river that the water level has gone up even more! A nice
relaxing tubing
session down the Nam Song river was good fun too as was a running
battle in
the "mud Cave" the only thing missing was girls and a
camera unfortunately.
Instead we had a bunch of dozy Yanks who were spaced out on weed
that you could
buy ready rolled from the riverside bar who insisted that
"Hey Dude, this is
the best f**#ing thing I've ever f**#ing done man..."
Wasters.
On On up to Luang Prabang, another pretty town engulfed in palm
trees and back
on the banks of the Mekong (Oh Oh, that usualy bodes rain!)
We did some of the
local caves and waterfalls from here then hired a couple of 250cc
trials bikes
for 4 days to go off into the hills and get off the tourist trail
for a bit.
Mountain roads are great to learn to ride a bike on as are the mud
tracks we
found whilst looking for caves and stuff.
(I know that you were only kidding when you said No about me
borrowing the
Blade Dad, I can't wait!!!)
We visited the ancient plain of jars near Phonsavan which are a
series of
hundreds of large jars carved from stone littering parts of the
countryside.
No one knows how old they are or what they were used for.
We then extended our Laos visas to stay for the boat racing
festival in Luang
Prabang. In the morning the monks are out and about
collecting alms, many
street stalls are set up by the river selling all sorts of tat -
the most
popular thing being toy BB guns for the kids. Mind you I
bought a cool trendy
shirt for $3 to go out on the town in. The boat race
involved 30 longboats
from local village teams racing in heats down the river.
They were crewed by
48 paddlers and wow did they shift, Oxford and Cambridge don't
stand a chance.
We stood on the bank with the monks and tourists and locals below
the Prime
ministers box and cheered on the teams. More drinks that
night, we've now
discovered Beer Lao, Wine Lao and Lao Lao............
And so back into Thailand, Chaing Mai to be precise. We did
the trip by speed
boat from LP to Huay Xoi at the border, a journey which took 6
hours by speed
boat or 2 days by slow boat. Everyone says "but havn't
you read lonely planet?
people get killed in those every week?" Well yes we had
read it but then we
hadn't been shot at either and we figured that if those stats were
true then
the speed boats wouldn't be allowed to run. If you can
imagine a traditional
chinese flat soled pointy toed slipper, build a 7m long by 1m wide
version of
it from aluminium and then strap a 1600cc 16 valve Toyota engine
to the heel
with a direct drive from the crank to the prop, fill it with 8
people (with
lifejackets and helmets of course) and then hurtle towards
Thailand at around
40 knots, well thats what we did. Quite good fun once you'd
relaxed into it
after 20 minutes and realised that it wasn't going to break up on
impact with
every ripple like everybody said it would!!
So we're now in Chaing Mai, Carl is booked up for a weeks
intensive kick boxing
training and I'm going to go diving in Koh Tao. Time to go
now as I'm off
running with the local Hash House Harriers this afternoon so need
to get
limbered up and psyched for some post run drinking ("down
downs" to the
uninitiated)
Hope all is well at home
TTFN
Mark
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From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: Aussi.........
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Dear All (Sorry G'day)
It's been a while since I filled you in on events so here's a
quick one.
We're now in Sydney after spending a few weeks in Western
Australia around Perth. Summer is just about starting but
fleeces have been resurected from the depths of rucksacks as
it's quite chilly at times at around 17 degrees. It's
really wierd now being back in western society after so long in
Asia. You no longer get hassled by everyone trying to sell
you stuff from fake oakleys to girls and you no longer have to
be constantly haggling over prices either. Everyone here
leaves you alone and you pay what the label says. It's
just a lot more expensive now than what we're used to (but still
a damn sight cheaper than the UK, Ha!)
WA was good, useless facts for you - WA is 1/3 of the size of
Europe but has a population of just 1.8 million, 1.5
million of whom live in Perth. That leaves just 300,000 to
populate the rest of it. Some sizeable properties!!!!
