Budget Backpackers

2009-03-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hey,
I left NZ and flew off to Santiago. Met a girl called Natasha at the airport so we got seats next to each other ont he plane so we got have a few drinks! Since then we stayed in Santiago for the night and the bus the following day to Mendoza over the mountains and at an altitude of over 4000m! Fantastic views!
Argentina is fantastic. The people are warm and friendly and the mountains cenery is amazing. Spent the last couple days horsetrekking in the Andes - what an experience - and off to Maipu to cycle around the vineyards tomorrow (and obviously a bit of tasting!) and then heading south to La Payunia, while Natasha heads back to Santiago for a flight to Buenes Aires.
After that it´s back off into the Andes to do some trekking and stay in the mountain lodge where we spent last night. Can´t wait!
Will put photos up soon but battery has gone while i uploaded them onot facebook!

Good bye Sydney, hello Auckland!

2009-03-21T17:19:00.001-07:00

After 3 amazing weeks in Sydney i've finally left my 'new hometown' for Auckland.
Haven't seen any of Auckland so far though as i fly in late last night and i haven't left the hostel yet!!!
Is strange being back in hostels but way better than i'd thought it was going to be.
In a nice one here with nice people and just using my time in Auckland to plan my adventures in Argentina. Only 3/4 days until i arrive!!!!
The most exciting fo the plans are skydiving and paraglising in Cordoba. can't wait for that!!

2009-03-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Syndey Syndey Sydney still....

2009-03-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Manly with Starski (Ivo) and the opera house!

2009-03-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

2009-03-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sydney!!!

2009-03-10T00:59:00.000-07:00

Well a lot has happened since i was on here last (should be on here more often now that stuff is happening!).
Anyway, i'm going solo (well, staying at ivo's) in sydney now and have been here since tuesday.
I can't ever imagine going back to mount isa now i've returned to civilization and the conversations aren't based around how best to kill a pig and the nightlife actually involves people below 40!
Sorry about the lack of photos (will put some up soon hopefully) but since being here i've explored the major sightrs of sydney (opera house, harbour bridge etc) as well as more interesting visits out with Ivo to Manly Island, where we exlored syndey city national park and had great night time views of the syndey.
Crazily enough i missed most of mardi gras but i went out to a bar the first night i got here and have chilled out on the evenings since. will be going out this weekend when aimee gets here with her family!
On Monday 16th I'm due to move on to NZ too which should be interesting and then it's not long until south america! can't wait untile that!
Enjoying my time here for now though!
WIll try to post soon.
hope everyone back in england or wherever is good!
Matt

2009-01-28T19:44:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
sorry we havent done a post in an eternity. I must admit there hasn't been all that much to be blogging about here apart from the incessent rain. I found out today from the greyhound office that unless there is a period of dry weather (it's forecast to continue raining like it has been until mid february) then the road we need to townsville will remain impassable as it has been for over a week) so we need to find an alternative - either fly out or head sraight down to Brisbane (the likeliest one).
Since Christmas we've managed to find a couple of jobs which has been great. We've been working down at 'The Rish' (The Irsh Club) on Friday and Saturday nights (10pm-4am) which has been good. Australians like they're drink though and seem to trun into a pack of wild anaimals once they've had a few so it can get pretty 'interesting' down there sometimes. Having someone threaten to come over the bar and ''smack your face in'' isn't all that uncommon. That said, they're yet to actually try it yet...!
We've also been working at the Overlander (a bar up the road) in the week as well so we've been doing around 40 plus hours a week recently so the money should be rolling in!
My birthday was good to. Went out for a few drinks with Emily, a candaian guy called steve and a couple of local girls who happened to be drinking up at the Overlander in the daytime! Not an average birthday but a surpisingly good one!
Apart from that there isnt much else to say so we shall try to post again soon when there's a bit more news!
Bye for now!

Christmas Lunch!

2008-12-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

2008-12-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Isa

2008-12-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Mt Isa everyone!

Melaka

2008-12-14T19:35:00.000-08:00

We're in the historic town of Melaka at the moment, which is famous for being a town ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and most recently British as it was a key trading port on the Straits of Melaka, where the trade in spices was a huge earner for the colonizing powers.

There's loads of old architecture here and a lot of museums. Yesterday we went around the Museum of Independence and, more interestingly, a museum which explored the ways in which different cultures have an obssession with beauty which causes them to endure pain in pursuit of it. As well as this there are loads of interesting antique shops selling the most random things, including rusty old hinges amongst other things.

