Sunday 30 March 2008

Travel Prep...


Catherine is hitting herself around the head with a t-shirt right now because packing has sent her round the bend. I think she's going to be alright though, once I've persuaded her to leave behind the fur scarf she's wearing right now...
I flew down to Winchester on Friday (one of the most turbulent flights I've ever been on - loads of fun). Unfortunately there was a screaming baby and the air con dripped water on me throughout but apart from that I was really comfortable. In the evening we had a Greek meal with uni friends in Camden. The food was very tasty and I think I overdosed on meat (for which I blame Jaime, who decided he was responsible for loading my plate). Company was great too and I hope we'll all be reunited in due course!
Last night we had another leaving do (greedy, I know) in Winchester, hosted by Catherine and her family (who know how to have a bon voyage party!). One of the highlights was definitely building Eiffel towers out of straws - I like to think my team won on all fronts including style, stability and most importantly height! Catherine thinks her team's tower looked best. She'd already decided she'd won before the competition started, though. It was a good tower but it was smaller than Catherine and that's saying something.
C is just saying she needs to take a book and is considering her Norton Shakespeare (a 3,420 page tome) or her Romanticism anthology so we can read poetry to each other. I think not... Spongebob might be coming though, which would be cool. We're also going to put on goat voices with Scottish accents while we're away just to make sure everyone knows that we're complete freaks.
In conclusion, packing is dull, and it's worth having as many leaving dos as possible.

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Route

Rough Itinerary (really, really rough...)

THAILAND - 2 wks

Tue 1 Apr. Dep 22.15 London Heathrow

Arrive Wed 2 Apr 15.35 Bangkok

Bangkok - 3 days Wed 2 Apr - Sat 5 Apr

Chiang Mai and surrounding area (Pai) - 10 days Sun 6 Apr - Wed 16 Apr

LAOS - 1 week

Wed 16 Apr - Wed 23 Apr

Vientiane

Luang Prabang

VIETNAM - 3 weeks

Wed 23 Apr - Wed 14 May

Hanoi

Sapa

Halong Bay

Hue

Hoi An

Mui Ne

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

CAMBODIA - 10 days

Wed 14 May - Fri 23 May

Phnom Penh

Siem Reap

Angkor Wat

THAILAND - 3 weeks

Fri 23 May - Fri 13 Jun

From Bangkok go south to…

Ko Phi Phi

Ko Samui (via Surathani by boat, or via Champhon) -> Ko -> Ko Pha Ngan

bus/train to Krabit -> taxi to An Nang (sp?) and boat to Ton Sai

Phang Nga Bay

MALAYSIA – 2 weeks

Fri 13 Jun – Wed 25 June

Perhenthian Islands - east coast (and recommended by Lil!). V beautiful

Taman Negara - explore the rainforest

Kuala Lumpur - Petronas Towers. Hot place but worth seeing, easy to get lost apparently!

Train from KL to…

SINGAPORE 26 -30 June? (depends how much time left!)

OZ - 1 month

Tue 1 Jul Singapore 22.15

Arrive Cairns Wed 2 Jul 08.20

Cairns Wed 2 July -

-Great Barrier Reef (daytrip)

- Whitsunday Islands (daytrip)

- Magnetic island (daytrip)

- Mission Beach (daytrip)

Brisbane

-Surfers Paradise (daytrip)

- Hervey bay, Fraser Island

Byron Bay

-Dorrigo National Park (rainforest, can swim in Danga falls, so skywalk above treetops)

or – Myall Lakes national park (water sports)

or –Barrington Tops national park

or - Sea Acres Rainforest Ctr

Port Stephens

- Port Macquarie

- Coffs Harbour

Syndey 1 week

- Blue Mountains (daytrip, Yulefest may be on)

- Hunter Valley (daytrip, wine tasting)

New Zealand - 1 month

Wed 30 Jul Sydney 08.50

Arrive Christchurch 13.50

Queenstown

Wanaka

Rotorooa

The Fox or Franz Joseph Glaciers

Kaikoura

Milford sound

Abel Tasman National Park

Wellington

Mt Ruapehu

Lake Taupo

Rororua

Coromandel Peninsula

Waitomo Caves

Depart Auckland

Hong Kong - 4 days

Sun 31 Aug Auckland 05.50

Arrive Sydney 7.20

Depart Sydney 10.45

Arrive Hong Kong 17.45

Home!

Thu 4 Sep Hong Kong 00.45

Arrive London Heathrow 06.35

Numbers

Planes

1st April
London -> Bangkok 10hrs 20mins

1st July
Singapore -> Cairns 9hrs 5mins

30th July
Sydney -> Christchurch 3hrs

31st August
Auckland -> Sydney 3hrs 30mins
Syndey -> Hong Kong 8hrs

4th September
Hong Kong -> London 13hrs 50mins
___________________________________________________
Total hours spent on planes 47hrs 45mins


Buses

Chiang Mai -> Chiang Khong 5hrs
Luang Prabang -> Vientiane 8hrs
Vientiane -> Hanoi 24hrs
Hanoi -> Hue 12hrs
Hue -> Hoi An 5hrs

___________________________________________________
Total hours spent on buses 54hrs


Trains

Bangkok -> Chiang Mai 13hrs
___________________________________________________
Total hours spent on trains 13hrs


Boats

Chiang Khong-> Laung Prabang 20hrs
___________________________________________________
Total hours spent on boats 20hrs