After having been "beached out" from Thailand and Bali
we decided to leave the beaches of WA alone and head inland.
(By the way, learnt to surf in Bali but not good enough to be
saying "Hey Dude" just yet)
Saw wave rock and visited a few wineries for a few tastings as
you do. This was all on an organised tour with 10 of us
all mucking in for the cooking etc with lots of beers and tales
of derring do in the evenings. There is a treetop walk in
the forest of the giants 40m up in the giant red tingle trees.
Also you can climb the Bicentennial tree which is a 75m high
Karri tree used for fire spotting. You climb up using
metal spikes that wind around the trunk, no safety barriers or
anything. Makes you hold on tight!! I decided that the
platform at 35m was plenty high enough for me.
We hired a car for a few days and drove north from Perth to
Kalbarri national park which is about 750km away, calling in at
the pinnacles desert on the way. This strange landscape is
made up of thousands of limestone pillars rising up out of the
sand after years of erosion. Quite fascinating.
In Kalbarri we went on a 3 hour walk around "the loop"
of the Murchison river accompanied by hundreds of flies.
We're now perfecting the "aussie wave". A very
scenic walk in a beautiful gorge.
It is whale watching season along the west coast at the moment
when hump back whales make their way south to the Antarctic for
summer!!
Unfortunately of course the whales decided that it wasn't people
watching day when we went out so didn't see any, never mind.
A trip to WA isn't complete without going to Rottnest island
with it's quokka population. These are like giant rats but
move about like kangaroos, they're really sweet and don't care
about people at all, in fact they are quite inquisitive.
Spent a day cycling round here before returnng to Fremantle
which is where WA was first populated by the Brits in 1829 after
we "claimed" it as ours just before the French tried!!
This is where we shipped all the convicts to in the 1850's so
they could build public buildings and roads and of course their
own jail. We had a tour of the jail with a Mancunian guy
who'd moved here 30 years ago but still kept his accent.
He was a prison officer there until 1991 when the jail closed.
The conditions hadn't really changed much since the 1850's
either.
Of course, the rugby is on over here so the atmousphere is
pretty good. Went to see England whoop Georgia at Subiaco
stadium and have watched the others on big screens in bars.
And so we're in Sydney. We bought a car today for a proper
tour of the eastern side of the country. It's a 1985 Ford
Falcon station wagon with a 4.1 litre 6 cyl lump in the front.
Sounds awesome (which isn't the only reason we bought it) and
comes with lots of camping gear for the next 3 months outbacking.
Pick it up next week and looking forward to getting on the road,
until last week I hadn't driven a car for 6 months!!
I'll keep you posted, hope all is well at home with everyone.
TTFN
Mark
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From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: Oz to Date
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Hello All
Not too sure where I left off last time, I think we'd just
bought the car so I'll take it from there.
Ok, thankfully buying some wheels has brought the expense of
travelling Australia back down to a manageable cost again.
Backpackers hostels are cheap by UK standards but considerably
more than Asia. Plus you can't get around the country as
easily either. True, there are plenty of buses and tour
companies to take you from city to town etc but to get out
into the country you really do need your own car. And so
as you know we have the trusty Ford Falcon (and no it doesn't
have a name and it's not getting one either!!!) which is now
doing sterling service in getting us around the place.
It's a great way to travel even if it does mean sleeping in a
tiny tent or in the back of the car every night for the next 3
months. We roll up at a campsite, set up camp, cook
dinner (that's something else we haven't had to do for a
while) and chill out over a few beers. The best camps
are in the national parks where you are away from the hassle
of the towns and in with the trees and the drop bears (koalas
for the misinformed) Here you can set yourself up, light
a fire and sit watching the stars with a stubbie or three.