Last night we also ate at Capitol Satay, which always has a HUGE queue outside. It was definately worth the wait though as we chose a huge tray of loads of different meat, tofu, vegetables, seafood and bread, as well as two MASSIVE king prawns. In the middle of the table was a massive vat of bubbling Satay, which was continually topped up with more peanuts and ground chillies, and we cooked our skewered food in it.

And best of all...it only cost the equivalent of 2 pounds each! Bargain!

Today we're going to explore an old Baba Nonya (the name given to the chinese who settled here) house and tomorrow we head down to singapore, where we spend one night before flying to Darwin and it'll be goodbye to South East Asia!!!!

Japanese tourists.....

2008-12-14T19:27:00.001-08:00

Is it Matt and Emily?.....or is it two (of the hundreds of) Japanese tourists????

Photos

2008-12-09T23:08:00.000-08:00

In need of a haircut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone, thought we should take this time to upload some pictures while we have time spare to wait for the bus back up to Manilla!

Finally in the Philippines

2008-12-08T00:20:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone
So we are finally here and we have been having such an awesome time. After missing our flight on the Sunday we managed to change it to the Tuesday which wasnt too bad. It seems so ironic that we missed it after we had been counting down the days to get out of KL but somehow we managed to lose a day and when we thought it was Saturday it was actually Sunday!!!!
We couldnt believe how stupid we had been.
When we finally arrived we decided to head straight up to Northern Luzon. We arrived in Baguio at about 8pm and after the 8 hour bus journey the first thing we noticed when we got off the bus was how cold it was. This was however quite a nice feeling as everywhere else it was jsut so hot. We headed straight to the Red Lion which was a pub with a few rooms downstairs. The people were so freindly there and really went out of thier way to help us. After putting on jeans and a hoody, a very strange concept to us, we headed up for a few beers at only 35pesos which is like 40p so not bad!!
After chilling out there for a few days we caught another bus up to Sagada. On the bus we met another couple called Antony and Kris who were also travelling around Northern Luzon so we ended up staying with them for a few days.
On the first night we bought a small bottle of local gin and a few beers which then became a daily occurance. We played cards for ages and decided to get up early the next day to go caving.
In the morning however none fo us could get up and Kris had a pretty bad hangover so we decided to go trekking instead which was not so far. We climbed Mt Ampucao and the views at the top were actually so amazing. Also Matthew felt pretty good as it was the first mountain he had ever climbed.
In the afternoon we went to Echo Valley where the hanging coffins were so those were pretty cool to see too.
Although we hadnt done everything we wanted to do in Sagada we ahd to leave the next day as there was a national holiday and there were no rooms free. We got a jeepney to Banaue along a very dodgy road and although it wasnt the prettiest of towns we were relieved to have made it safely.
We planned to meet up early the next morning and start our two day trek through the surrounding villages of Batad, Cambulo and Pula. However, after to much alcohol again the night before we set off later than we had planned and this was to cause us problems later on.
We set off for Batad where we picked up a guide for the rest of the trek. After lunch we headed off again but it soon became apparant that we had very little time before it got dark and we still had over five hours to go. However the guide said that we would make it. We kept on trekking and soon enough it got dark and we were stuck on a tiny path, with a huge drop down into the river in the pitch black.
We all got very scared but we had to get to Pula as it was too cold to stay in a hut, like Matthew suggested we did. We made very slow progress as we only had one decent torch between the five of us. So every time Kris walked forward she had to turn around to light up the path for me and Matthew. At one point we had to jump over a waterfall which was probably the worst part!!! Luckily though we all made it to the homestay safely where we were greeted with a huge bowl of noodles with tuna.
The next day we trekked back to Banaue and we were all so relieved to have made it back safely.
The next day we caught a bus down to Manilla where we went our seperate ways. Antony and Kris stayed in Manilla as they had to extend their visas and Matthew and I caught the bus to Naga which is in southern Luzon where we are now.
The weather has made the last few days a bit of a disater here though as it has just been raining constantly. We tried to climb Mt Isarog but the weather and the mud made it impossible and i just kept slipping over.
So think we are jsut going to chill out for a few days.
Anyway think that is all for now, we will try and put photos up of our adventures soon.
Bye for now!!

Finally photos!!!!!!

2008-11-21T21:45:00.000-08:00

Petronas twin towers and KL in general!

Still in KL

2008-11-20T01:43:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, still in KL at the moment. Only 3 more days to go until Phillippines! We're currently trying to put photos up but with no success as yet so if they dont appear we'll add to them soon!