This is the life, especially when you arrive at camp to watch
the kangaroos bouncing away and then returning for an
inquisitive look see. Plenty of birdlife around (the
feathered kind in the NP's really) but seeing cockatoos and
parrots and lorikeets in the wild is great. You should
see the size of the bats!!!!!
We spent a few days in the blue mountains SW of Sydney which
was lovely though bloody windy. The scenery is
fantastic, the blue shade in the air actually comes from the
oil mist given off by the eucalypts.
Beyond Sydney came the Hunter Valley which is famous for its
wines and so of course a tasting session had to be had at
Draytons. Good stuff, good nose, lots of legs and all
that stuff. The Valley itself is very picturesque with a
backdrop of hills above the vineyards.
On the way up to Brisbane we've climbed some more hills
including Mt Warning which is a long extinct volcano from
which you can see out to Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay.
We drove up the coast through the Gold Coast and the Sunshine
Coast, there really is plenty to do around here as it is a
real beach holiday type area. We played kids for a day
at Wet' n' Wild, I've also been jetskiing on the surf and then
waterskiing a couple of days later. A bit more surfing
too though still not "Yo Dude" standard.
Actually when you look at the 10 year old kids striking out
into the waves and doing crazy things I don't think I'll ever
be Yo Dude standard. Maybe I'm too old!!!!
Hey, perhaps thats why we went sea fishing for a day? It
was quite good fun standing around with a rod waiting for Jaws
to come along. Dinner took the form of some kind of
Perch apparently and a small shark like thing. We hoped
to get 2 nights meals out of that lot but more ice needed in
the eski if you know what I mean.
Brisbane was good, met up with some friends from earlier in
the tour and also some friends of the family - thanks guys for
your hospitality. This was all around the time of the
rugby semi finals and watching the Australia v New Zealand
game in the park in Brisbanes South Bank on an outdoor big
screen was great. Not so great was the mood of the Kiwis
in the audience at the end (Sorry Abs) but it was a great
night. At least rugby fans can all get on with each
other whatever their nationality hey? And so of course
on to the final Ha! Go Johnny Go (Sorry Brian), Hmmm not so
easy now for a Pom in Aussie.
So we are now in a place called Hervey Bay in Queensland after
spending 3 days on Fraser Island. This place is
basically one large sand blow which is millions of years old.
The terrain goes from mangrove swamps on the west coast,
through tropical rainforest in the center to golden white sand
dunes on the east coast. There are no sealed roads, all
is sand and so 4 wheel drive is essential. Of course we
went out and hired an ex MoD Series 3 landrover, well it was
that or a suzuki jimney for the same price so no contest
really.
Spent the days driving along the beach for 75 km to Indian
Heads in the north. Of course you have to keep an eye on
the tide times as it's pretty expensive otherwise. There
is the shipwreck of the Maheno on the beach lost in high seas
in 1935 and now a few ribs and a rusting hulk. Inland
are a series of perched lakes which count as some of the
deepest and largest in the world. Particularly nice was
lake McKenzie which is almost an inland sea with sandy beaches
and beautiful blue clear water which is fresh as opposed to
salt.
And so now back to tarmac and the trip north to Cairns where
I'll get some more diving in Hurrah!!
So I'll bid you all farewell until Christmas, Hell is it that
close already???
TTFN
Mark
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From: Mark Fleming
To: Dick Jarvis
Subject: Seasons Greetings
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Dear All
Well, it's that time of year again. Doesn't it come around
quickly? or am I just getting old? Time for
reflections, merry making, giving and receiving and making new
years resolutions to break!!
We are now in Darwin after travelling for 7 days from Cairns
across the outback and making a few detours due to flooded
creeks and the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie which turned out to
be little more than a rain depression. Bloody lot of rain
it tipped down though!!
So there now follows a relaxed couple of days in the city, don't
think there'll be much in the way of barbies on the beach up
here though!! Still theres a nice Irish bar nearby which
should make a good start for Christmas Eve.
Well, I won't keep you as it's a busy time of year. Just
remains to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.