Kuala Lumpur and changing flights

2008-11-13T20:13:00.001-08:00

(Ivo's not so good photography skills...)

Tarutao!!!

We are now in Kuala Lumpur, which is a really tame city compared to Hanoi and Bangkok. Unfortunately we're stuck here for another 9 days because we ended up changing our flights from Bali to the Philippines because of the stupid execution of the stupid bombers. The Philippines looks really exciting though, and we have already planned our itinery for when we arrive. Luckily it's also the dry season there and there's loads to do. We plan on climbing a mountain in the Cordillera mountains north of Manilla, as well as travelling through southern luzon and down to Samar and Leyte (where we may climb a volcano or 2) before hopefully catching a ferry to Bantayan island, and making our way back to Manilla.

Kuala Lumpar is a cool city too though, and unlike Bangkok, Hanoi and Vientiene, the city is definately a 24 hour city. There's also loads of great food, including curry laksa (noodles in a cocunut sauce) and plenty to eat in China town and little India.

We went to the huge KLCC shpping mall the other day too and saw plenty of Louis Vuitton, Armani and Fcuk things we wanted to buy, although each one would have stretched our budget a little too far sadly!

We're off to CVhina town again today to see the Hindu temple and write some of our journals in a coffee shop.

Will post again soon!

Back from Tarutao

2008-11-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
We have just arrived back on the mainland after a week of camping on Tarutao where we were the first tourists!!!!! It was beautiful after a few days when they cleared the rubbish that was swept onto the beaches by the storm.
For the first few days we chilled out on Ao Molae where there was no restaurant so we lived off bread and jam. It was great as we were the only people there. The second night however the local lady who lived there offered to cook us fried rice which was so nice of her.
We then headed back to the main beach, Ao Pante, as we had no food left and there was a basic cafe there. Here we met a German guy, who lives in Oz, called Ivo who we trekked with to the prison with, which was 12km away, and flet much further.
we saw some cool wildlife though, including Langurs and another type of monkey, as well as Monitor lizards (slightly smaller versions of the famous komodo dragons) and also a scorpion on the road.
We had a really cool time and it was nice to be able to relax and see such a rugged place without loads of tourists around.
We're off to Hat Yai now and maybe to Kuala Lumpur tonight on the night bus so we will put photos up in Kuala Lumpur!

In Trang!

2008-10-28T04:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

we've left Phi Phi now and are in the relaxed town of Trang, where it's nice to be 2 of only a few tourists here and everyone is really smiley and welcoming. We've decided to head to Ko Tarutao on the 1st of November, when the National Park opens, so we're heading to Pak Meng or Pak Bara (not sure which i can't remember) on the 31st and then going to the border to extend our visas before getting the ferry on the 1st. We won't have any internet access there though....there's only 1 shop on the whole island and we'll be camping for our stay, of about a week or so, so you all might not hear from us after this blog until the 10th or so, when we'll hopefully be in Kuala Lumpar, if all goes to plan!

Hope you all like the photos!

2008-10-24T04:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, we're on Ko Phi Phi on the Thailand's west (andaman) coast. The book raves about how beautiful it is here and it is lovely, especially the crystal clear water and some amazing snorkelling. The beachs arent a touch on some of Cornwall's finest though!
We met up again with our Irish friends here and had an awesome time with them and me and Emirly went kayaking to Monkey Beach and went snorkelling on the reef, which was absolutely amazing. There were so many amazing fish and the coral was great too. We're tempted by scuba diving but 200 pounds is a bit beyond our budget sadly!!!!
We bought plane tickets to indonesia the other day too for just 50 pounds eachf rom kuala lumpar to bali so on the 12th we'll be flying to baliwhich is meant to be awesome and if we dont need any malaria tablets we are going to head off into nusan tengara, an area of indonesia just east of bali.
ANyway, we're having an awesome time here, despite the crappy weather at the moment, which makes us miss home a lot more although we expect the weather there is rubbish too!
Hope you all enjoy our pictures!

2008-10-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

New Photos finally!

2008-10-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

Tornado!

Monkey!

Hey everyone, as promised we are finally putting up some photos and doing a proper new post. As mentioned we are on Koh Pha Ngan at the moment, which is on Thailand's Gulf coast and it is such a beautifl island, much nicer than Cat Ba and luckily for us the weather here is fantastic, we ar both getting so tanned now it's ridiculous! We were really lucky to meet back up with the Irish girls, Rosheen, Gemma and Claire, that we met up with in Vang Vieng to go tubing (you can see them in the photos) so we have spent the last couple of days with them and we stayed at their bungalow on the night of the Full Moon Party, well i satyed as Emily and Claire actually stayed up until 9 the next morning and went to the after party! Nutters! The rest of us came back around 5.30/6 after falling asleep on the beach! It was such a laugh, we bought a couple of cheap bottles of whiskey/vodka and a few beach buckets and ice and made our own buckets and while we got ready i painted the rolling stones lips and shamrocks onto everyone. We always seem to have such a laugh with the Irish girls, they've become somewhat of a second family for us while we've been travelling and hopefully we're going to see them n Ko Phi Phi (our next stop) and then in a few months time in Australia!

The beaches on this island are out of this world, the sand is perfecty white and the sea is so clear, sadly for me i can't go snorkelling at the moment because i have an ear infection but the hospital here seemed really professional and it's clearing up now! We are staying in a really cool bungalow too right on the beach between Haat Yao and Haat Salad! Anyway, i think thats enough said for now. Hope everyone in England (and Australia!) is enjying themsleves!!! Will post again on Koh Phi Phi!!!

2008-10-14T02:54:00.000-07:00

hello everyone, just letting you all know that we are fine. we are on Koh Pha Ngan ands will post a proper blog in 2 days time, or maybe tomorrow but where we are currently the internet is simply too expensive and the photos will take too long to upload. so we will do it very very soon! Full Moon Party tonight!!!!!
speak soon!!!!!

Heading to the full moon party!

2008-10-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
just letting you know that we have changed our plans due to the timing of the full moon party (15th of this month) so we're currently in Bangkok and due to head to Koh Pha Ngan at 6pm today, where we will probably stay for around a week or so before exloring the surrounding islands.
Laos was absolutely awesome, shame we had to leave earlier but we stayed extra in Vang Vieng, which was amazing and met some really cool German people and some hilarious Irish girls!
Anyway, better be off to get the bus. will post again on Koh Pha Ngan!

So much fun in Laos.

2008-10-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

We're in Vang Vieng in Laos at the moment, luckily we were able to get the bus the following day, although it wasnt the most pleasant experience sitting in a bus for 22 hours with a load of unfriendly Vietnamese people! Laos is awesome though. we stayed with some cool german people we met on the bus and came up to Vang Vieng with them, after just one night in vientiene. Our accomodation here costs us just 80p a day each, and despite a few cockroaches under the bed the place is spotless and has a brand new shower and fan and an ensuite toilet!
we've spent a couple of days tubing down the nam song river, which basically involves sitting in the tube for about 20 metres until you reach the next bar! the bars have some amazing swings into the river too, including a 15metre high one that scares the crap out of you, although after a few lao lao (whisky) it all seems much safer! Photos of our Laos experience will be put up here very soon we expect! We're heading off on the bus to Luang Prabang tomorrow too which should be good, is meant to be a beautiful city.Anyway, shall post again soon hopefully!

Not any more

2008-09-30T01:45:00.000-07:00

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Stupid storm in central vietnam means we can no longer go to Laos today and instead we have to go tomorrow which means another day in vietnam with little to do really. definately going to go to the bia hoi tonight and drink loads of ridiculously cheap beer. feeling very p******d off (censored for some people's sake). Oh well, not the end of the world..........need beer now.

Going to Laos!

2008-09-30T00:55:00.001-07:00

Hello,
We have spent the last few days exploring around Hanoi and trying to be as cheap as possible (spent about 7,50 a day despite staying in a nice hotel). We havent really done anything in particular, other than sorting out our Laos Visa, doing some dodgy black market money exchange (in order to get some dollars as there is just one ATM in the whole of Laos!!!!!) and exploring both the French and Old Quarters. The weather is not great here, it keeps raining but only for short periods but very heavy and the weather forecast for Laos doesnt look any better. Hanoi is the craziest place we have ever been to, everyone constantly beeps at you and they dont just ride on the roads, they venture onto pavements too!!!!
Anyway, our plan now, weather permitting, is to stay in Laos for a couple of weeks (we have a 15 day visa) and then venture into Thailand. Hopefully we'll be able to get onto the internet atleast a couple of times in Laos so im sure we'll have another post on here within a few days.
Bye for now!!!!
xxxxx

Typhoon in cat Ba so back to Hanoi!

2008-09-27T03:43:00.000-07:00

(This is a road by the way, and not a river!!!)