Be in touch next year. Have a great time.
Regards
Mark
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Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 2:33 AM
Subject: The Australian leg endeth........
Dear All
I know it’s been a while since I last gave you an update and rumour must be running high that I’ve fallen off of the face of the earth but no such luck I’m afraid. I’m still here.
Quite a bit has happened in 2004 so far, we spent Christmas in Darwin in the aftermath of the cyclone and heavy rains of the Northern Terrotories. Christmas was a very quiet affair as Darwin was pretty dead, the bars were open at night so Xmas eve was spent in Santa hats with the Bundy Girls but on Xmas day we were lucky to find anywhere to eat. Finally found an orphans xmas dinner at a local backpackers hostel which provided a mountain of food for only $20.
Kakadu national park was a good few days though restricted due to the rains. The rivers had risen by 2 metres and were due to go up another 3 so even the 4x4 tracks were impassable. We saw all we could using the sealed roads, plenty of walking especially around Nourlangie rock with it’s ancient aboriginal paintings and fabulous views over the park. A cruise up the Yellow river and flooded billabongs was good with a few croc spottings. Disappointing was the scenic flight to the spectacular Jim Jim falls as we took off and then the rain closed in around the falls so the pilot couldn’t go near them. Mind you it was still good to see the park from above and follow the line of the Arnhemland escarpment which until 5000 years ago was a sea cliff on the receding ocean.
Heading south we hit the temperatures of the outback again. Many days of nothing but driving along dead straight roads with flat, sandy, scrubby scenery and the odd remnant of roadkill victims of the huge roadtrains. We hit Alice Springs in time for New Year which was far more lively than Xmas. The last 300km into town was spent topping up the radiator every so often as the water pump had sprung a leak. As a result after a heavy night on New Years Eve, Carl busied himself on New Years Day by fitting a new water pump while I sobered up in the pool! Well, there’s only room for one person under a bonnet isn’t there?
Ayers Rock was the next visit. The temperatures out here were reaching 45 to 50 degrees and so by 9am it was getting too hot to do much at all. The Ayers rock climb had been closed for 6 days due to high temperatures and also high winds on the summit so we didn’t get to do it. We did manage the Valley of the Winds walk at the Olgas which I think are more spectacular anyway. Another scenic flight gave a birds eye view of both which was well worth it.
The opal mining town of Coober Pedy is south again but still just as hot and dusty. In fact not much mining goes on here in the summer as it’s too hot for the machines on the surface and they pack up. The whole area is a landscape of mullock heaps piled up from the underground excavations. Opal mining is a real hit and miss business, you could be 2cm away from making your fortune and know nothing about it. Over the years miners have turned their tunnels into underground homes as it’s much cooler. We lived in an underground campsite for two nights which was a novelty!! The lunar landscape around Coober has been used as a film location for many films including Mad Max III an Pitch Black. We visited “the breakaways” used in Mad Max and imagined the Thunderdome in the valley. The hills we wandered over reminded me of the quarries I was surveying back home so had to stop myself walking the line thinking TB,BB+,TB,BB etc (Sorry, surveying talk). Another film location in MM3 was at Crocodile Harry’s dugout. This aging Yugoslavian ex crocodile hunter is a bit of a one for the ladies and as a result has managed to collect a large collection of underwear`from the many female tourists who go to visit this outback legend. He’s even got one of Tina Turners Bras!! Had a look at the “dog fence” on the way back which is the 5000km long wire fence that keeps the dingos in the north away from the sheep farms in the south.
The Flinders Ranges in South Australia are stunning. Plenty of scenic gorges and farming history from the early settlers. In fact it`was here that we saw our very first Australian sheep! Near here was a rodeo one weekend which had to be worth a visit. Cowboys from all over the country were here on the circuit to show their roping skills and cattle skills as well as of course, bronco and bull riding. One poor guy was left hanging in the stalls when the bull got rid of him before even entering the arena. Crazy creature, the cowboy wisely refused a re-ride after that one!! It was here that we were told of a ute muster and B&S Ball in Adelaide the next weekend. A ute muster is a car rally for the country boys and their utility trucks involving drag racing, show classes and games and the favorite “circlework” demonstration. Now, here that means basically donuting the car around in the dust, apparently in the city it has a far more “interesting” meaning!!! A Batchelor and Spinsters Ball is meant to be a real event to go to, something along the lines of a Young Farmers Bash back home I suppose. This one was a real flop as the whole event had attracted a very poor turnout from utes to partygoers. The $50 entry was really not worth paying for the 60 people that turned up with no atmousphere at all. We were the only car on the camping area!! At least we know how to run a Bug Jam at home.
Temperatures getting cooler again as we hit the south coast and plenty of wind and rain along the Great Ocean Road with it’s famous rock formations. Had a look at the Ford Discovery Centre in Geelong. Did you know that Ford Australia even use “crash test kangaroos” when designing cars? Melbourne was fun as we had friends to visit and got to kind of live the city as opposed to being a total tourist. This involved a scorching hot Saturday afternoon on St Kilda beach “people watching” and then being trendy by hiring roller blades to hurtle along the Esplanade on. Now I have a problem with standing on things with wheels as the stopping thing generally doesn’t happen very well. Therefore the odd wall comes in handy and when the inevitable fall does happen it’s a good idea to disguise it as some kind of stunt move!
Tasmania is a beautiful island and we were luck to have 10 days of sunshine which is pretty unusual over there. The scenery seems to constantly change from Australian to English to Alpine and the hill walking is fantastic for views and rocks and lakes etc. All very Lake District. Tassie also has a great deal of convict history and as a result the ruined penal settlement at Port Arthur was interesting and yet sobering when you realize the pain and suffering these men went through under the transportation regime in the 1830’s. 7 years hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread!! Carl and I had our acting debut in very clever production of “The Ship that never was” using audience participation to tell the story of a clever convict escape from Sarah island. Playing convicts Lesley and Russen we kept our sunglasses and became “mod cons”. RADA here I come.
Back into NSW and the attempt to conquer Australias highest peak, Mt Kosciuszko at 2229m. The first attempt ended in Carl and I getting split up upon leaving the path the bag another peak on the way. After an hour of searching with binoculars and then another 2 hours trying to catch him we finally met up again, me having not reached the summit in my worry and desperation to find my absent buddy (snigger). On day 2 the summit was attempted again from the south this time by using a ski lift which was far more convenient!!
In Canberra we called in to Parliament to watch John Howard perform at Prime Ministers Questiontime. Usual politicians huff and puff and honourable gentleman this and that but a very impressive building that it all goes on in.
And so finally we arrived back in Sydney after 4 months on the road and 23,500km of driving behind us. All that was left was to sell the car and get out of the country. It took a week to sell the car in the dungeon that is Kings Cross car market. Many unhappy backpackers must have decided to end it all in here after sitting for days or even weeks trying to sell their old camper or car. We had 5 days of mooching around reading the years of graffiti, comparing travel notes with other sellers and getting smashed on the beer traditionally provided by each person who eventually sells their car. Not a sellers market at the moment and we were all eventually coming down to prices much lower than we wanted just to get out into the sunlight once more.
So dear reader, that’s it for now, the trip continueth with me now firmly ensconced in Wellington in New Zealand planning the Kiwi leg of the tour. Unfortunately I’ve had to wave a soggy tearful handkerchief to Carl who has returned to the UK as he basically just couldn’t stand spending any more time with me, poor bugger. Thankyou to a great friend and companion throughout the whole of the last 10 months, it’s been a truly memorable trip.
I shall leave you all to your own devices and update you on the land of The Lord of the Rings in due course. Hope all’s well with everyone.
Regards
Mark
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