After a fantastic time in Sa Pa we headed back to Hanoi on the dreaded night train (not so bad this time around due to getting a sleeper cabin!) and got there at 4.30am before catching the bus/ferry to Cat Ba island at 6am. AFter another arduous journey we eventually arrived and it was well worth it as we stayed in a beach hut literally on a postcard-perfect beach. After a relaxing day in the sun, however, a typhoon hit the island and for the next 2 days we were confined to our hotel room (which flooded in the night, resulting in a standoff with the owners and eventually getting our passports back after we agreed to pay 55,000 dong (just 2 pound for the night)). The weather kept getting worse and we managed to get the only ferry back to Haiphong that wasnt cancelled, although as you can see from the pictures it too hadnt esacaped the storm and our bus acted as more of a boat around the town. We're now back in Hanoi where we are spending a few relaxing days in the luxury of a lovely hotel (and we even have a bath tub, and its clean!) whilst we organise our visas to Laos. We head off again on Tuesday on a 22hour bus journey to Vientiene (capital of Laos), although it'll be well worth it when we cruise down the Mekong river sitting in a tractor tyre inner tube and stopping off along the rapids to have a few beers at the side of the river!

Anyway, we're off to enjoy the nightlife in Hanoi (much better than in truro!) so we'll leave another blog soon hopefully!

Bye for now!

2008-09-21T21:32:00.001-07:00

Chicken feet!!!!

2008-09-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Wow. Having a crazy time here. so much to do and see. We are in Sapa at the moment which is very beautiful. Yesterday we hired some motorbikes and went to see some waterfalls but after walking through dense jungle for over an hour we had to turn back because we coouldnt find it. We saw some others and the motorbikes were fun. Matt's driving was a bit crazy i think he needs more practice! we have met some cool people too, especially Thanh who went back yesterday to a wedding. We are heading back tonight on the train and then off to cat ba islad as we arrive in hanoi at 4am!!!!

matt has an arranged marriage to a 16 year old Hmong girl called Thang (in the pictures above) so he has t return when he is 25! lol. Im marrying two girls' brothers too and they offered matt their grandmothers as well!

we ate chicken feet the other day (whch is in a picture somewhere), not very nice though, but the other food here seems good and as yet (touch wood) we havent been ill.

anyway we will keep everyone updated and will post again asap.

bye for now!

xxxxxxxxx

Around sapa

2008-09-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Photos!

2008-09-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

First Day in Hanoi

2008-09-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

First day in Hanoi today, a bit crazy. We went for a walk around and ended up chatting to this vietnamese student who offered for him and his friend to guide us around for free because he wanted to learn english. We walkd around Hoam Kiem Lake (very close to hostel) and then went to a market and to Ho Chi Minh museum, the temple of literature and to a pagoda before eventually ending up on a boat having some drinks at West Lake. Only cost us admission and a round of drinks and we had a great day riding around on the back of these guys' mopeds, which was probably the most enjoyable part of the day as we were weaving around traffic and getting rammed out the way by cars and lorries (little gives way to big n these roads). Vietnamese dont seem to pay attention to red lights or crossing infront of/driving towards oncoming traffic either, its a matter of someone has to dodge out of the way or they plough into each other. Definately an experience to savour then!
It's been ridiculously hot here today though. Although it was only about 27C the humidity is crazy and everyone goes inside at midday to get a cold drink. We might change our plans a bit and give laos and the north of cambodia a miss simply because of the humidity here at the moment as the coast and mountains have a more appealing climate.
I think we might head up to the mountains and rice fields of Sapa tomorrow as we joked to the guy about him guiding us around sapa too and he agreed! Either that or we head off to halong bay as we have seen just about all of Hanoi today due to the mopeds.
Hope everyone is enjoying themselves in England, the cold wet climate there seems somewhat appealing compared to the heat and humidity of Hanoi!

ARRIVED!!!!!

2008-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
we're at the hostel in hanoi finally; we ended up getting a taxi from the airport because we couldnt find the shuttle and it was so hot. its still so humid here and its nearly midnight local time!!
the hostel seems really nice and people are really friendly so its looking good. the taxi people are crazy though, they drive like they're on drugs. seriously they are just ridiculous. there are mopeds everywhere on the roads with 2 or 3 or more people on and they dont drive in a line, they drive next to each other.we are going to stick around in hanoi for a few days before we decide where to head to next.
Bye for now!
Emily and Matt

Nearly Going....

2008-09-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Only two days until departure now!
Just begun packing and just about everything is ready....will be in Hanoi soon!

2008-09-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Just over a week to go!!!

Getting Prepared

2008-07-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a boring post but thought i'd just explain some of the things we've done to get prepared for our trip!

First of all we've bought a load of books about where we're going, which despite costing a bit (go on amazon to find some bargains!) are so worth the money. We've got lonely planet guides and they have so much info in them, as does the websites. We want mainly to create a list of the places we want to visit on the way, rather than a strict itinerary, so allowing us to be flexible with what we do.

I've only started looking through it all today and have learnt so much about Vietnam in just an hour or so of looking through the book.

Wanderlust magazine is also quite good, and includes some really detailed reviews, although not always on a budget!

My tent also came in the post today! We decided to get one mainly just for emergencies, but on looking into it there are loads of opportunities to camp in South America, and the beaches in South East Asia so am looking forward to the cliche sunrise and sound of waves on the beach!!! I've used a website called GORP a lot, which is really good, as well as http://outside.away.com/ which is absolutely excellent for advice on getting all the gear, so have compiled a few things now.

I think clothing, which i overlooked at first, is one of the most important things. Have just got a pair of really lightweight and compact quick drying trousers, which you can turn into shorts (sounds so geeky!) but in the humid weather i expect they'll be a lot better than the jeans i had intended on taking!

Probably the best advice i have got though is off the travel nurse, who advised us to purchase some travel needles (£10-£15) as if anything happens you can ask them to use them, and obviously they are sterile so you avoid getting HIV or Hep B etc which is definately helpful!

That reminds me, had the injections too the othe day. WE gt the advice off MASTA on the internet as well as the travel nurse, although my Emily was given completely different advice than me, which is quite worrying, so get a range of opinions if you can!

Anyway, here is some of the stuff i've got which looks excellent and has some great reviews:

Budget Backpackers

2008-07-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Itinery...

September 15th - Heathrow to Bangkok and Bangkok to Hanoi...
The first stop on our adventure and the beginning of the overland travel through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.
December 17th - Singapore to Darwin...
Getting picked up from the airport by Emily's mum, who is on a year out with her husband (Emily's Step Dad) in Mount Isa in north/central Australia, for a long road trip to Mt Isa for Christmas!
We will then travel down the East Coast towards Sydney, working as we travel to earn some much-needed cash, whilst avoiding much of the Gold Coast, aka Newquay.
Mid February - Sydney to Christchurch...
Travelling the much venerated southern island and then up to the north, where we've been told to visit the Bay of Islands
The only problem with New Zealand is the cost, which we've heard can be very expensive.
Mid March- Auckland to Santiago...
Touchdown for the most anticipated leg of the trip!
Travelling south from Chile's Capital, probably with very light wallets, and exploring the Patagonia region, visiting ruins, climbing mountains, lazing around on beaches, learning how to tango and going riding in Argentina.
Will be amazing!
End of June - Coming back
Seems like forever away and can't imagine how we'll be feeling
Will be great to see family/friends again (and be able to play Xbox), and most of all sleep in a non-maggot infested bed, but it's not something i'm looking forward to.

2008-07-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

So, why these places?

As we are travelling for around 10 months we wanted to choose a range of different areas to visit but also to have plenty of time to be able to explore each one quite extensively.The areas we are travelling (South East Asia, Australasia and South America) are all quite different too, in terms of geography and culture, so there's no danger of it becoming tedious. We also decided to travel large parts overland as it gives you loads of freedom to explore, without being bogged down in one area.

We chose South East Asia largely because of the beaches and the islands, as well as the amazing food (although i've been told by a philipino friend to beware of dog and cat on the menu as well as being wary of cooked food in the markets). Hanoi is also fairly westernised and quite a contemporary city so we will be able to slowly etch our way into the flow of things.

Australia and New Zealand are a given really on any traveller's list and as Emily has family in Australia we won't be spending Christmas alone, whilst it also provides us with a great place to work and earn some much needed cash to keep us going until the end of the trip.
A working visa is just over £100 but well worth it as we've been told finding work is quite easy and things like barwork will give us a chance to meet more new people and learn some tips on the way.

Chile was the first place on the list for me because the country lends itself to travel. As it is so long and thin it encompasses many seasons at once and has amazing beaches just a couple of miles away from soaring mountains and some great national parks. I have been told, however, to make sure we learn some basic Spanish (i.e Thief...etc), as locals hate thieves and are often only too glad to assist in retrieving belongings and handing out their personal punishment.

Initially we planned to travel north to Peru, however many people have said that Argentina is simply unmissable, especially Buenos Aires.